That was my first thought too. I initially couldn't tell whether Drunk was doing an obscure NES title or a modern retro-style game like Shovel Knight, until he clarified it. Absolutely stunning.
I remember seeing boxes of brand new Little Samson and Startropics 2 games sitting in the game aisle at Toys R Us for $8 a piece as they tried to clearance out their NES library in the early 90's. Man, if I knew then what I know now...
I miss those days of 2002-2004… walking into a used record store and buying used games for dirt cheap. And the new stuff coming out for PS2, GameCube, and Xbox were pretty damn good too.
The crazy thing was at that time some secondhand stores wouldn't even accept games from the previous generation and were just trying to get rid of what they had. Man that has changed.
Word. I added to my N64 and SNES collections on buying second hand during that period since those titles ranged anywhere from 2 bucks to 30 lol Usually came complete as well.
Yeah, the pixel art in general is quite good. Most NES games unfortunately have bad to mediocre pixel art at best. There are a few exceptions, but those mostly came out pretty late, when the SNES was already released, and therefore didn't sell well. One of those other games is Kabuki: Quantum Warriors.
@@cube2fox it's because all the good looking NES games had special extra chips in the cartridges that allowed them to use more colours at once and have more sprites on screen etc. Like how SNES games had special extra chips, most famously the Super FX chip, which was one of many, well so did the NES. But most games didn't have them, because they'd cost the developer/publisher more money to manufacture the cartridge if they had to include all these extra chips in them, and most games also were developed before these chips were widely available in the first place (there was actually a shortage of chips for a while in the 80s which is why games like the legend of Zelda came on disks instead of cartridges in Japan, and disks don't have any chips in them at all let alone extra ones. So these chips were only invented later on in the console's lifespan (especially for its lifespan in Japan where it had already been out for 2 years when the NES debuted in the west). So yeah for those reasons, most NES games don't include the special extra chips. It means that the ones that _DO_ include them, like Little Samson here, and Kirby, stand out even more. But yeah the graphics on display here in Little Sampson are literally impossible for the NES to achieve on its own. It just can't do it. It needs the co-processor chips - the extra chips in the cartridges - to be able to do this.
@@duffman18 I'm not sure the enhancement chips for NES (as opposed to SNES) did a lot of graphics enhancing. I thought those were mainly for additional ROM and RAM. What type of chips does Little Samson contain? I'm pretty sure a lot of the reason it looks quite good is that they had a good pixel artist.
This is one of my Childhood games. Sunch an incredible playthroug. My mom gave away my cartridge (along with all my NES games) without telling me and i'm still salty about it.
It is quite common, but sorry to hear it. I even had to throw things away during a move that were in perfect condition; no time to sell kinda thing. It motivates me to appreciate what I still have more, work hard to retrieve what was lost and have fun finding "stolen treasures". Cheers.
I'm 60 and still play retro games. I still have an opened and sealed copy of this game. The 1st copy I bought in the mid 90's when it came out. The 2nd copy I bought in Monterey Mexico at a store called Julio Cepeda. It was a Toys R US rip off. They even used the Giraffe mascot and colored letters. It was in 2001 and they still had NES games for sale. They were all priced at the equivalent of $20.00 US dollars. I thought the game was fun at the time, but not one of my favs. I go back to it occasionally. Good game.
Ha! I remember Julio Cepeda! Since Toys R Us was already going downhill by that point, I got a kick out of Julio. I used to frequent Monterrey as a kid. Love that city.
@@richterbelmont5506 Well, getting there can be the issue. The city itself is generally pretty safe. Might be best to fly these days. Last time I drove through northern MX spooked me. The narcos were hanging random civilians off a pedestrian bridge in a small town I was passing through just the week before. :(
I love how you referenced Harold Minor like this was a brand new review from the 90s. I’m also psyched to learn we are the same age, it retroactively makes your other reviews resonate so much stronger for me. I absolutely love the channel. You’re a star man!!! 🥰
Totally with you on the price of retro stuff 20 years ago. I'm the same age as you at that was the point when I finally has disposable income and one of the things I started doing was retro collecting and it was always a great joy hunting for a good bargain of a game in excellent condition. Now that enjoyment has gone because even relatively common games go for higher prices and the ones that I would actually want are out of reach. It killed one of my favourite hobbies.
That giant dragon boss blew my mind. It's like they made the whole background black as they wanted all the graphical resources to be used just on the boss' sprite. 😄
@@jonathanlampkin6673 I’ve been watching his channel for like 5 years now, and to this day he’s the only creator that hasn’t begged me to subscribe, has never promoted anything (at least not from what I’ve seen) and always says that he hopes we have a great rest of our days. What a class act.
Thank you for mentioning how games like Little Samson have become “status symbols.” People who buy these games to collect dust on a shelf in the background of a UA-cam video with 48 views on game collecting have ruined retro gaming.
I think the title definitely hurt the sales for this treasure. “Little Samson” makes you think it’s a Bible games and unfortunately those titles weren’t known for quality.
Your review is spot on. It really is a gem of a game. One particular aspect blew my mind during my first play through. While fighting the boss with waterfall pits you can fall down and land on a fantastically pixilated crab and see a level you might not see otherwise. Really subverted my ingrained 8 bit expectations of what pits generally lead to.
In the late 90s a local video store was liquidating all its inventory as a result of them closing, most people stayed away from the NES section as all the heavy hitters had already been purchased. So my friend bought all the leftovers at $1 a piece. And Little Samson was one of the games in there. He didn’t even know it was crazy valuable until about 5 years ago since he boxed and stored his NES and games years ago
I almost can't believe this is actually a NES game. For me it seems like one of the modern impressions of 8bit era games we have nowdays. The animation is fluid, the graphics are amazing, the FPS is smooth and mechanically it is incredible.
