Growing up with my GBA and PS2 I was obsessed with movie based games; I think mainly due to to love of movies the idea of being able to play them was very appealing to me; so I played stuff like The Incredibles and Revenge of the Sith all the time growing and large majority of my collection of games was connected to movies or tv shows. When I got older and learned more about classic gaming consoles and I saw how many movies I loved had games for them I became obsessed and I’ll never forget the first time I was able to emulate the Super Star Wars games which I had watched so many play throughs of at that point it was a dream come true. In high school I received a retro duo which was a nes and snes in one a lot movie based games for Christmas one year including all three Super Star Wars games. Still remember when I beat Super Star Wars which given the fact it lacked a password system meant I knew levels like the sand crawler like the back of my hand given how many times I had to play it. Honestly when people ask me about my favorite video games they are pretty much all connected to a movie in some way
The NES Max!! What a beautiful controller!! My godfather gave it to me for my Christmas present, and while I was initially disappointed ("Just some controller? No new game? No new toy?") I quickly learned how awesome it was to have one! I defeated the NES TMNT by using that controller! Not only did the turtles swing their weapons with insane speed, but more useful than that was the turbo jump! I don't know how to explain this, so I'll do my best: while playing on an NES and using a turbo button (not just the Max) the turtles didn't do their fully spinning jump that they would do if you used the regular jump button. Instead, they'd do this fast little hop...and that hop was EXACTLY the height and length you needed to get through so many levels in stage 3 and 4!! Micheal is 100% right, the NES Max was an incredible and useful controller!!
There’s a “pay once play as much as you want” arcade in my area that has the Star Wars cabinet. I’ve only been there once but I wanna go back and try to actually complete the game at least once. I’m always jealous of Gen X for getting to grow up in the golden age of pop culture. Great vid as always, Michael!!
Imagining Dick Tracy trading shots with a city full of snipers is pretty damn badass. This was a great story. I never pegged you for much of a gamer, but then i saw your PS5 in one of your tours and i was always curious about your gaming stories. It was particularly inspiring to hear about how you found ways around or through difficult areas in games. Back then we had to make do with what we had, so we either found a way to enjoy what we rolled the dice on, or we gave up. And giving up felt bitter cause you spent money and time on this. I feel like people didn't give up as much as they can these days, what with the sheer options for gaming or walkthroughs that show you exactly what to do. Thanks for sharing!
Michael, I have to say you're the best friend I never had because I was exactly the same kid. Except that I had the Sega consoles instead (which also came with some good movie tie ins - Rambo III Ghostbusters, Rocky and a better version of the Star Wars NES port!) but I was jealous of some of NES titles that I would play at thr rental stores but only for 30mins/1hr. The only exception was the SNES that I bought specifically to play SW but towards the end of that cycle in 95. For me, that and the PS 2 era were the golden age of games and those movie tie ins. I got a number of the SNEs games uou mentioned, including Batman Returns and Indiana Jones as well. One suggestion: Have a look at a company called Analogue and the Super NT. That will make you change your mind on playing those games again. Great video as always!
This was a fun trip down the rabbit hole for the movie tie-in games. I remember a few of these titles, but didn't follow everything as closely. Thanks for the video!
I was another one of those kids that kept my games in the original box with instructions. I still have my childhood collection in perfect condition. For me the kiss of death was the LJN with a few exceptions. And I also remember being excited for Superman 64 on my birthday lol.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! First time seeing the Nintendo version of Ghostbusters. Wasn't much of a step up from the Atari cartridge. Great video as always. Happy '25, Michael.
This was so awesome, thank you. I remember we got our NES for Christmas in 1988 (the video of that is literally on UA-cam. I'm not joking) And then 4 days later, on my birthday, my parents kicked open the bedroom door, waking me up, and giving me Ghostbusters on NES as a birthday present.
"Im starting to win bad game bingo" haha great video Michael. Thinking about it the first licensed games I played must have been Gremlins 2 on the NES or Moonwalker on the MegaDrive/Genesis.
We used to get so much licensed shovelware in the 8 and 16 bit gen era. Now game budgets are astronomical and good movie and superhero games are rare or entirely absent.
Movie tie-in games don't exist anymore and it's a real shame. First video game I ever played was Toy Story 2 on PS1 which is a criminally underrated 3D platformer.
Kids lack of perspective, cynicism and willingness to commit to bad products is a beatiful thing in it's own way. I discovered so much amazing media that I would never explore now because I'm old and set in my ways. I'm not advocating supporting crap as an adult, it's just a magical time as a child.
I really enjoyed this, as someone who didn't own a NES/ SNES, it was a fascinating look at the history of movie tie-ins of that era. Some of my favourite ZX spectrum games were movie tie-ins - I spent hours playing 'Robocop' and 'The Untouchables', many years before I was allowed to watch the Movies they were based upon!
I remember when I got Ninja Gaiden on the NES as a kid, it was one of those games that I liked but was so hard I only got to stage 2 or 3, and I was super bummed out about having chosen it, now though, it s one of my favorite gets from my childhood.
I’m with you 100% Michael! I was also that way when I was younger on loving most of the movie/tv related games! For me it started with the Friday the 13th game on the NES during Christmas 1989. Even though most of those games weren’t a good representation of the titles tie-ins, I still loved it & always wanted to rent/buy them with my thinking that I can play the movie on my game system at home! Thats a great feeling that will always stick with me! Seeing the movie poster on the game box hanging on the peg boards/glass cases back in the day always made me happy!
I remember having robocop as a kid and despite my first impression not liking it because you couldn't jump, it was one of my favorite Nintendo games that I never completed.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Michael, I grew up playing Movie tie in games on the ZX Spectrum and later Amiga 500 then I went to consoles and played them again to see the difference
Chip n' Dales Rescue Rangers was awesome. I remember renting that game from the video store for a long weekend with a buddy and trading off trying to beat it. I think we rented that and Dusty Diamonds.
