{"id":16668,"date":"2017-07-20T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T00:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=16668"},"modified":"2017-07-07T18:25:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T18:25:18","slug":"retro-bit-generations-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/20\/retro-bit-generations-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Retro-Bit Generations: Part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>So if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019m learning from playing this Retro-Bit Generations console is all sorts of games made by Jaleco.\u00a0 They even had a mascot of sorts, a little red clad ninja that starred in a bunch of games!\u00a0 A few are featured in this batch, plus many more!<\/p>\n

Ninja Jajamaru-kun, Ninja Jajamaru no Daibouken, and Maru\u2019s Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

So yeah, Jaleco\u2019s mascot of sorts is a little ninja wearing red.\u00a0 He\u2019s been in all sorts of games in Japan.\u00a0 In the arcade, on the Famicom, Saturn and PlayStation, and even the 3DS.\u00a0 Most of the games are side scrolling 2-D platformers, but there are some others as well, like RPGs.\u00a0 Many of these games were going to be released in the US in some form or fashion, but most got cancelled.\u00a0 There is actually a pretty interesting article about the history of these games over at a site called Hardcore Gaming 101, so if you are interested, I suggest going there to learn more.<\/p>\n

The first game on here, Ninja Jajamaru-kun, reminds me of arcade games like Mappy.\u00a0 You can scroll the screen left and right a bit, but that\u2019s it.\u00a0 You jump up and down platforms while throwing stars at enemies and when they\u2019re all defeated, you move onto the next level.\u00a0 This game was on the Famicom and was even brought to the Virtual Console in the US at one point.\u00a0 Ninja Jajamaru no Daibouken is more like a traditional 2-D platformer with the character.\u00a0 Maru\u2019s Mission is also similar to that, but it was a Game Boy game and featured improved graphics and gameplay.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever played Retro Game Challenge, the Haggleman games are definitely a tribute to the Ninja Maru titles.<\/p>\n

Mazezam<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a block pushing puzzle maze game.\u00a0 The unique thing is that when you push a block, the whole row of blocks moves, so there are some new strategies involved.\u00a0 It looks like it, but it\u2019s not an old game.\u00a0 Looks like they reused some assets from other games like the \u201cLet\u2019s Go\u201d sound from Lemmings.<\/p>\n

Mercs<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realize it when it first came out, but Mercs is actually the sequel to Commando.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure this is the console version, not the arcade versions, as it\u2019s kind of choppy.\u00a0 I know Mercs was on the Genesis, but I\u2019m not sure about the SNES.\u00a0 Anyway, this does have two games to choose from: Arcade Mode and Original Mode, both with different levels.<\/p>\n

Monster Club<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a Jaleco Famicom game, and it\u2019s all in Japanese.\u00a0 You play as a guy who must run and jump up a vertically scrolling platform stage with garish backgrounds as you shoot monsters like bats and ghosts.\u00a0 But they move around so much and\/or take too many hits to defeat, so it\u2019s really hard.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bloopy<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019d think I would like this game, as it stars a little blue blob and I love the title name.\u00a0 It\u2019s a really weird new game, though.\u00a0 It\u2019s 16-bit in style, and seems to be a mix of 2-D platforming and puzzles.\u00a0 The story is really out there, so much so that I can\u2019t remember it.\u00a0 Sometimes you must jump over obstacles, but other times you can\u2019t progress until you press a button to change the color of your blob and shoot pellets upward to create a picture with squares that matches an example.\u00a0 It\u2019s really easy to get stuck in the platforming sections, though.\u00a0 I fell down a pit and couldn\u2019t get past a fireplace without getting burned.<\/p>\n

Night Defender<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s an exact ripoff of Donkey Kong, except Donkey is now a giant clown that throws skulls and snakes, Pauline is a little girl, and Mario is now\u2026a teddy bear?<\/p>\n

Night Defender 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hey, we get a sequel to such a \u2018great\u2019 game!\u00a0 And no, it\u2019s not a ripoff of DK Jr.!\u00a0 You\u2019re still the teddy bear, and when you start the game, the screen shows a message for less than a second that says, \u201cGod gave children to man as a treasure.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s an odd thing to start a game with.\u00a0 Anyway, each single screen stage has platforms and diamonds to collect, and when you get them all, you move onto the next level.\u00a0 The graphics kind of reminds me of Balloon Fight, even though the gameplay is different.\u00a0 There are ghosts that move in a set pattern in each stage for you to avoid.\u00a0 If you hit one, you\u2019ll have to start the stage over again.\u00a0 You can jump and also press down to charge up, and then press another button to release a shot that can stun the ghosts for a bit.\u00a0 It took me a while to figure that out.\u00a0 Not really a fun game, though.<\/p>\n

