I'm fairly certain that Dr. Chaos started as a tie-in for the campy 1986 comedy-horror House (not to be confused with the bizarre 1977 Japanese film Hausu which now has a big cult following). In the movie a man inherits a weird and creepy large house that seems to have portals letting in monsters, while he simultaneously deals with his ptsd from fighting in vietnam, and his missing presumed dead son, both of which have connections to the house, where he has to fight a zombie version of a former fellow soldier and rescue his young son from a jungle world akin to his war past. The game has you exploring a mansion filled with strange rooms and seemingly random portals to a jungle world in an effort to rescue your inventor brother, all while fighting monsters, and the monsters that appear inside the house look strikingly similar to monsters that appear in the movie.
The Crazy Castle series is by far the craziest scenario of this in the gaming world. Accounting for Europe, Japan and the U.S regions they alternated between 7-8 IPs. They went from Roger Rabbit to Bugs Bunny to Mickey to Hugo to Ghostbusters and Garfield and even spawned its own unique IPs “Kid Klown” and later “Charlie Blast’s Territory” all because of licensing issues. It’s insane.
The funny thing is that most of these games, Journey to Silius, Werewolf The Last Warrior and Sunman are better games than what would be released under the actual licenses.
@@yandman26 I'm saying that Journey to Silius is better than the actual Terminator game released by Mindscape, Werewolf The Last Warrior is better than the X-Men and the Wolverine game released by LJN, Sunman is better than the actual Superman game released by Kemco All these games are better than the actual games we eventually got for those licenses.
@@Gatorade69 o.k, gotcha, still I advise you to go play the rom of the finished Sunsoft Termunator game, much more enjoyable than Silius, or at least to me.
FUN FACT: Werewolf The Last Warrior actually came with a comic, thus making its origins as a wolverine game even ore apparent I actually own it, along with Journey Silius. My copy of Werewolf: The Last Warrior is actually a complete boxed copy, with said comic. And I use to play the SHIT out of Krion Conquest as a kid. LOVED that game! DAMN GOOD Mega Man clone.
The US version of Silius changed Jay's sprite drastically. He appears to wear a helmet in the Japanese and EU versions, and his proportions seem more realistic. The American Jay looks like some rockabilly pompadour guy, and he's short like Megaman. I feel like this alteration tones down the game's dark atmosphere,, which was unusually heavy by NES standards. I have to credit Sunsoft for the harrowing intro, and the most intense boss music on the system.
I always felt like Fester's Quest was something else to begin with, with the whole Addams family thing being slapped onto it for whatever reason. Suspiciously, still by Sunsoft. A more obscure game, James Bond Jr, was developed as an independent game with a different title but Eurocom had trouble finding a publisher until THQ showed up with their license for James Bond Jr, so they reskinned some sprites, changed some more stuff and there you go. Something along those lines. This game could actually feature in the games no one played... Thanks for the video!
I can see what you are saying about Fester's Quest but I think it is most likely because it came out before the movies so it doesn't have the obvious references and was just a bit looser with the licence.
@@BigOleWords you're welcome to exploit my untapped reserve of genius! I had a few more games loosely fitting this theme coming to mind, but nothing too big. Mostly reskins for PAL market that made little sense. Til next, take care!
@@goatbone yeah it's more a vague sense of "what's this main character doing here". The other Addams family NES games have a better fitting environment, but they suck gloriously.
So, believe it or not, the history behind Fester's Quest is far more bizarre. It was not an unrelated game reskinned at the eleventh hour, but rather the brainchild of one of the bosses at Sunsoft's US division, RR Robbins, who literally had a dream about a NES game based on the Addams Family and convinced both the rightholders and Sunsoft to produce it. Sunsoft Japan thought it was a strange and poor idea but they did have the code/engine for Blaster Master lying around so they made it. It went on to sell like a million copies. The development history behind JtS is equally fascinating, the initial Terminator game Sunsoft were developing, the one shown off in that one commercial, was a cinematic adventure game along the lines of the arcade Dragon's Lair, but that didn't pan out because recreating the entire movie cutscene by cutscene using NES cartridges obviously turned out not to be a feasible idea, and that's why they reworked it into a run-and-gun action platformer, which the license holders didn't like because their requirements were that Sunsoft strictly follow the movie's storyline and not have any enemy characters aside from the T-800. Neither requirement was really able to be fulfilled and the license was revoked and that's how the game became Journey to Silius. Also the US version is apparently an earlier build judging by Jay's design being different and more detailed in the JP/PAL versions.
I heard the issue with Contra Force is that too many items on screen have hit boxes, hence the slow down. If that issue was fixed, I think slapping Contra on the title would be forgiven.
It's sad too, because it wouldn't be a bad game at all if not for the unrelenting performance issues. It's not really "Contra" but it could have been a decent stand-alone title.
I don't know about hit boxes, but one of the killer features of this game is almost complete destructibility (albeit very sketchy). And if it had to be removed (I don’t know how else it could be fixed), then the game would lose some of its charm. Playing it on the original console just hurts. It loads the hardware of the console so much that even when playing on an emulator with the function of emulating the double speed of the NES processor, it periodically slowed down. Only by maximizing the processor speed multiplier to the Maximum (x5? x10?), it can be played comfortably. And it turns into a completely different game. A very good game, I must say!
I read once that Mega Man 1 was intended to be an Astro Boy game but Capcom couldn't get the rights so instead designed an original character, and the same thing with Mario in the first Donkey Kong being made because Nintendo couldn't get (at that time) the Popeye license. I have no idea if this is true but sometimes I wonder what if our favorite franchises were actually made by accident, like what if George Lucas could have gotten the license to Flash Gordon and never made Star Wars at all.
it's more of trying to change mid into astro boy game due to they thought it's hard to sell a new ip but konami released astro boy famicom game so changed back into mega man
The thing that's weird about Sunman is that Sunsoft did release a Superman game for Genesis that looks incredibly similar in gameplay. So either they didn't like how the Genesis version turned out and pulled the NES license (if the Genesis version came out first) or they somehow changed their minds and granted them the same kind of game for a different system (if the NES one came first). Either way, a very confusing decision.
