This is probably my favorite series to work on, so if you dig check out the other four videos in the series! ru-vid.com/group/PLonSwd9DM1lLILr9K1601Gqt5xtrQR4Mg
Thrilla's Surfari is honestly one of the most underrated games on the entire NES library and it's the best LJN game on the NES as well, and probably really just Maximum Carnage can claim to be a better overall game. The cut scenes are incredible, the game moves very fast and the music is really quite great. Eventually there are surfing, cliff diving and underwater stages that I don't want to spoil.
I would agree it’s really impressive. I have played it all the way through and while it’s extremely frustrating, it’s 100 times better than I was expecting
I think many of us agree that if some NES games would have been a little easier and more forgiving, they would have been infinitely more fun. It was so disappointing to rent a game on a Friday afternoon after school, play it for 30 minutes, and then not pick it up again for the rest of the weekend. 😂
Some are difficult and it's part of the appeal. Some are difficult to hide how poorly designed they are. And yeah for sure, some are so intentionally difficult that they prevented a lot of us from playing them for more than a few minutes despite their obvious potential. It's a fine balance that only a few developers could do consistently.
A lot of the difficulty being tough is because they wanted you to keep renting it. I had a game genie just so I could see the ending of those nes games.. unfortunately a lot of nes games had terrible anticlimactic endings
Golgo 13 is based on an anime of the same name, if you weren't aware. The first person maze section sucks a lot, but if games like Dungeon Master, or even Phantasy Star have taught me anything, it's that they were popular enough to spawn sequels.
When you know the history of the Metal Gear series, Snake's Revenge isn't as much of a surprise. Metal Gear was originally made for the MSX2. Konami decided to port the game to the Famicom/NES without the consent of the original development team, handing the source code to a new team and giving them three months to do so, allegedly with an additional order to deliberately make their port different. After the NES port was successful in the West, Konami decided to make a NES sequel for Western release (Snake's Revenge), without Hideo Kojima's knowledge. One of the devs told Kojima about the project, supposedly asking Kojima to make a "real" Metal Gear sequel. The next day, Kojima got approval to make Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2.
Little Ninja Brothers, yes! I have such strong nostalgia for that game. Legitimately one of my favorite NES titles. I don't know why 2 player co-op features in RPG type games aren't more common. Also Flying Dragon even has an N64 entry of the same name which is a fighting game with 2 modes. One is a mode where you can buy weapons and armor in a chunky Chibi style, while also having a more realistic fighting game mode also, which also happens to be produced by Culture Brain
I remember renting "Flying Dragon" and being like, "Wow, this game sucks." And then I proceeded to play the game to death the entire weekend and ended up buying it. 🤷♀ I also got "Kung Fu Heroes" for Christmas one year (I assume because it was cheap). I had no idea there was a sequel.
The side scrolling portions of the game are mediocre and it's a slog to get through each section in order to get to the far better tournament fighting parts. You even have to go through a training section before getting into the first tournament which I find unnecessary, that should've been a side option at the start screen. I'm sure many people turned the game off before getting to the first tournament.
I loved the first person mazes of Lone Ranger. Hated the ones of Fester's Quest. Lone Ranger had few mazes, very simple in design, with plenty of hardcore light gun action. You use one hand on the controller dpad to move, and the light gun in the other hand to shoot. Frankly, it was awesome. Festers had complex mazes, if I remember correctly even including fake walls (bleh), with no action. I think that's why they sat so differently in my brain.
Yeah I’m definitely thinking of Festers Quest specifically here. I don’t think I realized Lone Ranger had these kinds of levels! It’s on my list of games to cover so I’ll know soon enough ;)
Couple of things I could also mention: 1. Flying Dragon is actually the second in the whole Hiryu no Ken series, with the first one being an arcade game localized as Shanghai Kid, which was purely the tournament fighting section. 2. While Renegade had a few sequels, the first game is officially the start of the River City series, which included Super Dodge Ball, River City Ransom, Nintendo World Cup, and Crash 'n' The Boys Street Challenge. Nintendo World Cup is sort of a spinoff of Super Dodge Ball, whereas Street Challenge is a sequel, itself, though its prequel was Japan-only before the remakes. (Heck, the whole Renegade 'family tree' branches out quite far, since it also includes Double Dragon as well as Kunio.)
Really cool video. I thought I knew the entire NES library, but you surprised me with a few of these games. Looks like a couple of these are possibly hidden gems
A bit of Trivia: Flying Warriors, known as Hiryuu no Ken 2 in Japan, is vastly different from the Japanese original. The original has weaker graphics akin to the first game and notable differences in the gameplay, levels, and sound. The characters were also changed. The US version's new graphics are lastly akin to what's seen in Hiryuu no Ken 3, which never made it to the West.
