I did end up making an inverse video of this one "10 Great NES Games with Awful Cover Art" : ruclips.net/video/HYhqOaC2KQw/видео.htmlsi=oQO6Q8TqmiTFQlPW
"Confident knee up stance revealing the mysteries behind the loincloth." I love the flat, laid-back, style, of commenting, and thoughtful script writing.
I think that creature you mention on the co9ver of Ghoul School is actually a skull face that is 3/4 upside down and 'speed-blurred', which would explain why it looks so freaky! lol!
I don't always have time to play my games, but my bedroom is also my gameroom, and it's nice to see all the neat stuff, little nostalgia hit every day.
I've literally never heard of Stanley: The Search for Doctor Livingston. I don't think ANYONE has ever heard of Stanley: The Search for Doctor Livingston.
I'm sorry I can't stop quoting you. " and,Huckleberry Finn looks like he's sashaying away." I bet your biggest struggle is saying these funny ass lines without laughing uncontrollably.
"A child Trick-r-treating as a rhinoceros." Awesome. I played that stinker. To hear a Conan the Barbarian line in the middle cracked me up. This was a good one!
I remember seeing an ad for Dr Chaos in an old comic I had. The ad was just the cover picture blown up. The blood stuck to his finger and the creepy critter that was stabbing his foot with a spear that was attached to some sort of umbilical cord really disturbed me as a kid.
Love your videos as always. Great sound, and video production. Anyway though, I'm surprised Dr. Chaos was allowed by Nintendo back in the day. Lot of blood on that cover art.
Here's a list idea: Games you traded with your friends. Whether you knew you were getting a better game trade, an upgrade trade, an uptrade. And, If you knew you were covertly passing a lame game, like a 90s crappy bag of weed.
Deadly towers does technically show the character in the strongest gold armor but unfortunately the character design in the game doesn't look like that nor changes his armor color
The cover for Krion Conquest shows Francesca wearing a white dress with what looks like a chef's hat. In the game she wears red dress and a witch's hat. That always puzzled me. Many years later I played the original Japanese version and there are scenes wear she wears a white dress and there is an alternate sprite of her wearing with what looks like a Russian hat.
I love your videos so much. As someone with a large NES and Famicom collection myself (not as large as yours but I still have around 150 games) I really love seeing the obscure stuff.
I remember seeing Dr. Chaos in the window of this TV/VCR repair store that sold used NES games $4 each or 3 for $10. I saw the title and the artwork and thought “Wow what the hell is that game?!” I scurried home very excited to play, popped that sucker in and immediate changed my thought to “Wow…wtf is this…” Great video, thanks for covering these stinkers, liked and subscribed. -Cast
They are the most borderline of these titles. So much potential and charm but such rough execution. I’ll definitely do a more detailed review of both at some point.
Even though there's something weirdly nostalgic about it, I'm glad we are past the era where we judged games based on the cover because we had nothing else to go on and we were purposefully being scammed by developers that made bad games.
@@BigOleWords yet it still exists. Just in not quite the same methods. These days you have to research it by game name and platform as well. Some of its indie some of its downloadable some of it is sloppy and exploitative AAA that causes the problems. Or a lazy port among other things. Or a cheap mobile port to console (mostly on switch/3ds)
An excellent collection of great art work that accompanied terrible games. The Stanley art, well that just screamed Monty Python to me. Great stuff bud 😎👍
The mini boss in Dr Chaos a) is simple, just go back towards the front of the house and stand on the ledge and hit him with the sword, and b) is a rip off of Richard Moll from the movie House
The arcade Athena is in fact a different game also by SNK, which featuring an in-game theme song that is ahead of its time, gaining its popularity in Japan. The NES geme is a prequel, where you play as the ancestor of the arcade protagonist.
The last NES game I bought as a kid was Ghoul School and it holds a special place in my heart for that reason. That said, I firmly believe Ghoul School is a hidden gem that is like Blaster Master in the "Early Metroidvania" category. If it's still around the $10 price I paid for my replacement copy a few years back, pick it up. You may really enjoy it and, if not, trade it!
