Popeye - How Pathetic Can One Game Be? (Jimpressions)

[@latch_official]

fun fact: the maps all come from a free unity asset pack! also, after getting far enough into the game, the ship levels just spew random quotes unrelated to popeye at you, such as “its okay to be a glow stick”

[@DubberRucks]

In what universe is it "okay to be a glowstick"? For me, you gotta get that checked out! 😆

[@captainwolfos]

That explains why it looks like Hentai vs. Evil. Someone pointed it out on the Facebook group and I can't unsee it.

[@Gemidori]

I somewhat think you're joking

[@manuldepokas]

And the gameplay is a rehash of the NES/Famicom game

[@thatnoobnextdoor]

That explains why this looks like some cheap asset flip. I swear I've seen these exact assets before.

[@MJFERMEZLA]

Me looking at the thunbnail : Oh cool, a Popeye video game ? That can be great, like something like Cuphead with the cute animation and fun gameplay, that could be... Me looking at the title : ... oh.... Me looking at the video : .... ooooooh... noooooo... why.... ?

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

Woah MJ, je savais pas que tu écoutais Jim Sterling!

[@Camad]

Fun Fact: This lovely piece of entertainment comes from the great minds behind “Calculator for Nintendo Switch”. So, yeah.

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

Hey, I would bet Calculator for Switch is better than this. Especially if you can spell BOOBIES or something.

[@123phi123]

@@shytendeakatamanoir9740 Still not worth the $9.99 list price.

[@Geoff69420]

Still a better game publisher than Ubisoft

[@RGB2060]

don't you be talking crap about calculator for Nintendo switch, it's better than breath of the wild

[@raynegallaher7661]

@@RGB2060 idk I think battle calculator is better (it both functions as a normal calculator and has a battle mode that has a surprising amount of depth for its simplicity, kinda hard to imagine how a PvP calculator game would work but they did it)

[@blekksverd]

We almost got a film by the legendary animator Genndy Tartakovsky. Instead we now have this. Yay.

[@LordMoku]

It's okay, they can't take Robin Williams away from us.

[@Rabbitlord108]

I feel bad for him sometimes. I mean first Cartoon Network brought back his first show with them (Dexter's Laboratory) and ran it into the ground while he had already moved on to his next project Samurai Jack. And on top of this there's how Sym Bionic Titan was treated.

[@clutchhh]

I remember when that was teased. oooooh jesus was I MAAD when it was cancelled for the emoji movie. oh god lol

[@mistx7115]

@@clutchhh thanks for reminding me of that trash. Fuck the emoji movie.

[@IDidMyBest]

Honestly this game could have been a solid 10/10 if everytime you uppercut Bluto he screams like Goofy and gives the ol' "Yaaaaa Hoi Hoi!"

[@Center-For-I.E.D.Mismanagement]

It would help a little. But ultimately, no. Just, no.

[@spencereades]

I like to think that's the sound Goofy makes when he has an orgasm, and we know he must have at one point at least because he had Max.

[@wariodude128]

@@spencereades This is the best and worst comment about Goofy I've ever read in my entire life.

[@Holktube]

Steam Workshop

[@Elenrai]

@@spencereades dude.....nooo.. xD why would you say that!

[@pariah076]

The gameplay depth of an Atari 2600 game. The graphics of the PS1. The anti aliasing of the PS3. Amazing

[@theletterm1787]

What's up with PS3 aliasing?

[@pariah076]

@@theletterm1787 PS1 or PS2 would have had jaggier edges.

[@xXVibrantSnowXx]

This looks more like a low poly mobile game than a PlayStation @@pariah076

[@giwake]

This feels like a game that the developers threw together a prototype in a month, forgot about it for another month, then found it again and published it.

[@davidclawson4733]

Sounds about right. It's 812 MB.

[@011y89]

A month? Goodness you're a generous person.

[@DubberRucks]

Isn't that how most fluff ends up on sale?

[@ddjsoyenby]

agreed.

[@chungusbooper]

I think it looks a bit more like a decade and a half.

[@lizard81288]

From what I understand, the developers make a bunch of shovelware games for the switch. They're the ones that put out "apps". I think on the eShop they are selling a calculator app for like $10. For those wondering how they got the Popeye license, apparently it's in public domain now.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Popeye’s technically in the public domain for most countries except the USA.

[@seriousspikesam7770]

Mickey Mouse would also be in public domain but Disney wants to wank the rights to themselves. Just another day in corporate life.

[@AileTheAlien]

Apparently King Features still has trademarks in use for Popeye, but I can't find what those _are_. I'd imagine logos and company names, but I can't actually find what specifically. On the other hand, I doubt the people that made this specific game really care. :)

[@Jake-nl3er]

Sabec have actually had the licenses to make games for things like South Park, and Bullseye before. No idea how. Their games are the laziest, and most barebones I've ever seen on the PS4.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

@@seriousspikesam7770 But Mickey’s a trademarked character, anyway, as he is Disney’s mascot, whereas the fairy tale bases for many Disney films are public domain.

