For the initial cut scene, all I could think about was "Pointing a sharp piece of metal up and into the sky in the middle of a serious lightning storm? This guy is looking to get cooked!" lol.
BRO for YEARS I have tried to remember this game. I've searched a handful of times over the years to no avail. All I could remember was the knight and a blue orb or something, then BAM! There's the cartridge cover art that was buried DEEP in my brain. Thanks man!
Also, for those of you into classic arcade games, Athena's true masterpiece is JJ Squawkers. It's basically the best Ghouls 'n Ghosts game you've never heard of, and unfortunately it never got a console release - one of the hidden gems of MAME!
The paralax scrolling is really impressive, seeing as the NES can't actually do multiple background layers. I think they have to literally have animated background tiles that cycle depending on which direction the character is moving. It's kind of amazing to see that on the NES at all.
This was perhaps the most obscure childhood game of mine, and i actually made the first TAS for it way back when, so thank you for giving it a go! One point: you *can* double jump normally, it's just really hard. Specifically, from doing the TAS, i learned that you have to tap A and let go of it within 2 frames to do another jump. In fact, you can even triple jump if you can pull off these super-light button taps twice in a row! Mastering this makes the platforming a heck of a lot less problematic, as you might expect. Regarding the magic component of the game, the lightning is the most practical spell for a normal player to use as the others tend to be too weak and/or EXP-inefficient with their normal shots. Your advice sort of applies to speedruns of this game, which have come to only use (fully-charged) magic on the final boss. And a final tip: in the dungeon level, you can get on top of the ceiling by jumping into one of those blocks that fall when you get closer to them. It's a damage boost that's not too difficult to pull off and it lets you cruise through the entire level with no further damage until you reach the boss!
I had a controller with turbo buttons. So the double jump was just a matter of pressing and holding the turbo jump. This game is great. I struggled a little bit with it at the beginning but then, when you know how to attack every kind of enemy, it turns into great fun!
I agree with most of your points. It's perfectly passable, but (as I stated in another vid on this) we would have more of a classic on our hands if they tweaked the enemy placement, added better health pickups, and gave you a better motivation to use the Wizard, such as giving him a better base attack and perhaps making usage of him required in certain areas, like perhaps having his spells expose Boss weaknesses.
If they'd managed to make a third game, Baby Galactus would probably check the stats and realize that invincible floating eyeballs were the most efficient minion, and all of the boss enemies would have a bunch of them tied to them like balloons. The art in this game is pretty close to the top notch though.
I like these walk to the right, fight some enemies, then have a one on one fight with a boss like this one, Chine Warrior (Turbografx) and Black Belt (Master System).
THANK YOU, to think i was pestering other channels for years about this game, and no one ever bothered to review it, then this does mean a lot, it is honestly one of my favorite games as a kid along with kickmaster and gijoe atlantis. I don't know if u have the manual, but it is an interesting read. The game was butchered upon release in gaming magazines, so no one wanted it, i remember the day i got it, it was the only game left in the store on a friday afternoon since other kids came before me and got all the good games and this was left, i took it with a heavy heart and to my surprise, i found a great game. this and double dragon 3 started what i call my love for underrated games. btw, back to the manual, it is a good read and the game has lore similiar to DEMON'S SOULS, not dark souls, but one of the knights u face, looks and has the same tragic story as that Boletaria prince in demon's souls, Ostrava i think. again, thanks for the review, much appreciated.
i dunno if i'd call dd3 underrated, but it certainly didnt hit like the original did when it came out. if you were an arcade goer, you wanted that first double dragon on release day because you wanted to see how it would match up with the arcade port. maybe the gameplay mechanics got a bit muddled with the special moves in 2&3, maybe it was that combined with people tiring of the franchise having pumped so much time and quarters into it in the arcade and being disappointed with the og port. double dragon got ported much more than a lot of other games too from what i remember. my thoughts, i was disappointed in it in a similar way that i was with the spy hunter port, and its tough to put my finger on what the deal was. i believe it was gameplay mechanics most of all honestly.
Okay, this is now the third time I bring up this series on your videos and I swear I'm not doing it on purpose, but those double-jumps at 4:16 are literally from Donkey Kong Country! Also man, this game has gorgeous pixel art. Looks really pleasing to the eye, and some enemies like that red-robed axe-wielding guy at 4:56 or the Devilman remind me of certain Sega Genesis games for some reason. Or that big blue dragon boss, that could have genuinely convinced me it's 16-Bit if I'd have seen this out of context! They really did the most they could with the limited palette!
'Sword Master' is yet another one of those late-release NES titles that could have become a cult classic with a bit more polish. The graphics and music are top-notch.