I knew any Nintendo games had sequels. The ones I know are: Adventure Island II Adventure Island 3 Baseball Stars 2 Bases Loaded II Bases Loaded 3 Bases Loaded 4 Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team Bionic Commando Bubble Bobble Part 2 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2 Contra Force Double Dragon II: The Revenge Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones DuckTales 2 Fire 'N Ice The Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak! Flying Warriors Goal! Two The Guardian Legend Gun Nac Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road Ikari III: The Rescue IronSword: Wizards & Warriors II Kirby's Adventure Little Ninja Brothers The Mafat Conspiracy Mega Man 2 Mega Man 3 Mega Man 4 Mega Man 5 Mega Man 6 1943: The Battle of Midway Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom Power Blade 2 Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 RoboCop 2 RoboCop 3 Skate or Die 2: The Search for Double Trouble Ski or Die Snake's Revenge Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. 3 Super Spy Hunter T2: Terminator 2: Judgment Day Target: Renegade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 II: The Arcade Game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 III: The Manhattan Project Top Gun: The Secret Mission Town & Country Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Safari Track and Field II Wizards & Warriors III: Korus - Visions of Power Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II and lots more...
I feel like the days where sequels had completely different names are gone. Not sure if it's because developers are afraid it will hurts sales or if they just want to keep the series uniform.
There are actually quite a few water levels in Thrilla's Surfari, most are functionally the same as the skateboarding ones just on rivers instead, but there are some underwater levels. The bosses are also pretty ridiculous. Looking forward to a full vid on it if you decide to.
Those first-person mazes you complain about from Mafat Conspiracy - they work great in the Eye of the Beholder series, Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos, and Phantasy Star. Having an automap helps a *lot*, though...
5 points for me actually knowing about Kung Fu Heroes and Little Ninja Bros. LNB was a lot of fun, but the final boss was NOT balanced with the rest of the game. Those were both games in the "Super Chinese" series from Japan, which also had an entry on the SNES that was localized, Super Ninja Boy. I still have my copy of that, and it's still fun to play through (I just did a while ago), but the random encounter rate can seem really annoying at times. Zoda's Revenge is also a solid game, even though it now has nothing to do with the Tropics, and they made several quality of life improvements over the original. It's also up there among the last handful of titles to be released for the NES, coming in 1994.
Good to see you back on track doing more good and interesting videos! I just found Zoda’s Revenge (and two other CIB games) at a very good deal today. Now I’m looking forward to play it even more! I finished the first one during Covid. Great game! Cheers!
No....if you take out to play the value will drop SIGNIFICANTLY!!!!@! HAHAHHAA, I say who cares. Games are meant to be playes and not to sit on a shelf collecting dust to how much they may be worth!!!!!
I came around to first person mazes when I delved into Wizardry on NES. Really you have to love making your own maps, which I do find surprisingly fun and engrossing. Though playing a dungeon crawler it comes with the territory and its part of the genre. It's kind of annoying in games with multiple genres, when you just want to get back to the action.
Yeah I think you're right. Someone mentioned Shining in the Darkness and I did like playing that game where that was the only gameplay style, but games like Fester's Quest and Mafat Conspiracy where you need to beat them in order to progress just rub me the wrong way.
I fell in love with first-person dungeon crawls playing 4-player Swords and Serpents with some friends using the FourScore and no guide over the course of a summer.
You got to draw your own map with first person dungeon crawlers. I did this for the first time a couple months back with Shining in the Darkness. I enjoyed it.
I did the same with Shining in the Darkness a few years back. Drawing the maps can really add to the experience. I had tinkered with Eye of the Beholder back in the day, but Shining in the Darkness was my first real dungeon crawler experience. And a great one at that.
Thrilla is 100% am alternate timeline Donkey Kong nobody rescues the damsel in distress. Only karma comes back to bite him in the butt when his stockholm dame gets abducted by someone else
Probably didn’t need to blow a racist dog whistle and say “Engrish”, when you are well aware that the text is limited in English translation on the cartridge. It’s not that the translators don’t understand the language. Quit it with the Mickey Rooney stereotype
Another one people don't realize is, "Galaga" is a sequel to "Galaxian." Though, the NES version of Galaxian wasn't released in America, much like the Famicom adaptations of Mappy, and Dig-Dug. (Though, they were later released in officially licensed mini toy arcades, and plug-and-play systems.) Like Galaga their sequels were released instead. (Dig-Dig 2, and Mappy-Land.)
As a kid, my step-brother had Metal Gear (and Wizards & Warriors) and I enjoyed playing it (them) and beating it (them). Since I liked the first game(s) so much, I bought the sequel(s) Snake's Revenge (and Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II). Never did beat it (them) though. I knew Snake's Revenge was a sequel to Metal Gear, so it being a sequel must have been mentioned in the advertising. I guess I might have read a review mentioning the sequel fact, but I would put money on seeing it on an advertisement.
Yeah I would guess in ads or Nintendo Power or something? Like I knew they were related because of the internet but I was surprised to see Metal Gear wasn’t mentioned at all in the packaging.
Snake's Revenge is not canon in the Metal Gear universe. Snake's Revenge was Ultra Games (Konami's American subsidiary) cash grab since Metal Gear 2 was never published in the US. Funny enough, Snake's Revenge has met its share of humor in Metal Gear lore. From flash video's like Metal Gear Awesome in the mid-2000 making fun of it. "Who are you? Are you from Snake's Revenge?"
