Top Gun & Breakthru review: Take my NES away | NES Works
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- Опубліковано 31 бер 2020
- Two final middling releases for 1987, one of which is based on a licensed property. Yeah, you can definitely see the future of the NES shaping up here. Neither Top Gun or BreakThru is the worst game we've seen, but neither can quite make up its mind as to what it wants to be. Is Top Gun a flight sim or an aerial combat game? Is BreakThru a side-scrolling platformer or a shooter? Rather than feeling like brilliant hybrids, these both just seem a bit muddled...
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Someone should defintely make a rom hack combining
Top Gun/Volleyball where you pay a match between each
mission. Make it happen internet.
8 minute abs? try 8 bit abs
The FLGS near me has some NES volleyball game next to it's copy of Top Gun: The Second Mission.
"The F-14 is an endelable icon of a time when my generation was young and stupid enought, to think endless military conflict was cool and fun" This is Gold! Just that sentence alone makes this video a deserver of a like!
Bob and Henry over at Talking Simpsons were also talking about this recently with regards to the stealth bomber. I'd never thought about before just how pervasive marketing the military to kids was then.
That's what I was beggining to write!
My first time playing this was at a birthday party. We watched Iron Eagle and Top Gun. We were so high off military propaganda and mtn dew.
It may be due to the difficult times we are living (we are into the 3rd week of quarantine here in Spain where the virus hit very hard) but I am realizing even more how important are your videos to me on a very personal level. I've been watching since you started the NES Works series. Keep up the great job. Thank you so much for your work!
Stay safe. I heard Spain got hit pretty hard.
Love and prayers to all of you from New York City USA. We're all in this together.
Oh, thank you both for the encouraging words. :)
Yes, the virus hit Spain early and hard. In a similar way to Italy, probably because of the amount of touristic visitors we have all over the year. Our way of life (very public and with a lot of close contact between people) and the aging of our population are the hypothesis to the quick expansion of the virus.
My personal situation is not bad. I am young and healthy in general, so I don't consider myself a likely target of the disease (it is estimated that around the 80% of the affected are people over 70). Still, I am worried about my family and about the social situation in general. The government adopted very strict measurements in order to slow the rate of new infections and avoid the collapse of the health system. That is the main reason of the quarantine. We still don't know when the quarantine will be progressively removed. Maybe by the end of Eastern, but that's far from sure.
Talking about Jeremy's work, I enjoy it very much. The documentary style, the tone, the respect and knowledge showed to those games and that era... I think these videos are forever and will remain as an encyclopedia of a seminal time for video games and culture in general. All my support to his project :)
Jeremy really has the jokes hitting in the recent episodes, the delivery definitely has a lot to do with it.
When I saw the video posted my first thought was it is going to be a good day, thank you for that. I have strong memories of both of these games. A neighbor had an RV they had setup as a playhouse one summer, and I can remember playing a lot of Top Gun in there, only ever seeing the second stage. Breakthru broke my cousins and I, never saw that one through. Thanks for treating them like all things with a fair amount of respect. Thank you for continuing to work on things when the creative process can be very disrupted at this time. We appreciate you.
That opening joke got me about 3 seconds later. Well played. I also appreciate not only that the review ends on the sentence "That's a low bar to clear, but you take what you can get." but also the pause before the end, where the viewer realizes that was your wrap up line.
A Konami game without music sounds like some kind of sick joke
It's like hiring Roger Waters to make you tea
Would you like some pudding with your tea? Better hope you finished your meat first.
Seeibg Breakthru and Jakal, I'm surprised Capcom never ported LED Storm to the NES. As that's quite a similar game and was ported to multiple other home systems.
A friend and I played some Top Gun a few weeks ago. I found it surprisingly more exciting than I remembered.
. . .I must note I was drinking at the time.
8:00 Silverhawk ships from Taito's Darius sitting in the hangers!
Oddly enough Breakthru is one of the first NES I remember beating when I was a kid. I rented it and beat it during a single Saturday afternoon.
It does look quite cool honestly. Like, maybe not great mechanically, but a jumping and shooting car is what my kid mind craved.
This video series is the only thing keeping me sane these days
There it is. Top Gun , Gotcha! and Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt were my first NES games back in Christmas of 1988.