Loved this video. Some of the titles you mentioned I did not know existed, but I do remember fondly playing the Super Star Wars trilogy. I never got or played the JVC Indiana Jones game for the SNES. It’s actually a game I have been shopping for recently. When Indiana Jones had come out in 93 or 94, I was then in college. I had moved on to playing my PC games of X-Wing and Rebel Assault which absolutely consumed my free time then. I am definitely going to check out some of those games you mentioned like Willow. Love your videos, and always look forward to your next. Blessings Michael, and Happy New Year!
Wonderful look back at these games. It’s so funny, for as big of a Star Wars fan I was as a kid, I’ve never owned or played a Star Wars game for any console system that I had growing up (Atari 2600/7800, NES/SNES or original Gameboy). I *think* I played or at least watched TESB for the NES at a friend’s house.
I also have similar experiences as a young kid and teen for tv and movies tie-in games. I also bought nes ghostbusters as one of my 1st nes game and being a big fan of the movie and cartoon, I was determined to complete the game despite the poor game mechanics which i finally did it as a kid several times. Of course, there are other games like robocop 1 which I completed it after figuring out the change weapons system. Robocop 2 was an endurance run, which i completed it too. Rocketeer for Nes was also fun after I figure out how to play it. Batman for nes took me 3 mths to get through the 3rd boss but after that it was smooth sailing. If you want to try some tie-in games, I recommend new ghostbusters 2 by hal laboratory which is fun and the music is awesome. Robocop Rogue city for the ps5 was really good despite the 1st person mode. A late happy new year to you and Melinda! Take care and more videos from you!
@retroblasting not just that, I really hate playing the puzzle game (the one where you reassemble Murphy face in between stages which I am not good with it. Plus the ridiculous jumps and platform in many stages
Man I wished I took care of my things as well as you did. This was a really good video, I’m in the same boat where the UA-cam video game talking heads shit on the games I loved and wanted. Hope to see more retroblasting video game videos in the future. Again top notch video…..also Zelda 2 is my favorite Zelda game lmao
Star Wars on NES is my all-time favorite game. I’ve beaten it hundreds of times. It’s hard to explain how and why it means so much to me, then again, it IS Star Wars. So happy to hear you enjoy it as well.
Great video, and it brought back a lot of memories. I remember renting Friday the 13th, Jaws, and The Goonies II and being completely disappointed with those. The only movie tie-in game I ever owned outright as a kid was Batman for Sega Genesis, which was one of my favorite games growing up. Funds were very limited during my NES days, but I would save up my paper route money and get a new game every few months. I ended up with some major stinkers like the impossible Amagon and World Games. Living in small town northern Maine our local department store had limited and often odd selections.
Love Super Star Wars! That game blew my mind back in the day. It was my Saturday morning ritual to sit down and finish the game in about 45 minutes. Guess that was speed running before it was a thing.
What i always found helped me when dealing with a difficult part of a game was to remove the cartridge, walk outside, and fling it against the nearest brick wall. But seriously, sometimes I miss that feeling of beating a hard game or one you only had for the weekend as a kid. In modern times, I rarely get a feeling of accomplishment after finishing a newer game, but maybe I'm just getting old, I do after all like to tell kids to get off my lawn.
Really cool video Michael i had a similar experience with gba games as a kid a lot of my games were based off movies i liked some were surprisingly decent though like the harry potter games were kind of like zelda with final fantasy battles
Someone would have to pay me to keep the box for the first Mega Man game. Despite you being that kid, you ended up doing pretty well with what you got. I wasn't as into tie-in games as you were, but I had or played many of these. I didn't do as well with Dick Tracy, but I didn't hate it or think it was bad, but it was too tough for me at the time and not as fun as other games. I also had Rocketeer on the NES. It seemed okay to me then. After hearing your take on it, I think I'll revisit that one. Incidentally, Rocketeer was developed by Realtime Associates just like Dick Tracy, so same developer and same publisher(Bandai). It wouldn't be the first time I got my money's worth decades after the fact. I got Prince of Thieves shortly after it came out and I liked it a lot. I liked the Super Star Wars games when they were current, but some elements of them were questionable. Empire gets obnoxiously hard at points. Jedi was my favorite of the three and I did beat that one. Not a big fan of the level design in those games now, but I enjoyed the games then. I had the 8-bit Star Wars on Game Gear and liked it. It's based on the Sega Master System port of the NES game. I like the Master System version more than the NES due to better difficulty curve in my view. I did play Empire on NES and while I got lost eventually, I enjoyed the way it played and was impressed with a lot of it. A shame you didn't have Batman NES or Batman Returns SNES, as they're both among the better games on their respective platforms. But at least you got to play them extensively. They'd be good in the collection though. Batman has a pretty good track record of video games actually. Batman Returns on NES is quite good and The Adventures of Batman and Robin on SNES is a great game as well. I think your experience with licensed games demonstrates a misconception that many have. And I learned this a while back. While there are many bad licensed games, perhaps more bad ones than good, there are a lot of very good ones as well, and some unexpected good ones. Arcade beat-em-up games are a good example of good licensed games, assuming the player liked beat-em-ups which I do. And I think an important detail is that the tie-in games that ended up being pretty good either lend themselves to video games or had good developers behind them. I can only speak for myself, but there was no way anyone was going to convince me that Wayne's World was going to be worth playing. It's funny because I was just thinking about any "bad" games I like or liked and the first Spider-Man on Game Boy came to mind. It was developed by Rare so that's a good sign, but it's not well regarded. I knew I was taking a chance on it back in the day, but I got on well with the game and its strange controls which a lot of people didn't get. I enjoyed it then and still like that game. I consider it one of the best games I had on the system. As I said, I think the idea of licensed games being bad, while based in truth, has been quite exaggerated as well. Anyway, this was a fun topic and video and I really enjoyed it.
I've beaten Ghostbusters on NES many times lately out of sheer boredom (or masochism). Sometimes I use the stairwell glitch, sometimes I don't. I've yet to beat it without a turbo controller, but seeing as how the manual suggests using one, I don't consider it cheating.