Oh hey! I happened to find this game in high school. I was downloading anything that had a cool game as my laptop was terrible. I actually like this game but it's hard enough that I don't get that far whenever I play. Glad to see someone talking about it!
I have played Castle of Dragon at my friend's house decades ago, and could never remember the game's title until now, so thank you for that. That's been bugging me for literally most of my life.
You know, you're not the first or even second person to comment that. Something about it's generic title and maybe that it lacks the word "THE" must make it kinda forgettable.
I genuinely get excited when I see a new video from you. Bonus points that you covered one of those super expensive games that I knew very little about. Great content as always!
Been watching your review n having a good time. All videos are well made and fun to watch. Definitely look into playing this game. Unusual platformer that interest me.
Oh man I'm glad this popped up on my homepage! When I was a kid, my parents got my 2 brothers and I some games. My whole life I remembered what my brothers got but never have been able to remember the game I got. My oldest brother Miles got Milon's Secret Castle (yes because the name was similarish :) while my other brother got Hydlide, and what did I get? Turns out it was Castle of Dragon! Hah oh man that cover art. Milon's was too confusing, and Hydlide was our favorite of the 3 back then. I never beat Castle of Dragon but I do remember liking it a good bit and having fun. If only I'd stuck it out to get to see a few glorious pixels of a topless princess lol, my mind would have probably been blown. Good stuff!
I'm having a weird memory of this game I either played it on my brothers TV/NES combo... anyone remember those? Usually we're in rental stores to try games out...or I played it at an arcade at a ballpark that had a cabinet with like 10 or so NES games to choose from
These graphics are great! I think I rented this once, but definitely didn't rent it twice. (I was probably busy renting Contra or DuckTales for the 20th time)
I'm not very good at it, but I really enjoy this game and Castle of Dragon. They both hold a place in my heart. And holy shit the Famicom box art is absolutely stunning.
try dragon unit for mame, its like, if you're a fan of battletoads, its kinda the same experience as when you play the arcade version, it just kinda opens up the artistic idea of the game as a whole. was a good effort to port that to nes, but you gotta remember they were making an arcade port of that one. a sidescroller like contra...not so tough as a knight in armor for sure to port down, but a lot of what makes it look a little visually unappealing, all that gets done away with in the arcade port of it.
I loved Castle of Dragon, I rented it for a week once. Cousins came over and we kept playing in turns. One round, we just didn't die at all, and we where swapping the whole time to who could play what level best. Was awesom defeating it in one go amd getting all the power ups amd just not dying after that.
Do captain planet for the NES. (The volcanoes when rescuing whales will have you pulling out your hair. You move unbearably slow...the eruptions are fast and randomized...and you have to move several whales back and forth...all on one try.)
This looks like it would have been a good game to order some pizzas, turn on some metal, and play through with your buds on a rainy weekend in the 90s. 🤘🎸🤘
Nice video. I played this game for the first time at a friends house. I think I got to the second level, then gave up... so there was a reason I never heard of this game before XD
The Japanese version has an interesting bug, which allows the player to pull out a small 3rd jump. Is not easy to do I warn you, but once you master it it makes the game more approachable, it opens other strategies, and so. This is, if you have the patience to play by its rules, and master it (at least to the point where this can be mastered). I like the AI of the computer, and even if some collision boxes need to be reworked, Sword Master is a fantastic game for me. Regards.
I really like this game, it was made by Athena yes, the Arcade Castle Of Dragon is actually really good btw.. I liked it at least lol. Anyway Sword Master, the graphics have to be one of the best on the system, almost looks 16 bit!
This game is sort of a misunderstood gem. I mean, if you put the effort to learn the attacks and tactics against every kind of enemy (or search for them on an online guide), then you suddenly realize how amazing and fun this game is for an 8 bit release!
I saw the subject of "NES Games Nobody Played" my first thought was Stanley: The Search for Dr Livingston, now that's an NES game nobody talks about or likely ever played.
Great video man! This game definitely looks leaps and bounds above Castle of Dragon, but probably a bit too ambitious. Still one I need to pick up for the collection.
Man I saw this in Nintendo power (I think) and I just HAD to get it. I didn't get it for a couple more years, but when I did, I thought I was some sort of genius when I played it
Hah! I liked both of these games growing up and to this day I sorta like this genre of go to the right hard encounter fight it. I dont know how to better describe it other than that. I really think that maybe I was spoiled with Trojan where you have a lot of variety, a 2P vs mode, you had a kick butt soundtrack. Trojan was awesome if you wanted sword and board fantasy arcade.
