Victory road warriors: Thundercade & Guerrilla War | NES Works 132

Man, you just KNOW that some MENSA candidate is going to complain that I should leave politics out my video game retrospectives in response to this video, which is literally about leading a Communist rebellion against an American-backed junta.
For everyone who HASN'T been breathing leaded petroleum fumes lately, please enjoy the interesting contrast of a SNK game that would have been programmed by Micronics a couple of years earlier side-by-side with an actual game programmed by Micronics in the here-and-now (by which I mean 1989). SNK has come a long way since Ikari Warriors, as you can see in the excellent Guerrilla War. Micronics, on the other hand, has clearly NOT come a long way since then, as demonstrated by the utterly dire Thundercade.
Production notes:
Video Works is funded via Patreon (www.patreon.com/gamespite) - support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its KZbin debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!
Why watch when you can read? Check out the massive hardcover print editions of NES Works, Super NES Works, and Virtual Boy works, available now at Limited Run Games (limitedrungames.com/collections/books)! SG-1000 Works: Segaiden Vol. I is available NOW, and Metroidvania: The First Decade is due in 2024.
NES footage captured from Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 4K with RetroTink 4X and 720p with xRGB Mini Framemeister.

[@SolCresta3405]

Remember that part in the history books when Che Guevara and Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista regime because they had infinite continues?

[@SolCresta3405]

@@82fdny97 Sure.

[@SolCresta3405]

@@82fdny97 No, I just didn’t remember that.

[@SolCresta3405]

@@82fdny97 Yes.

[@blarghblargh]

@@82fdny97 I, too, did not know that. As a gay man myself, thanks for mentioning it. Though the added fangs seem a bit excessive to me. I don't think people are trying to endorse homophobia here.

[@michaelhoule2134]

Only if they had enough quarters. 😂

[@RabbitEarsCh]

NES Works: the only game review shot on KZbin that ends with shooting Batista in the face.

[@fangjokerLS]

Going through the entire supply chain to document the full grinding misery of Thundercade is a powerful flex.

[@JeremyParish]

In keeping with the theme of this episode, there is no such thing as ethical capitalism

[@ungurdagda813]

I love that even at Jeremy's most unhinged, most indignant and most upswept in emotional fervor, his delivery in his videos barely passes above the polite mezzo-pianissimo of a librarian, maxing out at "College professor giving a lecture to sleeping students." And I mean that as a compliment.

[@ThatLittleDemon]

I grew up with leaded petroleum fumes and damn I love Thundercade 😂

[@MrTableDesk]

Wow you look so crystal clear! You must have gotten a new hi8 cassette tape.

[@JeremyParish]

Switched to Betamax. It really was a superior format

[@jessragan6714]

@@JeremyParish Oh yes, Beta?

[@blarghblargh]

@@jessragan6714 betamax

[@Belgand]

I get the concept, but I really prefer the HD camera to the VHS camcorder.

[@makaveli4205]

We had a beta tape player in the early 80s. The picture was better than vhs.

[@PSYCOMMUnist]

This is your finest episode. Not biased at all. And it turns out one of my favorite childhood games is actually way cooler than I thought and not one of the many thousands of other games where you play the opposite evil role.

[@Jolis_Parsec]

Yeah, you play as a biker who slowly putters across the screen while one of the most obnoxious themes ever composed by man plays on loop infinitely in the background.

[@jonriede6846]

Even at 10 years old, I quickly seeing the Sammy logo on the box was a clear signal that "this is going to be a rough play."

[@jessragan6714]

I remember Sammy tried to put Viewpoint on the Sega Genesis. Yes, the game that even the Neo-Geo couldn't run smoothly. Guess how well that went?

[@spacepawdyssey4288]

I remember playing Guerrilla War as a kid but couldn't remember what it was called. For the life of me I thought it was a Capcom game. The reason this stood out to me is that I remember hearing the news that Jim Henson had passed away while I was playing this. :\

[@wyvern2917]

Oh my God, Fidel Castro killed Jim Henson!

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@wyvern2917 You bastards!

[@Dimensiom]

Jeremy's prose is subtle but nuanced enough that I detect that he does not believe Thundercade is a particularly good NES game.

[@ShirouAmakusa]

I rarely leave comments on YT, but I MUST let you know of my appreciation for that Thundercats/Thundercade gag. The disappointment in that „ooooh“ sounds genuinely believable. 😂😂

[@rvaldrich]

Ditto

[@vincentgood2234]

Should have started this episode standing on the top turnbuckle in a wrestling ring, considering how it opened with you dropping the elbow real hard on Thundercade.

