Nintendo is Great is 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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Side Pocket
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Data East
RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30th, 1987 (JP), Nov. 1987 (US), May 27th, 1992 (EU)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, Game Boy, Genesis, Game Gear, Super NES
You’re the young pool shark from across town. The other hustlers don’t know anything about you, but they like your look. You’re clean, you dress nice, and you’re unassuming. Your face is a blank slate, pure and formless, and you hold a stick like you were born with it. Question is… do you have what it takes? To ascend the ranks of the Data East Tournament Final, leave behind your City Master title, and become the World Champion?
Pool is about the vibe, but it’s also about your skills. Side Pocket ensures that you have everything you need to win, including a training mode, but is that enough? Hope you have an understanding of physics inside that perfectly coiffed head of yours. Rack up the balls, break ‘em, see where they land. Some of us are gifted with insight from above, to see where the balls will go before we even hit them. Others among us – the mere mortals – have to visualize where they might go.
Whichever way you land, this is pool. You don’t need a college degree, just some moxie. In Side Pocket, you get points for sinking the balls, period. However, if you sink them in the “correct” order – 1 2 3 4 5 6 – you’ll get additional points and a healthy amount of street cred.
Points are important. The more you have, the higher your rank. If you don’t get enough in a particular game to reach the next rank, you’ll play another game and try your luck again. Be careful, though: you only get ten misses for your entire run. Failure to get a ball in the hole counts as a miss; two misses for sinking the cue ball.
Side Pocket is basic pool, but you, the young, good-looking pool shark, will never die. Remember that.
Star Force
PUBLISHER: Tecmo
DEVELOPER: Hudson Soft
RELEASE DATE: June 25th, 1985 (JP), Nov. 1987 (US), Apr. 27th, 1990 (EU)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, Mobile, MSX, Switch (via Arcade Archives), PlayStation 4 (via Arcade Archives), SG-1000, Sharp X68000
Star Force is a classic video game shoot-em-up tale, you know the kind. A terrible, vague evil rules the galaxy. All the galaxy’s citizens are afraid because the evil seems too powerful to stop. A young soldier named Final Star, unlearned in evil’s conquering ways, says, “Not on my watch,” hops in a fighter jet, and proceeds to destroy all the evil in the galaxy. The people are saved, the hero is praised. Life finds a way.
While Final Star is determined and courageous, he must not allow himself to be overcome by setbacks and tribulations. 24 levels, each named after the Greek alphabet, beckon him into the darkness. Swarms of enemies, many with unpronounceable names like Faillar and Gadoha attack with pure reckless fury. They also unleash spiky bullets in quick succession, so much so that your entire screen is often covered with the enemies and their pointed projectiles.
How does Final Star absorb the hatred of Pure Evil by himself? Not well, but thankfully, he doesn’t have to fight alone. At the midpoint of each level, a mini-Final Star is trapped in a golden capsule, waiting to be released. Once Final Star absorbs this secondary ship, he’s equipped with rapid firepower and faster movement.
Secrets also abound in Star Force’s depths, and once uncovered, add to Final Star’s point total. Since extra points are the only way to gain extra lives, he’ll need to shoot anything and everything on the map to find them, including the many ‘B’s, the mysterious Zmuda Stegui, and the elusive Cleopatra.
Final Star’s mission in Star Force is a test of any player’s skill and endurance, but the deeper you get into the tragic Greek depths, the more rewarding it becomes. Tap the ‘A’ button like you just drank three shots of espresso and enjoy the ride.
Super Pitfall
PUBLISHER: Activision
DEVELOPER: Micronics
RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5th, 1986 (JP), November 1987 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Tandy Color Computer (?!), NEC PC88
Pitfall Harry is back, but he looks like a completely different man, perhaps one we’ve seen before. No longer bound to the stick-figure confines of his Atari 2600 adventures, he’s put on weight, grown a mustache, bought a gun. At least he can still jump like a madman. “Soar” might be the better word, his arms thrust triumphantly in the air every time he leaps over danger. He looks so familiar, so unlike the Harry we once knew. Hmm… strange.
But there’s no time for pondering. Harry’s niece, Rhonda, and pet lion, Quickclaw, have been kidnapped by Moai Heads in the Andes Mountains. The Raj Diamond is hidden somewhere within the game’s 270 screens. And every winged, slithering, or hopping creature has it in for Harry’s iron-rich blood. Enough to make a grown explorer cry.
The Andes Mountains are treacherous, to say the least. In-game maps are scarce. You’ll have to make your own if you want to remember where key items are.
Oh, and items are invisible. That’s right, completely invisible. Jump in exactly the right spot, and they’ll appear, but where is the right spot? Trial-and-error, friends. Jump often. Jump everywhere. Maybe you’ll find the Spade, Diamond, or Heart Balls that unlock new areas. Or maybe you’ll find nothing and grow ever more frustrated by the frogs that won’t stop licking you to death.
Your tolerance for Pitfall Harry’s only 8-bit adventure comes down to a couple factors. Do you appreciate non-linear adventures that refuse to provide you with any help? Will you tolerate the tedium of jumping every step just to see if the key to Quickclaw’s cage will magically manifest? Can you get down with Pitfall Harry’s Super Mario makeover? If not, dump Super Pitfall in its own bottomless pit and never look back.
It's a little sad seeing Pitfall Harry on the NES. It's like seeing a rock star way past his prime trying to perform. He went from pioneering horizontal movement in platformers to trying his hardest to copy Mario. He doesn't look like himself. He doesn't play like himself. He looks more like the guy from Spelunker than how he looked on the Atari. The legend did not retire gracefully.
Activision was one of the few (only?) companies that somehow managed to publish games for the Master System and the NES. I’m surprised Pitfall never made it to the Master System too, especially since there was a Sega arcade version of Pitfall II.