NES Games No One Played: POWER BLADE 2 (Nintendo Entertainment System Review)

[@BigOleWords]

Whomp Em', Power Blade 1&2, Krion Conquest, and Totally Rad are all part of a longer look at Mega Man Clones for the NES: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rILagIKMetaSn5Y

[@Iohannis42]

I prefer to keep my memory of Power Blade intact and pretend part 2 doesn't exist. NES games were getting better until the SNES was released.

[@BigOleWords]

Lots of people have commented that Arnold Schwarzenegger was not the model for the Power Blade cover but rather the artist himself. Got it.

[@mattsweeney3790]

Suuuuuuure. And he wasn't the cover influence for contra either.

[@lolaarbenz417]

I remember this from Nintendo Power magazine, and named my cat Nova at the time. Never actually played it.

[@yungmilopkl]

im sitting here like "Arnold Schwarzenegger was the artist himself?"

[@dieinfire920]

@@mattsweeney3790 the artist has the pictures he used to make the painting as proof.

[@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269]

Actually it's Dolph Lundgren. 🤷‍♂️

[@novelezra]

Having Silent Night as the ending theme to your NES action game is truly the most badass thing you can do. Totally metal.

[@BigOleWords]

Haha yes it is!

[@user-a5Bw9de]

I bet they borrowed the idea from Die Hard 1 and 2 ending with Let It Snow.

[@TheRealCaptainFreedom]

“Remember that old Nintendo game with a really buff dude who throws metal boomerangs?” “No.” “Well they made a sequel.”

[@BigOleWords]

“Remember Power Blade? He’s back! In pog form.”

[@mrksjke]

I'm from russia and I used to play this game every day after school, trying to beat it! It was probably my favorite NES game!

[@BigOleWords]

So it's super rare in North America, but several fellow Russians have mentioned that it was really popular there. So cool!

[@mrksjke]

@@BigOleWords Yeah! Some pretty obscure games were kinda popular here, including ones that were mainly widespread in Japan. I remember having a ton of japanese cartridges, and ones that had English translation were very few and far between.

[@funsimpledrawings8233]

I love how you use every chance to show off your games in collection ☺️☺️

[@BigOleWords]

Who me?!? 🐣

[@blakeoft]

We had the first game when I grew up. It was one of the first video games that I stuck with enough to beat, and I was super proud to do so. I played 2 a few times and always thought it was way too hard. Too bad we never had it or I'd sell it!

[@goatbone]

1:12 Probably worth mentioning the realistic design was added to Western version, the original Japanese version had a much more cartoony main character.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s a good point, Power Blazer had a very different aesthetic for sure.

[@DaRush-The_Soviet_Gamer]

@@BigOleWords And no power suit and much worse controls.

[@GustavoValdiviesso]

Every one thinks the cover is Arnold, but it isn't. An actual photo of the model used to draw the cover art surfaced a while ago. It is "80's Arnold Style", but it isn't him.

[@dieinfire920]

The author based the art on photos of himself. Thanks to those photos the sue didn’t work out for Arnold.

[@GustavoValdiviesso]

@@dieinfire920 So it was the author? I remember seeing the photo but didn't know who the guy was.

[@dieinfire920]

@@GustavoValdiviesso yeah the author himself was the model. Check a KZbinr Nescomplex power blade video, he shows the photos there.

[@bczarrockbeast6264]

Hey dad... i just got promoted to operations manager at the pulsating butthole factory. Smh... thats great son.

[@BigOleWords]

I don’t know Bart, my dads a pretty big wheel down at the pulsating butthole factory.

[@Raziel_77]

In Russia theese two games were super cool and everyone played them, and slow music on Dendy was awesome. It's fuuny how you hate late nes games, you have to admit that you just lose big when choose snes over nes. Power Blade was easy, 2nd game give some challenge (but not too difficult).

[@BigOleWords]

Very cool! I often hear from people about certain games that were big in Russia and Eastern Europe in the 80s and 90s. Really interesting, thanks for sharing!

[@Raziel_77]

@@BigOleWords Here some more big games in Russia - Battletoads & Double Dragon, Super Contra, Bucky O'Hare, Duck Tales 2, Chip & Dale 2, Darkwing Duck, Tom & Jerry, Tale Spin, Felix the Cat, Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, Yo! Noid, Flash & Batman (Monster in My Pocket), Prince of Persia, Terminator 2, Young Indiana Jones, New Ghostbusters 2 TMNT 2-3, TMNT Tournament Fighters, Double Dragon 2, Ninja Ryukenden 2-3, Zen Intergalactic Ninja, Robocop 3, Tokkyuu Shirei Solbrain, Batman, Mighty Final Fight, Alien 3, Dream Master, Aladdin (pirate), Lion King (pirate), Moon Crystal, Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Soccer League, Super Spy Hunter, Eliminator Boat Duel, Micro Machines, Jackal, Guardic Gaiden (Guardian Legend).

