Nintendo is Great is a Substack devoted to exploring the world of Nintendo - their games, their consoles, their merchandise - in mostly chronological order, starting with the NES and continuing to the upcoming Switch 2.
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Raid on Bungeling Bay
PUBLISHER: Broderbund
DEVELOPER: Hudson Soft
RELEASE DATE: Feb. 22nd, 1985 (JP), Sept. 1987 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, Commodore 64, MSX2
Raid on Bungeling Bay is a strategy game, the kind where you supposedly have to plan out your attack before you make it, take out the patrol boats and the satellite towers before you hit your main target. In practice, though, it doesn’t matter whether you prepare in advance or just barrel recklessly towards the enemy. Fighter jets will always be called in, all sights pointed on you.
You control a helicopter, and your goal is to take out six factories (presumably Communist) over a wide, wide patch of land; the instruction manual claims that the playfield size is 100 times the screen size, and that’s no joke. The helicopter’s equipped with bullets to take out the smaller obstacles – tanks, patrol boats, jets, satellites, etc. – while the bombs are for the factories. Your bombs are limited to nine, though, so if you run out or your health is wearing down, land the helicopter on the aircraft carrier to replenish.
Destroy the patrol boats before you find the factory or don’t, the fighter jets always come after you, regardless. Shoot ‘em down, hope more aren’t called, and resume bombing the factory. Every so often, jets will also attack your aircraft carrier, so you gotta shoot them down as well. Once you destroy all six factories, the next round begins with a higher difficulty.
Raid on Bungeling Bay originally released for computers in 1984 and for Famicom in 1985. By 1987, this NES port was already showing its age. The constant back-and-forth to the aircraft carrier for additional health and bombs, flying around the huge map to find your next target, shooting down jets that never stop coming. Increased difficulty is your reward for survival. The gameplay loop is functional, but never addictive or satisfying. Indeed, the game offers little to keep players bungeling back for more.
Straight From the… Arcade?
The Famicom port of Raid on Bungeling Bay was massively popular in Japan, to the tune of a million copies sold, according to creator Will Wright. Due to the game’s stunning success, Nintendo created a Vs. cabinet for the game and put it into Japanese arcades a couple months after the Famicom version was released.
Supposedly, Vs. Raid on Bungeling Bay was going to be released in the United States as well, but if it ever was, nobody has any information about it online. Will Wright himself isn’t sure if the game was ever released in the US or not.
So! My guess is Vs. Raid on Bungeling Bay was supposed to be released in US arcades at some point, but it either wasn’t or it was only released in test markets like LA and New York to see if it attracted gamer attention. And if the latter was the case, clearly, the game was not a success.
Either way, I have nothing to share from the arcade version. As far as anyone knows (at the moment), it existed in Japan, and that’s it.
Other Versions
Commodore 64
MSX
*all images courtesy of MobyGames
Ring King
PUBLISHER: Data East
DEVELOPER: Namco
RELEASE DATE: Jun. 19th, 1987 (JP), Sept. 1987 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, MSX
Before Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out became the One NES Boxing Game to Jab Them All, Ring King gave the genre its best haymaker.
You start off training, getting a feel for your boxer. Give him a name, he deserves it, boost his confidence a bit. In your first round, you’re given nine points to allot to either your Punch, Speed, or Stamina. The more opponents you beat, the more points you’re given to fill out your boxer profile. Train forever, get strong and dominate your opponents. Once you feel confident in your abilities, take out the wannabe upstarts in Ranking and Tournament Mode, show ‘em what it’s like to get punched by a real man.
Strategy is important in Ring King, you can’t just flail your fists and hope you hit your target every time. Monitor each opponent’s stats and understand what they mean. Some boxers float, others are like iron, immovable. The more points you acquire, the more moves you’ll add to your repertoire. Jabs will be yesterday’s meal, Flying Uppercuts and Spin Hooks will be your new dish, best served hot and with great force.
Ring King has personality, it has panache. The boxers make for pleasing spectacles. There are only a couple character models, palette swapped when the mood strikes, but they wear odd colors and have bushy hair and mustaches. Boxer C. Rocky looks like he has jaundice, but he wears pink shorts anyway, what a guy!
When the boxers’ energy is low, they stumble, stagger, punch drunk, trying to remember their names. Occasionally, with the right uppercut, they get thrown out of the ring. Sometimes they get tired, and instead of fighting, they hold each other and recover some stamina points. And in between rounds, each boxer’s cornerman tightens their belt and provides encouragement. Impropriety some say, but it gets results.
Straight From the Arcade
*images courtesy of Escape Pod Online, Flickr, imgur, and Moby Games…
But Wait, There’s More…
The NES version of Ring King was also released as VS. TKO Boxing for Nintendo’s VS. System arcade lineup.
*images courtesy of Arcade Marquee, Launchbox Games Database, eBay, and Museum of the Game
Ladies and Gentlemen… Family Boxing
Ring King has four names! This might be a record number of monikers for any game I’ve discussed thus far.
It’s known as Family Boxing in Japan, King of Boxing in Europe (and also possibly Japan? According to GameFAQs, anyway), Ring King, and finally, VS. T.K.O. Boxing. Totally not confusing!
Why Family Boxing? Punching dudes as hard as you can in the face doesn’t seem very… familial to me. Well, this is actually Namco’s third game in the “Family” sports series, right behind Family Jockey (where families gamble at the horse track together) and Family Stadium (where families throw Cracker Jack at baseball players together).
Here’s a screenshot of the MSX version, otherwise known as Family Boxing.
Raid on Bungeling Bay - Never played this one, but as a kid I distinctly remember hearing it was awful -- maybe from a friend that rented it?
But I never knew it was a Will Wright game! Also interesting that it was an American game that was a hit in Japan. Now I at least want to try it.
The list of Western games that have been successful in Japan is small but to my knowledge there are a few (e.g. Minecraft). I can't think of any others that have been hits over there while remaining obscure over here.
Also originally a Commodore 64 game that received an arcade port! How many other arcade games originated on home computers? I'm thinking approximately zero. It would have been plausible if Doom received some sort of arcade port but don't think it ever did.
Ring King - Enjoyed the review. Vaguely remember renting this once and having a pretty good time, but it's very fuzzy; I think my memories of it were all consumed by Punch Out.