These are two early NES games that I think would do well for remakes/remasters. I’d love to see Popeye with graphics that look just like the cartoons and maybe with some gameplay additions. And Urban Champion would be fun to revisit as a full-fledged one-on-one fighter with more characters and online play.
I'd say the model for a Popeye remake (or really, any remake of an 80s game with simple, single-screen arcade gameplay) would be the BurgerTime game for Switch. I played the demo and it seemed pretty good. Or at least it seemed a lot more worthwhile to play nowadays than the original BurgerTime, while it still held onto the core appeal of that game. But I didn't actually buy it, so I suppose I'm part of the problem, in terms of more games like that coming to market. And I imagine BurgerTime was much more popular, at least as an arcade game, than Popeye.
As for a full Urban Champions game -- that's more of a stretch. But I'd be all about those guys coming to Smash Bros! I'd say that roster has more than enough angsty anime guys with swords at this point.
I commented before that I think you underrated Popeye a little, even if it's not exactly good (C/C- for me). But maybe I just have too much nostalgia for it, since I did own it and played it a good amount back then, while I probably only play it once every 5 years these days. I had "Popeye Meets Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (from 1937!) on VHS for some reason, and watched it a ton, so I suppose that's why my parents got me the Popeye NES game.
I consider Popeye a horror game. It's basically the early NES version of Alien: Isolation. When you think you have some comfortable distance from Bluto and he suddenly jumps down from a higher level right next to you, that sure got my heart pumping as a kid.
Urban Champions is definitely the worse game. Though in the days before proper fighting games, it at least had a niche. I think you can have 5-10 minutes of fun with it with a friend, if neither of you have played it recently (or ever). To me, that's worth a little more than D-, but eh, I get it.
I love your perspective on Popeye as a horror game. I do remember being freaked out as a kid when Bluto jumped down to your level seemingly out of nowhere and almost wrecked shop on poor Popeye.
But eh, I don't know. Popeye is fine for a one-and-done, but it really has no staying power for me, even less than the original Donkey Kong.
My cousin and I would make each other laugh with Urban Champion, but we could never play it for more than 10 minutes. Just too repetitive.
1) Beg, borrow, or do chores for the money to buy a good game, after consultation with the neighborhood kids and kids as school, of course; or
2) Declare that Nintendo sucks, and swear off video games for good; or
3) Become an urban champion oneself, beating the tar out of everyone you see on the street giving fuel to the theory that video games are a harmful behavioral influence on children.
These are two early NES games that I think would do well for remakes/remasters. I’d love to see Popeye with graphics that look just like the cartoons and maybe with some gameplay additions. And Urban Champion would be fun to revisit as a full-fledged one-on-one fighter with more characters and online play.
2025 redemption arcs for Popeye and Urban Champion?! Nintendo's so wily, I wouldn't put it past them to do something crazy like that.
Meanwhile, F-Zero languishes away in IP hell...
I'd say the model for a Popeye remake (or really, any remake of an 80s game with simple, single-screen arcade gameplay) would be the BurgerTime game for Switch. I played the demo and it seemed pretty good. Or at least it seemed a lot more worthwhile to play nowadays than the original BurgerTime, while it still held onto the core appeal of that game. But I didn't actually buy it, so I suppose I'm part of the problem, in terms of more games like that coming to market. And I imagine BurgerTime was much more popular, at least as an arcade game, than Popeye.
As for a full Urban Champions game -- that's more of a stretch. But I'd be all about those guys coming to Smash Bros! I'd say that roster has more than enough angsty anime guys with swords at this point.
That's an interesting bit of history on Popeye.
I commented before that I think you underrated Popeye a little, even if it's not exactly good (C/C- for me). But maybe I just have too much nostalgia for it, since I did own it and played it a good amount back then, while I probably only play it once every 5 years these days. I had "Popeye Meets Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (from 1937!) on VHS for some reason, and watched it a ton, so I suppose that's why my parents got me the Popeye NES game.
I consider Popeye a horror game. It's basically the early NES version of Alien: Isolation. When you think you have some comfortable distance from Bluto and he suddenly jumps down from a higher level right next to you, that sure got my heart pumping as a kid.
Urban Champions is definitely the worse game. Though in the days before proper fighting games, it at least had a niche. I think you can have 5-10 minutes of fun with it with a friend, if neither of you have played it recently (or ever). To me, that's worth a little more than D-, but eh, I get it.
I love your perspective on Popeye as a horror game. I do remember being freaked out as a kid when Bluto jumped down to your level seemingly out of nowhere and almost wrecked shop on poor Popeye.
But eh, I don't know. Popeye is fine for a one-and-done, but it really has no staying power for me, even less than the original Donkey Kong.
My cousin and I would make each other laugh with Urban Champion, but we could never play it for more than 10 minutes. Just too repetitive.
138 fights . . . this is the Desert Bus of early gaming endurance tests.
What if Urban Champion was your only NES game back in 1986 or something? How terrible.
Then one would have three choices:
1) Beg, borrow, or do chores for the money to buy a good game, after consultation with the neighborhood kids and kids as school, of course; or
2) Declare that Nintendo sucks, and swear off video games for good; or
3) Become an urban champion oneself, beating the tar out of everyone you see on the street giving fuel to the theory that video games are a harmful behavioral influence on children.
The choice is yours.
Yeah, I never knew that tidbit.