Cheating implies consequences. Using a turbo button provided by an official NES controller for a game where you're not in competition with others cannot possibly be cheating under any circumstance.
Really enjoyed this video especially hearing the work around you had to do operating a US NES in the UK. I fell in love with movie games thanks to my beloved ZX Spectrum, before my Mastersystem, Megadrive and SNES some of my fondest childhood memories are playing Ghostbusters, Robocop and Batman The Movie on that creaky 8-Bit Micro.
Amazing video, one that hits home with me as I too was a Nintendo movie tie-in fanatic. When I got my NES on my twelfth birthday, the 'rents let me get three games. Not knowing much about the games at the time, I chose...Jaws, Goonies II and Kid Niki: Radical Ninja. And I too regretted nothing...
I was the same way. I asked for my first NES because of Predator, Friday the 13th, Jaws, Godzilla etc. I had a Sega Master system at the time, which technically had better games, but I was a sucker for movie licenses.
A thing about the two NES Indy: Last Crusade games. The Taito version of Last Crusade actually came out for the NES first in 1990. The Ubisoft version of The Last Crusade was a very late stage NES release by arriving on store shelves in March of 1994 believe it or not. I think I was the only person in Dedham, Massachusetts who reserved a copy of the game at a Lechmere department store.
That's extremely interesting. The early date for that game's launch via the internet must be a mass error because that version of the game came out in 1989 or '90 as the "Action Game" on PC, Amiga, C64, and a slew of other platforms like ZX Spectrum. So I suspect the "release date" for the NES as listed on the net is using this earlier date by mistake.
@ One correction. The point and click Last Crusade game was exclusive to computers while the Ubisoft action game was released to computers AND consoles.
@ I couldn’t agree with you more regarding the Super Star Wars series. The action became a bit too hap hazard after the first game and by Jedi they had Sonic elements in the gameplay with speed ups and token collecting.
The Robin Hood prince of thieves game was one of my absolute favourites as a child. It had so much content, the army sections, the riding stages, the one-on-one fighting.. so much variety!
Loved this video so much! I played the hell of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and it was formative for my understanding of the English language. Now, while I do love Zelda II, cannot blame you for disliking it, it was an acquired taste. And I SO agree with your statement about what nowadays is judged as bad games, back in the day we didn't have the budget to burn through the NES game collection (I didn't have a rental place in my little town!) so whenever we got a hold of a new NES game we devoted our time to it. That's how I learn to love Fester's Quest, Total Recall, Robocop, Trojan, etc. Thank you for another great video and a trip down memory lane.
So you were one of those guys that had to plug in his NES into a 220v to 110v adapter before it was cool to do so lol. I remember the first AVGN episodes I had ever seen was Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm St. I remember loving those games as a kid. Then James tore them all up i said "yeah they kinda DO suck!" James has said that he doesn't necessarily hate all of the games he reviews IRL, but points out all of the most frustrating parts of our childhood games. I also really liked Star Wars and ESB on NES. Dagobah was very frustrating. But man, o man, the Super Star Wars Saga, and Indiana Jones on SNES were my jam. I beat the hell out of all those games. I thought they were very well done. Bucky O Hare is very fun, but out of reach for a lot of us. It's awesome that you "accidently" have it CIB. Fun trip down memory lane, Michael. Happy New Year!
My favorite punishment as a child was Faxanadu. I still remember spending hours upon hours exploring and trying to figure out how to deal with all the confusing and difficult stuff it threw at me, but those memories are fond. I miss the days of having to figure it out on your own instead of having a pointer telling you where to go all the time. That and games being severely broken on release nowadays because they can just push constant patches online. With the old cartridge games, they had to get it right the first time or pay the price, which led to games being as bug free as possible, I miss those days. When people made games with passion, not their wallet in mind.
The ones you feature for are definitely on the better side of the tie-in games. Of course with one notable exception. and what's funny is I remember seeing a tv ad for the SNES Rocketeer game as a kid, but remember nothing about it outside two kids on a couch playing it. So it wouldn't be until the UA-cam years that I actually saw what it looked like, and well...I think you said it best. Another game I didn't play until I was in my 20's, on an emulator was the Darkman game. What wasted potential that was, as it is a great looking game with perhaps the worst controls I've ever experienced. So much that I just gave up after a few tries. Absolutely infuriating.
14 weeks at #1 - I heard it every day on the coach bus on the way to school almost all of those days. The mass groans on the coach by the end of that two weeks could be heard from space.
“Ghostbusters” for the NES may have been awful but on the C64 it pretty cool. I dropped more than a couple of hours into it during sonar school in between runs on Microprose’s “Gunship” and “F-19”. And I’m pretty envious that you have a functioning Vectrex, that console was awesome!
This is a great video. I wasn't into movies as a kid so movie tie in games weren't on my radar. I'm glad there were some good games among the awful ones the usually internet talks about.
My parents were very picky about what games they bought for their NES, then SNES. I remember playing a number of these titles, but the ones they actually bought for our systems included the following. For our NES: Jaws, Rambo, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The first two I remember playing the most. For our SNES: Alien 3, Jurassic Park, and Aladdin. For my brothers Sega Genesis: Alien 3 and Jurassic Park. Since he also had a Sega CD, I can add that systems version of Jurassic Park to it as well. I certainly remember the time of movie video game tie-ins back then, it was just another part of growing up then.
Michael just to add to your comment about keeping videogame boxes and assorted paraphernalia… I never understood why anybody would throw those out, yet growing up I noticed that I was the only kid alongside my brother to have all our Nintendo cartridges stored in the boxes. I suppose it’s come back around in the years as well. We still have an immaculate collection between us but as you have said games weren’t cheap so it was all about maintaining that value. Plus there was a certain charm to a lot of the artwork on those cases which had started for me back with the old Atari 2600 cartridges. Sometimes the artwork resembled nothing to do with what was in the actual game, and lead to several misleading game purchases that I regretted, but it’s still a cool part of nostalgia from that time ❤
Thanks for sharing those memories! I remember renting the Rocketeer and I liked it. My LJN movie game experience was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and it was...not good. I really enjoyed Star Wars for NES, but not Empire Strikes Back. My best find was getting a Famicom version of Star Wars with an adapter. This was years before the JVC version came out and it tided me over until better Star Wars games came around.
