Star Force | Side Pocket retrospective: The bore ’n the Pocket | NES Works

[@Arstahd]

Star Force... that game was brutal. No matter how much I practiced, I couldn't complete it. The shear number of enemies and projectiles in the later stages were just insurmountable. The NES MAX controller with the turbo fire buttons helped some, but even that wasn't enough... at first. Inspiration had struck. I opened up the controller and taped in some wires, shorting the turbo fire button to the START button. Now every time I fired, the game would pause and unpause, creating a makeshift SLO-MO mode. Even with this cheat enabled, the game was still ridiculously hard, but eventually I made it to the final stage. Upon clearing the last boss, my joy quickly faded when I was greeted with the most disappointing ending of any video game I had ever completed before or since. A single screen of white text on a black field stating something long the lines of " CONGRATULATION! You win. Look for Super Star Force coming soon. "

[@tarultoyarto]

Side Pocket's spin control makes it a much more compelling competitive experience. And the "masse" shots (which can send the cue ball vertically into the air) give it a *massive* skill ceiling. Lunar Pool is fun to mess around with, but my friends and I always went back to Side Pocket.

[@FloatingSunfish]

I remember puzzling over what those random letters were on Star Force's background as a kid, thinking they would eventually lead to more power-ups, secrets, or *something.* Turns out it was just for points. Chalk another one up to overthinking things in classic video games that weren't there to begin with. 😅

[@joshuagoldfarb6041]

Floating Sunfish, I love this comment! You did a good job writing it and seeing it made me feel happy!

[@auralunaprettycure]

Star Force's foreground and background elements confused me so much as a kid. I remember thinking the game was glitching when there would be stuff in front of the ship. My brain just couldn't process 3D space.

[@jonriede6846]

It makes my day when a new video is posted!

[@LorenHelgeson]

Mine too. This guy really does his homework on these.

[@Egganopolis82]

I always learn something new from your videos.

[@ladambell]

Really pleasant music in Side Pocket. A super nice "just hanging out" vibe.

[@anthonyzayler5449]

Another great retrospective, thank you!

[@bjornh1527]

I used to think the craters in Lunar Pool were ashtrays.We never got Zanac here in Scandinavia, but even then I thought Star Force was really dull compared to for example Gradius. Some people have claimed that Star Force is a better game than NES Star Soldier. They are wrong.

[@JeremyParish]

They DO look like ashtrays!

[@VGMFan20XX]

I played a crazy amount of Side Pocket. Quite the pleasant time waster. ^_^

[@dpgreene]

Super Star Force, the Famicom only sequel is actually an interesting game. It has a time travel mechanic and you even leave your ship and explore dungeons on foot in an overhead view. It’s perhaps like a more primitive Guardian Legend. Anyway I’m glad you were kind to Star Force, I love it for being the best of the no-frills vertical shooters on NES. It’s a simple test of skill and it’s always a good pick up and play game for me. If I have 15 minutes to play a game, I often just give Star Force a whirl and try and best my 401,200 high score. It’s too bad we didn’t get it for NES in 1985 or early 86, I trust it would have been more highly regarded had it been.

[@tec5x5]

I can not wait for Guardian Legend to be talked about an underrated classic

[@JeremyParish]

NES Works 1989 is a long way away... but that's a good one, no question

[@flyingerasehead]

I bought Super Star Force off eBay in 2003. The internet was pretty young back then so no English guides were around, and I didn't know any Japanese. But it was just going to be more autoscrolling shooting, right? It was still worth the $3 +$10 shipping.

[@jlc992]

One fun fact I learn from GCCX is at 4:35 if you can shoot that enemy a whole bunch of times before it fully form you can destroy it.

[@delajt]

Thanks Jeremy! I love both games (although I prefer Star Force on Arcade (MAME) and Side Pocket on SNES/SMD (Sega Genesis on your side of the planet!) AWESOME GAMES Keep at it dude!

[@MercuryCDX]

The chronological release dates of NES games compared to their Famicom counterparts sure was weird in those early NES years. If you're more used to approaching the platform from the perspective of Famicom release dates, stuff like Star Force definitely makes more sense in the context of its time. Speaking of which, that feels like a big problem with Hudson Soft's NES release history. You already covered Lode Runner, but once you start hitting games like Milon's Secret Castle and Bomberman, it's gonna feel weird in the context of every other game around them. Speaking of release dates, Side Pocket had a very long tail of ports during the 8-bit and 16-bit era, for some reason. I recall the SNES version getting a port released in late '93/early '94. Like every two years Data East decided "here's Side Pocket"

[@wantsomecorn]

Comparing this series to Chrontendo is very interesting. You get a much better sense of the evolution of the medium in Chrontendo, because it follows the Famicom release order, while NES Works tells the American story, where games like Hydlide that were revolutionary in Japan were almost unplayablely dated coming out in the US years after games it inspired like Zelda.

