Strange Video Game Adaptations (NES | Nintendo Entertainment System)

PATREON ► / bigolewords
STREAMS ► Every Thursday 8:30PM EST here on KZbin
STRANGE ADAPTATIONS ►That'd make a great band name!
#retrogaming #nintendo #nes
► If you're looking to get into retro reviewing or streaming, here's some of the equipment I used for both or either. My current setup is what I love now, but honestly I'd say start out with the cheap stuff and get a feel for everything before throwing down a ton of cash on gear you may or may not need.
► MY EQUIPMENT (CURRENT):
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DURABLE EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE: amzn.to/3RgopAE
FOOTAGE CAMERA: amzn.to/3HaPL6s
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RCA TO HDMI CONVERTER: www.retrotink....
► MY EQUIPMENT (STARTING OUT):
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After years of focusing on the best games for the NES, I decided to change gears and focus on lesser known cartridges that have, for one reason or another, generally escaped the public discussion and general nostalgia. This series highlights many of the relatively unknown, obscure, and unloved titles in the Nintendo Entertainment System's library. Some of these games are at best mediocre. Many are painfully bad, some of the worst NES games around. Most are hilarious for all the wrong reasons! Occasionally, OCCASIONALLY, a handful of them are actually good, borderline hidden gems.
While you won't find any of these on the NES Classic, some of these titles have managed to make their way onto the Nintendo Switch, so if you don't have an original Nintendo console or ROMs escape you ethically or technologically, there are several ways to play them.
Want more? Me too! Until then, lots of other articles where the pictures don't move and words have to be read can be found on my website: top100nesgames.com
/ bigolewords
/ bigolewords
nes, nintendo, retro gaming, retro games, gaming, video games,
nes games, 8-bit, old school, nintendo entertainment system, famicom, family computer, 8-bit games, nintendo games, Nintendo gamer, 8-bit gaming, 8 bit, 8-bit gamer, 8-bit music, chiptune, chiptunes, retro gamer, 80s, 90s, 80s video games, 90s video games, game collecting, game collection, retro game collecting, retro game collection, game room tour, gaming tour, NES Hidden Gems, Bad NES Games, Funny NES Games, Nintendo Hidden gems, game boy, nintendo switch, super nintendo world, pat nes punk, avgn, nintendo direct, nintendo high, nintendo life, nintendo 64, nintendo land, dk oldies, angry video game nerd, godzilla nes creepypasta, nes godzilla creepy pasta, lego nes, power pad, nes games walkthrough, hardest nes games of all time

[@BigOleWords]

To everyone chiming in about Gotcha being a toy line unrelated to the movie, all I can say is that the movie predates the toys and the game. And if it wasn’t related to the movie, I can’t see why they’d mention the Universal copyright in the intro screen of the NES game. But, I’m just speculating, maybe an LJN employee will chime in to clear this up :) To everyone commenting “whose” instead of “who’s”, sorry, I wanted to see if misspelling the word would increase views and it did. Soooo….gotcha?! ;)

[@christianhunt7382]

I love trolling the Grammer trolls with intentional misspellings. Possibly the lowest kind of trolls.

[@gitgeronimo9375]

The campus game “gotcha” came first. Then the movie. Then the toy line. The toy line was not related to the film, but they had to pay for the licensing to get the name. The video game was based on the toys

[@OmegaDez]

Yes I know the movie came first. The guns came later, but they had to pay a license to the movie studios to use the name. But they weren't related to the movie otherwise aside from the concept of paintball.

[@stephenthomas1492]

I watched that movie not too long ago for the first time since the 80s. Man, that would NOT be cool to do nowadays. How far we've fallen in terms of freedom.

[@jseipp]

@@stephenthomas1492 probably because of all the gun nuts running around. they love ruining shit for the rest of us. I'm so glad I got to play with realistic toy guns when I was a kid.

[@bogdanieczezbyszka6538]

I appreciate your commitment to 4:3 aspect ratio.

[@bmwolgas]

I've commented on that before myself - gameplay footage looks fantastic on my big 22 inch CRT Philips monitor.

[@BigOleWords]

Got to!

[@michaelturner2806]

I heard one of the more obscure licensed titles for the NES was Barker Bill's Trick Shooting. Barker Bill's Cartoon Show was a 15-minute segment from the 1950s where a static picture of the titular character would appear on screen and announce whichever cheaply-sourced old black and white cartoon was coming up next.

[@BigOleWords]

Ok now that is a perfect example I did not know about! Thanks!

[@Mephitinae]

Terrytoons was already defunct, so I wonder if the game was actually even licensed?

[@JaxCoolKartunes]

@@Mephitinae CBS owns Terrytoons but CBS was bought by Viacom and Viacom bought Paramount.

[@Mephitinae]

@@JaxCoolKartunes Now I'm curious if someone at Nintendo was a fan of the cartoon show. Hard to imagine Viacom/Paramount approaching Nintendo "Hey can you make a game of this obscure character that hasn't been on TV for decades?"