[@dr.velious5411]

This could have been not only a tribute to Popeye, but also to simple n' sweet classic arcade gameplay if it had been done right. But what we got was baby's first Unity tutorial project with a Popeye skin.

[@therealfodder]

Spot on. It's like one of those developer forum posts. "I've had a go a remaking the original Nintendo Popeye arcade game in 3D" "...interesting!". Where "interesting" is polite terminology for saying it's a bit crap but well done for having a go. As a commercial release though - ouch.

[@ieuanhunt552]

You are absolutely correct. Someone mentioned Cuphead. Imagine a classic side scrolling beat'em up with that bendy stretchy animation style

[@jasonberry9561]

This seems to be a 3-D adaption of the Nintendo arcade game from the early 80's. This would explain it only being 3 levels, having to pick up hearts, and avoid Bluto.

[@bloodypommelstudios7144]

The arcade game looks far more fun even today. If they added some cartoon level sprite work and maybe a 2.5D background (which the cartoons sometimes did) and some effects they they'd have something which wasn't completely insulting.

[@DownHomeGamer]

I’d settle for an Arcade Archives release of the original.

[@busterthejedi8446]

Even I noticed this while watching the gameplay & listening to his commentary. Still, it feels like one of those shitty Android games.

[@raditts]

It looks like someone tried to do a 3D remake of Popeye in Unity for a class project, and the project was due the next day.

[@kallemetsahalme5701]

Sad part that I just rebought the NES game couple of months ago and its still one of my very favorite arcade-games. Seeing this new version is just.... wow... I'm not sure whether to be a tiny bit happy they had the balls to do so barebones yet tributing remake (kinda like satire of modern remakes that are dripping out of my ears at this point) or to just hurl because how awful this seems. I've held small hope that Popeye might enter Smash Bros, but with a game like this, I can't say he's really worthy of a spot.

[@biggums5]

Interesting Popeye fact. The author orginally had Popeye eating garlic for his strength and not spinach. It was changed to spinach when it went into commercialization due to garlic not being seen as palatable and appealing to the audience. That was more interesting than the game and you get it for free!

[@oliviastevens9156]

Oh hey, I think the garlic bit was referenced in the Popeye retelling of Hercules!

[@chadschmaltz9790]

So Popeye is the original Wario?! Would that make Wimpy his Waluigi?

[@nobodyinparticular9640]

So that's where Wario gets his strength from Lol

[@koenvandamme6901]

But spinach is fucking delicious? What the hell was marketing smoking.

[@VampyreBassist]

Popeye is why the rumor about how healthy spinach was went around so fast and hard, even though the original nutritional value was a notch because of a misplaced decimal point.

[@TheLima290]

Running away from enemies that kill you on contact while grabbing collectables, one of which allows you to remove opposition from the map for a limited amount of time is literally pacman, except this somehow has less levels and enemies. The worst part is that a 2D beat'em up that actually looks like the cartoon could be pretty neat, but they made this

[@baconlabs]

The 1982 arcade Popeye has a more pleasant aesthetic than this Edit: wait. The "Olive throws hearts or whatever, Popeye collects them, Bluto's in the way" thing is _exactly the same,_ and you're telling me there's only 3 maps that repeat forever? Is this a re-imagining of that very same arcade game?

[@ReikuYin]

Yes. That is exactly what it's meant to be... I'm very sad....

[@alex_-yz9to]

excepr that arvafe game was made by nintendo themfuckinselves while this was made by somebody on par with chinese bootleggers

[@heavysystemsinc.]

It seems they replicated it having not seen how hectic the original is, which is what made it fun. In other words, imagine someone making star wars after 3 different people try to explain it to them and they never actually saw it. It'd probably end up looking Buckaroo Bonzai.

[@thegayhare]

okay I was wondering why steph didn't mention that. I remember liking the popeye arcade game it was hard and goofy. but that concept works for a single screen platformer not a open 3d map. this should have been a brawler with the Goons, or pirates, or skeletons as the enemies

[@gregbrown8881]

I was thinking the same thing, but the simple fact that the original was in 2-D and confined to one screen actually makes it a better game.

[@bettyboopincolor6151]

For those wondering about the Bluto/Brutus name change, for a long time it was erroneously believed that Bluto was created for the original Fleischer studios cartoon and was therefore owned by Paramount. He actually first appeared in the Popeye comic strip (then called "Thimble Theater") owned by King Features Syndicate. When King ended their partnership with Paramount they replaced Bluto with the legally distinct character of Brutus because they literally forgot that they owned the original character. Pretty much since the 80's this mistake has been realized and they've just called him Bluto in most iterations since then. As this ""game"" seems to be a direct recreation of the 1982 arcade game which also calls him Brutus, I can only assume that they intentionally kept the incorrect name in order to be faithful to the source material. Either that or they just didn't know the first thing about Popeye and just took the information from the arcade game at face value.

