My fave of all time. Once you get the controls down it is a blast to play. I play on mame with a keyboard and can do as well as I did in the arcade at this point. Thanks for covering Crazy Climber.
Great episode! I love seeing all the various ports and versions spanning so many generations of hardware. It's so much fun! Classic arcade games often had such a charm in their innovation, and it is cool to see how it continues to appear over time
Interestingly, I was walking down the street today and overheard a gentleman discussing about this game in the arcades Mark. He was an older person in his late 60's but was talking rather fondly about it. Than your video shows of for this weeks Battle of the Ports and was truly stunned. 8^) Anthony...
I love this game. Played it a lot in one of the local arcades back then. Was so dissapointed that it didn't receive a bunch of port here in the US. I didn't find out that there was a 2600 version until years later. Turns out it was an AtariAge Fan Club exclusive, which I was never a member of. If I had got it I know I would have been unhappy that it didn't utilize 2 joysticks. At least the FC, SFC and PS1 versions do. I enjoy those a lot. Thanks for covering this one, Mark.
Thanks for covering crazy climber! This is my step dad's favorite arcade game and the arcade cabinet he wants the most due to its unique controls. He was never satisfied of the home ports because of that. Granted I think the only home port he played was the Atari 2600 version.
Played this in a US arcade in 1980 and there were a lot of people who believed the ape from this game was Donkey Kong and both games were from the same company. The difference between Nihon Bussan and Nintendo was missed. Anyway we really loved Crazy Climber. We could not beat it but we loved it.
11:02 CC on PS2 was released on 2005, not 2010. The emulation was done by *Gotch Technology,* who also did the emulation of Crazy Climber on NSW years later.
Another great BotP, Mark. For the longest time I had only ever played the Atari 2600 version. It wasn't one of the games we had in the early or mid-80s, but I got a loose copy at a garage sale or something really cheap when I already had an NES. I enjoyed what I played of it, but I didn't play a ton of it. Besides that, the next time I played another version was the arcade version in MAME sometime in either the late 90s or early 00s. The control that way was really difficult for me to get the hang of. However, I did finally get to play an actual cabinet of this a few years ago, and it still wasn't easy for me but is fun. Even though I find the controls just as "ugg", I really like Crazy Climber 2, which I only played for the first time a few years ago. I just love how that game looks.
Excellent video. Crazy Climber is an awesome arcade classic. I remember playing the arcade machine at my local movie theater back in the day. Nowadays, I prefer to play it on my modded OG XBOX thru MAME with the analog sticks mapped to the left and right joystick controls. Works pretty well actually.
Love this game - typically imaginative during the golden age of arcade games. Very playable even today. And as I was watching, I was wondering if you were going to mention the LED version (which someone brought over from Hong Kong) - and you did! Unfortunately I cannot tell you more about it because it's over 40 years ago... Great vid 👍
The most amusing thing about this game is how the developers took until the Wii version to properly dress the climber. The first game feels like the fever dream of a guy in green pajama climbing a building. The NES makes a farmer boy climb the skyscraper. And there's the disco dude with odd taste for shoe colors in the Super Famicom version.
There's kind of weird history with twin-stick games and the porting standards, like how Battlezone 2600 had to be modified for two controllers, or how Karate Champ on NES was a one D-pad train wreck, it seemed like so few developers realized you could simple use two controllers to fill the gap between arcade and home controls. Or how despite lots of peripheral releases nobody ever did a twin-stick in the early days.🤨 Got to love those late 70s to early 80s game consoles, very unique primordial period where anything could happen. I think that's something the Famicom did well, rein in the insanity for home gaming "More unmotivated keypads, nope lol.". That's kind of what I find strange about certain ports like Crazy Climber where unless you replicate it's unique control scheme you're not really getting the arcade experience. Sounds like you don't like the OG controls heh, but a lot of people hate Karate Champ as well.😉 Not too surprised we didn't get much of these in NA as it's almost a national history title of gaming, like Jet Set Willy is to the UK. The WS port is probably the worst port overall since as you said it's ugly, a real shame since it's control layout approximates the arcade cabinet so well. CC 2000 looks okay structurally for the PS1 but that is some dull texture map work, very budget title like. That Wii one looks alright, think I might seek it out.😁
Never played this game back then, there was no arcade cabinet at my area. I remember that Nichibutsu voice sample that was on wikipedia, can't find it anymore.