[@deadmetalbr]

I've got a soft spot for the Genesis version of Side Pocket, but it's mostly because of the soundtrack!

[@chaseman94]

3:53 - I did that all the time before I bought a controller with turbo fire.

[@nilzero5686]

haha, that's a clever gundam reference in the title.

[@OptimusShr]

And after reading it I have a craving for hamburgers.

[@setadriftonfishandchips]

Data East: Born to Runner Up!

[@videogameobsession]

I mentioned this a while ago, but if you want your NES video to look a better then drop the veritcle border setting down by one in your AVS video settings. This will hide the very obvious flickering at the top of vertically scrolling games. This part is generally unseen on CRTs so you won't be cutting off anything that anyone will miss.I first thought my AVS was defective, with excessive flickering at the top until I noticed the setting to fix it.

[@JeremyParish]

Again, I don't capture from an AVS, and I'm not interested in cropping the screen.

[@videogameobsession]

@@JeremyParish "Again"? I don't recall there ever being a first reply from you. Regardless if it's AVS, Nt Mini, MiSTer, or software emulation. The flickering of sprites at the top row of pixels of the screen were not visible on an original hardware setup as they are in the OVERSCAN area. It's not representative of how these games appeared. It's a simple adjustment, but if you like it that way that that's fine too. I was just trying to offer a helpful suggestion.

[@MaidenHell1977]

Great episode but i can't wait for that Kid Niki episode.

[@DeepWeeb]

9:23 Leonardo DiCaprio

[@THEmuteKi]

Basic though it might be, I find the simplicity of games like Star Force and spiritual brethren like Star Soldier and Astro Warrior compellingly elegant in their simplicity

[@Bloxed]

I loved Star Force when I first played it. The arcade version is magnificent and I'm excited to be playing the NES version someday. Side Pocket seems pretty cool too and I might give it a try.

[@leefischer5814]

Star Force is a very fast paced game and pretty awesome recommendation if you are on a budget and are a fan of shooters. I never played the Arcade version though so not sure how it compares.

[@terancemelvin8048]

I loving your channel

[@backinthedaygamer]

Zanac was the only shooter I knew about back in the day. I always liked it but man is it tough. I can’t put much time into Star Force bc I just want to play Zanac lol. Growing up I had Lunar Pool.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

How does Side Pocket compare to Exciting Billiard that came out just 3 months prior?

[@rupertcornelius]

he said PARAMORE

[@JeremyParish]

"Paramour"

[@rupertcornelius]

@@JeremyParish 🙃

[@JeremyParish]

speling kountz

[@randomgamer-st1ie]

I personally like Star Force, rather play it over Zanac any day. And how did you compare Breakthru to Jackal? Jackal is a overhead shooter, while Breakthru is like a side scrolling bump and jump.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

I know Star Soldier is the better game, but honestly, I really prefer the purity of Star Force's mechanics. Well, that and the fact there's none of that silly randomly-start-flying-underneath the scenery stuff in there. But of course, with Hamster's Arcade Archives release, it's a tad redundant for sure.

[@oobgarm1]

Data East: Cool box art, mediocre games. (Bad Dudes, Karnov, and Burgertime get a pass from me. Maybe Rampage too)

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, they seemed to leave all of their most interesting or ambitious games in the arcade, for some reason. And what NES ports happened always seemed a bit too compromised. At least some of their better arcade games eventually got released on Switch.

[@JeremyParish]

I have pretty good memories of Karnov and am looking forward to rediscovering it as an adult to see how it fares.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

I liked Karnov on the NES when I was a kid. It probably is still a decent NES game.

[@mariusamber3237]

@@JeremyParish It's pretty decent I'd say. Too bad they cut out the entire story/cutscenes for the western release, but with what it was about, I'm not surprised that happened at the time.

[@Technosphile]

God I love Wednesday mornings EDIT: I’ve actually never seen or played Side Pocket, but the footage here makes it appear to be a G-rated version of Data East’s arcade Pocket Gal games. Same shot interface, score screen, everything. Just no boobies.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Pocket Gal is a spinoff of Side Pocket, which was originally an arcade game released in 1986. Even this NES port predates Pocket Gal, which debuted in arcades in 1988.

[@capitalistrealism7680]

Its too bad they had never published Super Star Force in the US. It is much more interesting game compared to the original. The same also can be said about Super Xevious. I guess Super Star Force was one of the first games for NES that have multiple endings.

