For a while now I`ve been thinking of doing some posts on Famicom games that were only released in Japan. I recently picked up a copy of Spelunker II, which gives me the whole Spelunker series of two carts. A fitting place to start I guess.The first Spelunker is a game that for some reason remains quite popular in Japan. My wife played it when she was a kid and has a lot of fond memories of it.
It is, however, massively difficult and frustrating. You are a miner in an underground series of tunnels armed with a drill. Touch anything and you die. Time that jump wrong and you die. Fall off even the tiniest of ledges? You guessed it. You die.I turned it on just to see how far I`d get before writing this piece. I didn`t make it past the first level. I can never get those jumps timed right.
Spelunker 2 I had never played before today and I just plugged it in not really knowing anything about it. It is nothing like the first Spelunker.
The first thing I noticed is that you don`t die instantly whenever you mistime a jump or touch an enemy. You have a power metre that is quite forgiving. 
The gameplay is quite different too. Instead of the drill you have in the first Spelunker, in this one you have a sword. You have to go around and collect various things, which probably do something, though I didn`t get far enough to find out what. Some of the game is underground, some of it on the surface and you can explore around quite a bit. In my game, a few snakes in the first underground level weakened me a lot and a pair of wild boars on a surface level finished me off after 3 or 4 minutes of play. Relative to how long I usually last when playing the first Spelunker, that seemed like an eternity.
Anyway, these are pretty interesting games, particularly to any of you who like frustrating, awful gaming experiences (at least in the case of the first Spelunker). I rather like the carts themselves. Those early Irem carts with the red LED quite appeal to me. The artwork on the labels, especially the pink ghost on the first Spelunker, really won me over.
Oh yeah I remember these games...hmmm I think there were other games that had the red LED as well but can't be 100 percent sure. Also, nice article once more. Gotta keep learning more from Famicom stuff!
ReplyDeleteSpelunker is a game I'd never even heard of until I found your blog back whenever it was but even then I knew nothing of the game (or the existence of a sequel) until this post, so thanks for enlightening me! I suspect the first one would cause me to become enraged quickly :|
ReplyDeleteFF - Thanks and yes, there are a few other Irem games that have the red LED. Sqoon, Zippy Race, 10 Yard Fight and a couple others I can`t recall off the top of my head. Its kind of a neat feature.
ReplyDeleteSimon - I think you should do a review of Spelunker on your blog, it is one of those massively frustrating things that would nonetheless provide some interesting fodder for a review!
Ah, yes, Spelunker. It's one of those games I want to like, but have a hard time doing so. (Hey, I may have to write up a Famicom "games I want to like, but can't" post a la my PCE posts of the same name soon!) If only the jumping were a bit more forgiving... Anyway, I didn't know until now that there was a sequel. Sounds like it's at least worth checking out?
ReplyDeleteYup, another one of those! Maybe I will steal your idea there for some posts, there are quite a few Famicom games out there that I want to like but just can`t quite....
ReplyDeleteThe only issue with Spelunker 2 is that it requires a bit of Japanese to play. Not too much as it isn`t a text based RPG or anything, but a bit.
Actually, Spelunker 2 CAN be played in English. I know you're not usually into the whole "emulator" thing, Sean, but a full english translation patch exists for the game, so anyone interested in the game from this post can look into that if Japanese isn't their strong point.
ReplyDelete~skyrunner14
Completely unrelated but did you play the Famicom game 'Sweet Home' this Halloween? I believe it too was only released in Japan.
ReplyDeleteSkyrunner - thanks for the tip! That is useful info.
ReplyDeleteZen Lunatic - I have Sweet Home but I haven`t gotten around to playing it yet. Now that you mention it, Halloween would have made a terrific time to give it a go, I`m smacking my forehead for not thinking of it myself! :)
Sean, did you know Sweet Home is based on a movie? If you were already aware of this, have you seen it? In any case, I'd love to see you write an article about that game.
ReplyDelete~skyrunner14
Is it? Actually I suspected it was because the artwork on the cart looks like it came from a movie poster, but I`ve never seen that film. Have you?
ReplyDeleteSadly not, but the movie is on YouTube (I can never seem to remember to give it a watch when I have free time). It even has English subtitles! Though I'd play the game first, since the movie is basically a lite version of the game's plot. But, you know, do whatever.
ReplyDeleteI just thought you would like to know Both of the Famicom versions of the Spelunker games are available in the the US. Spelunker 1 was sold on the NES and 2 can be downloaded on to the Wii.
ReplyDeleteLOL, really? For some reason I always thought Spelunker was a Japan only release. Maybe it was only `popular` in Japan:)
ReplyDeleteSKyrunner - cool I`ll take a look for that on YouTube....maybe after I play the game!
ReplyDelete