According to an interview with Kenji Eno, who worked on the Famicom/NES game, on 1up (which I found linked via a website called Retrovolve), DC Comics didn't like that Superman could die or be damaged in the game so they pulled the license. Yes, I don't know why DC didn't approve of Superman being able to be killed in that game when they approved of the Genesis game, where Superman is likewise not invincible, and they approved of the arcade game, where Superman also could die, and there have been many games with Superman as the main or ensemble Justice League character in the three decades since where Superman is far from invincible, so why they didn't approve of that one game is a mystery for the ages.
@@SteveBrandon That's the problem with invincible/invulnerable/nigh-invulnerable characters, isn't it? But it's just a mystery why THAT was the one game they refused to approve. The Genesis game is balls to the wall hard (similar to the Batman games), so you're definitely going to die a LOT before you get the hang of it. The again, years later, DC's the reason why the infamous N64 game is just flying through rings until the time runs out, so what do they know?
Sunsoft shoulda kept Sunman as a mascot. And you know what, I woulda played a game about an invincible hero when I was a kid. We already used game genie to do that regar'less.
@@SwiftJustice It's not so much a character is or isn't invincible/invulnerable, so much is that they have to make a character like Superman vulnerable to attacks to make that sort of gameplay work. Especially since that Warioland game (I forget if it was 2 or 3) didn't come out until after. A game that proved you can have a character that can't die, but still poses enough of a challenge for the game to be engaging.
Krion conquest is even more interesting being based off the wizard of oz considering the Japanese version (magical dorope)has full ninja gaiden style cutscenes between levels the us version never got.
Another interesting thing about Journey to Silius is that after the game was designed in Japan as the title rʌf World, the main protagonist sprite was changed from a solider to some kid for the North American version, Journey to Silius. Personally I've always been more fond of the Japanese sprite and the title rʌf World, even though I have absolutely no idea what a rʌf is.
@@BigOleWords Well, the text of the story cutscenes too. The US version of the game has some kid looking to avenge his father or something like that. The Japanese version has you playing as a solider in a future war against machines.
Actually, slight misconception about Doki Doki Panic: it was actually originally envisioned as a Mario title with more vertical than horizontal exploration. So they didn't "just" reskin a completely different game, they more so brought it back to its roots. Also, something I noticed about your video: the live action segments have a really weirdly squished aspect ratio. Just looks a bit off to me.
Kinda, it was a prototype made by Tezuka but Miyamoto shot it down because they had other stuff to make, they then revived the prototype to be used as basis for their Yume Kojo collab game, which then became SMB2 (USA). And even then, SMB2 is way more than a simple resking, they changed a lot of things on the gameplay side.
Not an NES game but I am reminded of RARE's reskin of "Dinosaur Planet" that turned into Star Fox Adventures. I like the gameplay and story but what is kind of disappointing is that in most RARE games there are all sorts of secrets and collectible goodies. There are collectibles in the game but everything "secret" winds up being a placeholder for some main quest event, and the mystery is taken away.
I saw a video that Batman, also from Sunsoft, was almost completed before the license was fully secured. Apparently they would jump the gun and make the games before the license was secured, hoping that it would be. This way they could put out a quality game that wasn't rushed. If they weren't able to secure the license, they could reskin it like Journey to Silius. It's smart, though I wonder how close we came to Gothic Man for the NES from Sunsoft.
I had Werewolf: The Last Warrior. There was something off about the game, they featured the Werewolf so strongly, as though it was a marketable brand, so it makes sense that it was originally Wolverine.
0:25 - To be clear. Miyamoto was more involved in Dokey-Dokey Panic than he ever was involved in The Lost Levels. Making Mario 2 USA probably a more authentic sequel
I remember reading somewhere that they thought it was too different from the original and went with lost levels. Then in the us they thought that smb2j was too similar and too hard so they reworked dokidoki
Konami made this arcade game called "MX5000", which is also known as "Flak Attack". The font in the game looks similar to the one they used in Top Gun for the NES, since you play as a fighter jet in MX5000/Flak Attack, it makes me wonder if that game was originally going to use the Top Gun license as well before they changed their minds and decided to make it an original production of theirs.
Probably someone else already said it but not only Sunman is actually Superman but you can see how the Genesis and Master System games look like sequels to this.
@@BigOleWords i wrote this before seeing the part where he spins to dig the ground. We can do the same thing on the genesis and sms games down to the last pixel.
I'm glad Kenji Eno eventually got to make the original games he always wanted to make, even if his early years were pretty rough. Real industry icon right there
I had heard about the Terminator thing regarding Journey to Silius. man Sunsoft could've been up there with Capcom and Konami doing excellent licensed tie-ins! also Krion Conquest's Japanese name was i believe 'Magical Dorothy'? So the Wizard of Oz stuff makes a lot of sense.
Donkey Kong was originally suppose to be a Popeye game but they couldn't get the license. Obviously, this worked out for the best because as they say "Necessity is the mother of invention", and we got the birth of Mario and Donkey Kong (even though Mario was called Jump Man at that point). They later bought the rights to Popeye due to DK's success and made another classic Nintendo game.
This channel actually made me want to try The Krion Conquest 🤣 It's kinda interesting to see how either Konami or Sunsoft consistently appear on such different lists, good, bad and licensed games. I wonder if Sunman would be better tailored for the American audiences, considering there was already a (very weird) Superman game by Kemco.
I guess technically not an NES game, wasn't donkey Kong originally meant to be a Popeye game? Mario was created because they couldn't get the rights to Popeye.
Regading the Sunsoft games, I remember hearing that they made their licensed games with that intention before actually securing the licenses. As in, Batman (NES) was being developed as a Batman game before they got the OK from DC to make a Batman game. Don't think it counts as "losing" their licenses, but certainly fits the spirit of this list I think.
To anyone who is interested in Krion Conquest, the NTSC US version is the worst version of the game. The Japanese version, Magical Doropie, actually does have continues AND cutscenes. Best bet is to find a translated rom hack of that version of the game.
It kinda looks like NES Batman might have originally been intended for something else. I mean it has Bats fighting, mechanical monsters, thugs who look more like army commandos, and mutants. It's either that or it was all based on super secret deleted scenes from the Tim Burton blockbuster.
I am completely drawing a blank, but I remember reading that Batman was developed as a different game, but Sunsoft got the Batman license and quickly reskinned the game.
It may also be true for the second Batman game on NES - Return of the Joker - I mean... Not only do we have some not exactly fitting locations, but also the fact that Batman exclusively uses ranged attacks.
