Retro Review: Solar Jetman (NES) - The toughest game I've beaten on the NES

Solar Jetman is a free-roaming spaceship shooter from Rare. This is quite possibly one of the hardest games on the NES, and often gets overlooked due to so many other more popular Rare titles like Battletoads, and Snake Rattle 'n' Roll. I never beat this as a kid, and I've finally gotten back to it and finally beat all 12 crushing stages.
Thanks for watching.

[@xanderunderwoods3363]

I can't believe you beat it, I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEED this game!

[@cyberiad]

This was my favourite game as a young teenager, I'd play it fanatically and even after winning the game I'd start from the beginning just for joy!

[@roastysprouts8705]

By far my favorite game as a kid, Id navigate while my dad drew the maps..

[@tpolutts3309]

This game was so unforgiving. Played it so much as a kid. Loved every minute of it.

[@ds3930]

I bought this game at Kmart when I was 16. It was cheaper than the rest of the games. I asked why and she said "Probably because it sucks" which she was wrong, that game was awesome and extremely difficult. I think the best part was when you were towing and the music tempo changed, it really added to the feeling that your doing something special and getting the item back to your ship was so satisfying.

[@jdaywork2693]

I was immediately reminded of the battletoads double dragon game when I saw the little ship flying around.

[@ZeromasterVT]

I've never played this game more then a few minutes, now I wanna go back to it and give it another try. Thanks for the video!

[@JetmanPR]

This is the game that made me a gamer. *points at username*

[@xanderunderwoods3363]

That's awesome! 🕹🎮👩‍🚀

[@caseyp3879]

My brother got this for his birthday when we were young, we never even came close to beating this. We still reference it to his his day

[@rufmeister]

This game is now available via Nintendo Switch Online, which is where I ran into it, and got reminded of playing this as a kid. Finishing the first level reminded me of how hard it was, and let me to looking up videos like yours.

[@cessnaace]

I bought this game back-in-the-day and found it difficult, but I also found it addictive. I ended up buying a second copy as a spare. It was ported to the C64, Amiga, and Atari ST but those ports' releases were cancelled due to the poor sales of the NES original. The were complete though so one day we may see a port to the Atari Jaguar. There have been an ever increasing number of Atari ST and Amiga games receiving homebrew ports to the Jag. The Jaguar has two 32-bit RISC coprocessors (Tom & Jerry) and a 16-bit housekeeping processor, the Motorola 68000 (the same processor used in the ST), and a 64-bit databus. While the Amiga had a 32-bit chip it is compatible with the 68000. Most ST to Jag homebrew ports use the 68000, although some also use Jerry to add a new soundtrack. Some Amiga to Jag ports use the 68000 with Tom to upgrade the graphics and Jerry for the soundtrack. The prototype for the Atari Jaguar 2 was found. It has the Motorola 68080 32-bit processor intact, with all of the extra RAM chips, but was missing the Puck processor. Jerry was put in its place and the system works great, with the intended backwards compatibility with Jag 1 games, as was Atari's plan. My hope is that someone at GDG, Songbird Productions, or AtariAge will see this ramble of mine and port Solar Jetman to the Jaguar.

[@ManuelRodriguez-lv6kk]

I just bought this game with the manual on EBAY…Looking forward to playing it!

[@tomasleyva8336]

My parents rented this game for me when i was 6 at a local video rental and it was hard as hell for my early 90s self. My older sister who was more of a gamer (and the owner of the NES) also threw the towel after a few hours of gameplay. We were struggling every step of the way because rented games didn't came with a manual and with no internet we were figuring it out what to do in the blind. Still a good memory since it was the first time i played a truly challenging game and it was also the first game i played on NES other that Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt.

[@SirajFlorida]

I like the fantasy star 2 intro. One of my favorite games.

[@soundspark]

Ever notice you get juat a slight bit more lift when you turn the ship one click from straight up? Helpful when on Mexomorf hauling heavy stuff before you get the boosters.

[@QuickPaw2000]

Nice vid. I still have to give this a proper playthrough. Also, you have some audio distortion starting around the 6:15 mark.

[@zkdr6278]

I heard that too. Thought it was on my end.

