Star Luster & Spelunker retrospective: Cosmological cave adventure | NES Works Gaiden
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ย. 2024
- At some point in this episode, I may or may not talk about the actual games presented here (Namcot's Star Luster and Irem's rendition of Spelunker). Mostly, though, this video hooks back into the ongoing discussion of the overall shape of the games industry in the mid-1980s, especially as concerns the Japanese market. What debt does Star Luster owe to Western classics born in the primal soup of video gaming? How did Spelunker end up on Famicom? And could this possibly be the first episode where I hit the entire "influential games" trifecta? You'll have to watch to know for sure...
Production notes:
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NES/Famicom footage captured from @analogueinc Nt Mini; arcade footage captured from MiSTer with thanks to @MiSTerAddons. Video upscaled to 720 with @atemsoft xRGB Mini Framemeister.
he did it gang! the hat trick! the trifecta! this is the pinnacle of NES Works running joke title cards. Brava sir
Even to this day, Japanese lets-players and streamers will often make a reference to Spelunker if they die from fall damage, or take damage from a relatively short drop. For better or worse, it truly left a deep impression on an entire generation!
There's even a Japanese idiom "the constitution of a spelunker" which implies that the person can be incapacitated by even the slightest injury. It often gets applied to athletes who are constantly on the injury roster.
Whats funny is the computer original is a bit better on how far you can fall. And its easier to jump off ropes. Its much uglier and uses a few keyboard commands though.
About a decade ago, there was a single episode Spelunker anime, apparently based on a Spelunker manga, where Spelunker gets a job as a school teacher. He dies repeatedly. I want to recall that he dies multiple times during the opening theme...
@@BainesMkII Wow, somehow that managed to be even more of a Shitpost-in-Anime-Form than Pop Team Epic... and I kinda love it 🤣
Having now seen with my own eyes just HOW little fall-height Spelunker actually has... I understand the obsession. I too would be so mega-mad that the game would drill itself into my head and live there in infamy until my dying day.
The gun in Spelunker is actually an air pistol. The bar that goes down is oxygen. So when you use the pistol you're just blowing the ghosts away. Also the guy you play as is named Spelunker.
@@goatbone Mostly in Japan, where they lacked a specific noun for the sort of 'cave explorer' that defines a spelunker and just borrowed the English word.
@@goatbone his name is "The Spelunker" but in Japanese language there are no particles, so it's just "Spelunker"
@@goatbone Spelunker World, Spelunker HD, Spelunker Party.
@@goatbone Spelunker is literally the name of the character in Japan. This is held out by, among other things, the fact that his tie-in comedy school anime (yes really) uses Spelunker as his name and refers to him specifically as "Spelunker-sensei" and not "The Spelunker-sensei."
@@subtlewhatssubtle Of course.
I remember Bosconian! I owned a Namco plug'n play when I was a kid that had Bosconian, as well as Rally X on it.😁
I'm pretty sure those plug n plays are running bespoke NES conversions of those games, too!
Yep, those games never originally appeared on NES/Famicom, so they built all-new versions of them.
@@JeremyParish depa made a godlike port x68
Wild theory: Star Luster is Bosconian from the enemies point of view. The ships you attack in Star Luster are the players in Bosconian trying to attack you!
1) TOUCH!
2) Star Luster, like Warpman, is something I had heard of but never sat down with until I got my Evercade in 2020 and immediately fell in love with. Glad to see it get some love here.
Namco published some forgotten Famicom bangers in 1985
The Xevious AND Heiyanko Alien cards both in the same episode? Is that a new record?
You missed the Druaga card
It's the trifecta!!
@@jasonblalock4429 Or we'll call it a hat trick since we're not geeks, we know sports-things!
@@jasonblalock4429 triforceta
Bosconian really gives off some Sinistar vibes, don't you think?
*RUN! RUN! RUN! COWARD! I HUNGER!*
COFFEE WITH SINISTAR
With Star Luster, it's wild to me how making a first-person 3D space game on the Famicom was somehow easier to do than a top down game that scrolled in *two* directions.
Star Luster and Bosconian actually belong to the same "series" called the "UGSF" (United Galaxy Space Force) series, which also includes the Galaga games and even the Dig Dug games, for some reason. Namco has a whole website dedicated to it, explaining how each game fits in the overarching storyline. Yes, there is an storyline connecting Dig Dug and Ace Combat 3.