I’m tempted to talk about the alien franchise’s influence on Metroid, but I don’t think there’s ever been evidence to suggest Nintendo tried to get the license.
Didn't Monster Party for the NES have a bunch of boss sprites that needed to be altered because they were originally copyrighted characters? Not so much a case of losing the license, but of the creators not having permission to begin with.
Yeah that game did have some censorship for sure as did some other titles. I still haven’t found much rhyme or reason to why certain games were censored and others weren’t.
Hmmm, nothing else really comes to mind, but I'm sure there's a few. You always have interesting takes on the Ol' NES. I wonder if the muppets was something else snd they just branded it chaos.... can't wait for Thursday
Contra force was my 3rd game for the NES and its one of the best games ive ever played. The multiplayer is amazing and i genuinely have had nothing but fun times with it. While i understand its not a contra stylized game the overall story and gameplay is some of the best i've ever seen. Its one of my prized NES games and when youre playing with someone who cares enough to learn the enemy patterns and locations its a breeze to run through. I truly think the biggest flaw of this game are the people who refuse to give it the time of day out of anger for it "nOt BeiNg a reAl CoNtrA GamE"
@@BigOleWords I was shocked to see it wasn't included in the contra anniversary collection but not too surprising given it's behind the scenes history, makes me even happier to still have it. I can totally see why it's the black sheep it is today. Also I love the work you do here on the channel I tell everyone you're The NES Guy😊
First of all, I know why this video popped up on my algorithm and I’m glad it did. My comment is on Werewolf, which for whatever reason was known as Warwolf as I was growing up. Just last night, I found it after not seeing it for 30 years or so. I didn’t quite remember the bad guys. But as I was watching it, I thought to myself, “that guy looks like Juggernaut, and that one looks like Spider-Man/magneto” etc. I was thinking that it was heavily inspired by comics. But wow- my mind is blown to find out it was supposed to be a Wolverine game. I never made the connection in 30 years. I remember watching the Fire boss that runs real fast. I was thinking that he was supposed to be Renegade. Or Pyro.
Honorable mention should go to Monster Party. It never had official licenses, but the original plan was for each boss to be a parody of classic horror movie monsters.
@@BigOleWords not THAT far back classic. They had lots of 70s/80s references. Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, a Xenomorph from Aliens, Gremlins, Planet of the Apes, etc. Modern classics, lol.
You can't convince me that Fester's Quest didn't start development as something original and then Sunsoft slapped the Addams Family license over the top of it.
I remember getting that werewolf game after seeing JD Roth discuss it on Gamepro TV. It was so hard I don’t think I ever played it more that 3 or 4 times. Probably $60 spent in what should’ve been a rental
My family got Werewolf when i was a kid.. I'm guessing it ended up in the "$19.99 club" at TRU.. There was always that one block of games that'd get marked down to $19.99 and those were predominantly the games my dad would buy for us... Anyway, Werewolf was soo difficult.. i think there was a level with lightning bolts you had to dodge, or something that constantly needed to be dodged?? My dad even bought us a 3rd party controller that would make games play in 'slow motion' by continuously pausing and unpausing the games, hoping it'd help me progress further in the game... i don't think it helped though.. I was never able to make it to the end of the game. :(
"Wizard of Oz meets Star Wars." The madmen at Yu-Gi-Oh actually did this. Dorothy is Luke, the scarecrow is C-3P0, the tinman is R2 D2, the lion is Chewbacca, the witch Dorothy lands on is Darth Maul, the good witch is Obi-Wan, the evil witch is Vader, flying monkeys are stormtroopers. There's a lightsaber card and spaceships too but I don't think they equate except for the Death Star being the Emerald City.
Honestly what Sunsoft was doing was brilliant. It's not hard to perceive from many of their other licensed titles that they always kept things as something they could turn into an original IP. Fester's Quest comes to mind. With barely any altered content, you'd never even guess that it was an Adam's Family tie-in.
Yeah it’s not a bad formula, make a rad game based on something and if you can’t get the license it can still stand on its own or be altered for another license.
The Krion Conquest was known as Magical Kids Doropie in Japan, and while it didn't retain the Wizard of Oz license, "Doropie" is basically the Japanese transliteration for Dorothy, which makes it less distanced from Wizard of Oz than the western version, which called the protagonist Francesca instead. There were also cutscenes and level intros they cut from the western release, and more importantly, THE JAPANESE VERSION HAD UNLIMITED CONTINUES! It also would respawn you in the boss room if you died there, rather than forcing you back to a checkpoint further back. Werewolf: The Last Warrior was also made easier in the Japanese version, known as Chō Jinrō Senki: Warwolf, though not by much. But unlike Krion Conquest, the Japanese version actually came later. The cutscenes and other graphical assets got changed as well, including the ending screen, which had War Wolf glaring at the moon rather than holding an American flag.
1:05 forgot to mention the "link" between the story of Zelda and the film Legend... Which funny enough was named Legend of Zelda... Hmmm coincidence? I think not... 😅
It was developed as a Ninja Turtles game but the developers had very little to go by. So they had to make stuff up and used Getsu Fuma Den as a reference. That's why it feels "off"
Don't forget that we only got 'Donkey Kong' (and by extension, the entire Mario franchise) because Nintendo couldn't get the license to 'Popeye' How different the video game industry would look today...
I figured this is what must have happened with that Mario movie we got 30 years ago... what was it called? Rain Man II Revenge of Max Headroom? I mean, that's what they _should_ have called it, but apparently, earlier drafts actually had real Mario content in them. Also some BS like "Princess Hilda," why choose between Peach and Daisy when you can just make up a new name, right? -It worked with Galaxy.- But somehow they made that huge wet bowl of shit, and nobody learned the lesson that video game movies should have something vaguely to do with their own franchises until Detective Pikachu in 2019. Nowadays we have maybe enough video game movies that don't suck (too bad) to count on *_two_* hands!
@@BigOleWords The Mortal Kombat movie sucked, it was significantly worse than the Street Fighter movie released around the same time, and I have no idea why everyone pretends otherwise. We have two Sonic movies, while not perfect, they're better than they have any right to be, considering they're in the Scooby-Doo/Garfield genre. There's Mario and Pokémon that I mentioned, and Wreck-It-Ralph... the first one, because the second one is the illegitimate bastard child of Ready Player One and the Emoji Movie. That's 5, then you can start counting films you personally like on the second hand, maybe. Even if it is a film where the guy gets hit a million times, and then shouts "Flawless Victory!" and not in a self-aware way either.
