Rambo retrospective: Stallone in the dark | NES Works

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Rambo is, unfortunately, another example of an Angry Video Game Nerd video being taken 100 percent seriously as a review, which they're not really meant to be. The game is by no means perfect, but it does plenty of interesting stuff for an early NES game. I'm glad KZbin has moved beyond the angry reviewing fad and we now get more in-depth, and well researched reviews that also explain the wider context of a game's release. Your channel is a real gem, Jeremy. It doesn't just deliver entertainment, but is an academic exploration of a piece of pop culture history.

[@DmitryChmelyov]

Same with Simon's Quest. It's scary how much AVGN formed people's opinions.

[@GoldenPickaxe]

yeah but simon's quest is still nigh impossible to beat without a translation patch, manual, or walkthrough, so even though it's a fun castlevania game you can't beat it and get interrupted constantly by the day/night cycle, so i understand why people get frustrated with it castlevania good

[@spuppy852]

Jeremy makes veiled references to AVGN occasionally, including this video. I don't think it needs to be mentioned though. If someone takes AVGN seriously, that's kind of their problem. It's just someone making fun of awkward and bad video games from our childhoods, not really meant to be a retrospective analysis. 🤷‍♂️

[@jasonblalock4429]

Also, Friday The 13th. Which is, like Rambo, an ambitious and ahead-of-its-time game trying to do justice to its license, although it does definitely have some design flaws that hold it back. But if it weren't published by LJN - and if AVGN's review weren't so popular - I genuinely think it would be seen as a prescient precursor to 90s survival horror games.

[@sebastiangorka200]

youre all just bad game design apologists and contrarians

[@kenpowers01]

I remember the day it came out. I was 15 and biked 2+ miles to the computer store to buy it with my paper route money. I think it was $40 (a king’s ransom in what could have been records and comic books). I even remember calling beforehand to make sure it was there and to ask, to the penny, how much money I needed. Rambo 2 was one of my favorite movies at the time and I couldn’t wait to relive it through my NES console. Bringing it home, I soon realized it wasn’t what I was hoping for…I wanted something like Commando or Contra. Hell, I’d have taken a Rush'n Attack clone! The sting burned that memory into my brain and the hard learned lesson to always try before I buy. Definitely goes down (next to Athena) as my most regretted NES purchase. That said, if I hadn’t taken risks, I wouldn’t have bought the first Mega Man when it came out which is my all-time favorite third party NES game (2 is great, too. I just have more nostalgic memories for the original). Anyway, I didn't hate the Rambo game...it just didn't make me feel like Rambo...and 40 bucks is a lot to pay to not feel like Rambo. Great video and love the work you do!

[@SutorenjiKamereon]

Cave Story does a similar thing: helping an injured character means confirming his death and sets you on a path towards the bad ending. I could never comprehend the logic.

[@DmitryChmelyov]

Clock Tower on SNES does that too. At one moment you hear a scream that you must ignore. If you look in the window there is a girl falling, if you don't she survives.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

God, that's stupid. I mean, I see how it works, it makes sense, but it's such a "screw you" to the player.

[@redpup112]

Schrödinger's Booster.

[@Seafoamgaming]

I always have found this game bewildering solely due to the OST being way too good for what you’d expect from not just a licensed game from the era, but any in general: surprising how good they made it here

[@DaneeBound]

"Kept you waitin’, huh?" "And you'll have to keep us waiting for some time. Get back in the box, Snake!"

[@JeremyParish]

Sure... a week or two.

[@cristianmastrocicco4552]

@@JeremyParish I think it will be more than two weeks lmao

[@leeleetan712]

What? Zelda 2 In Nes Works 104? But Zelda 2 In Nes Works 99, But Something Else Are Not Nes Works 104!

[@JazGalaxy]

The weird and completely unknown-to-me connection between Rambo and Zelda 2 is why I watch this channel.

[@Rountree1985]

So I take it you never watched the Rambo episode of AVGN?

