Power Racer & Painter Momopie retrospective: Leaders of the Pac | Game Boy Works

[@brux357]

I want “0 days without a Heiankyo Alien reference” merch

[@Projectwolfie21]

Head On. Apply directly to the Game Boy

[@MaxieMeat]

Head On. Apply directly to the Game Boy.

[@w.s.mcgallis7731]

You win the comments.

[@almightycinder]

Head On. Apply directly to the Game Boy.

[@manzoman96]

This indeed was a great break from doomscrolling, thanks Jeremy!

[@fireflocs]

Painter Momopie is one of those games that feels like it should be a bigger deal than it is. Like it should have spawned a small franchise or something.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

It's too bad Painter Momopie never came to the US, I think I would have enjoyed it. And looking forward to the SaGa 2 (localized as Final Fantasy Legend II) on the next Game Boy Works.

[@LordChozo]

"Oh snap, I'm editing this video and am only now realizing that I reflexively said 'Power Ranger' instead of 'Power Racer'! Should I just dub over that word and try to match the audio bits so it sounds natural? Should I re-record the whole thing to ensure maximum consistency? Should I do nothing and hope nobody notices? OR, should I just lean into the error with a subliminal flash of a Power Ranger so they know that I know but also don't care?" You chose wisely, friend.

[@Patreon]

the power ranger got us 😂

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Hang on, this is the actual Patreon. WEIRD.

[@0palheart]

that painter momopie box art is so cute! i wish there was more info online about the artists/developers for these obscure older games

[@JeremyParish]

I think the character designer credited on the box, Gen Satou, is this guy: twitter.com/GENP37 - it looks like he's been active since 1979 and has done a lot of work like SD Gundam, so it tracks.

[@GamerGoingGrey]

Power Ranger 😂 Best way to lampshade a slip of the tongue

[@Wuss2ns]

Momopie has big game freak vibes

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Yep, really does show!

[@rodneylives]

Also: you called Pac-Man's flashing dots Energizers! I might be the only other person left in the world who still does that.

[@JeremyParish]

There’s no shame in being accurate!

[@jessragan6714]

That's what Ken Uston called 'em in his book Mastering Pac-Man, so that's the term I use too.

[@rodneylives]

@@jessragan6714 You remember that book too!

[@JeremyParish]

I was more of a Jeff Rovin guy myself

[@rodneylives]

@@JeremyParish Rovin was okay, a little after Uston though. Ken Uston was a prominent early strategy guide writer. He was more famous for being a great blackjack player, but got a sideline going writing about video games before he was, tragically, found dead in his hotel room of heart failure in 1987. (You probably already knew all this, just trying to help further the legend a bit for other readers, heh.)

[@chamchamtrigger]

I used to apply that directly to my forehead *checks comments* Dammit!

[@JeremyParish]

I made that joke last episode anyway

[@mattdgroves]

I guess I'm one of those "whoever they ares" (someone who likes Head On / Power Racer) thanks to this episode. I've always liked Rally X, and now I have something similar to check out.

[@joakkar]

I'm not even mad that he called the game power ranger instead of power racer at one point. I'd probably call it that multiple times and not even notice.

[@billcook4768]

Great stuff as always. But you missed the single most important fact regarding Head On. Its arcade hardware was later copied and formed the basis for an arcade conversion of an obscure game - Heiankyo Alien :) Also, don’t think we didn’t catch the Colossal Cave reference.

[@OttScott]

Are we into minutes since Heiankyo Alien references now? :D And can't wait for your Banana Trade Expose!

[@katt-the-pig]

Power Racer reminds me a lot of Dodge 'Em on the Atari 2600. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ultimately the same game, just retitled. Had a lot of fun with that game.

[@JeremyParish]

Yep, Dodge ‘Em was a pretty direct clone of Head On.

[@RabbitEarsCh]

Painter Momopie is just such a charming little slice of what makes the Game Boy great. Another one I wish I would've had on long car trips.

[@NukeOTron]

Somebody had fun editing this video.

[@JeremyParish]

If we ever figure out who it was, I'll be sure to reprimand them appropriately

[@Belzeboobies]

I really dig that "days without referencing Heiankyo Alien" sign. Mm, it's strange, I was sure Painter Momopie was already covered in this channel in a time skip episode or something.

[@ScottALowe]

Was surprised to see a variation of Head On on the Astro City Mini since I'd never heard of the game before this video.

[@mattleonard8412]

So you mean to tell me the mini-game in Jak 3 for the PS2 where Daxter is shoved into a computer and has to eat pellets n stuff is basically just Power Racer?