I had a sneaking suspicion Werewolf was gonna be a Wolverine game when I started this video. The blade arms and mutant enemies were a decent giveaway, another was that this werewolf for some reason couldn't swim and the game even warns the player of that fact.
Also not even close to a video game, but another case of losing a license and going generic is Tim Mee toys retooling their delicensed 1960s Marvel comics figurines into generic fantasy characters; in many cases comically badly. "Sabertooth caveman" is still so obviously the hulk, but was pretty popular as a D&D Hill Giant back in the day when minis were harder to come by and people used toys more often. Thor is a Viking, Dr. Doom is barely changed, Falcon becomes a van airbrush art wizard... Tim Mee still makes the figures, I bought a set to cut up and customize into D&D monsters, just like old times, pretty recently.
The only one I can think of that’s a sort of similar thing is Dragon power which lost its dragon ball license but Im not sure if that was because of an actual license issue or just because Dragon Ball wasn’t really a thing in the USA
I am starting to think I am the only one who actually really liked the game Contra Force. I love the whole weapon swapping and AI computer assist options and the ability to swap guys when needed and hold weapons.
Arc Hound was likely finished up quickly since they invested so much into the game, but didn't want to invest any more money into fixing it, so they slapped together what they had and hoped to turn a profit. The incessant slowdown, pause jump glitch, long invulnerability frames, the screen not scrolling while invulnerable, the final boss theme only using four sound channels as opposed to five, lead me to believe the game was meant to be polished further but decided not to.
I'm fairly certain that Dr. Chaos started as a tie-in for the campy 1986 comedy-horror House (not to be confused with the bizarre 1977 Japanese film Hausu which now has a big cult following). In the movie a man inherits a weird and creepy large house that seems to have portals letting in monsters, while he simultaneously deals with his ptsd from fighting in vietnam, and his missing presumed dead son, both of which have connections to the house, where he has to fight a zombie version of a former fellow soldier and rescue his young son from a jungle world akin to his war past. The game has you exploring a mansion filled with strange rooms and seemingly random portals to a jungle world in an effort to rescue your inventor brother, all while fighting monsters, and the monsters that appear inside the house look strikingly similar to monsters that appear in the movie.
The Crazy Castle series is by far the craziest scenario of this in the gaming world. Accounting for Europe, Japan and the U.S regions they alternated between 7-8 IPs. They went from Roger Rabbit to Bugs Bunny to Mickey to Hugo to Ghostbusters and Garfield and even spawned its own unique IPs “Kid Klown” and later “Charlie Blast’s Territory” all because of licensing issues. It’s insane.
It really is wild stuff
The funny thing is that most of these games, Journey to Silius, Werewolf The Last Warrior and Sunman are better games than what would be released under the actual licenses.
They’re pretty impressive for sure.
Werewolf the last warrior for the NES is pure dogshit
Why are they better? I personally much prefer Silius in it's Terminator form, it makes much more sense.
@@yandman26 I'm saying that Journey to Silius is better than the actual Terminator game released by Mindscape, Werewolf The Last Warrior is better than the X-Men and the Wolverine game released by LJN, Sunman is better than the actual Superman game released by Kemco
All these games are better than the actual games we eventually got for those licenses.
@@Gatorade69 o.k, gotcha, still I advise you to go play the rom of the finished Sunsoft Termunator game, much more enjoyable than Silius, or at least to me.
FUN FACT: Werewolf The Last Warrior actually came with a comic, thus making its origins as a wolverine game even ore apparent
I actually own it, along with Journey Silius. My copy of Werewolf: The Last Warrior is actually a complete boxed copy, with said comic. And I use to play the SHIT out of Krion Conquest as a kid. LOVED that game! DAMN GOOD Mega Man clone.
4:41 They even used the Superman font for the pause screen!
Yeah they did!
The US version of Silius changed Jay's sprite drastically. He appears to wear a helmet in the Japanese and EU versions, and his proportions seem more realistic. The American Jay looks like some rockabilly pompadour guy, and he's short like Megaman. I feel like this alteration tones down the game's dark atmosphere,, which was unusually heavy by NES standards. I have to credit Sunsoft for the harrowing intro, and the most intense boss music on the system.
Hmmm interesting! Yeah I agree his appearance makes the game seem less apocalyptic.
a teen vs the robotic apocalypse is still kinda unrealisitic to me😂 at least make it more mature like Kyle
03:13 my boy wolverine scaling that building looking for Megaman
Hahahaha
Ah yes, I remember the time Mark Tyler bit off Evan Hollywood's nose.
Hahahaha
Little known fact. Uncanny Xmen was meant to be a game at one point. But they lost their minds.
Oh yeah? Any idea what?
@@BigOleWords Sorry, I think my crap joke bombed. There is an NES game called Uncanny Xmen and it's atrocious.
@@novelezra Hahaha ok sorry i see i see. I honestly was thinking it could've been another game!
I got the joke (hilarious), as I have played that awful game.
See AVGN. it's a well known case of LJN-itis.
I always felt like Fester's Quest was something else to begin with, with the whole Addams family thing being slapped onto it for whatever reason. Suspiciously, still by Sunsoft.
A more obscure game, James Bond Jr, was developed as an independent game with a different title but Eurocom had trouble finding a publisher until THQ showed up with their license for James Bond Jr, so they reskinned some sprites, changed some more stuff and there you go. Something along those lines. This game could actually feature in the games no one played...
Thanks for the video!
I think you’re the first one to bring me a game that fits this mold! I will definitely cover JBJ at some point so I’ll look into it. Thanks!
I can see what you are saying about Fester's Quest but I think it is most likely because it came out before the movies so it doesn't have the obvious references and was just a bit looser with the licence.
@@BigOleWords you're welcome to exploit my untapped reserve of genius! I had a few more games loosely fitting this theme coming to mind, but nothing too big. Mostly reskins for PAL market that made little sense. Til next, take care!
@@goatbone yeah it's more a vague sense of "what's this main character doing here". The other Addams family NES games have a better fitting environment, but they suck gloriously.
