I had heard this was one of those Famicom games that only made it to the NES in Europe, but I didn't realize it was developed in Europe! I can see how you might be able to guess that from things like the music synths or the title-screen features, though.
The funny thing is that this wasn't the only Euro-developed port to make its way to Japan too, as the Game Boy port (also produced by Sales Curve, but developed by Eurocom instead) came out there too some months later; that one's a pretty nice port too, though it does suffer a bit from the reduced screen size since levels need to scroll now. Another thing that still amuses me is regarding a later appearance this port made; in 2003 there was a compilation of various Jaleco Famicom games for the PS1 (Jaleco Collection Vol.1) and RodLand was one of the featured games. The amusing thing comes from the fact that the rest of the games on it were all early Famicom releases, specifically all their 1985 output (except Ninja-Kun, I guess since Ninja Jajamaru-kun was on it already) plus Argus, so RodLand kinda sticks out just for how late of a release it is. The interesting thing is that that was the only time they re-released Famicom RodLand, as other collections they did after that didn't feature it, and it never showed up on Virtual Console either, even tho they re-released various others, so who knows.
Well it was weird seeing this version of the game. The Sales Curve were known for producing some very nice home computer ports of arcade titles (Silkworm, The Ninja Warriors, Shinobi, among others) and the home computer ports of Rodland were good ports that were faithful to the arcade original. I used to have the C64 version of the game (which, incidentally, was coded by Steve Snake who went on to create the Kega Fusion emulator) and I would take that over this monstrosity in a heartbeat. I can't really fathom what went wrong here.
It's amusing how many games in the last quarter of 1992 were made in the UK, and (with the possible exceptions of Ferrari and the other game that hasn't been covered yet) are actually better than most of the non-Japanese made games up to that point. The one other thing they have in common is that they weren't made by Ocean 😜
Most European games from that era were usually better than some of what us Americans had that weren't point-and-click adventure games or sports games, especially as we went through a video game crash.
Sometimes I forget just how late this game released. It's such an incredibly late throwback title on the Famicom/NES. I still thought it was a neat game. Simple and fun for a quick killing of a few minutes.
Okay but, this is one of two Bubble Bobble-likes on the Famicom that isn't Bubble Bobble and is worth playing (the other is Don Doko Don.) That's got to make it worth something.
I like this one. Bubble Bobble-likes on the system tend to be pretty good (Don Doko Don, Snow Bros.), this one is no exception. It's fun and relaxing, even if it's not spectacular.
Euro devs always put out these technically impressive graphical tricks and flourishes, and then cover it all up with the ugliest possible palettes. And they're all in on it! It's like an "order of the occult hand" but for graphic design
There are Euro-Games, and then there are Euro ports of arcade games. That makes it sound like "European game devs are good programmers, but don't let them get any ideas." However, European game devs do have their moments, especially Rare, but even that's up for debate. So, when is The New Zealand Story?
The NES New Zealand Story never made it to the Famicom, so that's not coming. I genuinely want do do a dive into the Euro games of the 80s and ealy 90s. I make fun of them constantly mainly because the vast majority of the stuff that escaped Europe for consoles on other shores wound up being pretty awful with some very distinctive stylistic signals. But that's a tiny slice, focused on licensed games, Maybe after I finish the FDS I'll survey some Spectrum and Amiga highlights.
@@RndStranger Okay. Sorry for misreading the impression I got. ...and I kinda did my own research shortly after asking about The New Zealand Story. You'd think it would've made it back to Japan, considering the Angry Birds bootlegs.
This one is actually half-way decent as an European-developed game. Pretty much most of the other Euro games that was imported to the Famicom are not interesting and in many cases, terrible.
I had heard this was one of those Famicom games that only made it to the NES in Europe, but I didn't realize it was developed in Europe! I can see how you might be able to guess that from things like the music synths or the title-screen features, though.
The funny thing is that this wasn't the only Euro-developed port to make its way to Japan too, as the Game Boy port (also produced by Sales Curve, but developed by Eurocom instead) came out there too some months later; that one's a pretty nice port too, though it does suffer a bit from the reduced screen size since levels need to scroll now.
Another thing that still amuses me is regarding a later appearance this port made; in 2003 there was a compilation of various Jaleco Famicom games for the PS1 (Jaleco Collection Vol.1) and RodLand was one of the featured games. The amusing thing comes from the fact that the rest of the games on it were all early Famicom releases, specifically all their 1985 output (except Ninja-Kun, I guess since Ninja Jajamaru-kun was on it already) plus Argus, so RodLand kinda sticks out just for how late of a release it is. The interesting thing is that that was the only time they re-released Famicom RodLand, as other collections they did after that didn't feature it, and it never showed up on Virtual Console either, even tho they re-released various others, so who knows.
Well it was weird seeing this version of the game. The Sales Curve were known for producing some very nice home computer ports of arcade titles (Silkworm, The Ninja Warriors, Shinobi, among others) and the home computer ports of Rodland were good ports that were faithful to the arcade original. I used to have the C64 version of the game (which, incidentally, was coded by Steve Snake who went on to create the Kega Fusion emulator) and I would take that over this monstrosity in a heartbeat. I can't really fathom what went wrong here.
It's amusing how many games in the last quarter of 1992 were made in the UK, and (with the possible exceptions of Ferrari and the other game that hasn't been covered yet) are actually better than most of the non-Japanese made games up to that point. The one other thing they have in common is that they weren't made by Ocean 😜
Most European games from that era were usually better than some of what us Americans had that weren't point-and-click adventure games or sports games, especially as we went through a video game crash.
Sometimes I forget just how late this game released. It's such an incredibly late throwback title on the Famicom/NES. I still thought it was a neat game. Simple and fun for a quick killing of a few minutes.
Okay but, this is one of two Bubble Bobble-likes on the Famicom that isn't Bubble Bobble and is worth playing (the other is Don Doko Don.) That's got to make it worth something.
isnt snow bros another one? :)
@@eucalipto9724 Snow Bros. just makes you want to play Bubble Bobble.
Snow Bros. WAS however, the last Famicom arcade port to be made in Japan.
I like this one. Bubble Bobble-likes on the system tend to be pretty good (Don Doko Don, Snow Bros.), this one is no exception. It's fun and relaxing, even if it's not spectacular.
Euro devs always put out these technically impressive graphical tricks and flourishes, and then cover it all up with the ugliest possible palettes. And they're all in on it! It's like an "order of the occult hand" but for graphic design
Actually really like Rodland, even the janky scrolling segments.
There are Euro-Games, and then there are Euro ports of arcade games. That makes it sound like "European game devs are good programmers, but don't let them get any ideas." However, European game devs do have their moments, especially Rare, but even that's up for debate.
So, when is The New Zealand Story?
The NES New Zealand Story never made it to the Famicom, so that's not coming.
I genuinely want do do a dive into the Euro games of the 80s and ealy 90s. I make fun of them constantly mainly because the vast majority of the stuff that escaped Europe for consoles on other shores wound up being pretty awful with some very distinctive stylistic signals. But that's a tiny slice, focused on licensed games, Maybe after I finish the FDS I'll survey some Spectrum and Amiga highlights.
@@RndStranger Okay. Sorry for misreading the impression I got.
...and I kinda did my own research shortly after asking about The New Zealand Story. You'd think it would've made it back to Japan, considering the Angry Birds bootlegs.
This one is actually half-way decent as an European-developed game. Pretty much most of the other Euro games that was imported to the Famicom are not interesting and in many cases, terrible.
So that makes the only good European developed Famicom games... This, Solstice, and Battletoads?