Since it’s Konami, I’ve always said the other three parachutists are Bill and Lance from Contra, and the Rush’n Attack green beret. They ran off to their own missions.
@@absolutezeronow7928 And all because a sparse few gangs used stuff like nunchucks The funniest bit of that "ninja ban" is that the BBFC refused to give a rating to a movie starring Bruce Lee (rest his soul) for the longest time, thus it went unreleased. I think it was either The Game of Death or Fist of Fury but I'm probably wrong
What a critical but fair analysis of Metal Gear on the Nintendo. My first experience with Metal Gear was on the NES where, if you bought the cartridge in the pack, back in the day, it came with a foldout map/poster that would show you where to move...yet despite that my friends and I would take turns learning the quirks of the game and where to go. I don't care what the critics of Snake's Revenge on Nintendo say, that somehow it's an inferior Metal Gear experience as if it's some lazy toss up..Nah Snake's Revenge is something that I play 4 times a year. The stealth, the room to room, the enemy AI, the menu navigation, and the music is top tier with Snake's Revenge. That definitely was a stellar US Ultra Games release where it charged Kojima's battery pack enough to deliver the MSX Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake later on with that platform.
Those old Konami covers are hilarious. They definitely couldn’t get away with that today. The metal gear cover is clearly Kyle Reese from terminator. And Contra is Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Oh the 80s… 😀
Not just covers. Kojima stole entire characters from popular films in Snatcher and Policenauts. The guy is a massive hack. The games that he has made that were more original and less IP theft are the ones that people don’t like.
@@JazGalaxy big fucking deal, so many people rip shit off from other shit. If he's a hack then so be it as he's helped create some of the best games of all time whether you personally think so or not.
@@MaidenHell1977 “he’s created some of the most POPULAR games of al time, whether you think so or not”. “Best” is subjective. And, no, I don’t think he’s created any of the best games of all time.
The importance of the Metal Gear comic book ad can’t be overstated. It ran in nearly every Marvel comic for about 6 months, and this is notable for being during Marvel’s period of incredibly high circulation. GI Joe, Uncanny X-Men, and Amazing Spider-Man were each clearing about 1,000,000 copies a month sold, and marvel had dozens and dozens of other titles. That’s a lot of eyeballs.
Same here! It's actually what sold me on the NES, because I didn't yet have one, but wanted to play this so bad, I cajoled my mother until she got me one! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find Metal Gear in stores until over a month after I got an NES.
I was a mere 7 years old when this game came out and my feeble mind didn't comprehend the depth and awesomeness this game, but I sure as hell loved the soundtrack haha
Breaks my heart that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake didn’t arrive in the US in any form until MGS3: Subsistence. It would have blown minds if it released when it was new. You ever play it, Jeremy? You gotta cover it sometime if you haven’t already. :) I know you aren’t doing an MSX works or anything, so I understand if it’s not exactly in the cards anytime soon.
The soundtrack also bops metal gear 2 sits along side metal gear solid 2 as my favorite of the series Thiers also a place in there for metal gear rising
"Half of Double" is Double Dragon 1 on NES where you only can play single-player instead of having the two-player option like the seminal arcade original.
Kudos on lumping Parker Brothers in with Activision and Imagic. A lot of people leave Parker Brothers out when talking about great third party publishers for the 2600.
LJN really aren't that bad. There's far worse publishers for the NES. Don't believe that AVGN is a serious review show, it's never been that at any point, he exaggerates flaws for comedic effect, that's all. It was all about which developers made the game Remember, developers like _RARE_ made games for LJN. Good quality games. Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, one of my favourite Rare games for sure. James Rolfe says he loves the game, when he's out of character and just speaking as himself. He says the same for many LJN games LJN is a meme and all but they're not a bad publisher at all. Or take Bill and Ted's excellent adventure for game boy that LJN published, a great donkey Kong clone (and Donkey Kong for game boy is probably the best game boy game ever made, it's fantastic, it's easily the number 1 best donkey Kong game outside of the donkey Kong country series, so if you're gonna make a copy of anything, then donkey Kong 94 as it's commonly known, is a good one to rip off) And there's Alien 3 for super Nintendo which is a great example of that particular style of mid 90s platformer that you see a lot, with massive maze like levels. Some of those types of platformers were terrible, but Alien 3 is not one of them Or The Incredible Crash Dummies for SNES. And then the port of the game on the NES that came out a year later and was even better than the SNES version And the Spiderman beat em up Maximum Carnage is one of the best 16 bit beat em ups, probably the best beat em up on SNES, it's much better than the Final Fight snes ports. And Friday the 13th for NES is a great game once you learn the intricacies of it. That's another game where AVGN says it's crap, but James Rolfe says it's brilliant And True Lies for SNES and Genesis, is the number 1 licensed game from that era. Easily. It's an amazing quality top down shooter where you play as Arnie. It's really surprisingly great. There's more too but these are just some examples
The only things keeping me from playing this game are the troll floor traps and the need to tap every wall to find secrets. They were fun back in the day, but you only get so much free time nowadays.
The floor traps were way worse in Snake's Revenge, to the point where the later parts of the game is filled with them, at least in the first Metal Gear you could kind of see them coming.
I would suggest save states and guides. I used to be a “no guide” guy but I realized that if it meant NOT playing games I wanted to play, it just makes sense to take a little help when you need it.
@@JeremyParish Anyone claiming that's not what VHS looks like, was probably confused by the oversaturated colors the 80's and early 90's were known for. It just doesn't look right without blues you can drown in, and red bleeding all over the place.
