I already mentioned the Nintendo Famicom being one of Japan’s most successful creations in the world of video games. The American counterpart was the NES but a lot of popular games originated from Japan before having ported and shipped over internationally. It wasn’t like today where it was possible to make a simultaneous release because back then it took months even up to a year where games released in Japan would make it to American shores and sometimes never. I guess what I’m saying is that a lot of games back in the 8 bit era were awesome. I have discussed several of them but I want to devote a series of articles based on these fantastic Famicom games that are too short to make up an article.
I myself owned a Famicom in 1992 and I was lucky to get the 100 in 1 cartridge. It was probably an unofficial game cartridge but the games were licensed by Nintendo and it was a sweet deal. The games I’ll be mentioning may not necessarily be successful but they remain popular and sacred to the hearts of those that have played them. Just a couple of things to take note that a lot of these games are somewhat short, repetitive, single and didn’t really branch out to have franchises of their own. They are all in 8 bit and they are games that I have played. So if you’re expecting a game on this list which I haven’t mentioned then I probably haven’t played it or simply forgot about it. Then of course these games originated from Japan, which were then brought to America and not the other way around.
01) The first one is Adventure Island and I remembered playing this one when I was 5 years old. Adventure Island was made by Hudson, the same people behind the Bomberman series. The game was an adaptation of a Sega arcade game called Wonderboy. The game was released in 1986 for the Famicom and 1988 for the NES. The game’s protagonist Master Takahashi or Master Higgins for the NES wore green shorts and a baseball cap. His goal was to rescue his girlfriend Tina from the clutches of the game’s villain King Quiller. The game is said to take place in the South Pacific islands complete with tropical settings and of course the local wildlife. Master Takahashi had to trek 32 different areas which were divided into 8 stages with 4 sub areas. Most of the areas consisted of a jungle, an ocean and the ice dungeons. The game was a 2D side scroller and it was nice and addicting. You could equip weapons and power ups to help you make your way through each level. The only thing about it is that this game is extremely hard. You only had 3 lives unless you get 1 ups and once they’re all gone its back to the start. It is nice to play and I suggest you try it.
We’ll have more 8 bit games next time.