[@thegamingniceguy3181]

I remember getting this game and getting bored real fast. I hated my purchase

[@rumpbuns]

Some day I'll be City Champion

[@spunky2006]

That's the spirit Pecan Tomlinson! After all follow your dreams keep practicing and you'll one day become a city champion like yours truly. Yeah I went from being a city champion to that of a Side Pocket world champion for after all what I couldn't do as a child back it's what I did as a 27 year old adult a few years ago at the end of 2014.

[@Corleth]

Thank you. I've loved Starforce since playing it in the arcades back in the 80's. There's a great version on the Wii Virtual Arcade and it is available on the PS4, but only in Japan. No idea why it isn't also available in the west.What's up with that Arcade Archives/Hamster? Still I bought it on the JPN PSN, and no Japanese language knowledge is required.

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Probably because the so-called caravan shmups weren't a big thing in the West.

[@Corleth]

@@PrekiFromPoland I agree with you in the respect that caravan isn't a thing in the west. But I'm just a guy from the UK and my friends and I all played Starforce. It was big enough to appear on Wii Virtual Console and there's far more obscure games out on the Arcade Archives label in the West. Just seemed a little weird. At least we got Hyper Sports recently. :)

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

It's worth noting Hamster put it out on Switch as well, and that version *is* available internationally. Strange they're inconsistent with how the games are put out.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

Just here to say I appreciate your icon being one of the greatest leading ladies of all time (and I don't limit that statement to video games)

[@Corleth]

@@ValkyrieTiara And one of the greatest Adventurers.

[@jessragan6714]

Jeremy sounds winded after last week's entry. Heh. Star Force reminds me of Astro Warrior on the Master System, with the same unrelenting yet bland gameplay. There was a reason it was built into the system- it would be hard to imagine someone willingly buying the cartridge- but at least you get the warning "Surely revive Zanoni" between stages, which is worth something. Also, I think there's room on the NES for two decent pool sims. Side Pocket on Genesis isn't really much different beyond flashier graphics and digitized models between stages, but it's good for ten minutes of relaxing fun.

[@BeyondTheScanlines]

Star Force clones certainly were a thing. Don't mind Astro Warrior though, but yeah, I don't think I've paid full price for it ;) (Gosh, there were a load of them on 8-bit micros - Fire Track on the BBC Micro & C64 is a fave, as is Neutron, a rather recent C64 one...)

[@MaxW-er1hm]

Zanac better? Oh yes. But it seems like a good choice if you'd tired of Zanac , or were a hardcore player. I know I can't get far, but some people eat that up... As for side pocket...I actually didn't like most tables in lunar pool...I didn't love side pocket, but I enjoy an authentic billiards experience- lunar was (as noted) more like mini golf then pool🎱

[@rubberwoody]

Wait another shooter and billiards combo?

[@JeremyParish]

They're apparently more common than you'd expect

[@jamesmoss3424]

I will play star force. 😀👍🎮

[@sneakyquick]

Tecmo you are terrible.....tecmo bowl comes out....nevermind......

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Oh, OK, so the title was just a pun and Star Force wasn't a repainted version of a Gundam licensed shooter game after all.

[@tec5x5]

I like Side Pockets arcade squeal Pocket Gal with a better goal for getting good at the game nudge nudge wink wink

[@MAYOFORCE]

Wait I thought Kid Niki Radical Ninja was made by IREM

[@JeremyParish]

Well then, you'll learn interesting things next week.

[@MAYOFORCE]

@@JeremyParish I learn interesting things every week

[@JeremyParish]

That's the goal!

[@azhrie139]

Algorithm Gods!

[@SeshohoCian]

What's up with NES shmups and Alphabet theming? Star Force, Alpha Mission, Section-Z, even Zanac has shades of it.

[@BanditTheCat2017]

Oh I hope u don't bash kid Niki too much

[@JeremyParish]

Nah, it's a fun little game up until the final stage.

[@Dwedit]

The Ms. Pac-Man Story isn't quite correct here, I suggest everyone go watch the amazing GDC Postmortem video about Ms. Pac-Man. General Computer Corporation had already created and completed their Crazy Otto hack of Pac-Man before contacting Midway, then Midway liked it so much, they wanted to publish it themselves, and had the main character changed to be Ms. Pac-Man. Midway also liked how Ms. Pac-Man had an anti-piracy protection feature, which GCC had made for themselves to protect their own Pac-Man hack.

[@arcade_signal]

Don't knock star force too hard, it codified the vertical shooter genre (compare to xevious, which plays very different to later STGs) was was a monumentally influential game in both arcades and the famicom in japan. It spawned star soldier and the caravan shooting craze. Try playing with a good microswitched joystick with autofire, it's really not great with a d-pad. edit: I should have actually watched the entire video before commenting as you bring most of this stuff up, was expecting the usual "meh" take on this game as being one of many interchangeable vertical shooters when it was really a pioneer of the genre and very technically impressive for such an early famicom title