[@altf4games]

Glad you mentioned the Die Hard game because this always reminded me of that game and I never realized they were made by the same dev. I really admire those way too ambitious licensed games that try their best to somewhat capture the spirit of the stuff they're adapting, even if they fell short most of the time.

[@robotlorekeeper9880]

I need to say how happy “Stallone in the dark” made me. Definitely the best title joke yet.

[@milkcarton6654]

I was just posting about this game on a forum yesterday as a game that confused the hell out of me but that through sheer perseverance i finished some time in 1989 at age 10, i'd borrowed it from someone for about a month and i remember getting really involved with it and really wanting to complete it. In the years since i have heard it was very bad and certainly remembering how weird it was for a Rambo game, i had kinda come to embrace this opinion. Seeing you defend it to a degree then makes me think i wasn't wrong in sticking to this game for a month when i was a kid. Also because it's a game i only played in one specific period of time and never again since, it evokes strong nostalgia whenever i see it in action. Like a very powerful sensorial recall of its gameplay, of its feel. Kinda like a perfect time warp to that exact period of my life.

[@bS0up]

Man. that Rambo portrait where he's surprised is priceless!

[@flyingerasehead]

I played Rambo after my childhood and I can confirm that it's a pretty okay game. On a scale of Zelda II to Battle of Olympus, I'd put Rambo in the middle.

[@DanZero77]

The best part of the Japanese Famicom version is on the title screen - REND THE FEELINGS THE HEART WITH PAINFUL FEELINGS

[@Dimensiom]

Rambo, for NES, is underrated. It is not a great game but it is also not an awful game. I believe that it is, at worst, a "slightly above average" game. A lot of the jank in the game is standard fare for 8-bit games at the time, even for games now considered classics. As Jeremy notes, the developers were trying something. Where it falters or fails it does so because of inexperience, not apathy. The music is very well composed, especially the main action area theme that carries an undertone of melancholy that really fits the narrative. The developers also accounted for some player decisions and even had an optional variation on the ending that differs from the film's ending where a key character survives instead of dies if the player thinks to do (or, rather, not do) something.

[@jessragan6714]

This game toes the line between being a sincere homage to the films and a parody of them. The expanding heads of bosses, the scheming COs literally turning into slimy toads, and even the dialog ("But the game won't start until you say yes!") makes me wonder about Pack-In Video's true intentions. Also, if you lure the toad to one of the N/S portals and stand on it, you can go back to the battlefield, just in case you weren't ready for the game to end after you finished your mission.

[@Ginormousaurus]

I think if this game was either marketed as a quirky parody of Rambo or had the strange, out of place elements removed it would have been better received. I like the idea of a Rambo game with gameplay like Zelda II. The emphasis on exploration and Rambo surviving in the wild with limited resources is an interesting contrast to the numerous Rambo-inspired run and guns. The music is good. The game's plot roughly follows the movie, despite such bizarre additions as killer flamingoes, flying skulls, and robots. The game ultimately suffers because of its inconsistent tone. For example, there's dialogue at the end of the game where Rambo expresses his feelings about the Vietnam War and his country and the sentiment of the scene is undercut by Rambo's goofy-looking portrait.

[@WalrusFPGA]

Just watching the traversal through those north/south entry doors is giving me PTSD from spending days lost in the labyrinthine hellhole that is Dr. Franken's castle, on Gameboy. It's somewhat relieving, at least, that it was such a rarely used gimmick.

[@SynopsisGrim]

This is one of those games that I've been meaning to give another go. Not because I enjoyed it back in the day, because I certainly didn't, but because maybe it will be much more palatable with the modern convenience of save/load states.

[@SmashBrosOdyssey64]

You know a video game review is gonna be good when it starts with a Jethro Tull reference.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

Can confirm.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

What, the guy who invented the Seed Drill? Yep. Dragging that joke out. Can't stop me.

[@bmbougie]

I have fond memories of playing this game as a kid. Fond, and frustrating memories. Trying to find where to go with the map laid out the way they did it made it very difficult sometimes. Kind of reminded me of Goonies 2, which was even more frustrating.