Awesome video. These games all look cool and it’s interested to see the Rocketeer games that I never played. I only ever played the Star Wars games and Batman Returns which I remember being a lot of fun.
This was so cool! I was more of a movie tie-in arcade gamer back in the day. However, I had the same experience with many of my home games, where I'd just play them to get good enough to beat 'em. If other people think the game sucks, that their problem! Are you having fun? Yes? GOOD!
I've kept my old games and consoles through the years. Unfortunately for most of my Atari 2600 and NES games, the boxes were thrown out (my mom tended to throw them out - it wasn't on my instance), and many of the manuals ended up lost or in bad condition since I didn't have the boxes to keep them in. But from the SNES and onward, I kept the boxes and everything (and this includes all Sega consoles from the Genesis onwards, which I got after the SNES, Playstation, Xbox, etc.). There are some used games that I picked up over the years that may have been cartridge only, but most games in my collection were purchased new, and for those, I still have the boxes, manuals, etc. I was a late adapter of the Game Boy. Among the small handful of games that I ever got for it was Mega Man V. That one REALLY shot up in value over the years. And I had the box and everything in rather good condition (comparable to the condition of the ones in your video). A couple of years ago, because the value had gotten SO insane, I kept the cartridge, but sold the box with the manual and all of the flyers that came with it for over $!,000. Even though I took good care of the game for well over 2 decades, something about having a fragile piece of cardboard with that value to it made me nervous in that if anything ever happened to it, I would feel like it was a huge loss, even though collecting for monetary value was never my motivation. So I decided to part with it while keeping the game itself. A rare occurrence of me selling of something from my collection. I think most of us got sucked into movie/tv show/IP tie in game to some extent or another back in those days... for better or worse. I have that Ghostbusters game for NES. I never cared for it, though I liked GBII better (even if it is still not a great game). If you have a chance, I recommend emulating the Sega Master System version of Ghostbusters.... its a better version of the NES game. DuckTales for NES is a classic that I have. And for some reason I decided that buying YO! NOID! was a good idea (based on the Dominos PIzza mascot). On the SNES I actually have Batman Returns and all 3 Super Star Wars games complete from back in the day. I got the Super Star Wars games later on after they had been out for a while, but they were still new copies at the time. A funny thing about Super Return of the Jedi... there is a cheat code that lets you play as any of the characters in any of the levels. Wicket is actually the most powerful at defeating the Emperor! LOL Sorry for the rambling thoughts. But while I didn't have the exact mix of games that you did, I can related to a lot of what you've said here. I've never played that Indiana Jones SNES game, and now I want to check it out.
I played and owned most of those games too, but wow you're skilled to have beaten any of them. I think I only managed to complete the SNES Star Wars trilogy even with turbo buttons.
I agree with you . I had a lot of the same game's. Robin hood, rocketeer were awesome, loved them. Just to add, Alien trilogy, and The thing were awesome as well.
Love this video. More like this please. Also, I had the rocketter and ST 25th anniversary on pc. Rocketter was really hard. I recently got ST on steam for 5 or so dollars. Still a great game.
Michael, if you haven't already heard of it, I'd recommend checking out an old Cinemaware title from 1988 called Rocket Ranger. One of my personal childhood favorites for the Amiga, and definitely in line with your interests.
Back in the day if you rented a bad game it ruined your weekend.
If you bought a bad game it ruined your life.
Every master system game at my local rental was low grade garbage. Wasted many weekends on garbage you'd stop playing first day of the rental 😊
That's the truth
Props to Michael for having a complete boxed pristine nes and snes movie game collection. You don't see a collection like Michael 's everyday.
Fa show. I still have the booklets and maps but it never would've occurred to me to save the boxes.
Oh man, the horse trading my friends and I would do before christmas asking for different games so we all got something different... better days.
For me those ‘Super Star Wars’ games on the SNES are still the best Star Wars games ever made. Just phenomenal for their time.
If only they were slightly easier for me atleast
they were amazing but also amazingly difficult. i finally beat super empire strikes back but it took me i think 3 whole years
They're the worst! They're just too unfair.
What a lovely video. Great trip down memory lane. Sincere and brilliantly presented :)
Growing up with my GBA and PS2 I was obsessed with movie based games; I think mainly due to to love of movies the idea of being able to play them was very appealing to me; so I played stuff like The Incredibles and Revenge of the Sith all the time growing and large majority of my collection of games was connected to movies or tv shows. When I got older and learned more about classic gaming consoles and I saw how many movies I loved had games for them I became obsessed and I’ll never forget the first time I was able to emulate the Super Star Wars games which I had watched so many play throughs of at that point it was a dream come true. In high school I received a retro duo which was a nes and snes in one a lot movie based games for Christmas one year including all three Super Star Wars games. Still remember when I beat Super Star Wars which given the fact it lacked a password system meant I knew levels like the sand crawler like the back of my hand given how many times I had to play it. Honestly when people ask me about my favorite video games they are pretty much all connected to a movie in some way
The NES Max!! What a beautiful controller!! My godfather gave it to me for my Christmas present, and while I was initially disappointed ("Just some controller? No new game? No new toy?") I quickly learned how awesome it was to have one! I defeated the NES TMNT by using that controller! Not only did the turtles swing their weapons with insane speed, but more useful than that was the turbo jump! I don't know how to explain this, so I'll do my best: while playing on an NES and using a turbo button (not just the Max) the turtles didn't do their fully spinning jump that they would do if you used the regular jump button. Instead, they'd do this fast little hop...and that hop was EXACTLY the height and length you needed to get through so many levels in stage 3 and 4!! Micheal is 100% right, the NES Max was an incredible and useful controller!!
There’s a “pay once play as much as you want” arcade in my area that has the Star Wars cabinet. I’ve only been there once but I wanna go back and try to actually complete the game at least once.