This game is known in Japan as Seirei Densetsu Lickle, because the main character isn't Samson, but it is actually named Lickle. (because of the L in the pause menu). The US manual calls the main character the titular Little Samson for some reason.
I'm two years older, and you reminded me of something. When funcoland was going under, they had an online fire sale on older games. If I remember correctly, it was a buck a piece for NES games. We put our money together, and between three friends we grabbed a few hundred games. Those days are loooooong gone. To put in in perspective, we got the games and downloaded the music on Napster, and we were shocked that Rondo of Blood was selling for a hundred bucks. That's a lot of money, we thought, for a used game.
Everyone has one of those memories we keep kicking ourselves over and I remember going to Toys R' Us when I was a kid when they were purging all their NES games and gearing up for the next gen and they had AN ENTIRE BIN full of this game and they were all I think $5 or maybe $15 bucks, it had a 5 in the price. The bin might have had other games in it but I specifically remember it had multiple copies of this game and I almost got it because we rented it all the time. Heck, I should have bought them all.
Huh, never heard of this one, but it looks absolutely fantastic. Shame it is so rare. Thanks for again taking care that a piece of art won't be forgotten, SNESdrunk. You're doing a great job!
I am very proud to say I own a nice condition Little Samson Complete in box. I paid $2500 for it in late 2019, and now that’s the loose price. I am NEVER selling my Little Samson!!!
I feel so lucky to have played this when it came out as a blind rental one weekend. Did not complete it but it stuck in my memory as being a favorite. It was one of those games I never really saw available for rental again after I returned it. Gemfire NES and the first Final Fantasy are two others that shared that fate.
I had this game, I got it at a swap meet In decent condition. When I needed money to pay some bills I sold it for a decent price on eBay. People were bidding non stop for it. It was my jewel of my collection but hard times make you make hard decisions .
41 here. I remember in the late 90s in my area we had an indoor, year round flea market on the weekends. There was this person who sold retro games. I think they were all loose. NES, SNES, and Genesis games went for either 25 cents or 50 cents (or buy in bulk for less) and 10 cents for Atari 2600/5200/7800 games. I wasn't into retro gaming at that time beyond a small handful of games so I passed. I kick myself in the butt for not cleaning the person out when I had the chance.
Only 28 now, but I’ve been having a blast playing Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, SNES/NES, GBA games these last few weeks. I’m loving your channel! There’s some charm these games have, and being burnt out on all these live service AAA games with hundreds of hours (at what seems like a minimum) needed to complete, these games have reignited my live of gaming!
Hehe, I grew up with games like Little Samson and Bucky o'Hare! Had the benefit of getting consoles at the end of their lifetime, so those kind of games were basically the only ones on sale 😅
When I got around to playing this years ago I was blown away at how smooth the combat felt. Like you said it took other elements from other games but just perfected it.
I grew up on the NES and had heard about this game as a kid, but it was nearly impossible to find a copy of it. It looks like an incredibly tight and polished game! I am really impressed at how good these graphics are for an NES game! May just have to play it "any way I can".
This game also has branching pathways that add a lot to the replay value. I've played this game several times, and I didn't recognize at least one of the bosses. So cool.
I actually owned this game as a kid, but I lent it to a friend who moved away without giving it back. I still played it once in a while on emulators (early NESticle user here), but when I got my NES fixed up back in 2010 I wanted to own a copy again. Remember being shocked that I had to pay $50 for it, much more than most other NES carts back then. I guess I should be happy I got it in 2010 and not in 2020.
I miss the days when you could go to a Goodwill or junk store and find retro games and consoles for nothing. Most the time it would be sports games that were a dime a dozen but every now and then the rare and cool stuff. Or sometimes take a chance and try something new. The good ol days. That's why I love this channel and will watch it for many more years to come.
For better or for worse I think the continued rise of the internet killed that. It used to be that once kiddies went away to work or college, the parents would offload the games wherever they could, but now they can look online and find out just how valuable they can be. On the other hand, many cartridges fall into the same pitfall as antiques, rare comics, or 1st edition classic books. They are stated to be worth huge sums of money but finding someone who will actually PAY that is a mite trickier, so you can just end up holding onto something waiting for the whale who desperately wants it.
That is where Xbox 360 and PS3 are now. 20 years from now, there'll be people talking about how they used to get Xbox 360 games for cheap from goodwill.
Regarding the Kikira boss fight, the manual explains that she was an extremely arrogant and self serving girl who was turned into a dragon by a vengeful wizard she antagonized. I reckon that's why she at first refuses to join the party.
I also grew up with this game (didn't get an NES until 93). I really loved those little backstories they gave to the characters in the manual, made me care about them more than most NES protagonists.
@@Mystemo Exactly! I haven't actually read the manual for years, but the little blurbs are fresh enough in my memory anyway. Heck, if memory serves Gamm was a thief who was transformed into a golem by accident when he broke into a wizard's tower, and that wizard was in fact KO who turned into a mouse to get away from Gamm. It's all connected 😅
The backstories are cool. I have/had the famicom knockout back in the day so that means not manual, so never knew the backstories those decades ago. So I always thought of them being the avatars from their respective races that joined to face the common threat of their age, like the Fellowship of the Ring, and kinda prefer that head-canon better than them just being “humans turned into creatures by a wizard”.
Oh, man! My brother and I were really into retro game collecting about 10 years ago. We grabbed Little Samson complete in box, instruction manuals and all, for the equivalent to USD$10 at a flea market. Oh, those were the days!