Never heard of Gun Nac! Zanac was my favorite on the NES due to its music, deep power up system (I'm waiting for another 6 to come around!) and lots of secrets (shoot the first enemy with your secondary weapon diagnal and it turns into a one-of-a-kind rapid fire power-up). If I'd known they'd made a cute-em-up sequel I would've been all over it! Guess I need to dust off the ol' emulator now...
Another game that's a sequel to a franchise.. "Legacy of the Wizard" on the NES, its actually Dragon Slayer 4: Drasle Family. It has more to do with Dragon Slayer 2: Xanadu and Dragon Slayer than the Xanadu Spin off, "Faxanadu". Faxanadu is more of an action platformer.
@8:49 My sentiments exactly. I was really having fun until this point. ~_~ Every time I try to play it I'm like....yup..I can do it this time...I can get through it....nope. ~_~
Golgo 13 was the very first NES game I ever owned, along with Mario/Duck Hunt. It was somewhat anti climatic when I opened it. I had no idea what I was looking at. My mom saw my confused look and said 'I thought it looked really neat in the store'. It ended up becoming one of my favorite games. My buddies and I used to giggle at the hotel sex scene
Little ninja brothers also got a sequel on the super nintendo called Super Ninja Boy, which was basically Little Ninja Brothers but with better graphics and a slightly different combat phase. I had both Kung Fu Heroes and Super ninja Boy as a kid and didnt realize they were in the same franchise but it makes a lot of sense.
Flying warriors is a actually an americanized sequel, they took the graphics of the third game(japan only) and the japan only sequel which graphics are more kin to the first game and combined them to make this game. They did this a lot to other hiryu no ken games and change the characters looks and name(from Ryuhi to Rick).
definately give the mafat conspiracy another try. the 3d mazes are better than in the first one where there were pits pretty much making it impossible to map. i never got very far in the first game but i beat mafat conspiracy. the final "boss" is pretty difficult. you still get 52 continues like in the first game (i assume it's 52. i found out the reason for 52 is either the original anime was 52 episodes, and each time you die you start a new episode, or that's a number some anime's reach) it just doesn't keep track of how many and you don't know you've run out until you see the opening cutscene before the main menu.
Actually, and I only found this out through Wikipedia, is that The Black Bass is a sequel. The original was exclusive to Japan, so the one the US got is The Black Bass 2, thus the USA in the name.
I consider The Mysterious Murasame Castle to be a sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda. Sort of. You probably don't have it, but we've talked about it during your streams before.
Flying Dragon and Flying Warrior might have had a 16-bit follow up. The fighting system and other elements look similar to Culture Brain’s Golden Fighter.
I remember "Ninja Brothers" as "Kung Fu Heroes" which I always thought was a sort of spiritual successor to Kung Fu. It has all the same sounds, at least. I was no good at it, because I couldn't figure out the hit boxes!
Isn't using Zoda's Revenge here kind of cheating? It says 'Star Tropics II" right there on the title screen and cartridge, so you'd probably have to be illiterate to not realize you were playing a sequel.
Lots of love for Little Ninja Bros. It has one of the best fourth wall breaking jokes I've ever seen in a video game near the end. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who may be curious. But my brother and I were PISSED.
Spent hundreds of hours playing goonies 2 and I always thought "where is the first one I never heard of" I later played the original goonies game and realized it was crap and that's why it never was seen. Damn tho, goonies 2 is incredible
I had Snake's Revenge growing up, it is a bit challenging to get used to, but with practice you can get to the point where you can handle the enemies fairly smoothly. The issue I always had was that it was possible to end up in a walking dead situation by exiting an area without one of the key cards, and I never managed to beat the title.
I really wanted Little Ninja Brothers but never got it. I did get to play it once did find that one dynamic was really annoying, that of the screen not scrolling until you reach the edge, although I don't remember it causing you to walk directly into enemies that can't be seen in the overhead view.
Mafat conspiracy manual has maps for the stages to help guide players for those that bought the game new and for those that actually read the game instructions before they start playing ....
snakes revenge is why hideo kojima created his own sequel. if snakes revenge had never been made we might not have everything that was released including the solid series.
@@BigOleWords Culture Brain have chosen a strange naming policy. The first game was terrible, so renaming the second was a wise decision. But they advertised the second one very actively, held tournaments, even ordered a series of comics advertisements in GamePro magazine. And why they renamed the third and fourth, with the more or less successful second one, is a mystery to me. In Japan, these games are part of the Hiryu no Ken series. And the very first game in the USA was released on arcades under the name Shangai Kid.
Is Flying Dragon a spiritual successor to Karate Kid? That game has 1v1's and side scrolling stages too. It's immediately what I thought of when I saw it and also thought he was going to say it was a sequel lol
I love the Faria mention. The Guardian Legend could be seen as a Zanac spinoff from Compile complete with Blue and Red Randar! I'll never call them Lander again after playing Zanac.
Gun-Nac was such an amazing game! I played it forever and the first time I actually beat it was an absolutely epic moment as it took so much effort and focus!