So, believe it or not, the history behind Fester's Quest is far more bizarre. It was not an unrelated game reskinned at the eleventh hour, but rather the brainchild of one of the bosses at Sunsoft's US division, RR Robbins, who literally had a dream about a NES game based on the Addams Family and convinced both the rightholders and Sunsoft to produce it. Sunsoft Japan thought it was a strange and poor idea but they did have the code/engine for Blaster Master lying around so they made it. It went on to sell like a million copies.
The development history behind JtS is equally fascinating, the initial Terminator game Sunsoft were developing, the one shown off in that one commercial, was a cinematic adventure game along the lines of the arcade Dragon's Lair, but that didn't pan out because recreating the entire movie cutscene by cutscene using NES cartridges obviously turned out not to be a feasible idea, and that's why they reworked it into a run-and-gun action platformer, which the license holders didn't like because their requirements were that Sunsoft strictly follow the movie's storyline and not have any enemy characters aside from the T-800. Neither requirement was really able to be fulfilled and the license was revoked and that's how the game became Journey to Silius. Also the US version is apparently an earlier build judging by Jay's design being different and more detailed in the JP/PAL versions.
There's also the big one.... Dragon Power was Dragon Ball in Japan!!! And Yo Noid! was a completely different ninja game in Japan.
Did you also know
Bugs bunny's crazy castle 1 was a reskin of
Who framed Roger rabbit on the Famicom disk system.
I heard the issue with Contra Force is that too many items on screen have hit boxes, hence the slow down. If that issue was fixed, I think slapping Contra on the title would be forgiven.
That would make sense!
It's sad too, because it wouldn't be a bad game at all if not for the unrelenting performance issues. It's not really "Contra" but it could have been a decent stand-alone title.
I don't know about hit boxes, but one of the killer features of this game is almost complete destructibility (albeit very sketchy). And if it had to be removed (I don’t know how else it could be fixed), then the game would lose some of its charm.
Playing it on the original console just hurts. It loads the hardware of the console so much that even when playing on an emulator with the function of emulating the double speed of the NES processor, it periodically slowed down. Only by maximizing the processor speed multiplier to the Maximum (x5? x10?), it can be played comfortably. And it turns into a completely different game. A very good game, I must say!
I read once that Mega Man 1 was intended to be an Astro Boy game but Capcom couldn't get the rights so instead designed an original character, and the same thing with Mario in the first Donkey Kong being made because Nintendo couldn't get (at that time) the Popeye license. I have no idea if this is true but sometimes I wonder what if our favorite franchises were actually made by accident, like what if George Lucas could have gotten the license to Flash Gordon and never made Star Wars at all.
I had heard that about DK/Popeye, that probably fits the bill. If the Mega Man/Astro Boy connection is true, that’s wild!
I always thought Mega Man looks like Astro Boy. They're both robot kids with cannons for hands.
it's more of trying to change mid into astro boy game due to they thought it's hard to sell a new ip but konami released astro boy famicom game so changed back into mega man
The thing that's weird about Sunman is that Sunsoft did release a Superman game for Genesis that looks incredibly similar in gameplay. So either they didn't like how the Genesis version turned out and pulled the NES license (if the Genesis version came out first) or they somehow changed their minds and granted them the same kind of game for a different system (if the NES one came first). Either way, a very confusing decision.
Yeah you’re right, and I have no idea what made the difference there.
According to an interview with Kenji Eno, who worked on the Famicom/NES game, on 1up (which I found linked via a website called Retrovolve), DC Comics didn't like that Superman could die or be damaged in the game so they pulled the license.
Yes, I don't know why DC didn't approve of Superman being able to be killed in that game when they approved of the Genesis game, where Superman is likewise not invincible, and they approved of the arcade game, where Superman also could die, and there have been many games with Superman as the main or ensemble Justice League character in the three decades since where Superman is far from invincible, so why they didn't approve of that one game is a mystery for the ages.
@@SteveBrandon That's the problem with invincible/invulnerable/nigh-invulnerable characters, isn't it? But it's just a mystery why THAT was the one game they refused to approve. The Genesis game is balls to the wall hard (similar to the Batman games), so you're definitely going to die a LOT before you get the hang of it. The again, years later, DC's the reason why the infamous N64 game is just flying through rings until the time runs out, so what do they know?
Sunsoft shoulda kept Sunman as a mascot. And you know what, I woulda played a game about an invincible hero when I was a kid. We already used game genie to do that regar'less.
@@SwiftJustice It's not so much a character is or isn't invincible/invulnerable, so much is that they have to make a character like Superman vulnerable to attacks to make that sort of gameplay work. Especially since that Warioland game (I forget if it was 2 or 3) didn't come out until after. A game that proved you can have a character that can't die, but still poses enough of a challenge for the game to be engaging.
Krion conquest is even more interesting being based off the wizard of oz considering the Japanese version (magical dorope)has full ninja gaiden style cutscenes between levels the us version never got.
Those cut-scenes are super rad.
Plus, the Japanese name "Doropie" is an obvious play on "Dorothy".
What's your source on the Wizard of Oz Krion Conquest connection? I've heard that mentioned but nobody ever gives a source.
Another interesting thing about Journey to Silius is that after the game was designed in Japan as the title rʌf World, the main protagonist sprite was changed from a solider to some kid for the North American version, Journey to Silius. Personally I've always been more fond of the Japanese sprite and the title rʌf World, even though I have absolutely no idea what a rʌf is.
"rʌf" is the stylized phonetic spelling of the english word "rough", thus rʌf World is supposed to be pronounced as "Rough World".
Is that the only real difference? The main character sprite?
@@BigOleWords Well, the text of the story cutscenes too. The US version of the game has some kid looking to avenge his father or something like that. The Japanese version has you playing as a solider in a future war against machines.
Actually, slight misconception about Doki Doki Panic: it was actually originally envisioned as a Mario title with more vertical than horizontal exploration. So they didn't "just" reskin a completely different game, they more so brought it back to its roots.
Also, something I noticed about your video: the live action segments have a really weirdly squished aspect ratio. Just looks a bit off to me.
Yeah I realized too late that I could’ve edited that differently. Still working out some stuff with the 4:3 conversion.
Exactly
Kinda, it was a prototype made by Tezuka but Miyamoto shot it down because they had other stuff to make, they then revived the prototype to be used as basis for their Yume Kojo collab game, which then became SMB2 (USA).