Was hoping there was a romhack that fixed the false pixels so you wouldn't fall through platforms, sadly there isn't...but I still want to try this game, never played it as a kid. Thanks for the review!
@Big Ole Words Now I need to go see if you did Ice Climbers, BattleCity, Contra Force, Adventure Island, Wonderboy, and others I played with my friend back in our elementary school haydays.
I had a copy of Sword Master years ago. I'd revisit it every few months and try to find an ounce of enjoyment, but eventually I gave up and removed it from my collection. I play games to have fun, not be miserable.
Oh shit....I've played this game. I'm pretty sure it was a Blockbuster rental or the other local Video place....Atomic Video. Those were great times renting NES and SNES games.
Looks more like wizard & warriors than actraiser, actraiser had modern graphics considering it was an early SNES title with a solid developer studio. Flawless game, especially in 1990, it legit looked better on the old TVs with its blurred pixels, flat screens cannot show you the difference, if you emulate it nowadays, its just crude pixels.
I always called Sword Master Castle of Dragon 2. We had a great rental store when I was a kid. Computers Plus. The lady always ordered five copies of every game on the system. (NES, SNES, Genesis, and TG16/PCengine.) She had the bible games, tengen games, she even had the arcarde shooter that let you torture people with the light gun. Place went out of business in the late 90's though.
I remember being intrigued by this game after seeing a feature on it in Nintendo Power. Thought the suit of armor was cool-looking. Just never found it compelling enough to check out.
Actually being 47 and had lived through the progression of games I'd say this looks awesome ..but you can't understand it if you weren't actually there to appreciate what looks dated now.
I remembered when I was showing the badass graphics of Castlevania IV to non-gamer adults -- and then getting laughed at in the same way we laugh at a cat being fooled by a magic trick.
1:22 I'd never stop laughing if there was a random chance for a lightning bolt to just kill you outright in the cut scene the moment you raise your sword. That's asking for it harder than that old golfer in Caddyshack.
Another game on the NES with this level of quality when it comes to paralax scrolling is JOE & MAC,great adaptation to fit NES's limitations,hidden gem stuff for sure!
athena did deblock and dezaemon too, and i think also wits? but those were famicom only. they did that bowling game for the virtual boy as well. but if you ask me, the big IP outta athena..it was the arcade game jj squawkers. fire that one up in mame sometime, its a bop. great review here, i feel like if you had a nes in 92 and wanted to play something a lil more golden axe-y than castlevania-y, sword master was the way...but really that soundtrack blew 3/4 of nes soundtracks away and kinda made that game worth the price of admission, some serious sound design in that game.
@@BigOleWords no way, give it a try. surprisingly competent run 'n gunner with decent enemies and bosses and weapons. its like ghosts and goblins but cute, heh!
We did play this game quite a bit back in the day actually. Mostly a fair review, although I think you're bit too hard on the combat, which was a huge step up from Trojan and other contemporaries. Something not mentioned in here is that the shield can also block projectiles coming from above by pressing Up (don't remember if this applies to physical attacks as well). It can be tough game to figure out without the manual though. It's pretty impressive how much functionality Athena managed to get out of NES controller's limited layout. I feel like a game of this type could have really shone on the SNES or Megadrive, but this game basically seemed to be the last hurrah for this particular subgenre and probably one of the best examples of it, warts and all.
Developers: "Hey remember that part in Zelda II where you have to fight the knight when you enter each dungeon? Well what if we create an entire game where that's all you do!?"
1:20 T-POSE OF DOMINANCE! Hm. The gfx are pretty good. And it looks way better than Castle of Dragon. Granted "better than castle of dragon" is a low bar. It seems like the co was like "our first game sucked. REDO". The burning question -does the kidnapped chick keep her shirt on the entire time though? The one on one fighting reminds me of the boss fights in robin hood, prince of thieves. Which for a licensed NES game is a surprisingly fun action RPG. I had it as a kid and played the hell out of it.
@@BigOleWords I am not sure is there any other NES title with this kind of parallax. Because the limitation for that effects do not allow forground objects on top of the backgrounds diring the scrolling. This game use some kind of trickery may be real time updating tiles graphics or similar to achieve this :)
You know, if a hacker messed with this a little bit I bet the gameplay could actually be fixed and made to be much better. There could be a definitive edition that would be awesome to play. Graphically it looks really nice.
I want to make a console that only has retro games and an ethernet connection. It wouold have multiplayer, live compete or challenge type stuff. In fact if I was with nintendo I would have made their re-release of the classic console be called "Nintendo Live" and be based on interacting with others playing the same game in this same style.