Imagine if they called Deadly Towers by it's Famicom name Hell's Bells along with that awesome cover art. I'm surprised the cover for Dr. Chaos wasn't changed in NA. It's a graphic cover for sure and went against Nintendo's strict guidelines. Bad Street Brawler is a guilty pleasure game of mine. I know it's not great but I still enjoy it.
Deadly Towers definitely got me as a kid. I’ve had people swear there’s a good game underneath the banal, simplistic presentation, but I’ve never been able to find it. 😅
Fun fact, Athena is the only arcade cabinet you’ll find if you can manage to summit Mt Fuji. Greek mythology 3776m above sea level in the land of the rising sun and where the game earned the title, Top Arcade Game in Japan.
It would be cool if someone made the games that these covers make you expect. With how varied the indie NES scene is, it's totally possible and it makes total sense.
ghoul school was probably a painting with the school cut out being laid over the top of it. the windows look like one entire painting behind it. just a guess though.
@@BigOleWords i could be wrong but just basing it on the look and the fact that i didnt realize how many album covers i loved that i later learned were actually paintings and not digital like i wouldve thought either.
Great video!!! And again I will always appreciate the “Mr. Show” reference. “Who speaks Ill of pornography “ I do the same thing with my games. I spend more time looking at them than actually playing them.
Omg lol i’m guilty of the same thing just scrolling through my NES games over and over then finally just going back upstairs and not end up playing anything
2:47 That "Dr. Livingston" game is based on a true story. Henry Morton Stanley went to find Dr. David Livingstone after the world had lost contact with Livingston for years. Put the phrase "Dr. Livingston, I presume" into a search engine and you'll find lots of information about it. Also, neither man looked like the Angry Video Game Nerd guy on the cover. I know they couldn't find photos as easily as we can today with the internet, but they could have been easily found at a library for reference when designing that cover.
As a casual collector I can relate to you. I have alot off games that I never really play, but are nice additions. Then when I actually play them I have a good time.
I fell for the artwork of Nexoft Castlequest, beautiful artwork, a swashbuckling hero saving a hot babe with a giant demonic beast in the background (who does not appear in the game), it even came with a poster you can put on your wall. The game play was horrible and bland with tons of traps that force you to reset the game and start all over.
Oh damn that is a really good cover. My only issue is…I kinda like Castlequest! It’s pretty cheap and obtuse but I think the puzzle exploration is pretty fun. Not great by any means, but still better than some of these.
Ok ok … everything was cool until you dissed bad street brawler! My brother and I sunk HOURS into,that game, beating up little bald weirdos with French moustaches that look like babies… or fighting apes in mini boss fights.
12:00 in ‘92 you would have been doing “photoshop” effects using an exactor knife and rubber cement and then photographing your outcome.’if you wanted blur or glow effects you’d do them with in-camera composition I.e. taking photos of the same thing multiple times with different settings and different parts of the lenses’ view masked so as not to expose that part of the film so when you took the second photo you’d remove the mask and allow light onto the film
You NAILED it with Dr. Chaos! I remember finding that game on display at the local store. I do remember I just stopped and stared at it for a long while. Soaking in every posible little detail. Being repulsed at the monster stabbed with the syringe, the bleeding arm, and just overall horrendous monsters. But then, I made the horrible mistake of playing the stupid game. My little child brain felt so very, very lied to. Now as for The Search for Dr. Linvingston, I fully bought it due to the cover art. (And name). The game does suck, but I still played the crap out of it. Collecting every little secret, till I could speed run it.
Excellent list. One I always thought looked cool was Swamp Thing, and it is a terrible game. And love the idea of the inverse video with bad art on good games!
Bad Street Brawler was awesome on the C64. Kind of reminiscent to a comical Final Fight. You could do flips over guys then throw them. At the time it was a big step from just smashing punch.