@@JeremyParish I think you’re choosing to be snarky rather than hear his point that he dislikes the effect. (Done practically or as processing.) it’s a weird choice. But, hey, you’re channel.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I don’t think anyone is claiming that it’s not what vhs looked like. And also, it’s a bit disingenuous to say that ANY particular display of VHS styling is “accurate” since the ultimate output of VHS display could be controlled by the display television, the VHS player itself, and the mechanical tape calibration.
As usual, I agree with the general assessment. While Metal Gear NES is definitely an inferior product to the MSX original, it is by no means a bad game, and even has a few good things missing in the original. The main overworld theme is fantastic. And I actually think the opening area does more to teach the player what kind of game this is than the original does by throwing you right into it. The changes that mar the game's flow aren't enough to change what makes the game special. It's still Metal Gear. It's just... an odd remix of Metal Gear. I've seen a number of people say the NES game is just terrible, full stop, and not only do *I* disagree, but the fact that the sequels only happened because of how well-liked and successful the NES game was, also disagrees. Bottom line: it's a fun and interesting game.
I agree, as someone who has completed both versions, NES is really fun but more actiony and does have a bit more problems. I think if the plot was better people would embrace it more.
I liked how the NES version actually organizes the menus vs the MSX where it puts it in any order. I think if you play the NES version with save states, it's much more enjoyable
Excellent review as always, though I feel compelled to comment snidely at the mere SUGGESTION that any track in the NES version of Metal Gear can even come CLOSE to being as good as the Theme of Tara (the main theme, named not for a person but for the "ta-RA!" that so prominently features in its refrain -- no joke!) from the MSX original. The Theme of Tara is often regarded as one of the best 8-bit PSG tracks of all time, and I'm very much inclined to agree. The NES Metal Gear music is excellent, as one would expect from Konami, but... yeah, it's no Theme of Tara. Nothing else is, really.
@@JeremyParish Heheh anytime. ;) Seriously, though, I know how much work must go into making all these videos, and you produce more than almost anyone else out there. You're doing an amazing service for gaming history, and while the few times I comment tend to just be me pulling that old internet chestnut -- the WELL ACTUALLY -- I hope you don't take offense to any of it. You're entirely entitled to think MSX Castlevania isn't superior to the NES one (even though it is), and to rank the NES Metal Gear music over the amazing Theme of Tara, and those rare few of us who are hipster enough to argue those finer points with you may raise a ruckus, but the fact is, we still watched your videos and loved them in the end, and we've got nothin' but respect for you and the amazing work you do. Just figured I should say that, as I know complaints and nitpicks tend to ring loudest when surveying one's comments and feedback, but as snide and snarky as your comments section may get from time to time (to which I have no doubt contributed on occasion), you wouldn't be getting comments at all if people didn't care about what you had to say. So don't ever give up the fight, man! You rock.
I hadn't considered that Ultra Games would mainly publish games deigned specifically for the American market, but looking at the lineup it kinda makes sense
Well told, like always.. I remember renting this game multiple times and being terrible at it.. of course I would just slap on the game genie and hack myself some fun.
+1 like for this breakdown of NES third-party licensing and Metal Gear's game design issues. 18:00 Konami USA manuals could be... culturally insensitive. Yes. Laser Invasion even renamed some enemies in cheeky cringey ways.
Great episode, I kinda wish you made a mention to the infamous password that appeared in the NES version but I understand not wanting to do that in order to keep it monetized.
It's not like that was something they deliberately programmed into the game. It's just a coincidental strings of offensive text that some kids entered into their games and somehow passed the password checksum to load up a random situation. That happened a lot, which is why devs stopped including certain letters in password generators (usually vowels and the letter F).
Not to mention the insanity that was Metroid's password system, which allowed for passwords that could crash the console. (Or, most infamously, potentially brick a 3DS.)
Oddly enough, I remember Konami essentially giving the game away about ULTRA with, of all things, television commercials. Early ones were your average 30 second spots on during cartoon blocks on Saturday mornings or weekdays after school that contained a brief description and gameplay footage from some disembodied voice speaking in an odd tone - almost as if he were describing a horror film - on two different games (I think one was Metal Gear/Defenders of the Crown, and another one was for the first Skate or Die and another title I can't think of at the moment. Don't remember exactly, but that part isn't the point...) and the advert's narrator referred to their games as "Ultra Games for your _Konami_ System". As a child, I didn't get why it would be called that. I just figured that it was a confused adult reading names they "didn't get", and simply mistook "Konami" for "Nintendo" much like a parent who, back then, would have still been calling ANYTHING video game related "an Atari". With decades behind me, and context of things like publishing, Nintendo's arbitrarily small release limit mandate, etc., it seems like someone somewhere would have seen one of those commercials - be it a rival or even The Big N themselves - and cottoned on to what Konami was pulling. But, it looks like they didn't.
Ah, I don't think it was a secret-the title screen has a Konami copyright. Ultra was basically just paperwork and a physical mailing address. I'm sure Nintendo knew what was up and let Konami fudge the rules, because Konami brought a huge amount of value to the console and made Nintendo tons of money.
@@JeremyParish _maybe_ Nintendo chose to ignore it, but hindsight makes it puzzling that other publishers didn't expressly do the same thing en masse. It retroactively seems like an easy loophole other companies could've exploited instead of subcontracting work to to other publishers with varying results or outright "going rogue" like Tengen or Camerica.
Funny you mention Tonkin House as one of the companies thankfully not picked up by LJN, considering their SNES version of Ys 3 still gets a lot of play from people who assume the Nintendo console versions are a safe bet for best one. Which with Ys especially tends to absolutely not be the case.