[@rabiroden]

Conspiracy: Sega commissioned its oldest and simplest game to be ported to Game Boy as a ploy to make it look wimpy and outdated in comparison to Game Gear.

[@almightycinder]

There's a theory that Coleco did that with Donkey Kong on Atari 2600.

[@SmashBrosOdyssey64]

Is it bad that I expected a cutaway to the incomplete election results during the "everybody dies in this equation" at 3:35 ?

[@feitclub]

The whole “driving cars and narrowly avoiding each other” thing feels vaguely like SNK’s Safari Rally - from 1979!

[@MarcBarkyMarta]

Thank you for providing this very nice distraction from the reality of what is today. I’m sure you’re probably looking for distractions today just like the many of us, so again, thank you for providing us with more GB goodness.

[@jessragan6714]

There were so many clones of Head On in the early 1980s. Dodge 'Em was mentioned, but Car Wars on TI 99/4A is another... it was hugely frustrating because losing reset all the dots in that stage. Argh! Arrgh!! Also, how d'ya like that opening music in Crush Roller? It's probably the single most abrasive tune I've heard in a video game.

[@NouveauArtPunk]

Major thanks for the pick me up, Mr. Parish.

[@mattb1]

Mr. Parish this video was great. Contraturation! I want to give you good present.

[@thecunninlynguist]

Dexterity! one of the first handful of games I had for the GB. I think I would have sunk hours into Painter Momopie. Love me a nice puzzler.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Wow, great timing on the next GBW episode. There's a compilation of the first three SaGa / FF Legend games coming out on Switch next month.

[@JeremyParish]

Amazing coincidence. I wonder how that happened?

[@LorenHelgeson]

Great episode. Also, love the Power Rangers gag.

[@rodneylives]

Power Racer/Head On is interesting for also having a close port to, of all things, the Atari VCS! It was an early game for that system, in the form of Dodge 'Em!

[@zubizuva]

the Atari 2600 had its own version of Power Racer called Dodge Em; that was my first exposure to that series.

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, Head On was cloned pretty extensively, the way every successful game was at the time. Power Racer is remarkable to me because it is a legit release of the original game.

[@MAYOFORCE]

Now I wished that mine cart minigame in DK64 was just over when you collected a bunch of bananas or coins on the track instead of waiting for a timer to end

[@Unquestionable]

Definitely some interesting titles, especially Momopie. Hyped for the next GameBoy works as FFL2 is one of my favorite titles on the system and that preview was a great nod to the weird translation.

[@Saturnome]

Well! I Always knew "Head-on" as "Crash" by Exidy.

[@felipeparra3502]

we deserved more heiankyo alien in the channel

[@rubberwoody]

crazy that race car can make instant 90 degree turns but can only move lane to lane

[@jcharr1]

oh, wow. The 2600 version, Dodge 'em (or as I called it as a kid "Dodge 'em cars!"), was the very first video game I ever had, and I played the crap out of it when I was a kid. But I'd never even heard of Power Racer before now. I have vague memories of hearing about Head On before, but I didn't realize it was essentially the same game as Dodge 'em. Appropriately, IIRC when my Mom gave it to me we were in the car at the time.

[@teeveeparty]

I hope you made some bank on that momopie game!

[@seanspear6224]

Omg next episode gonna be good

[@soulsilver8540]

i almost missed that, i cant wait

[@OldGodMachinations]

Hearing you say “Power Ranger” at one point made me laugh because that what I kept hearing even when you were saying “racer” Though I may be biased there 😂

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Well, Power Racer has some weird history behind it. Shame nobody knows how the heck it all happened. And wasn't Crush Roller also known as Pac N' Paint?

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@OM19_MO79 What the heck is the Astro City Mini?

[@JeremyParish]

It's the next mini console device. It's a miniature arcade cabinet designed to look like the Astro City "candy cabs" that basically every Japanese arcade uses for its retro section.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@JeremyParish Now THERE'S something I literally don't know a single thing about.

[@billcook4768]

Sadly, the proposed game selection is kinda meh.

[@savageduck2613]

Power racer looks alot like the 2600 game dodge em, coincidence?

[@rodneylives]

It was probably another knock-off, I'd say!

[@petwisk2012]

It's weird that DK64 hás a bônus Stage that IS extremely similar to Power Racer in concept, It Just change cars for Mine Karts and the adversary for bomb karts

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Power Racer: Apply directly to the forehead.

[@crithitjace]

I am just infinitely confused and intrigued by "narcotics banana trade."

[@MrJWTH]

The reference is in the original version of the game there were a group of bad guys in one the cities involved in a secret opium trade network and in the English version it was changed to a banana trade network to avoid making drug references.