[@MartyFreeze]

1:35 From following Jeremy from EGM and 1up Show Days, this made me laugh

[@JeremyParish]

I'm glad someone finds humor in it 😭

[@jessragan6714]

@@JeremyParish Games journalism is a thankless job, and you'll get more death threats from Gamergaters than life-sustaining income, but... what was my point again?

[@MartyFreeze]

@@JeremyParish Hey, it's not much but you've "edutained" me for easily a decade plus, so thank you!

[@dendroleon]

i don't even know how long i've been following his work, the early 00s are mostly a cloudy memory these days, but in my brain he's toastyfrog i am glad @jeremyparish is still at it! regardless of the lack of future XD

[@zubizuva]

Contrary to rumor, Jeremy did not lip sync this episode.

[@Unquestionable]

Guerrilla War was one of those titles that became a frequent rental for me, to the point when the video store was clearing out stock of NES titles I bought it with no hesitation. So many great afternoons spent just playing through it.

[@makaveli4205]

The arcade cabinet is the best way to play. Same thing with ikari warriors. Need those special controllers.

[@Unquestionable]

@@makaveli4205 Well what's cool about Guerrilla War is the console version is different than the arcade one in multiple ways, surprised the video didn't mention it. Both are excellent.

[@doctorwolfman5221]

I had a neighbor friend who had 4 NES games. Mario 3, thundercade, north and south, and zombie nation. Thundercade was definitely played the least.

[@MJFallout]

I love it when Jeremy puffs up to full drama llama.

[@jasenweitekamp2036]

What an age we live in, there's an actual wikipedia page on Thundercade. Astonishing.

[@diamondsmasher]

Like the page on syphilis, more than enough information to let you know that you do not want it.

[@Nemo2342]

I am glad to see you had the courage to play Thundercade as it was designed, without resorting to using slow-mo like the Gameplayers Guide did.

[@Fear2Stop]

Oh God… that music on Thundercade has part of the Elec Man melody in it …aka the riff that is everywhere

[@LeftyPem]

I wonder how much of Thundercade’s codebase came directly from 1942 and/or Tiger Heli.

[@spacecastleshow]

Goddammit do I love when an episode of NES Works comes off the rails.

[@DefendYoungstown]

I wouldn't have remembered ever playing Thundercade at all... if it weren't for the music. I know this got at least two rentals as I think I confused this for Jackal for the second.

[@JeremyParish]

Tragic mistake. My condolences

[@jessragan6714]

Pro-tip: Jackal was the good one.

[@DefendYoungstown]

@@jessragan6714 good to know. I'll get in my time machine and relay the message to my 11 year old self.

[@rootbeer_666]

The juxtaposition of the game’s music with… whatever the hell all that even is, is some kind of magic

[@vrangermeier]

Jeremy's sounding down, so I just bought the Collector's edition of NES Works 1987. Guess I'm a collector now . (HTML link's broken, BTW)

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Thundercade's stage music reminds me of something else, but I can't place it. Also the "bad media with a sidecar-based gimmick" concept reminds me of infamous MST3K film Sidehackers.

[@num488]

It vaguely sounds Capcom; like a really beta version of a Megaman tune.

[@JeremyParish]

A premonition of eternal damnation in hell?

[@BenCol]

It sounds like it's ripping off the main riff from Faithfully by Journey. Either that or the Elec-Man theme.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@BenCol Well damn, now I want to hear "Faithfully" over Elec-Man.

[@TSBaron]

​@@jonothanthrace1530Bon Jovi's "she don't know me" has a similarity to elec man too I think

[@nicelytoastedd]

There really is something comforting about Micronics games. I dont know why but I love 1942 for NES in all its horrors.

[@jessragan6714]

I played that game to the end. All thirty-two stages of it.

[@leefischer5814]

you're a fan of shooters I take it and would be understanding why you'd probably play all shooter's of the time. I like all the shooters on NES....at least the licensed ones and the Tengen ones.

[@nicelytoastedd]

@@jessragan6714 BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP TATATATAT BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP

[@SpyHunter89]

Can't we all just get beyond Thundercade?

[@safetinspector2]

Tina OWNS THUNDERTOWN!

[@marchvpigs]

Growing up with Thundercade I actually enjoyed playing it and was fun 2 player co-op. You can have 2 sidecars they attach to the side you pick it up on.

[@lifestream_real]

Hi! Sorry for the late comment. It's the person from your TMNT video, whom you told about this video, and it's empathetic nature. i just wanted to say, that you were, indeed, very empathetic towards *Thundercade,* as you said you would be. I appreciated the warmness in your message, despite you explaining every reason why it was, objectively, a poorly-produced game. The love you have, for the art of videogames, is commendable, and your empathy unparalleled. I love what you do! Please keep on doing what you do, and I will continue to cherish what you bring to the table.

