Jeremy Parish

NES Works 104: Bomberman / Othello / RoboWarrior (Patreon)

Published:

2022-11-02 12:23:58

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Aicom Bomberman Jaleco Kawada hal labs hudson nes nes works othello

Content

Wow, the penultimate episode of NES Works 1988. I feel like I made it here pretty quickly, despite also taking the time along the way to cover the SG-1000 and pre-NES Famicom in their entirety. (This, of course, has not stopped YouTube commenters from complaining "Where is NES Works??" on every single non-NES Works video I publish.) One more 1988 episode and then it's on to... 1989? No, not yet.

In a nice bit of symbolism, NES Works 1988 winds down just as NES Works 1987 has gone into print. Eligible book-tier patrons can of course expect to receive their copies fairly soon; for everyone else, here is a convenient link for your perusal. If you like to try before you buy and my extensive 8-year supply of weekly videos isn't quite convincing enough, Shacknews has an excerpt comprising the entire Zelda feature, which is a pretty solid showcase if I do say so myself.

Anyway, this episode. Kind of messy! Not the episode itself, I mean. I think it's fine. Just the history it encompasses. A real car wreck of publishing choices and logistical constraints.

Files

maxresdefault.jpg

A lot of shenanigans happening with the NES timeline here at the end of 1988, a situation that I'll explore more next episode. For now, it's worth noting that this episode brings us: 1. Two games that may or may not have actually debuted in the U.S. in December 1988, and 2. Two games from the same franchise, possibly released simultaneously by different publishers. Bomberman and RoboWarrior don't share much branding in common in the West, but both hail from the same germ of inspiration. RoboWarrior, AKA Bomber King, would branch off briefly to become its own thing under the auspices of developer Aicom, who kind of Hudsoned Hudson here by creating a variant of that company's franchise and then claiming it as their own. Sort of. Except that outside of Japan it was reskinned into someone else's thing. It's complicated. Othello, however, is not complicated. This is the fourth time this channel has looked at an Othello game. You know the drill. Production note: NES footage captured from @Analogue Mini. Arcade footage captured from MiSTer FPGA cores; special thanks to @MiSTer Addons. Video upscaled to 720 with XRGB Mini Framemeister. Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Certain tiers also have access to monthly exclusive episodes, PDFs of Works-related books, and even physical copies of upcoming book releases!