After watching your video, I think you don't kwon 2 important skills which make you have a bad gaming experience of this awesome game. 1. Double Jump - try to enable rapid fire the make you jump higher 2. Defence - Press d-pad "Up" to block the falling rain attack.
Sword of master castle dragon is so weird. Like, slap some polish on them and they would have been pretty aight games. Gotta love that parallax addition though. But Oscar would definitely tell these both to Scram.
For the initial cut scene, all I could think about was "Pointing a sharp piece of metal up and into the sky in the middle of a serious lightning storm? This guy is looking to get cooked!" lol.
Haha he’s just that dangerous!
BRO for YEARS I have tried to remember this game. I've searched a handful of times over the years to no avail. All I could remember was the knight and a blue orb or something, then BAM! There's the cartridge cover art that was buried DEEP in my brain. Thanks man!
This looks a lot like Actraiser’s action sequences. Pretty solid graphics for the NES.
y'know, it does look a lot like Actraiser!
Yup, now that ya mention it, the character in Actraiser is referred to as "The Master".
Yes sir! Was just going to say how much this reminds me of the Beta of Actraiser.
I am grateful to be introduced to the undead tama who drew the picture. Swordmaster is my second NES game. The first NES work is the Dragon Unit.
Cool!
Also, for those of you into classic arcade games, Athena's true masterpiece is JJ Squawkers. It's basically the best Ghouls 'n Ghosts game you've never heard of, and unfortunately it never got a console release - one of the hidden gems of MAME!
Is that a real name? Sounds like a bit from I Think You Should Leave.
I’ve played the shit out of jj squawkers; it’s one of my favorite games!!
Nice tip!
The paralax scrolling is really impressive, seeing as the NES can't actually do multiple background layers. I think they have to literally have animated background tiles that cycle depending on which direction the character is moving. It's kind of amazing to see that on the NES at all.
For sure!
Yeah, the combined split scrolling with the animated background tiles (also seen in games like metal force) to incredible effect
This was perhaps the most obscure childhood game of mine, and i actually made the first TAS for it way back when, so thank you for giving it a go!
One point: you *can* double jump normally, it's just really hard. Specifically, from doing the TAS, i learned that you have to tap A and let go of it within 2 frames to do another jump. In fact, you can even triple jump if you can pull off these super-light button taps twice in a row! Mastering this makes the platforming a heck of a lot less problematic, as you might expect.
Regarding the magic component of the game, the lightning is the most practical spell for a normal player to use as the others tend to be too weak and/or EXP-inefficient with their normal shots. Your advice sort of applies to speedruns of this game, which have come to only use (fully-charged) magic on the final boss.
And a final tip: in the dungeon level, you can get on top of the ceiling by jumping into one of those blocks that fall when you get closer to them. It's a damage boost that's not too difficult to pull off and it lets you cruise through the entire level with no further damage until you reach the boss!
I doubt I'll ever play this again, but those are all solid tips! No way I'm pulling off that double jump though!
I had a controller with turbo buttons. So the double jump was just a matter of pressing and holding the turbo jump. This game is great. I struggled a little bit with it at the beginning but then, when you know how to attack every kind of enemy, it turns into great fun!
The double jump is more prevalent in the japanese famicom version of the game! Easy to pull off!
I agree with most of your points. It's perfectly passable, but (as I stated in another vid on this) we would have more of a classic on our hands if they tweaked the enemy placement, added better health pickups, and gave you a better motivation to use the Wizard, such as giving him a better base attack and perhaps making usage of him required in certain areas, like perhaps having his spells expose Boss weaknesses.
Totally agree :)
Good games. I finished both in the early 90s
If they'd managed to make a third game, Baby Galactus would probably check the stats and realize that invincible floating eyeballs were the most efficient minion, and all of the boss enemies would have a bunch of them tied to them like balloons. The art in this game is pretty close to the top notch though.
hahaha that would've been a smart move!
The graphics are mind blowing and the intro is amezing as wellwith rock & roll music in it as well.
I like these walk to the right, fight some enemies, then have a one on one fight with a boss like this one, Chine Warrior (Turbografx) and Black Belt (Master System).
They do have a certain appeal!
I've played this game back in 92. I think a lot of people didn't get to play this because the Genesis and the Super Nintendo was in full steam.
For sure
The soundtrack in this game is insanely good :)
Yes it is!
I just randomly stumbled onto the Mr. Show episode your intro audio is from and my mind was blown
Hey that's awesome! I keep meaning to use the real clip for one review...
THANK YOU, to think i was pestering other channels for years about this game, and no one ever bothered to review it, then this does mean a lot, it is honestly one of my favorite games as a kid along with kickmaster and gijoe atlantis.
