"Blues Brothers 2000": An N64 Game that Really Exists

[@neonkenomi320]

The real conspiracy is whether or not if this game shared assets with Earthbound 64.

[@TheDucksEye]

Why does this game look like the 64DD version of Mother 3 lol

[@sluminous203]

Clicked on this video and saw the way he runs and I was like “thats muddah 3”

[@helenhomunculus5044]

Runaway 5 64

[@peenurmobile]

it's funny because when i first saw mother 3 screenshots i thought it was the blues brothers game, i rented it a few times from the local grocery store.. they had glover too, that was my favorite one

[@ericb47735]

I can't believe Miyazaki took inspiration from Blues Brothers 2000's prison level for Tower of Latria

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

In all honesty, I had to restrain myself from making this comparison in the video, because it does actually remind me a bit of Latria!

[@LinkmeetsMario]

To be honest, I thought this game was a weird horror ARG rather than a playable video game when I first heard of its existence. Like Petscop but with the Blues Brothers.

[@Idkwhattoputhere5123]

It has that shipwrecked 64 feel

[@lannamaniac007]

''Come on Reggie give us Mother 3 64'' ''It's already been made'' Mother 3 64 that was made:

[@SillyDogJoe]

Prison, Chicago, graveyard, and swamp, finally the variety in levels we’ve been asking for

[@stevep9177]

I have to wonder if this was intended to be part of a different franchise, and then got blues brothers slapped onto it for purely business reasons

[@Rihcterwilker]

Seeing urban environments on the n64 like townscapes, with vehicles and roads, is something novel. As flawed as it may be, it's really charming, visually, with the "chibi" human characters and all that.

[@ElisasThoughts]

Despite their name, the Blues Brothers are more of a rhythm and blues band, rather than straight blues, with some soul and rock 'n' roll thrown in. While blues did originate out of the experiences of poor black Southerners, these later genres were frequently performed by multiracial bands in the 50s and 60s and often used their music to promote racial harmony and friendship. So the critique of the Blues Brothers being white guys performing "blues" music is a bit misguided.

[@hexen237]

this feels like a mega64 gag but its real. my jaw dropped when i saw that youtube recognized the game in the description

[@RappingNinja]

The fact that Titus made THREE Blues Brothers platformers over the course of a decade (spanning the NES, Game Boy, SNES, and N64!) certainly seems to imply that this was a *successful* licensed property for them - or at least it was “successful” by whatever limited measure a developer like Titus measured “success.” But I wish someone could talk to the devs of those three games and really get details on whose idea it was to license this 10-year-old game in 1990 for their first BB. game, and WHY. I sort of expect that the answer is “It was a cheap license to get” but like… none of the games in question are GOOD. I, weirdly, saw Blues Brothers 2000 in its theatrical release as a kid. lol. Loved the video-was not prepared to dive into the various game inspirations, creator nationalities, and cultural influences involved. It is…. quite a cocktail.

[@newmusicmark]

There's something UK/British/Europeans liked or sub-set liked back in the early 90s. I remember this Epic comic, The Sleeve Brothers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sleeze_Brothers . Was a lot like the Blues Brothers. That has some tie in to Dr. Who that I didn't know about back in the day. UK also loved American Soul music which started into their own Northern Soul scene en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul which I'm sure must have had some appreciation for Blues to some degree as well. Anyway, my point is , this was made for a European audience and it must have been well known and sold well as Titus made so many games. My guess though is this 2000 got slapped onto something they were already developing though. Would be great to ask Mr. Akroyd about it but I assume he wasn't involved but may remember getting asked about it or getting copies of the games.

[@jackcphelps]

probably the real video game with the most "30 Rock cutaway" energy

[@dallinengberson8212]

no wonder blockbuster went out of business if they were making deals like that

[@HenryNooney]

Great content for all the Blues Brothers 2k heads out there.

[@felipenachmanowicz9393]

Just so you know, the "rhythm" sections are imitating Bust-a-Groove, not Parappa.

[@larryinc64]

For me a thing that beats the Drake And Josh one is the Japanese RPG Earthbound having the Runaway 5 be a homage to The Blues Brothers with one of their songs (Runaway Five's Final Performance) sampling "The Changeling" by The Doors.

[@sojiro856]

I like how a picture of Dick Dastardly and a laughing Muttley in the Nintendo Official Magazine is right under the percent score for Blues Brother 2000. Darn you Dick!

[@felixdaniels37]

Wow, I wasn't even aware the Blues Brother was an SNL skit. I just thought it was an orignal movie.

