Route 16 Turbo & Challenger retrospective: Wheeling into the future | NES Works Gaiden

The two games in this episode have almost zero profile in the West, what with the whole "never having been released outside of Japan" thing. And yet, both hold what is in my opinion a fairly significant place in Famicom history (and therefore, by the transitive property, in NES history as well).
Route 16 Turbo matters for what it symbolizes for Sunsoft; it offers our first glimpse into the company's talent for reworking existing concepts into something new and different, and it remains a pretty entertaining game nearly 40 years on.
Challenger, on the other hand, does NOT remain entertaining. However, its sprawling, multi-modal game design offers a foretaste of the design methodology that would become standard fare on this platform: Action games turned immersive adventure, arcade twitch concepts infused with greater depth and substance. Also, lots of cheap untelegraphed deaths to pad play time. It feels like a more fully realized take on high-concept Atari 2600 titles like E.T., but vastly less abstract. Which is to say that developers were finally beginning to realize that console tech had begun to catch up to their grandest creative ambitions beyond simple coin-op experiences.
Finally, for the love of god: Please look up the difference between a manji and a swastika.
Production notes:
Video Works is funded via Patreon ( / gamespite ) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its KZbin debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!
NES/Famicom footage captured from ‪@analogueinc‬ Nt Mini; arcade footage captured from MiSTer with thanks to ‪@MiSTerAddons‬. Video upscaled to 720 with ‪@atemsoft‬ xRGB Mini Framemeister.

[@jasongarrett768]

Challenger’s downward running animation has some mighty “toddler breaking free of their mother and bolting towards the cat” energy there.

[@branwenshoop]

For anyone looking for Route 16: the arcade version is on PS4 and Switch (and Flipgrip compatible), and if you take a few minutes to set up a Japanese Nintendo account, it's in the Famicom part of Switch Online.

[@jasonblalock4429]

When I saw "16" and "Turbo" side by side, my first thought was "OMG that madman is going to start covering the Turbografx." LOL.

[@ralang999]

I'd love to see it happen

[@rowtow13]

I just want to say I love your videos because they're more about the context of how a game came to be and where it fits into the overall story of video games, rather than just focusing on what a mess Challenger is because, yeah, that part's obvious, anyone can just play it and find out for themself.

[@robintst]

I love Challenger's vertical walk cycles flailing his arms around, that made me laugher harder than it should have. You expect a freeze frame and a story narrator to come in going, "It was at that moment that our hero... completely lost his mind."

[@AnimatedAF]

I got really quite addicted to Route-16 Turbo on the Japanese Famicom switch online app, which was the first time I had ever heard of this game. I'd love to see a Pac-man championship style remake of it one day.

[@CrazyIvan86]

I had a Commodore Vic-20 as a kid, and one of my favorite games was Radar Rat Race, which as it turned out was almost a one-for-one copy of Rally-X. I definitely have a deep appreciation for some of its advanced features like the integrated radar, was certainly unique at the time.

[@SovrinnK]

Coincidentally, the composers of these two games worked in parallel on Blaster Master games, even if on a bit of a technicality! Route 16 seems to have been scored by Sunsoft's usual music guy, Naoki Kodaka. You'd never guess this dude would go on to compose for Blaster Master, Batman, and Journey to Silius. Challenger was scored by Takeaki Kunimoto, who scored Milon's Secret Castle, Starship Hector, Mickey Mousecapade, and Bomber King / Robo Warrior (aside: the level 1 theme SLAPS SO MUCH). The latter's game boy port was later affixed with the label Blaster Master Boy in the US, so both of these composers have entries in the Blaster Master series, even if the latter is more by way of a weird publisher anomaly.

[@JeremyParish]

You're gonna love Stefan Gancer's History of Sunsoft book when it launches in a few months.

[@LorenHelgeson]

Even Uematsu started with the likes of Rad Racer and 3D World Runner. Sunsoft's music is a big part of what makes them my favorite NES developer. I've heard they even used custom chips on their carts to pick up the slack from the extra sound channels that were cut (to save costs) when the Famicom was localized as the NES. Anything of theirs that Kunimoto touched was pure 8bit gold. The only NES developer whose music I find to be on par with them was Natsume (namely Power Blade and Shatterhand.) And yes, stage 1 of Robo warrior really slaps.

[@jedgrahek1426]

Seeing something like Challenger, and getting your personal impressions and insights about it, is really quite wonderful. I remember being a little skeptical of the value to be found in examining all of these early NES and Game Boy titles when first finding your channel (though I've been a fan of your work since the Old Times), but you truly are constructing a definitive, games-focused history of the industry. Your videos also make me feel more of a raw sense of nostalgia than any others. Thanks for doing what you do.

[@RndStranger]

I'm pretty confident that there wasn't really a chance for Sunsoft developers to see Venture before they made Route-16. I don't think Sunsoft had an American division at that point so spotting it at a trade show wasn't likely. It could have happened, but it feels more like an extension of multi-scale maps in games like Ultima. This is the "significant games that didn't have great implementation" episode.