Oh really! I'll be. Do you know what it's called?
As an “elder nerd” as you put it, it did my heart good to see mainframe trek. Though playing with a mouse is just wrong :)
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find footage of a four-line monochromatic Kaypro LCD text display running the game (the way I first experienced it)
Episode 50!?!? Nice, Jeremy! Love the channel!
I picked up spelunker when i was really young as i thought it reminded me of mario. I was a little disappointed at the time, but it grew on me.
Games that weren't funny to me when I was a kid I came to spite, but if I play them now I'd probably feel some involuntary nostalgia like I get from Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, and Aqua songs... 😔
"Star Luster" is great, and literally it's just a 1:1 recreation of the Atari 8-bit "Star Raiders", to such a point that I was a little worried it took this long to mention them in this video. I was thinking "Jeremy, my dude, it's just Star Raiders, don't think about it too hard and get to the point".
But yes, describing "Star Raiders" as mind-blowing is fitting, and it is perhaps the oldest game I can think of that I can still regularly play _out of fun_. (alright, maybe "Space Invaders" and "Adventure", too). No matter how many times I see the sparkling particle effects display when you destroy a space fighter, and the slowdown of the CPU, I get wowed and I have to exhale with deep astonishment. It's a perfectly recreated spectacle of seeing the Death Star in "Star Wars" explode in a glow of plasmatic-hot waves and star-kindled glints. It's such an immensely visionary game.
Some of those ships in Star Luster also look like ships in the 1982 Activisiion game Starmaster on the Atari 2600.
Huh, I wonder if Bosconian was named for the Boskonian bad guys in EE Doc Smith's "Lensman" series, which I believe had some popularity in Japan around that time. At least, it got a couple anime adaptations in the early 80s.
Or the chocolate beverage, Bosco
I believe it was. IIRC, a bunch of other names in Bosconian are also traceable to Lensman.
Interesting, I’d written Star Luster off as basic NROM trash like “Look at this graphic demo: you shoot things, and the score goes up.”
And the only thing was the awkward Japanese / English title; “I’m horny, but for the stars: Star Luster!” - I’m obviously missing quite a bit here.
On another note, it’s not 1996: these rom archives should come with manual and box scans, RetroArch or whatever emulator frontends (even Nintendo’s switch offerings) should have a built in PDF viewer so the player won’t be left with the question “What exactly am I looking at?”
Yeah I wish the manuals were easier to get a hold of and read
Happy 50th not-actually-anniversary-because-that-suggests-years, Jeremy!
Thank you so much for these videos, I grew up on the 2600 and NES and while I am pretty knowledgeable about the more famous games, seeing these ones I barely remember or never even got to see tickles that strange nostalgia for what I never had, ty.
I can't say I ever made the Bosconian connection here, though I wouldn't be shocked if it was an intentional reference.
The manual for Star Luster has an extensive section on projecting 3D space onto a 2D plain in order to explain how to read the radar screen. If you have to include multiple pages of vector geometry so people can understand how to play your game, you've made it too complex.
Bosconian was one of my favorite games! Dropped many a quarter in that machine.
Star Luster looks like a lot of fun. After seeing Tower get mentioned, I was curious if Xevious and Heiankyo would be as well. I was not let down.
Star Luster is a game I enjoy, Spelunker is a game that I have that I kinda loathe but kept trying at. Hmm, mecha next time? At least it's not Ultraman or SD Gundam.
The Namco plug & play Bosconian is one of my favorites
some kinda Heiyanko Alien out here.
I got Star Luster in a bundle of a bundle of Famicom games years ago and I was impressed on what they were able to pull off. I'm surprised that the game never made its way over to the West considering all of the text was in English.
I love how this installment pops up as I get back into Elite Dangerous. Space sims of any vintage are so cool.
That star luster game looks fantastic! So smooth, such intense action, I'm stunned it wasn't brought over.
By the way, there are two remakes of Star Luster, one for Sharp X68000 programmed by Micomsoft and the other for the Playstation via Namco Anthology Volume 1.
The Sharp X68000 remake has a secret boss from Star Blade.
I have a bizarre obsession with Spelunker. I have Famicom carts of Spelunker and Spelunker 2, and have forced many friends to play the 7 player PS3 version a few times.
I wonder if Spelunker played any role in the eventual advent of the now popular ultra-difficult troll platformer genre that (ostensibly) started with Jinsei Owata no Daibouken and continues today with games like Rukimin's Disappointing Adventure.