[@DubberRucks]

Spotted that on the wiki did you? At least someone's done their research lol😄

[@Lawnie]

Didn't they retcon it to say that Bluto and Brutus are twins at one point? I seem to remember that. Could be wrong.

[@bettyboopincolor6151]

@@Lawnie That happened in one of the Popeye comic books, but I'm pretty sure that was written by a third party so I'm not sure if it's cannon or not. If Popeye can even be said to have a cannon.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

You KNOW Jim is Pissed when they don’t even put a Chungus in the character name

[@sharkofjoy]

whoa, that's serious

[@wariodude128]

I just wrote that as a comment.

[@matthiasunderground3825]

Yep ^ :)

[@Rabbitlord108]

I thought Jim would've stopped after Big Chungus became a meme.

[@Sam-iu8nb]

Unworthy of chungus.

[@evillecaston]

Oh, there's definitely a genre here. I imagine Steam users would tag it as "Memes" and "Psychological Horror", maybe even "Sexual Content" if they feel a bit wild.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

I mean, look at olive! 🥵

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

@@stingerjohnny9951 catch

[@xXVibrantSnowXx]

Cringe@@stingerjohnny9951

[@SeiShinjitsuShi]

"You defy genre classification because you're not fucking anything!" Lost it.

[@AFrickingOrange]

Fucking. You can say fucking.

[@pnksounds]

@@AFrickingOrange wooooooooooooooooosh

[@AFrickingOrange]

@@pnksounds they literally say fucking, there's no wooooosh there you cretin

[@melomenon]

If Death Stranding is a Strand-Type game this is a Bland-Type game

[@snigwithasword1284]

Maybe it's a walking simulator... maybe? XD

[@josephthompson2100]

“Congratulations Popeye, you have defied genre classification because you’re not…fucking…anything.” Haha, that was great. Wiping the laughter tears from my eyes.

[@locke03]

We live in a age when they could have fully replicated the look of the old cartoons in video game form and this is what we get instead....

[@TheRogueWolf]

But that would've required effort, and it looks like the only effort they put into this game was avoiding putting any kind of effort at all into it.

[@MarginalSC]

I'm honestly not sure what that would be. Hold a button to incoherently ramble on? Then try to help Olive Oil move a stove into her house while you fight Bluto IN THE STOVE?

[@docterlorbog]

@@MarginalSC Just make it a beat-em-up with the old cartoon artstyle

[@MarginalSC]

@@docterlorbog No, I think we'd need it to be a true reflection of the acid trip these cartoons actually were.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@MarginalSC I hadn't really seen too much of the old original black and white squash and stretch and those but were freaking nuts. There was one that started off in an apartment building and by the end the whole apartment complex was basically destroyed. And the cartoon never really acknowledges it just laughs it off in the end. I freaking love that. Just extreme wanton destruction and at the end it was just like **shrug** everyone laughs, fade out to black.

[@rookerymistress]

This brought back flashbacks of the Popeye game from the 80s. That was at least fun and retro enough for me to replay a few times. This looks like a remake of said game without the heart and charm.

[@LolaliciousSmiley]

I SAW THIS ON THE SWITCH STORE. I was hoping that somebody would cover it, so I didn't think I was crazy.

[@ryuuproductions1]

I saw it last night and had so many questions.

[@shesawitch3581]

Along with all the other wank trash on the Switch store.

[@Sky-CladObserver]

Nope, you're not crazy, this exists. The crazy ones are the people who actually bought it.

[@collin1240]

Watching this, it reminded me of the old arcade Popeye platform game where Olive was at the top tossing down hearts, you ran around the level avoiding Bluto/Brutus, if he caught you he would punch you off the levels into the water, and if you got spinach you would knock him off... just poorly extruded into drawn out 3D for some reason. In that game, that's all there was to it, but at least the levels weren't sprawling.

[@LadyBrightcynder]

Oh god... this looks like late 90's PC shovelware... The future is here...?

[@koenvandamme6901]

Depends if this has blockchain.

[@AnikMonette]

I'm on a nostalgia trip watching Futurama and... it's exactly how they envisionned it!😂

[@Mr.Atari2600]

When Popeye on the Atari 2600 has better gameplay than your modern day excuse of a video game.

[@holotori_senior_admin_teno]

Genrewise, I would call this the "budget PS1 game that comes on a magazine disc".

[@DubberRucks]

In fairness, I've sunk more time into some of the games on those demo discs back in the day. Some of the demos were actually fun to play, something a lot of games seem to have forgotten to be these days

[@BunnySuicida]

The most cursed Net Yaroze project.

[@Antireality]

Let's be fair here: the net yaroze coders were trying to make a game that wasn't shit. Don't drag them down to Popeye-level

[@MisterCasket]

@@DubberRucks a lot of those demos back then featured the best part of a game to get you hooked. Played my share of demos too.

