Surf; Nazis must die: Desert Commander & California Games | NES Works 130

[@chamchamtrigger]

As a Saturn owner, that "to an audience of dozens" line hurt.

[@JeremyParish]

As a Saturn owner, I wish I had ever been able to meet the other 11 back in the day

[@jep7080]

@@JeremyParishsame. My brother and I were the only Saturn owners we knew. But oh well, I only have awesome Saturn memories all the way until the end.

[@Psconners]

May Segata Sanshiro bless all of you

[@TchallaBogard]

​@@JeremyParish I'm afraid I spent my Working Designs allotment that year on Dragon Force. But there is a non-zero chance that I bought the Iron Storm CD-ROM, played it for 5 minutes to ensure it wasn't defective, then sold it years later.

[@SonOfTEHDEBIL]

I don't know if others give you props on this but, Goddamn, that is some outstanding wordplay with the title of this video.

[@JeremyParish]

Thank you, it hit me as a last-second lightbulb of inspiration before setting the Patreon post live this morning, and I'm very proud of it.

[@Davidka_I]

"No, of course not. You know better than that. You're a cool person who loves video game history and watches *this* channel." God I love this channel.

[@Belgand]

While the hacky sack event definitely appears to be set in modern day Crissy Field, back in the '80s the Presidio was still an active Army base. Crissy Field wouldn't undergo a restoration into a park until the late '90s. More likely than not it's intended to be nearby Marina Green, just a few blocks to the east.

[@JeremyParish]

Noted! I only know the Presidio area from my time in SF, 2003-13, so was working on that assumption.

[@lilwyvern4]

@@JeremyParish I'm so glad you escaped the bay area before it became horrible.

[@reyvgm]

Ah, a The Final Cut reference. I think I speak for everyone when I say I appreciate your work, jokes, puns and VHS visuals. I know it takes a lot of work and it doesn't just manifest itself from the ether.

[@thecunninlynguist]

for a game i never really liked, I sure played a lot of California Games. Seemed to be everywhere. Friends had it.

[@JaceyMitchell]

I wasn't even alive when it released, being a 2000 kid I experienced pretty much all 8 and 16 bit games either through emulation or rom collections I put on flashcards and my Analogue Pocket. But man California Games is absolutely everywhere even there. It's on C64, Amiga, Atari 2600, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis...it's even on Atari Lynx. I like the surfing on the Atari Lynx version, but that's about it. In general the "Games" games (😂) by Epyx seems to have been just about everywhere. And I don't think any of them are particularly good.

[@Wrycon-Inc]

I loved California Games. Used to play at my friend’s on his Commodore 64. Spent many hours trying to do reverse 360s in Surfing and trying to perfect BMX runs.

[@XanthinZarda]

I had California Games II on floppy, and I don't even know where it or Contraption Zach came from, but I'd at least play the latter today.

[@bluedistortions]

I saw the same phenomena. Either other kids had very different tastes than I did and got excited about very different titles, or else it's the influence of moms. They see all these "weird" and violent box arts of action games, and ask their son to find something "normal" and "not so violent." California games is the most normal-ish thing you can find, roller skating and throwing frisbees.

[@jasonblalock4429]

I had a Lynx, so playing California Games was mandatory. I still think it had one of the better renditions of the hackey sack game. And definitely the nicest-looking version of surfing. (too bad the controls on the BMX game were so bad that it was nearly unplayable)

[@jasonblalock4429]

16:36 While you'll be revisiting this shortly, I do find it hilarious that NP's editors clearly had NO IDEA how to talk about a game as complicated as Nobunaga's Ambition in a magazine aimed at 10 year olds.

[@MJFallout]

I like the absence of the VHS visuals because it's enjoyable to watch Jeremy barely succeeding saying the corny tag lines with a straight face.

[@jasongarrett768]

That “released to an audience of dozens” and how you just slipped it in there and moved on are deeply appreciated. :D

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

Yes, I enjoyed that one.

[@BenCol]

I like how they got Rare, a company that operated out of an old farmhouse in the rural English midlands, to port California Games.