My gaming nostalgia for 8/16 bit eras is split in 2 First from the late 80s thru mid 90s when it was contemporary And a few years later when I discovered emulation. This was one I found on emulation and damn it is good
I watched NESfriend's video on this a few days ago and it's really great how much info and how little overlap there is between this video and that one. Usually a retro game review will feel pretty similar, but you both found lots of different things to discuss about the game so this didn't feel like a rehash.
Honestly, just looking at this game play out here, I was trying to work out whether it was a NES game, or a modern deliberately-retro NES-like game like Shovel Knight, because this just looks _amazing!_ The fluidity and detail of the sprites, the flawless performance, the precise and versatile controls- price aside, I really regret never getting to play this game back when it came out!
Another difference between Easy and Normal modes is that you can't see the true ending in Easy, the ending reveals there is yet another dungeon to complete in Normal mode and kicks you out to the main screen.
I remember seeing this one in the video store for rent at the tail end of the NES era. Never picked it up but glad you gave it a once over. Looks super cool! Definitely a late generation NES game with those awesome graphics. Thanks for the great vid!
From what I remember, the first fight with the dragon happens because it doesn't want to go "into" Samson's bell (as the other characters have already done a this point) so that you can change into them. The first few times I played this game I got my butt handed to me in this fight.
I remember seeing this at Funcoland when I was a kid. They had 3 copies for 49.99, which I thought was crazy for an NES game. What a naïve child I was.
Just started playing the game on my Miyoo Mini thanks to this video. What a fantastic game. Can't believe this flew under my radar for the last 30 years.
Never played it, but I remember seeing it in Nintendo Power. It must have made an impact if I remember it! I think it was how the character switching was done along with the great graphics.
These graphics are mindblowing; they look more like a NES-inspired indie games. Kinda wish there were more graphical effects like parallax but you can’t have everything. It’s a shame a lot of old games aren’t cheap anymore for a newcomer like me, but at least there are other options to play great games like this
To me this is one of the very few nes games that still look good today. Almost like a half step between nes and snes. This, kirby and mario bros 3. Maybe more I just can't think of any
Thank you for reviewing this game! As someone just a smidgen older than you, I regret never knowing about this one when I was a little kid. It's a shame because it looks both fun and adorable, and it's a shame that it probably isn't available on any weird compilation games, or eshop-purchasable. Always fun to see the really old, but good, games given some love!
You know, I ended up getting a very nice and almost exact to the teeth reproduction cart of this game several years ago. What’s cool was the maker/seller designed a very nice reprinted color instruction manuel and a big custom made case for it that almost looks like one of those big old plastic Walt Disney movie VHS boxes (if you know what I am talking about). I honestly love this way more than ever spending the outrageous prices for an actual cartridge that I will not only never afford but would never especially be able to track down a tried and true complete copy. Collectors sometimes have to sacrifice and draw the line you know? I also wanted to experience the game for myself and see what all the hubbub was about. That was also a difficult task within itself because as far a the USA goes, this game has NEVER been re-released in any capacity as of writing this either. Other regions may have been luckier but not here.. Anyways, I gotta say everything this channel says about this game is absolutely true! It’s a treat to play through and it’s the perfect amount of challenge even for a veteran gamer like myself. I grew up on Mario, MegaMan, Castlevania, Zelda 2, Sonic etc and this was right up my alleyway. Graphics for the time were also great. Its plot gives off the vibe as to be one of those adventure style kid friendly environments with a dastardly villain to fight as the final boss too. I always like those! The NES didn’t get many of those either back in the day. Everything said about it here on this channel hits the nail on the head. If you haven’t tried this, go on Etsy.com or head to a retro game convention near you and pick up a repro cart for this. It’s WAY cheaper and the game is worth your time. Truly a hidden gem indeed & absolutely worth it even as a repro in your collection! :)
I'm 38, and the first couple years at college, 2002-2004, I dropped buying and playing new games entirely (very minimalist), but I had discovered emulation and spent that same time playing old NES games. I remember one night especially out of my mind playing Bubble Bobble and Mega Man 2 (which I rented many times but never owned) and thinking this is one of the best things I've ever seen. So while I wasn't out acquiring cartridges, it is funny that at about the same time many from that NES generation were revisiting it.
This game defined my childhood. It was one of my first NES games. :) I remember that the mouse was quite underrated. Setting multiple bombs during a boss fight was quite effective.
I found this one on multi NES cart a few years ago, which finally got me around to playing it. I thought it really did live up to the hype. Still hoping I’ll find the original at a thrift store or yard sale one of these days though. That’s how I find most of my games, junking them in the wild, although most of my collection I picked up in the late 90’s when you could find a ton of this stuff for a few bucks each at goodwill. I should’ve collected more. I had no idea this stuff would get as collectible as it is. My SNES still has the 4.99 price tag on it!😂
Many of the "end of life" NES games had fantastic graphics. A lot of hidden games during this period as most people had moved on to the Super Nintendo.
I remember when I finished the game for the first time, the ending was like “oh damn there’s a sequel!!” But quickly I realized I had to try in the harder difficulty, which I did and took me months to finish it on that, but enjoyed EVERY moment of the gameplay. I had a knockoff nes console and the game sometimes (only sometimes) had a strange glitch on the gigant crab riding stage. Some of the sprites collide a lot though, like the gigantic green cyclops and the big dragon collide with all the other cartoony enemies, but ALL the sprite work is amazing and I enjoyed an draw many scenes. Samson jumping animation is amazing, and funny to discover how the mouse’s bomba are heavily overpowered and makes for an interesting playthrough on his own. My only complain is the music, it gets tired to listen the 4 songs switching every few minutes. They are good songs, but still. The same creators also did Cocoron. If you liked this one, try giving that game a chance “any way you can”. Little Samson together with Kunio series, Castlevania, Doudle Dragon 2 l, mega man 4 and Ninja Gaiden 3, are my fave games on the nes.