[@daerth4423]

I was in my early teens during the NES's peak so I was their target audience. IPs like The Lone Ranger and Gilligan's Island were definitely before my time but I was still very familiar with them thanks to reruns as was pretty much everyone my age. They were old yes but I guarantee every kid in my school could sing the Gilligan's Island theme and knew The Lone Ranger's catch phrase.

[@BigOleWords]

Y'know, that's true, I have never watched an episode of Gilligan but i definitely knew the general theme of the song.

[@JScribe]

I think that's something that's forgotten from the days before the internet. We had constant reruns of old shows and cartoons running night and day on TV, so alot of these older programs were as familiar to us as the stuff that was new at the time.

[@OmegaDez]

Gotcha isn't based on the movie. It's based on a Toyline of the 80s by LJN Toys (yes, they did toys) that was basically paintball guns for kids. They had to license the name of the toyline from the Movie of the same name though, so that's why the game also has this copyright notice.

[@gitgeronimo9375]

Yep, and Jim McMahon did the commercials! kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4mzc2NqmKidma8si=PqSn6EoNJlHD0Oem

[@gekiohshootingking]

@OmegaDez I came here to say the same exact thing.

[@agentmith]

Yeah I was going to say, Gotcha! was paintball before Paintball was paintball. They had TV commercials for it and everything.

[@DGR_Dave]

Would love a part 2, this was amazing!

[@BigOleWords]

You got it!

[@pepijn23]

Interesting fact: The music for Battleship NES was made by Mark Knight who also composed the PS1 soundtrack for Duke Nukem 3D which is simply awesome, you should check that out. A different fact about Thunderbirds is that it served as heavy inspiration for Star Fox , so thanks to that we’ve got an awesome Nintendo series.

[@BigOleWords]

Whoa cool!

[@ilikecurry2345]

As in... "Knockerboys" Mark Knight?

[@pepijn23]

@@ilikecurry2345 I believe so

[@sydneymeanstreet]

Want to know something _really_ wild? That's not even the only game based on Stanley's search for Dr. Livingstone. There's a Spanish puzzle-platformer for the European 8-bits called "Livingstone, I Presume?" I had it back in the day and honestly it's not that bad.

[@carn9507]

Actually two. One in 1986 then a sequel in 1989. I had both on my Amstrad CPC and they're quite fun if frustrating. The sequel's graphics are pretty nice for the machine. There was an Amiga port of the sequel but despite looking quite nice, it plays pretty bad. One of those things what seems fine on the 8-bit seems janky as heck on the 16-bit. :P Anyways yeah I was kinda fascinated by that second game on my CPC particularly cos it had a power meter for using all the items, the boomerang, the whip, the grenade and the polevault. Felt kinda advanced back then. :)

[@sydneymeanstreet]

@@carn9507 I’d forgotten all about the sequel!

[@BigOleWords]

Whoa no way!

[@cmfort2696]

"What a thrill ride." Absolutely no exclamation point notated on purpose.

[@draculaman]

Thunderbirds was a British show and it was a pretty big pop-cultural touchstone here in England, along with Stingray and Captain Scarlett. Even though they were shows from the 60's, they still seemed to be on TV all the time when I was a kid in the 80s and the toys were still relatively popular. No idea why we had so many puppet based espionage shows. Even though they were British shows it never even occurred to me that it wasn't also a big thing in the US until watching this video, I just figured they were one of those ubiquitous pop cultural things from the 60s

[@ZacHawkins42]

There's a KZbin channel that plays all the Gerry Anderson shows. Amazing puppeteering and practical effects.

[@BigOleWords]

As far as I know, Thunderbirds wasn’t on tv here in the 80s, and I’ve never heard of the other shows!

[@carn9507]

Weird thing is that this Thunderbirds game also predates the huge renewed popularity of Thunderbirds in the UK which happened in early 90s because of re-runs of the show on BBC2 and led to the Tracy Island playset being the must have toy for christmas 1992 and it being sold out everywhere and led to TV show Blue Peter showing how you could make one out of junk. Which itself became so popular they even released an instructional VHS tape for it. :O Thunderbirds got a live action movie in 2004 directed by Jonathan 'Riker' Frakes which bombed hard and a remake show that ran from 2015 to 2020. But yeah, as for why this game was created? Guess the Japanese must have still been enjoying it, as you mentioned in the video they even made an anime inspired by it. :)

[@JaceyMitchell]

I'm Canadian/American, and it definitely seems to me like it made more of an impact in Canada than the US. Although I don't think the original show was ever broadcast during my lifetime in either Canada or the US (I was born in 2000), the show and the opening sequence are pretty iconic in Canada nonetheless. What I've seen of it looked rather mature and sophisticated in terms of plots. Far more so than your typical US children's television. I'm not sure if children were the intended target demographic of Thunderbirds but considering mature anime took a longer time to gain mainstream accepted in the US than in Canada, the UK or Europe because cartoons were viewed as for kids by default , and I can imagine electronic puppetry being viewed in a similar manner by US audiences at the time. A shame because it seems like it was actually a good espionage/adventure show, and the scale models they used were incredible. And the opening sequence is awesome. "5....4....3....2....1....Thunderbirds are go!" Was huge in Japan though. Although the anime adaptation Scientific Rescue Team TechnoVoyager/Thunderbirds 2086 kinda flopped.