[@MrERLoner]

To the world , California is avocado on your burrito/ cheeseburger/ omelette

[@JeremyParish]

An avocado omelette cheeseburger burrito sounds pretty tasty, no lie

[@ellipticalsoul]

These older strategy games are fascinating to me. I had no idea they were around on consoles back in the day, I thought personal computers were the only place where games like that were being released. I was amazed when I found out that Nobunaga's Ambition came out on Gameboy *and* got an English language release! (although not for us suckers in PAL land)

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, Koei's grand strategy games are total outliers on the various 8- and 16-bit platforms. Nobody else was releasing games even half as complicated. I guess Koei figured that they could claim the niche for themselves, or else saw the potential in releasing "dad games" on a kids' console.

[@ginormousaurus8394]

My brother and I rented a few strategy games for the NES in the late 1980s and early 1990s: Nobunaga's Ambition, Desert Commander, Conflict, and North & South.

[@KevinVeroneau]

So cool! I've always wondered the relation to between Desert Commander and Famicon Wars, as they were so similar. You are one of the best ludologists on KZbin, so much dedicated research.

[@Bannanawaffles2]

Desert Commander managed to be one of the dozen or so NES carts we owned when I was a kid, I definitely spent way too much time not really knowing what I was doing but still having a blast with that game.

[@XanthinZarda]

I will say, this new camera look does give you the look of a Bombardier or air commander talking to someone from their command center. Probably that spiffy outerwear.

[@ladambell]

I was racking my brain for several minutes trying to figure out why the tune at 16:31 sounded so familiar, and I realized it bears some resemblance to Strong Bad's "Trogdor" song.

[@kazinwho]

The guy in the commercial having a Hitler moustache is extremely distracting and weird lmao

[@kazinwho]

*gets further in the video* ..............oh

[@TeruteruBozusama]

And how his wife acted... Kinder, Küche, Kirche...

[@SetTopGames]

@@kazinwho You did not see that coming, did ya

[@SubjectiveObserver]

I followed you on that journey too. Optimistically hoped it was an unrelated custom in japan lol

[@dansmith16]

Still looks good

[@Mooseski117]

I own a copy of Desert Commander, it’s difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing but now you showed me how to play it, thanks!

[@cashnelson2306]

Desert commando?! No thanks, I like to avoid chafing

[@TrevinAdams]

I see what you did there! 🪖

[@Yungbeck]

Right, We don't need to see your sand worm 👀

[@2dskillz]

It was fun to pick the different brands as teams in California Games. The selection was such a great slice of the moment. Skate or Die did have the superior half pipe event though.

[@DrewberTravels]

My family had world games…. I was that second grader that was absorbed in barrel jumping, caber toss, cliff diving, and sumo wrestling. My brother and I played it all the time.

[@jeromeellsworth1320]

I _do_ identify as a cool person who loves video game history and watches this channel! Thank you!

[@absolutezeronow7928]

The history behind the games is always interesting, and it's nice that we're done with Epyx's Games ports on NES. Next time, Konami gives us the infamous dam level.

[@ericdleon]

More like damn level ammirite?

[@RoseWaltz]

-sees the title- -polight applause- you saw your chance and took it well done, sir

[@mendez704]

"After all, this was the 1980’s, back when World War II still existed in general living memory. Back then Nazis were near-universally regarded as contemptible, rather than being valued CPAC attendees who get glowing New York Times puff pieces on their stylish dresses. Ah, better days!" Your channel is not only impeccable in its research and presentation, but also your political commentary is always spot in! I love it!

[@nickfifteen]

To be fair, one David Duke tried to make Nazis (or the KKK, same difference) cool again back in the 1980s. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@waxknucklebearingjuice5592]

I love that this is the most popular comment... we're all in good company here it seems.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Reminded of a cartoon that had Nazis bowled over like bowling pins. I say that works.

[@JeremyParish]

David Duke got dunked so hard he mostly disappeared from public view. Not as likely to happen today, sadly. Especially when the owner of Twitter is laying down covering fire for them.

