I disagree. I found his walking to the left to be more enjoyable than when walking to the right, and if I may be so bold, I believe it to be the superior direction of walking in general.
@@donskiver same. I know any time I’m out in public and see someone walking to the right I think “imagine how much better it would be if they walked left.”
"This game doesn't suck" *Immediately shows how much it sucks* I mean, you go 10 steps and get held up by the spider, then you get shot by the kid get hit by 2 townspeople and walk into a bomb in the span of 5 seconds, it looks like everything AVGN said it was
I think the game requires learning the mechanics to enjoy it. Understanding the logic behind the story and how they conveyed it contributed a lot to my actually enjoying the game by the end
@@retronate Hookay buddy, i bet you cook burnt well done steaks and serve them at parties telling people it requires learning the taste and the logic behind it to enjoy it. Objective and subjective are things, it might suit you to learn them. This game is OBJECTIVELY bad, but hey you can just tell ppl they have the problem because they dont like an objectively bad game.
@@JOSH2625 it’s all subjective because of course it is. The measure of a game is about the gamer’s experience. To suggest that everyone feels the same way about ANY game is ridiculous. The second part I’ll highlight is that I’ve made 30+ game videos and the ones that I’ve had that have performed the best are ones where I have something that would be considered a “hot take” on the game. Unfortunately, people don’t click on something if it doesn’t shake them up a bit. As a creator, my job is to find ways to do that. If you watch the entire video, I simply state that I think the game doesn’t deserve to be in the conversation for the worst on the console. It’s below average, but I found myself enjoying it by the end.
This is exactly the video I wanted after watching the AVGN episode of this game. I felt he just didnt know how to play because the game was not intuitive. Thank you for showing how the game was ment to be played
Glad you enjoyed! Most people I talked to thought this game stunk. I just wanted to offer a full perspective on what I thought about it after taking into account the story of Jekyll and Hyde and some of the themes
@@DarkAlkaiser it’s not good, I just don’t think it’s among the worst on the console. Below average game. I will be putting out a new episode ranking all these NES titles I’ve cleared to this point. I’m interested to see where it stacks once I’ve finished the whole library.
My hope is to give every one of these a fair shake. I'm sure many of them that are regarded as bad will live up to the billing (cough....Back to the Future)...but this one just didn't reek of "worst on the console" energy. Actually rather enjoyed playing it by the end.
There's one thing you didn't mention about the singing ladies, if you use the cane on them, you instantly turn into Mr. Hyde. Edit: Also the JPN version has 2 different stages, one unique enemy like a siren, and other stuff like entering houses to avoid some obstacles and some having a lady that either heals you and give coins or take coins and drain your stress meter, also the Psycho Wave cannot be used while moving at the same time in the JPN version.
Im sooo happy you did this game! I never understood it and now i really wanna play it. The whole concept of a platform bullet hell with the allegory of not letting your inner demons overpower you is really dope.
@@Rhyndrop would’ve been totally over my head as an 8 year old. Maybe I’m giving the devs too much credit but that’s sort of how I saw it all tying together.
Took the dog out to go potty this morning and he wouldn’t come back in the house. So I walked out there barefoot to get him, and stepped in a pile of poo that my daughter failed to pick up and it was soggy with two days of constant rain. My Hyde meter went from 0 to 100 in a nanosecond.
Man I’ve never heard them referred to as “pre internet” games and now I feel ancient lol. There isn’t a ton here to understand in terms of how the game is played though. The reason people said it sucked was generally because they thought it was janky and didn’t grasp WHY the game played the way it did. But all you need to know is the actual story the game is representing and it’s not a far leap.
@@retronate well, good point. And I've honestly never played the game so I'm definitely not qualified to even have an opinion, I guess it depends on how intuitive you think a game should be.
@@dorndy1 NES manuals are pretty short and to the point. It explains the mechanic that Hyde can’t overtake Jekyll in the “how to play the game,” section. Even with something as simple as Super Mario Brothers, you’d need to read a manual or have someone show you that you need to hold down a button to run. Nowadays games have tutorials instead of manuals, so pick your poison.