@@RetroCore I would try it myself, but I don’t have a working Wii. I recently bought one for $10, complete except for WiiMote. I borrowed one of those from a neighbour, hacked the Wii, and was happy. Then the damn thing died, no video output, so my bargain suddenly wasn’t. At least my neighbour got his WiiMote back!
Great Job from you. I like especially the Sequel of this Game, with delightful Music, at the First Stage.The Sound Effects were noticeble exactly the same like this Predecessor.From this Issue is also for the Commodore 64 some Version out. Release for the C64 was the 1987 Vintage as Year. But it looks more Ordinary, but decent playable.
When it comes to the Arcade Archives series, Crazy Climber is a must buy for me. I'm absolutely thrilled to get my hands on the Switch version once I get my own Switch console on my birthday.
I own the Wii version, I don't have any idea what it plays like. I never managed to get the game to boot back in the day. I only installed Homebrew channel to get around region lockouts but it wasn't quite a perfect solution. I'm so glad that Sony incentivised the other platforms to eventually end region locking, Nintendo in particular were taking things in entirely the wrong direction until they were the last holdout. People have rapidly forgotten how much of a pain in the arse region locking was.
My best friend was good at this in the arcades back in the day, but I had so few quarters to use and this one was frustrating to learn how to control. I never even knew about the Atari port until much later, for some reason. What I did play was a kind of knockoff called "Alpiner" on my TI-99/4A computer.
There was going to be a Gameboy Color version by some Spanish developers, but their build stopped working while showcasing it to Nihon Bussan back in 2000. They ended up cancelling it, but somehow Nihon Bussan decided to give them some jobs at their company.
Thanks for the episode! I never knew about the 3d version on psx, let alone the emerson arcadia version, love to see new ports. The only defense for the wonderswan version (I actually got it in japan!) Is that the 2 dpads emulate the dual joystick of the arcade for those that want to try it. I confess the first time I tried it in a hotel in Tokyo I couldn't get the character to move up!
its make sense for a port for this kind of games to Wonderswan, due the machine has such a dual dpad configuration and even possible to play it in vertical. Im wonder this is kind of game is better to been played on hardware, not on emulation?
@@spacefractal I think it is a bit better as at least you get 2 dpads, vs 2 analogs or buttons replacing the second dpad. But the controls for crazy climber are a bit cumbersome regardless
Your nunchaku is dead, Michaelangelo??? Tell Donatello to repair It xD. That was a huge BotP, never know about the remakes of this game for 5th and 6th generation consoles.
Do you think the Arcadia version started out as a knock off, but they managed to sequre the license just before release? It would explain all the additional features to differentiate itself from a potential lawsuit! :D
Usually with games on Battle of the ports i have played a version of the featured game (or at least was aware of the games existence), but i have never heard of this game! 😅
Oh man the ice cream hangout about 5 minute walk down my street had it there. Small place but had missile command, asteroids, and pac man. Always switching out games . There were a shitton of kids willing to spend allowance money back then.
Honestly, despite looking very basic for a Wii game, the Idea of a Climbing game using motion controls is very neat... Well, at least if the controls are decent.
I’m a big enough Crazy Climber fan that I actually own Hyper Crazy Climber. I’ve never found any of the ports satisfactory. The only thing that feel right to me is playing the arcade ROM mapping the controls to a modern twin sick controller.
Seems the SNES version couldn't clear the rights to Henry Mancini's Elephant Walk, or they just got caught using it without permission in that case. That awkward sounding sound-a-like is hard to ignore.
I was wondering why the Playstation 1 was on ports list twice. I have never tried the newer Crazy Climber 2000 version yet. What emulator did you use for the LSI version of Crazy Climber?