It's funny, I've always liked your channel and didn't know we were the same age. When you mentioned it, it suddenly clicked. Another reason I find your videos relatable
Amazing! I mistook this for a super Nintendo game at first. The animations are incredible. That boss that disappears with that silky smooth spiral animation for example. The obvious giveaway that it was an NES was the limited color pallette.
Thanks for making this video, I remember playing this on an emulator in 2004 with the title being “Lickle.” I picked it bc the name was silly but before long, when I had a friend over I would insist they try it. Needless to say, it met resounding approval.
Aside from its worth the game is truly excellent and yet another I missed as I was all about the 16-bit machines by that point. Given that I believe it released in 1992 and depending on the month there's a good chance that I had my gaming "setup" largely finished. My setup consisted of my Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes in my old entertainment center (remember those?). I actually hated the way our Snes looked so much that I hid it inside a cabinet. My setup would go through some radical changes in 1994-1995.
Even the Japanese Famicom version is expensive, with copies going for upwards of $400 online. This game needs a modern remake so that more people can actually play it.
Oh snap! The version I played of this only had the first world. After you beat the dragon, that was it. So sick, to see there's so many more worlds. Awesome game and thanks for the vid
Great game. I have the PAL cart, which is expensive, but nowhere near the NTSC one, I think. I love the part where you fight the dragon! He bursts through, roars to you, and then you start fighting. To me it makes sense. He's challenging you before he joins you.
This is crazy. I'm here nearly in tears. What has our country come to, where I'm left here reminiscing about Michael Jackson and the Superbowl. Thinking of either of those two on their own would itself be an anomaly. To ponder both concurrently is maddness.... the maddness is us. Nearly thirty years later, we've abandoned love and compassion and adopted a politically-driven racial battlefield. It hurts my heart that we've let the media and government rekindle a fire we'd nearly extinguished. Stop the maddness, people, start the loving. Start the healing. Start RESISTING the force-fed hate and division and live again...love again. Hopefully I'm not alone in my sentiment, here. We can be doing so much better.
Great informative video. Inspired me to break out my modded vita and give this one a try. Really surprised I ever missed it. Excited to go deep with this one. Thanks again.
The art is so good I'd have guessed it was an homage to NES games rather than an actual release.
Not even the big sprites have that nes flickering
@@TheLakabanzaichrg The large boss characters aren't sprites, they're background tiles.
@@MaliciousMalcontent It was a somewhat popular technique amongst Japanese programmers for the Famicom/NES, and Capcom were the masters at using it.
@@ostiariusalpha oh
That was my first thought too. I initially couldn't tell whether Drunk was doing an obscure NES title or a modern retro-style game like Shovel Knight, until he clarified it. Absolutely stunning.
I remember seeing boxes of brand new Little Samson and Startropics 2 games sitting in the game aisle at Toys R Us for $8 a piece as they tried to clearance out their NES library in the early 90's. Man, if I knew then what I know now...
I remember when booster packs of pokemon cards were basically free and now they're 1000 each
Literally same, one of my bigger regrets..
Imagine someone knowing the future buying 10 copies for $80. Then selling the complete boxed sets for over $10,000 now.
I bought Earthbound on clearance for $20....there were stacks of them lol
I borrowed mega man x3 and then moved without giving it back to my friend. Honest mistake, but it’s still mine lol
I miss those days of 2002-2004… walking into a used record store and buying used games for dirt cheap. And the new stuff coming out for PS2, GameCube, and Xbox were pretty damn good too.
I found a brand new copy of Castlevania: Bloodlines during that time at Toys R Us. It blew my mind since the genesis was long dead.
Yep, even older graphic novels are now crazy expensive. I get it, they're not in print anymore, but there's still a demand so why not print some more?
The crazy thing was at that time some secondhand stores wouldn't even accept games from the previous generation and were just trying to get rid of what they had. Man that has changed.
Word. I added to my N64 and SNES collections on buying second hand during that period since those titles ranged anywhere from 2 bucks to 30 lol Usually came complete as well.
Emulate bro, it's not hard.
Bro! I'm 40. You used to make me feel old. Keep doing what you're doing. You sound young at heart.
40 is the new 30s
@@DGFTardin I’m
Saying tho
@@DGFTardingay is the new straight
I'M A MAN, I'M 40
@@brianc3761 Dang, you beat me to it by 4 minutes 😆
Little Samson's jump animation is incredible
van damn's lvl of spin awesomeness
Very good key frames in this one
Yeah, the pixel art in general is quite good. Most NES games unfortunately have bad to mediocre pixel art at best. There are a few exceptions, but those mostly came out pretty late, when the SNES was already released, and therefore didn't sell well. One of those other games is Kabuki: Quantum Warriors.
@@cube2fox it's because all the good looking NES games had special extra chips in the cartridges that allowed them to use more colours at once and have more sprites on screen etc. Like how SNES games had special extra chips, most famously the Super FX chip, which was one of many, well so did the NES. But most games didn't have them, because they'd cost the developer/publisher more money to manufacture the cartridge if they had to include all these extra chips in them, and most games also were developed before these chips were widely available in the first place (there was actually a shortage of chips for a while in the 80s which is why games like the legend of Zelda came on disks instead of cartridges in Japan, and disks don't have any chips in them at all let alone extra ones. So these chips were only invented later on in the console's lifespan (especially for its lifespan in Japan where it had already been out for 2 years when the NES debuted in the west). So yeah for those reasons, most NES games don't include the special extra chips. It means that the ones that _DO_ include them, like Little Samson here, and Kirby, stand out even more.
