LJN/Software Creations

July 1990

Board Game

1-4 Players (alt)

This title is heavily influenced by Rare's creative and energetic style of game design... which is ironic since Rare's own Anticipation borrowed many of its ideas from the Pictionary board game.  Anyway, in the NES adaptation of Pictionary, you play goofy mini-games to uncover the pieces of a picture, then guess what the drawing is supposed to represent.

Nintendo

April 1990

Action

1-2 Players (alt)

Like many of the Nintendo Entertainment System's launch titles, Pinball is competantly designed but rather bland.  You'll send your silver ball through a table without a specific theme, but with all the usual targets, including bumpers, flags, and ramps.  If you're really good, you might even get a shot rescuing a princess, with a little help from Mario himself.

Jaleco

June 1990

Action

1 Player

Jaleco's pinball game offers a few things the others don't, like a tilt button that lets you shake the table, and a lengthy adventure mode that adds depth and purpose to the gameplay.  In this parody of role-playing titles, you must use your pinball playing skills to rescue a princess.  It's a promising concept hampered by unpolished graphics and imperfect ball physics.

Tradewest/Rare

April 1990

Action

1-4 Players (alt)

This adaptation of the Williams pinball table is nothing short of spectacular.  It's got intricately detailed graphics, flawless ball physics, and loads of special effects.  The mighty android Pinbot speaks to you as you play, and the ball shrinks as it rolls away from your end of the table, leaving a sparkling trail wherever it goes.  All this makes Pinbot futuriffic!

BPS/Lucasarts

September 1990

Puzzle

1-2 Players (alt)

The only way to keep slimy goo from contaminating your basement is to contain it with a series of interconnected pipes.  You're given random sections of pipe, and you'll need decide where to lay them as the slime continues to advace.  This novel puzzle game quickly becomes frustrating thanks to the computer's stubborn refusal to give you pipe pieces you can actually use.

Ultra/Rare

October 1991

Action/Strategy

1 Player

Listen, me mateys, as I tell ye a tale of brave men sailing the stormy seas, locking swords with bloodthirsty pirates and pelting the harbors of rival countries with deadly cannonballs.  'Tis a long story, this, and it gets a wee bit slow in spots, but you'll be glad ye took the time to listen.  Pirates! be a real treasure, buried deep within the NES software library.

FAST FACT:  Pirates! creator Sid Meier also designed Silent Service, another simulation for home computers which was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Ultra and Rare.  Sid is still heavily involved with the industry, creating software for Firaxis Games.  One of his most recent productions, coincidentially, is an advanced remake of Pirates! for today's more powerful computers.

Ocean

December 1988

Action

1 Player

Predictably, Platoon is a side-scrolling shooter set in the lush jungles of Vietnam.  You'll weave through the dense rainforest, picking off enemy soldiers and leaping over lethal tripwires set in your path.  The graphics in Platoon are pretty realistic, but the gameplay is repetitive, and the maze-like level structures quickly become frustrating.

Nintendo

June 1986

Action

1-2 Players (alt)

This port of the Nintendo arcade game from the early 1980's is better than most, with a more colorful Popeye and a faithful soundtrack that never misses a note.  However, what's merely a good conversion could have been better on the NES.  The graphics are well below the system's capabilities, especially the characters, which are tiny and lack detail.