I know the emphasis on the word NERDY isn't a coincidence because I was looking at it and saying the same thing. I know he talked about that game before, but can't remember if he said anything about the similarity.
And I thought I was the only one who looked at my games as much as I play them. Good to know! Every game you showed fits thIs category perfectly. Great video as always.👊
Tom Sawyer wasn't thaaaaat bad imo. I mean, its def a lil weak graphically but I personally thought it was a decent enough lil platformer. I still play through it sometimes.
I remember seeing the Dr Chaos's cover art in a Nintendo Power magazine & feeling extremely curious. I never got around to ever playing it though. Now that I see what the game actually offers I don't regret never renting it whoa it looks so darn mediocre😮
If any young gamers are reading this, back then you went only by the cart labels. It was always a magical journey to the movie store cause sometimes you’d get something great and sometimes bad based on the labels.
I have almost all of these and far more, save for Stanley and maybe Bad Street Brawler. Thing is most of em have a means to learn and have fun with despite being flawed. And the Stanley game to me says "is that a Pitfall like game?" at first glance
That’s a close-ish comparison. It’s definitely going for a Pitfall look and platform it style. Sorta. Then there’s the added inventory and rpgish elements. It’s not the worst, but it could be way better.
@@BigOleWords and Pitfall was around then (both in arcades and ports) so it'd of been a known game, artwork definitely seems like that sort of thing at a glance
I rented athena a couple of times when I was a kid and found the hidden power up in the first level so I have fond memories of it but I always wish it controlled better and had better hit detection and deadly towers I had as a kid, and I always wanted to like it, if you use a map, I feel like once you get past the beginning it kind of gets good
its one of those games that just feels like so much wasted potential if you started off a little stronger and there were less dungeons that didnt wrap around or just had maps it would be so much better
The Blues Brothers has a great illustration on the cover depicting the two protagonist in a well detailed cartoon style. The game itself is an average platformer with cheap level design and poor graphics that resembles something on an older computer more than something built for NES.
I bought Deadly Towers as an adult because I remembered playing it with my friend as a kid and we loved it. I was So excited to play it... after 5 minutes I thought, "what the hell was wrong with us back then"? This sux. 😂😁
The Adventures of Bayou Billy, leads you in thinking you're playing as a bad ass, but because Konami is evil on their edits for localization, the drastically beefed-up enemies will be the ones beating Billy's Ass bad.
Ifk how much it figures into power punch 2, but Tyson was already taken off of Punch Out, as his contract was almost up and he lost to Buster Douglas, so Nintendo didn't renew it
In 1992 there was other tool then ms paint :P Mac was at the time really more advances for infographics, but just a starter, Corel had a big suit for editing.
One of the NES games had Fabio as a cover model, as a picture. I wanna say Wizards and Warriors but it's been a while. Either way, straight up Fabio on the cover.
@@BigOleWords pretty much. It's like "I remember this OVA not being very good, but I only watched it once ..." 45 mins later abd my opinion didn't change. Concur!
I actually kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hot take, I know. It was a Christmas present one year. At the time, I only had about 4 games for the NES, so I played it a ton. Consequently, the nostalgia goggles are strong for this one. Just discovered your channel and liking it so far. Thanks for your content.
How did they make Ghoul School's cover art back then?? I am assuming they used a photo editing software similar to Photoshop or maybe an early version of Photoshop existed back then, maybe??
I did end up making an inverse video of this one "10 Great NES Games with Awful Cover Art" : ruclips.net/video/HYhqOaC2KQw/видео.htmlsi=oQO6Q8TqmiTFQlPW
This channel is criminally underrated
You’ll never take me alive coppers!
Totally agree!!!
Still true
Still true!
"Confident knee up stance revealing the mysteries behind the loincloth."
I love the flat, laid-back, style, of commenting, and thoughtful script writing.
100%
The real irony is that the NES initially made its name with honest cover art, so as not to make the Atari 2600's mistake of misleading customers.
Right?! They started off so strong but followed the same path as Atari!
