RGB Plays - May 2018: Batman (Sunsoft NES) - VOTING FOR JUNE until May 14

Hey everyone, we’ve had our April showers, now it’s time to bring May flowers! And what better way to celebrate spring than visting super dark, industrial and grimy Gotham City?

batmanvg_nesbox

By 1990, Sunsoft was already very prolific on the Famicom, but many of their games remained exclusive to Japan. However in 1988 they had their first breakout hit in North America: Blaster Master. They were then able to secure the license to one of the biggest upcoming movies: Tim Burton’s Batman.

Released in late 1989 in Japan, and early 1990 in North America, Batman: The Movie on NES was extremely well received. Just like Blaster Master, the game featured insanely tight controls, a killer soundtrack, and impressive graphics that seemed more detailed than the 8-Bit NES could provide thanks to clever use of blacks and a dark palette.

I’ve played this game so many times, and can’t wait to revisit it. After a couple of easy first levels to let you get the hang of the controls, it REALLY ramps up in difficulty. But the game never feels unfair: the controls are so responsive that you always feel that your death was your own fault. Likewise, the game very quickly throws you into situations that require you to strategically use Batman’s three different weapons, but don’t forget to save some ammo for the boss!

NOMINATIONS FOR JUNE 2018

  • Jurassic Park Part 2: The Chaos Continues - SNES
  • Sub Terrania - Genesis/Megadrive
  • Uncharted Waters: New Horizons: SNES/Genesis/Others
  • Donkey Kong '94 - GameBoy

0 voters

Nomination 1: Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues - SNES - Ocean Software, 1995
Jurassic_Park_Part_2_-_The_Chaos_Continues_Coverart

A later release on SNES, this game is basically Contra with dinosaurs. You are given a number of mission you can complete in any order, and most explore levels in order to complete your objectives. It’s a bit of a hidden gem, as I find very few people talk about it, but it’s a fun game. Can be played 2-player co-op as well! NOTE: It’s also insanely hard, you have been warned.

Nomination 2: Sub Terrania - Genesis/Mega Drive - Zyrinx, 1993
Subterrania

A shooter by Danish company Zyrinx, developed on Amiga development kits but released on the Sega Genesis. And yes, this game has it’s Euro-roots showing: it definitely would not feel out of place on the Amiga. Playing as a mix between a traditional shooter and Lunar Lander (Rotate your ship then activate thrust), it’s a unique game on a system full of shooters. And what’s a great shooter without a great soundtrack, with Jesper Kyd providing one of his very first soundtracks to this game.

Nomination 3: Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive, DOS, PC-98, plus others - KOEI Co., 1993

unchartedwatersnewhorizonscover-14548

This is one I’ve never heard about: It looks like one of the few games in the Uncharted Waters series to get a release outside of Japan. From what I can put together, it looks similar to Sid Meier’s Pirates, with a slice of JRPG.

Nomination 4: Donkey Kong - GameBoy - Nintendo, 1994
Donkey-kong

This was hyped big time around the same time to Super GameBoy launched in North America: Custom palettes and borders, and tons of puzzle platformer action. I haven’t played it since borrowing a friend’s copy back in 1994 or 1995, but it continues to get an insane amount of acclaim to this day.

I tried to nominate Uncharted Waters: Dark Horizons in the last thread!

My apologies Morfeo, I knew I missed one! Added, though I must admit I don’t have much knowledge of the game. If you want to write a quick blurb to drum up support for votes, let me know and I’ll add it to the OP.

I started playing a couple of evenings ago. It’s my first time playing this game, but I like what I saw!

I’m currently stuck on the third level, the big guys who jump on you are extremely annoying, and there is one specific guy who can’t be shot from a safe distance who keeps killing me. I don’t know how to take them out safely, it feels like when they start jumping you can say goodbye to most of your health bar.

And speaking of health bar, the game is extremely stingy with hearts, I have to farm them for a stupid amount of time after I barely get out of a tricky situation. That could have been made better.

It ain’t spring here, it’s cold and windy (by Sydney standards anyway!).

Such a killer game. Will crack out the Fami copy in the mini shockbox.

If it isn’t too late I’d like to nominate Donkey Kong '94 on Game Boy. Starting as a remake of the original four arcade Donkey Kong levels, DK '94 transitions into a top-notch puzzle platformer combining elements from Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Super Mario Bros 2. If you play on Super Game Boy, you’re in for perhaps the peripheral’s killer app, complete with a custom palette and cartoon border resembling the Donkey Kong arcade cabinet.

Dammit, I started a playthrough of it earlier this week. Might take a break then.

Hey everyone, voting is now live for June’s game!! Check the OP. Sorry about the delay, I’ve had a crazy week.

This weekend though, it’s Batman time, and I’ll get a nice post up for sure.

Well, for reasons unknown to me my sd2snes decided to eat my yoshis island save. Onto Batman I guess!

Anyone playing this month? I’ve got some time blocked off this week and hope to share impressions later. It’s been a long ass time since I played Batman and I’m interested how well it hold up.

I played some a couple weeks ago but forgot about it. I’ll try to get back to it.

I’ve been working my way through and forgot to post some inpressions ! Currently stuck at the 4th boss but I’m enjoying the game so far.

Man, dat sunsoft ost.

I also really like that your melee attack is just called “BATMAN”

Hit 'em with the BATMAN.

POW!

I just finished the game. Fuck that final section with the gears holy fuck. Without save states I definitely would have burned my house down.

It was a little disappointing that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the bosses had anything to do with Batman at all except Joker of course but at least the fights were fun!

My overall favorite part of the game was the cut scenes between the levels, mainly due to that rocking tune. Sunsoft really knew how to make the Famicom sing!

Finally started Batman last night, which was perfect because I was in an 8 bit action platformer mood. Only made it to the stage 3 boss and still don’t quite have the mechanics down, but when things click the game has a great Ninja Gaiden sort of rhythm. Not loving the wall jumps around hazards though.

Got to play last night, too. Turned into a bit of a “Family Reacts” session as kids and wife were around and commenting. General impressions were positive, especially when they learned how old the game was. Got to the end of stage 2 but ran out of time to beat the boss. My 11 year old took a turn and did pretty well. He commented on the wall jump and liked how “sticky” it was. For me, I love that sweet, sweet Sunsoft bassline. So good.

On a side note, the evening almost didn’t happen on account of my NES shitting a brick and refusing to boot up the game. “Blinking red light of death” , ugh. I spent some time today cleaning the unit, also decided to disconnect the lockout chip. When I put it all back together and fired it up, I’m not able to load any games now. So I basically managed to take it from bad to worse. :cry: Ordered a replacement 72 pin connector which should arrive tomorrow. Hopefully that solves all my problems. (Slightly worried that messing with the lockout chip screwed my system.)

Yikes, you weren’t joking. The wall jump section in 4-3 was tough, but I never would have finished the game without abusing rewind to get through the brutal 5-1.

Hopefully Ben Affleck has to jump over random sharp objects in The Batman.

I’m just glad that if you die at the Joker, you don’t need to fight the boss before him over again. That would’ve made that run much harder.

@blastprocessed @BlStinger it’s a tough end game for sure ! I got through it with save states on my everdrive.

Having start change your weapon and up/down + start be the hotkeys for save states sure made for some annoying accidental reloads !