Together Retro: Licensed to Thrill (Licensed 2D Platformers)

[SpaceBooger]

Just looking through my 16 bit options...




Yes, I did include Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City as an option.

[ESauced]

I think a few of those games would fall outside the genre requirement but that’s a good collection of licensed games. And I say that because it looks a lot like my collection of licensed games

I completely forgot about the X Men games for Genesis; they’re good fits for this month. The first one loses its luster pretty early on but the second one is a good game.

I haven’t played the genesis Hulk since I was a kid. Is that game any good?

And if Michael Jordan counts then does Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker?

[SpaceBooger]

The only criteria to meet for this month's theme is that the game needs to be a sidescrolling platformer, based on an IP or license that isn't normally associated with video games.

At the time this was made I think was the time MJ was exempt and excluded from NBA games. Plus it's a side scroller and basketball players weren't normally associated with platformers.
Based on my interpretation, Moonwalker definitely counts.

Oh, I didn't read/remember that it was platforms bassed... so I guess 1/2 off the games I have are beat 'em ups and the ones I mentioned earlier in another post don't count. My bad.

With that said, I've narrowed it down down to Darkwing, Busters Hidden Treasure, Indiana Jones Adventures and Michael Jordan.

[Exhuminator]

Indiana Jones Adventures

I tried this one myself three nights ago. While IJA's presentation is about on par with the Super Star Wars series, its actual game design is lackluster to say the least. Perhaps "infuriatingly inept" would be a more apt description. I wish you luck.

[Sarge]

Assuming you're talking the NES version of Darkwing, that's the best of that bunch for sure. If you like Mega Man, you should enjoy it as well.

[Markies]

I completely forgot about the X Men games for Genesis; they’re good fits for this month. The first one loses its luster pretty early on but the second one is a good game.

I completely forgot about the X-Men games for the Genesis. I don't know if I would call them straight platformers though as they are more like Licensed Action-Platformers, but that is just being nit picky.

I will say that both of them are fairly brutal. Also, one you will need to play on Genesis hardware to beat as you have to reset the system to beat the game.

Assuming you're talking the NES version of Darkwing, that's the best of that bunch for sure. If you like Mega Man, you should enjoy it as well.

I played through Darkwing Duck on the NES last year and it is a Mega Man clone through and through.

I will say that either Darkwing has too little firepower or the enemies take too many hits, but that was the biggest factor between the two games. Every enemy seemed to take just a little too many shots to kill. So, you don't go through the levels as fast compared to Mega Man which makes the game feel a bit slower.

[ESauced]

I completely forgot about the X Men games for Genesis; they’re good fits for this month. The first one loses its luster pretty early on but the second one is a good game.

I completely forgot about the X-Men games for the Genesis. I don't know if I would call them straight platformers though as they are more like Licensed Action-Platformers, but that is just being nit picky.

I will say that both of them are fairly brutal. Also, one you will need to play on Genesis hardware to beat as you have to reset the system to beat the game.

Yeah they are Action-Platormers but I think people have been playing the Batman games so I assume the X-men games would count too. I had forgotten about the part you have to reset in X-men and played through it up to that point on my Nomad. That was frustrating. Haha.

[Xeogred]

Robocop (NES) = Well, better than Dirty Harry, but only just barely... still bad. Janky mechanics, boring level design, mobbing fodder enemies, ugh. What a waste of great source material. Moved on.

Aladdin (SNES) = I owned the Genesis version as a kid, and I loved it. Never played the SNES version. If you didn't know, the SNES version is completely different than the Genesis version, different developers and everything. Capcom made this one. And you know what? It's pretty damn good! (Except for the magic carpet ride escape the lava part.) I got all the way to the point of finishing stage 4, then wrote down my password and called it a night.

Robocop 3 was one of those random NES games I had as a kid. So you know, we played that sort of thing we randomly owned back then. I never understood much of the game, probably couldn't read much at the time. In between levels you can diagnose Robocop's exterior damage and I think could heal him in spots. But I had no clue what the heck I was doing.

A full youtube run of it clocks in at just 15 minutes haha, really weird. I should check it out again for old times sake:


Don't think I ever played the first two.

Aladdin rules and I think the level design in the back half after where you left off gets really cool. Yeah as a kid that magic carpet escape level was often the make or break run moment. I finally played the Genesis one last year and it was really neat, but I still have a soft spot for the SNES game.

It's becoming amusing how you can start to see "engines" a bit with old games. Magical Quest, Aladdin, Gargoyle's Quest, Super Ghouls... all have similar fonts, sounds, graphics, etc. Mega Man X seems like it was its own engine or something though.

[Sarge]

Yeah, Capcom definitely re-used a ton of their engine assets. When I was playing through Magical Quest, I got Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts vibes on more than one occasion.

[pierrot]

I am SO upset with Buster Busts Loose right now! This game is a hot mess. I remember now that the kid in my apartment complex and I never got past the guard dog in the first level. I was pretty much terrible at video games when I was young, and most of the time I spent with that kid, I was roped into playing Ken Griffey Jr Presents Major League Baseball, or watching The Sandlot--the former was okay; The latter usually made me regret being born. So, I don't think we ever put that much time into it, but as an adult, with much better video game skills, I can definitely cut my young-self some slack when it comes to Buster Busts Loose. It's a train wreck, and not just because the train level (second stage) is some next level horse manure. The controls suck, the move 'arsenal' is a sack of crap, the stage design is unreasonable, and the music is what I imagine prisoners in Singapore are forced to listen to while in solitary confinement. About the only thing it has going for it is some decent graphics.

Moving on--.