[@whosaidthat84]

​@@JaceyMitchell I remember the Thunderbirds had a bit of a presence in the US but in the 70s more than the 80s. My brother, born in 1971, remembered it well. He really wanted the toys

[@bafflemint8442]

I found out from the Famidaily channel that James Clavel's doorstop novel Shogun got an adaptation on the Famicom. "James Clavel's Shogun: The Video Game" feels like a background joke from The Simpsons that somehow became real.

[@BigOleWords]

What?!? No way!

[@carn9507]

I often played the Amstrad CPC 464 game of Tai-Pan which was another book in that series and it has such a jaunty tune. :)

[@Screwfacecapone]

Three Stooges. My dad got this for Christmas when I was a kid. It's a collection of minigames based on the show, but for what it's worth, it was pretty fun.

[@BigOleWords]

I cannot get past those damn oysters, but I’ll take your word for it!

[@TheWarmotor]

This channel has rekindled my love of rare NES games, thank you :) Quickly becoming my favorite retro gaming show!

[@BigOleWords]

Awww thanks man!

[@Yanncki64]

Just discovered this channel and I love how oldschool and genuine it feels.

[@foxyfoxington2651]

Don't sleep on Mr. Vampire. It's a great movie.

[@dendroleon]

hell yeah mr. vampire rules the sequels and rip-offs are cool too! and don't forget the mr vampire/the gods must be crazy crossover film, crazy safari!

[@wayn0r]

@@dendroleon Vampire VS Vampire is the only sequel that comes close, IMO.

[@Videomaster21XX]

Found this video and watched due to recognizing Ghost Lion. Never knew it was based on a movie. I still have my copy of this game I bought used from a Blockbuster back in like 1995... I thought it was a pretty neat little RPG.

[@BigOleWords]

I really like it and I’m not super fond of 8-but RPGS

[@alkristopher]

Some more licensed games I conveniently forgot about until now: The Last Starfighter, Wacky Races, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (it's actually a decent game), Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu, Puss in Boots (a fairy tale AND an anime), Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular (a reskin of a Donald Duck game), Adventures of Gilligan's Island (too obvious?), Widget, Fist of the North Star, and the two Golgo 13 games (Top Secret Episode and Mafat Conspiracy). Oh, and James Bond, Jr.

[@BigOleWords]

Yes to many of those. Puss N boots I almost included

[@MissBandDrama2004]

I remember being obsessed with last star fighter movie! Never knew their was a NES game 😅

[@MasterZebulin]

The Last Starfighter is an exception, actually. It's really a port of either a C64 or a ZX Spectrum game. Sadly, I don't remember the name of it.

[@goatbone]

Had no idea Ghost Lion was based on a film. I would love to know the process involved to have a game like Stanley made. I have a very small connection to Dr Livingstone, my great grandfather was adopted into a family who were his descendants. And for the record I learned the 'Dr Livingstone I presume' line from Sesame Street.

[@BigOleWords]

Maybe that's where I'm remembering it from. I recorded the Bugs Bunny reference and then had trouble finding a cartoon to support it, but I did find a Sesame Street clip!

[@mr.g4990]

Hey I remember Fiorentina wearing the Nintendo jersey back then. Throwback.

[@BigOleWords]

Awesome! Yeah I had to have it

[@andystreepy3146]

Was going to say something, but found your comment. I also like the white one they wore that year.

[@theusher2893]

Stanley was actually a really fun game. An open world exploration/action game where literally every square on the map was a level, but you didn't know what was there till you explored it.

[@BigOleWords]

I have never given it a full run through. Soon though!

[@theusher2893]

@@BigOleWords Nice!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

[@khatharrmalkavian3306]

Come to think of it, I haven't heard anyone talk about Livingstone in quite a while. Stanley and Livingstone were still pretty widely known back in the 80s and 90s. I think the story was a sort of meme floating around Hollywood at the time, possibly from the 1939 film about them. Back before the internet got big there weren't many kids who escaped the twin influences of Disney and Warner Bros, which carried forward a massive amount of accumulated cultural context that modern kids probably have no real substitute for, unless perhaps meme culture itself has replaced it.

[@NS-rp1wg]

Phantom Fighter!!! My mom got me this one and it confounded me as a kid. Ahhh, memories.

[@BigOleWords]

Nice!

[@andrewdowell6474]

Maybe it's weird, but as a kid, it was always exciting to see a NES cart with a new label I wasn't familiar with. This video makes me realize that hasn't changed for me.

[@BigOleWords]

Same, and there’s still ones I haven’t seen in person!

[@mightyfilm]

Lone Ranger, Three Stooges, and Gilligan's Island can be explained by the Baby Boomer nostalgia boom of the 80's and early 90's. Very much a Nick at Nite type movement, and I can see them developing these games as nostalgic cash ins. If not directly meant for the 30-somethings at the time, intended for these parents to buy the games "for their kids." I'm almost surprised they didn't have a Lassie game at some point.