[@jyoutube989]

How fucking dare you. OPM demos were the shit. I've played way way more of those games than I have any actual titles. Not everyone's parents can buy them an 80$ game at toys r us. A pox on you sir!

[@AdamMooreGameDev]

I did some digging because I was curious, and it turns out that Popeye is in the public domain in Europe, but not in the United States. The studio that developed that Popeye game is in the UK and has never worked on a licensed property before. This is almost certainly going to turn into a lawsuit.

[@Ashannon888]

Probably not. If they a European company and Popeye is public domain in Europe, the US has no enforceable claims. Plus EU courts are notorious for not giving a shit what the US legal system says.

[@AdamMooreGameDev]

@@Ashannon888 Nintendo of America is likely to care if they get dragged into it for selling the product in America

[@liquidcobalt]

@@Ashannon888 EU and Europe aren't the same. And the UK isn't part of the EU anymore. So EU courts got nothing to do with this.

[@cinderball1135]

This looks like a cheap license cash-in game from my childhood - the kind my parents would buy since they knew nothing about games. So imagine how far my jaw dropped when I heard this was made in 2021.

[@Lukkilikka]

yeah it's a weird relic!

[@ZILtoid1991]

It's not only a cheap license, but also an asset flip apparently...

[@hannahdemon]

For a brief, shining moment, I was back in the era of Steam Greenlight Jim Steph Sterling content and it made me happy. For that reason alone I cannot hate on this game.

[@britishguy5448]

3:07 “Life is finite, and I’ve spent some of it on Popeye!” 😂

[@DubberRucks]

That would go well on a shirt lol

[@roguebanshee]

The footage looks like a 1-2 person effort from someone who just found out how to make their own stuff in Unity (as opposed to cobbling together several asset kits and calling it a day). If it was a student project and came along with a proper report detailing what the team had learned, I'd likely give it a good grade. But as an officially licensed commercial product I can't in good concience say that it's worth more time than it takes to look at this video, and it certainly does not look like it's worth paying any money for.

[@GrumpyOldMilk]

As a lover of golden age animation characters, this is deeply upsetting.

[@ealadubh4800]

"Let's take a single-screen arcade level with limited movement space where Bluto is an omnipresent threat, and modernise it by turning it into a sprawling Ubisoft open-world map. Genius! Lemsips all round!"

[@DubberRucks]

Next... mtx... "how can we monetise this for long-term players?"

[@patrickmcclafferty3956]

When you realize this is a remake of a Nintendo arcade/NES game from around the time of the original Donkey Kong, it makes this make sense but also so much worst.

[@captnduck]

Yeah i had this game on the Atari 2600 back in the day, oh and that version was shit. But still so much better then this. This is just an insult to the classic.

[@BainesMkII]

It's like a half-effort remake, even beyond stuff like the starter project placeholder UI. Why did they reference only *two* of the things Olive Oyl threw, instead of all three or even just one? They included Bernard the Buzzard as an enemy, but not the Sea Hag? Even though the Sea Hag was in every stage of the original game while Bernard was in only one stage? Everything except the map size is just so much less, and honestly you could argue the remake maps are a bit less as well. (Bigger maps, but empty and without the vertical element.) Bluto just walks around trying to bump into you? In the original game he also threw bottles at you. Plus he was more of a threat than just bumping into you, as he could do a jumping punch to reach you if you were on a platform above him, he'd crouch down and slap below him if you were on the platform below him, and he could do a screen shaking jump that let him drop through to a lower platform. (Meanwhile, the Sea Hag threw skulls from the top of the screen and then started teleporting around throwing bottles from the sides.) Plus I think you had to pick up the things Olive Oyl threw before too much time had passed.

[@collin1240]

@@BainesMkII I'm guessing the sea hag is present and is the witch James mentions, because there are occasionally those green skulls bouncing around, and I saw one fall into view. I also noticed a shadow that was shaped like something on a broomstick following Popeye at one point. That said, it's inclusion did nothing to make this game better. As for Bluto throwing things, with the shift to 3D you would never see it coming like you could on the 2D screen.

[@Rabbitlord108]

This is a redux that's so bad it makes Sonic Genesis look like the mobile redos of: Sonic 1, 2, & CD.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

@@captnduck I had the Commodore 64 version.

[@lizb7271]

"Girl adjacent" is a great way to describe one's gender. Anyway, happy to know Jim's thoughts on the attractiveness of sailors.

[@0hgre]

So... are you a sailor yet? ;)

[@DaneeBound]

For Popeye in particular, this really must be the darkest timeline. Meanwhile: In another universe, the original Donkey Kong would have been a Popeye game, and game history as we know it would have gone down a very VERY different path.

[@jackcollins1416]

We could've gotten Super Popeye 64 and onward.