@@fishingmule3266 I disagree. I think Super Mario Bros. had intuitive controls and goals. If you need a manual to figure out super Mario brothers, gaming might not be your thing.
Okay but seriously, all of the other obstacles make sense - the bugs, spiders, cats and dogs, shitting birds, annoying kid with the slingshot, gravediggers, singing ladies, hunters dropping ducks on you, rushing townspeople bumping into you, but why the hell are there guys just dropping bombs in the street??
@@Jorvalt it reeks of a dev waiting til the last day before coming up with an enemy. “Thompson! I told you we need one more enemy to make this game complete! What do you have???” “Purple. Suit. Bomb. Man.” “GET THIS MAN A RAISE!!!”
@@Colin12475 honestly I didn’t even know he’d done a vid about it until after I decided to record the walkthrough. I did tag him on the outside chance he gives it another look.
@@retronate I believe it was referenced in the book by Robert Louis Stevenson that the game was based on: "I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin. As I looked up, I noticed a flock of birds in the air, talons clutching clusters of feces, clearly from the mongrels sitting here and there throughout town. I knew not why the birds were acting in this fashion, and I wrestled with this mystery for a brief moment before I set forth on my way."
@@thatsnotoneofmeatsmanyuses1970 we don’t have the attention span to work through these anymore. Back to the Future was an ACTUALLY terrible game. This one is fine, below average…but not deserving of the hate it gets
Now that I'm in my 40's I can appreciate the nuance of the game (still contend it's bad). I found the manual online, something I didn't have the benefit of as a 10ish year old and it helped make some sense of things
Same. The cover art makes you think you’ll just be ripping through enemies as Hyde in a standard platformer and won’t have to give it much thought. I won’t fight the contention that it’s bad, but if I’m being honest I found myself enjoying the game by the end.
@@retronate for me I think the Jekyll parts were just REALLY slow and janky. I remember liking the Hyde parts too, just getting frustrated by getting struck by lightning (which according to the manual is "The Powers That Be")
@@airwolfpsu lol that’s great. No youre spot on. Jekyll levels are very trudgy. I think knowing the stakes were high for making significant progress helped me get through them. Obviously having weapons that can kill more than just bugs is the draw.
Thank you for discussing the storyline and themes for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Your explanations add depth. This game had highs and lows. It did have an interesting concept and unique features that not many NES games had. The execution of the game was little shaky. Thanks for covering this game.
@@ashwinrebbapragada7626 I found the story to be pretty interesting and can appreciate the effort they put into trying to pull it off. Certainly wasn’t perfect, but wasn’t the tire fire that people make it out to be
Honestly the game is still pretty awful, mostly in that the game does a terrible job of actually intuitively explaining and visually indicating what can and can't hurt you and when (some people you can walk through, others you cant, bomb hitbox extending far past the explosion graphic with no visual indicators, etc etc). Is the game AS bad as most people make it out to be? Not really, but the game is still pretty bad, especially considering how some of the levels and obstacles line up to where there are situations that are actually impossible to get through without taking damage from what I've seen.
It’s a below average game, but not among the worst of all time. It’s not intuitive, but not impossible to figure out. The bomb hit boxes is certainly the worst aspect. I guess most of the jankiness for me is not that bad to deal with when I consider the thought they seem to have put into portraying the psychology of the story
Ooh good question…apparently in the 1960 film there was a character named Maria who was an exotic dancer and snake charmer that Mr. Hyde has an affair with. Perhaps her?