[@2dskillz]

I spent so much time stumbling around in this game in my youth. I was always of the notion then that it was my fault when I did not understand what the game required to move forward.

[@Larry]

Did Pack in Video also make the Predator game? Also the unreleased Aliens NES game? They have a similar style.

[@Mikey-zj8bn]

Nope square made both of those before final fantasy1

[@fayezfawzi3255]

Nice to see you Larry! Your channel is awesome :D.

[@jessragan6714]

Yeah, Pack In Video did make the Predator game. And boy, what a pungent turd that was.

[@DmitryChmelyov]

I love the Predator game! So weird, so psychedelic! And the music is great in it.

[@sean.durham999]

Good to see you here Larry.

[@dexdigi]

this guy doesn't miss. i love these.

[@shannonwilliams7249]

This soundtrack blew my eight year old mind. The main theme still give goose bumps. Thanks for the great work, Jeremy. Your work has been and continues to be important and provides great escape.

[@alex_-yz9to]

I still find hilarious they had to make a second revision to remove the odd light swear words like "Get the hell out".... Most of these R rated Movir based Nes games never came to europe but if they did i'm certain the light curse words would have probably been kept since europe was mostly soft about this "Mild language" as the ESRB puts it

[@AverageDrafter]

So I just got a nifty retro gaming console (Powkiddy A13 - Looks like crap, but it's actually rad for $100) and I had to figure out a way to curate a list so I'm not just facing a massive list of ROMS with 1942 and AAAH!!! Real Monsters always at the top (not to mention the mountain of hilarious Japanese/Chinese, poorly named and straight up knockoff roms it came packed with). So, after a half dozen attempts I decided on taking advantage of Jeremy's insane attention to detail and use his Works series as the backbone of the collection. I have loaded up all of the NESWorks videos and the corresponding ROMS in their own directories and it has turned a humble gaming device into a retro gaming education machine! Watch the video, play the game! The black box series of games are GREAT to watch and get context, and take in a Baseball or Golf game for the minimalist joys that they are. Also, since I got this device for sharing, its perfect to have these short, well organized, consistently formatted info dump for younger people new to this era of gaming and old asses like me who get all sorts of background they never knew. In particular using the title of the game as the opener, and then having the title of the actual game show up again on the same screen gives it a weird immediacy. "Oh yeah, these aren't just random videos I like to watch - these games are real and I can still play them!" To sum it up, Thank You Jeremy for your amazing Works! I know all of you aren't as broke as I am but watch these videos all the time - SUPPORT THIS MAN! The amount of work he puts into this project is staggering and is clearly a work of love of games and their history.

[@Unquestionable]

Tons of nostalgia for this one. I rented it a handful of times when I was 5 or 6 and couldn't comprehend the idea of interacting with background elements like doors. First attempt at playing was basically a weekend of me walking back and forth across the air base at the beginning being unable to progress. Eventually figured it out during a future rental and was immediately struck by how it reminded me of Zelda 2 and Metroid. Since then it's been in the back of my mind as one of those curious titles that comes off as misunderstood.

[@Monkey_SK]

I had no idea this even existed. Its funny how many violent movie games there were on NES, Snes and Gameboy, yet this suddenly stops once film studios realise the value of the rights, in the video game market.

[@spindriftprime]

My favorite bit about this game is Rambo's sprite, with its unified red stockings and the bold, hips-first stance of a dancer preparing to leap

[@JeremyParish]

This game truly captures the essence of Stallone

[@Ginormousaurus]

@@JeremyParish Well Stallone did co-write, co-produce, and direct Staying Alive (1983), the sequel to Saturday Night Fever in which Tony Manero (John Travolta) becomes a dancer in a Broadway show called Satan's Alley.

[@Level1Sword]

Wait, so you don't rember when Rambo yelled kanji at the CIA officer to turn him into a frog in the movie? I must have the secret director's cut...

[@locke103]

my mind cannot even fathom stallone saying one word in japanese without giggling like a schoolgirl

[@Ginormousaurus]

This could have been an okay game if not for some of the bizarre choices made by the developers. It's like if Ed Wood made a Rambo movie.