It was a special build of MAME for VDF / LSI / LCD games. There's not much on it but it does cover a few classics. Scramble was also played via this emulator.
Thanks for the the video, Mark. I'm disappointed about the omission of other ports of the game including the Arcade Archives version. I wonder why you left it out.
Arcade Archives: Crazy Climber emulation for PS4 is spot on from what I played. Is there a special reason why you showed the PS2 version since it's emulation and you don't usually include them?
Just to call out how poor the emulation is. I've bought a few of these Hamster releases on the PS2 and some are shockingly bad. The Castlevania arcade one even has screen tearing to accompany the poor graphical filters.
Is there any platform this game can be played with the use of a normal joystick, since no matter what I try, you need 2 joysticks or some weirdness, which might have worked back then, but not now? hehe
0:52 God, I had forgot about those people. For your younglings, back then some people thought it was a good idea to illegally climb tall buildings in search for fame. Personally I don't remember any who fell to his/her death, but they sure gave police and firefighters a lot of work that could be better used elsewhere. That fad lasted until changes in building architecture and increased security, turned impractical to attempt such cry for attention.
The console’s internal resolution is pretty much 1 on 1 with a 4:3 monitor still, but with the rise of widescreen around the time, some Wii games were optimized to run in widescreen
![1980 [60fps] Crazy Climber 611600pts](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7lMKC1FZBTs/mqdefault.jpg)
Timeless classic. It was one of the very first titles to appear in the Arcade Archives series.
That Atari version nailed the "Yes, it's basic looking, but its so much fun!" quality a lot of 2600 games back then had.
My fave of all time. Once you get the controls down it is a blast to play. I play on mame with a keyboard and can do as well as I did in the arcade at this point. Thanks for covering Crazy Climber.
Can you please share how? what keys since I kinda gave up on the sticks? and think I would prefer Keyboard
Keyboard controls work well via MAME. I personally map the controls to a twins tick.
Great episode! I love seeing all the various ports and versions spanning so many generations of hardware. It's so much fun! Classic arcade games often had such a charm in their innovation, and it is cool to see how it continues to appear over time
Glad you enjoyed it!
Interestingly, I was walking down the street today and overheard a gentleman discussing about this game in the arcades Mark. He was an older person in his late 60's but was talking rather fondly about it. Than your video shows of for this weeks Battle of the Ports and was truly stunned. 8^)
Anthony...
I love this game. Played it a lot in one of the local arcades back then.
Was so dissapointed that it didn't receive a bunch of port here in the US. I didn't find out that there was a 2600 version until years later. Turns out it was an AtariAge Fan Club exclusive, which I was never a member of. If I had got it I know I would have been unhappy that it didn't utilize 2 joysticks.
At least the FC, SFC and PS1 versions do. I enjoy those a lot.
Thanks for covering this one, Mark.
Really fantastic episode! What a blast from the past
Never thought this one would have So many ports! Always thought it was one of those forgotten games from the past, that were available on 4-5 systems
There's also many knock offs for European home systems. I believe one for the NEC PC88 as well.
I knew that this comparison video was going to be included. I didn't know that Crazy Climber 2000 was actually a Crazy Climber port, but in 3D!
Glad you could learn something from the video.
Thanks for covering crazy climber! This is my step dad's favorite arcade game and the arcade cabinet he wants the most due to its unique controls. He was never satisfied of the home ports because of that. Granted I think the only home port he played was the Atari 2600 version.
Ah, the Atari 2600 version plays nothing like the Arcade control wise. I can see why a fan of the Arcade would be disappointed with the home ports..
Played this in a US arcade in 1980 and there were a lot of people who believed the ape from this game was Donkey Kong and both games were from the same company. The difference between Nihon Bussan and Nintendo was missed. Anyway we really loved Crazy Climber. We could not beat it but we loved it.
Ah, kids back in the 80s. We didn't need proof, what was said was the truth, or at least we thought so 😁
11:02 CC on PS2 was released on 2005, not 2010. The emulation was done by *Gotch Technology,* who also did the emulation of Crazy Climber on NSW years later.
Did I say 2010? Oops, that's my error for sure.
