Jeremy Parish

NES Works 118: Fist of the North Star & Mystery Quest (Patreon)

Published:

2023-11-29 12:48:23

Imported:

2024-04

Tags:

Taxan anime carry lab fist of the north star manga mystery quest nes nes works squaresoft

Content

I remember one time I babysat my then-elementary-aged nephew. He was undergoing a brief fascination with 8-bit games because the pixelated look reminded him of Minecraft, so I sat him down in front of my NES capture station so he could have a proper experience. We played a few familiar games like Mario, but eventually he wanted to branch out and try different things. So I let him browse the game list, where he quickly seized on Mystery Quest, because it sounded interesting to him. He played for a while and didn't complain, but I can't help but note that it was the last time he ever asked to play NES games again.

Anyway, Mystery Quest isn't even the worst of the two games featured this week.

Files

Taxan' your patience: Fist of the North Star & Mystery Quest | NES Works 118

Taxan had a promising start on NES with Star Soldier and Mappy—two dated games, but solid ones. But all of that potential goes right down the toilet with this pair of ill-advised localizations! Why would they do this to us? Fist of the North Star probably isn't the worst game based on the legendary manga and anime property, but lord knows it ain't good. You can kind of understand the logic behind the U.S. release of this game, as (like Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode) it coincides with Viz Media's furtive attempt to localize the comics into English. Except that this game covers the back half of the saga, and Viz's translations wouldn't actually reach that material until they rebooted the series after a five-year hiatus. Oops. Mystery Quest is even more bewildering. It's like the bargain store edition of Milon's Secret Castle, a game that already felt like it was asking a little too much of players' patience and at least had solid visuals and music. Mystery Quest offers none of these things. At least Taxan cheaped out when buying ROM chips for this release, which forced them to trim 50% of the game's content from the original Japanese version. It may not be good, but at least there's not much of it, I guess. Production notes: 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! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! Why watch when you can read? Check out the massive hardcover print editions of NES Works, Super NES Works, and Virtual Boy works, available now at Limited Run Games (https://limitedrungames.com/collections/books)! SG-1000 Works: Segaiden Vol. I is available NOW, and Metroidvania: The First Decade is due in 2024. NES footage captured from Analogue Nt Mini. Master System footage captured from original hardware. Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister. "Before the Storm" courtesy of Jacob Le.