But yeah the graphics on display here in Little Sampson are literally impossible for the NES to achieve on its own. It just can't do it. It needs the co-processor chips - the extra chips in the cartridges - to be able to do this.
@@duffman18 I'm not sure the enhancement chips for NES (as opposed to SNES) did a lot of graphics enhancing. I thought those were mainly for additional ROM and RAM. What type of chips does Little Samson contain? I'm pretty sure a lot of the reason it looks quite good is that they had a good pixel artist.
This is one of my Childhood games. Sunch an incredible playthroug. My mom gave away my cartridge (along with all my NES games) without telling me and i'm still salty about it.
Wow, you really lost out there
You let her know that is a 1000+ dollar mistake
Ouch
My brother did the same thing to about 100 nes games.
It is quite common, but sorry to hear it. I even had to throw things away during a move that were in perfect condition; no time to sell kinda thing. It motivates me to appreciate what I still have more, work hard to retrieve what was lost and have fun finding "stolen treasures". Cheers.
I'm 60 and still play retro games. I still have an opened and sealed copy of this game. The 1st copy I bought in the mid 90's when it came out. The 2nd copy I bought in Monterey Mexico at a store called Julio Cepeda. It was a Toys R US rip off. They even used the Giraffe mascot and colored letters. It was in 2001 and they still had NES games for sale. They were all priced at the equivalent of $20.00 US dollars. I thought the game was fun at the time, but not one of my favs. I go back to it occasionally. Good game.
Amazing story ty
Ha! I remember Julio Cepeda! Since Toys R Us was already going downhill by that point, I got a kick out of Julio. I used to frequent Monterrey as a kid. Love that city.
@@2WhiteAndNerdy I've heard it's dangerous nowadays
@@richterbelmont5506 Well, getting there can be the issue. The city itself is generally pretty safe. Might be best to fly these days. Last time I drove through northern MX spooked me. The narcos were hanging random civilians off a pedestrian bridge in a small town I was passing through just the week before. :(
Damn that's cool. If you ever want to take a nice vacation you could sell that seale copy 😀 Or do you plan on passing it down to someone?
I love how you referenced Harold Minor like this was a brand new review from the 90s. I’m also psyched to learn we are the same age, it retroactively makes your other reviews resonate so much stronger for me.
I absolutely love the channel. You’re a star man!!! 🥰
Great comment, great vibes.
Totally with you on the price of retro stuff 20 years ago. I'm the same age as you at that was the point when I finally has disposable income and one of the things I started doing was retro collecting and it was always a great joy hunting for a good bargain of a game in excellent condition. Now that enjoyment has gone because even relatively common games go for higher prices and the ones that I would actually want are out of reach. It killed one of my favourite hobbies.
What I love the most about this game is just how hard they went with the boss sprites
That giant dragon boss blew my mind.
It's like they made the whole background black as they wanted all the graphical resources to be used just on the boss' sprite. 😄
It's basically Mega Man 2's green dragon boss battle, but changed up a bit
The artwork in this game is next level. Beautiful backgrounds.
I can't believe how technically rock-solid it is. Zero slow down, zero flickering. It really does add an extra level of enjoyment to a game sometimes.
SNESDrunk videos are always such a great way to start your day
I love it there is usually one ready for me after work
@@jonathanlampkin6673 I’ve been watching his channel for like 5 years now, and to this day he’s the only creator that hasn’t begged me to subscribe, has never promoted anything (at least not from what I’ve seen) and always says that he hopes we have a great rest of our days.
What a class act.
It's true because you get to have a great rest of your day.
Harold Miner! Now that's a blast from the past - I just remember his cradle-reverse slam in the dunk contest back in the 90's - amazing
Thank you for mentioning how games like Little Samson have become “status symbols.”
People who buy these games to collect dust on a shelf in the background of a UA-cam video with 48 views on game collecting have ruined retro gaming.
Happens in most hobbies. People hoard.
I think the title definitely hurt the sales for this treasure. “Little Samson” makes you think it’s a Bible games and unfortunately those titles weren’t known for quality.
Your review is spot on. It really is a gem of a game. One particular aspect blew my mind during my first play through. While fighting the boss with waterfall pits you can fall down and land on a fantastically pixilated crab and see a level you might not see otherwise. Really subverted my ingrained 8 bit expectations of what pits generally lead to.
In the late 90s a local video store was liquidating all its inventory as a result of them closing, most people stayed away from the NES section as all the heavy hitters had already been purchased. So my friend bought all the leftovers at $1 a piece. And Little Samson was one of the games in there. He didn’t even know it was crazy valuable until about 5 years ago since he boxed and stored his NES and games years ago
I almost can't believe this is actually a NES game. For me it seems like one of the modern impressions of 8bit era games we have nowdays. The animation is fluid, the graphics are amazing, the FPS is smooth and mechanically it is incredible.
This game is known in Japan as Seirei Densetsu Lickle, because the main character isn't Samson, but it is actually named Lickle. (because of the L in the pause menu). The US manual calls the main character the titular Little Samson for some reason.
I'm two years older, and you reminded me of something. When funcoland was going under, they had an online fire sale on older games. If I remember correctly, it was a buck a piece for NES games. We put our money together, and between three friends we grabbed a few hundred games.
Those days are loooooong gone. To put in in perspective, we got the games and downloaded the music on Napster, and we were shocked that Rondo of Blood was selling for a hundred bucks. That's a lot of money, we thought, for a used game.