Another great BotP, Mark. For the longest time I had only ever played the Atari 2600 version. It wasn't one of the games we had in the early or mid-80s, but I got a loose copy at a garage sale or something really cheap when I already had an NES. I enjoyed what I played of it, but I didn't play a ton of it. Besides that, the next time I played another version was the arcade version in MAME sometime in either the late 90s or early 00s. The control that way was really difficult for me to get the hang of. However, I did finally get to play an actual cabinet of this a few years ago, and it still wasn't easy for me but is fun. Even though I find the controls just as "ugg", I really like Crazy Climber 2, which I only played for the first time a few years ago. I just love how that game looks.
Nice vid. I remember playing this with the two joysticks in the arcade back in the day
The best way to play!
Excellent video. Crazy Climber is an awesome arcade classic. I remember playing the arcade machine at my local movie theater back in the day. Nowadays, I prefer to play it on my modded OG XBOX thru MAME with the analog sticks mapped to the left and right joystick controls. Works pretty well actually.
Love this game - typically imaginative during the golden age of arcade games. Very playable even today. And as I was watching, I was wondering if you were going to mention the LED version (which someone brought over from Hong Kong) - and you did! Unfortunately I cannot tell you more about it because it's over 40 years ago...
Great vid 👍
The most amusing thing about this game is how the developers took until the Wii version to properly dress the climber. The first game feels like the fever dream of a guy in green pajama climbing a building. The NES makes a farmer boy climb the skyscraper. And there's the disco dude with odd taste for shoe colors in the Super Famicom version.
There's kind of weird history with twin-stick games and the porting standards, like how Battlezone 2600 had to be modified for two controllers, or how Karate Champ on NES was a one D-pad train wreck, it seemed like so few developers realized you could simple use two controllers to fill the gap between arcade and home controls. Or how despite lots of peripheral releases nobody ever did a twin-stick in the early days.🤨
Got to love those late 70s to early 80s game consoles, very unique primordial period where anything could happen. I think that's something the Famicom did well, rein in the insanity for home gaming "More unmotivated keypads, nope lol.".
That's kind of what I find strange about certain ports like Crazy Climber where unless you replicate it's unique control scheme you're not really getting the arcade experience. Sounds like you don't like the OG controls heh, but a lot of people hate Karate Champ as well.😉 Not too surprised we didn't get much of these in NA as it's almost a national history title of gaming, like Jet Set Willy is to the UK.
The WS port is probably the worst port overall since as you said it's ugly, a real shame since it's control layout approximates the arcade cabinet so well. CC 2000 looks okay structurally for the PS1 but that is some dull texture map work, very budget title like. That Wii one looks alright, think I might seek it out.😁
Never played this game back then, there was no arcade cabinet at my area.
I remember that Nichibutsu voice sample that was on wikipedia, can't find it anymore.
There was a nice nod to this in the Arcade Level in Lollipop Chainsaw.
There was? Man, I need to go and check that out. I've finished Lollipop Chainsaw 3 or 4 times now as well.
A great BOTP, as always. You need to replace your nunchuck so we can see the Wii version in action.
Yeah, I didn't know it was broken as I tend to play games that don't require the wiggle controls.
@@RetroCore I would try it myself, but I don’t have a working Wii. I recently bought one for $10, complete except for WiiMote. I borrowed one of those from a neighbour, hacked the Wii, and was happy. Then the damn thing died, no video output, so my bargain suddenly wasn’t. At least my neighbour got his WiiMote back!
Great Job from you. I like especially the Sequel of this Game, with delightful Music, at the First Stage.The Sound Effects were noticeble exactly the same like this Predecessor.From this Issue is also for the Commodore 64 some Version out. Release for the C64 was the 1987 Vintage as Year. But it looks more Ordinary, but decent playable.
When it comes to the Arcade Archives series, Crazy Climber is a must buy for me. I'm absolutely thrilled to get my hands on the Switch version once I get my own Switch console on my birthday.