[@osurpless]

Or the version “directed” by George P. Cosmatos?

[@rottenparts]

Was waiting for this one. I feel like 1988 was really the year the NES came into it's own with unique titles that began to take a more-detailed graphical approach.

[@Ginormousaurus]

It's ironic that the Rambo movies influenced so many video games, such as Ikari Warriors and Contra, but the officially licensed Rambo game for the NES turned out so strange.

[@Digitoxin1]

This was one of my favorite games as a kid and I still find myself humming the main theme from time to time.

[@FallicIdol]

I rented this a few times as a kid and the music has stuck with me all this time

[@THE_GIN_MASTER_]

Been waiting for this one, Jeremy! Great job summing this up in sub 14 minute style. I remember wanting to do this one with ya before the pandemic. Maybe Rambo could do something about it? Or Pack-In Video?

[@neoasura]

I'm glad you touched on the Zelda 2 similarities, I thought I was the only crazy one that saw that as a kid.

[@stoozdee]

I do wish there had been an 8bit Rambo and Mujahideen playing goat polo.

[@heavysystemsinc.]

For a system marketed at younger children in general, it's quite crazy looking back that Rambo (an R rate movie), Friday the 13th and other R rated licenses would be allowed by Nintendo of America, as well. Obviously, this was a thing outside of Nintendo as well, there was a Rambo cartoon, RoboCop cartoon and toys, etc. but at the same time, it's quite a head scratching set of IPs to get through Nintendo. Also, Rambo was the first (and last?) game to feature 'naughty words' and it wasn't some blunder buried in the ending that Nintendo's censorship staff would miss like Bionic Commando, but in the opening mission dialogue. So much weirdness. Also, I think the game has a reputation it does not only for the clunky controls but because of the seemingly nonlinear, nonhandholding the game decidedly is. As someone once put it, it's a lot easier to have a chance at answering multiple choice questions correctly than having to write an essay as your answer because in multiple choice, even if you have no idea what the answer is, you still have 1/4 shot at getting it right and on top of the at least the possibility of eliminating answers you know are absolutely incorrect. That, in a videogame, requires a little more perseverance and determination to make heads or tails of the game's goals, all while trying to not get lost. I think most of us were lost when we played this game in our youth. I know I was.

[@JasonMontell2501]

Excited for the upcoming metal gear episode!!

[@therush757]

Now I want a Rambo game that’s a Breath of the Wild clone.

[@MathieuPronovost]

I love the music and the atmosphere of that game.

[@rheck86]

I am glad you made this video. I have been curious about this title ever since I heard it compared to Zelda 2. I'm also glad I didn't attempt to play this, as map-free NES games are utterly impenetrable to me.

[@treyslay753]

This game was $50 down the drain as a kid. The cover makes it look like an awesome, explosive game. Then you pop it in your NES...

[@Ginormousaurus]

$50 in 1988 would be equivalent to around $110 today after adjusting for inflation.

[@treyslay753]

@@Ginormousaurus Yeah, that makes it even worse. This game was a train wreck in my opinion. I have had zero desire to go back and revisit it over the years.

[@shareofmoney]

It’s crazy to see the ideas flow between Rambo and Zelda 2. Such great video game commentary as usual

[@kmaru80]

Rambo was one of my most memorable NES experiences. It wasn't a great game obviously, but the controls were responsive enough to keep it playable while you enjoyed it quirky surrealness and amazing music. Maybe it's nostalgia speaking, but I think Rambo has some of the most underrated music on the NES

[@alexh2790]

Rambo and a Jethro Tull reference. You made my day!

[@makaveli4205]

Aqualung

[@alexh2790]

@@makaveli4205 The one album true fans are allowed to hate. 😋

[@BenCol]

8:00 So Co is the precursor to Professor Booster in Cave Story?