[@KamenRiderGumo]

I was probably the rare 80s kid that went nuts for the Lone Ranger game, as I've always loved westerns. I watched the old reruns with Grandpa and I had a VHS of the 1982 "Legend of the Lone Ranger" film, which is what the NES game is based on.

[@TiroDvD]

I wish there would be a open world Lassie game like Red Dead, and you are Lassie, not a human. It could totally work.

[@mightyfilm]

@@KamenRiderGumo Yeah. It's very much an assumption that kids of any era ONLY watch the newest things. I was always watching older cartoons as a kid. Sure, the old standbies of Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, but also Bullwinkle and Terrytoons. If anything, those were a little more accessible back in the day than now. They released edited Bullwinkle VHS, they reran old shows during the day, some shows got reboots before the term existed (loved that Ralph Bakshi Mighty Mouse). But a lot of that did have to do with the Baby Boomer nostalgia culture. Not complaining, and I love seeing things more recent come back, even if it's just t-shirts and Pops and stuff.

[@BigOleWords]

Lassie! I’m holding out for the Mr. Ed game

[@SamtheBravesFan]

I think the Lone Ranger looks pretty good. I definitely love Konami's soundtrack for it. The 8-bit rendition of the William Tell Overture is fantastic.

[@RetrocartCollector]

There are some interesting ones here. I was just in a store that had Ghost Lion and Zen Intergalactic Ninja. This video made me wish I had grabbed them! Next time I’ll be picking them up for sure. Awesome stuff man!

[@BigOleWords]

Zen is amazing, no joke. Ghost Lion is maybe an acquired taste :)

[@otakubullfrog1665]

I've always considered Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to be among the more bizarre adaptation choices where the source material is still totally recognizable. I feel like most people, if they were asked which Robert Louis Stevenson story would be the easiest to sell to kids as an NES game, would pick Treasure Island.

[@BigOleWords]

Oh man that would make a solid NES game!

[@stolenlaptop]

Treasure island or shipwrecked

[@JoelDechant]

I loved the first Golgo 13 NES game, but had no idea until I moved to japan that it was based on a manga that began publication in 1968 and is still going!

[@BigOleWords]

Right?! I had no idea!

[@alkristopher]

I feel I have to add the inclusion of three of the four Classic Chinese Novels on the NES. There's Romance of the Three Kingdoms (two games), The Water Margin (titled as "Bandit Kings of Ancient China"), and Journey to the West, which was reskinned as Whomp Em (well, the second game was. The first was Famicom-only and retained everyone's favorite Great Sage, Equal to Heaven). For better or worse, Dream of the Red Chamber has never been adapted as a video game (to my knowledge). Oh, and the Famicom RPG Sweet Home was based on a Japanese horror film of the same name. Can't forget that one.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah those definitely fit!

[@Elucidus]

For San Guo based games, don't forget Destiny of an Emperor! That one evaded me as a kid. I played it much later - great gae.

[@whosaidthat84]

Sweet Home was also the inspiration for Resident Evil

[@alkristopher]

@@Elucidus Oh yeah. There's even a sequel on Famicom.

[@Elucidus]

@@alkristopher Yup, and I believe they've translated it - I still need to give that one a go.

[@MicBain]

Thunderbirds was still popular in Australia during the 80s haha. Also I had the Defenders of Dynatron City comics, they were pretty good!

[@Djwunmoshen]

Every morning when I get up, I yell at the top of my voice at 6am “Check This Shit Owwwwweeeeeetttaa!” Payback for the horrible neighbors in my building that keeps me up at night….

[@BigOleWords]

Get em!

[@brianspain763]

Remote control was super fun. I loved that

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah me too

[@Rhetorical346]

Little Nemo Dream Master and Puss'n'boots are pretty out there as far as adaptations go. I can't imagine any company today picking a comic that ended 60 years ago to base a game on. Puss'n'boots was similarly a very old story that no kid was likely to know at the time.

[@BigOleWords]

I guess there was a Nemo movie around that time? I never saw it. Puss N Boots though, outside of Japan no-one is getting that reference.

[@Rhetorical346]

@@BigOleWords didn't even know there was a movie, but I am a fan of old comics. That makes way more sense they'd release a game like Little Nemo along with a movie. I actually had that game as a kid, but I was probably too young to see the movie.

[@TheSlashTraxNetwork]

Duuuuude wicked drawing thank you!!! Great video as always, retro gaming is atill my favorite. Nes/snes/64

[@BigOleWords]

Awesome man, glad you like it!

[@Jshsprngr]

Mad props to that fire KIT! Wow!

[@BigOleWords]

Right? I could resist!

[@belstar1128]

3:05 they had a lot of reruns of that show in the 90s were i live it aged well compared to some other 1960s shows

[@billyschwartz3586]

I mentioned Thunderbirds in the comments section to one of your videos a while back. I doubt you remember, but I'm happy to see you cover it today! Damn you are thorough!!

[@BigOleWords]

Do you remember which video? It’s definitely a game I’ll review at some point

[@AmB39]

This is a great channel. I’m not even a big gamer but your knowledge and high IQ makes it really enjoyable. Well done dude

[@BigOleWords]

Hey that's kind of you to say!