I guess eye of the beholder jazz, but Stanley and the search for Dr. Livingston was one of my favorite games
I think that creature you mention on the co9ver of Ghoul School is actually a skull face that is 3/4 upside down and 'speed-blurred', which would explain why it looks so freaky! lol!
You're right! As soon as someone pointed it out it was like it was clear as day!
I can relate to this. Sometimes admiring your own collection is just as fun as playing the games.
Haha for sure. My intention is always to play something but…
I don't always have time to play my games, but my bedroom is also my gameroom, and it's nice to see all the neat stuff, little nostalgia hit every day.
@@scramblesthedeathdealer Yeah for sure!
0:32 dude you had me dying with that smile! Great video. I, too, love awful cart art.
Haha I didn’t mean to shoot that been when I was editing I thought it’d be funny to leave it in. If it made you laugh, I consider it a success!
"With a great appreciation for that top level of conartistry."
I love it
much respect for this guy for being so organized with his vast collection of NES cartridges 0_0
If they ain’t alphabetized, I ain’t sleepin’!
Fun fact -- Athena served as the inspiration for Asina, one of the sages from Crystalis. Considering they're both SNK games, it makes sense.
Interesting, I did not know that!
I've literally never heard of Stanley: The Search for Doctor Livingston.
I don't think ANYONE has ever heard of Stanley: The Search for Doctor Livingston.
Haha it's a pretty deep cut. I should really review it in depth soon...
I did, but only thanks to Nintendo Power. They made that game seem a LOT more fun than it actaully is.
I remember SNESDrunk mentioning it briefly. It is a weird concept but he seemed to think it was good.
I remember finding Tom Sawyer fun, I probably didn't have much basis for comparison but it made for a couple really fun days with the cousins.
@5:20 That bat on Dr. Chaos immediately reminds me of the band Overkill's bat.
You might have to add the Mighty Bomb Jack cover to this list.
I'm sorry I can't stop quoting you.
" and,Huckleberry Finn looks like he's sashaying away."
I bet your biggest struggle is saying these funny ass lines without laughing uncontrollably.
"A child Trick-r-treating as a rhinoceros." Awesome. I played that stinker. To hear a Conan the Barbarian line in the middle cracked me up. This was a good one!
Glad someone caught that ;)
"You got to be kidding me!"
- Mark Twain
Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch sounds like a mushroom trip, in which Mike Tyson partook.
I love the Deadly tower artwork style 1:50
Hell yeah!
I remember seeing an ad for Dr Chaos in an old comic I had. The ad was just the cover picture blown up. The blood stuck to his finger and the creepy critter that was stabbing his foot with a spear that was attached to some sort of umbilical cord really disturbed me as a kid.
Yeah it’s pretty disturbing for sure!
Love your videos as always. Great sound, and video production. Anyway though, I'm surprised Dr. Chaos was allowed by Nintendo back in the day. Lot of blood on that cover art.
Hey thanks! And yeah, Dr. Chaos is super gory! I didn’t even notice til I was editing that the one monster is stabbing the guys foot!
Love this channel and that intro is sick, never change it!!
You got it!
Here's a list idea:
Games you traded with your friends.
Whether you knew you were getting a better game trade, an upgrade trade, an uptrade.
And,
If you knew you were covertly passing a lame game, like a 90s crappy bag of weed.
Deadly towers does technically show the character in the strongest gold armor but unfortunately the character design in the game doesn't look like that nor changes his armor color
Haha insult to injury right there!
The cover for Krion Conquest shows Francesca wearing a white dress with what looks like a chef's hat. In the game she wears red dress and a witch's hat. That always puzzled me. Many years later I played the original Japanese version and there are scenes wear she wears a white dress and there is an alternate sprite of her wearing with what looks like a Russian hat.
Huh, that’s makes more sense then!
11:00 Iron Sword had a photo of Fabio on the cover, no monster make up like Jeckyl but he was decked out in Conan gear
I love your videos so much. As someone with a large NES and Famicom collection myself (not as large as yours but I still have around 150 games) I really love seeing the obscure stuff.