[@pizzarat3275]

Nintendo did make a Popeye arcade game similar to the original Donkey Kong around the same time period. It's pretty good, but very hard even for the era. The graphics were excellent for the time though. It was easily one of the best looking games of the early 80s.

[@DaneeBound]

​@@pizzarat3275 Popeye ('82) isn’t noteworthy for what it is; It’s noteworthy for what it isn’t: In that, it’s not Donkey Kong.

[@Macrochenia]

@@DaneeBound It's also noteworthy for the fact that Bluto was called Brutus in it and the goal was exactly the same: dodge Brutus, Ann Vulture, and Ann Witch while picking up things Olive Oyl threw to Popeye. This is the same game but in 3D.

[@Chungussy]

@@Macrochenia Holy shit, the same three maps too. They were literally just trying to remake the NES game

[@Mystemo]

I wish that Hamster and Nintendo could just release the arcade game, that game is great. This shit clearly copies a lot from that game just without any thought, effort or love put into it. As much as I love and respect you I must disagree about Popeye Rush for Spinach though, that game is pretty fun. Not a masterpiece, but fun.

[@NykeYoung]

"Oh boy, I get to sink my teeth in the Popeye franchise! I've got an epic that'll turn Popeye into the next Final Fantasy! Everyone will love it! What's our timetable? Budget?" "6 weeks and a Little Cesar's pizza" "Oh. Excuse me." *First person leaves. Gunshot heard.*

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

"Here's the classic arcade game. We'd like it to be updated into 3d. Also, you're not to let it interfere with your other duties. We had to lay off a lot of workers to pay for my bonus." Two feverish weekends later. "Okay, here's my first rough idea. As you can see, you'll be collecting hearts while Brutus chases you, and -" "Thanks! You're a life saver. By the way, I lied about the pizza and the additional four weeks. Get out."

[@Wexdarn]

Whilst I can't say for definite, the town square at 2:33 looks very similar to a map used in the Hentai vs Evil game played on here a little while back, on top of everything else could this game be an asset flip?

[@DepressivesBrot]

Glad I'm not the only one to have that thought. Those arcades at 3:49 are almost certainly the same asset at least.

[@kickedbeehive3074]

It absolutely IS the map from hentai Vs evil

[@ramdomdude7257]

I'm not gonna lie, I have only seen 2 minutes of this video, but this videogame looks like an Alpha Demo PC game from early 2000s.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

I've seen early 2000's flash games that looked better...heck the old 80's arcade game looked better.

[@MasterofSpiders]

Maybe it is. Maybe the studio went to make a Popeye game and discovered this on a dusty old external HD in the basement and decided to port it onto the Switch and call it a day.

[@kirknay]

Even Roblox's upteenth "tycoon" game has more effort than this garbage. Heck, I've *seen* this garbage as a minigame for a Roblox tycoon.

[@thatboringone7851]

It feels like the kind of thing a programming student makes for a course assignment just to prove they can make something functional. I say that from experience, though I never thought to somehow make it Popeye themed.

[@cubedmelons876]

I swear, I've played Roblox games that look almost exactly like this. Only, those games are free.

[@seanw6323]

This video has inspired me to finish making my game because I am fully confident that whatever the finished product is, it's going to be better than this game.

[@rubywest5166]

Remember when Popeye’s role in videos games was as an inspiration for Donkey Kong? Lame old video game nerds remember!

[@TheSorrel]

Yeah, and seeing this now seems kinda sad. Like, okay, Popeye, you had your chance, take it with dignity, bro.

[@rocstormmc]

Popeye wasn't really an inspiration. Popeye was supposed to be DK but Nintendo couldn't get the license at the time.

[@robbieroberts1973]

I wanted someone (other than myself) to mention the old NES game. Like, they just took the game, transcribed the game as it was into 3D, and left it as such.

[@happyspaceinvader508]

Tears rolling down my cheeks while Jim sings the theme music in ever increasingly exasperated tones. 😂

[@123phi123]

Remember, the original Donkey Kong was created with the intention of being a Popeye game but Nintendo couldn't get the license. Mario only exists because Popeye is not allowed to be made into a good video game

[@jaimedanielhernandezrios5398]

Actually, popeye was made into the arcade game afterwards and many consider it an arcade classic similar to Donkey kong

[@johnfrankster3244]

Thank god for the restrictions then.

[@jonathankent1517]

Hey everybody, guess what. You know those 3 maps that the game cycles between? Turns out they were lifted from pre-made unity asset packs, specifically the POLYGON - Pirate Pack by Synty. Also, the model for Popeye himself might have been a pre-made model that was lifted from Shutterstock. _Popeye (2021)_ is literally an asset flip. Holy fuck! This is literally on the same level as a Digital Homicide game.

[@PeaceLoveHeavyMetal]

Huh, when you said it was a scam I was sure you were going to reveal that the game has some kind of hidden crypto-mining code or some shit like that, but I suppose for that to work they would have to make a game that people would want to play longer than 5 minutes.