I don't know if u have the manual, but it is an interesting read.
The game was butchered upon release in gaming magazines, so no one wanted it, i remember the day i got it, it was the only game left in the store on a friday afternoon since other kids came before me and got all the good games and this was left, i took it with a heavy heart and to my surprise, i found a great game.
this and double dragon 3 started what i call my love for underrated games.
btw, back to the manual, it is a good read and the game has lore similiar to DEMON'S SOULS, not dark souls, but one of the knights u face, looks and has the same tragic story as that Boletaria prince in demon's souls, Ostrava i think.
again, thanks for the review, much appreciated.
Haha you got it! I did not check out the manual, but it sounds like I missed a bit!
i dunno if i'd call dd3 underrated, but it certainly didnt hit like the original did when it came out. if you were an arcade goer, you wanted that first double dragon on release day because you wanted to see how it would match up with the arcade port. maybe the gameplay mechanics got a bit muddled with the special moves in 2&3, maybe it was that combined with people tiring of the franchise having pumped so much time and quarters into it in the arcade and being disappointed with the og port. double dragon got ported much more than a lot of other games too from what i remember. my thoughts, i was disappointed in it in a similar way that i was with the spy hunter port, and its tough to put my finger on what the deal was. i believe it was gameplay mechanics most of all honestly.
Okay, this is now the third time I bring up this series on your videos and I swear I'm not doing it on purpose, but those double-jumps at 4:16 are literally from Donkey Kong Country!
Also man, this game has gorgeous pixel art. Looks really pleasing to the eye, and some enemies like that red-robed axe-wielding guy at 4:56 or the Devilman remind me of certain Sega Genesis games for some reason. Or that big blue dragon boss, that could have genuinely convinced me it's 16-Bit if I'd have seen this out of context! They really did the most they could with the limited palette!
Haha you have mentioned that game a few times recently! And yeah definitely agreed on the graphics, especially the final boss.
'Sword Master' is yet another one of those late-release NES titles that could have become a cult classic with a bit more polish. The graphics and music are top-notch.
Totally agree!
I loved this game as a kid, and that opening wordless scene was awesome. Took me a long time to realize how to use magic though
Yeah same!
The fact that I always got this and Castle of Dragon confused makes sense now. So the developer Athena was basically like "let's try that again."
Yeah it definitely feels like a redux of Castle.
Oh hey! I happened to find this game in high school. I was downloading anything that had a cool game as my laptop was terrible. I actually like this game but it's hard enough that I don't get that far whenever I play. Glad to see someone talking about it!
Nice! I remember grabbing any game I could at the time but never played Sword Master til recently :)
I theorize this was a spiritual successor to the coin op "Gladiator"
I have played Castle of Dragon at my friend's house decades ago, and could never remember the game's title until now, so thank you for that. That's been bugging me for literally most of my life.
You know, you're not the first or even second person to comment that. Something about it's generic title and maybe that it lacks the word "THE" must make it kinda forgettable.
The graphics on this game look fit for DOS/Genesis/MSX. Amazing what 8 bit memory can handle when the right devs take charge
What we truly need is a Vs. style game. Sword Master vs. Blaster Master vs. Kick Master vs. Master Chu vs. Treasure Master...
Haha the Master showdown!
I genuinely get excited when I see a new video from you. Bonus points that you covered one of those super expensive games that I knew very little about. Great content as always!
Thanks! My intention isn't to highlight the expensive ones, but unfortunately a lot of the deep cuts are pricey.
Kick Master
Sword Master
Blaster Master
Treasure Master
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
The Chessmaster
There's a lot of masters on the NES!
So many masters!
Paralax scrolling? Fancy indeed. These late stage NES titles are technically impressive.
For sure!
Been watching your review n having a good time. All videos are well made and fun to watch. Definitely look into playing this game. Unusual platformer that interest me.
Hey thanks! And yeah it’s definitely worth trying if you’re looking for weirder stuff :)
Oh man I'm glad this popped up on my homepage! When I was a kid, my parents got my 2 brothers and I some games. My whole life I remembered what my brothers got but never have been able to remember the game I got. My oldest brother Miles got Milon's Secret Castle (yes because the name was similarish :) while my other brother got Hydlide, and what did I get? Turns out it was Castle of Dragon! Hah oh man that cover art.
Milon's was too confusing, and Hydlide was our favorite of the 3 back then. I never beat Castle of Dragon but I do remember liking it a good bit and having fun. If only I'd stuck it out to get to see a few glorious pixels of a topless princess lol, my mind would have probably been blown. Good stuff!