Hey thanks so much! The collecting is as interesting to me as the games themselves.
This channel is the new AVGN! The intro and so on. Love it, man.
I take that as the hugest of compliments :) Glad you dig it!
I remember seeing Dr. Chaos in the window of this TV/VCR repair store that sold used NES games $4 each or 3 for $10. I saw the title and the artwork and thought “Wow what the hell is that game?!” I scurried home very excited to play, popped that sucker in and immediate changed my thought to “Wow…wtf is this…” Great video, thanks for covering these stinkers, liked and subscribed.
-Cast
Yeah was my reaction when I first saw it!
I mean Mark Tyler; future Mandela effect.
As far as Athena being a "top...game" top, being defined as: top of a pile of s***.
Nice video. I don’t know, I kinda dig Stanley and Ghoul School. Flawed for sure, but kind of fun in their weirdness.
They are the most borderline of these titles. So much potential and charm but such rough execution. I’ll definitely do a more detailed review of both at some point.
Even though there's something weirdly nostalgic about it, I'm glad we are past the era where we judged games based on the cover because we had nothing else to go on and we were purposefully being scammed by developers that made bad games.
Totally agree, it’s an aspect of retro gaming that none of us should remember fondly.
@@BigOleWords yet it still exists. Just in not quite the same methods. These days you have to research it by game name and platform as well. Some of its indie some of its downloadable some of it is sloppy and exploitative AAA that causes the problems. Or a lazy port among other things. Or a cheap mobile port to console (mostly on switch/3ds)
@@patg108 And now it's pretty graphics instead of pretty box art.
@@citizen_grub4171 graphics which aren't all that much better than the last generation (if at all)
An excellent collection of great art work that accompanied terrible games. The Stanley art, well that just screamed Monty Python to me. Great stuff bud 😎👍
Haha I can see Eric Idle or Michael Palin as Stanley for sure!
The mini boss in Dr Chaos a) is simple, just go back towards the front of the house and stand on the ledge and hit him with the sword, and b) is a rip off of Richard Moll from the movie House
The arcade Athena is in fact a different game also by SNK, which featuring an in-game theme song that is ahead of its time, gaining its popularity in Japan.
The NES geme is a prequel, where you play as the ancestor of the arcade protagonist.
So they lied on the label then!?!
The last NES game I bought as a kid was Ghoul School and it holds a special place in my heart for that reason. That said, I firmly believe Ghoul School is a hidden gem that is like Blaster Master in the "Early Metroidvania" category. If it's still around the $10 price I paid for my replacement copy a few years back, pick it up. You may really enjoy it and, if not, trade it!
$10?! No way.
I honestly watched avgn since he started and I am glad this channel visits the nes and games of the past. I will gladly go through your videos
Hey thanks, there are worse folks to be compared to ;)
@@BigOleWords he is going on 20 years which is crazy in its own way.
Great video. Artwork was selling the games back in the day 😉
Hey thanks so much!
I remember seeing and ad in a magazine for Stanley, the quest for Dr. Livingston. I want to say it was in Nickelodeon Magazine.
That’s awesome. Surprised anyone remembers it.
The trophy in the background first seen at 1:50. Not sure what it's a trophy for, but well done my friend.
That's a little statue of Josef Martinez who plays for Atlanta United, my local soccer team.
Imagine if they called Deadly Towers by it's Famicom name Hell's Bells along with that awesome cover art.
I'm surprised the cover for Dr. Chaos wasn't changed in NA. It's a graphic cover for sure and went against Nintendo's strict guidelines.
Bad Street Brawler is a guilty pleasure game of mine. I know it's not great but I still enjoy it.
Hell’s Bells is a dope name for a game. Deadly Towers in unworthy!
Dude keep the videos coming! I love the NES heavy content!
You got it!