Everyone has one of those memories we keep kicking ourselves over and I remember going to Toys R' Us when I was a kid when they were purging all their NES games and gearing up for the next gen and they had AN ENTIRE BIN full of this game and they were all I think $5 or maybe $15 bucks, it had a 5 in the price. The bin might have had other games in it but I specifically remember it had multiple copies of this game and I almost got it because we rented it all the time. Heck, I should have bought them all.
Yupp, it torments me every single day! Those bins were absolute steals and even then i didnt buy any!!
Huh, never heard of this one, but it looks absolutely fantastic. Shame it is so rare.
Thanks for again taking care that a piece of art won't be forgotten, SNESdrunk. You're doing a great job!
I am very proud to say I own a nice condition Little Samson Complete in box. I paid $2500 for it in late 2019, and now that’s the loose price. I am NEVER selling my Little Samson!!!
“Harold Miner’s vertical leap “😂 Love the old school references man
Surprised anyone here knows who Harold Miner is! That got me too!
Man, the mountains in the background of the first stage are so beautiful. Just overall one of the most visually pleasing games I’ve ever seen
I feel so lucky to have played this when it came out as a blind rental one weekend. Did not complete it but it stuck in my memory as being a favorite. It was one of those games I never really saw available for rental again after I returned it. Gemfire NES and the first Final Fantasy are two others that shared that fate.
I had this game, I got it at a swap meet In decent condition. When I needed money to pay some bills I sold it for a decent price on eBay. People were bidding non stop for it. It was my jewel of my collection but hard times make you make hard decisions .
I never realized how smooth the turn animations are, like its really damn good
41 here. I remember in the late 90s in my area we had an indoor, year round flea market on the weekends. There was this person who sold retro games. I think they were all loose. NES, SNES, and Genesis games went for either 25 cents or 50 cents (or buy in bulk for less) and 10 cents for Atari 2600/5200/7800 games. I wasn't into retro gaming at that time beyond a small handful of games so I passed. I kick myself in the butt for not cleaning the person out when I had the chance.
I was lucky enough to grow up with this game and it's always been one of my favorites.
i sold mine for 4k
Some I knew the phrase “any way you can” would come up in this video.
SNES Drunk starting the morning on a strong note
"I'M A MAN, I'M 40"
I will say out of all of the super rare and expensive retro games out there, this is definitely one of the more fun games to play!
Only 28 now, but I’ve been having a blast playing Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, SNES/NES, GBA games these last few weeks. I’m loving your channel! There’s some charm these games have, and being burnt out on all these live service AAA games with hundreds of hours (at what seems like a minimum) needed to complete, these games have reignited my live of gaming!
Hehe, I grew up with games like Little Samson and Bucky o'Hare! Had the benefit of getting consoles at the end of their lifetime, so those kind of games were basically the only ones on sale 😅
When I got around to playing this years ago I was blown away at how smooth the combat felt. Like you said it took other elements from other games but just perfected it.
I grew up on the NES and had heard about this game as a kid, but it was nearly impossible to find a copy of it. It looks like an incredibly tight and polished game! I am really impressed at how good these graphics are for an NES game! May just have to play it "any way I can".
This game also has branching pathways that add a lot to the replay value. I've played this game several times, and I didn't recognize at least one of the bosses. So cool.
I actually owned this game as a kid, but I lent it to a friend who moved away without giving it back. I still played it once in a while on emulators (early NESticle user here), but when I got my NES fixed up back in 2010 I wanted to own a copy again. Remember being shocked that I had to pay $50 for it, much more than most other NES carts back then. I guess I should be happy I got it in 2010 and not in 2020.
Wow, this is perfect timing! I played and beaten Little Samson a couple of days back using an emulator (for obvious reasons) and I really enjoyed it!
Awesome vid Snes drunk! Loved that you included some short industry history for context!
I miss the days when you could go to a Goodwill or junk store and find retro games and consoles for nothing. Most the time it would be sports games that were a dime a dozen but every now and then the rare and cool stuff. Or sometimes take a chance and try something new. The good ol days. That's why I love this channel and will watch it for many more years to come.
For better or for worse I think the continued rise of the internet killed that. It used to be that once kiddies went away to work or college, the parents would offload the games wherever they could, but now they can look online and find out just how valuable they can be. On the other hand, many cartridges fall into the same pitfall as antiques, rare comics, or 1st edition classic books. They are stated to be worth huge sums of money but finding someone who will actually PAY that is a mite trickier, so you can just end up holding onto something waiting for the whale who desperately wants it.
@@kingleech16 if I ever win the lottery I will be one of those whales buy up every Godzilla figure I can find
That is where Xbox 360 and PS3 are now. 20 years from now, there'll be people talking about how they used to get Xbox 360 games for cheap from goodwill.
@@jonathanlampkin6673 Just don’t get the Godzilla alarm clock. For some reason, non-fans don’t think the Godzilla roar is a good thing to wake up to.
Regarding the Kikira boss fight, the manual explains that she was an extremely arrogant and self serving girl who was turned into a dragon by a vengeful wizard she antagonized. I reckon that's why she at first refuses to join the party.
I also grew up with this game (didn't get an NES until 93). I really loved those little backstories they gave to the characters in the manual, made me care about them more than most NES protagonists.
@@Mystemo Exactly! I haven't actually read the manual for years, but the little blurbs are fresh enough in my memory anyway. Heck, if memory serves Gamm was a thief who was transformed into a golem by accident when he broke into a wizard's tower, and that wizard was in fact KO who turned into a mouse to get away from Gamm. It's all connected 😅
The backstories are cool. I have/had the famicom knockout back in the day so that means not manual, so never knew the backstories those decades ago.
So I always thought of them being the avatars from their respective races that joined to face the common threat of their age, like the Fellowship of the Ring, and kinda prefer that head-canon better than them just being “humans turned into creatures by a wizard”.