One of my childhood favs 😢
I own the Wii version, I don't have any idea what it plays like. I never managed to get the game to boot back in the day. I only installed Homebrew channel to get around region lockouts but it wasn't quite a perfect solution. I'm so glad that Sony incentivised the other platforms to eventually end region locking, Nintendo in particular were taking things in entirely the wrong direction until they were the last holdout. People have rapidly forgotten how much of a pain in the arse region locking was.
"A giant ape whose punches can prove deadly" 1:34
And who also has the power of teleportation.
He's a magical ape.
My best friend was good at this in the arcades back in the day, but I had so few quarters to use and this one was frustrating to learn how to control. I never even knew about the Atari port until much later, for some reason. What I did play was a kind of knockoff called "Alpiner" on my TI-99/4A computer.
Ah, Alpiner. One of many knock offs.
This day i might try this game for the first time, maybe with the SFC release. Nice video. がんばれJust like the game says.
8:26 that white thing in the window looks like the Mettaur from the Megaman games painted white...
There was going to be a Gameboy Color version by some Spanish developers, but their build stopped working while showcasing it to Nihon Bussan back in 2000. They ended up cancelling it, but somehow Nihon Bussan decided to give them some jobs at their company.
how very odd.
Thanks for the episode! I never knew about the 3d version on psx, let alone the emerson arcadia version, love to see new ports. The only defense for the wonderswan version (I actually got it in japan!) Is that the 2 dpads emulate the dual joystick of the arcade for those that want to try it. I confess the first time I tried it in a hotel in Tokyo I couldn't get the character to move up!
its make sense for a port for this kind of games to Wonderswan, due the machine has such a dual dpad configuration and even possible to play it in vertical. Im wonder this is kind of game is better to been played on hardware, not on emulation?
@@spacefractal I think it is a bit better as at least you get 2 dpads, vs 2 analogs or buttons replacing the second dpad. But the controls for crazy climber are a bit cumbersome regardless
don't wory about that. Playing many of the other versions that emulate the two stick controller have the same issue.
Nice, I never realised this got so many versions👍
*This is giving me Ninja Gaiden 3 climbing vibes lol 😅
The pinnacle of sound design. 😂
I own the Nichibutsu Arcade Classics compilation for sfc. Also contains Moon Cresta and Frisky Tom.
Somebody get this man a new nunchuck!
Good video RC!
Thanks.
1:31 Crazy Kong's Mario jumping sounds
alot of the tunes in this game are ice cream man songs id hear in the summer. also @ 1:17 that bird must be sick
I'm sure only us Brits and maybe Australians get that 😊
@@RetroCore was afraid that was only an american thing
Your nunchaku is dead, Michaelangelo??? Tell Donatello to repair It xD.
That was a huge BotP, never know about the remakes of this game for 5th and 6th generation consoles.
Do you think the Arcadia version started out as a knock off, but they managed to sequre the license just before release? It would explain all the additional features to differentiate itself from a potential lawsuit! :D
It is very possible. If they did have the license from the begining there'd be no reason to make the changes it has.
Never knew what new game they would have and honestly i have dreams of the place even though they dont make sense. Lotsa good times
That was an insane game
Yep. It sure was.
Usually with games on Battle of the ports i have played a version of the featured game (or at least was aware of the games existence), but i have never heard of this game! 😅
Wow, it was quite the title back in the day but yeah, it kind of vanished in to obscurity.
Famicon does look great, by then we were partying at the niagara river. Drinking smoking all that fun stuff that was allowed back in the 80s lol.
Oh man the ice cream hangout about 5 minute walk down my street had it there. Small place but had missile command, asteroids, and pac man. Always switching out games . There were a shitton of kids willing to spend allowance money back then.
Ooh, you should get a pack of AAs for the wii remote and show crazy climber wii gameplay in the crazy climber 2 botp
Lol, I need a working Knumchuk first. God only knows what happened to mine.
Honestly, despite looking very basic for a Wii game, the Idea of a Climbing game using motion controls is very neat... Well, at least if the controls are decent.
Since it's based upon an updated arcade game I would imagine the controls should be okay
lol even spiderman had a game like this on the 2600 ...