Ys III would be the first Ys game to be ported to a Nintendo console in the West (we never got the Famicom versions of Ys I or II). Of course, Master System and TurboGrafx-CD owners would know Ys from western releases. Interestingly enough, Ys 3 plays differently on each of the 3 consoles that got it at the time: SNES, Genesis, and TurboGrafx-CD.
@@Aboveup I even watched your Ys 3 review this year too (will watch the Ys 4 review soon). Enjoyed that too. Oath in Felghana as you know is a great remake, would love to be able to play that on Switch but Xseed/Marvelous would probably keep NIS America from being able to publish it to that. I know I could buy the Steam version but I'm not really a PC gamer.
@@absolutezeronow7928 Ah, Ys 4. Yet another one where there's the Tonkin House release and the better one. Yeah, the current state of Xseed and Ys is a shame really. I really worry about future availability for these games as things currently stand. I feel like they should've popped up on PS4/Xbox/Switch as is, and not just Ys Origin. But oh well, at least there's one platform they're all on still.
I bought metal gear for nes at kaybees toys and my mom picked up mario 3 such great memories! I personally loved the nes version the msx version is definitely the better of the two! But the nes version gets so much flak but it is a good game!
yeah I think it wasn't til 'Operation C' on game boy when I figured out what was really going on... pretty sure I heard about it in magazines right around the time, so it all started to make sense. I do remember my dad getting a kick out of the magazine ad featuring all of snake's armaments you could pick up in the game, I think that's what sold him on it the most! One of these days I'll have to sit down and finish that one, although I do prefer the MSX2 games a lot more.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at Konami in the 8 and 16 bit eras. I imagine a crowded office with people working at all hours of the day, bouncing between projects every week. People keep one-upping each other in this and that area, they’re encouraged to put together self referential parody games like Parodius or Wai Wai World.
As a kid I loved renting this one and stumbling my way around, making barely any progress but enjoying the less conventional game play of the time. And very good point that due to the strict licensing agreements we did miss out on a lot of garbage that Japan got, discovered that in the late 90s when friends and I would spend entire nights playing title we found in the dark corners of the internet only to be severely disappointed (thinking of you specifically Famicom Gundam!)
That was the thing about those earlier games and why they where often superior to modern games. The progress wasn’t the point. Being fun to play, moment to moment, was the point.
@@JazGalaxy new games are also fun to play moment to moment. sometimes moreso. don’t let your nostalgia turn you into a deluded crank. and i’m not some biased young buck. i’m 37 and mostly play old stuff i grew up with because i have an ancient, weak pc. but modern stuff is insanely fun
Activision has certainly fell very hard from those promising days of the 2600. Anyway, Nintendo sparing U.S. audiences the likes of Atlantis no Nazo and Onyanko Town was a good thing even if this meant they'd slowly lose out on getting great games that would make their way to competing consoles like the PC Engine, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and of course, the Sony Playstation which would come to dominate its generation after initially being beaten by the Saturn. Ah, Metal Gear. Worth the wait, would love to play the originals on the Switch (enjoyed the NES game)
I recorded the script for this episode before the latest awfulness emerged from Activision Blizzard’s fetid bowels. I can’t believe this text aged poorly before it even went live.
I loved seeing that Gear Up ad in magazines growing up as a kid. Metal Gear is still one of my favorite NES games and I think your review is accurate and fair, even if I don't always agree. I'm a little scared for the inevitable Snake's Revenge video to come down the line, even though you did seem a bit more forgiving than some in your mention of it here.
I loved the hell out of Metal Gear, but learning more about its origins helped me understand why it seemed so broken sometimes. I actually returned the game for a refund because the screwy radio/room relationships got me into a situation where I couldn't make progress and I thought it was defective. I gave it another chance a few months later and got the issue sorted, but this version has always been a mess.
@@JeremyParish I'm definitely not going to argue that point. It suffered, badly at times, but the sort of "Engrish" that plagued a lot of games back then and had some "hints" that felt as useful as those in Castlevania II. I've yet to play the MSX version, though I do have it on GOG. You did mention the radio room conversations being off and that fascinated me. I look forward to playing the MSX version and seeing how something said might actually make sense in the right place!
Me @ 6:10: "No I'm good! This is fascinating!" I mean I did come for a metal gear video but, as the kids say "go off, king" haha. Really informative video, thanks 4 it!
The host segments look genuinely vintage. Did you shoot them on an old video camera? You're also giving me some strong Matt Frewer vibes. The NES version may be inferior to the original MSX version, but it remains one of my all-time favorite games.
Metal Gear on NES is missing so many elements from the MSX version that make me smile. Like damage indicators and that distinct hit chime that gives me shivers.
It's absolutely hilarious to look at the NES Metal Gear manual and think that there was a point in time where someone thought "We need to make Metal Gear's story more political!"
@@JeremyParish As a sheltered white boy myself, I can tell you that Metal Gear in no way makes any political statements, just like Deus Ex, Fallout, and, uh, Campaign '84 for the Colecovision?
My friend had the map of this game and let me borrow it when I rented it. The map didn't really help all that much. I still want to try and clear this game at some point, though. This and Snake's Revenge (which I avoided when it was new).
Ultra Games (North America)/Palcom Software (Europe) were basically shell corporations for Konami that they utilized during the early days of the Nintendo's strict licensing practices.
The 5 game restriction Nintendo placed was probably for the best, I just wish they didn't also restrict companies to make titles for other systems initially like the Master System. I like Metal Gear NES, especially the OST, but it is definitely a strategy guide game like Zelda 2 & Castlevania 2 IMO.
I never really considered that Nintendo was facing the same “flood of bad titles” problem that caused the 1983 crash and that concern would appear in the games media of the day.