I’m always jealous of Gen X for getting to grow up in the golden age of pop culture.
Great vid as always, Michael!!
If there's one thing I've learned from watching your videos is that you seem to have had an awesome childhood Mike
always a great day when Retroblasting uploads a new video!
Imagining Dick Tracy trading shots with a city full of snipers is pretty damn badass. This was a great story. I never pegged you for much of a gamer, but then i saw your PS5 in one of your tours and i was always curious about your gaming stories. It was particularly inspiring to hear about how you found ways around or through difficult areas in games. Back then we had to make do with what we had, so we either found a way to enjoy what we rolled the dice on, or we gave up. And giving up felt bitter cause you spent money and time on this. I feel like people didn't give up as much as they can these days, what with the sheer options for gaming or walkthroughs that show you exactly what to do. Thanks for sharing!
Michael, I have to say you're the best friend I never had because I was exactly the same kid. Except that I had the Sega consoles instead (which also came with some good movie tie ins - Rambo III Ghostbusters, Rocky and a better version of the Star Wars NES port!) but I was jealous of some of NES titles that I would play at thr rental stores but only for 30mins/1hr. The only exception was the SNES that I bought specifically to play SW but towards the end of that cycle in 95. For me, that and the PS 2 era were the golden age of games and those movie tie ins. I got a number of the SNEs games uou mentioned, including Batman Returns and Indiana Jones as well.
One suggestion: Have a look at a company called Analogue and the Super NT. That will make you change your mind on playing those games again.
Great video as always!
Fun video!! Thoroughly relatable and great memories of some “bad games” that we loved back in the day! 🕹️😎👊🏻
This was a fun trip down the rabbit hole for the movie tie-in games. I remember a few of these titles, but didn't follow everything as closely. Thanks for the video!
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention “Robin Hood.”
That’s one of my favorite NES games of all time.
Mine also.
Your stuff on video games is always great
Having never had any Nintendo consoles growing up this was fascinating to me. Excellent unplugged.
I was another one of those kids that kept my games in the original box with instructions. I still have my childhood collection in perfect condition. For me the kiss of death was the LJN with a few exceptions. And I also remember being excited for Superman 64 on my birthday lol.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! First time seeing the Nintendo version of Ghostbusters. Wasn't much of a step up from the Atari cartridge.
Great video as always. Happy '25, Michael.
This was so awesome, thank you. I remember we got our NES for Christmas in 1988 (the video of that is literally on UA-cam. I'm not joking) And then 4 days later, on my birthday, my parents kicked open the bedroom door, waking me up, and giving me Ghostbusters on NES as a birthday present.
Excellent video Michael! That was a lot of fun! Love those old school video games!
"Im starting to win bad game bingo" haha great video Michael. Thinking about it the first licensed games I played must have been Gremlins 2 on the NES or Moonwalker on the MegaDrive/Genesis.
I love hearing you talk about videogames . Great vid.
We used to get so much licensed shovelware in the 8 and 16 bit gen era. Now game budgets are astronomical and good movie and superhero games are rare or entirely absent.
Yeah very ironic games didn't get better
Movie tie-in games don't exist anymore and it's a real shame. First video game I ever played was Toy Story 2 on PS1 which is a criminally underrated 3D platformer.
This has been a really entertaining video you've put out on your love for the video games that you have. It put a real smile upon my face. 🙂
Kids lack of perspective, cynicism and willingness to commit to bad products is a beatiful thing in it's own way. I discovered so much amazing media that I would never explore now because I'm old and set in my ways. I'm not advocating supporting crap as an adult, it's just a magical time as a child.
I really enjoyed this, as someone who didn't own a NES/ SNES, it was a fascinating look at the history of movie tie-ins of that era. Some of my favourite ZX spectrum games were movie tie-ins - I spent hours playing 'Robocop' and 'The Untouchables', many years before I was allowed to watch the Movies they were based upon!
Excellent Retro Game Video! Thanks Michael 🤟🤩
I remember when I got Ninja Gaiden on the NES as a kid, it was one of those games that I liked but was so hard I only got to stage 2 or 3, and I was super bummed out about having chosen it, now though, it s one of my favorite gets from my childhood.
Great topic, great video! Brought back so many memories and your points were spot on.
The Untouchables was a very satisfying movie tie in game to play; loved the stage on the bridge during the liquor shipment
I’m with you 100% Michael! I was also that way when I was younger on loving most of the movie/tv related games! For me it started with the Friday the 13th game on the NES during Christmas 1989. Even though most of those games weren’t a good representation of the titles tie-ins, I still loved it & always wanted to rent/buy them with my thinking that I can play the movie on my game system at home! Thats a great feeling that will always stick with me! Seeing the movie poster on the game box hanging on the peg boards/glass cases back in the day always made me happy!
Love this topic!!!! Playing through Nightmare on Elm street now!
_To be fair though..._ this was great! Happy New Year!
Thanks for sharing your collection!
There’s a temple of doom arcade game at the beercade we go to and it’s my favorite. Its definitely hard but fun while drinking some Guinness
Such a great video! Those super Star Wars and Indy games were so freaking hard to beat! One of my few glory memories with games!
I had the game of Big Trouble in Little China. When i saw the film a year or so later i thought the film was based off the game.
I was a dumb kid.
Loved that you mentioned Faxanadu, one of my all time favorites.
I remember having robocop as a kid and despite my first impression not liking it because you couldn't jump, it was one of my favorite Nintendo games that I never completed.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Michael, I grew up playing Movie tie in games on the ZX Spectrum and later Amiga 500 then I went to consoles and played them again to see the difference
I played the SNES Indiana Jones game, and Super Empire over and over and over. Never got tired of them.
Chip n' Dales Rescue Rangers was awesome. I remember renting that game from the video store for a long weekend with a buddy and trading off trying to beat it. I think we rented that and Dusty Diamonds.