[@CrossOni-ju1hh]

Imagine believing in IQ.

[@AmB39]

@@CrossOni-ju1hh let me guess. Everyone is equal and we can’t measure general intelligence and ability.

[@retroalplayz9634]

Great video! Loving the Fiorentina football shirt. Cool World is a strange adaptation I came across somehow. Not a movie for kids!

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah that was a weird choice for a film to adapt

[@NateTheGnat]

Monsters in my pocket was huge when I was a kid in 1992. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared and nobody remembers it. But there was a Konami game.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

1992/1993 was a horrific time for many media properties: Power Rangers and X-Men and Batman killed viewership causing drops in quality and quantity of shows like that

[@terribled]

I memba.

[@brendn]

Huh, I remembered them instantly and thought of them as fairly popular. But maybe I just saw ads for them a lot.

[@Rustem_A_]

Definetely popular in Eastern Europe and former USSR countries. There were not so many good games for 2 players to forget Konami's best creations🎉

[@RaposaCadela]

Very interesting, some games I never knew were licenses, and others I never even knew about!

[@dasdiesel3000]

Tune sample you used for Thunderbirds sounded like that main Tyson Punch-out! crescendo kinda

[@BigOleWords]

I can hear it!

[@Ruudos]

Thunderbirds was pretty popular here in Europe. My cousin used to watch the show and had lots of toys and this was all in the early to mid 90s. However the game was never released over here.

[@BigOleWords]

Weird that y’all didn’t get it but we did

[@Gui.Vieira_]

Thunderbirds were pretty popular in Brazil in the 80's and 90's. and even tho we didn't have the official NES, we had the Gradiente Phantom System(It was a NES clone), which all these companies officially released games for. And people say it was called "Phantom System" because it came with the Ghostbusters cartridge (these were officially licensed).

[@BigOleWords]

Love the sound of that

[@kylelee3576]

Oh man, so many strange NES games, love seeing you highlight some!

[@Glitchedsoulsborne]

Just subbed a day or two ago. Ive been lovin the content! Thanks for the uploads. I can enjoy these videos and a beer before bed! Much appreciated!

[@BigOleWords]

Awesome, glad you dig it :)

[@aaronko3480]

Love learning more about incredibly obscure games I’m sure I played but not sure actually existed. I played Phantom Fighter back in the day, had no idea it was based on an even more obscure movie. Now that I know it was based on a comedy it makes a lot more sense now. Well, as much sense as any other licensed game back then.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah there is some comedy aspects to Phantom Fighter for sure

[@wildkinraccoon37]

Thunderbirds was one of those shows that got repeated a LOT in the 80's (along with Stingray and Captain Scarlett)in the UK and most likely other places too so it's really not that big a surprise they made a game of it for the NES (Hell there was even a top 10 single using samples from the show in the UK)

[@BigOleWords]

But still odd that it wasn't released in any PAL countries, only in North America where it wasn't a big deal in the 80s.

[@johnsmith6217]

Monstwrs in my pocket was iny top 10. I remember getting it for Christmas and it came with a little orange Frankenstein action figure made out of rubber

[@BigOleWords]

So jealous

[@QMulative]

If I were old enough and knowledgeable enough about programming back then, I probably would have been thrilled to try and make an NES adaptation of the movie "Stay Tuned".

[@itsmerickv]

Good ol' Dr. Chaos is rumored that it was originally supposed to be a game version of House.

[@BigOleWords]

No!!!! That can’t be true!!!

[@Sweetestsadist]

Always love seeing "Tina Yothers" Ghost Lion art. Also, The Gilligan's Island game is the biggest "Why?" license I can think of. An outdated sitcom with no real action premise. As far as ibscure, I'd say the Puss in Boots game based on the Toei film that gave them their mascot. It was probably huge in Japan, but pretty unknown here. I'm glad they ported it, though. Always had a bit of a soft spot for that one.

[@BigOleWords]

Puss N Boots is definitely a contender I thought about for this one. Gilligan I think will make the part two

[@RoninCatholic]

Unlike the 2010 and 2020s, people didn't expect pop culture things to vanish after only a couple years off the air. Giligan's Island, I Love Lucy, Leave It to Beaver, The Honeymooners, and many other "outdated" or long since defunct properties were still considered ubiquitous household names up through the 80s and 90s, even with limited reruns or home video releases. Consider how The Flintstones also had game adaptations. It was also a sitcom from a bygone decade, its only then-concurrent pop culture presence was being the mascots of a sugary cereal and vitamin tablet, with the game still being based on the original TV cartoon and not its prequel babies variant (because of course there was a "Fred, Barney, Betty, and Wilma as preteens in 80s Bedrock instead of adults in 60s Bedrock" show). The Addams Family also had multiple game adaptations a long while after the show ended, and before its reinvigoration as a brand thanks to the live action movies. Gilligan's Island was only weird to base a game off of due to the lack of action in the premise; its brand recognition was plenty strong at the time to justify the license. The huge glut in the raw _amount of_ pop culture that gets made at all is part of why so much more, proportionally, gets forgotten nowadays (and even in the best of times, you'll only remember maybe the 10% best and 10% worst down the line, standing the test of time in one way or another).