@@a-tick yupp, that's right :)
@@Mystemo man, I can barely remember last week but the backstory to a 30 year old textless videogame is fresh... I'm gettin' old.
Oh, man! My brother and I were really into retro game collecting about 10 years ago. We grabbed Little Samson complete in box, instruction manuals and all, for the equivalent to USD$10 at a flea market. Oh, those were the days!
What'd you do with it
@@richterbelmont5506 play it! We do have a working NES we still use often.
Man the movement in this game looks so tight. Just from that, I can tell how much fun this would be to play
+8 minutes on a single game? That’s when you know this video is gonna be good.
My gaming nostalgia for 8/16 bit eras is split in 2
First from the late 80s thru mid 90s when it was contemporary
And a few years later when I discovered emulation. This was one I found on emulation and damn it is good
I watched NESfriend's video on this a few days ago and it's really great how much info and how little overlap there is between this video and that one. Usually a retro game review will feel pretty similar, but you both found lots of different things to discuss about the game so this didn't feel like a rehash.
Honestly, just looking at this game play out here, I was trying to work out whether it was a NES game, or a modern deliberately-retro NES-like game like Shovel Knight, because this just looks _amazing!_ The fluidity and detail of the sprites, the flawless performance, the precise and versatile controls- price aside, I really regret never getting to play this game back when it came out!
It was seriously just so good. I rented it on a lark, not even having heard of it. I was not disappointed.
Another difference between Easy and Normal modes is that you can't see the true ending in Easy, the ending reveals there is yet another dungeon to complete in Normal mode and kicks you out to the main screen.
I remember seeing this one in the video store for rent at the tail end of the NES era. Never picked it up but glad you gave it a once over. Looks super cool! Definitely a late generation NES game with those awesome graphics. Thanks for the great vid!
Anyone else feel like SNES & Genesis games have aged much better than many N64 and PS1 era games?
That spinning jump is amazing! Dang I wish I gave this one a shot. Guess that needs to be rectified.
From what I remember, the first fight with the dragon happens because it doesn't want to go "into" Samson's bell (as the other characters have already done a this point) so that you can change into them. The first few times I played this game I got my butt handed to me in this fight.
I remember seeing this at Funcoland when I was a kid. They had 3 copies for 49.99, which I thought was crazy for an NES game.
What a naïve child I was.
Just started playing the game on my Miyoo Mini thanks to this video. What a fantastic game. Can't believe this flew under my radar for the last 30 years.
Never played it, but I remember seeing it in Nintendo Power. It must have made an impact if I remember it! I think it was how the character switching was done along with the great graphics.
Great video. I had no idea how much was going on in that game. Also wild to see how much these red border NES games are going for now.
Hey SNES drunk - Thanks! I hope you have a great rest of your day too!
I'm 40 as well! No wonder I love this channel so much!
These graphics are mindblowing; they look more like a NES-inspired indie games. Kinda wish there were more graphical effects like parallax but you can’t have everything. It’s a shame a lot of old games aren’t cheap anymore for a newcomer like me, but at least there are other options to play great games like this
The sprite work on Little Samson is incredible. Spinning while jumping is such an artist flex.
I'm 30 but Brazil was late in the technological run in the 90s, so I have plenty of memories with the NES and SNES stuff. Good review as always
To me this is one of the very few nes games that still look good today. Almost like a half step between nes and snes. This, kirby and mario bros 3. Maybe more I just can't think of any
Just saw this game for $2500 in a local game store the other day. Glad this popped up to learn more about it!
I can only afford the pal version and considering a repro cart for a North American version.
Your opening statement SPOT on I as well am 40 so completely understand where you are coming from! Keep up the great work!
Thank you for reviewing this game! As someone just a smidgen older than you, I regret never knowing about this one when I was a little kid. It's a shame because it looks both fun and adorable, and it's a shame that it probably isn't available on any weird compilation games, or eshop-purchasable. Always fun to see the really old, but good, games given some love!
Holy schnikeys, Harold Miner reference. You made my day.
You know, I ended up getting a very nice and almost exact to the teeth reproduction cart of this game several years ago. What’s cool was the maker/seller designed a very nice reprinted color instruction manuel and a big custom made case for it that almost looks like one of those big old plastic Walt Disney movie VHS boxes (if you know what I am talking about). I honestly love this way more than ever spending the outrageous prices for an actual cartridge that I will not only never afford but would never especially be able to track down a tried and true complete copy. Collectors sometimes have to sacrifice and draw the line you know? I also wanted to experience the game for myself and see what all the hubbub was about. That was also a difficult task within itself because as far a the USA goes, this game has NEVER been re-released in any capacity as of writing this either. Other regions may have been luckier but not here..
Anyways, I gotta say everything this channel says about this game is absolutely true! It’s a treat to play through and it’s the perfect amount of challenge even for a veteran gamer like myself. I grew up on Mario, MegaMan, Castlevania, Zelda 2, Sonic etc and this was right up my alleyway. Graphics for the time were also great. Its plot gives off the vibe as to be one of those adventure style kid friendly environments with a dastardly villain to fight as the final boss too. I always like those! The NES didn’t get many of those either back in the day. Everything said about it here on this channel hits the nail on the head. If you haven’t tried this, go on Etsy.com or head to a retro game convention near you and pick up a repro cart for this. It’s WAY cheaper and the game is worth your time. Truly a hidden gem indeed & absolutely worth it even as a repro in your collection! :)
I know exactly what u mean bout the big plastic Disney VHS cases lol
Total length of video: 490 secs.
Total length of "SNES Drunk": 2.5 secs
.51% of the video was spent listening to "SNES Drunk".
