The Goonies Famicom retrospective: Setting the stage for a sequel | NES Works Gaiden #04

As a preface to Good Nintentions 1986, here's a look at an early 1986 game thaaaaat never actually came to the U.S. on NES and is therefore ineligible for normal coverage. Yes, it's Konami's The Goonies, the oddly missing link to The Goonies II that Americans only ever saw on PlayChoice-10.

[@mrdrumble]

My brothers and I played this on a PlayChoice 10 and were always super confused at why we could only ever find the sequel in stores. Of course, we bought and loved the Goonies II but the mystery of the first one always remained. I imported it last year and had a great time playing through it. There's something refreshing about such a short, well-made, and relatively easy platformer from this era. It really charmed me. I had no idea there were hidden items though. I'm not sure I found any of them. Guess I have another reason to replay it now.

[@LOTRDanTube]

Damn do I love some 8-Bit "Good Enough"

[@todesziege]

A relative brought this game back from a business trip to asia back in the day, so me and my brother were probably some of the few people here to get to play it back in the day, and I loved it from the start! One of the best movie adaptations of the time, and still one of my favorite NES games. Great graphics for such an early title, tight controls, a ton to explore and of course that music! And it captures the atmosphere of the movie really well.

[@MAMoreno]

I'm frustrated that this game never saw a proper release in the very country whose film inspired it. Maybe they thought it was subpar or something, but it's good enough for me.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

And yet we got stick with the sequel and that mermaid!

[@JoypadDivison]

They should've known that The Goonies 'r' Good Enough.

[@Dilios_of_Sparta]

Incredible . . . Robert Davi (Jake Fratelli) has been immortalized as an 8-bit sprite. And Davi actually has a career as a professional singer now! WEIRD!

[@JeremyParish]

That's a pretty cool bit of trivia.

[@jeffreynowak8866]

I remember this as a standalone cabinet as well as on playchoice machines as well

[@baragoth]

I am thinking the flames in the basement are leaking waterpipes and the flamesuit is a raincoat. Thanks for the absolutely fantastic content!

[@todesziege]

I think you're right, though as a kid I always thought they were flame pipes too.

[@Devimon4000]

I've found how computer platformers lean so much more towards maze-like areas that require searching around fascinating division. Though I don't think it's fair to call more straightforward paltformers "limited" is really fair. It suggests that exploratory approaches are somehow more inherently deep or worthwhile.

[@JeremyParish]

Nothing limited about a well-designed linear platformer! But let's be realistic: Linear platformers in 1986 were generally not well-designed.

[@helpfulmole]

I bought this a few years back based on your directions to Super Potato. I haven't beaten it but it feels pretty darn good.

[@andrewkaye2108]

I played and beat this one, as well as its NES sequel. Both were fun and challenging.

[@DanJackson1977]

So.. when you say "Playchoice 10 arcade system", I think you mean the Nintendo VS arcade system. That's how I played it (and it's also the arcade flyer showing in the video). It was a dedicated VS cabinet, as opposed to a PC10. And like VS Super Mario and other games in that series, there are slight differences.

[@SonofSethoitae]

It was actually both, apparently

[@matthewlane518]

That goonies 2 soundtrack is fantastic!

[@beefcurtainz69]

Love that vs. goonies poster! Never saw that! I love these goonies games.... I always have the feeling that I’m the only person that actually really likes nes Goonies 2

[@samuelg7673]

keep up the good work Jeremy.

[@1andonlyhoncho]

I remember playing this in an arcade machine, and was disappointed when I popped-in Goonies II when I received in for the NES. Now, I realize Goonies II was the superior game.

[@hamzehalmahmoud4147]

What an amazing channel you have my friend. You put out amazing high quality videos every time. Thank you a lot for the content all in all. I rarely ever comment on KZbin to be honest, but something caught my eye. Following this review, I was intrigued to see how others viewed this Famicom gem, so I searched for it on KZbin. I simply typed the words: 'Goonies Famicom review'. There weren't any real results in my view, but to my surprise, your video didn't show up either. What I'm trying to say is that almost all regular viewers of this channel agree that you as a content creator and the videos of this channel are just top notch, and very underrated at this stage in your career. The way the titles of your videos are laid out as they are now could be, based on my humble opinion, hindering the channel's progress. I understand you usually have a theme or a subject that tie to your videos, but perhaps this notion of titling needs reviewing from your end my friend. Keep up the good work. Cheers from an ever-silent faithful fan :)

[@tbb033]

"Americans only ever saw on PlayChoice-10." Not true. Playchoice and VS were two different but similar arcade systems Nintendo had. You could definitely find this in VS systems (hence "VS the Goonies"), not just Playchoice.

[@ninedragons1]

I find it funny that first this was a movie and then a game and after that a sequal to the game. And then Mikie appears in wai wai world meaning that the American movie character Mickie has become a character in the Konami world of games. It kind of blows my mind thinking of Konami wanted to they could use Mikie in another game or make a Goonies 3 if they wanted to. Well, if they own the gaming rights to Goonies that is.

[@alanpiper3711]

With the crafting & building abilities of a 2D game that is similar to Minecraft but called Terraria, I am creating myself a world of the goonies. It is a level & map duplication of the arcade & nes goonies games. Although it won't play as the goonies games, it will certainly look like the goonies games & with the 2 games recreated here, it definitely is a metroidvania kind of experience.

[@dumpnchase]

Keep the videos coming. Great job.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

If this game is good enough for you then it's good enough for me

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Eh, guess the game's good enough for me.

[@mobious01]

So many japanese exclusives.... Honestly im happy i grew up with a famicom than an anes

[@stoozdee]

Ayyyyye fiddy k! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@mdmenzel]

Is my lack of Kanji or Katakana knowledge a serious barrier of entry for this release? From what I saw, it seems to be all English text.

[@JeremyParish]

There is no Japanese text at all in the game so far as I can recall.

[@todesziege]

From my memory there's no japanese in it at all. There's barely any text at all, really.

[@pillsbury1thegamer]

Colin moriarty sent me.

[@JeremyParish]

How dare he!!

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

(idiot) 1985? What is that a year or something? (Me) No, it's your top score on Pole Position.