Abadox: The Deadly Inner War (NES) Playthrough

Рет қаралды 13,961

7 ай бұрын

A playthrough of Milton Bradley's 1989 shooter for the NES, Abadox: The Deadly Inner War.
Abadox was developer Natsume’s second game to see a stateside release. Arriving four months after the Taito-published niche RPG Dungeon Magic: Swords of Element, Abadox broke into the US market with a heavy marketing push, complete with a nationwide television commercial campaign that undoubtedly gave countless children nightmares.
Capitalizing on the popularity of arcade shooters and horror movies, Natsume merged the two - like Konami did in Life Force - and the result was an extremely difficult console-exclusive shoot 'em up that proudly flaunted some of the most graphic visuals to ever appear in an officially licensed NES game.
Set in the distant future, the titular planet faces imminent destruction by Parasitis, a creature of unimaginable size that can take the shape of anything it consumes. As Lieutenant Nazal is waiting for his ship to be repaired on a nearby space station, he watches in horror as the giant being inhales the entire planet of Abadox, along with a satellite hospital where the beautiful Princess Maria is currently staying. Nazal, the lone survivor, pilots his ship into Parasitis for the sake of his people, his planet, and his true love.
Each of the game's six stages represent an area of Parasitis's body. Nazal enters the mouth and makes his way down the throat and through the esophagus and stomach, and once he has destroyed the core, he'll have to jet through the colon at top speed to escape.
Stages alternate between scrolling horizontally and vertically, most forcing Nazal's fairly large sprite into claustrophobic corridors brimming with enemies and incoming fire, and the action gets pretty hairy. It's intense and demanding, but the game does give you a fighting chance.
Like in the Gradius series, power-ups are key to surviving. Item ships drop speed ups, weapon upgrades, missiles, option pods, and shields. But, without shields, Nazal goes down in a single hit, and since death robs you of all your accumulated upgrades, getting wiped out places you at a serious disadvantage.
The graphics are a big part of the fun. Many of the neon, organ-themed backdrops pulse and squirm, and the enemy design as often creative as it is disturbing and gross. Granted, Life Force did something similar, but Abadox pushes the boundaries of taste a bit harder, and I loved the look of it.
"Bau" (Engrish for "Bow," I assume?), a skeletal zombie dog covered in clods of rotten flesh and being ridden by a parasite, guards the entrance to the mouth. Once you've blasted your way through him and breached the lips, you'll dodge teeth and uvulae and skim the surface of a writhing tongue as you make your way toward the throat. Before you can pass through, however, "Deathface" erupts from a mass on the wall and attacks, spitting fire at you as his stalk-mounted eyeballs track your movements. And that's all just in the first stage!
The music was composed Kyouhei Sada, an ex-Konami veteran who was responsible for the Contra, Rush'n Attack, Blades of Steel, and The Adventures of Bayou Billy soundtracks. His catchy synth leads and punchy basslines are an excellent complement to the action, and the quality is easily on par with the work he did at Konami.
For those that love a challenge, Abadox delivers the goods. It's an incredibly fun shooter, and it's an easy recommendation for those who loved Life Force, or for anyone looking for a polished title with a fantastically realized horror theme.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

Пікірлер: 86

@NintendoComplete

Abadox is a superb 8-bit shooter that will appeal to anyone who loves Life Force, gross-out visuals, or Konami soundtracks.

@tinytrashcan2840

The decision to flip the vertical stages to go from top to bottom was such an ingenious aesthetic touch. Really made you feel like you were just going deeper and deeper into this titanic beast. Love how old games had to get creative like that instead of just taking realistic graphics for granted.

@Unaliq

What I love about this game is the fact that there was a first rescue team sent to save the princess though that ended up in failure, but the team did end up destroying one of the orbs in order for our protagonist to destory the second and final orb to save the princess and destroy the organic planet. Super neat storytelling by not having any in-game dialogue, unless you read the manual for the game.

@rjcupid

This game is awesome and I still play it to this day. Abadox sounds like a laundry detergent that disintegrates your clothes.

@MoltoRubato88

Yes, the game mentions Milton Bradley: the same company that made all those board games. This represents part of their brief venture into helping make video games.

@thecunninlynguist

I don't recall ever seeing the marketing push for this, nor reviews or box art. Looks fun yet challenging. But not recca level crazy

@01MEGABOB

I beat this game as a 7 year old. Seeing this now I have no idea how. This was a great play through too! Some of these screens get absolutely insane.

@lordlickorice 21 күн бұрын

This was one of the best and most difficult I played as a kid. It took me forever to beat it. You basically have to play it over and over to memorize what’s coming, so you know which upgrades to get, to avoid, and where to place yourself during attacks and boss fights.

@Tetsujin99

POV: vitamin gummy bear fighting germs in your body

@freon22

Fun solid shmup that’s not ball crushingly hard. Feels like an old Irem and Konami game had a kid.

@oosha2000

I found this game after searching for so long. Thank you for recalling my childhood days.

@Dorian_Scott

Never heard of this game, but seeing Natsume credited on the title screen

@goremall4330

One of the best side scrollers out there, I was more of an Abadox guy than life force

@volvoguy804

I remember the commercial for this game, pretty sick.

@Criminally_Insane

12:51

@theusher2893

One of my NES faves. Only beat it once back in the day, but damn did Natsume make some awesome titles.

@therealquinnzack1819

Your play through’s are amazing; I love this game but I’ve always found it incredibly difficult

@bnelson383

I played this a lot as a kid as a friend of mine had it, but it took me a long time to remember what it was called trying to find this again as an adult. All I remembered was it was a shooter with eyeballs and sound that reminded me of contra. If you haven’t played it give it a shot its not a hard game but harder than it looks here.