[@jjj4th]

It will never not be funny to me that SNK went so hard with the legitimate history of communist Cuba for a top-down shooter. Glorious work, befitting the revolution.

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

I'm willing to acknowledge that Che and Fidel may have been the good guys.

[@SnakebitSTI]

On one hand, they opposed a tyrannical dictator who overthrew democracy in the country. On the other, they were unfavorable to foreign corporate interests... Hmm, I dunno, seems like there's a lot of nuance there.

[@Bant_Panorama]

The back end of the video being somewhere between the 2 minutes hate and a circa 2018 Contrapoints video was a good way to start my morning.

[@steuph1976]

The Thunfercade part truly lived up to those Milli Vanilli vibes !

[@BB-te8tc]

Ugh, that stage music. It sounds like a bad Elec Man stage impression and then it just drones on in some random direction.

[@AverageDrafter]

That is the most Micronics looking game I've ever seen.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

They loved their silver straight lines and sharp edges.

[@mohammedganai9636]

Love these music video flashbacks. Can't wait for "Good Thing" by Fine Young Cannibals.

[@Kawa-oneechan]

I like the rail track scene. You don't often see full-screen rotations like that on NES.

[@thejackal007]

Somehow, I never heard of Thundercade before this video. Umm... thanks, Jeremy.

[@Davidka_I]

I feel like this channel is perfect compliment to angry video game nerd. Both nerd so hard and each scratch an itch I didn't know I had in such a satisfying way.

[@BeKindRewind77]

I love this series so much. No overly dramatic skits, just facts and jokes. Perfection! However, my patience is wearing thin as we are so close to the release of Dragon Warrior, the sole reason I bought the NES as a kid.

[@rootbeer_666]

The jokes are getting better too, this episode was hilarious Dragon Warrior was the reason I had a subscription to Nintendo Power-as I suspect was the case for _lots_ of kids-and I didn’t appreciate it until it was too late, but I eventually did nevertheless, and owe it thanks for getting me into RPGs

[@comradeinternet467]

The world needs MORE video games about communist revolutionaries winning the day.

[@JeremyParish]

Yeah it's pretty much just this and Doki Doki!! Anastasia Daisakusen for PC98

[@raymondhemphill146]

The revolutionary fervor was amazing.

[@gaminglakitu]

Great video as always Jeremy. It's really interesting to see this little mini trend of localization with how many war based games are doing concepts that go directly against what America values most politically, and then just trying to scrub it off to avoid a child's parent getting furious over what their child is playing.

[@blarghblargh]

clear that they hadn't discovered of the streissand effect yet. or the Mortal Kombat effect :D

[@zaneseibert]

I think I know how Thundercade snuck through certification. I think everyone saw the name "Thundercade" and on the spot declared "Righteous!" and were compelled to air guitar. Sometimes a name is so powerful it just carries the whole product.

[@AerikTitlesTitles]

Metal Slug demake looks 🔥

[@jonothanthrace1530]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of SNK's OTHER runnin', gunnin', tankin' game series!

[@berniemadoff9688]

Laughing out loud at work as the flames of Revolution grower stronger.

[@stevehalle77]

I've been following your work for a long while now but wanted to chime in to say that this video is the cream of the crop.

[@leroypaulsen4566]

Guerrilla War and Iron Tank are FIRE! Very underrated.

[@absolutezeronow7928]

Yeah, a game where Che and Fidel were the heroes wouldn't have flown in Reagan's America. Cuba is definitely an example of the inertia of American politics where we stick to the Cuban embargo much longer than it makes sense to do so. Anyway, Guerilla War is good, and Thundercade is bad but still not as bankrupt as Kung Fu Heroes.

[@Hatchet2k4]

I actually had completely forgotton about Thundercade until this video, and now I'm suddenly nostalgic for it. I actually remember having a good time with it.. somehow.

[@ryansc0tt0]

Subtle as ever, Jeremy! 😉

[@larryb5677]

Down with Eisenhower!

[@JeremyParish]

On this channel, we don't like Ike

[@KajetSeifert]

Guerilla War was always a favorite of mine, and you sir have explained why it's good in ways I could not.

[@Encyclopedia_Brown97]

I can tell Jeremy had fun with these scripts lol

[@Cactrot]

I came for the video games, I stayed for the incitement to revolution.

[@mrbuckets1106]

Guerrilla War is just a gem. I have loved that game since I was a kid in the 80s.