Loved this video. Some of the titles you mentioned I did not know existed, but I do remember fondly playing the Super Star Wars trilogy. I never got or played the JVC Indiana Jones game for the SNES. It’s actually a game I have been shopping for recently. When Indiana Jones had come out in 93 or 94, I was then in college. I had moved on to playing my PC games of X-Wing and Rebel Assault which absolutely consumed my free time then. I am definitely going to check out some of those games you mentioned like Willow. Love your videos, and always look forward to your next. Blessings Michael, and Happy New Year!
Thank you!
Wonderful look back at these games.
It’s so funny, for as big of a Star Wars fan I was as a kid, I’ve never owned or played a Star Wars game for any console system that I had growing up (Atari 2600/7800, NES/SNES or original Gameboy). I *think* I played or at least watched TESB for the NES at a friend’s house.
I also have similar experiences as a young kid and teen for tv and movies tie-in games. I also bought nes ghostbusters as one of my 1st nes game and being a big fan of the movie and cartoon, I was determined to complete the game despite the poor game mechanics which i finally did it as a kid several times. Of course, there are other games like robocop 1 which I completed it after figuring out the change weapons system. Robocop 2 was an endurance run, which i completed it too. Rocketeer for Nes was also fun after I figure out how to play it. Batman for nes took me 3 mths to get through the 3rd boss but after that it was smooth sailing.
If you want to try some tie-in games, I recommend new ghostbusters 2 by hal laboratory which is fun and the music is awesome. Robocop Rogue city for the ps5 was really good despite the 1st person mode.
A late happy new year to you and Melinda! Take care and more videos from you!
NES Robocop 2: Robo on Ice
@retroblasting not just that, I really hate playing the puzzle game (the one where you reassemble Murphy face in between stages which I am not good with it. Plus the ridiculous jumps and platform in many stages
Thank you for this video. Would like to see more videos like this from you. Maybe any other NES or SNES games you played from other IPs?
Fascinating how relevant Dick Tracey still was in the Eighties, more so than Little Orphan Annie but I remember having some of her comic books.
Man I wished I took care of my things as well as you did. This was a really good video, I’m in the same boat where the UA-cam video game talking heads shit on the games I loved and wanted. Hope to see more retroblasting video game videos in the future. Again top notch video…..also Zelda 2 is my favorite Zelda game lmao
Star Wars on NES is my all-time favorite game. I’ve beaten it hundreds of times. It’s hard to explain how and why it means so much to me, then again, it IS Star Wars. So happy to hear you enjoy it as well.
Great Video Mike i really enjoyed the video Happy New Year
The Ducktales game was great. There was a remaster done a couple of years ago that my kids love.
Great video, and it brought back a lot of memories. I remember renting Friday the 13th, Jaws, and The Goonies II and being completely disappointed with those. The only movie tie-in game I ever owned outright as a kid was Batman for Sega Genesis, which was one of my favorite games growing up. Funds were very limited during my NES days, but I would save up my paper route money and get a new game every few months. I ended up with some major stinkers like the impossible Amagon and World Games. Living in small town northern Maine our local department store had limited and often odd selections.
Love Super Star Wars! That game blew my mind back in the day. It was my Saturday morning ritual to sit down and finish the game in about 45 minutes. Guess that was speed running before it was a thing.
Great nostalgia in this video as I remember playing the majority of these games.
What i always found helped me when dealing with a difficult part of a game was to remove the cartridge, walk outside, and fling it against the nearest brick wall.
But seriously, sometimes I miss that feeling of beating a hard game or one you only had for the weekend as a kid. In modern times, I rarely get a feeling of accomplishment after finishing a newer game, but maybe I'm just getting old, I do after all like to tell kids to get off my lawn.
This was fascinating and a lot of fun. It still baffles me that we went two entire generations of game systems without getting a real James Bond game.
Really cool video Michael i had a similar experience with gba games as a kid a lot of my games were based off movies i liked some were surprisingly decent though like the harry potter games were kind of like zelda with final fantasy battles
Someone would have to pay me to keep the box for the first Mega Man game.
Despite you being that kid, you ended up doing pretty well with what you got. I wasn't as into tie-in games as you were, but I had or played many of these. I didn't do as well with Dick Tracy, but I didn't hate it or think it was bad, but it was too tough for me at the time and not as fun as other games. I also had Rocketeer on the NES. It seemed okay to me then. After hearing your take on it, I think I'll revisit that one. Incidentally, Rocketeer was developed by Realtime Associates just like Dick Tracy, so same developer and same publisher(Bandai). It wouldn't be the first time I got my money's worth decades after the fact. I got Prince of Thieves shortly after it came out and I liked it a lot. I liked the Super Star Wars games when they were current, but some elements of them were questionable. Empire gets obnoxiously hard at points. Jedi was my favorite of the three and I did beat that one. Not a big fan of the level design in those games now, but I enjoyed the games then.
I had the 8-bit Star Wars on Game Gear and liked it. It's based on the Sega Master System port of the NES game. I like the Master System version more than the NES due to better difficulty curve in my view. I did play Empire on NES and while I got lost eventually, I enjoyed the way it played and was impressed with a lot of it. A shame you didn't have Batman NES or Batman Returns SNES, as they're both among the better games on their respective platforms. But at least you got to play them extensively. They'd be good in the collection though. Batman has a pretty good track record of video games actually. Batman Returns on NES is quite good and The Adventures of Batman and Robin on SNES is a great game as well.
I think your experience with licensed games demonstrates a misconception that many have. And I learned this a while back. While there are many bad licensed games, perhaps more bad ones than good, there are a lot of very good ones as well, and some unexpected good ones. Arcade beat-em-up games are a good example of good licensed games, assuming the player liked beat-em-ups which I do. And I think an important detail is that the tie-in games that ended up being pretty good either lend themselves to video games or had good developers behind them. I can only speak for myself, but there was no way anyone was going to convince me that Wayne's World was going to be worth playing. It's funny because I was just thinking about any "bad" games I like or liked and the first Spider-Man on Game Boy came to mind. It was developed by Rare so that's a good sign, but it's not well regarded. I knew I was taking a chance on it back in the day, but I got on well with the game and its strange controls which a lot of people didn't get. I enjoyed it then and still like that game. I consider it one of the best games I had on the system. As I said, I think the idea of licensed games being bad, while based in truth, has been quite exaggerated as well. Anyway, this was a fun topic and video and I really enjoyed it.