Metal Gear was one of a handful of NES games that my dumb babby kid brain couldn't understand. It remained little more than a bad rental memory for years until Metal Gear Solid came out and made me realize "Oh, _this_ is what it was trying to do." While I can appreciate its efforts these days, it's not a game (or series) suited to my tastes. As a kid, I inevitably played military-themed games because that's just what many games were. Now, though, my tastes are established and variety is abundant. I have no desire to go back and check out these kinds of games.
I appreciate NES Metal Gear for introducing 80s gamers to what would become the most wackiest cerebral juxtaposing game series out there, but it is obviously the weaker port. Still a good game.
I feel asleep! Never played MG as a kid, only after emulation and when it was included in various collections or as a bonus game in MGS. Interesting to see the roots of MGS though.
As a kid, I was absolutely baffled by it. I never even made it to the base, despite renting it a few times. Everything about it was so obtuse, compared to games at the time - and the terrible translation was basically the last straw. "I feel asleep"!?!? What does that even mean? I never actually played and enjoyed a Metal Gear game until the first MGS.
@@jasonblalock4429 really? I’m not sure I agree. Specifically about the idea that it was different than standard nes games. There are TONS of games that are tricky to make it even a few screens into. But people mostly managed.
@@jasonblalock4429 I was seven too. But that’s not my point. I’m just saying I don’t think Metal Gear was necessarily more convoluted than other NES games at the time. Zelda 1 for example had many of the same things in it. And let’s not forget castlevania 2.
Finally a satisfactory explanation of Ultra Games' existence. It's crazy how much creativity companies have in dodging regulations. If only they put that into making better products...
I swear I knew as a kid that Konami and Ultra were the same company. It must have been from Nintendo Power, because I didn't read much of the other gaming magazines from back then. My impression at the time was that the Ultra games were the "easy ones", and the Konami games were the "hard ones", which is interesting when you say that the Ultra ones were more focused on the American market. Am I the only one who remembers knowing this at the time?
"[Activision] credited its designers, rather than treating them as interchangeable wage-slaves." Oh god it's so tragic in hindsight that I can't bear to think about it...
I just realized. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.. should it not be Solid Snake: Metal Gear Part 2? I mean... To borrow the naming convention of Rambo: First Blood Part 2... Hideo missed a chance to do a movie reference... Now that is rare.
Kojima has a fondness for Snake's Revenge. I haven't seen anyone point this out, but Snake on the cover of Revenge is clearly Tom Bergener.
You clearly put a lot of thought into the tone and feel of these videos, but it all comes across so naturally. I love your presentation its so cozy
Thanks Phil, love your work. “Face Value” is still tremendous.
Since it’s Konami, I’ve always said the other three parachutists are Bill and Lance from Contra, and the Rush’n Attack green beret. They ran off to their own missions.
Sir it clearly says Ultra Games on the box
@@JeremyParish The title screen lied to me!
7:06 there’s a typo in the lower-third I didn't catch the first time I saw this two weeks ago.
Guess they're Teenage Mutant New Yorkers now. xD
I only recently learned they were the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the UK.
@@absolutezeronow7928 And all because a sparse few gangs used stuff like nunchucks
The funniest bit of that "ninja ban" is that the BBFC refused to give a rating to a movie
starring Bruce Lee (rest his soul) for the longest time, thus it went unreleased.
I think it was either The Game of Death or Fist of Fury but I'm probably wrong
Teenage Mutant Ninja Yurtles.
@@swirlingabyss Possibly the best game ever programmed on the subject of turtle stacking.
NES Works is back. All is right with the world.
What a critical but fair analysis of Metal Gear on the Nintendo. My first experience with Metal Gear was on the NES where, if you bought the cartridge in the pack, back in the day, it came with a foldout map/poster that would show you where to move...yet despite that my friends and I would take turns learning the quirks of the game and where to go. I don't care what the critics of Snake's Revenge on Nintendo say, that somehow it's an inferior Metal Gear experience as if it's some lazy toss up..Nah Snake's Revenge is something that I play 4 times a year. The stealth, the room to room, the enemy AI, the menu navigation, and the music is top tier with Snake's Revenge. That definitely was a stellar US Ultra Games release where it charged Kojima's battery pack enough to deliver the MSX Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake later on with that platform.
Those old Konami covers are hilarious. They definitely couldn’t get away with that today. The metal gear cover is clearly Kyle Reese from terminator. And Contra is Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Oh the 80s… 😀
Not just covers. Kojima stole entire characters from popular films in Snatcher and Policenauts. The guy is a massive hack. The games that he has made that were more original and less IP theft are the ones that people don’t like.
Dracula on Castlevania 2's cover is basically traced from the cover to D&D's Ravenloft!
@@JazGalaxy big fucking deal, so many people rip shit off from other shit. If he's a hack then so be it as he's helped create some of the best games of all time whether you personally think so or not.
The artist for the Blades of Steel cover was sued by a Sports Illustrated photographer, since the box art was basically just a paiting of his photo.
@@MaidenHell1977 “he’s created some of the most POPULAR games of al time, whether you think so or not”. “Best” is subjective. And, no, I don’t think he’s created any of the best games of all time.
I love how intentionally grainy the video quality is. It's reminiscent of the 80's & 90's television. Props to you my Good Sir.😎👌
The ad at 19:00 is what sold me as a kid. We spent a lot of good time on this game.
The importance of the Metal Gear comic book ad can’t be overstated. It ran in nearly every Marvel comic for about 6 months, and this is notable for being during Marvel’s period of incredibly high circulation. GI Joe, Uncanny X-Men, and Amazing Spider-Man were each clearing about 1,000,000 copies a month sold, and marvel had dozens and dozens of other titles. That’s a lot of eyeballs.
