8-bit and 16-bit licensed games

[marurun]

So the latest Retronauts patron-exclusive podcast episode is Parish, Kulata, and Gipp all sharing their favorite 8-bit licensed games, and they have some good picks. And that has me wondering what licensed games folks on here love and why. It could be as simple as it's just a really good game, or maybe it's not that good but it was all you had for a couple months so you love it despite itself, or maybe it's a case of something being super true to the license, or it just being a visual and auditory feast. Whatever the reason, please share! I'll lead off with some of mine. Note that there are going to be some real platform gaps in my list, because I did not play the Master System, Game Boy, or Game Gear extensively and thus don't have a good feel for their licensed output. Also, I imagine 16-bit selections are going to be a lot easier for folks since those consoles are generally more capable than their 8-bit ancestors.

In my mind the king of good licensed games on NES was Capcom. They had some great titles, mostly Disney stuff, but not exclusively. I'll let someone else claim those. I want to highlight Willow. Capcom made 2 dramatically different Willow games, a side-scroller for the arcade which is beyond the scope of this discussion, and a top-down action RPG. The action RPG has great music, a decent story (which bears at least some resemblance to the movie), and solid action. It's definitely a better video game than it is a Willow game, because in the movie Willow wasn't swinging around a sword and taking out tons of enemies, but when you're PLAYING a game, the fun is what counts.

Meanwhile, the Sega Genesis had some bonkers licensed games. Sega did a lot of Disney titles, but I want to highlight Quack Shot!, which is an odd little game of Donald Duck firing mostly plungers to stun enemies and use as platforms. The sound effects are... not great, but the gameplay is tons of fun.

[QUAG BOI]

for me i really love the sanrio games character soft maid for the famicom
my favorite one is defiantly kero kero keroppi no diboken 2

its just a solid platformer with good music
it plays a lot like wagyan land
also keroppi is very very cute

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also i know this one is 32 bit but i really wanted to share it

Gundam battle assault 2 on PlayStation is a really cool and underrated 2d fighter

its got good music and graphic's and plays pretty well

also i main the rose Gundam

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[SpaceBooger]

From my now defunct website when I used to do reviews of comic reated games and game related comics:

Batman for the NES was one of those games that was more a “video game” than a “comic book licensed video game,” meaning quite simply that it didn’t suck. Most comic book licensed games were crap games counting on the popularity of a character or franchise instead of solid gameplay to boost sales, and because of the movie, Batman was the hottest property on the planet in 1989. There seemed to be a downside to the game though. Even though it was an almost perfect platforming experience, the game had little to do with the movie other than Batman, the Joker, and the cut scenes. This left some comic book fans disappointed in the game.

Batman NES may be my favorite NES game ever.

[Note]

Admittedly, I didn't play too many licensed games when I was growing up, but I did get a chance to try a few.

My favorite would probably be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the SNES. It was one of my first SNES games and one that my parents picked out, they did a great job picking out that one. My favorite character play as is Raph. It's just an easy pick up and play game, that my sister and friends all liked it, so it was a good one to turn to for some co-op fun.

A Genesis licensed game I had a chance to play back then was Captain America and the Avengers on the Genesis. My friend had a small selection of Genesis games and I had a chance to try this one at his house. Even though the experience is toned down from the arcade version, I think it's still a lot of fun, with a good cast of characters and good soundtrack. My only nitpick on this one is you have two press two buttons to throw your weapon, even though there's a free button on the controller. I'm in the mood to revisit Captain America and the Avengers sometime soon. Also, I've never tried the SNES version, which would be fun to compare.

Another Genesis licensed game that I enjoyed, even though it's objectively not a great game, is X-Men. X-Men is an action platformer, with four playable characters, and a roster of characters than can also be called in to help momentarily. The gameplay and mechanics are a bit slower paced in comparison to other action platformers on the system. But I was (and still am) a big X-Men fan and was glad to experience their world in a video game. Also, the cover art for this game is pretty awesome. However, I never did beat this one ... I should go back and give it another shot.

[MrPopo]

I think it fundamentally comes down to whether or not a "real" developer did the licensed games. If a developer was known for good games, generally their licensed games would also be good (the first TMNT notwithstanding, we'll call that a fault of it being Ultra and not Konami even though that was just a way to get around Nintendo release policies at the time).

[Reprise]

Meanwhile, the Sega Genesis had some bonkers licensed games. Sega did a lot of Disney titles, but I want to highlight Quack Shot!, which is an odd little game of Donald Duck firing mostly plungers to stun enemies and use as platforms. The sound effects are... not great, but the gameplay is tons of fun.

When I was a kid, the very first licensed games I remember playing and getting were Disney games, specifically Quack Shot, Castle of Illusion, The Lion King, Aladdin and Jungle Book. All of them were great, although the final three in retrospect really were too hard for kids, particularly Lion King.

Quack Shot always seemed really interesting to me, because I remember you got to the end of the first level and you hit a brick wall (I think literally, as there's a wall you can't climb), and you have to go onto other levels and then come back later with a special plunger that sticks to walls and lets you climb up them. The game almost had a sort of mild Metroidvania feel to it.

Another Genesis licensed game that I enjoyed, even though it's objectively not a great game, is X-Men. X-Men is an action platformer, with four playable characters, and a roster of characters than can also be called in to help momentarily. The gameplay and mechanics are a bit slower paced in comparison to other action platformers on the system. But I was (and still am) a big X-Men fan and was glad to experience their world in a video game. Also, the cover art for this game is pretty awesome. However, I never did beat this one ... I should go back and give it another shot.