[@FranciscoSamour]

This and Rygar are my all time favorite NES games. There's something about the unrefined and unpolished design and game play that I just find entertaining. Hydelide was also a joy to play back in the day because it felt like a real accomplishment to finish it back in the day without any game guides or hints.

[@SolCresta3405]

One of the weirdest Rambo games ever if you ask me.

[@billcook4768]

Interesting idea that Zelda 2 was a deliberate style that designers were striving for. It explains a lot of things that seem weird in hindsight.

[@JeremyParish]

There are really quite a few games on NES that openly copy Zelda II's style, Battle of Olympus being the the most blatant. Rambo is unusual in that localization delays caused it to arrive here half a year before the game that inspired it!

[@IanSane]

Yeah, Zelda II was oddly influential for a brief period of time and yet the Zelda series has never returned to that style.

[@NJRoadfan]

Whats sad is this isn't the only licensed movie title with a baffling North-South navigation system.

[@steevlan]

I remember renting and playing through this game as a kid, years before I ever saw a Rambo movie, although I was aware of Rambo as an action hero. I remember liking it overall, but finding it very frustrating in many ways as well. The part with the bridge and bubbles is something I haven't thought about in over 30 years! I also never noticed the similarity to Zelda II, but it's obvious now just seeing the game in action.

[@Zeffarian]

When you finally saw a Rambo movie, were you disappointed at all? Like - "Hey! Where are the man-eating flamingos???"

[@steevlan]

@@Zeffarian Nah, I don't think I actually saw the second Rambo movie until my late teens for whatever reason. By then I had mostly forgotten the NES game!

[@Aboveup]

Those tracks shifting directions immediately made my mind go Tomba. Though that was a 2.5D platformer with RPG mechanics. Interesting how a lot of these ideas always seem to converge with genre crossovers, often maybe even without direct contact or inspiration.

[@wh5027]

This game and Willow are very underrated licensed NES games. I enjoyed both as a kid. Willow pretty much followed the movie and had very solid Adventure/RPG mechanics.

[@michaelrousseau2472]

Every Wednesday, when I see Chubby Cherub in an NES Works video, I drink.

[@vectrex28]

When will the world acknowledge Super Rambo Special as the groundbreaking masterpiece it always was? :P

[@JeremyParish]

It actually sucks to play, sadly enough

[@vectrex28]

@@JeremyParish I know, but the opening cutscene and the voice clips are hilarious. It's become a bit of a meme among my friends. So much so that I hacked Shatterhand to add the voice clips to it (we're a weird bunch)

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

I bought Rambo at a yard sale when I was a kid. I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Never figured out what the heck I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to go. And I remember being annoyed at fighting the dang snakes over and over.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

They had fun with the portrait designs, but weren't good at making them.

[@Sorrowablaze]

That damn Rambo game. I played hours and hours of that at my cousin's house as a kid. Always expecting it to be something other than it was. You look at the cover: shirtless Stallone firing m60 with one arm. In the game: lost in the jungle hitting bugs with a knife. If it was like the NES Punisher game, but in Vietnam... Could've been, would've been..... What a wasted ip. Just like decades later on the pc.

[@Ginormousaurus]

The Rambo games for the Sega Master System show what the NES game could have been. Sega's Rambo: First Blood Part II is an overhead run and gun with two-player co-op like Ikari Warriors. Rambo III for the Sega Master System is a light gun game similar to Operation Wolf.

[@LorenHelgeson]

I will always stand up for this one. It was one of the very first video games I ever played, and my introduction to the NES. Yes, a lot of that is pure nostalgia, but the game "works." Sure, it's got jank, but like you said, it's not the same as what LJN shoved out the door constantly.

[@Filthnails]

Played the heck out of this in the 80s. It's a very weird and somewhat frustrating game (the bubbles on the bridge was traumatic). It had that great sense of early nes games where you're never fully certain where you're going, so it could be fun to explore. Also the music is pretty catchy.