So good I cut it out of the comic and put it on my bulletin board!
Same here! It's actually what sold me on the NES, because I didn't yet have one, but wanted to play this so bad, I cajoled my mother until she got me one! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find Metal Gear in stores until over a month after I got an NES.
I like the VHS effect on this video much better
What effect?
I was a mere 7 years old when this game came out and my feeble mind didn't comprehend the depth and awesomeness this game, but I sure as hell loved the soundtrack haha
Boy oh boy.....that ad. Talking about love at first sight.
You too, huh?
Is it just me or is the audio on this episode *really* quiet?
I still remember when you did a cartography of this game! Good times. I really love this game despite its flaws.
Jean Claude van Damme mixed with Christopher Walken makes my head explode so hard.
Breaks my heart that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake didn’t arrive in the US in any form until MGS3: Subsistence. It would have blown minds if it released when it was new. You ever play it, Jeremy? You gotta cover it sometime if you haven’t already. :) I know you aren’t doing an MSX works or anything, so I understand if it’s not exactly in the cards anytime soon.
The soundtrack also bops metal gear 2 sits along side metal gear solid 2 as my favorite of the series
Thiers also a place in there for metal gear rising
That soundtrack burned a hole into my brain as a kid.
"Half of Double" is Double Dragon 1 on NES where you only can play single-player instead of having the two-player option like the seminal arcade original.
And thus, the age of the -sockpuppets- imprints began.
Kudos on lumping Parker Brothers in with Activision and Imagic. A lot of people leave Parker Brothers out when talking about great third party publishers for the 2600.
Ultra Games is the Richard Bachman of Videos Games
Contact missing our Gray Fox.
Beyond informative! Always enjoy your class.
I appreciate the Chrontendo shout out, Jeremy.
Snake's Revenge for my favorite NES game.
Colonel CaTaffy for Smash!
(Only problem is the makers of _The Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour_ might sue).
With Higharolla Kockamamie as an assist trophy? I'm sold!
His Final Smash would be summoning his 27 sisters.
I loved this game, I played it over and over as a little snake.
As much as it is an inferior port, I still absolutely adore Metal Gear on the NES.
Jeremy, your videos are so good, never stop making them, please
Jeremy? Jeremy! JER-EM-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent video 👍. This brought back a lot of good memories with Metal Gear and some other titles as well.
Nintendo: 3rd parties won't dare releasing crappy games if we limit them to 5 games per year!
LJN: ...hold my beer.
LJN really aren't that bad. There's far worse publishers for the NES. Don't believe that AVGN is a serious review show, it's never been that at any point, he exaggerates flaws for comedic effect, that's all. It was all about which developers made the game
Remember, developers like _RARE_ made games for LJN. Good quality games. Like A Nightmare on Elm Street, one of my favourite Rare games for sure. James Rolfe says he loves the game, when he's out of character and just speaking as himself. He says the same for many LJN games
LJN is a meme and all but they're not a bad publisher at all.
Or take Bill and Ted's excellent adventure for game boy that LJN published, a great donkey Kong clone (and Donkey Kong for game boy is probably the best game boy game ever made, it's fantastic, it's easily the number 1 best donkey Kong game outside of the donkey Kong country series, so if you're gonna make a copy of anything, then donkey Kong 94 as it's commonly known, is a good one to rip off)
And there's Alien 3 for super Nintendo which is a great example of that particular style of mid 90s platformer that you see a lot, with massive maze like levels. Some of those types of platformers were terrible, but Alien 3 is not one of them
Or The Incredible Crash Dummies for SNES. And then the port of the game on the NES that came out a year later and was even better than the SNES version
And the Spiderman beat em up Maximum Carnage is one of the best 16 bit beat em ups, probably the best beat em up on SNES, it's much better than the Final Fight snes ports.
And Friday the 13th for NES is a great game once you learn the intricacies of it. That's another game where AVGN says it's crap, but James Rolfe says it's brilliant
And True Lies for SNES and Genesis, is the number 1 licensed game from that era. Easily. It's an amazing quality top down shooter where you play as Arnie. It's really surprisingly great.
There's more too but these are just some examples
@@duffman18 why would anyone care what james rolfe thinks? its a cool game. but like, why is that your measure of legitimacy lol
Nintendo Wii drove the point home, the Seal Of Quality was bullshit.
The only things keeping me from playing this game are the troll floor traps and the need to tap every wall to find secrets.
They were fun back in the day, but you only get so much free time nowadays.
The floor traps were way worse in Snake's Revenge, to the point where the later parts of the game is filled with them, at least in the first Metal Gear you could kind of see them coming.
I would suggest save states and guides. I used to be a “no guide” guy but I realized that if it meant NOT playing games I wanted to play, it just makes sense to take a little help when you need it.
Your work continues to be absolutely epic but I can't say I love the faux vhs filter during your sitting segments
Finally, I get to use this: twitter.com/gamespite/status/1425175874891100162
@@JeremyParish
Anyone claiming that's not what VHS looks like, was probably confused by the oversaturated colors the 80's and early 90's were known for.
It just doesn't look right without blues you can drown in, and red bleeding all over the place.
@@JeremyParish I think you’re choosing to be snarky rather than hear his point that he dislikes the effect. (Done practically or as processing.) it’s a weird choice.
But, hey, you’re channel.
@@juststatedtheobvious9633 I don’t think anyone is claiming that it’s not what vhs looked like. And also, it’s a bit disingenuous to say that ANY particular display of VHS styling is “accurate” since the ultimate output of VHS display could be controlled by the display television, the VHS player itself, and the mechanical tape calibration.
@@JeremyParish I just saw this reply, touché! I respect the game, still don't love the artistic choice :)
Next up: Ah, the classic Single Dragon.