[@Tomtycoon]

Sounds like great AVGN material

[@phili4600]

Saying that we live in a remix culture now is odd. "Remix Culture" has always existed. Things would spread from one place to another and be used differently as far back as cultures have existed. Like how Italy and China/other asians countries have different uses for pasta/noodles. Or how rock and roll was descended from blues, which itself would form into many different genres and subgenres. Or how the car was invented by germans, but has had improvements and modifications from many other countries.

[@_plg]

Oh my fucking god is that Earthbound 64

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

"no half measures" I mean, it would just be a whole measure of 2/4

[@Jakepearl13]

Today on “I can’t believe it’s not a romhack!”

[@Hurtdeer]

The UK'S Nintendo Official Magazine was famously a shill magazine that would rate every single game it reviewed pretty high. I remember realising this as a kid and abandoning it very quickly in favour for the much better N64 Magazine. Can imagine working at NOM when a bad game came in for review must have been an absolute test on their writing abilities sometimes

[@MIAM_MIAM_CUISINE]

they must've changed sometime in the mid-00's because I remember reading the magazine as a kid and they could be downright vicious about some of the games they reviewed didn't really make it "better" though (I remember there being an absurd bias against anything considered too RPG-adjacent in particular, altho at least they had the good sense to be one of the few publications to actually talk about Beyond Good & Evil back when it came out)

[@NezuChan]

I wanted to mention that this was not a Blockbuster exclusive in my country of Canada. I bought it at an electronics store.

[@jessecantsing]

As a kid, I rented this game from blockbuster. I didn’t have a memory card and could not beat the first level. I’ll never forget that childhood gamer rage lol

[@hahasamian8010]

You say this game is bad and yet... it looks so utterly captivating to me.... I think it's pulling me in......

[@FierySprites]

I have only ever seen this game covered by DarkLordJadow1 before, and he couldn't get past the final world. The fact that you managed to see it through to the end is impressive in its own right.

[@razorknight92]

I saw this game on the shelves at Blockbusters when I was a kid. I remember being confused by it, and ignoring it completely.

[@mikeaction321]

I rented this from my local video store back in 2001 and had no idea it was a Blockbuster exclusive. Makes me wonder why the local Mom and Pop shop had it, lol. But yeah, I actually played this game back in the day. I only rented it once but never forgot how bizarre it was.

[@daffers2345]

Maybe Blockbuster had too many copies and sold some. I remember buying DVDs when they were done using them. They still said Blockbuster but obviosuly didn't belong to the store. If another store bought it they would have put it in a proprietary case and removed name labels. Or maybe it was pirared or something. :B

[@JJMcCullough]

Fascinating video on a bizarre topic. Nice job.

[@Bosby42]

Wow, this is a great video KZbin randomly suggested to me. I really like your vocal tone and oration, and appreciate how you covered the topic from all angles. Pretty easy subscription from me!

[@IronMan3582]

I remember this, but I didn't remember ever seeing it on store shelves...now I know why

[@arnieXD]

Just found this channel. Immediate subscribe. Obscure video game' essays is my form of guided meditations

[@ComputerLabHighjinks]

Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy the uploads.

[@BackPalSA]

Woot! Your Quest 64 video was great, and now I'm sure you've got the content type that I want. You've entered my consistent list. I hope to see you skyrocket in subs! The information you gave on the background of the game's existence and the Blues Brothers was excellent as someone who only knew them from the first movie.

[@paleoblue]

i won’t lie saying the game controls “almost exactly like mario 64” is a bit of a stretch considering this game seems to have a moveset of about one move

[@GrumpySylveon]

This is definitely a game on 'Gaming in the Clinton Years'

[@RememberThatThing]

I’m so glad people are talking about this game! I always thought it was super interesting for its backstory alone and how Titus made this a year after Superman 64 and how unknown it is despite it being a very interesting moment in n64 history.

[@Jack_CD]

Great video! I first heard of this game through a podcast but I didn't realize how deep the rabbit hole of weirdness went

[@steviebea]

dang, this is an underrated video!! i like this a lot! time to go through the whole channel’s backlog

[@benbriggsmusic]

So happy to have discovered this channel from the Quest 64 vid!!!

[@tordemaster9875]

As a fan of both the original blues brothers and n64 collectathons: it truly is bizarre this exist and I love hating it

[@MasterLYT]

Man i have this game, grew up with it. Never got far into the game but it did give me very memorable dreams (nightmares?) with the main character being a giant in my house out to get me

[@ChrisinColor]

I’ve been meaning to say this for a couple months now-your channel provides such a fascinating perspective on gaming with great production values. I know it’s going to blow up soon! Currently at 4.37K but I can see it adding a few zeros to the end of that very quickly!