And even then, SMB2 is way more than a simple resking, they changed a lot of things on the gameplay side.
Not an NES game but I am reminded of RARE's reskin of "Dinosaur Planet" that turned into Star Fox Adventures. I like the gameplay and story but what is kind of disappointing is that in most RARE games there are all sorts of secrets and collectible goodies. There are collectibles in the game but everything "secret" winds up being a placeholder for some main quest event, and the mystery is taken away.
I saw a video that Batman, also from Sunsoft, was almost completed before the license was fully secured.
Apparently they would jump the gun and make the games before the license was secured, hoping that it would be.
This way they could put out a quality game that wasn't rushed. If they weren't able to secure the license, they could reskin it like Journey to Silius.
It's smart, though I wonder how close we came to Gothic Man for the NES from Sunsoft.
Gothic Man would've been just as dope!
Man, I can't get over how happy I am to see you grow. Great content, great production. Not to mention informative. Never stop.
Very kind of you to say, thanks bud :)
@5:33 "They tried to kill him with a forklift"🎶🎶
Hahaha
Man, some of the assets from Warewolf look like they are ripped from Wrath of the Black Manta
Now that you mention it…
The chick on the Krion cart should of been holding a cigarette
That would’ve taken that cover over the edge!
I had Werewolf: The Last Warrior. There was something off about the game, they featured the Werewolf so strongly, as though it was a marketable brand, so it makes sense that it was originally Wolverine.
I often wonder if Astyanax on NES was intended to be a He-Man game. The character looks like Ram man, and even a Skelator looking character appears.
Haha this is my new favorite fan theory. I hope it’s true!
The design of the Wicked Witch is actually pretty rad. Is a mix of a Geisha with Alita 1 from transformers.
Yeah it is!
0:25 - To be clear. Miyamoto was more involved in Dokey-Dokey Panic than he ever was involved in The Lost Levels. Making Mario 2 USA probably a more authentic sequel
Interesting…
The whole engine was created as a 2 player vertical scrolling mario game that was scrapped.
I remember reading somewhere that they thought it was too different from the original and went with lost levels.
Then in the us they thought that smb2j was too similar and too hard so they reworked dokidoki
I had never realized that Contra Force is for one has little to do with Contra series and that it is a bootleggiest bootleg possible
It’s a shame as it’s really cool on the surface but completely broken beyond any other NES game.
Konami made this arcade game called "MX5000", which is also known as "Flak Attack". The font in the game looks similar to the one they used in Top Gun for the NES, since you play as a fighter jet in MX5000/Flak Attack, it makes me wonder if that game was originally going to use the Top Gun license as well before they changed their minds and decided to make it an original production of theirs.
Probably someone else already said it but not only Sunman is actually Superman but you can see how the Genesis and Master System games look like sequels to this.
They do look awfully similar
@@BigOleWords i wrote this before seeing the part where he spins to dig the ground. We can do the same thing on the genesis and sms games down to the last pixel.
4:41 Love that the pause is styled like the Superman logo.
Werewolf was fucking awesome, I remember getting it for $20 at a store and being surprised at how good it was
Nice!
I'm glad Kenji Eno eventually got to make the original games he always wanted to make, even if his early years were pretty rough. Real industry icon right there
Definitely remembered his Sunman issues from your video :)
Whats funny about the Oz and Star Wars is that Yugioh has a series of cards called Kozmo that mixes these two ideas
That sounds pretty dope honestly!
7:40 Thats the tarot card from the Popess (high priestess) from Rider Waite's deck.
It does have a certain tarot quality to it for sure.
I didn't know Werewolf The Last Warrior was supposed to be a Wolverine game. It was one of my favorite games in the NES era.
I know right?! I had no idea
I'm glad to see someone shine a light on Werewolf: The Last Warrior. It's an often overlooked game in the NES library that has a banging soundtrack.
It’s got a lot of positive things going for it!
I had heard about the Terminator thing regarding Journey to Silius. man Sunsoft could've been up there with Capcom and Konami doing excellent licensed tie-ins! also Krion Conquest's Japanese name was i believe 'Magical Dorothy'? So the Wizard of Oz stuff makes a lot of sense.
“Doropie”, I assume so they wouldn’t get sued ;)
@@BigOleWords great point! you're probably right.
Werewolf the last warrior claimed two controllers is fits of rage and retired my Nintendo to the closest until my college years.
It's got a gift!
Donkey Kong was originally suppose to be a Popeye game but they couldn't get the license. Obviously, this worked out for the best because as they say "Necessity is the mother of invention", and we got the birth of Mario and Donkey Kong (even though Mario was called Jump Man at that point). They later bought the rights to Popeye due to DK's success and made another classic Nintendo game.
Ooohh that's a good call!
You drew that?? Bro you are an awesome artist. I watch your videos all the time and love your stuff, but now I love em just that little bit more....👍
“Drew” is a loose term I’d use for that one but I did design and marker it up ;). Way to hard for me to freehand pixel stuff
Arc Hound. Sounds like a Metal Gear spinoff.
Haha yes it does!
1999 is the second most futuristic year imaginable. Trailing only 199X. Obviously!
199x is the best!
Weird they thought they couldn't have used Wizard of Oz characters, it's been in the public domain since the 50s.
Hmmm good point I have no idea!
This channel actually made me want to try The Krion Conquest 🤣
It's kinda interesting to see how either Konami or Sunsoft consistently appear on such different lists, good, bad and licensed games. I wonder if Sunman would be better tailored for the American audiences, considering there was already a (very weird) Superman game by Kemco.
They really do cover all the bases and their games are always really interesting if nothing else!
I guess technically not an NES game, wasn't donkey Kong originally meant to be a Popeye game? Mario was created because they couldn't get the rights to Popeye.
Yep that’s a big one I missed!
Regading the Sunsoft games, I remember hearing that they made their licensed games with that intention before actually securing the licenses. As in, Batman (NES) was being developed as a Batman game before they got the OK from DC to make a Batman game. Don't think it counts as "losing" their licenses, but certainly fits the spirit of this list I think.
More like losing or gaining licenses before they ever had them.
Should have gone with "Tyke Myson."
Or M. Bison!
Dang, we almost had a decent Superman game.
So close!
Contra Force was the very last NES game I ever rented from Blockbuster back in late 1992 as I'd gotten an SNES for Christmas that year.