[@DaRush-The_Soviet_Gamer]

@@BigOleWords In eastern Europe almost all NES games were pirated including the consoles themselves. 16 bit was a ripoff to buy and due to unlimited supply of pirated cartridges we never experienced region locking, or artificial scarcity of original cartridge releases. Buy what you want, when you want. As long as it's not in your native language (Russian in my case). lol. You guys got lucky with games on the (UNDERSTAND WHAT THE TEXT IS SAYING) front however. English titles, we could at least translate with a dictionary, but Japanese hieroglyphics were Impossible. So if your game is more complex than a side-scroller and requires reading to solve puzzles. If in Japanese YOU ARE SO SCREWED!

[@Djwunmoshen]

This is Contra cross Megaman

[@BigOleWords]

A little bit!

[@isidzukuri]

I finished that like 20 times in my youth. I like this game actually.

[@DadRacer]

Additional booms that let you show multiple rangs - gold!

[@BigOleWords]

Hahaha thank you thank you ;)

[@dieinfire920]

I never played Power Blade 1 until the emulation era (never saw it for sale or rent in my country), but rented PW2 a few times and was able to finished, and found it was a very fun game. Ohh the cover it’s actually NOT based on Arnold, the author used photos of himself as model, and thanks to those photos, the sue he had from Arnold’s agents, didn’t prosper.

[@jefflindquist6138]

Thanks James for the coverage !!!

[@GermanPeter]

I can't believe you didn't even mention the similarities to Contra! The two guys at 1:10 looked straight out of that game :D

[@MrMegaManFan]

Hey James, just wanted to say I enjoyed your Mega Man 3 live stream the other day. Keep up the good work on the content like this!

[@BigOleWords]

Yo! Yeah it’s all Mega Man and the games it inspired this month so right up your alley!

[@28Pluto]

@@BigOleWords Nice! MM4 for the win!

[@GoodVibeCollecting]

Power Blade is actually an americanized version of Power Blazer which is more of a cartoony looking game. It's funny, PB 2 Nova looks way more like Arnold and yet no lawsuits were issued.

[@viktorwolfe8333]

I like the planet analogy in the beginning. So funny!!

[@BigOleWords]

Thank you :)

[@jonothanthrace1530]

PB2 Guy's walking around sprite makes me think of Roddy Piper from They Live, with the hair-lumps being the sunglasses.

[@BigOleWords]

That would be 10,000 times more awesome than Arnold!

[@frun]

I finished both games PB&PB2 in the early 90s

[@BigOleWords]

Nice!

[@yandman26]

The Power Blade cover art was painted by my friend, and that's actually him, it was a self portrait as were all his box arts.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

but did he use Arnold or Dolph as inspiration for the action hero look?

[@mlc4050]

3:59 I'm still trying to decide if the evil executive is 80s Pat Sajak, or 80s Donald Trump

[@BigOleWords]

Maybe it’s future Biff Tannen

[@UltimateNinja1984]

New subscriber here!!! I love that u cover the later nes titles. Power blade 2 imo is better than part 1!!! A 8 bit masterpiece. Btw still have my original power blade 2 cart got it for $5 in 1999.

[@BigOleWords]

Damn that is a steal right there! I had 1 as a kid but paid much more for 2 as an adult :)

[@Blankult]

Oh it's Australian terminator. "Hasta la vista, mate."

[@BigOleWords]

Haha

[@RoninCatholic]

Boomerangs are my favorite weapon archetype in videogames, so this game definitely belongs on my radar and I really wish I had it as a kid LOL

[@foxyfoxington2651]

Following in the footsteps of other great holiday properties like Die Hard and Batman Returns.

[@BigOleWords]

I actually think this must’ve been a Die Hard reference!

[@kevynhansyn2902]

And Lethal Weapon!

[@thenewnostalgia]

I once lied to a friend and said that this game was a game given out with razors akin to Chex Quest with cereal, and then completely forgot about it-- until I heard him telling a third person my story as if it was an absolute fact.

[@BigOleWords]

Hahahahaha love it!

