NES Works 142: Jordan Vs. Bird & The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Added 2024-09-18 12:04:28 +0000 UTCThis is one of those episodes where I fell into an interesting connection through sheer coincidence, and people will mistakenly think I'm much better at planning these things out than I actually am. My on-camera opening line actually connects with the thread of commentary that closes out the episode, which comes off as bookeneds... but actually what happened was that when I recorded the host segments as the very final component of the editing process, I thought, "Oh, I should reference the song Tom Sawyer somehow." And it just weirdly happened that there's a line in the song that mentions the word "rent," a topic that I bring up in relation to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This happens a lot, actually. I don't know why, but it makes me seem a lot cannier than I actually am. Sorry to shatter any illusions....
Comments
Yeah. When I was a kid, we generally saw rentals as a "try before you buy" necessity. If a game was so easy that we could beat it in a single afternoon (like DuckTales) then we were unlikely to buy it. But if a game was so hard that we couldn't even beat the first level after a dozen tries, then we were equally unlikely to ever buy it. You wanted a game with that "sweet spot" of difficulty, like Mega Man 2 or Legend of Zelda; games where you would make some real progress in a weekend but they still leave you wanting more time with it.
Dave Dalrymple
2024-09-20 11:44:24 +0000 UTCOmg, I was frustrated with the huge and unfriendly arc of Tomβs rock throwing for the entire duration of that game segment.
Julian
2024-09-19 16:56:38 +0000 UTCThe thing that always strikes me about the whole 'make games super hard so kids can't beat them on a weekend rental' strategy that game companies adopted in the US is that it assumes kids would *want* to beat some brutal, punishing game, rather than just avoid it entirely. It just seems like bad marketing to me, but then again, this is an industry that completely botched the releases of both Mega Man and Earthbound, so it's basically par for the course. Capitalism is a helluva drug.
Nicholas A. Jalowick
2024-09-18 19:41:01 +0000 UTCDavid Wise has some really nice moments during the JvB OST, I especially like the slam dunk theme. Sports music on the nes always has its own vibe, different from actual sports music.
Raftronaut
2024-09-18 13:40:15 +0000 UTCSludgy sundae of shit
John Learned
2024-09-18 13:17:34 +0000 UTCI try to be even-handed! But I genuinely see no redeeming features in Tom Sawyer. It's truly a terrible game.
Jeremy Parish
2024-09-18 13:14:52 +0000 UTCSee, in fighting games I've learned to just accept that people will perceive my accidents as genius and roll with it. In the end, it turned out really well!! I've only seen Tom Sawyer in passing before, but what a hateful little game. After all of these refreshing even-handed takes on LJN devs' ambition on limited budget, it's interesting to see a game with no actual redeeming qualities! Horrifying!
Vinushika
2024-09-18 13:06:19 +0000 UTCWouldn't have shocked me if he was already being recruited by every SEC school in 1989 though.
Sven Mascarenhas
2024-09-18 12:33:47 +0000 UTCOops, yeah, I had a senile moment there. I even wrote the correct name. But you have to admit, Peyton Manning wasn't playing football in 1989, either.
Jeremy Parish
2024-09-18 12:28:28 +0000 UTCIs this the first time you've called a game outright "shit"?
Rhys
2024-09-18 12:28:13 +0000 UTCAlso, Jordan wasn't quite "Jordan" in 1989. The prevailing wisdom was that the Bulls were never going to win with a player like him as their lead star. Magic was still the much bigger, more marketable basketball star at this point, even with the Lakers aging out (Bird's back had already betrayed him and he was basically done by 89). In fact, the dominant team of the East in this era wasn't the Bulls or the Celtics, it was the Detroit Pistons. But, well, their video game would be something else entirely. And we won't see that until you get back to SNES works. :)
Sven Mascarenhas
2024-09-18 12:27:26 +0000 UTC"While at the same time Sega was peddling games featuring retired athletes like Reggie Jackson and PEYTON MANNING" Peyton Manning? Who would've been 13 years old in 1989? Methinks you meant Walter Payton (who, incidentally, all kids knew because the 85 Bears were the biggest thing ever and he had the lead verse in Super Bowl Shuffle. Reggie... maybe not so much unless they were big Naked Gun fans.)
Sven Mascarenhas
2024-09-18 12:15:53 +0000 UTC