[@Nick-up5wv]

No lie. I thought the guy on the jungle cover was AVGN. Anyway cool video. Looking forward to more.

[@BigOleWords]

Oddly enough that comes up whenever I mention Stanley. I can see it!

[@mattihp]

Great vid! 6:20 a rumour said that some Fox exec LOVED Zen but could not get the license and instead tried to make Deadpool into Zen.

[@dougawesomecities]

That's a fantastic shirt. Also first time i noticed the chess clock! Great video man

[@BigOleWords]

That is my elementary school chess clock. I don’t think I’ve used it since then!

[@pepijn23]

The game Muscle is pretty obscure. It’s based on a toyline which itself was based on a cartoon that only aired in Japan yet they still released the toys and game here.

[@mymoviesbetter8466]

Love the classic 90s footy shirt

[@mymoviesbetter8466]

Serie A particularly had great 90s unis, I have AC and Inter as well

[@The_Badseed]

Thunderbirds needed the song: 'Merica F**K YEA!!!

[@BigOleWords]

Freedom is the only fucking way yeah!

[@HaydenTheHistorian]

Fist of the North Star on NES always confused me. As you mentioned in this video, many Japanese properties had their license completely removed when being put on the NES. Not only does Fist of the North Star retain its license, it also retains its original art style, something I don't think any other Japanese property had when brought over. It's a very violent series where people's heads explode and that violence is kept in the game.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah that was a strange one.

[@LynceusGlaciermaw]

Stanley and the Search for Dr. Livingstone was a very odd and rough-looking game but it also did have a strange draw to it. I first saw it played here on KZbin by DeceasedCrab. Definitely one of the more interesting and unique NES entries, it felt like it had potential as a serious adventure. Another interesting title - don’t know if it was licensed from something or not - was Clash at Demon Head. Similar adventure exploration vibe.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s definitely how it seems to me. I need to buckle down and really play it

[@demgreens]

Interesting that you brought up Zen the Intergalactic Ninja. I ran into the creator at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle and brought up the NES game. I think he said that Konami approached Archie Comics about potential properties to make into games - Don't quote me on this as I didn't write anything down.

[@BigOleWords]

No way! That’s super cool

[@jseipp]

I just subsribed and am currently blasting throuigh all your videos, they're great! Also, best theme song. perfect. no notes.

[@BigOleWords]

Hey awesome, glad you’re digging em!

[@rhyspatterson679]

Thank you for adding the clam soup stage of three stooges that still lives rent free in my head from my child hood. When I rented just about everything else at our mom and pop video store to play I picked that up and….it became my dark souls for awhile and I can’t tell you why. Maybe because I was a nes kid and so many games were easy this weird title just confounded me enough I rented a few more times for like 2 bucks each. Aside from final fantasy I think it got the most rentals out of me

[@Mrshoujo]

Akira was a world wide hit movie. It's legendary even outside of Japan

[@HylianFox3]

Yeah, 'Akira' was perhaps the first major hit that made anime popular in the US aside from more kiddie fare like 'Speed Racer'

[@carn9507]

Yeah, first saw Akira in the very early 90s as one of the first VHS releases from Manga Video and it blew me away. And even today it's one of my fave movies. And the animation still looks gorgeous.

[@robintst]

I used to play that Three Stooges game on my brother's Amiga 500 a lot. Seems like a lot of people have a sour opinion of it these days, even with the NES port, but I've always enjoyed it. It's an acquired taste.

[@BigOleWords]

It drives me nuts that’s for sure!

[@peanutbutterdijonnaise]

Just found your channel. You’ve got a very comfy vibe. Dig it.

[@BigOleWords]

Comfy, I like it!

[@peanutbutterdijonnaise]

@@BigOleWords have a great day dude

[@DivineSmooof]

I don't know your recording setup, but I use a powered composite splitter to send one signal to my TV and another to my capture card. No lag introduced so light gun games work perfectly.

[@BigOleWords]

It’s the CRT or lack thereof that’s causing the issue. I just don’t have one working right now

[@TheBathrobeWizard]

I played Stanley a bunch as a kid for some reason. I dont know why i obsessed over it. It was fun but i remember beating it and going 'Cool' and then promptly forgot about it for 15 years. Discovered it in a defunct rom site and started playing again. Its a Bad story in a quirky but fun game

[@Elucidus]

Playing Gotcha! as a kid, I had pretty much no idea it was a game about paintball, let alone an adaptation of a movie. I just assumed it was another Operation Wolf style game. Does the movie have this paintball fight on the mean streets, shooting generic mohawk thugs?

[@gitgeronimo9375]

The video game was based on the Gotcha! The Sport guns advertised by Jim McMahon, not the movie. Big Ole Words got his “facts” way wrong in this one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4mzc2NqmKidma8si=PqSn6EoNJlHD0Oem

[@BigOleWords]

Actually, it kinda does!

[@roytherocketparsons9096]

I enjoy your positivity and light hearted clever jokes

[@BigOleWords]

Hey thanks so much!