OMG! Gauntlet!! I remember playing some of these games in Germany in my friend's house drinking 'Jolt ' cola! 🤣 Another great Michael unplugged vid!
I've beaten Ghostbusters on NES many times lately out of sheer boredom (or masochism). Sometimes I use the stairwell glitch, sometimes I don't. I've yet to beat it without a turbo controller, but seeing as how the manual suggests using one, I don't consider it cheating.
Cheating implies consequences. Using a turbo button provided by an official NES controller for a game where you're not in competition with others cannot possibly be cheating under any circumstance.
@@retroblasting Truth. Always tickles me when someone calls "foul" at another person's private, single-player experience.
Those were the days, friends.
Really enjoyed this video especially hearing the work around you had to do operating a US NES in the UK. I fell in love with movie games thanks to my beloved ZX Spectrum, before my Mastersystem, Megadrive and SNES some of my fondest childhood memories are playing Ghostbusters, Robocop and Batman The Movie on that creaky 8-Bit Micro.
Amazing video, one that hits home with me as I too was a Nintendo movie tie-in fanatic. When I got my NES on my twelfth birthday, the 'rents let me get three games. Not knowing much about the games at the time, I chose...Jaws, Goonies II and Kid Niki: Radical Ninja. And I too regretted nothing...
Great video. I, too, could ace the SSWT on SNES as a boy. We're an elite group.
I bought the Super Nintendo just to play the Star Wars trilogy games, a nice walk down memory lane.
Showbiz!!! 😭❤️🥰 Thank you for the flashback. Still missing Billy Bob and the Rockafire Explosion.
Happy New Year to Retroblasting! Here’s to 2025 🤞🏽
Own Batman returns on the SNES played every day after school
I was the same way. I asked for my first NES because of Predator, Friday the 13th, Jaws, Godzilla etc. I had a Sega Master system at the time, which technically had better games, but I was a sucker for movie licenses.
Great video as usual, I remember renting The Rocketeer and The Empire Strikes Back both for the NES
A thing about the two NES Indy: Last Crusade games. The Taito version of Last Crusade actually came out for the NES first in 1990. The Ubisoft version of The Last Crusade was a very late stage NES release by arriving on store shelves in March of 1994 believe it or not. I think I was the only person in Dedham, Massachusetts who reserved a copy of the game at a Lechmere department store.
That's extremely interesting. The early date for that game's launch via the internet must be a mass error because that version of the game came out in 1989 or '90 as the "Action Game" on PC, Amiga, C64, and a slew of other platforms like ZX Spectrum. So I suspect the "release date" for the NES as listed on the net is using this earlier date by mistake.
@ Btw did you ever play the Namco version of Star Wars for the Famicom?
@ One correction. The point and click Last Crusade game was exclusive to computers while the Ubisoft action game was released to computers AND consoles.
@ I couldn’t agree with you more regarding the Super Star Wars series. The action became a bit too hap hazard after the first game and by Jedi they had Sonic elements in the gameplay with speed ups and token collecting.
The Robin Hood prince of thieves game was one of my absolute favourites as a child. It had so much content, the army sections, the riding stages, the one-on-one fighting.. so much variety!
HELL Yeah. The Indiana Jones Trilogy on SNES was the bomb!! One of the best games I had for the system.
Loved this video so much! I played the hell of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and it was formative for my understanding of the English language. Now, while I do love Zelda II, cannot blame you for disliking it, it was an acquired taste. And I SO agree with your statement about what nowadays is judged as bad games, back in the day we didn't have the budget to burn through the NES game collection (I didn't have a rental place in my little town!) so whenever we got a hold of a new NES game we devoted our time to it. That's how I learn to love Fester's Quest, Total Recall, Robocop, Trojan, etc.
Thank you for another great video and a trip down memory lane.
So you were one of those guys that had to plug in his NES into a 220v to 110v adapter before it was cool to do so lol. I remember the first AVGN episodes I had ever seen was Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm St. I remember loving those games as a kid. Then James tore them all up i said "yeah they kinda DO suck!" James has said that he doesn't necessarily hate all of the games he reviews IRL, but points out all of the most frustrating parts of our childhood games. I also really liked Star Wars and ESB on NES. Dagobah was very frustrating. But man, o man, the Super Star Wars Saga, and Indiana Jones on SNES were my jam. I beat the hell out of all those games. I thought they were very well done. Bucky O Hare is very fun, but out of reach for a lot of us. It's awesome that you "accidently" have it CIB. Fun trip down memory lane, Michael. Happy New Year!
Yes. We had to use floor transformers to convert the voltage.
My favorite punishment as a child was Faxanadu. I still remember spending hours upon hours exploring and trying to figure out how to deal with all the confusing and difficult stuff it threw at me, but those memories are fond. I miss the days of having to figure it out on your own instead of having a pointer telling you where to go all the time. That and games being severely broken on release nowadays because they can just push constant patches online. With the old cartridge games, they had to get it right the first time or pay the price, which led to games being as bug free as possible, I miss those days. When people made games with passion, not their wallet in mind.
Keeping the box and books was a good move!
The ones you feature for are definitely on the better side of the tie-in games. Of course with one notable exception. and what's funny is I remember seeing a tv ad for the SNES Rocketeer game as a kid, but remember nothing about it outside two kids on a couch playing it. So it wouldn't be until the UA-cam years that I actually saw what it looked like, and well...I think you said it best. Another game I didn't play until I was in my 20's, on an emulator was the Darkman game. What wasted potential that was, as it is a great looking game with perhaps the worst controls I've ever experienced. So much that I just gave up after a few tries. Absolutely infuriating.
Your ability to remember is what's most fascinating to me
If you lived in England when Prince of Thieves came out you must surely remember the death grip Bryan Adams' song had on the country at the time.