[@PaladinDusty]

I feel the same way. I played this one first, and was honestly afraid the original wouldn't be any better, but the original is pretty good.

[@BigOleWords]

Oh damn! Yeah OG Power Blade is waaaayyy better

[@chasonlapointe]

I loved both of the games in the series, What is the Ninja looking game at 6:28?

[@AriesFireTiger]

Kick Master

[@chasonlapointe]

@@AriesFireTiger Awesome, thanks.

[@alexhydell3608]

I played the first one a TON. But never got my hands on this one

[@BigOleWords]

Same until recently :)

[@zeliardforty-two4692]

Although it’s not as good as the first I’m glad it isn’t horrible like some other rare titles. I probably would have played it if I wasn’t focused on SNES at the time

[@angelaarmie5789]

After hearing that intro the first few times I like it

[@edparadis6685]

although published by the same company it was developed by someone else. Also, the sequel was only north american made as well. The original power blade was called Power Blazer 2 and the main charater looked almost like Mega man with a giant power blade boomerang. So natually when it came to north america they made the charater look like Anrine. The game was more popular here for they mae a sequal for north america only since they could not hire the same company that made the orignal The makers made the sequal themselves

[@BigOleWords]

Are they not both Natsume games?!

[@righthand3d]

The box art isn't actually a Terminator ripoff. Michael Winterbauer did the box-art as artist and model.

[@X4nd3r91]

Good point, but personally i see it quite the opposite as your view. I remember being 4 years old, going with my parents at their friends house for friday night cards game. They used to play till saturday in the morning while us kids where enjoying ourselves hanging around and playing. I saw this weird vhs like grey box almost like a VHS type of device, didnt knew what it was. Then my dad's friend came up and said, it's an original nintendo imported from the US by a friend of his, didnt had a clue at 4 years what he was rambling about, but as soon as he started the box, on the little CRT tv an animated screen appeared, sure enough, it was Power Blade II, the only game he possesed at that time, keep in mind that the original nintendo consoles and cartridges we're something expensibly to afford in Romania, in the Eastern part of Europe at that time, he got lucky. Sure enough, after a year or so i got a nintendo too, but it was completely different from my dad's friend. Mine was black and said on its box Terminator II. Sure enough, Europe had it's share of bootlegged consoles that basically did what a real nintendo did. I was frustrated that his NES cart with Power Blade II wasnt compatible with my bootleg Terminator console. But i was obssesed with the game, so obbsesed in it's difficulty, i would still go to their house and try to pass at least one stage. Never could as it was pretty darn hard (also didnt knew about the special suits). It took me 11 years here to finally be able to find a yellow copy cart of Power Blade II that was compatible to the famicom like bootleged console. I finished the game finally in 2007, and boy i think it's really a ccol game.

[@lilpeek538]

Can someone tell me what music is that from 7:08

[@HitSanjHanj]

When i was a kid i beat this game, now trying it at 34 i am thinking wtf, how it's possible to beat it without saving. Jesus!

[@BigOleWords]

That's impressive!

[@NESADDICT]

This is one game I wish I had got a while back. Still don’t have it so probably won’t.

[@BigOleWords]

It’s moved into silly price territory at this point unfortunately.

[@tirantloblanch1]

I have an issue with this game,the first game I receive was a silver surfer cartdridge with a power blade II label. I always wonder how cuald be that game with a such cool label, well not the great thing

[@BigOleWords]

That actually sounds kind of cool, but I get your frustration ;)

[@doordashdriver]

That music sounds a lot like Konami/Ultra. Especially TMNT or track & field 2

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I can hear it! Natsume didn't play around with their music :)

[@HaydenTheHistorian]

I was never too big on this one either. The music in Power Blade 1 especially trumps anything this game has to offer. Gameplay is fine, but the soundtrack is just not there.

[@BigOleWords]

Power Blade’s music is some of my favorite on the system so I agree :)

[@freddyvidz]

The hero’s name is Nova, as in Casanova. 😂 I had to say it.

[@geraq0]

Completely agreed, Power Blade 2 doesn't have the bright colors, fun stages or rocking soundtrack of the first game. Oddly enough however its darker aesthetic reminds me of James Bond Jr, one of my favorite NES games when I was a kid, have you played it? I don't know, maybe Sunsoft's Batman is actually closer to that.

[@BigOleWords]

Haha oh yes I have! James Bond Jr is one I’ll for sure get to at some point :)

[@geraq0]

@@BigOleWords I'm looking forward to that, I really love that game.