I’m a big enough Crazy Climber fan that I actually own Hyper Crazy Climber. I’ve never found any of the ports satisfactory. The only thing that feel right to me is playing the arcade ROM mapping the controls to a modern twin sick controller.
Yep, that's how I played the Arcade version. Works quite well. All the Ports have issues, mostly with moving left and right I found.
Surprisingly, the Atari 2600 version seems to be the best.
It's very basic but plays well.
Sorry im carrying on but this was a milestone game. And also dragons lair but i had to ride my bike for miles to play that one until i beat it.
Think I would of loved the 2600 port at the time.
Seems the SNES version couldn't clear the rights to Henry Mancini's Elephant Walk, or they just got caught using it without permission in that case. That awkward sounding sound-a-like is hard to ignore.
I think it was more of a case they couldn't get the rights which they never had even for the Arcade.
@@RetroCore Strange that they only got caught with that specific port, and even the ones on more recent systems still had the song illegally in there.
I was wondering why the Playstation 1 was on ports list twice. I have never tried the newer Crazy Climber 2000 version yet. What emulator did you use for the LSI version of Crazy Climber?
It was a special build of MAME for VDF / LSI / LCD games. There's not much on it but it does cover a few classics. Scramble was also played via this emulator.
GANBARE!
1:36 King Kong (giant ape)
Wonder, if Parker Bros. were inspired by CC when they made Spider-Man for A2600?
I would say so.
Never heard of this game. And I was born in 1975.
Same year as me 👍
Thanks for the the video, Mark. I'm disappointed about the omission of other ports of the game including the Arcade Archives version. I wonder why you left it out.
He said he doesn't cover ports that are just straight-up emulated ROMs, which which is what the Arcade Archive does.
@@stevendobbins2826 Which which? LOL!!!!!
As you know, I don't do the emulated stuff. I only included the PS2 emulated port to show how bad it was.
Absolutely correct.
Arcade Archives: Crazy Climber emulation for PS4 is spot on from what I played. Is there a special reason why you showed the PS2 version since it's emulation and you don't usually include them?
Are you sure its emulation or a port? Many PSX/PS2 or similar maches doent need as its as been a emulation.
@@spacefractal Retro Core mentioned that the PS2 version is emulation, not a port.
Just to call out how poor the emulation is. I've bought a few of these Hamster releases on the PS2 and some are shockingly bad. The Castlevania arcade one even has screen tearing to accompany the poor graphical filters.
It's emulation. A lot of the games in the series released by Hamster are emulation.
The Atari version is really expensive from what I’ve seen. Would you say it is a good enough port to be worth owning?
For Atari standards, sure. It plays well.
Is there any platform this game can be played with the use of a normal joystick, since no matter what I try, you need 2 joysticks or some weirdness, which might have worked back then, but not now? hehe
The Atari 2600 version is the best. Other versions work with one stick plus controller buttons but they tend to be a real pain to master.
Atari 2600 Best Home versión
0:52 God, I had forgot about those people. For your younglings, back then some people thought it was a good idea to illegally climb tall buildings in search for fame. Personally I don't remember any who fell to his/her death, but they sure gave police and firefighters a lot of work that could be better used elsewhere.
That fad lasted until changes in building architecture and increased security, turned impractical to attempt such cry for attention.
I also don't remember any falling to their death which is a major surprise considering how crazy it was top climb a skyscraper.
You missed the modern versions. I have it on my ps4
God. The 3D version looks so dumb, I want it....
It is 😁. Worth a play though.
Oddly enough I remember also a Commodore 64 version... wasn't that an original one?
Yeah, there is a C64 version but it's a copy.
@@RetroCore Ah! I see thanks. :D it was a long time ago...
why Wii version use 4:3 aspect ratio?
Because a lot of Wii games do.
The console’s internal resolution is pretty much 1 on 1 with a 4:3 monitor still, but with the rise of widescreen around the time, some Wii games were optimized to run in widescreen
Moon cresta i could play for hours on a quarter till i got bored. Or my audience got bored.
*squeakyganbare