The second X-Men game, Clone Wars, is pretty good and supposed to be a lot better. I own it, but never played the first one. It's really weird too, as there's no intro sequence or even a logo. You turn it on and it instantly throws you into the first level (and if you're not ready to start playing immediately, you will take hits as you start by an enemy). It's a really weird design. You don't even get to choose your character as the game just chooses it for you at random. It is only after you beat the first level that you get a character select screen. When I first bought the game I thought I had some weird repro version because of that, until I looked it up online and found that it's just how the game is.

[marurun]

X-men deserved a good quality platformer of some kind and instead, the best they could get was mediocre. It's a bit sad, because it should have been a killer license, something Capcom realized when it birthed Children of the Atom. The rest is history.

[prfsnl_gmr]

X-men deserved a good quality platformer of some kind and instead, the best they could get was mediocre. It's a bit sad, because it should have been a killer license, something Capcom realized when it birthed Children of the Atom. The rest is history.

You’re forgetting Mutant Apocalypse. That game rocks.

Also, LJN’s Wolverine for the NES is also pretty strong. (You press the select button to extend your claws!). It’s probably the strongest of LJN’s licensed games for the NES. Adamantium Rage for the Genesis and SNED isn’t bad either.

Apparently, the Game Gear X-Men games are pretty good, but I haven’t played any of them.

[Note]

The second X-Men game, Clone Wars, is pretty good and supposed to be a lot better. I own it, but never played the first one. It's really weird too, as there's no intro sequence or even a logo. You turn it on and it instantly throws you into the first level (and if you're not ready to start playing immediately, you will take hits as you start by an enemy). It's a really weird design. You don't even get to choose your character as the game just chooses it for you at random. It is only after you beat the first level that you get a character select screen. When I first bought the game I thought I had some weird repro version because of that, until I looked it up online and found that it's just how the game is.

Totally agree that Clone Wars is a pretty good game and I think it's much better than the first X-Men game. I actually bought Clone Wars from a Toys 'R Us bargain bin when the Genesis 3 was released, so I experienced it a bit later and don't have the same nostalgia with it. While I did play it a good amount, I only finally beat it a few years back. The beginning of the game is quite unique for sure, still to this day it's the only game I played that throws you into the action without any type of menu screen. Definitely caught me off guard when I first played it!

The cover for Clone Wars is pretty cool too, but as I have the Mega Hits version, my copy doesn't have the foiling effect the original release has.

X-men deserved a good quality platformer of some kind and instead, the best they could get was mediocre. It's a bit sad, because it should have been a killer license, something Capcom realized when it birthed Children of the Atom. The rest is history.

I agree that it's too bad that a lot of the X-Men video games during this era weren't good. Especially when we had a great arcade beat 'em up that just needed to be ported over to consoles.

You’re forgetting Mutant Apocalypse. That game rocks.

Also, LJN’s Wolverine for the NES is also pretty strong. (You press the select button to extend your claws!). It’s probably the strongest of LJN’s licensed games for the NES. Adamantium Rage for the Genesis and SNED isn’t bad either.

Apparently, the Game Gear X-Men games are pretty good, but I haven’t played any of them.

Mutant Apocalypse has been on my to get list for a long time now. I should finally prioritize that one! Also, can't say I've tried the Wolverine games for any consoles or the X-Men Game Gear outings, something to look into as well.

[Note]

The second X-Men game, Clone Wars, is pretty good and supposed to be a lot better. I own it, but never played the first one. It's really weird too, as there's no intro sequence or even a logo. You turn it on and it instantly throws you into the first level (and if you're not ready to start playing immediately, you will take hits as you start by an enemy). It's a really weird design. You don't even get to choose your character as the game just chooses it for you at random. It is only after you beat the first level that you get a character select screen. When I first bought the game I thought I had some weird repro version because of that, until I looked it up online and found that it's just how the game is.

Totally agree that Clone Wars is a pretty good game and I think it's much better than the first X-Men game. I actually bought Clone Wars from a Toys 'R Us bargain bin when the Genesis 3 was released, so I experienced it a bit later and don't have the same nostalgia with it. While I did play it a good amount, I only finally beat it a few years back. The beginning of the game is quite unique for sure, still to this day it's the only game I played that throws you into the action without any type of menu screen. Definitely caught me off guard when I first played it!

The cover for Clone Wars is pretty cool too, but as I have the Mega Hits version, my copy doesn't have the foiling effect the original release has.

X-men deserved a good quality platformer of some kind and instead, the best they could get was mediocre. It's a bit sad, because it should have been a killer license, something Capcom realized when it birthed Children of the Atom. The rest is history.

I agree that it's too bad that a lot of the X-Men video games during this era weren't good. Especially when we had a great arcade beat 'em up that just needed to be ported over to consoles.

You’re forgetting Mutant Apocalypse. That game rocks.

Also, LJN’s Wolverine for the NES is also pretty strong. (You press the select button to extend your claws!). It’s probably the strongest of LJN’s licensed games for the NES. Adamantium Rage for the Genesis and SNED isn’t bad either.

Apparently, the Game Gear X-Men games are pretty good, but I haven’t played any of them.

Mutant Apocalypse has been on my to get list for a long time now. I should finally prioritize that one! Also, can't say I've tried the Wolverine games for any consoles or the X-Men Game Gear outings, something to look into as well.