[@Dempig]

Love this game, had it as a kid and played it quite often even though I never got very far. NES games were impossible to beat without a game genie lol

[@scottg7660]

I never finished the game but damn I did love it. Even when I watch walkthrough videos it’s still impossible hahah.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

I had this game. I remember really wanting Star Wars for the NES, but my mom couldn't find it in stores, and got me this instead. Played it for like 10 minutes and never played it again. Liked the smooth animation of the pod and the gravity mechanics, but ultimately found it boring and repetitive with dull environments. Also have always hated maze-like games.

[@LoverBoy-im7xv]

I'd say Abodox is the hardest game I beat without cheating. I got to the last level of Solar and Drucula on Castlevania 3 and I wouldn't say the difficulty is that much more for Solar, but maybe it's the last part I never beat, that did it.

[@viscountalpha]

A recent twitch streamer (who shall not be named) failed his first final run with the golden warpship. This game is hard and the average joe hated it. I loved this game and have beaten it a few times.

[@kyleolson8977]

"Rare games stand above that in difficulty" Some of the later ones, yes, but on the other hand Rare's "Wizards & Warriors" is one of the most lenient games on the NES. The game has infinite continues and outside of boss battles there's almost no penalty for death. In 1987 that was unheard of.

[@retrogamingknight]

I never really go into the Wizards and Warriors series, so I wasn't that aware of it's difficulty. It seems like the exception to Rare's typical difficulty level though.

[@chrishaselden]

I was horrible at it, but I loved this game.

[@thedigodragon]

This was indeed a hard game, but it was fair in its difficulty-- the mechanics of the gameplay are consistent, so once you get used to a new planet's gravity, you can get pretty good at it. The only part of the game I didn't like was the final level as the Golden Warpship. Felt out of place with its completely different controls and odd final boss.

[@AltamaLFG]

10-10 would turbo boost through tight spaces with my super shield up again.

[@BigBearHgX]

That game destroyed me! I loved it though.

[@retrogamingknight]

This game frustrated me so much back in 1990 due to how hard it is. I think this is now my favorite Rare title on the NES.

[@keithsimpson2685]

Nintendo power guide to this game was basically necessary.

[@retrogamingknight]

That would have been very helpful when I owned this back then. I was never able to figure out the levels until I was an adult.

[@mltron]

I need help finding a game from childhood. I’ve been searching the internet on and off for the past several years, and even more in depth recently now that I have a handheld emulator. My most recent find is a game called Solar Jetman, and based on the description I decided to watch a video to see if it matched, even though the box label/art didn’t look at all familiar. The game description is “The game is a multi-directional shooter in the vein of Thrust and Gravitar. The player's craft is subject to inertia but not drag, so to stop moving in one direction it needs to thrust in the opposite way. The constant pull of gravity makes stable flight impossible and steering a skill in itself.” This describes the way my childhood game plays perfectly😂 but I swear Solar Jetman is not it😭 I watched a video and, while this is not the game from my childhood, the description of the way you navigate the levels is strikingly accurate to the game I’m looking for. And the video I watched on KZbin displays game physics that are very close if not exactly the same as the game I’m looking for. I’m certain it’s not the same game though. The game I’m looking for had a fascinating and ominous, almost scary, label on the box and the cartridge. I just remember a lot of red and vaguely what appeared to be two eyes, yellow maybe? Not only that, the gameplay itself was daunting af and at the same time again fascinating. I don’t remember getting passed the first boss except maybe once or twice. All I remember of the boss was that it also flew/hovered, and it was giant compared the the little spaceship the player pilots. I’d love to find out what this game is called after 30 years since it’s last been played by myself.

[@retrogamingknight]

I wish I could help you with that, there were some PC games that I have hunted down for years that I didn't remember the names of. The only other game I know of with gravity physics like Gravitar is Sub Terrania on the Genesis/Mega Drive. The only game box with yellow evil eyes staring at you that I know of is the NES version of Guardian Legend, but that's a hybrid vertical shooter and overhead adventure game.

[@TheCartoonGamer8000]

I'll have to give this game a proper go one day- only got so far to get the Rare Replay acheivements. Btw, what's that music you used in your intro? Sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it, and it's killing me.

[@mehmetakif5842]

Great game!

[@ColbyePresents]

*This game looks cool ^.^*

[@christianhall3916]

I looked at a sprite sheet and you can actually face 32 different directions.

[@calvindanielski4369]

👀 ｐｒｏｍｏｓｍ