[@dingalingmasterpiecetheater]

Bonk was released on the NES?! I thought that was a TurboGrafix-16 exclusive.

[@heelturnsface]

I’ve played most of these games no one’s ever played, most of which I got at flea markets and trading with classmates

[@Gimili10]

Games made a year or more into the next console generation are always overlooked. Maybe that's a mistake. True, they will no longer be technically superb, but the programmers will have been experienced with the system.

[@BigOleWords]

For sure and they're at least technically superior within their console :)

[@Logined85]

Except for the cover art is taken from the original artists's painting and he actually proved it in the court.

[@BigOleWords]

Yessir! See my pinned comment above!

[@Logined85]

@@BigOleWords that was the first thing I had read after I pressed „Post“😂

[@BigOleWords]

@@Logined85 haha no worries! I obviously didn't know so I appreciate the feedback :)

[@gamesthatiplay9083]

Turns out it's a photo of the artist himself, and not Arnold.

[@jwilliams7554]

Yeah I always thought power blade was a mixture of mega man and even castlevania

[@BigOleWords]

Two great games to emulate!

[@dalesanteford7432]

It looks more like Duke Nukem early Arnold Schwarzenegger from Terminator 1

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

so I should play "POWER BLADE 2" 10 times got it

[@BigOleWords]

I respect your commitment!

[@Dorelaxen]

I'll be back. WITH A BOOMERANG.

[@BigOleWords]

Honestly, I’d be pretty terrified if someone threatened me with that!

[@demshaw4598]

I fucking loved this game

[@BigOleWords]

Hell yeah!

[@AllCoolThingsStoneMountain]

Hey, I noticed that you may be in the ATL area. I'm a big Saturn collector. Let's chat sometime to see if we can work together.

[@BigOleWords]

Nice! Shoot me an email (in my ABOUT)

[@tookmyjob]

I would have loved to have played it if it wasn't SO DAMN EXPENSIVE!! (I also call the Power Blade games "Terminator Dundee")

[@dieinfire920]

Well you could have played back in the day if it was available in your area. Or can play it now through emulation.

[@BigOleWords]

Terminator Dundee was the PAL only subtitle ;)

[@tookmyjob]

@@dieinfire920 Couldn’t find that in wild back then.

[@dieinfire920]

@@tookmyjob I never saw Power Blade 1, but power blade 2 was for rent in various places in my area. Enjoyed it a lot.

[@godrilla5549]

We are gonna build the cyborgs and make the earthlings pay for it,

[@BigOleWords]

Hahahaha

[@andrewdowell6474]

Meet up and touch tips 😂

[@BigOleWords]

Thank you, thank you

[@tristanjacobucci]

Whoa buddy this bad boy is 900 buckaroos

[@BigOleWords]

Damn is it really? I can’t say I got it for cheap but I didn’t realize it’d gone that high. Yeesh.

[@adampaulausky2044]

He kinda reminds me of the guy from bad street brawler he just got a government job

[@BigOleWords]

Hahahaha that’s too good, nailed it!

[@Terrato.Worzen]

6:30 Hey y'all... what game is this? ...ok, thanks!

[@BigOleWords]

Kickmaster!

[@Terrato.Worzen]

@@BigOleWords Oooh! Never heard of it... but it looks frikin' awesome. I'm totally going to play it legally on my original NES now. Thanks, man!

[@kaplislemesis4789]

Sad but true, I did learn to beat it, but you die once and GG all your suits are gone and the place is made of 1 tap death traps for me it is the only power blade I played.

[@BigOleWords]

The first one is way fun!

[@ButcherGrindslam]

No one played? Here in Ukraine everyone played it due to chinese bootlegs. Rockman series (except 1 and 3) were almost completely overlooked.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s awesome. What was the system called? Dendy?

[@CheapJabroni]

I have 2 copies of Kid Clown.

[@doordashdriver]

I think they ripped off Bad Dudes for the character design

[@BigOleWords]

haha

[@rickdavis32]

They both seemed to almost abuse assets from other games.

[@BigOleWords]

The Natsume special!

[@funsimpledrawings8233]

One of my favorite games. To bad it is too easy.

[@BigMacOrange]

👉👈

[@christophe2201]

There is a good reason no one played this game! It sucks!

[@paulogorbargames]

buen video, muy bueno aun no te tengo en la lista de amigos, mira si ya estas suscrito a mi canal, gracias

[@budz2355]

Actually the powerblade cover is a picture of the artist himself. princewatercress.blogspot.com/2016/07/behind-box-art-power-blade.html?m=1