[@kellygallagher7148]

That generic, rotating heart has an extreme "Download Easy 3D Platformer Starter Kit! No Coding Required!" vibe to it.

[@lemonfed]

This is like they decided .... you know that old 8 bit arcade/n.e.s popeye game ? well , let's make the same game in 2021 but with terrible 3D visuals and an even worst gameplay.

[@SergeantLuke]

1:45 “Press A to Eat Spinach” is the kind of joke you’d put into a really dumb Popeye video game parody, and here it is in the actual fucking thing!

[@Groovebot3k]

Once upon a time while playing through Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Arin Hanson talked up a bit about how the game was released in the state it was: He envisioned a scenario where the development team, despite - or perhaps because of - the IP they were developing for, decided they would make the game one of the greatest ever made. And so, after years of toil, they completed their magnum opus. Suddenly, like the curse of language thrust upon the people of mythical Babel for their hubris, a colossal buffoon - whom one could possibly imagine as the holders of the very IP - accidentally destroys all of their hard work with one catastrophic cascade of physical folly. And to the horror of these modern day Icaruses, they now realized that not only had their creation been destroyed seemingly by the gods themselves, but that they had but one day left to ship the game they no longer possessed. Forced to start anew with neither the time nor budget, they cobble the remaining scraps of code together into a barely-functioning product and with utter humiliation, ship it off to an unsuspecting public due to contractual obligations. And in my mind? That darkly comedic fable is the absolute *best* case explanation for the state that Popeye (2021) finds itself in today.

[@jamesmeow3039]

What happened to the Cyber Chase?

[@mattwo7]

Nope, the studio that made it is a Digital Homicide or Gilson B Pontes type of studio. A shovelware factory with hubris to spare.

[@JohnDoe-wq5eu]

@@mattwo7 Or more likely a company like game mill. That has the rights to various movie licenses and Nickelodeon properties with the bare minimum of effort put into their products.

[@mattwo7]

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Same thing just with licenses.

[@MathewHaswell]

@@JohnDoe-wq5eu Thinking of Blast Entertainment?

[@alvinanis3006]

So the devs of this game are suing a youtuber over a bad review. Just wow...

[@michimatsch5862]

5:17 *The dutch angle shows Stephanie's steady slide into madness which is emphasized by the noises they are making*

[@ohno8398]

Who can blame them 😂😭

[@illusion115]

This game reminds me of Popeye, the arcade game from 1982, which also had three maps. In that old game, when you reach level 4, it's the same map as level 1, but there's an additional enemy now.

[@zhhicks]

This looks like a 3D update to the old Coleco Vision game from the early 80s (I think there was an arcade variant too). Olive Oil throwing hearts, letters, and music notes for Popeye to catch, Popeye turning kind of sunburned (or just green) after eating spinach, it all feels a little nostalgic (though clearly not for everyone).

[@DownHomeGamer]

Yeah it started as an arcade game made by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto. Nintendo finally got the Popeye license after DK became a blockbuster. It was a NES launch title.

[@mrkiray7611]

When the sterlingson mocked the music I lost my sh*t🤣I made it my ringtone

[@michaeldunleavy3868]

Hahahaha I’d give it a 10 for those uppercuts. The sound effects made me laugh every time 😂

[@HarrowingEnd]

Steph will be in the middle of saying how shit it is then I hear the sounds effect and I can't help giggling like an idiot.

[@Kelohmello]

literally choked on water the first time i heard it. water coming out my nose and everything. amazing comedic decision by the developers

[@samtinkle9076]

**WHAP**

[@sophiathekitty]

This makes me think of the "games" we made in flash back in the day when we needed a bunch of mini games for our Gaia online knockoff..... We had artists interns doing random art assets for school credit instead of money.... And I was there only developer... And so many of these games were just thing follows your mouse curser and you gotta avoid stuff and collect other stuff...

[@Ren-bo7bj]

The punch sound effect is the best part about the game, and that's probably unintentional.

[@Brownd55]

At first I wasn't sure if they edited it in

[@misterprickly]

Brutus is Bluto's twin brother. OT: They could have just done a 3D conversion of the original arcade game and put it on mobiles. This was a sad cash grab and I'm surprised that it ever got a release.

[@DownHomeGamer]

“Brutusk” was a name used when KFS wasn’t sure if they owned the rights to Bluto. The original game came at the tail end of that era, after which they started using the Bluto name.

[@mediocrefunkybeat]

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, I live in a caravan, There's a hole in the middle, Where I do a piddle, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

[@tenzhitihsien888]

Looks like a basic 3D remake of the classic 2D arcade Popeye game.

[@CeHee123]

I was watching a few Popeye shorts yesterday. I admired how much effort and passion went into the animation. This immediately gave me the exact opposite feeling. This has less effort than a Steam asset flip. As if that movie getting snuffed in favour of the goddamn Emoji Movie wasn't bad enough. I feel so bad for Popeye fans.