[@ralang999]

I love that you kept on calling him Char Vader/Darth Aznable 🤣

[@absolutezeronow7928]

Always good to see a decent Sunsoft game. And I can respect Challenger as an advent of the games that we would later see in NES Works: the more console focused action adventure game rather than the arcade-focused score attack games. I also liked the bonus discussion of Rally-X.

[@SovrinnK]

I sought out Challenger when it looked really visually impressive on Chrontendo way back in the day, but was deeply disappointed by its level of jank. The hit detection is utterly broken, and not even in any consistent direction. It's a fascinating game and an important milestone, but as Jeremy opines above, it's a miserable slog to try to play.

[@HPRshredder]

Challenger seems like one of those games that I would bet made it to the number one spot of a few people's favorite games lists in the 80s. It has a lot of charm. I like the look of it, I'll probably try it myself.

[@Larry]

Hudson seemed to have some affection for the ZX Spectrum, as they also released a very early version of Bomberman for the system, renamed "Eric and the Floaters".

[@nate567987]

the sharp x1 was what the game was made for and the x1and zx were nearly the same spec wise

[@billcook4768]

I’ve honestly never seen Route 16 before, either in arcade or Famicom. It instantly made me think of Venture.

[@skRapKlan]

Thanks for another awesome history lesson! On another note, today I just noticed I was no longer subscribing to your channel.. I have no idea how this happened but glad I noticed to catch your awesome flow of retro bits and pieces of useful information! Again, thanks so much for your amazing work!

[@michaelturner2806]

I rarely comment and often forget to thumbs-up but thank you for these videos. They're a treasure.

[@charon59]

Two more games that I never knew about. I don't even remember ever seeing either of these on a bootleg cart! That's how obscure to me these were!

[@goatbone]

I can't imagine my life without Sunsoft.

[@MaidenHell1977]

The very end had me laughing out loud, "and next Time on NES Works, it's definitely going to get worse before it get's better." Amazing show, never heard or seen either of these two games before! Love it!

[@ValkyrieTiara]

You can't run from Game Boy Works forever, Jeremy. It's always there. Waiting for you.

[@JeremyParish]

I didn’t run from it, it ran from me

[@punzai72]

I think Stop The Express was originally by Hudson kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZzLZYV6qdR7ecU and they ported to the Spectrum. There was a weird period around 1983 where Hudson wrote Spectrum games. See Eric and the Floaters (Bomberman) etc

[@drsnicol]

You are correct - I think it was originally on the Sharp X1, a japanese z80 based machine with similar capabilities to the Speccy.

[@nate567987]

@@drsnicol the same z80a 16kb of ram hell same General Instrument AY-3-8910 sound unit

[@donnierussellii4659]

I immediately thought of Venture after seeing this game for the first time here. I've actually had Venture on the brain lately, though. An amazing coincidence for this to be an original concept by the developer.

[@Gatorbox]

Route 16 Turbo is one of my favorite Famicom games of all time. I've got an import copy that I play on my NES with a pin converter from time to time. It's hectic and I'm no good at it but it's still a riot.

[@goatbone]

9:32 His 'down' animation is so charming. I can see both games here being popular back in the day, I have seen countless copies of both always selling cheap. Unfortunately not really worth going back to today.

[@holdingpattern245]

You can tell Hudson was a home computer developer initially, many of their more unique ideas were much less unique there. Also it seems to me that Atari Adventure influenced Route 16, specifically the ideas of having the game world exceed the boundaries of the screen and having locations of items be randomized for greater replayability.

[@thejackal007]

Route 16 actually looks rather amazing. It reminds me of a weird mix of games like Bootleg and Tumble Bugs, for the Atari.

[@sebastiangorka200]

head-on! apply directly to the forehead!

[@angel_of_rust]

route 16 turbo is basically a roguelike

[@Foxxy999]

Whoo, been waiting for you to cover Challenger for a long time. Looking forward to your one-hour dissection of Atlantis no Nazo!

[@JeremyParish]

Alas, this series wraps at the end of 1985.

[@Foxxy999]

@@JeremyParish Prime Halloween episode option? XD

[@Megoodfilmguy]

Great episode Jeremy. Two games I'd never heard of that both feel like near misses. I think the second one could have had some play in the states in those early pre-zelda days. Honestly I'm surprised no one rushed it out after Zelda was such a hit for Nintendo.

[@Thinaran]

I just started watching Mobile Suit Gundam and I appreciate all the references.

[@penismightier9278]

I was watching the Challenger part of the game when suddenly I recognized the song playing: It's from the Rockman 4 Minus Infinity ROM hack. Forget which level it is in, kind of want to say either Toad Man or Dive Man. (Just looked it up and I was completely wrong: Drill Man.) I might have to look into picking both of these up, the prior looks better but the latter looks like it could be a fun $3 game.

[@quesoblanco444]

Route 16 looks like Venture with a car.

[@JeremyParish]

What an interesting notion!