I really like Breakthru, but looking back the only reason I beat it was because of the infinite continues. I think the biggest obstacle for me (besides the first few helicopter encounters) was jumping past the broken bridge in the prairie.
4:10 Ah yes, the landing sequence. If you have watched AVGN's video, you can't unhear it.
One thing I can always take solace in with even mediocre Konami releases is that they'll have great music. I was completely unaware that the Famicom version of Top Gun had in-mission tunes - a good one at that. That will definitely be the the version of choice if I ever get the desire to spend my gaming time repeatedly failing at the landing sequence.
Or just play the sequel, Top Gun: The Second Mission
The music is in the American version, although IIRC it only plays during boss battles. At least it was in mine - maybe I somehow got a Japanese cartridge that was mistakenly given an American label and put in an American box :)
@@danielespeziari5545 Or play the arcade version, Vs. Top Gun!
So the funny thing about BreakThru is that I've also always had trouble jumping the pond in the Prairie stage and so I hyped up its difficulty to a friend when we were streaming it only for him to clear it on his very first try.
According to Emil Heidkamp, who was President of Konami America, he both acquired the license for Top Gun as well as helped shape the design of the game. He had worked at Mindscape previously and he was very aware of popular flight simulators on computer game platforms such as F-15 Strike Eagle, and he was asked by Kagemasa Koizuki to go to Japan and help the Japanese get their mind around how to make a flying game. He introduced the designers in Japan to American flight sim games and that's what they based the game's design off of.
*listens to one second of audio, laughs immediately*
I had several seconds of "Huh?" followed by a deep deep groan. Dad Joke Jeremy has wounded me.
@@benito6036 that was too clever and creative to be a dad joke.
Top Gun was actually one of the games my parents got me when they finally got me an NES for my birthday. Let’s see, must have been 1988, so I guess I can’t be too hard on my 9 year old self. But I never did get through that space stage. Drove me nuts as a kid.
Shit, I never even got TO the space stage. Couldn't land on that damn aircraft carrier to save my life. :(
Darkkfated What usually got me was trying to refuel. Landing was tough too but trying to line up that hose was such a pain.
Squarely in the danger zone of bad licensed games.
Stellar professional review as always Jeremy. Both games mentioned I don't really have any overall interest to try, but I may dive into Breakthru since i never played the game before and it seems to be a far generous game than most nes games. Top Gun, I definitely don't have any time for. I'll enjoy the original movie and the sequel if it does get released this year despite the pandemic.
Wasn't Jackal called (wait for it...) Top Gunner in arcades?
It was.
I still think BreakThru is very good. It was a favorite of my cousins, my brother and I back in the day. It's got this very interesting combo of ground-based shooter (a rarity in itself, I think) and platforming that you rarely see even today and I think it holds up really well.
Another great video! I always felt like Top Gun could have been so much better if they just made it overall a little easier, plus with a few continues tossed in.
My mother, who wasn't at all into video games, took a liking to Top Gun and got to the ending. Outside of Wii Fit and Solitaire that's all she ever played. Meanwhile I used to boot it up only for the title screen music. I wish the american version had in-game music, how weird !
I recently picked up the Famicom version of Top Gun. The in-stage music actually makes it much more bearable than the NES version's white noise of purgatory, as AVGN once called it. Then again, Top Gun was one of the very first games I ever played, so I have some real nostalgia for it, deserved or not.
Huh. I had no idea the Famicom Top Gun had background music. I have a Top Gun bootleg cartridge for Famicom without background music. Must be that the Famicom bootleg is the US version in a 60 pin package.
The Famicom version also has some extra visuals after you land the plane.
Can someone explain the intro joke?
There is a pilot in the movie Top Gun whose nickname is Goose, you see.
1987 was the year, Nintendo invented geese
Can't believe it took 25 years to get the sequel, Groose
@@JeremyParish Ah, no wonder I didn't get it! 😅
Many thanks for answering!
*Listens to the Famicom music* Wait... did the Famicom version get a chiptune version of Danger Zone?
Top Gun was the first video game I ever beat, still holds a special place in my heart.
That jumping car looks as the batmobile from Nolan's Batman trilogy.
Your videos are a welcome treat in these tough times. Thanks for the 8:49 of not thinking about it.