[@Nemo2342]

@@JeremyParish I'm surprised he isn't calling himself the founder of Twitter yet. Probably just too busy spewing racist memes to file the paperwork.

[@zubizuva]

Loving how Taboo The Sixth Sense got more (slightly) more space than California Games.

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

I mean, it's arguably more successful at what it sets out to do, and definitely more unique among the NES library. Even if it's not really what most people want or expect from an NES cartridge, and therefore isn't well-liked.

[@mikeriemersma716]

Jeremy, we all know skateboarding was invented in1955 by Marty McFly in order to escape Biff and his toadies.

[@JeremyParish]

In Hill Valley... California. 🤔

[@Portuducks]

IMO, it was the box cover of California Games that mostly contributed to its massive sales.

[@duhdeedee]

*stares at title* It's like everything just falls into place for you

[@AverageDrafter]

Don't forget 720! CG and especially Skate or Die! (for obvious reasons) felt like a response to this arcade monster. It also has that clean Atari Arcade style, which I'm shocked hasn't been emulated more in the Retro Renaissance.

[@beanburritos6393]

California Games was just everywhere. Every friend had a copy for some damn reason, and yet no one played it. As far as Desert Commander goes, all those games go back to the old Avalon Hill board games like 1970's PanzerBlitz where you and a friend take on the greatest battles of WW2's Eastern Front on the company and platoon level with little chits (making the unit scale here appropriate).

[@safetinspector2]

back then nazi's were universally contemptible. *sigh* those were the days

[@dansmith16]

Now it's the Israeli's doing contemptible things.

[@diamondsmasher]

The absolute number of shots fired in this video 😅

[@bluedistortions]

"ported to the Sega Saturn and it's audience of dozens.." 😂😅

[@changkwangoh]

Bought Desert Commander, Amagon, Silent Service, and Clash at Demonhead from Toys r Us on the same day, what a day! Then we hit the DQ for dipped cones. Ah, better days! 😊

[@brandonb6005]

Played both these back in the day. Bland and inoffensive but severely overshadowed by a lot of the greatness being released around this time. Rented Desert Commander and found it interesting but it wasn’t really something that clicked with me until the likes of Civilization and Advance Wars. Some friends of mine had this version of California Games but only surfing and footbag really stood out. I find the Lynx version by Epyx to be superior, but that kind of goes with the territory on original developer vs contract job to port it, even by Rare.

[@nintendianajones64]

Man this episode has everything. John Ritter, Nicole Kidman in BMX, Illinois Nazis and North Shore.

[@ThatLittleDemon]

once again nailed it

[@joeyservo]

Desert Commander was awesome. It was my first intro to turn-based strategy as a kid.

[@rhombusx]

The NES strategy game I played a ton of was Conflict. Looking back, I realize this might have been the beginning of my love affair with "simple" tactics (or TBS) games and my hate affair with Grand Strategy, 4x, and other more resource-management heavy strategy and sim games.

[@BillyTBum]

Lloyd Kaufman approves of this video

[@MrERLoner]

I got DC for christmas that year. It was a fun strategy game and let to my love of shining force and FFTactics. I remember mixijg up artillery and AA guns and having some less than effective battle interactions.. 😅. And. As per usual the Kemco Seika music was terrific.. Memorable and iconic.

[@MaidenHell1977]

I love this channel.

[@darktetsuya]

Didn't realize that came out here, but I had heard about desert commando's Japanese release... yikes. I do remember finding some of the events in california games interesting at least, the bmx was kinda neat. always seemed like funky control schemes brought games like this down, though.

[@MadSciRexieFi]

Next level title wordplay

[@scottythegreat1]

There are similarities between Epyx' games and Skate or die because EA hired a handful of ex-Epyx staffers that quit when Epyx started negotiating wth Atari to market and manufacture their handheld console (the Atari Lynx).

[@ShinyVHS]

Love the movie reference in the title. Beautiful.