[@TheMSXChannel]

Nice review! Just want to point out some things: 1) Pack-In-Video also released 'Super Rambo' for the PC-88 and Sharp X1 in 1986 (presumably before 'Super Rambo Special' for the MSX2). 2) Metal Gear is actually a MSX2 game. 3) It's weird to see a MSX2 game listed as MSX/2 in the video (Super Rambo Special).

[@mcsteee]

My favorite enemy that clearly doesn't belong in the game is flame throwing robot.

[@travezripley]

Another game I forced myself to play again when I obtained a game genie, I miss the game genie. I feel like these videos are the same feeling of replaying games I had forgotten about, with a deconstructed approach.

[@Fear2Stop]

I actually liked this game, and always felt it was underrated. Crazy part is I played this before seeing the movie so the story stuff was amazing to me (I saw First Blood but not the sequel at the time ). Co was my Aerith Any news on when the next episode is coming out?

[@JeremyParish]

There's a video episode every Wednesday.

[@Fear2Stop]

@@JeremyParish oh yeah...knew that (subscribed) but meant specifically the NES works series 😎

[@RaposaCadela]

Actually love the portraits in Rambo, they have a careless sketch cartoony look that I dig

[@karloavera]

I'm really glad to learn about this game, I want to try it out now!

[@RealRuler2112]

"It's NES Works episode 79." Upper left corner says '78'. =) My favorite is when Rambo meets Co for the first time, one of the first things he says to her is "What do you think of me?" and her reply is "What? You look good." and he gives the dumbest most dopey smile imaginable. And her reply even expresses her confusion like she's thinking 'we're on a ultra-risky top-secret military mission... wtf you talking about what I think of you?!?" XD

[@sewart]

I could not agree more with the sentiment that Rambo gets a lot of unfair hate. It's not perfect by any means, but it's got a lot to offer. Having never seen any of the movies when I was a kid, I remember finally renting this after seeing it briefly on one of those "how to win at games" video tapes, and liked it enough to finish it.

[@stevemanart]

I will always respect a failed attempt at doing good far more than a passable half-assed job. That is to say, I may not enjoy Rambo but I can't hate it either and I am glad to have it in my collection.

[@bezerker99]

Rambo was always a fun video game rental for the weekend back in the day

[@ericdleon]

My brothers had this when I was a kid. I was always fascinated by it. It was just so different. I still like the music.

[@kennethchia4194]

I don't think I've played this since renting it as a kid, and yet I will never forget that music. Also, because I hadn't played it in so long I never made the Zelda II connection.

[@guyfromnj]

Sega master system had a Rambo game too. Idk who made it. It was very much like other run and gun games of the era but with a red headband around the guys head to signify Rambo.

[@Ginormousaurus]

Rambo: First Blood Part II for the Sega Master System was developed and published by Sega. However, it wasn't originally a Rambo game. In Japan the game was titled Ashura. Ashura had enough elements in common with the Rambo movies that Sega was able to release it as a Rambo game in North America with just a few graphical revisions. Ashura had a protagonist armed with guns and bows on a mission to rescue prisoners from enemy soldiers in a jungle. Ashura even had a level in which you fought police in a town, which resembled the original First Blood film. The game was also released without the Rambo license in PAL regions under a different name (the box had "Secret Command" written on it, but the game's title screen says "Secret Commando").

[@guyfromnj]

@@Ginormousaurus yes that’s the one. It looked a lot like another more commonly known game. Thank you for the knowledge. I didn’t know the backstory.

[@Ginormousaurus]

@@guyfromnj The other, more commonly known game you're thinking of is probably Ikari Warriors, in which two Rambo lookalikes fight enemy soldiers in a jungle. "Ikari" is the Japanese word for "anger" or "fury". In Japan, Rambo: First Blood Part II was known as Rambo: Ikari no Dasshutsu ("Rambo: The Furious Escape"). The kanji that Rambo uses to turn Murdock into a frog in the NES game represents "ikari".