To anyone who is interested in Krion Conquest, the NTSC US version is the worst version of the game. The Japanese version, Magical Doropie, actually does have continues AND cutscenes. Best bet is to find a translated rom hack of that version of the game.
Agreed. I still hate it, but it is way better.
It kinda looks like NES Batman might have originally been intended for something else. I mean it has Bats fighting, mechanical monsters, thugs who look more like army commandos, and mutants. It's either that or it was all based on super secret deleted scenes from the Tim Burton blockbuster.
I am completely drawing a blank, but I remember reading that Batman was developed as a different game, but Sunsoft got the Batman license and quickly reskinned the game.
It may also be true for the second Batman game on NES - Return of the Joker - I mean... Not only do we have some not exactly fitting locations, but also the fact that Batman exclusively uses ranged attacks.
Interesting! You may be right but I had not heard that about Batman.
Krion’s Japanese name hints at the Oz connection. The main character’s name is Doropie.
I’m tempted to talk about the alien franchise’s influence on Metroid, but I don’t think there’s ever been evidence to suggest Nintendo tried to get the license.
I wish they had though! That’d be a perfect game to discuss!
Didn't Monster Party for the NES have a bunch of boss sprites that needed to be altered because they were originally copyrighted characters? Not so much a case of losing the license, but of the creators not having permission to begin with.
Yeah that game did have some censorship for sure as did some other titles. I still haven’t found much rhyme or reason to why certain games were censored and others weren’t.
it's one of those tone down the parody elements for foreign release. except japanese version was canceled
Hmmm, nothing else really comes to mind, but I'm sure there's a few. You always have interesting takes on the Ol' NES. I wonder if the muppets was something else snd they just branded it chaos.... can't wait for Thursday
Haha you wish Muppets had that excuse!
Kermit deserves better
I feel like I simply knew Werewolf was a Wolverine game. I played the hell out of it, and knew it was Juggernaut I was battling.
It definitely seems pretty obvious but I didn’t notice the first few times I played!
Someone should romhack Sunman into Superman, and Contra Force into Probotector!
I think I mentioned that with Sunman? Not sure about Contra Force but yeah that would rule!
Contra force was my 3rd game for the NES and its one of the best games ive ever played. The multiplayer is amazing and i genuinely have had nothing but fun times with it. While i understand its not a contra stylized game the overall story and gameplay is some of the best i've ever seen. Its one of my prized NES games and when youre playing with someone who cares enough to learn the enemy patterns and locations its a breeze to run through. I truly think the biggest flaw of this game are the people who refuse to give it the time of day out of anger for it "nOt BeiNg a reAl CoNtrA GamE"
Nice. I think if I’d grown up with it I could see how it’d be really fun, but playing it now it tough.
@@BigOleWords I was shocked to see it wasn't included in the contra anniversary collection but not too surprising given it's behind the scenes history, makes me even happier to still have it. I can totally see why it's the black sheep it is today. Also I love the work you do here on the channel I tell everyone you're The NES Guy😊
First of all, I know why this video popped up on my algorithm and I’m glad it did.
My comment is on Werewolf, which for whatever reason was known as Warwolf as I was growing up. Just last night, I found it after not seeing it for 30 years or so. I didn’t quite remember the bad guys. But as I was watching it, I thought to myself, “that guy looks like Juggernaut, and that one looks like Spider-Man/magneto” etc. I was thinking that it was heavily inspired by comics. But wow- my mind is blown to find out it was supposed to be a Wolverine game. I never made the connection in 30 years.
I remember watching the Fire boss that runs real fast. I was thinking that he was supposed to be Renegade. Or Pyro.
I was thinking the fire guy was Quicksilver because of the speed, but he looks more like Pyro for sure.
I know one title. Yo! Noid and its Japanese original game: Kamen no Ninja Hanamaru
I think that’s be more of a reskin like Mario 2?
I can't help but notice that Sunman bears a striking resemblance to Taito's Superman arcade game.
Hmm interesting!
This was pretty good, subscribed
Hooray!
Some of these I knew about. The Power Punch II is super obvious what it was intended to be
very cool video, something completely fresh!!
Haha I try my best!
Honorable mention should go to Monster Party. It never had official licenses, but the original plan was for each boss to be a parody of classic horror movie monsters.
Hmmm that’s interesting! Aren’t most of those characters public domain?
@@BigOleWords not THAT far back classic. They had lots of 70s/80s references. Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, a Xenomorph from Aliens, Gremlins, Planet of the Apes, etc. Modern classics, lol.
I would like a video where the opposite happened, they gained pop culture licences in different countries.
Oddly enough, that is the topic of the next vídeo!
@@BigOleWords Awesome! Can't wait!
You can't convince me that Fester's Quest didn't start development as something original and then Sunsoft slapped the Addams Family license over the top of it.
I remember getting that werewolf game after seeing JD Roth discuss it on Gamepro TV. It was so hard I don’t think I ever played it more that 3 or 4 times. Probably $60 spent in what should’ve been a rental
Ooof yeah that’s a rental for sure
My family got Werewolf when i was a kid.. I'm guessing it ended up in the "$19.99 club" at TRU.. There was always that one block of games that'd get marked down to $19.99 and those were predominantly the games my dad would buy for us... Anyway, Werewolf was soo difficult.. i think there was a level with lightning bolts you had to dodge, or something that constantly needed to be dodged?? My dad even bought us a 3rd party controller that would make games play in 'slow motion' by continuously pausing and unpausing the games, hoping it'd help me progress further in the game... i don't think it helped though.. I was never able to make it to the end of the game. :(
"Wizard of Oz meets Star Wars."
The madmen at Yu-Gi-Oh actually did this. Dorothy is Luke, the scarecrow is C-3P0, the tinman is R2 D2, the lion is Chewbacca, the witch Dorothy lands on is Darth Maul, the good witch is Obi-Wan, the evil witch is Vader, flying monkeys are stormtroopers. There's a lightsaber card and spaceships too but I don't think they equate except for the Death Star being the Emerald City.
Haha was this in the show or just in the cards?
@@BigOleWords Just the cards afaik
great stuff as always. The only two that I knew were Journey to Silius and Contra Force....which by the way...isn't a real Contra game lol.
You just had to say it! I cast thee out!!
Great spin on this topic!
Thanks bud!