As usual, I agree with the general assessment. While Metal Gear NES is definitely an inferior product to the MSX original, it is by no means a bad game, and even has a few good things missing in the original. The main overworld theme is fantastic. And I actually think the opening area does more to teach the player what kind of game this is than the original does by throwing you right into it. The changes that mar the game's flow aren't enough to change what makes the game special. It's still Metal Gear. It's just... an odd remix of Metal Gear.
I've seen a number of people say the NES game is just terrible, full stop, and not only do *I* disagree, but the fact that the sequels only happened because of how well-liked and successful the NES game was, also disagrees. Bottom line: it's a fun and interesting game.
I agree, as someone who has completed both versions, NES is really fun but more actiony and does have a bit more problems. I think if the plot was better people would embrace it more.
I liked how the NES version actually organizes the menus vs the MSX where it puts it in any order. I think if you play the NES version with save states, it's much more enjoyable
It's not like any of us knew of the MSX when we were playing it. So the comparison, to me, is immaterial.
This is great episode. I’ll always be a Gameboy Works first man, but boy did you knock it out of the park here.
Excellent review as always, though I feel compelled to comment snidely at the mere SUGGESTION that any track in the NES version of Metal Gear can even come CLOSE to being as good as the Theme of Tara (the main theme, named not for a person but for the "ta-RA!" that so prominently features in its refrain -- no joke!) from the MSX original. The Theme of Tara is often regarded as one of the best 8-bit PSG tracks of all time, and I'm very much inclined to agree. The NES Metal Gear music is excellent, as one would expect from Konami, but... yeah, it's no Theme of Tara. Nothing else is, really.
Well... thanks for taking the time to be snide, I guess.
@@JeremyParish Heheh anytime. ;)
Seriously, though, I know how much work must go into making all these videos, and you produce more than almost anyone else out there. You're doing an amazing service for gaming history, and while the few times I comment tend to just be me pulling that old internet chestnut -- the WELL ACTUALLY -- I hope you don't take offense to any of it. You're entirely entitled to think MSX Castlevania isn't superior to the NES one (even though it is), and to rank the NES Metal Gear music over the amazing Theme of Tara, and those rare few of us who are hipster enough to argue those finer points with you may raise a ruckus, but the fact is, we still watched your videos and loved them in the end, and we've got nothin' but respect for you and the amazing work you do.
Just figured I should say that, as I know complaints and nitpicks tend to ring loudest when surveying one's comments and feedback, but as snide and snarky as your comments section may get from time to time (to which I have no doubt contributed on occasion), you wouldn't be getting comments at all if people didn't care about what you had to say. So don't ever give up the fight, man! You rock.
Metal gear has been forgotten as a key player in the roots of the metroidvania design concept.
Awesome work, as always. I love these in-depth looks at the games of my childhood.
I hadn't considered that Ultra Games would mainly publish games deigned specifically for the American market, but looking at the lineup it kinda makes sense
Oh, those Ultra Games fellows look promising, I always like supporting budding developers
Well told, like always.. I remember renting this game multiple times and being terrible at it.. of course I would just slap on the game genie and hack myself some fun.
+1 like for this breakdown of NES third-party licensing and Metal Gear's game design issues.
18:00 Konami USA manuals could be... culturally insensitive. Yes. Laser Invasion even renamed some enemies in cheeky cringey ways.
There's someone working on a hack trying to bring the Metal Gear final boss from the MSX game to the NES one.
Thanks for another quality video, but I think you need to check your audio levels I really had to jack the volume up on this one
Great episode, I kinda wish you made a mention to the infamous password that appeared in the NES version but I understand not wanting to do that in order to keep it monetized.
It's not like that was something they deliberately programmed into the game. It's just a coincidental strings of offensive text that some kids entered into their games and somehow passed the password checksum to load up a random situation. That happened a lot, which is why devs stopped including certain letters in password generators (usually vowels and the letter F).
Not to mention the insanity that was Metroid's password system, which allowed for passwords that could crash the console. (Or, most infamously, potentially brick a 3DS.)
F******** EEEEEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE
EEEEEEEEEE
Takes you to the final boss battle
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
that cover could also double as Hicks from Aliens easily
10:45 “No, Diane is out shopping…”
I FEEL ASLEEP!!
Oddly enough, I remember Konami essentially giving the game away about ULTRA with, of all things, television commercials. Early ones were your average 30 second spots on during cartoon blocks on Saturday mornings or weekdays after school that contained a brief description and gameplay footage from some disembodied voice speaking in an odd tone - almost as if he were describing a horror film - on two different games (I think one was Metal Gear/Defenders of the Crown, and another one was for the first Skate or Die and another title I can't think of at the moment. Don't remember exactly, but that part isn't the point...) and the advert's narrator referred to their games as "Ultra Games for your _Konami_ System".
As a child, I didn't get why it would be called that. I just figured that it was a confused adult reading names they "didn't get", and simply mistook "Konami" for "Nintendo" much like a parent who, back then, would have still been calling ANYTHING video game related "an Atari".
With decades behind me, and context of things like publishing, Nintendo's arbitrarily small release limit mandate, etc., it seems like someone somewhere would have seen one of those commercials - be it a rival or even The Big N themselves - and cottoned on to what Konami was pulling. But, it looks like they didn't.
Ah, I don't think it was a secret-the title screen has a Konami copyright. Ultra was basically just paperwork and a physical mailing address. I'm sure Nintendo knew what was up and let Konami fudge the rules, because Konami brought a huge amount of value to the console and made Nintendo tons of money.
@@JeremyParish _maybe_ Nintendo chose to ignore it, but hindsight makes it puzzling that other publishers didn't expressly do the same thing en masse.