[@guyfromnj]

@@Ginormousaurus your totally right. I couldn’t think of the name. I used to die playing Rambo on the master system on the third level consistently. I had Alex Kidd too and I would get past the bull you have to punch in the face repeatedly and I remember a underwater stage after that and then the following level gets to be ridiculous hard. That’s how my child’s mind remembers it anyway. I’m now 40. I had Alf and couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do. I had a Rocky game where you fight Apollo and then mr t and mr t would consistently beat me. I remember getting to drago a couple times. There was a game on the master system if you turned it on without a cartridge in it and it was like a maze game thing if I remember right. I had after burner and could never refuel. I remember the games being a lot harder back then. I’ve gone back and played a lot of those old games I couldn’t understand now and have no trouble. I miss the mysteriousness everything had back then. Sega master systems were rare in the states and I don’t remember ever seeing them in stores once Nintendo hit. I think I had the sega before I got the Nintendo. I don’t even remember where the sega came from or when or why my parents bought it. Now a days you can look up anything in a second back then things could be mysterious and word of mouth. I’m very nostalgic for a life before cell phones and social media. Maybe I’m just getting old finally.

[@Ginormousaurus]

@@guyfromnj The maze game built into some Sega Master Systems was Snail Maze. You played as a snail trying to reach the end of a maze. My cousins had a Master System and I remember playing Snail Maze, Hang-On, Safari Hunt, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, and Wonder Boy when I visited them. I can relate to the "mysteriousness" of video games at the time. All I knew about some games was their title and a few screenshots. Cartridges were expensive, so I only owned a few for my NES. Most games I played were rentals, but there were some games not available in my small town's video stores. I wasn't able to complete most of the games I played. Guide books and magazines like Nintendo Power provided some information, but I couldn't look up full playthrough videos on the Internet like I can now. There were uncommon systems I never had a chance to play as a kid. All I knew about the TurboGrafx-16 came from video game magazines, ads in comic books, and a kiosk at Radio Shack. I'm not sure if I ever saw a Neo Geo in real life. Now I have games from those systems downloaded on my Wii U and Switch. I can imagine what it was like for a kid playing Rambo for the NES for the first time, not knowing exactly what they were getting into.

[@tcbvgames]

9:50 Valkyrie Profile on the Playstation/PSP also used this "N/S" 2D plane navigation system, which allowed your character to enter the "foreground" or "background" passages of a dungeons. All of the passageways were two-way, though. +1 Like for this fascinating retrospective. I avoided this game like the plague as a kid, based on "Akklame" label and the lack of coverage in magazines I read.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

It's almost too bad there will never be an MSX Works. I liked Rambo when I played it as a kid. It will be interesting to see how you like the Rambo games on the Sega Master System as well.

[@locke103]

you never know, it could happen. the MSX does have quite a number of gems on it to warrant such a playlist.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

@@locke103 Jeremy has enough 8-bit retro systems to go through as it is. 2021 is gonna be the big 8-bit SEGA year for the Works videos with occasional Nintendo videos (NES World 1988 will also advance slowly).

[@zombiegeorge749]

This was on point. It was so close to being a "good game". I tried my hardest to finish it with a friend, but sadly it was to much of a pain.

[@pauldyson8098]

Agreed that Rambo for NES is "needlessly maligned." I found the game to be engrossing and challenging.

[@shinkojima8903]

I just want you to know that Schrödinger joke got a laugh out of me. Thanks for your vids.

[@mitchcroskell8665]

Same here; that was an altogether unexpected (and hilarious) reference to hear!

[@SPac316]

I rented this game back then. I remember being confused and not progressing forward early in the game. It was the late 80's-early 90's so not internet for references. I didn't really enjoy it then.

[@CEEPMDEE]

I saw the Rambo for nes in a Nintendo Power magazine and I thought it SUCKED! I laughed at anyone in school who owned it. The summer came around and I decided to give it a try when a friend offered to trade it to me for a game I did not care for. I ended up playing through the entire game and I loved it. Rambo for nes is a game you must play to understand it is actually a pretty good game.

[@grantorino2325]

7:33 Co Bai is wearing pants. 9:04 She's wearing a dress. I wonder why they gave her two different outfits.