[@Chadleyization]

If you like that Fiorentina jersey sponsored by Nintendo, you might also go for the Sevilla FC jersey from 1992

[@BigOleWords]

Oh damn! I think I have to have that Maradona Jersey!

[@TheTwistedPickler]

“Zelda Two-ing”. Genius

[@SoulforSale]

I wish they made Mork (from Ork)

[@BigOleWords]

Not too late!

[@beavinator]

My pick for best NES adaptation has to be Willow. A really well put together action/adventure with RPG elements. And though it adds quite a lot of stuff that isn't in the movie, the overall story is pretty faithful, and they even used the actors' likenesses for the character portraits, unlike Prince of Thieves.

[@Dug88]

I had Defenders of Dynatron City when I was a kid. It was not a game I played very often.

[@BigOleWords]

For real? I think if I owned it as a kid I would’ve dug it

[@Dug88]

@@BigOleWords I liked the idea of it. I did play it but I could never get past the first area because of the time limit and I couldn't really figure out what I was supposed to be doing.

[@yellowblanka6058]

Unrelated to the content of the video, but I cracked up at your use of the "Jeepers Creepers" Mr. Show audio in your intro. Weird to think of NES games based on very violent/profane movies like Robocop (definitely NOT something kids should be viewing, though obviously many did) being marketed to children. Ditto toys based on said movies.

[@BigOleWords]

Yeah I almost included an R rated one I this video but opted not too. There’s almost too many ultra violent ones to choose from

[@Dorelaxen]

There was that weird Photon game for the Famicom. You know, based off the (actual first) laser tag game from the 80's? That had a super shitty TV show (which I love, though) where all the characters looked incredibly goofy lumbering around in moon boots and obviously plastic "armor". It's a bit of an odd duck, since there is no Zapper support. You know, a game ALL ABOUT using a laser gun to zap other players doesn't use the damn Zapper.

[@BigOleWords]

That sounds like a whole mess of confusing awesomeness.

[@shorterrecording]

Dusty Diamond’s All-Star Softball was based on Screech.

[@BigOleWords]

Heyo!

[@BonesawIsReady]

Wow, some really interesting games here.

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

Platoon on NES is the first video game I recall having a morality system. Shooting innocent villages will get you a court martial game over.

[@ralphmerridew]

According to Wikipedia, Ultima IV (1985) on non-NES preceded Platoon (1987), but NES Ultima IV didn't appear until 1990.

[@whitewolf3051]

BigOleWords, could you review the NES game Magician that you briefly mentioned in your James Bond Jr video? I missed on the chance to get it, and it being a side scrolling RPG, *possibly* the first of its kind, it looked interesting. *Hopefully* it either gets a re master for the modern system, or be re-released on NSO.

[@BigOleWords]

It’s on my list!

[@Dracalis]

9:52 In French, when you've got an apostrophe that makes a compound word, you don't need to pronounce it with a glottal stop. "Le empereur", because of its back-to-back vowels, becomes "l'empereur" and is pronounced like "lempereur". Nice selection! I hope you get around to that Stanley review someday.

[@garyhall7867]

The Japanese version of Tom Sawyer (or maybe it was Huckleberry Finn, can't remember which, it was downloaded to my mini) had the most racist caricature of a black person I've ever seen. It made my coworkers, most of whom are black guys, laugh their asses off.

[@BigOleWords]

The one made by Square!

[@RoninCatholic]

In the early 2000s, I used to hang out in indie game dev forums and there was one black developer who used that sprite as his avatar because _he_ thought it was funny too. Nowadays he's part of the perpetually offended mob and fun police instead. Same jerk, different internet culture.

[@TrevorAWilliams]

Great video and I love the Fiorentina shirt, I have one myself!

[@BurnRoddy]

The Legend of Prince Valiant based on the cartoon of the same name.

[@BigOleWords]

It's definitely up there!

[@JaceyMitchell]

Believe it or not, the world of licensed games gets even weirder once you start delving into the world of the 80s microcomputers that were popular in the UK and Europe, like the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and the Amiga. Stuff like the Eastenders game, based a long-running British soap opera. Would be kinda similar to the NES having an "All My Children" video game in 1988. 😂 Then again, I do believe the US got an All My Children tabletop RPG by the creators of Dungeons & Dragons in the 80s. That's pretty weird too. 😂 That Three Stooges game...hoo-boy, it really took a long time for games based around mini-games to get good. Mario Party it is not.

[@JaceyMitchell]

I love Zen the Intergalactic Ninja though. Really interesting late-era NES release. And the Game Boy game was pretty good too. And thank you for mentioning Rollergames. Really fun game! The term hidden gem has been beaten to death, but that's definitely an underrated game in my opinion. Legend of Ghost Lion is a much better game than the property it was based on deserved. That's a refreshing change of pace for a licensed game though, usually it's the other way around. 😆

[@BigOleWords]

What?!? No way!