Deadly Towers definitely got me as a kid. I’ve had people swear there’s a good game underneath the banal, simplistic presentation, but I’ve never been able to find it. 😅
Haha many many people have chimed in to say they love Deadly Towers. I don’t get it either!
2:14 "That's a cute rhinosceros costume, little boy. Are your parents around?" *_stabbed_*
i watch your channel because you say "check this shit out" instead of "hey guys."
If you were on the street buying drugs, which would get your attention? Hmm maybe I’ll change it to “now who wants drugs?” :)
Nice, refreshing video. Sticks out from the thousands of other Nes content channels.
Hey thanks so much!
Fun fact, Athena is the only arcade cabinet you’ll find if you can manage to summit Mt Fuji. Greek mythology 3776m above sea level in the land of the rising sun and where the game earned the title, Top Arcade Game in Japan.
Hahahaha that’s amazing, and now I know there was no false statement made in their advertising ;)
I remember buying Dash Galaxy from Kay Bee Toys thinking the box art was cool. When I got home, I realized I had made a huge mistake.
That is for sure a candidate
It would be cool if someone made the games that these covers make you expect. With how varied the indie NES scene is, it's totally possible and it makes total sense.
That would be hilarious
ghoul school was probably a painting with the school cut out being laid over the top of it. the windows look like one entire painting behind it. just a guess though.
Damn I think you’re right! More of a physical collage technique than some sort of digital mock up. Nice!
@@BigOleWords i could be wrong but just basing it on the look and the fact that i didnt realize how many album covers i loved that i later learned were actually paintings and not digital like i wouldve thought either.
Nah I think you’re right. It’s kind of a Physical Graffiti style (without the sliding)
Great video!!! And again I will always appreciate the “Mr. Show” reference. “Who speaks Ill of pornography “
I do the same thing with my games. I spend more time looking at them than actually playing them.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one…that perpetually browses my cartridges AND loves Mr. Show :)
Omg lol i’m guilty of the same thing just scrolling through my NES games over and over then finally just going back upstairs and not end up playing anything
Haha the gift and the curse!
2:47 That "Dr. Livingston" game is based on a true story. Henry Morton Stanley went to find Dr. David Livingstone after the world had lost contact with Livingston for years. Put the phrase "Dr. Livingston, I presume" into a search engine and you'll find lots of information about it.
Also, neither man looked like the Angry Video Game Nerd guy on the cover. I know they couldn't find photos as easily as we can today with the internet, but they could have been easily found at a library for reference when designing that cover.
It’s like that 80s film Waxwork, amazing scary cover
Terrible non scary film
Oh my god! That cover is terrifying! Jesus.
As a casual collector I can relate to you. I have alot off games that I never really play, but are nice additions. Then when I actually play them I have a good time.
Glad I’m not alone!
I fell for the artwork of Nexoft Castlequest, beautiful artwork, a swashbuckling hero saving a hot babe with a giant demonic beast in the background (who does not appear in the game), it even came with a poster you can put on your wall. The game play was horrible and bland with tons of traps that force you to reset the game and start all over.
Oh damn that is a really good cover. My only issue is…I kinda like Castlequest! It’s pretty cheap and obtuse but I think the puzzle exploration is pretty fun. Not great by any means, but still better than some of these.
@@BigOleWords I played it because I spent $40 on it, but I hated every minute of it. 😆
@@planetphatness Oof I feel ya. I had Spiderman Sinister Six for the NES as a kid and even though I knew it was awful I played it non-stop.
Ok ok … everything was cool until you dissed bad street brawler! My brother and I sunk HOURS into,that game, beating up little bald weirdos with French moustaches that look like babies… or fighting apes in mini boss fights.
With the Power Glove?!
12:00 in ‘92 you would have been doing “photoshop” effects using an exactor knife and rubber cement and then photographing your outcome.’if you wanted blur or glow effects you’d do them with in-camera composition I.e. taking photos of the same thing multiple times with different settings and different parts of the lenses’ view masked so as not to expose that part of the film so when you took the second photo you’d remove the mask and allow light onto the film
Castlequest also has that same Deadly Towers bait n' switch box cover.