It retroactively seems like an easy loophole other companies could've exploited instead of subcontracting work to to other publishers with varying results or outright "going rogue" like Tengen or Camerica.
"US Exclusive sequel Snake's Revenge"
It was also released in Australia and Europe.
"An unapologetic exercise in star fucking... and Geoff Keighley for some reason"
Savage
Such slander on Snake's Revenge. Still, good vid.
Funny you mention Tonkin House as one of the companies thankfully not picked up by LJN, considering their SNES version of Ys 3 still gets a lot of play from people who assume the Nintendo console versions are a safe bet for best one. Which with Ys especially tends to absolutely not be the case.
Ys III would be the first Ys game to be ported to a Nintendo console in the West (we never got the Famicom versions of Ys I or II). Of course, Master System and TurboGrafx-CD owners would know Ys from western releases. Interestingly enough, Ys 3 plays differently on each of the 3 consoles that got it at the time: SNES, Genesis, and TurboGrafx-CD.
@@absolutezeronow7928 Oh I know. I've played all those versions. Even made videos about all of them a few years ago.
@@Aboveup I even watched your Ys 3 review this year too (will watch the Ys 4 review soon). Enjoyed that too. Oath in Felghana as you know is a great remake, would love to be able to play that on Switch but Xseed/Marvelous would probably keep NIS America from being able to publish it to that. I know I could buy the Steam version but I'm not really a PC gamer.
@@absolutezeronow7928 Ah, Ys 4. Yet another one where there's the Tonkin House release and the better one. Yeah, the current state of Xseed and Ys is a shame really. I really worry about future availability for these games as things currently stand. I feel like they should've popped up on PS4/Xbox/Switch as is, and not just Ys Origin. But oh well, at least there's one platform they're all on still.
Calling it, I will see a Getsufuu Maden retrospective on NES Works Gaiden.
Only if a patron requests it
It is one of three games I'm considering for a future request but there is another game (a Super Famicom one) that may need a retrospective first.
@@JeremyParish Becoming a patron... hmm...
I bought metal gear for nes at kaybees toys and my mom picked up mario 3 such great memories! I personally loved the nes version the msx version is definitely the better of the two! But the nes version gets so much flak but it is a good game!
yeah I think it wasn't til 'Operation C' on game boy when I figured out what was really going on... pretty sure I heard about it in magazines right around the time, so it all started to make sense. I do remember my dad getting a kick out of the magazine ad featuring all of snake's armaments you could pick up in the game, I think that's what sold him on it the most! One of these days I'll have to sit down and finish that one, although I do prefer the MSX2 games a lot more.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at Konami in the 8 and 16 bit eras. I imagine a crowded office with people working at all hours of the day, bouncing between projects every week. People keep one-upping each other in this and that area, they’re encouraged to put together self referential parody games like Parodius or Wai Wai World.
Loved every second of this episode. Amazing stuff as usual.
The music in this game is so much better.
As a kid I loved renting this one and stumbling my way around, making barely any progress but enjoying the less conventional game play of the time. And very good point that due to the strict licensing agreements we did miss out on a lot of garbage that Japan got, discovered that in the late 90s when friends and I would spend entire nights playing title we found in the dark corners of the internet only to be severely disappointed (thinking of you specifically Famicom Gundam!)
That was the thing about those earlier games and why they where often superior to modern games. The progress wasn’t the point. Being fun to play, moment to moment, was the point.
@@JazGalaxy new games are also fun to play moment to moment. sometimes moreso. don’t let your nostalgia turn you into a deluded crank. and i’m not some biased young buck. i’m 37 and mostly play old stuff i grew up with because i have an ancient, weak pc. but modern stuff is insanely fun
Activision has certainly fell very hard from those promising days of the 2600. Anyway, Nintendo sparing U.S. audiences the likes of Atlantis no Nazo and Onyanko Town was a good thing even if this meant they'd slowly lose out on getting great games that would make their way to competing consoles like the PC Engine, the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and of course, the Sony Playstation which would come to dominate its generation after initially being beaten by the Saturn.
Ah, Metal Gear. Worth the wait, would love to play the originals on the Switch (enjoyed the NES game)
I recorded the script for this episode before the latest awfulness emerged from Activision Blizzard’s fetid bowels. I can’t believe this text aged poorly before it even went live.
I loved seeing that Gear Up ad in magazines growing up as a kid. Metal Gear is still one of my favorite NES games and I think your review is accurate and fair, even if I don't always agree. I'm a little scared for the inevitable Snake's Revenge video to come down the line, even though you did seem a bit more forgiving than some in your mention of it here.
I loved the hell out of Metal Gear, but learning more about its origins helped me understand why it seemed so broken sometimes. I actually returned the game for a refund because the screwy radio/room relationships got me into a situation where I couldn't make progress and I thought it was defective. I gave it another chance a few months later and got the issue sorted, but this version has always been a mess.
@@JeremyParish I'm definitely not going to argue that point. It suffered, badly at times, but the sort of "Engrish" that plagued a lot of games back then and had some "hints" that felt as useful as those in Castlevania II. I've yet to play the MSX version, though I do have it on GOG. You did mention the radio room conversations being off and that fascinated me. I look forward to playing the MSX version and seeing how something said might actually make sense in the right place!
You can find a breakdown of the misaligned call settings here: tcrf.net/Metal_Gear_(NES)
@@JeremyParish TCRF, I should have known. Many thanks. This will come in handy!
Good job and interesting take on the marketing campaign of metal gear.
One of my favorites, really fun game
Me @ 6:10: "No I'm good! This is fascinating!" I mean I did come for a metal gear video but, as the kids say "go off, king" haha. Really informative video, thanks 4 it!