14 weeks at #1 - I heard it every day on the coach bus on the way to school almost all of those days. The mass groans on the coach by the end of that two weeks could be heard from space.
“Ghostbusters” for the NES may have been awful but on the C64 it pretty cool. I dropped more than a couple of hours into it during sonar school in between runs on Microprose’s “Gunship” and “F-19”. And I’m pretty envious that you have a functioning Vectrex, that console was awesome!
Great Video!! Totally agree with the Super Star wars take!!
This is a great video. I wasn't into movies as a kid so movie tie in games weren't on my radar. I'm glad there were some good games among the awful ones the usually internet talks about.
Indiana Jones Greatest adventures is one of my favorite Super Nintendo games! Great video Michael
My parents were very picky about what games they bought for their NES, then SNES. I remember playing a number of these titles, but the ones they actually bought for our systems included the following.
For our NES: Jaws, Rambo, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The first two I remember playing the most.
For our SNES: Alien 3, Jurassic Park, and Aladdin.
For my brothers Sega Genesis: Alien 3 and Jurassic Park. Since he also had a Sega CD, I can add that systems version of Jurassic Park to it as well.
I certainly remember the time of movie video game tie-ins back then, it was just another part of growing up then.
Atari’s Temple of Doom is my favorite arcade game… I still play it all the time to this day on a modded arcade cocktail cabinet 🕹️
Michael just to add to your comment about keeping videogame boxes and assorted paraphernalia… I never understood why anybody would throw those out, yet growing up I noticed that I was the only kid alongside my brother to have all our Nintendo cartridges stored in the boxes. I suppose it’s come back around in the years as well. We still have an immaculate collection between us but as you have said games weren’t cheap so it was all about maintaining that value. Plus there was a certain charm to a lot of the artwork on those cases which had started for me back with the old Atari 2600 cartridges. Sometimes the artwork resembled nothing to do with what was in the actual game, and lead to several misleading game purchases that I regretted, but it’s still a cool part of nostalgia from that time ❤
Thanks for sharing those memories! I remember renting the Rocketeer and I liked it. My LJN movie game experience was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and it was...not good. I really enjoyed Star Wars for NES, but not Empire Strikes Back. My best find was getting a Famicom version of Star Wars with an adapter. This was years before the JVC version came out and it tided me over until better Star Wars games came around.
I kept the boxes and instructions too. I appreciated the artwork and i loved to read the manual. I just wish i kept more of my games.
Awesome video. These games all look cool and it’s interested to see the Rocketeer games that I never played. I only ever played the Star Wars games and Batman Returns which I remember being a lot of fun.
Gotta say I found you saying you "cleared" games as opposed to "beat" them sorta endearing. Great video.
We always referred to is as “Clocking the game”
I somehow wound up with a lot of movie tie in games when I was young. I still have most, and fond memories of playing them. Even the not-so-good ones.
This was so cool! I was more of a movie tie-in arcade gamer back in the day. However, I had the same experience with many of my home games, where I'd just play them to get good enough to beat 'em. If other people think the game sucks, that their problem! Are you having fun? Yes? GOOD!
Fun can be relative. Was I having fun playing Roger Rabbit while being stuck? NO. Was I glad when I made progress? YES.
I've kept my old games and consoles through the years. Unfortunately for most of my Atari 2600 and NES games, the boxes were thrown out (my mom tended to throw them out - it wasn't on my instance), and many of the manuals ended up lost or in bad condition since I didn't have the boxes to keep them in. But from the SNES and onward, I kept the boxes and everything (and this includes all Sega consoles from the Genesis onwards, which I got after the SNES, Playstation, Xbox, etc.). There are some used games that I picked up over the years that may have been cartridge only, but most games in my collection were purchased new, and for those, I still have the boxes, manuals, etc.
I was a late adapter of the Game Boy. Among the small handful of games that I ever got for it was Mega Man V. That one REALLY shot up in value over the years. And I had the box and everything in rather good condition (comparable to the condition of the ones in your video). A couple of years ago, because the value had gotten SO insane, I kept the cartridge, but sold the box with the manual and all of the flyers that came with it for over $!,000. Even though I took good care of the game for well over 2 decades, something about having a fragile piece of cardboard with that value to it made me nervous in that if anything ever happened to it, I would feel like it was a huge loss, even though collecting for monetary value was never my motivation. So I decided to part with it while keeping the game itself. A rare occurrence of me selling of something from my collection.
I think most of us got sucked into movie/tv show/IP tie in game to some extent or another back in those days... for better or worse. I have that Ghostbusters game for NES. I never cared for it, though I liked GBII better (even if it is still not a great game). If you have a chance, I recommend emulating the Sega Master System version of Ghostbusters.... its a better version of the NES game. DuckTales for NES is a classic that I have. And for some reason I decided that buying YO! NOID! was a good idea (based on the Dominos PIzza mascot).
On the SNES I actually have Batman Returns and all 3 Super Star Wars games complete from back in the day. I got the Super Star Wars games later on after they had been out for a while, but they were still new copies at the time. A funny thing about Super Return of the Jedi... there is a cheat code that lets you play as any of the characters in any of the levels. Wicket is actually the most powerful at defeating the Emperor! LOL
Sorry for the rambling thoughts. But while I didn't have the exact mix of games that you did, I can related to a lot of what you've said here. I've never played that Indiana Jones SNES game, and now I want to check it out.
I played and owned most of those games too, but wow you're skilled to have beaten any of them. I think I only managed to complete the SNES Star Wars trilogy even with turbo buttons.
I agree with you . I had a lot of the same game's. Robin hood, rocketeer were awesome, loved them.
Just to add, Alien trilogy, and The thing were awesome as well.
Love this video. More like this please. Also, I had the rocketter and ST 25th anniversary on pc. Rocketter was really hard. I recently got ST on steam for 5 or so dollars. Still a great game.
Michael, if you haven't already heard of it, I'd recommend checking out an old Cinemaware title from 1988 called Rocket Ranger. One of my personal childhood favorites for the Amiga, and definitely in line with your interests.