[@goranisacson2502]

California Games was a regrettable choice I made once on a ROM-site, a game that was mostly about sports I didn't care for controlled in ways I didn't understand. Track and Field I could at least sometimes compete with my brother by hammering buttons- this was just beyond me. Still, It was very interesting hearing about the background of why California and it's outdoor sports held the appeal they did at the time, so I still walk away feeling like I got something from this episode. Far more than I ever got from the game, at any rate. And as far as Desert Commander goes, well. I did actually try some tactics games for the NES, but I think it was too late for me. I had already been swayed by Command and Conquer, and it was hard to go from that to far more old school turnbased tactics if there wasn't at least a plot or campaign to go with it. Most that this taught me was that Hitler mustasches really don't do anyone's looks any favors.

[@MisterSplendy]

Great video. Desert Commander is quit simple, bare-boned and actually, pretty much a piece of junk. Any of the Famicom Wars and Daisenryakus destroy it. As for inspiration, Advanced Daisenryaku - Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen for the Megadrive is phenomenal and cleary I can see how Panzer General took a cue from this gem. It's been translated quite a while ago and is very enjoyable. Look for the Nebelwurfer translation. This is a great video, and thanks for making it. 👍🏻

[@MichaelHeide]

That title is 😗🤌Chef's kiss.

[@roguerifter9724]

I loved Desert Commander when I was a kid. Nintendo may have been too lazy to bring the Wars series to the US until I was in high school but the publishers of games llike Conflict, Desert Commander, and later Super Conflict were there to pick up the slack. What's hilarious is there were plenty of similar PC games in the US with a World War II theme and they never had issues with someone having to play as an Axis commander. Hell one series focuses its single player on playing as an Axis commander and one of its two other World War II setting spinoffs included campaigns for both sides. (There were several fictional setting or possible future non-World War II spinoffs)

[@yaroslavtkachenko3206]

Thank you sir. You're the best!

[@Davidka_I]

I will say that, in terms of playing video games that involved armies fighting on a grid, famicom/nes were not the only platforms where this was happening; table top games like battletech, warhammer, and a zillion other less known games were out during this time, and there were games on the PC/Mac like Strategic Command that also worked this way. I am not sure this was a case of game developers coming up with the same idea independently of each other as much as these games were popular on tabletops and video game makers on multiple platforms were trying to make a video game version of these popular games. I don't know for sure; just a possibility.

[@JeremyParish]

Oh, of course. But this series focuses on console games, and at this point nearly all console releases had origins in Japan, where developers specifically (by their own admission) looked to Daisenryaku. This is all just Risk/Stratego in video game form anyway!

[@Davidka_I]

@@JeremyParish Sure. and as an aging American nerd with no knowledge of what was popular in Japan, I have no idea what games (video, tabletop or otherwise) were popular over there. I do have plenty of good memories of what my friends and I were doing in 1989. This series has made my far more aware of how NES games were profoundly impacted/based on games that came out in Japan a year or years earlier. I just wonder if grid-based games on tabletops were popular in Japan too and if these games that were independently developed around the same time (including Daisenryaku) could have also been a reflection of the popularity of nerdy games that the kids had started playing in their kitchens and basements in the late 80's. Who knows. Thanks for your very informative and entertaining content.

[@JeremyParish]

Tabletop RPGs and wargames absolutely were a thing in Japan-Akitoshi Kawazu has said his love of those formats guided his work on the early Final Fantasy and SaGa games.

[@kryten1300]

Let's drop in on a grommet

[@Riz2336]

I like the Atari Lynx version the most of California Games

[@Zombiewski]

I found--and still find--Skate or Die basically unplayable, but I loved California Games. The controls in skateboarding aren't the best, but they have a logic to them and with practice you can consistently pull of moves.

[@blarghblargh]

Skate or die was a bit better with a joystick than a gamepad. It's still not great though.

[@One_Missing_Worker]

I'm just here for the dunking on CPAC, recurring references to Xevios, and the occasional acknowledgement of Etrian Odyssey.

[@abraveastronaut]

Really, I'd be satisfied with just the Etrian Odyssey mentions.