[@JeremyParish]

In the movie, she attempted to seduce the general by putting on an aó dài and masquerading as a prostitute. Obviously that was glossed over for the game, but they kept the costume change.

[@Damaniel3]

I never had a chance to play this as a kid, but I love these kinds of weird experiments in games, back when you could do something really different - a part of the industry that really died off during the PS2 era (but fortunately has started to come back due to the explosion in indie game development). I could see myself giving this a go now, even if it looks really rough around the edges.

[@MaidenHell1977]

I love Jethro Tull. Absolutely love this series.

[@wilkinsonj2]

Just wanted to say: it's been a long while since I've watched these videos, and I love the new format, especially the intro and classic channel effect. What an absolutely interesting game! Looking forward to watching the backcatalog.

[@colophongames]

I love the Stallone portrait sprite in the dialogue sequences.

[@zwallyzool1974]

I always loved Rambo for Nes. I couldn't understand why most people didn't like it.

[@setadriftonfishandchips]

The Jethro Tull reference 🔥

[@johnnygrind77]

I always had a soft spot for this game due to its quirkiness and especially the soundtrack. If you read the dialog in a very dry manor, it adds to the overall fun. I always found it interesting that it had elements of Zelda 2, but the North/South thing gives off a Friday the 13th vibe to me. I'd love to know where the whole kid rescue came from, too!

[@gimballock5106]

This game was really neat, and would have been better if the designers would have focused more on surviving and traversing the jungle instead of abandoning it halfway thru and turning into a more traditional run-and-gun.

[@childofcascadia]

Fun fact- the kanji he yells/throws/wtf ever is called ikari "anger". This kanji is used a lot in the rambo movies. Most of them have Ikari in the Japanese title. Like First blood is translated something like Escape of Anger or Angry Escape, Rambo III is something like Anger of Afghanistan or Angry Afghanistan. He also didnt have an EXP gauge in this game, it was an "anger" gauge. So it makes a little more sense then, barely. The giant head when you hit the boss, no.

[@RogeriusRex]

If you type in all zeros for the password, the game errors out and gives you a jumbled screen. Then scroll right and eventually Rambo walks out and he is maxed out! Sometimes he is invincible too!

[@hwogrillo]

It's over, Johnny.

[@Beer_Baron_]

This was one of the many games my grade school friend owned. As kids we obviously loved Rambo, but this game was confusing (the N/S directions) and overall not as fun as we hoped it would be. Of course we played it a lot, but it was just frustrating. However, the game soundtrack is pretty solid.

[@whiskeyvengeance]

Already knew this was gonna be a banger video when you dropped a Jethro Tull reference in the intro

[@Cryptbomber]

The kind of video where you hit like before it even starts.

[@thecunninlynguist]

Heh, this brings me back. Had this one as a kid, Never beat it until teen years/emulation though. Man as a kid, in the password screen, I inputted 0000000...throughout the thing and found I guess a debug screen (scrambled screen all weapons), but I thought I was a genius for discovering it, I'd show all my cousins/friends.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

That was not the Taliban in Rambo III. It was supposed to be the Mujahideen.

[@JeremyParish]

And the Taliban was established by....?

[@dreamlandnightmare]

​@@JeremyParish The Taliban splintered out of the Mujahideen, but they are as much the same entity as the Confederates are the same entity as the US colonials. The character "Masoud" was named after real-life Mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought against the Taliban.

[@owlyus]

Mmmm that Tull reference, tho :: chef's kiss::

[@mikaelamonsterland]

hearing Metal Gear described as a "super Rambo special rip-off" is really funny

[@JeremyParish]

That's good, because it was meant to be

[@Froggievilleus]

I resepect any review that starts with a Jethro Tull reference.

[@JeremyParish]

It was either that or "your sperm's in the gutter, your love's in the sink"

[@BubblegumCrash332]

My favorite scene in the Rambo movie is when Rambo was dodging boulders while fighting gorilla's.

[@JeremyParish]

Haven’t you ever heard of the Viet Kong? They trained a whole army of weaponized simians for gorilla warfare