Great vídeo and great considerations on wrong notions about war that were inculcated in our young spirits. I've owned Top Gun, and definetly was in my Hall of "Hate to Love You" games, because it's so good and also so dificult that I never got to avance and see more of the game.
I loved top gun. There was no feeling like successfully landing on the aircraft carrier the first time. Lol.
dumpnchase you should try Kerbal Space Program. It’s full of struggle milestones like that. Your first orbit, your first orbital rendezvous, your first Mun landing. The unforgiving but consistent mechanics makes victory and mastery sooooo satisfying.
@@swankidelic don't you need a degree in physics to get anywhere in that game? Or is there a good difficulty curve that allows anybody to learn it and make stuff that works?
It's so weird seeing someone successfully refuel & land on the aircraft carrier....I was never able to do so. My 8 year old brain just couldn't comprehend.
As for Breakthrough I had one magical summer with it & loved it. There was one killer jump on that bridge level I have fond memories of learning how to clear. Great work as usual sir!
I just tried landing and refueling a few weeks ago and couldn't do it. I finally broke, read an FAQ, and realized that I'd never before noticed the recommended speed and altitude numbers in the cockpit.
. . .I'm nearing middle age and only now learning this!
We all know the *real* reason After Burner eats Top Gun's lunch.
The After Burner theme is way better than "Highway to the Danger Zone" 8-)
Thanks for the great videos, I appreciate the bits of humor peppered in. Also, I never even heard of BreakThru which... doesn't speak well of it.
Yeah, so I didn’t yet have an NES of my own at this point, but was able to play at my cousin’s, and he had Top Gun. It was my first impression of Konami, and for many years, the definition of the developer, to me anyway. Very unfortunate. Over thirty years later, I’ve apparently forgotten that it was a Konami title at all.
I can't say I entirely understand why Top Gun is considered a bad game. It's not particularly good, but it's alright, especially for what it is. I'm curious about your reaction to Destination Earthstar, which is more ambitious, but kinda feels like a rough draft of a better game that never got made.
The space flight part is actually pretty decent, if somewhat lacking, and the fact that you finish each area with a shooter stage is a good idea, but oh boy are they not compelling shooter stages. Nothing bad per se, but not good enough to compel someone to actually beat it. However, I think there's enough to warrant a look and a revisit. Or at least a romhack from someone who can improve the shooter sections.
I don't know anyone who thinks of Top Gun as specifically BAD, but it's DEFINITELY infamous among children of the late 80s and early 90s, as MANY kids have never saw anything past the second stage due to the sheer difficulty of the landing sequence.
@@ValkyrieTiara The landing sequence is like biking. Once you get the hang of it, it's easy. The missiles are much worse.
U had a lot of fun with bith Top Gun NES games but I think they made landing and refueling harder then they should have been.
BreakThru may have been the very first video game I played. I bought the cart a while ago and still have it!
I bought Breakthru when I was a kid because they put the arcade graphics on the back of the NES box. Dirty pool.
Thanks for doing these. You do great work.
Really looking forward to Wizards & Warriors! Such a classic.
Nobody bought Top Gun, but everybody had it. It was like a gnome went around at night just leaving it in everybody's house. I got the manual yet with mine, but I've never seen a box or a sales receipt for a copy, because those things don't exist.
very fond memories of playing TG with my dad. He always seemed to be able to land the damn jet, while I always had trouble.
The trick is to look at the numbers and respond to them, ignore the instructions and the view of the plane and the thing you're landing on. Just follow the numbers. Then it becomes easy enough to nail it every time.
@@duffman18 yeah figured that out years later, lol.
For some reason I really loved Breakthru as a kid. I remember getting really excited when the arcade version was released on Switch. My girlfriend was with me when I started playing and realized younger me had bad taste.
The F-14A Tomcat was "America, Fuck YEAH!" before Team America World Police invented it.
I remember renting both of these in 89-90 with a neighbor. Top Gun was decided to be totally unplayable, but in a surprising move on my part, I beat Breakthru in an afternoon. My personal best for an nes game. The only games that I beat in a similar short time period were Trojan (4-6 hours), and Rygar, which took me two weekend rentals to get through, as I got stuck the first time through. I think it did take me a few days to a week in order beat Castlevania though (that game was borrowed from a friend. Anything else that I beat took me months to do so.
The Breakthrough vehicle looks like the tumbler Batmobile.