The host segments look genuinely vintage. Did you shoot them on an old video camera? You're also giving me some strong Matt Frewer vibes.
The NES version may be inferior to the original MSX version, but it remains one of my all-time favorite games.
Metal Gear on NES is missing so many elements from the MSX version that make me smile. Like damage indicators and that distinct hit chime that gives me shivers.
TMNY: Teenage Mutant Ninja Yurtles :D
Read your Seuss, Yertle WAS a turtle
That Metal Gear cover. Meeee-yow.
Funny you mention TOEMILAND or Toshiba EMI. I just finished playing Lenar's first game: Bird Week for the famicom.
Thoughts and prayers :(
Excellent video.
It's absolutely hilarious to look at the NES Metal Gear manual and think that there was a point in time where someone thought "We need to make Metal Gear's story more political!"
B-but I was told by reliable sources (sheltered white boys who get angry about racial diversity in cartoons) that Metal Gear ISN’T political?!
@@JeremyParish As a sheltered white boy myself, I can tell you that Metal Gear in no way makes any political statements, just like Deus Ex, Fallout, and, uh, Campaign '84 for the Colecovision?
I just woke up! No seriously, I'm in California'
My friend had the map of this game and let me borrow it when I rented it. The map didn't really help all that much. I still want to try and clear this game at some point, though. This and Snake's Revenge (which I avoided when it was new).
Ultra Games (North America)/Palcom Software (Europe) were basically shell corporations for Konami that they utilized during the early days of the Nintendo's strict licensing practices.
The biggest flaw of the Konami/Ultra game limit workaround was that the US didn't get TwinBee proper, a real shame.
The 5 game restriction Nintendo placed was probably for the best, I just wish they didn't also restrict companies to make titles for other systems initially like the Master System. I like Metal Gear NES, especially the OST, but it is definitely a strategy guide game like Zelda 2 & Castlevania 2 IMO.
What's even funnier that the UK box art for some of the US Ultra titles are actually silver Konami boxes
My boss owns a bunch of those and they look like absolute trash
METAL GEARRRRR!
Funny you mentioned parker bros when they distributed Konami games in the us
This guy is good...real good.
So Ultra Games was Konami only for the NES library?
15:40- Yeah, that was a stupid move.
I never really considered that Nintendo was facing the same “flood of bad titles” problem that caused the 1983 crash and that concern would appear in the games media of the day.
great video.
Metal Gear was one of a handful of NES games that my dumb babby kid brain couldn't understand. It remained little more than a bad rental memory for years until Metal Gear Solid came out and made me realize "Oh, _this_ is what it was trying to do." While I can appreciate its efforts these days, it's not a game (or series) suited to my tastes.
As a kid, I inevitably played military-themed games because that's just what many games were. Now, though, my tastes are established and variety is abundant. I have no desire to go back and check out these kinds of games.
Hmmm not sure the EU date was the same as the US
I appreciate NES Metal Gear for introducing 80s gamers to what would become the most wackiest cerebral juxtaposing game series out there, but it is obviously the weaker port. Still a good game.
I don't think I've ever heard Jeremy swear before. I guess that's the Kojima Effect.
10:22 I can slightly hear you sip your cognac....that's one sensitive microphone....now that's style, George Plimpton style....game on
I feel asleep! Never played MG as a kid, only after emulation and when it was included in various collections or as a bonus game in MGS. Interesting to see the roots of MGS though.
As a kid, I was absolutely baffled by it. I never even made it to the base, despite renting it a few times. Everything about it was so obtuse, compared to games at the time - and the terrible translation was basically the last straw. "I feel asleep"!?!? What does that even mean? I never actually played and enjoyed a Metal Gear game until the first MGS.
@@jasonblalock4429 really? I’m not sure I agree. Specifically about the idea that it was different than standard nes games. There are TONS of games that are tricky to make it even a few screens into. But people mostly managed.
@@JazGalaxy Well, congratulations on being a better player than me as a 7 year old, I guess?
@@jasonblalock4429 I was seven too. But that’s not my point. I’m just saying I don’t think Metal Gear was necessarily more convoluted than other NES games at the time. Zelda 1 for example had many of the same things in it. And let’s not forget castlevania 2.
🎵 Teenage Mutant Ninja Yurtles! 🎵
Retro Parish?!
To paraphrase FDR: A video which live in infamy - Jeremy subtlety and deliberately dropped the f bomb on the Empire of TH-cam.
Finally a satisfactory explanation of Ultra Games' existence.
It's crazy how much creativity companies have in dodging regulations. If only they put that into making better products...
I dunno, man, I can't think of many people who would look at Konami's NES output and think, "I wish they had actually made an effort with this"
I swear I knew as a kid that Konami and Ultra were the same company. It must have been from Nintendo Power, because I didn't read much of the other gaming magazines from back then.
My impression at the time was that the Ultra games were the "easy ones", and the Konami games were the "hard ones", which is interesting when you say that the Ultra ones were more focused on the American market.
Am I the only one who remembers knowing this at the time?
You might have made the connection because every Ultra game has a Konami copyright credit on the title screen! That was how I sorted it.
@@JeremyParish Oh, hah, you're right!
Nice Death Stranding shout out. You jazzed for the sequel?
"[Activision] credited its designers, rather than treating them as interchangeable wage-slaves." Oh god it's so tragic in hindsight that I can't bear to think about it...
I just realized. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.. should it not be Solid Snake: Metal Gear Part 2?
I mean... To borrow the naming convention of Rambo: First Blood Part 2...
Hideo missed a chance to do a movie reference... Now that is rare.