I absolutely love NES spelunker. Star Luster is great too and was one of my first Famicom imports.
yee happy 50th episode nes gaiden !
As a non-native English speaker, I'm always curious with names and surnames and the logic behind those names...
...so lusting for stars sounds kinda weird to me.
Luster refers to a shiny or radiant quality.
@@JeremyParish Oh, so it would be like Star Shining?
Or maybe Star Shine, but yeah. Luster is the base word for "lustrous," if that helps.
@@JeremyParish got it! Thanks, appreciate the explanation and as usual, superb video!
and yes per ugsf loar those ARE the Bosconian bases that were abandoned by the aliens of that game and taken over by the ugsf
Spelunker would be manageable if not for the awful strictness of jumping onto and off of the ropes. Get that down perfectly and you have the game in the palm of your hand. It will take more practice to do this successfully than to figure out everything else in the game combined in order to finish.
I see Spelunker more akin to Mario/Jumpman in Donkey Kong than its Super Mario counterpart.
You can't fall off too far, everything kills you on contact, automatic lifts.
I guess it was all about timing of when Irem released the port.
Now he's a living meme.
Spelunker? I hardly know her...
Star Luster? Nearly killed her!
yeah I love how quickly it becomes apparent what kinda game Spelunker is when you can *die from not jumping off the initial elevator* that's when you know what kinda game you're in for. Apparently they're such big fans of it there's a ... I think its a vocaloid remix? anyway she sings the BGM its kinda funny.
Hatsune Miku! Just started listening to her songs (as I've just started getting into J-pop) and I've become addicted! I looked it up on here and there's a gameplay video WITH MIKU IN PLACE OF SPELUNKER, and she does all the sound effects too...HILARIOUS!
There's also a saxophone remix of this theme which is most well-known for being used in a troll Super Mario clone called Soyobon Action (AKA Cat Mario). There's a video of the remix on here with an animation of Spelunker walking backwards and periodically falling on his back.
@@kevin12567 yeah that's the one I was thinking of, it was pretty funny. yeah I never could figure out that game far enough to beat it, though.
Lmao @ the druaga joke
10:57 Heiankyo Alien
hmmm yet another episode covering 2 pirate cart classics, i see...
i haven't revisited Spelunker that much, but i absolutely adore Star Luster, flying thru space destroying enemy ships and bases always feels so satisfying
though i'm actually surprised that you didn't mention the excellent X68000 port / remake lol
Touch !!!
what do you mean by "looking at you, challenger"? challenger is an incredible and incredibly influential game
Star Luster reminds me a bit of Starmaster from Atari 2600.
Love it
and from what I understand, Japanese ports of Spelunker were even worse than the original, and therefore better (since it's a kusoge)
I don't know if it's like this in the NES version, but the arcade game's cruelness is honestly in the level design. There's so many cases where a path is only opened when you move to a very specific point, often one which will risk getting you killed. The fact that you're on a fairly tight timer doesn't help.
Great video. Do people in the comment section here know about your The great courses "A History of Video Games" course? recommended
Need a counter on how many times Famicom Loderunner gets mentioned across all Jeremy Parish videos
Very Random Question: What brand of glasses are you wearing in this video?
That is indeed very random. Oliver Peoples, I think?
@@JeremyParish I thought so! They look great on you! I believe they're the Cary Grant in the Semi-Matte Amber Tortoise color.
Thanks... have you considered changing your screen name to The Tactical RPG Ophthalmologist?
@@JeremyParish Lol I'm an optician but I will consider the rename!
What's the name of the (80's looking) anime at the start of this episode?
One game that I've seen ever so many references to and absorbed stuff just through osmosis, and one game that I hadn't even heard of at all until now- I'd say that's good balance. Not sure I would have enjoyed either though, back in the day. Star Lusters style feels too complex for my child brain, and that fall damage in Spelunker... too much, too far.
0:06; What anime is that?
Touch.
@@magnumvanisher And the song being played?
@@Tubewings Hitoribocchi no Duetto, Anime Opening 4
@@chepin74 Okay, thanks.
I played the C64 version of Spelunker. I never liked it because of how easy it is to die in the game.
Star Luster looks odd.
Spelunker......urgh how much I hate that game.
An ad for gin played before this, how apropos
Took me a while to recognize the music, dongs.exe is back baby