[@carn9507]

there was a 'Neighbours' game too based on the also long-running soap opera, made in Australia but popular in Britain. :)

[@carn9507]

come to think of it, it's crazy there were computer games of BBC shows like Eastenders and Grange Hill but NONE for Red Dwarf, the popular sci-fi sitcom, especially given how beloved it was (and still is) by computer nerds. You'd think a game of it would be an absolute certainty (especially when the show itself revamped a bit from series 3 and had action scenes more often, you could imagine a typical platform shooter with Lister armed with a bazookoid having to take out GELFS, perhaps with Kryten hacking computer systems, Cat sniffing out clues and trails and Rimmer able to go through walls and so on) but nope. Missed opportunity.

[@narm_greyrunner]

I learned from James Rolfe the AVGN that Frankenstein is the name of the doctor, not the monster.

[@BigOleWords]

That’s a classic “well actually”. Like I remember Alex Trebek correcting someone on Jeopardy in the smuggest way posssible!

[@RockSoup]

The Monster is Frankenstein's son, which makes him a Frankenstein.

[@Dunsparce206]

@@RockSoup The Monster's name is Adam in the original book

[@RockSoup]

@@Dunsparce206 You know Frankenstein is a surname, right?

[@AyumuNarumi75]

You never seen the Monster Squad? I'm pretty sure that's one of the questions they asked somebody who wanted to join their club. Now thinking about it. I wonder why that never got a licensed game. A squad of kids fighting against classic monsters seems like a cool game idea.

[@arvinrunstein5707]

Bruh! I rented Phantom Fighter a bunch of times back in the day and I've been trying to remember the name for months. Thank you!

[@BigOleWords]

Happy to be of service!

[@HylianFox3]

_Beyond the Pyramids: Legend of the White Lion_ is definitely MST3k/RiffTrax material

[@BigOleWords]

Oh for sure, prime material right there

[@japanesehercules]

I actually like Legend of Ghost Lion. It may not be a Top 5 NES RPG but it certainly falls in the Top 10

[@BigOleWords]

Agreed!

[@SwannyTheMike]

I live for weird tie-ins and licensed games!

[@BigOleWords]

I like it!

[@leesherman5192]

I'm amused by the implication that we're expected to be familiar with "Team America: World Police" but not "Thunderbirds." It's something like introducing "Toy Story" by way of "Sausage Party."

[@DadRacer]

Great topic! One weird one that comes to mind is Death Race, although it’s unlicensed. Maybe check it out! Take care dude!

[@BigOleWords]

I love that movie, used to watch it all the time in college!

[@DadRacer]

@@BigOleWords It's brutal!

[@jiminboo]

Cheetahmen! It’s the TMNT wannabe that never was… maybe a video on TMNT clones for NES ? 😂

[@BigOleWords]

There are a ton! I’d have to extend that to the 16bit era though

[@christianhunt7382]

Another banger! Thanks James!

[@BigOleWords]

You got it!

[@doordashdriver]

wasn't gotcha a toy line as well? similar to laser tag?

[@lughnagh]

Came here to say this! It was a "paintball" game that fired these plastic slugs with colored gel on them. The gel was water soluble and supposedly didn't stain, and the slugs didn't fire as fast as an actual paintball gun, but they stung when they hit you. I never played, but as a kid who was constantly bullied in the 80s, I was shot with these on a few occasions.

[@mightyfilm]

I always assumed the game was a tie-in to the toy line more so than the movie. Especially since I didn't know of the movie until I was older. Though I don't quite know if the movie came first and they licensed it out as a toy or the movie was part of a multimedia publicity blitz.

[@GimpyDingo]

The NES ge is based on the toys which are based on the movie which is based on a game played on some college campuses. Confusing.

[@michaelturner2806]

I didn't know about the movie until watching this! I thought the toys were original, and ceased super suddenly along with all the other toy guns.

[@mightyfilm]

@@michaelturner2806 I get the feeling parents REALLY didn't want their kids playing with big, staining blobs of paint. You know kids. Someone's going to play inside despite the fact they shouldn't and ruin all the furniture.

[@GermanPeter]

It always baffles me when I see an old NES game that does something you'd only see being done today. Like, look at that angled enemy sprite at 9:15. That's so lame and lazy! If you did that in your Game Maker retro-inspired game these days, you'd get called for it IMMEDIATELY! And yet, there it is, about 20 years earlier. It's fascinating.

[@BigOleWords]

Hahaha you know, I never really noticed that!

[@loganjorgensen]

Very true about some odd licenses, Platoon is a good movie but making I wouldn't think NES game looking at it, not sure about older licenses other than maybe bargain prices. As far as comic licenses I think they were mostly safe investments for the young adult market if you had some idea of good ones to pick which I think Zen was. Sometimes it takes a long time to get to know something, I think I might have rented Phantom Fighter bitd, but it wasn't until DVD that I saw Mr. Vampire, and only this past decade knowing they are related to each other.🙂

[@carlcouture1023]

Toxic Crusaders is pretty weird. Someone made a Troma movie into a TMNT knockoff and made a video game based on that. We could also talk about how a trashy horror novel spawned one of the biggest JRPG franchises of all time.

[@retropowerit]

That is AVGN hiding in the jungle on the cover!! He made it on the cover of a nes game!!!

[@SabinFigaro]

Thunderbirds game?! Haha wow!