@@rionthemagnificent2971 how long does someone have to play a game to make a proper evaluation? More than a few minutes I’d hope? Yes there is a learning curve and it’s frustrating to start, but I come from an era where you have to push through that. I can imagine less palatable nowadays but it’s nostalgic for me
I've played Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, use to own the game in fact. And IMO it is very very bad. Can there be fun to be had? Yes there is. I played it a lot, and had fun while doing so. But the mechanics are confusing, the gameplay is frustrating, and it's just a bad game overall. As for your analysis of the story of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, you forget that the split personality was created by an experiment that Dr Jekyll preformed. Jekyll was considered a nice guy, while Hyde was an unrepentant murderer. Really, the game's whole set of mechanics in the game make no bloody sense based on the novel. The game should have been a point and click adventure mystery told from the perspective of a detective, IMO. That would have been more faithful to how the book worked. As it stands, the only thing this game and the novel "The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is the names Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
@@faerieknight2298 idk did you see Hyde unrepentantly murdering those leaping brains that looked like frogs? Or the weird snake lady? Feels like they captured that well lol
AVGN has a content style that craps on games for entertainment. He’s the best at what he does. I’m offering what I feel is a fair opinion of the game. Generally speaking, this game is universally branded as among the worst on the console. I just don’t think it is
@@KitsuneYojimbo totally right. He’s an entertainer and a damn good one. But the beauty of video games, particularly these NES ones is how opinions vary. Mine continue to change as I age too.
I will still stand by my guns that this is not a great game or even comprehensive... With the rules different from Jekyll to Hyde, but with you explaining it as you did... And remembering the book i don't remember reading... Yes, i can see how it can work. How, yes, Jekyll does have to deal with these irritating things dsy in, day out, being harassed and having even the littlest things push you to your mental state breaking. Then with Hyde, creeping ever closer to Jekyll and then "succumbing" to the monster (via the lightning bolt) unless you defeat these demons in his head and calm him back to reality, defeating those ill thoughts (via the brains) to come back quicker instead of the things attacking back (i, too, am looking too deep). And maybe the man in Red is Jekyll's worst demon, himself, causing him to "imagine" people attacking him. Like it's his own harmful thoughts that hurt the most, yeah? It's why there's so many men in red at the closest to the Chapel. ("What if she doesn't love me for me and that's it, the end of the line?") And Hyde battling himself(?) at the Chapel, beating those evil thoughts and retaking his mental capabilities... I am also looking into it far too much, yes. But i suppose it is just a battle of mental fortitude at the end of the day and during the game. It's not great at all... But i can appreciate anew what the thought was behind this game and it gives me a new look to it. I also hate that boxart. Keep it away. Heh
Aha!!! You can look at it anew!!!! I’ll take it! Also LOVE the idea of the battle of insecurity at the chapel. Never even considered that. I don’t contend it’s great, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it after considering all of the elements of the game and how they can even loosely tie to the story. I actually grew quite fond of the Hyde levels
@@retronate yeah. You got me thinking too much about it as well now. And I can appreciate the thoughts behind it. I would have never thought of it as you did which made me think about it like you and think further, the man in red being the biggest one I thought of.
@@SECONDQUEST “good” is always relative to the person playing it. Games are sometimes about how they make you feel. I think I said in the video that I’d probably rank it as below average, but not among the worst on the console. I certainly don’t expect everyone to change their opinion - just wanted to offer my take.
@@Scribblerjohnny I truly didn’t feel that way by the end once I understood the mechanics. The Hyde levels were very enjoyable to me. Jekyll is a slog, I acknowledge that. Hyde on the rooftops was actually a fun challenge.
No, this game is still bad and it's design is still horribly flawed with awful execution. Ambitious IDEAS do not necessarily make for a good game, and in this case they objectively failed. You cannot defend this game. Stop trying.
@@teruienages962 no I think I’ll share my opinion thanks. Keeping it completely honest, I found myself enjoying it by the end. The Hyde levels were challenging and there was a great sense of accomplishment when it was completed. Below average game but not among the worst on the console
so thats it, just a guy desperately trying to justify a horrible game while just walking right and getting hit by unavoidable shit flying at him. yeah really great game, great video!
6:30 "I can identify with just the day to day things of life bothering you." Show of hands: how many of you have a jackass put a bomb on your path every twenty seconds?
The guy from the "Displaced Gamers" channel made several videos about this game, delving into the actual assembly code. It's garbage even on a technical level.