Super Thor Quest<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly like the first Night Defender game, except the clown is now a yeti, the girl looks older, you\u2019re now a little man with a helmet, and the background is a crappy stock picture of a snowy mountain.\u00a0 Same sound effects and everything.\u00a0 Yeah, we really needed two Donkey Kong clones on here.<\/p>\n

Onslaught<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is another new game, with a barbarian setting.\u00a0 When you press Start, they show you a map, and I couldn\u2019t figure out what to do next.\u00a0 I mashed a bunch of buttons, and eventually I got to a screen where I was a barbarian guy in a 2-D platform 16-bit area.\u00a0 There was stuff happening all over the place so it was tough to avoid anything and I had no idea what any of the things I was collecting did and how much life I had left.\u00a0 It was a mess. Reminded me of some of those crappy shareware PC games from the 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Pinball Quest<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always thought this game was cool as a kid.\u00a0 It\u2019s a video pinball game, and even has an RPG quest mode.\u00a0 It does have some problems, like the RPG mode is really hard, and I didn\u2019t like how you had to press up or down to move the flippers to where on the table you ball is.\u00a0 So the game isn\u2019t as good as what I remember it being.\u00a0 But I still like it.<\/p>\n

Pizza Pop!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a cartoony 8-bit platformer where you\u2019re a pizza delivery man trying to deliver pizzas on time.\u00a0 You avoid enemies and obstacles like cats and dogs that have been given too much sugar.\u00a0 They bounce around so much that it makes the game very difficult.<\/p>\n

Plasma Ball<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s all in Japanese, so I wasn\u2019t sure exactly what I was doing.\u00a0 You first choose a character, what looks like a group of flying knights.\u00a0 Then you go to an arena with another knight and bounce a ball all over the place.\u00a0 Not sure how you win or score or whatever.\u00a0 Another 8-bit Jaleco game, of couse.<\/p>\n

Questforge<\/strong><\/p>\n

So this is an overhead viewed 8-bit quest game that looks like of like Zelda. But the way you fight enemies is different.\u00a0 You can press a button to charge a meter, and if that meter is higher than an enemy\u2019s hit points when you touch it, you\u2019ll win the battle.\u00a0 If not, you\u2019ll lose a heart.\u00a0 It\u2019s very confusing, and reminded me of a crappy RPG I rented on the NES once called Hydlide.<\/p>\n

Super R-Type & R-Type 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

These were two games in the R-Type shooter series on the SNES.\u00a0 R-Type was super popular, but I didn\u2019t like it as much because it was so hard.<\/p>\n

Ring King<\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw this boxing game quite a bit in arcades back in the day.\u00a0 What\u2019s interesting is that while it has the Data East symbol on the map, Namco is credited on this game, too.\u00a0 I think Namco and Data East collaborated on some games back then, because Data East is also credited on Namco\u2019s Wacky Gator whack-a-mole style game.\u00a0 I just find that kind of stuff interesting.\u00a0 The in-between fight scenes in Ring King look really questionable, though.<\/p>\n

Rockfall<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a Boulder Dash clone, and not a very good one.<\/p>\n

Rocky Rodent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ugh.\u00a0 One of the reasons why I\u2019m not a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan is all the me-too mascot platformers that came out after his popularity.\u00a0 Rocky Rodent being one of the most unimaginative ones I can think of.\u00a0 Your character is the ugliest looking thing you\u2019ll ever see, and he jumps around urban 2-D environments stomping on armadillos and such.\u00a0 The gimmick here is that if you find a can of hair spray, you can give him a spike on his head that lets him defeat enemies with it, as well as latch onto certain ceilings and swing up to the next platform.\u00a0 It sounds fun, but never appealed to me.\u00a0 Is it any wonder why during this time, I was mostly playing 16-bit RPGs?\u00a0 Come on, Irem, you can do better!<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s all for now!\u00a0 Tomorrow is the final part!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019m learning from playing this Retro-Bit Generations console is all sorts of games made by Jaleco.\u00a0 They even had a mascot of sorts, a little red clad ninja that starred in a bunch of games!\u00a0 A few are featured in this batch, plus many more! Ninja Jajamaru-kun, Ninja Jajamaru no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16670,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16668\/revisions\/16670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}