I'm 38, and the first couple years at college, 2002-2004, I dropped buying and playing new games entirely (very minimalist), but I had discovered emulation and spent that same time playing old NES games. I remember one night especially out of my mind playing Bubble Bobble and Mega Man 2 (which I rented many times but never owned) and thinking this is one of the best things I've ever seen. So while I wasn't out acquiring cartridges, it is funny that at about the same time many from that NES generation were revisiting it.
Bro! I just turned 40 last October! Thanks for the nostalgia friend!
I'm definitely playing that asap. Thanks for the reviews, they're such a joy to watch
loved this front to back when i played it a couple years ago. great game!
This game defined my childhood. It was one of my first NES games. :)
I remember that the mouse was quite underrated. Setting multiple bombs during a boss fight was quite effective.
My neighbours had this game. Never played the Mega Man games back then but this was our favorite
Harold Miner reference in 2022 has to be the randomest in a long time.
I found this one on multi NES cart a few years ago, which finally got me around to playing it. I thought it really did live up to the hype. Still hoping I’ll find the original at a thrift store or yard sale one of these days though. That’s how I find most of my games, junking them in the wild, although most of my collection I picked up in the late 90’s when you could find a ton of this stuff for a few bucks each at goodwill. I should’ve collected more. I had no idea this stuff would get as collectible as it is. My SNES still has the 4.99 price tag on it!😂
I remember playing this game a lot when I was a kid, but I had forgotten the name of the game as an adult. One of my favorites.
you're not kidding this games looks and feels like a modern pixel/retro art indie game.
I didn't realize this was an NES game at first it looks incredible wow 😳
Many of the "end of life" NES games had fantastic graphics.
A lot of hidden games during this period as most people had moved on to the Super Nintendo.
Ironically Kirby is one of the late NES games with incredible graphics.
I remember when I finished the game for the first time, the ending was like “oh damn there’s a sequel!!” But quickly I realized I had to try in the harder difficulty, which I did and took me months to finish it on that, but enjoyed EVERY moment of the gameplay. I had a knockoff nes console and the game sometimes (only sometimes) had a strange glitch on the gigant crab riding stage.
Some of the sprites collide a lot though, like the gigantic green cyclops and the big dragon collide with all the other cartoony enemies, but ALL the sprite work is amazing and I enjoyed an draw many scenes.
Samson jumping animation is amazing, and funny to discover how the mouse’s bomba are heavily overpowered and makes for an interesting playthrough on his own.
My only complain is the music, it gets tired to listen the 4 songs switching every few minutes. They are good songs, but still.
The same creators also did Cocoron. If you liked this one, try giving that game a chance “any way you can”.
Little Samson together with Kunio series, Castlevania, Doudle Dragon 2 l, mega man 4 and Ninja Gaiden 3, are my fave games on the nes.
It's funny, I've always liked your channel and didn't know we were the same age. When you mentioned it, it suddenly clicked. Another reason I find your videos relatable
A) Love that this happened to come out on the same day as my refresh of the Rare & Valuable NES guide
B) Digging the Harold Miner reference
I wonder if the one-on-one fight was supposed to make you learn that Kikira could charge up her fireballs for a bigger blast.
Amazing! I mistook this for a super Nintendo game at first. The animations are incredible. That boss that disappears with that silky smooth spiral animation for example. The obvious giveaway that it was an NES was the limited color pallette.
Thanks for making this video, I remember playing this on an emulator in 2004 with the title being “Lickle.” I picked it bc the name was silly but before long, when I had a friend over I would insist they try it. Needless to say, it met resounding approval.
I vaguely remember a kid in my old neighborhood having this game. I haven't thought of it since. I forgot how fun it is.
Lil Sammy flat out slaps
Aside from its worth the game is truly excellent and yet another I missed as I was all about the 16-bit machines by that point. Given that I believe it released in 1992 and depending on the month there's a good chance that I had my gaming "setup" largely finished.
My setup consisted of my Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes in my old entertainment center (remember those?). I actually hated the way our Snes looked so much that I hid it inside a cabinet. My setup would go through some radical changes in 1994-1995.
Awesome review SNESdrunk!!
Even the Japanese Famicom version is expensive, with copies going for upwards of $400 online. This game needs a modern remake so that more people can actually play it.
Oh snap! The version I played of this only had the first world. After you beat the dragon, that was it. So sick, to see there's so many more worlds. Awesome game and thanks for the vid
Great game. I have the PAL cart, which is expensive, but nowhere near the NTSC one, I think.
I love the part where you fight the dragon! He bursts through, roars to you, and then you start fighting. To me it makes sense. He's challenging you before he joins you.
Never heard of it but it looks great. Yours continues to be the best channel on youtube, see ya next time.
One of my favorite NES games that I've just played many years after I've sold my console. I wish I had tried it back in the day
This is crazy. I'm here nearly in tears. What has our country come to, where I'm left here reminiscing about Michael Jackson and the Superbowl. Thinking of either of those two on their own would itself be an anomaly. To ponder both concurrently is maddness.... the maddness is us. Nearly thirty years later, we've abandoned love and compassion and adopted a politically-driven racial battlefield. It hurts my heart that we've let the media and government rekindle a fire we'd nearly extinguished. Stop the maddness, people, start the loving. Start the healing. Start RESISTING the force-fed hate and division and live again...love again. Hopefully I'm not alone in my sentiment, here. We can be doing so much better.
Great informative video. Inspired me to break out my modded vita and give this one a try. Really surprised I ever missed it. Excited to go deep with this one. Thanks again.
Absolutely loved this game as a kid. We used to have a physical copy too! It’s crazy how expensive it is now 😞