Did not expect to be hit by Jeepers Creepers right at the start
Wow, it looks like Krion Conquest inspired an indie game named Cat Maze based on that main character's design.
Cool!
Honestly what Sunsoft was doing was brilliant.
It's not hard to perceive from many of their other licensed titles that they always kept things as something they could turn into an original IP. Fester's Quest comes to mind. With barely any altered content, you'd never even guess that it was an Adam's Family tie-in.
Yeah it’s not a bad formula, make a rad game based on something and if you can’t get the license it can still stand on its own or be altered for another license.
The Krion Conquest was known as Magical Kids Doropie in Japan, and while it didn't retain the Wizard of Oz license, "Doropie" is basically the Japanese transliteration for Dorothy, which makes it less distanced from Wizard of Oz than the western version, which called the protagonist Francesca instead. There were also cutscenes and level intros they cut from the western release, and more importantly, THE JAPANESE VERSION HAD UNLIMITED CONTINUES! It also would respawn you in the boss room if you died there, rather than forcing you back to a checkpoint further back. Werewolf: The Last Warrior was also made easier in the Japanese version, known as Chō Jinrō Senki: Warwolf, though not by much. But unlike Krion Conquest, the Japanese version actually came later. The cutscenes and other graphical assets got changed as well, including the ending screen, which had War Wolf glaring at the moon rather than holding an American flag.
A werewolf glaring at the moon makes for sense but is way less awesome!
@@BigOleWords Yeah but I can understand why they'd give it a less G.I. Joe vibe if it's for a Japanese localization
Sunman borrows enemies from Batman
Didn't realize that!
Werewolf was so crazy! Love that game.
This is fascinating. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Wow. So, we could actually have a decent Superman game on NES, instead of that crap from Kemco. I can't believe it. Great video man.
Yep, so close!
krion conquest was a mess, but its Japanese version gives you a reason to play it due to its story driven game.
thank god for the translators
1:05 forgot to mention the "link" between the story of Zelda and the film Legend... Which funny enough was named Legend of Zelda... Hmmm coincidence? I think not... 😅
If you licked this video, what flavor would it be?
Nice video. Cool content
Thanks!
Don't know if there's any proof, but I have my suspicions about the first TMNT game on the NES.
I can see it
It was developed as a Ninja Turtles game but the developers had very little to go by. So they had to make stuff up and used Getsu Fuma Den as a reference. That's why it feels "off"
Don't forget that we only got 'Donkey Kong' (and by extension, the entire Mario franchise) because Nintendo couldn't get the license to 'Popeye'
How different the video game industry would look today...
Good point and that along with the Astro Boy/ Mega Man connection were worth talking about in this video
@@BigOleWords Yeah, Mega Man has a definite Astro Boy flavor to it
Werewolf would then work as a werewolf by night title considering the reworked marvel characters.
I figured this is what must have happened with that Mario movie we got 30 years ago... what was it called? Rain Man II Revenge of Max Headroom? I mean, that's what they _should_ have called it, but apparently, earlier drafts actually had real Mario content in them. Also some BS like "Princess Hilda," why choose between Peach and Daisy when you can just make up a new name, right? -It worked with Galaxy.- But somehow they made that huge wet bowl of shit, and nobody learned the lesson that video game movies should have something vaguely to do with their own franchises until Detective Pikachu in 2019. Nowadays we have maybe enough video game movies that don't suck (too bad) to count on *_two_* hands!
Do we? The only movie I can think of is the original Mortal Kombat!
@@BigOleWords The Mortal Kombat movie sucked, it was significantly worse than the Street Fighter movie released around the same time, and I have no idea why everyone pretends otherwise. We have two Sonic movies, while not perfect, they're better than they have any right to be, considering they're in the Scooby-Doo/Garfield genre. There's Mario and Pokémon that I mentioned, and Wreck-It-Ralph... the first one, because the second one is the illegitimate bastard child of Ready Player One and the Emoji Movie.
That's 5, then you can start counting films you personally like on the second hand, maybe. Even if it is a film where the guy gets hit a million times, and then shouts "Flawless Victory!" and not in a self-aware way either.
Big Ol Words you rock! Ima buy that cool shirt when i can afford it
Awesome!
I had a sneaking suspicion Werewolf was gonna be a Wolverine game when I started this video. The blade arms and mutant enemies were a decent giveaway, another was that this werewolf for some reason couldn't swim and the game even warns the player of that fact.
Can Wolverine not swim?!
@@BigOleWords Adamantium bones, remember?
Theory about “Power Punch II” It came out in 1992. And what was a popular arcade game at the time? Street Fighter II
Also not even close to a video game, but another case of losing a license and going generic is Tim Mee toys retooling their delicensed 1960s Marvel comics figurines into generic fantasy characters; in many cases comically badly. "Sabertooth caveman" is still so obviously the hulk, but was pretty popular as a D&D Hill Giant back in the day when minis were harder to come by and people used toys more often. Thor is a Viking, Dr. Doom is barely changed, Falcon becomes a van airbrush art wizard...
Tim Mee still makes the figures, I bought a set to cut up and customize into D&D monsters, just like old times, pretty recently.
The only one I can think of that’s a sort of similar thing is Dragon power which lost its dragon ball license but Im not sure if that was because of an actual license issue or just because Dragon Ball wasn’t really a thing in the USA
Yeah I’m not sure why they made that call, I just assumed it was because Dragonball wasn’t yet known here.
@@BigOleWords that has always been my assumption as well
I am starting to think I am the only one who actually really liked the game Contra Force. I love the whole weapon swapping and AI computer assist options and the ability to swap guys when needed and hold weapons.
Contra Fir e looks like Rush and Attack 2 sequel if there was…
Arc Hound was likely finished up quickly since they invested so much into the game, but didn't want to invest any more money into fixing it, so they slapped together what they had and hoped to turn a profit. The incessant slowdown, pause jump glitch, long invulnerability frames, the screen not scrolling while invulnerable, the final boss theme only using four sound channels as opposed to five, lead me to believe the game was meant to be polished further but decided not to.
Heh heh, I wonder if Bayou Billy was suppose to be a Crocodile Dundae game as well?
That would make a lot of sense!
Speaking of inverses, there's Mario bros 2 and street fighter 2000 to name a couple
Street Fighter 2010? Like it was changed to be a Street Fighter sequel?
@@BigOleWords exactly. They just said the main char was Ken and went from there.