[@skainovember7262]

This was one of the first games I ever owned and one of the only games I ever beat as a kid. I used to play it to 100% completion at least once a year throughout my childhood.

[@peaman3905]

They made a game adaptation of my favorite movie, Blues Brothers 2000, released in 1998?!

[@BebopBerserker]

This feels like it was meant to be something completely different then slapped the Blues Brothers license onto it last minute

[@Idkwhattoputhere5123]

It has a lotta similarities to mother 64

[@sonicguyver7445]

Weird. I remember seeing that game for sale an Meijers. Like everyone else my first that was, "Why? Who asked for this?"

[@diskoBonez]

My parents didn't know much about videogames but they liked the Blues Brothers, so they picked this game up for me from a pawn shop. Not being able to save without a controller Pak really sucked a lot of the fun out. I really enjoyed how zany it was. Genuinely thought it was a pretty great game with some challenging boss fights. But the game was really difficult so I kept dying and getting sent back to the start, so I only ever played the first few levels. No wonder this game was pretty common in pawn shops.

[@Coopersville]

I feel like the movie was cursed because of John Landis. I saw it on TBS when I was a kid and deemed that it was about as funny as Austin Powers, whatever that means. I didn't learn about the Twilight Zone movie for like another decade.

[@RetroTaylor94]

God, I played the hell out of this as a kid.

[@sc3ku]

I remember reading about this in Nintendo Power but never saw it as we rarely went to Blockbuster (the local rental shop was closer, cheaper, and had a window connecting it to the Domino’s next door!)

[@NezuChan]

Ugh. I bought this game new back in the day. The only thing worthwhile about it is that it introduced me to some amazing music. I adore Cheaper to Keep Her.

[@JayTheComputerGuy]

I always thought they were a band from the 70s that spawned a movie and not a SNL skit that turned into movie

[@Julford]

13:12 I ruined one of my favorite songs doing this, too! The first phone I used as a replacement for a physical alarm clock was extremely quiet, so I ended up using the most immediately loud song I had for an alarm; "Hikari" by Utada Hikaru, a song from the video game series Kingdom Hearts. Absolutely RUINED that game series for me because of my overexposure to the song (and the prevalence of it within those games), but damn is it still an effective alarm after over a decade at this point.

[@HerecomestheCalavera]

I've been baffled by this game for years. It is just so bizarre.

[@Sigismund697]

You just unlocked an old memory of mine I remember seeing this game promoted on a N64 magazine back in the day, I had no idea what Blues Brothers was and I never heard anything about the game afterwards so it's funny to find out what the game was about decades later Also cut Titus some slack, superman (it never had 64 on the title ever) was the result of DC actively sabotaging them during development, their initial concept had a lot of potential

[@AlonCV]

For one second I thought it was the original Mother 3 64 or some reference of the "band guys" from Earthbound lol

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

You want to know something weirder? There were other Blues Brothers games released earlier for the NES and SNES. They are also quite bad.

[@OniLink99999]

Discovered your channel with the Quest 64 video (and subbed), and this one's right up my alley too! Love finding out about obscure classic games like this, and you covered it really well =)

[@renegaderaven3777]

I vividly remember renting this from ye olde Blockbuster back in the day. I never actually beat it. Should go back and knock it out some time. Mostly just for closure I guess.

[@nomchonks]

I just learned about this game a few weeks ago and now you have a video about it. The same thing happened with Quest 64. It's like this channel is made for me.

[@lane7764]

You may be the first gamer who knows how to use JSTOR

[@Josuh]

Holy shit I thought I would never see this game being talked about, it was so weird as a kid

[@NimhLabs]

I will note that the DS game "Elite Beat Agents" has some major vibes similar to The Blues Brothers... to the point of surprising me there was never an attempt to make an OSU game that featured The Blue Brothers

[@MultiCool55]

I had totally forgotten this game even existed until this popped up on my home page. I don't know why but this was one of the games that came from a hand me down N64 my brother used to own, along with some actually good games.I tried to play this several times out of sheer curiosity but not being able to save since I didn't have a controller pak made this a living hell, I could never get past world 2 because of it. Eventually I got so angry at it that, after getting a game over yet again, I ripped it out of the console and flung it into my bedroom wall as hard as I could. I don't know if I broke it because it promptly disappeared and I have no idea where it could have bounced to lmao. Kinda wish I didn't lose it as its such a weird game that simply owning it is a novelty in and of itself.