[@andrewklang809]

The old comic strips get pretty epic and creepy too. If you like Disney's Pinocchio or Tintin, check some of them out. Far better than this bland-looking $#!+.

[@jadedheartsz]

yeah even the latter day Popeye shorts have considerably more effort put into them then this dreck.

[@jasonrhome710]

Holy shit. It's a 3D version of the fucking Colecovision game!

[@amberarzuaga6426]

I remember playing a game like this on Artari with the same concept. It was kinda like Donkey Kong where you gather hearts and "help me" letters while trying to avoid Bluto....Looks like a awful remake.

[@DownHomeGamer]

The original was an arcade game made by Nintendo that got ported pretty widely, including being a NES launch title. The arcade game was great.

[@InfernalLawyer]

Holy shit. That wouldn't even be passable for the PS1 era.

[@TheSpeep]

This game looks like a fan project in the very early stages of development, or like a student project made in a couple of weeks. Just... without the passion or care... I have made game projects that looked/played better than this, by myself, and I dont feel confident in calling myself a proper game dev.

[@Omahdon]

At least it didn't have any microtransactions or gacha mechanics! amirite??? hahahahaha am i? oh god is this where we are on the shittiness scale

[@jparbiter1972]

I look forward to this being a meme in future Jimquisitions

[@DubberRucks]

Oh for sure, the ammo is there in this footage lol

[@colinr0380]

The repetitive music score just nostalgically reminds me of my childhood days playing Booty on the ZX Spectrum!

[@TheMrBadGuy101]

The character models are stellar for how Popeye characters are designed. Game itself is crap. Very unfinished. Yes Brutus is Bluto's actual name. The Vulture is cannon and so is the witch. Popeye is wierd.

[@DubberRucks]

Well, I never, straight from the wiki: - After the theatrical Popeye cartoon series ceased production in 1957, Bluto's name was changed to Brutus because it was incorrectly believed[by whom?] that Paramount Pictures, distributors of the Fleischer Studios (later Famous Studios) cartoons, owned the rights to the name "Bluto". King Features actually owned the name, as Bluto had been originally created for the comic strip. Due to a lack of thorough research, they[who?] failed to realize this and reinvented him as Brutus to avoid supposed copyright problems.[2] The more you know. =====⭐

[@Zeph101theoriginal]

I can't wait to see the inevitable speedrunners of this game

[@dunngyllite7883]

When JimSteph started doing the "Dededededededded-tetäh" I shivered. That's exactly how a psycho would sound like before going out and slashing people to death with a rusty fork.

[@Harminder1]

or in James case the dildo bat from saints row.

[@BlackwingHecate]

Is it the 1812 Overture?

[@sebbychou]

it deserves to be loaded 5 times with marginal variants like hat colors on a "120 games cartridge"

[@kuramacon]

Did they really just do a 3d version of the 80's Popeye arcade game?

[@ddjsoyenby]

yes they did.

[@benjaminsimpson5089]

If there’s one good thing that came out of this Jim, is that now I have an urge to watch the old cartoons. Thank God for ya!

[@Flanagax]

This reminds me of that American Tail game Dan Olson did a video on a few years ago...with the same level of "quality"

[@jadedheartsz]

there was an American Tail game? WTF?

[@chadschmaltz9790]

Is it the one for the PS2 that came out over 20 years after the movie?

[@Foolster41]

@@jadedheartsz kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y162iXl4bNJpo80

[@crazyluigi6664]

@@chadschmaltz9790 Yep. The one that ironically only came to Europe instead of the U.S.A.

[@khaimk4r4su]

And now the publisher is threatening to sue John Riggs. Please...

[@storageheater]

"Life is finite, and I've spent some of it on Popeye"

[@DubberRucks]

Something they can't un-say now so it's out there for us all to hear! 😆

[@noireisbest6786]

Just watching Popeye casually uppercut Bluto is just amazing to watch.

[@DubberRucks]

Especially as he never actually makes contact making it all the more impressive lol

[@Amazinger]

For Popeye, the day it drizzled was the most blistering rain in your life. But for England, it was Tuesday.

[@DubberRucks]

"From Northenden to Partington it's rain From Altrincham to Chadderton it's rain From Moss Side to Swinton hardly Spain It's a picture postcard of "wish they never came" 😆

[@ugh.idontwanna]

Man, I wish I had the confidence to release a 3D remake of an almost fourty year old Nintendo game without touching core gameplay and omit features.

[@catacutan96]

I recognize most of the assets from Pocket Build, a world building mobile game…

[@smallpoly10]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this thing was composed entirely out of stock assets.

[@ohno8398]

Love how you can make even this game feel somewhat interesting by the simple fact you're talking about it

[@Miss-Alexis]

So THIS is the place where sailors hang out

[@Iyasenu]

Better go tell Ryo

[@ebonshade]

That someone actually said: I know let's just make a 3d version of the old arcade game, no one will notice! Yeah we noticed, and it was a horrible idea.