[@TchallaBogard]

This channel has gone... 69 days without a Heiankyo Alien reference

[@rvaldrich]

"It had all the sunny appeal and cross-country mystique of Hawai'i, with all the benefit of not needing to take an expensive flight to an ecologically fragile archipelago still visibly trapped in the process of undergoing colonial conquest." *nods in approval*

[@ricksloan5588]

Floyd references always appreciated.

[@pairofrooks]

shoutout to the Blues Brothers clip!

[@David-ln8qh]

Rare games, uglier but with greater personality. That's a perfect description.

[@lilwyvern4]

I know I'm crazy, but was that an 8-bit cover of the Trogdor song during the Nintendo Power segment?

[@jorymil]

I don't always _completely_ see eye to eye with Jeremy, but damn it's nice to see someone who's more socially aware than I am.

[@milkcarton6654]

Desert commander was my introduction to strategy games. I rented it a handful of times and a few years ago i fired it up on an emulator and i realised how it it was remarkably well designed as a kind of strategy game for beginners (or kids).`I,d say if i had kids and wanted to introduce them to strategy games I might actually get them to play desert commander, but that was befopre this video made me realize Advance Wars plays pretty much the same (never played those so i didn't know)

[@Monkey_SK]

In the UK I remember the Great War kicked off in the playground around the ports of California Games on the Master System and the NES. Clearly the Nintendo version was ugly and the lack of Nintendo owners meant the war ended quickly. Peace would not last with the out break of WW2 console wars, a truly global conflict, with Nintendo clearly making ground in Europe.

[@customURLfor]

I love your subtle, en passant, political stabs, like when you talked about Hawaii

[@JeremyParish]

Honestly, it's a bit of a bummer that those are what passes for subtle in internet commentary these days.

[@magusesper616]

Love your work thanks for the videos Duder.

[@youngstownassault2438]

California Games for Commodore 64 is a game I remember very fondly. Better than the nes version. I remember that game as much as I remember favorite nes games. I wonder if I would still like it if I played it today. Prob best to not mess w my fond memories.

[@sarysa]

Commercial guy and that mustache. I get the cultural reasons why that taboo would not exist in Japan, but phew...

[@Djungelurban]

Did you just say Nobunaga's Ambition was a Tecmo game?

[@JIrish780]

An honest mistake on his part, given the current marriage between Tecmo and Koei.

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah, just a random slip of the tongue. Stupid mergers!

[@cavalleri]

For decades I was calling it Nobunga's Ambition! How did I miss the extra A?

[@longtallshorty5791]

Sweet “The Final Cut” reference 😊

[@Horned_Owl]

Nice Pink Floyd Reference to start the vid!! Off my favorite Floyd album!

[@alexanderdiogenes8067]

I actually HAD Desert Commander! I remember being confused when Advance Wars came out in the USA because I remembered it.

[@antant6217]

famicom wars has some bad unit balancing and speed issues, but it was damn impressive for the day

[@bfish89ryuhayabusa]

I always considered California Games one of my worst/least favorite NES games growing up. It at least had personality, and I preferred it over the sludgy monotony of Godzilla: King of Monsters, but I was more likely to play Kemco's Superman than California Games. At least I actually enjoyed Superman somewhat.

[@SetTopGames]

Didn't Daisenryaku just adapt the tabletop wargames that had been around for several years by then? I'm not saying Famicom Wars and Desert Commander didn't rip it off, but I'd say there was additional inspiration from elsewhere. Plus Kemco choosing to localize the game's cover artwork to feature a soldier who appears to be playing a tabletop game doesn't seem like a coincidence. Anyway, fuck Nazis.

[@RazorBeamz]

Woah when did you start uploading in 1080p?

[@JeremyParish]

Never. I skipped from 720p to 4K, friend

[@suicidesamuraiz]

I loved California Games. Yeah, some of it was B.S., but it was a lot more fun than T&C or Skate or Die... though my 8 year old self wanted to be good at Skate or Die soooo badly.

[@Jordan3DS]

When you splice the box arts together like that it looks like the tank is wearing a bikini, lol

[@JeremyParish]

There's an entire genre of anime about that

[@Mr_Redsfan]

Stupid sexy tank

[@XanthinZarda]

@@JeremyParishI was hoping not to remember Panzermadels today.