[@penelope8134]

I coulda sworn this game was cancelled. It's so hard to imagine this game is something that actually got released

[@xp7575]

I discovered your channel when i read a comment you left on some other small media analysis channel about a year ago and you've become one of my favorite channels on Yt, hard to believe you still have less than 5,000 subs, keep up the great work and hopefully the algorithm will increase your reach soon

[@MoAli1984]

Such a weird game 😂

[@WillaGem]

i remember seeing this game many times at my local blockbuster as a kid but never wanting to rent. even than i was aware of blues brothers 2000's reputation lol

[@GlizardFr]

i have nothing of value to say but the blues brothers is my favorite movie so thats a fact about me i guess

[@lillordakira9752]

That's like WB interactive making a beat em up video game based on Friday for Playstation.

[@DRIVE85]

I loved that game as a child

[@Anamonator]

Ironically I was literally just watching someone play it

[@brosyouknow5013]

horrible game, I couldn't even get through the whole second world without feeling nauseous. The 4.4/10 is generous. I personally give it a 2.5/10. Updating sound effects, fixing hit boxes, and adding more soundtracks would make it more bearable. But the camera and awful framerate "laggy" is what just ruins it.

[@IDoubleJ]

This...actually exists....but that's amazing

[@DeathSocrates]

I played this gane as a kid

[@Josuh]

same

[@charleschamp9826]

This game sounds like more than the sum of its parts but in a bad way.

[@cashnelson2306]

I remember seeing this at blockbuster as a kid and thinking “that seems weird what is this” but assuming older people must love that movie or something Turns out lol

[@SpudMackenzie]

I only know of this game because I had exactly one issue of Nintendo Power and it had an ad for this.

[@affegpus4195]

Aint the dance segments just a copy of bust a groove?

[@skep2923]

I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for you to say, “Just kidding, this isn’t real. Wouldn’t it be funny if it did though?” It was the graveyard that made me think this was a joke, because that graveyard looked “rejected from Croc” tier and what is that doing in a Blues Brothers game?

[@NiGHTSnoob]

I played this as a kid, never finished Chicago

[@RabbitEarsCh]

I've been vaguely curious about this game for a very long time, and now I can see that this is one of the fakest looking video games of all time. Huge TV show bootleg video game energy.

[@peacexlove]

I tried watching this movie a few months ago but I couldn't finish it because I got bored shitless. I originally saw it on Comedy Central many years ago. I don't remember it being so slow paced and aimless.

[@Dug88]

I remember seeing this all the time in the video store for rent when I was a kid. I had no idea what the blues brothers was at the time, though the original one's a great movie, but that game just looked like something I didn't want to play. I thought it was some kind of gameshow game or something like that south park game Chef's love shack. I had no idea it was a platformer. Also, the first mario party destroyed 2 of my controllers and a few of my cousin's controllers because of all the control stick spinning mini games so yeah, that game deserves its rating.

[@itryen7632]

Dude i also thought this was some ARG stuff

[@FacePomagranate]

I knew about it because I took the issue of Nintendo Power that talked about this game on vacation with me. Of course, NP made the game sound pretty cool, but I also never ended up playing it.

[@killervacuum]

please do a piece of content on gamefaqs. its such a unique slice of history and culture. there was even a scandal near the end where they were paying people in gift cards

[@ari-dynamicarchive]

and the funny thing is, Titus makes it sound like they loved Blues Brothers yet from the SNES onward they kept putting the BB in ridiculous and absurd Super Mario realities; keep in mind this is before Blues Brothers 2000, too.

[@TotallySearch]

Only thing I learned from BB 2000 is that: "They're on a mission from god"

[@gustavocve1779]

I always heard this game was bad so I never rented it back then. When collecting for the system a few years back I played it for the first time, and I was surprised how enjoyable the game is. I really had a lot of fun with it. Not bad game at all.

[@Quick_Nerd]

I think I need this game...

[@sideburngthepeacebringer27]

It would be amazing if the first movie had a N64 game as well.

[@MagnetismR]

This is like a gag game that would exist on the Simpsons.

[@dupirechristophe7703]

"It' bad, and i'll explain why" *takes 4 minutes till he showsit was a TITUS game* x'D

[@barneyjuniorYT]

From the Earthbound Universe: Runaway 64!!

[@TheBottomTier]

A much better rhythm game to compare this to would have been Bust A Groove. It's visibly strikingly similar to what Blues Brothers 2000's rhythm game sections are like.

[@michaeldemers2716]

Crap. I missed this Blockbuster hit. I need to pick this up and Indiana Jones.

[@TheArtkaw]

All this time you were wondering why this game was made and not single reference to the original 1992 NES game by Titus (which had an IBM PC port) which this game seems to be a follow up on? Just a reference to Titus’ Superman 64? A bit odd.