Holy cow your parents won the lottery of picking frustrating games right there!
@@BigOleWords Lol tell me about it. Never did I imagine how infamous they'd become, namely Hydlide. I enjoyed them enough back then though at least.
I'm having a weird memory of this game I either played it on my brothers TV/NES combo... anyone remember those? Usually we're in rental stores to try games out...or I played it at an arcade at a ballpark that had a cabinet with like 10 or so NES games to choose from
Those are several obscure ways to play an obscure game like this!
You got a think and know that when this came out in it's time this must have been a true masterpiece I can tell and know better
Agreed. Back in the day this looked pretty amazing.
These graphics are great!
I think I rented this once, but definitely didn't rent it twice. (I was probably busy renting Contra or DuckTales for the 20th time)
Those are worth renting 20 times :)
I'm not very good at it, but I really enjoy this game and Castle of Dragon. They both hold a place in my heart. And holy shit the Famicom box art is absolutely stunning.
Yeah it really is! I try to use the European or Japanese art when I can and this one was a welcome surprise :)
try dragon unit for mame, its like, if you're a fan of battletoads, its kinda the same experience as when you play the arcade version, it just kinda opens up the artistic idea of the game as a whole. was a good effort to port that to nes, but you gotta remember they were making an arcade port of that one. a sidescroller like contra...not so tough as a knight in armor for sure to port down, but a lot of what makes it look a little visually unappealing, all that gets done away with in the arcade port of it.
I loved Castle of Dragon, I rented it for a week once. Cousins came over and we kept playing in turns. One round, we just didn't die at all, and we where swapping the whole time to who could play what level best. Was awesom defeating it in one go amd getting all the power ups amd just not dying after that.
@@caiusmadison2996 hm. well, i have a pretty rockin medley of songs together for it. i guess i should finish it.
Do captain planet for the NES. (The volcanoes when rescuing whales will have you pulling out your hair. You move unbearably slow...the eruptions are fast and randomized...and you have to move several whales back and forth...all on one try.)
Ooof I hate that game! I will definitely cover it at some point :)
@@BigOleWords I thought I was the only one masochistic enough to torture myself with that game. Glad to see other masochists here. 🤣
The game looks totally awesome, but man is it frustratingly hard.
You got to give it up for The parallax scrolling though. That shit looks good!
It does look amazing.
This looks like it would have been a good game to order some pizzas, turn on some metal, and play through with your buds on a rainy weekend in the 90s. 🤘🎸🤘
Oof right in the nostalgias
The soundtrack is already pretty metal ;)
Being a lover of Medieval Fantasy growing up, this was and still is my all time fav NES game.
I played the prequel Castle of dragon
Nice video. I played this game for the first time at a friends house. I think I got to the second level, then gave up... so there was a reason I never heard of this game before XD
It is quite difficult for sure!
The Japanese version has an interesting bug, which allows the player to pull out a small 3rd jump. Is not easy to do I warn you, but once you master it it makes the game more approachable, it opens other strategies, and so. This is, if you have the patience to play by its rules, and master it (at least to the point where this can be mastered). I like the AI of the computer, and even if some collision boxes need to be reworked, Sword Master is a fantastic game for me. Regards.
Three jumps?!? Crazy
It looks good...and that's it. I remember giving up at the floating eye section as a kid.
It's pretty maddening.
Great graphics. Good review.
Thanks bud!
Looks like a Castlevania 2 game
I really like this game, it was made by Athena yes, the Arcade Castle Of Dragon is actually really good btw.. I liked it at least lol. Anyway Sword Master, the graphics have to be one of the best on the system, almost looks 16 bit!
It does look pretty great!
This game looks positively frustrating... I must try it!
Hahaha good luck!
Sword master was an excellent game back in the days. Still have it
It’s got it’s moments for sure!
The eye ball enemies mentioned at 4:00 are killable. Atleast to what I remember of the game.
Man I'd love to know how!
@@BigOleWords I just remember them being damage sponges XD
I've been binging for the last few days, and this is a seriously underrated channel
This game is sort of a misunderstood gem. I mean, if you put the effort to learn the attacks and tactics against every kind of enemy (or search for them on an online guide), then you suddenly realize how amazing and fun this game is for an 8 bit release!
Pretty much my summary at the end there!
dark souls for the nes
I saw the subject of "NES Games Nobody Played" my first thought was Stanley: The Search for Dr Livingston, now that's an NES game nobody talks about or likely ever played.
I may be working on a Stanley video as we speak….
God that music at 1:50 sounds so familiar but I cannot seem to recall it.