[@SNARC15]

Epyx had 8 titles in their "Games" series, not 6. Summer Games Summer Games 2 Winter Games California Games California Games 2 World Games The Games: Winter Edition The Games: Summer Edition

[@strawmancomics]

That Pink Floyd reference was perfect.

[@JeremyParish]

Still waiting someone to post, "What did he say?"

[@JaceyMitchell]

I always feel like games from the 8-bit and 16-bit era that have a whole bunch of different gameplay modes (Epyx did this with sports, but Ocean even did this a lot with movie licensed games, like Platoon, Robocop, and Terminator) tend to be mediocre to downright bad at pretty much all of them. The games from this era that are well thought of today tend to have a formula centered around one or two gameplay modes, with mostly clearly laid out rules, that slowly increase the challenge as the game progresses and the player is expected to master the mechanics of those gameplay modes. Compare Batman on NES to Batman on C64. The NES game is a pure action platformer with a single game mode that is really well executed and steadily ramps up the difficulty while staying within the boundaries the game sets at the start of the game. On C64 you have two mediocre platforming stages set in mazes Batman moves through very slowly, then you get a poorly executed side scrolling driving stage (game mode 2), then a poorly executed side scrolling flying stage (game mode 3), then a puzzle where you get a limited number of chances to select the right combination of ingredients to counter the Joker's toxin (game mode 4), and none of these are done particularly well or are fun to revisit. Epyx's "Games" series feels much the same. I'd much rather have a game that focuses on one sport and does it well, than 20 sports done poorly. Unfortunately the "it's actually six games in one!" design philosophy was REALLY common among developers for microcomputers during the 8 and 16-bit era, and that might be one of several reasons why those systems don't have nearly as many games that are remembered fondly today as the Mega Drive/Genesis, NES, and SNES. On those systems the Epyx or Ocean logo is usually a warning sign that the game is terrible. On the microcomputers these same games were released on, they were frequently considered among the best games available, even when there are no major differences in gameplay between the console and micro versions.

[@Fear2Stop]

Nice Pink Floyd reference at the beginning 😂

[@jamesmoss3424]

The NES version of California Games is excellent. 😀👍🎮

[@MrTableDesk]

0:50 aw, thanks pal!

[@JoshRudis]

As someone who played a variety of the "Games" series back then, I universally hated all of them. I did have some fun with the PC version of World Games however, which I played with my brother and ended up doing quite well against him in the log rolling event. I still do not fully understand the appeal to those that liked these collections.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Yep, we Gen X'ers had our sports!

[@TchallaBogard]

California Games were more chill than... say... dodgeball, at least.

[@lasskinn474]

desert with ww2 tanks does immediately kind of go into monty vs rommel. more so the more ww2 was still remembered, desert fox and all. edit: monty, not patton. both distinct generals and rommel most liked german ww2 commander as such or seen as most honorable anyway

[@MisterSplendy]

Iron Storms a wonderful game, and actually beat out Panzer General in some respect.

[@lukeg7527]

That title though

[@owlyus]

Desert fox get rekt

[@JeremyParish]

B-but he was just following orders

[@GT-dh5nk]

9:24 Aint that something how certain folks welcome certain other folks. Those who forget their history...

[@NeopToIemy]

I love Schmuplations

[@JeremyParish]

A truly great contributor to the internet

[@mendez704]

I remember renting that game (Desert commander) when I was a kid and playing it to exhaustion with my dad (he loved strategy games). Great memories!

[@crithon]

neat

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Was that a dude with a Hitler mustache at @ 4:15?

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah. Like I said in the video... Japan has a somewhat different perspective on WWII than other countries.

[@s3np411]

A time before Nazis were featured speakers at Canadian parliament as guests of Justin Trudeau.

[@ginormousaurus8394]

Anthony Rota, the speaker of the House of Commons, didn't seem to realize that Russia was on the Allies' side during World War II and that the man he was recognizing fought in a Nazi unit when he said, "We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians..."