[@GeomancerHT]

Rally-X looks like a game that's exactly equal but with rats and cheese. Also the NES game seems to have clu clu land physics/shared source code.

[@jessragan6714]

Radar Rat Race! A favorite on the VIC-20.

[@jessragan6714]

Am I the only one who played Route 16 in an arcade? You would think so, judging from everyone's complete lack of familiarity with it. But yeah, it's a fun little oddball of a game, and the NES sequel does improve upon the formula, even if its lack of polish is obvious in hindsight.

[@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730]

challenger is the xevious/hydlide of consoles, i love it and its oblique game design choices

[@JeremyParish]

I will never forgive the MYSTERY ZONE. There's four holes that all kill you. It seems like one should hold a secret, but no! Just instant unrewarding death everywhere. You only have three lives per credit, so you can't even confirm the danger in a single game. Horrible and genius.

[@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730]

yes! and that was one of the first instances of the kind of underhanded tricks that would be employed by famicom developers afterwards in order to superficially extend the playtime required to complete the game

[@bduddy55555]

At what point would one be able to stitch up all the Atlantis no Nazo clips in this series into a full-length episode?

[@OmegaDez]

Can anybody identify the anime clip at the beginning? I'm really curious about it.

[@magnumvanisher]

High School Kimengumi.

[@OmegaDez]

@@magnumvanisher Thank you!

[@RoboHasi]

Is Route 16 the first open world racer? Forza Horizon was born here

[@satoukazuma7952]

Dang, you started sounding like Yahtzee for a bit there! I guess playing Challenger will do that to a guy... Much like Spelunker, I can't help but have a soft spot for Challenger, in spite of its glaring flaws. Hudson could have just done a straight port of Stop the Express and called it a day, and no one could hold it against them. It was 1985, after all! But, not being satisfied with that, they went the extra mile and crammed what could have been a whole separate game in its own right. You have to give them props for that at least. Oh and the soundtrack is great too!

[@JeremyParish]

Not… really?

[@satoukazuma7952]

@@JeremyParishThat rapid-fire sentence at around 7:07 in the video definitely gave me some Zero Punctuation vibes.

[@JeremyParish]

This is that Boss Baby meme, right?

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

I think Challenger's biggest issue is the limited lives. That mixes poorly with open exploration and trial and error. Give the player infinite lives, or at least a much larger number, and suddenly it would likely feel much less cruel. Also, invincibility frames to keep enemies from sapping your entire health bar in seconds. I like the idea of what this game is, but those two things alone would be reason to not play it.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Having played through most of my old NES games recently, the one thing that drags an experience down for me is limited lives. Getting to the end, losing the last life, and having to start over from the beginning of any substantial game is really the one thing I wish wasn't there. I can put up with or enjoy just about anything else, if it's a good/interesting game, and it's not bad if the game is at least short, but oof. I champion some gameplay elements commonly considered "bad" because they're not the current standard that people expect, but that's one that really does belong in the past.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Char Vader vs Indiana Luke

[@starofjustice1]

What's the anime at the beginning called? With the schoolgirls doing a concert

[@darktetsuya]

huh I never knew challenger was based on an EU PC game, go figure. definitely seems like one of those ridiculously though games like spelunker or something.

[@JeremyParish]

I may have misunderstood the timeline of Chase the Express' creation-seems like it was ported to Spectrum from a Japanese PC first, which would make more sense.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

Orange Road again?

[@JeremyParish]

Nope.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

@@JeremyParish I guess I can say I'm hard KOR about my anime, but I can't place it. But they do look familiar.

[@DeepWeeb]

Seems like George Lucas got a bit carried away with his "Special Editions" again....

[@hadessuk]

Sunsoft would probably have had to remove the swastika-shaped walls before an NES release.

[@JeremyParish]

Those aren’t swastikas and they didn’t remove the same symbol from Zelda.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@JeremyParish Thank you.

[@hadessuk]

@@JeremyParish They're still “swastikas” even if they're not Nazi symbols. I didn't know about that symbol's appearance in Zelda, I'm more of a Golden Axe Warrior player :) Thanks for the info.

[@retrogamestudios6688]

4:57 swastikas say what

[@JeremyParish]

That’s not a swastika.

[@retrogamestudios6688]

@@JeremyParish ya I know had look twice. Nice video keep up the good work

[@absolutezeronow7928]

It's a manji (which technically is a swastika). It's a sacred symbol in a few sects of Buddhism, and was probably included in that context.

[@JeremyParish]

I doubt the sacred symbolism was the point so much as the fact that it's a familiar map icon. Japanese street maps feature manji prominently to denote shrines, so it makes sense that a game about navigating roads and different maps (layouts) would incorporate it.

[@jamesmoss3424]

Nintendo should have released Challenger and route 16 turbo in the USA in the first place. 😀👍🎮

[@GamingDelight]

You mean Sunsoft (Route 16), or Hudson (Challenger). Nintendo didn't release either of those games in Japan (nor did they even develop them), so why would they release them in the West?