[@EntityofDarkness696]

Well, it's nice to know that garbage licensed games are coming back into mainstream popularity. With the SpongeBob remake last year and this game, we're gonna be back on track in the glorious era of the absurd tie-in games like with the PS2.

[@jacobbelyea7945]

Nickelodeon's Barnyard on Nintendo Wii Remastered coming soon. Get fucking hyped.

[@EntityofDarkness696]

@@jacobbelyea7945 This was probably the type of comment I was expecting the least to be in my reply box. I don't even know how to react to this one.

[@dynamicbanteranimated8411]

I’m pretty sure I got more entertainment from that montage of uppercuts than you or I could get out of this entire game

[@300IQPrower]

Gotta love old “recreating the feel of arcade quality” excuse.

[@synthetic240]

Imagine a side-scrolling brawler in the classic animation style of Cuphead. Bluto has kidnapped Olive Oil "Popeye! Heeeeeelp!" and you've got to battle through waves of muscle-bound sailors, giant crabs, and walking sharks. Introducing other playable characters in 4-player co-op like "Popeye Junior", "Olive Oil's 'roommate' Big Bertha", and "Little Miss Pirate King"

[@1sillymoogle]

When I saw footage earlier of this “game”, I thought it was going to be a an open sandbox creation game with co-operative game play with Bluto. Instead, it looks like a remake of the classic arcade game from the 80s, with 3D graphics on par with Pre-PS1 and N64 consoles. It also suffers from the recent Dynasty Warriors games having long areas of getting to the (action?) asking, “am I there yet?” Don’t get me started on the animations.

[@TheBlueArmageddon]

Huh, weird of Jim to be reviewing a game from the 90s ... ... wait, WHAT?!?

[@Harminder1]

My guess is the person who made the game is mad for the lies they where told as a child. In that spinach makes you stronger and was tricked by their parents into eating spinach and know they are exacting revenge.

[@thecianinator]

Choked on my weed smoke when you said "girl adjacent", you fucking rule

[@Veolynn13]

are we sure this isn't just an elaborate con of an asset-flip? can we get a confirmation?

[@Foolster41]

considering this is the "Studio" that made the switch calculator and other tiny apps like that, I have a feeling it's not actually licensed. Then agian popeye isn't exactly a hot license, so maybe they were able to pick it up for a song.

[@furonguy42]

I definitely recognize some of the buildings and houses, so I'd wager its at least part-asset-flip. The characters from Popeye and their designs have been public domain (at least in Europe) for over a decade, so no fee there depending on where the developer is based. They _maybe_ would need to pay for the theme tune, since that's more recent, but this could easily have been made with minimal, if any official permissions, let alone effort.

[@MoviesForLifee]

Thank god for Stephanie Sterling. I would NEVER have watched a vid on this game if not for them.

[@TheSkullivan12]

The insane thing is that this is the exact same gameplay loop as the Popeye game on NES; Olive throws shit from above that Popeye has to run around and collect while avoiding Bluto. The NES game also only has three levels. They literally took a game from 1983 and remade it while adding nothing except a third dimension.

[@bigthecat100]

You mean...this is a remake?!

[@ealadubh4800]

"Let's take a single-screen arcade level with limited movement space where Bluto is an omnipresent threat, and turn it into an Ubisoft open-world map. Genius! Lemsips all round!"

[@ketchupkatsup9805]

Yep this is 100% a 3D remake of the old Popeye arcade and NES game...same shit except it's in 3D.

[@ealadubh4800]

@@ketchupkatsup9805 And worse. Less music, less pace, less gameplay, and it couldn't miss the point any harder if it were an Elon Musk booster rocket aimed at a dartboard.

[@LieseFury]

i like how the loading screens are clipped from the comics so you can be reminded of something with a hint of visual charm.

[@TheAussieApathy]

Why does this game look like it was made by one person? By hand. With a chisel.

[@bificommander7472]

Chisel is too high tech. Carved into a cave wall with a sharp piece of animal bone.

[@clovermite]

So the NES version was literally just a tiny graphics upgrade to the Colecovision version of Popeye. And now, some 30-40 years later, Popeye 2021 is essentially just the same game with a bigger graphics upgrade.

[@clinton4161]

Popeye deserves better especially when Cuphead brought back the style of animation from that era of cartoons.

[@chadschmaltz9790]

Could you imagine a side-scrolling beat 'em up featuring Popeye done like that? It would be awesome!

[@wendyheatherwood]

I'm picturing a 2D platformer with designs lifted from the comic strips, complete with traditional speech bubbles and hand lettering during encounters with other characters. Reaching certain points in the game unlocks comic strips or cartoons that you can either read/watch straight away or leave in your library for later.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

Welp, got some info from Rerez. This is an asset flip. The levels and models all came premade from the Unity store. That pretty much explains everything!