Yeah, but I actually kinda like Castlequest!
The horror in the window above the door is a skeleton skull sideways
Very cool! Solid picks and not just dismissive for comedy value alone. Great vid. 😁👍
Hey thanks so much!
You NAILED it with Dr. Chaos! I remember finding that game on display at the local store. I do remember I just stopped and stared at it for a long while. Soaking in every posible little detail. Being repulsed at the monster stabbed with the syringe, the bleeding arm, and just overall horrendous monsters. But then, I made the horrible mistake of playing the stupid game. My little child brain felt so very, very lied to.
Now as for The Search for Dr. Linvingston, I fully bought it due to the cover art. (And name).
The game does suck, but I still played the crap out of it. Collecting every little secret, till I could speed run it.
Two very odd games for sure. I’d probably rather look at Dr. Chaos but play Stanley if that were possible :)
I fucking loved dr. chaos lol
Excellent list. One I always thought looked cool was Swamp Thing, and it is a terrible game. And love the idea of the inverse video with bad art on good games!
Ooh yeah that is a perfect example! Love the comics but damn is that game abysmal.
Great writing!! I laughed during the whole thing :D
Hey thanks so much :)
Bad Street Brawler was awesome on the C64. Kind of reminiscent to a comical Final Fight. You could do flips over guys then throw them. At the time it was a big step from just smashing punch.
Didn’t know it was on the Commodore but it definitely has that look!
I know the emphasis on the word NERDY isn't a coincidence because I was looking at it and saying the same thing. I know he talked about that game before, but can't remember if he said anything about the similarity.
And I thought I was the only one who looked at my games as much as I play them. Good to know! Every game you showed fits thIs category perfectly. Great video as always.👊
It’s kind of the collectors curse, so many options somehow makes you browse more than play. You know all too well!
Hahaha I thought it was just me....
I can staring at my games for hours, looking to the artworks, organizing them... Over and over again
@@sergiosoto7056 The gift and the curse for sure!
James Rolf time traveling again to get on the cover of that one game, haha!
It does look a lot like him!
Tom Sawyer wasn't thaaaaat bad imo. I mean, its def a lil weak graphically but I personally thought it was a decent enough lil platformer. I still play through it sometimes.
I would agree that it’s not that bad certainly not as bad as Conan or Dr. Chaos.
@@BigOleWords Heh no doubt there. Conan just straight up looks unplayable.
I remember seeing the Dr Chaos's cover art in a Nintendo Power magazine & feeling extremely curious. I never got around to ever playing it though. Now that I see what the game actually offers I don't regret never renting it whoa it looks so darn mediocre😮
If any young gamers are reading this, back then you went only by the cart labels. It was always a magical journey to the movie store cause sometimes you’d get something great and sometimes bad based on the labels.
All the weird games we got had no research behind them
I have almost all of these and far more, save for Stanley and maybe Bad Street Brawler. Thing is most of em have a means to learn and have fun with despite being flawed. And the Stanley game to me says "is that a Pitfall like game?" at first glance
That’s a close-ish comparison. It’s definitely going for a Pitfall look and platform it style. Sorta. Then there’s the added inventory and rpgish elements. It’s not the worst, but it could be way better.
@@BigOleWords and Pitfall was around then (both in arcades and ports) so it'd of been a known game, artwork definitely seems like that sort of thing at a glance
@@BigOleWords that's what the good ol game genie makes up for lol. can make the bad games more playable to a extent
I rented athena a couple of times when I was a kid and found the hidden power up in the first level so I have fond memories of it but I always wish it controlled better and had better hit detection
and deadly towers I had as a kid, and I always wanted to like it, if you use a map, I feel like once you get past the beginning it kind of gets good
It does get way more bearable once you get into the actual towers, but it’s still a rough journey!
its one of those games that just feels like so much wasted potential
if you started off a little stronger and there were less dungeons that didnt wrap around or just had maps it would be so much better
The Blues Brothers has a great illustration on the cover depicting the two protagonist in a well detailed cartoon style. The game itself is an average platformer with cheap level design and poor graphics that resembles something on an older computer more than something built for NES.
