Jeremy Parish
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NES Works 139: Super Sprint & Defender of the Crown
🕑 Added 2024-08-28 12:29:30 +0000 UTCYou know, I had originally planned to relegate Tengen's unlicensed releases to the realm of NES Works Gaiden. But as of this episode, I've decided against that approach. (Sorry, Tetris.) Not just because it would be fueling Nintendo's corporate revisionist history, but also because, well, these games were out there, and kids were playing them. You couldn't buy Super Sprint at Walmart, but that didn't stop the mom-and-pop video store down the street from carrying it. Not that I did, admittedly, but that's OK too; it means that Super Sprint turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me here in TYOOL 2024. It's good!
Defender of the Crown I did play back in the day. And, I gotta say, I like it a lot less today than back then. I forgot to mention a few notable firsts in my video, I realize: It's the first NES release by Beam, and the first to sport a cover rendered in the bizarre art style of Tom duBois, who painted comic book action scenes like he thought he was an understudy in Peter Paul Rubens' studio. Weird, but distinctive.
Comments
Ted Keefe
Very cryptic prelude to the next video.. can’t figure it out
Uhhh...Greg
I didn't care for motorsports at all, but I got into F1 because of the Netflix series. It has a nice blend of behind the scenes drama, strategy, and technical stuff. Plus, I have to live by my kids' schedule, so a sport that's usually on at 8am on Sundays (with no commercials whatsoever) sort of works.
Erik R
If anybody hasn't seen it, I highly recommend the short documentary on Tom DuBois by My Life in Gaming.
Jeremy Parish
No, I sincerely think F-1 is supremely uninteresting! What happened is that I bought a Miata last year when I needed a new car that was small, zippy, AND reliable, and it ended up being so much fun to drive that it caused me to start reading into the science of what precisely makes it fun.
Uhhh...Greg
I never expected the word "understeer" to make it into a Retronauts video. Is Jeremy an F1 fan?
Rich McKee
I love Super Sprint-style racers like Off Road and Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat. They are one of my favorite clone categories along with Scramble-likes. While I understand the issues some have with this kind of game, I love being able to see the whole track so I am not surprised by turns. In many other 8-16 bit racers turns often seemed to come out of nowhere. The behind the car racers just didn't have the ability to make enough distinct landmarks and the zoomed-in overhead views were chaotic.
Sven Mascarenhas
Defender of the Crown feels a lot like an attempt to do Pirates! with a more strategic overlay, although I think the two games were more or less developed simultaneously. And, well, DotC didn't have any marketing input from Robin Williams.
Rhys
Super Sprint, the game so nice chrontendo reviewed it twice! (Although he wasn't that impressed both times) Also you forgot to resize the postage stamp sized "cutaway" video.