That does sound kinda Gaiden or Double Dragonesque
Something about this reminds me of the side scrolling parts of Actraiser.
Yeah for sure!
Great video man! This game definitely looks leaps and bounds above Castle of Dragon, but probably a bit too ambitious. Still one I need to pick up for the collection.
It's got a lot of great qualities, but it is a bit pricey these days.
This game's mechanics also remind me a lot of The Legendary Axe for Turbografx-16.
I can see it!
I have never even HEARD of this game and I have been playing NES since the early 90s.
Man I saw this in Nintendo power (I think) and I just HAD to get it. I didn't get it for a couple more years, but when I did, I thought I was some sort of genius when I played it
Haha you were just a kid of refined tastes ;)
I had a friend in college, we used to play "Master Sword" alot, it was difficult
Haha nice!
Sword Master walked, so Dark Souls could run.
Hah! I liked both of these games growing up and to this day I sorta like this genre of go to the right hard encounter fight it. I dont know how to better describe it other than that.
I really think that maybe I was spoiled with Trojan where you have a lot of variety, a 2P vs mode, you had a kick butt soundtrack. Trojan was awesome if you wanted sword and board fantasy arcade.
Was hoping there was a romhack that fixed the false pixels so you wouldn't fall through platforms, sadly there isn't...but I still want to try this game, never played it as a kid. Thanks for the review!
The fighting reminds me of Zelda 2
I ALSO PLAYED THIS WITH MY FRIEND!
God, all those old nameless games of my childhood.
Hard game, but fun to beat!
The actual original Dark Souls.
Nice!
@Big Ole Words Now I need to go see if you did Ice Climbers, BattleCity, Contra Force, Adventure Island, Wonderboy, and others I played with my friend back in our elementary school haydays.
I had a copy of Sword Master years ago. I'd revisit it every few months and try to find an ounce of enjoyment, but eventually I gave up and removed it from my collection. I play games to have fun, not be miserable.
Not a bad way to play!
Oh shit....I've played this game.
I'm pretty sure it was a Blockbuster rental or the other local Video place....Atomic Video.
Those were great times renting NES and SNES games.
Nice!
Yes you can double jump. You don't have to walk off the ledge but you have to tap it VERY quickly.
Man that just makes it all the more ridiculous!
Looks more like wizard & warriors than actraiser, actraiser had modern graphics considering it was an early SNES title with a solid developer studio. Flawless game, especially in 1990, it legit looked better on the old TVs with its blurred pixels, flat screens cannot show you the difference, if you emulate it nowadays, its just crude pixels.
I always called Sword Master Castle of Dragon 2. We had a great rental store when I was a kid. Computers Plus. The lady always ordered five copies of every game on the system. (NES, SNES, Genesis, and TG16/PCengine.) She had the bible games, tengen games, she even had the arcarde shooter that let you torture people with the light gun. Place went out of business in the late 90's though.
Chiller!
I remember being intrigued by this game after seeing a feature on it in Nintendo Power. Thought the suit of armor was cool-looking. Just never found it compelling enough to check out.
I remember this on a yellow cartridge, pretty good for that ancient time
Nice!
Actually being 47 and had lived through the progression of games I'd say this looks awesome ..but you can't understand it if you weren't actually there to appreciate what looks dated now.
I remembered when I was showing the badass graphics of Castlevania IV to non-gamer adults -- and then getting laughed at in the same way we laugh at a cat being fooled by a magic trick.
It does look awesome.
@@maltheopia Castlevania 4 is hardly a ball of yarn it's more like a cat driving a Ferrari....😐
@@jasonmorgan661 I agree, but non-gamers just don't understand.
Baby Galactus looks like Dark Magician from Yu-Gi-Oh.
Or like if Jaquio from Ninja Gaiden had a first form.
surprisingly positive review for game where you can't do a damn thing without savestates))
Too true unfortunatley.
1:22 I'd never stop laughing if there was a random chance for a lightning bolt to just kill you outright in the cut scene the moment you raise your sword. That's asking for it harder than that old golfer in Caddyshack.
Haha just like in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!
Another game on the NES with this level of quality when it comes to paralax scrolling is JOE & MAC,great adaptation to fit NES's limitations,hidden gem stuff for sure!
Absolutely! I’ll get to Joe and Mac at some point…
@@BigOleWords truly 💎 indeed,even the Gameboy adaptation is something special,great job with each platform port by the devs.
I like this game. 🙂 Thanks for the great video James.
You got it Jeff!
I remember renting this game back in the day but was never able to find it to buy.
That would maybe explain why it’s so scarce today!