That is a solid contender right there!
I bought Deadly Towers as an adult because I remembered playing it with my friend as a kid and we loved it. I was So excited to play it... after 5 minutes I thought, "what the hell was wrong with us back then"? This sux. 😂😁
Hahaha nostalgia is a killer sometimes
11:26 is a skull with eyes looking down
The Adventures of Bayou Billy, leads you in thinking you're playing as a bad ass, but because Konami is evil on their edits for localization, the drastically beefed-up enemies will be the ones beating Billy's Ass bad.
Yeah that’s a solid example right there!
So, for Ghoul School, it's an upside-down skull with an eyeball.
I should not drink coffee while watching your videos. ("Trick or treating dressed as a rhinoceros.")
Haha thanks Bets :)
Tom fricking Sawyer... I got bamboozled on that one. Played it for hours and was always pissed I didn't spend my $50 on a different game.
Woof tough break!
Love the content 🔥
Hey thanks!
Ifk how much it figures into power punch 2, but Tyson was already taken off of Punch Out, as his contract was almost up and he lost to Buster Douglas, so Nintendo didn't renew it
I own Athena. I bought it on the cover art. Thank you for recognizing my experience.
I mean who wouldn’t be hooked by that cover?!
Love the Video subject! Found this video searching for Dr Chaos . I’m definitely subbing for sure
Nice! I mean that you liked the video not that you were searching for Dr. Chaos ;)
@@BigOleWords 😂 I was searching for a friend a swear hahaha
@@humorouserrectis5791 Surrrrreeee ;)
You’re doing great James! From your fellow Mountaineer!
Is that what we called ourselves?!? ;)
@@BigOleWords I guess the correct term is Mountain Camper, Mountain Camp Alumni, or just “kid who went to the Mountain”
@@hillerm Friend!
This is it, dude. You found your niche. Keep talking about label art.
Haha well I do love talking about cover art!
In 1992 there was other tool then ms paint :P Mac was at the time really more advances for infographics, but just a starter, Corel had a big suit for editing.
3:07 is that the AVGN?
Got him!
Need to do top 10 bad NES artwork but, really worth playing. Games you would avoid cause of artwork but, glad you did played
One day soon!
Stanley is a nice and fun game for me. It has it own charm
It does indeed
One of the NES games had Fabio as a cover model, as a picture. I wanna say Wizards and Warriors but it's been a while. Either way, straight up Fabio on the cover.
Ironsword!
@@BigOleWords yes! That's the one.
Best channel on YT!!!
Thanks so much!
I do the same thing with my anime VHS collection. Just browse through them and look at the boxes.
Haha the gift and the curse of collecting :)
@@BigOleWords pretty much. It's like "I remember this OVA not being very good, but I only watched it once ..." 45 mins later abd my opinion didn't change. Concur!
I actually kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Hot take, I know. It was a Christmas present one year. At the time, I only had about 4 games for the NES, so I played it a ton. Consequently, the nostalgia goggles are strong for this one. Just discovered your channel and liking it so far. Thanks for your content.
Hey thanks so much! I still have no idea how to progress in Jekyll
always loved the japanese cover for athena
Haha that’s not what I was expecting! She looks like “but you promised you’d take me to the beachhhhhh”.
Props for the Pictionary music. Tim Follin is a GOD.
Totally agree!
@@BigOleWords Seriously. The man was a genius composer.
I had no idea Duke Nukem was on the cover of Bad Street Brawler!
How did they make Ghoul School's cover art back then?? I am assuming they used a photo editing software similar to Photoshop or maybe an early version of Photoshop existed back then, maybe??
Someone mentioned it’s probably a collage of photographs and paintings and I can kind of see it now!
The "cut" and "paste" functions in software used to be literally done by people with paper and other things.