[@almightycinder]

@@MrJWTH Reminds me of this Saturn game, Dark Savior, where the currency changed from cigarettes to chocolate bars in the English version.

[@tekkensentai]

Dodge Em!

[@johnsimon8457]

That Power Racer track is more or less the same as the original Mario Kart battle mode. And Momopie’s paint the floor mechanic is roughly what Splatoon is about. So yes, everything always comes around.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Painter Momopie looks great, but why is it so damn expensive? In this video, you mention upwards of $400 for an in-box copy. Two years later, I'm seeing cart-only auctions going for +$500. Wow!!!

[@JeremyParish]

Sometime between the beginning of this Game Boy project in 2014 and now, the market finally took an interest in the system and prices skyrocketed. When I started, only a handful of CIB titles cost more than $200. Now, though…

[@nojot0]

Please don't take this as me saying I didn't enjoy the video, just that I didn't really enjoy the visual gags, (the sort of cuts to the power rangers or that one america's got talent thingy.) I feel like you could still make the same jokes, just that they'd be funnier if you didn't do that. Then again, maybe my sense of humour isn't funny, I guess. Maybe I just felt like it was to large a departure from what the series normally was. It's your channel, you choose what to do, that usually leads to better videos, so do what you want! When I saw the words painter and pac in the title I expected a Crush Roller reference and you delivered. (Fun fact, about Crush Roller, there was an unlicensed port of it to NES. Hmmm, that could be interesting, an NES works episode on unlicensed/bootleg NES games? I feel like so long as you didn't talk extensively about the ones everyone's already done to death, it'd make for a great video... What do I know though I'm dumb. Technically would they even count as NES games? Again, do what you wish, probably best.)

[@randomcharacter6501]

He's chronologically covering every game for multiple systems. I'd imagine that could turn into a chore if he had to stick to a format lest someone nitpicks in the comments. Let him experiment before he burns out bc people are complaining about his work. I've been on YT a long time and seen it happen multiple times.

[@nojot0]

@@randomcharacter6501 Yeah, my original version of the comment told him to do what he wanted, I just forgot to include that in this version. I'll add it now, as I agree with you entirely.

[@JeremyParish]

Honestly, I file “your videos should be less fun!” complaints in the same memory hole as “your videos should be more fun!” complaints. I got better things to worry about.

[@nojot0]

​Ok, fair enough, focus on what's worth focusing on.

[@elfiebranford9330]

I don't know what is is, but something about Power Racer seems oddly familiar. I've actually never played nor seen the game before. However, I could've sworn I saw some sort of Flash game replica of it around circa 2008 on some website; best guess would be one of those TV station sites that just have games on them. I could be misremembering, but the top-down layout combined with the dot collecting (as well as not being a blatant Pac-Man clone) feels so familiar to me, and in a way, kinda nostalgic. Usually retro games hit me in Nostalgia even when there shouldn't be any, but at the same time, it hits harder on the sweet spot for some odd reason.

[@LorenHelgeson]

It was also on Atari 2600 as Dodge 'Em and the TI-99/4a as Car Wars. Among others, I'm sure.

[@sovrinn16]

0:48 lol Jeremy with the self-referential joke for the mega-Stans

[@GardevoirBoy]

The reason why Tecmo got the Game Boy port instead of Sega was due to licensing issues. Even though there were some Sega games on the Game Boy, no license exists in the U.S. release because Nintendo was pretty strict of third-party handling, and Sega released games on their own consoles.

[@JeremyParish]

Doesn't explain Tecmo publishing it in Japan.

[@JeremyParish]

After giving this some more thought, I realized there's some Citation Needed on the claim that Nintendo didn't let competitors release games on Nintendo platforms. Atari released several games through its Tengen division under license, Hudson (one of the two companies behind the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16) released tons of games for NES and Super NES, and SNK was publishing their own games on Nintendo platforms long after the Neo•Geo had launched.

[@JeremyParish]

You’re missing the point. Tengen was a part of Atari, not a separate entity. SNK and Hudson published under their own names on Nintendo systems. Nintendo clearly didn’t care about shutting out competitors-I mean, if people were buying competitors’ games on a Nintendo system, Nintendo was making money from it. Which is kind of the thing they like to do.

[@ryanstevens3822]

the mouse is cute

[@jamesmoss3424]

I will get power racer. 😀👍🎮

[@alexandernichols413]

😷👍

[@nngnnadas]

I'm confused, didn't this video exist before?

[@JeremyParish]

I’ve never discussed these games before.

[@hikaruk.981]

*Tired old Head-On Commercial Reference*