[@MiguelPaulettePerez-bj8ml]

JP had that special spark for this episode...and I enjoyed the possibly intentional They Might Be Giants reference regarding Ikari Warriors

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

Guerrilla War was a staple game for me in the early 90s. My cousin got it in 1989 and I got it the next year.

[@SirTonk]

Where did you find a MiniDV camera that records at 4K???

[@JeremyParish]

Anything is possible if you make the right deal with Satan

[@DarkJumpBTL]

The boss explosions in Guerilla War are an event in itself.

[@cashnelson2306]

Between the first five seconds of the video and the description, I don't know if I could be a bigger fan of your work Jeremy edit: and also the ending

[@JaceyMitchell]

Jeremy: "This funeral was clearly inspired by Heiankyo Alien"

[@sgtshootme]

God, so many hours playing Guerilla War solo and co-op, and your famicom revelation was like a total brain unlock as kid me puzzled over the "cutscenes" in the game. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW! Also, great episode with tons of humor, thanks

[@kennethchia4194]

The flames were an especially nice touch

[@customURLfor]

viva la revolución, camarada Jeremias!

[@chrismoberg1581]

I've been waiting for this one and it did not disappoint. Though I've never considered my long love of Guerrilla War may have influenced my communist tendencies.

[@sneakyskunk1]

Princess Peach tuned in to this episode for one specific moment.

[@Lignojmik]

Never played Ikari Warriors (and have no desire to), but played a lot of Guerrilla War back in the day. Maybe it influenced my politics :p

[@gfdggdfgdgf]

The music in the first game seems to be inspired partially by the M.A.S.K theme song

[@iamflipachip]

Your video quality looks amazing in this one.

[@wargameboy72]

I love how you cut 80's and 90's media into your videos. It makes them feel like there from that time period. Watching them brings back so many memories from my childhood. Anyway, I know Micronics is everybody's punching bag and I know they deserve the criticism. But if I'm being honest, some of they're games are still some of my favorites. Like Ghosts & Goblins, Twin Cobra, 1942 and Elevator Action... I never played ThunderCade before and it doesn't look like I missed much. Anyway, great video, Bro!!! 🤩👍👍

[@davidjcro]

I always thought of Guerilla War as a proto-Metal Slug.

[@gfhrtshergheghegewgewgew1730]

unfortunately for jeremy (and for turn of the 90s musical sensation milli vanilli), he (and they) can't blame it (thundercade, being set up by boney m founder frank farian) on the rain (yeah, yeah)

[@rootbeer_666]

This gave me an idea, that I’d like to make a movie based on one of the hundreds of top-down run n’ gunners from this era, but make everything really look like the games. Give it a plot as well thought out as any of Van Damme’s flicks and it in some jungle, then hire two no-budget Van Damme impersonators so we can pit two oiled-up roid-heads armed with spread guns and grenades against hundreds of faceless mooks who fire strobing bullets that are about the size of softballs, at a quarter of the speed. And after about an hour and a half of explosions and flying jeep antics, Our Heroes rescue Not Ronald Reagan from Not Manuel Noriega and go out for a root beer float. ~Fin~

[@broy8172]

Shout outs to Game Player's Game Tapes tape with Thundercade where they left the "slow mo" feature on for the video - aka constant pause/unpause

[@broy8172]

i probably saw this game in blockbuster and thought I had a several year streak of good rentals to avoid noticing it

[@broy8172]

arcade port malört

[@mrbungle1990]

I haven't heard anyone explain how they pulled off what looks like good scaling on the NES on the ground for The 3-D Battles of Worldrunner.

[@Obscusion2]

Nasir Gebelli, that's how. Square had an absolute wizard programmer back in that time.

[@blarghblargh]

I thought there were videos online explaining such things, but I can't find them at the moment. It uses the h-blank interrupt feature of the NES to run a bit of code on every line of the screen, and that code does per-line tweaks to the background tile layer. The code does a little math to figure out which tiles to apply where in the line, to make it look like a scaled version of the simple checkerboard pattern. The faked horizontal scaling combined with a per-vertical-line change of that scale parameter give an impression of a foreshortening effect. The one thing I can't just rattle off is how they faked the horizontal scaling of a checkerboard pattern using clever tile placement. But I'm sure that given a few hours, it wouldn't be that hard for a typical graphics programmer to figure out. Probably a dozen or couple dozen games figured such things out. Ballblazer comes to mind. Maybe it's as simple as a lookup table. edit: I googled :P I'm more familiar with raster effects in other systems, and made some assumptions. looks like the NES might not have that h-blank interrupt. maybe it uses a sprite 0 scanline hit to do the interrupt, and not a horizontal-blank interrupt, and just moves the sprite after each trigger? or maybe it just "races the beam" and accurately times the CPU cycles to line up with the right moment. later on cartridges apparently could use MMC3 and just get a scanline interrupt, but it wasn't out by the time of 3d world runner. whatever way, somehow the game is making the NES run code every line, and shifting the apparent "scale" each time. then the trick boils down to simplifying the problem enough that it can fake horizontal scaling by clever tile placement, without actual scaling hardware. Apologizes for any and all repetition. This is basically a rough draft, and will never become a final draft :D