1:00 ridiculous? Thats my life goal. Want to always be greeted like that
Hahahah
athena did deblock and dezaemon too, and i think also wits? but those were famicom only. they did that bowling game for the virtual boy as well. but if you ask me, the big IP outta athena..it was the arcade game jj squawkers. fire that one up in mame sometime, its a bop. great review here, i feel like if you had a nes in 92 and wanted to play something a lil more golden axe-y than castlevania-y, sword master was the way...but really that soundtrack blew 3/4 of nes soundtracks away and kinda made that game worth the price of admission, some serious sound design in that game.
Man, someone else mentioned JJ Squawkers and I thought they were just fucking with me!
@@BigOleWords no way, give it a try. surprisingly competent run 'n gunner with decent enemies and bosses and weapons. its like ghosts and goblins but cute, heh!
Got this game... Can't believe how expensive it is now!
Right!?!
Sword Master - add that to the list of video game titles that could double as traumatic nicknames in high school.
hahaha
We did play this game quite a bit back in the day actually. Mostly a fair review, although I think you're bit too hard on the combat, which was a huge step up from Trojan and other contemporaries. Something not mentioned in here is that the shield can also block projectiles coming from above by pressing Up (don't remember if this applies to physical attacks as well). It can be tough game to figure out without the manual though.
It's pretty impressive how much functionality Athena managed to get out of NES controller's limited layout. I feel like a game of this type could have really shone on the SNES or Megadrive, but this game basically seemed to be the last hurrah for this particular subgenre and probably one of the best examples of it, warts and all.
Developers: "Hey remember that part in Zelda II where you have to fight the knight when you enter each dungeon? Well what if we create an entire game where that's all you do!?"
Haha
1:20 T-POSE OF DOMINANCE!
Hm. The gfx are pretty good. And it looks way better than Castle of Dragon. Granted "better than castle of dragon" is a low bar. It seems like the co was like "our first game sucked. REDO".
The burning question -does the kidnapped chick keep her shirt on the entire time though?
The one on one fighting reminds me of the boss fights in robin hood, prince of thieves. Which for a licensed NES game is a surprisingly fun action RPG. I had it as a kid and played the hell out of it.
As far as I can tell, there is no bizarre "nudity" code, but I'd love to be proven wrong ;)
You know, just going by cover art, this is exactly the kind of game I thought Krion Conquest was going to be like.
Hahaha I can see it!
This game have the best paralax scrolling ever for the 8bit title !
It is pretty nice!
@@BigOleWords I am not sure is there any other NES title with this kind of parallax. Because the limitation for that effects do not allow forground objects on top of the backgrounds diring the scrolling. This game use some kind of trickery may be real time updating tiles graphics or similar to achieve this :)
Played the rom when I was a kid was a lot of fun
As a kid, I only made it to level 3 twice…
Name drawing was pretty sweet
Hey thanks so much!
You know, if a hacker messed with this a little bit I bet the gameplay could actually be fixed and made to be much better. There could be a definitive edition that would be awesome to play. Graphically it looks really nice.
I freaking love this guy
That's why they call him the Sword Master!
The Graphics are some kind of mapper magic, they keep you playing the game.
The parallax scrolling is pretty good
I want to make a console that only has retro games and an ethernet connection. It wouold have multiplayer, live compete or challenge type stuff. In fact if I was with nintendo I would have made their re-release of the classic console be called "Nintendo Live" and be based on interacting with others playing the same game in this same style.
Can the Switch not do that?
@@BigOleWords - Yes, I suppose so but the only retro game I found with challenges and live competitions was mario unless I am mistaken.
I haven't played this one, buddy.
I'd give it a go though.
It’s worth a shot!
Never saw this in person
Could you do a video on Pirates of Dark Water for the Genesis and SNES?
That is a Genesis game I’ve been wanting for a while as I loved that show as a kid. One day!
I can tell you from experience that it's not a bad game by any means. It's actually pretty fun. The SNES one was more reminiscent of Golden Axe.
After watching your video, I think you don't kwon 2 important skills which make you have a bad gaming experience of this awesome game.
1. Double Jump - try to enable rapid fire the make you jump higher
2. Defence - Press d-pad "Up" to block the falling rain attack.
Rapid fire? Like a turbo controller?
And the upward block I didn’t discover til the very end and it definitely helps:)
@@BigOleWords yes, turbo fire.
This game looks fun!
Sword of master castle dragon is so weird. Like, slap some polish on them and they would have been pretty aight games. Gotta love that parallax addition though. But Oscar would definitely tell these both to Scram.
Yeah, a little extra programming and either would be pretty great.