[@mrbungle1990]

@@blarghblargh It is obvious that you know more about it than I do. However they did it, it is a shame that that know-how wasn't adopted by more programmers.

[@PrekiFromPoland]

Oh, if Thundercade is primitive and all, then you have seen nothing yet. And by "nothing yet" I mean "A Week of Garfield".

[@Monodi91]

I enjoy how passionately you despise Micronix.

[@LoloDePuzlo]

Oh good, now that you're done with Thundercade and it's crappy Micronics port, you get to enjoy Strider, done in house by Capcom, so surely you won't have to deal with some of the most alpha-ass programming on the system.

[@JeremyParish]

I love Strider! Oh, you mean the NES version....

[@jackill2611]

Awesome! New apisode! Thank you sir you're the best.

[@michaelreddy4697]

Snark from Thundercats approves of the snark level of this episode.

[@baardbi]

I'm so happy that our Scandinavian Nintendo distributor (Bergsala) protected us from titles like Thundercade.

[@8BitFun]

Great video as always Jeremy! Video description goes hard too

[@Absquatula]

Thundercade's music reminds me of a broken Elecman's stage 😂

[@goranisacson2502]

As someone who remembers Ikari Warriors somewhat fondly, looking at it here really makes me realize how different my standards have become. But I guess back then a slow and sluggish game was just something you adaptes to... still would've been cooler to grow up with Guerilla War though.

[@abraveastronaut]

You had fun with this one.

[@Spider_Rico]

I'm guessing the next game is Capcom's "Strider".

[@tsvtsvtsv]

viva la revolucion, j-dawg

[@Poever]

How has there never been a game called GORILLA War?

[@matthewdunaway7622]

15:55 We shall see about that Grandmaster Parish!

[@seanmcbay]

There's 2 cool patches for Guerrilla War that makes everything, including backround signs, in Spanish that I recommend. Great game that's better than it's arcade version imo.

[@chrisgeorgegames]

I don't know if "the proof is in the play" is a pre-existing saying or just something you randomly came up with while writing out your thoughts on Guerrilla War, but I am absolutely going to be saying it the rest of my life.

[@milkcarton6654]

I remember the first time renting Guerilla War as a kid not expecting much more than a mediocre top down shooter that probably would play like Ikari Warriors and ending up being pleasantly surprised. I rented it a couple times more later. To be fair i DID own Iron Tank so I knew SNK could do better than IW. Of course i knew nothing back then about outsourcing development for their early NES releases and all that.

[@82seno]

Ohlala someone's got a well deserved upgrade 😏 looking good Jeremy...gotta admit it caught me off guard though after all these years lol

[@safetinspector2]

To each developer according to their budget, from each developer according to their deadlines

[@Dojonpachi]

When I was a kid, I wanted to be Sushi X when I grew up

[@ralang999]

My favorite EGM reviewer

[@rootbeer_666]

You can be Martin Alessi and like it, young man, now go do your geometry homework _[edit]_ aw, goddammit, he died two years ago, now I feel like a jerk

[@JeremyParish]

Whoa, did he? I had no idea.

[@rootbeer_666]

@@JeremyParish yeah, January 2022, he was only 49. Crazy that he was just 16 when he started doing reviews for EGM. I’m really bummed now.

[@the_exegete]

@@rootbeer_666 The reviewer who famously hated all portable consoles lived to see the Switch and mobile gaming take over. I imagine he felt vindicated in his warnings watching the rise of gacha P2W mobile trash. RIP

[@melgranger6450]

I remember when I beat the game that you can grab two side cars at once. It depends on which side touches the car.

[@analogmoz]

Thundercade is a 4/10 Sega SG-1000 game.

[@JeremyParish]

Damn, this is the most brutal thing anyone has ever posted here

[@vookatos]

"Remember when Japanese games weren't so political?"

[@JeremyParish]

Not a single vagina bone to be seen in either of these games, very sad

[@angrytheclown801]

You cannot tell me that it did not start off as an intern misspelling it and it was supposed to be Gorilla War and we missed the single greatest monkey themed global conflict game ever made.