Jeremy! Great episode ! I cant WAIT for wizards and warriors!!!
Seriously, what is the music he used for the "next episode" music? I swear I've heard it somewhere and it's driving me nuts.
Neon Genesis Evangelion next episode chiptune.
@@FloatingSunfish Thank you!
@@monolyth421 Thank you!
WonderSwan Color, actually!
It was pretty exhausting trying to play this with the Laserscope, saying Fire incessantly until you bore yourself of saying Fire.
I loved top gun on the nes. Was hard at first but the more i played the better i became. It was an awesome game. And the two player mode was decent too.
I could never land on that blasted Aircraft Carrier!
trying to land on that aircraft carrier gave me nightmares like cougar had in the movie smh
Top Gun is the Dark Souls of flight sims
I'm glad I'm not the only one who looks at After Burner and thinks "this game was proposed the morning after somebody went to see Top Gun."
Anyone ever noticed that all data East games showed the arcade version on the back of the box?
I'm very curious about the next episode's game, just because it apparently has a very clearly labelled EVIL meter.
Great video as usual.
Me, to my younger brother, every time I fired up a game of Top Gun as a kid: "Talk to me, Goose."
I haven't played Top Gun since I was barely into elementary....I've been assuming for years, ever since starting to actually care about who made a game, that Top Gun was an LJN production. I guess that black mark isn't on them for once.
The Jets are gonna have their day tonight!
When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way, from your first training flight to the shuttle melee
Breakthru is the first game I ever finished 😊
Thank god this wasn’t a prank
I think I would have been impressed with breakthrough in the 80s. Never rented it.
I still dont know how I have both Top Gun games for the NES.
Hearing the word Umbilicus during the refueling scene makes me want to watch the Starfighters episode of MST3K again. What a weird little movie, America really is obsessed with the machines of war, isn’t it?
The United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus is definitely one of the best host segment sketches they ever did.
another great video
Love your work. Keep it up!
F-15 Strike Eagle might look simplistic, but its much more complex
Am I thinking of Top Gun 2 because I remember in game music when flying. I've had both, but got the sequel second hand in the 90s. I liked the game, sequel more, but damn I totally forgot how to land as it's insane.
1:21 Reptile brain?
You should google it to get the most out of the idiom, but to my understanding it comes from an old theory that associates the primal, reflexive part of the brain with reptiles.
I played Top Gun a ton as a kid and this video is the first time I've ever seen the 4th stage.
When Top Gun came out, I was very very young but found it enjoyable.
BOMBARDMENT!
I had to make precautions to make sure this weren't a joke video
Enjoy your videos
How are you just going to ignore Super Spike V-Ball!? Seriously.
"Up to this point" - we're not there yet on chronological releases yet, that made it here in 1990.
Stuart Sims This series covers NES games in chronological order. He's covering literally every single release, something I don't think anyone has done before, that's why I love this channel, because he inherently will be coveting hundreds of games that no other channel has ever talked about.
He'll get to it when it comes up in the chronological release date. He _DOES_ sometimes go out of order, he calls them the "Gaiden" episodes, episodes on significant and popular games like Super Mario or Zelda etc. But for the most part he's sticking to the chronology of releases more or less.
Top Gun and Breakthru were both released in 1987. Super Spike V-Ball was not released until 1989 in Japan and 1990 in North America
So explain how he's ignoring it? He hasn't got to the year of 1989 yet and it's not a huge and significant game like mario, so why do you think he should cover it now, jumping ahead 2 years in the chronology?
@@duffman18 Never heard of Chrontendo?
we grew up. in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.
#068... nice.
4:40 bruh
awwwwwww!!! Break Thru!!! #Yessir
This ain't a wacky April 1st episode, disappointment :p
Sadly it would be another decade or so before the formula for a good console flight sim would be properly cracked by Namco.
I'm pretty sure Breakthru isn't a co-op game
2-players alternating I believe
I like your videos keep up the good work .😀👍🎮
But endless military IS fun.
Did you play Top Gun with the Borderbund U-Force?
No, a thing about myself is that I don't enjoy elective suffering
Volleyball game underserved? Quite droll, sir.
Never understood why everyone has such a hard time landing.
It's not that hard.
ya once you know to look at the speed and height it says at the bottom its pretty simple to do
Woe betide anyone who was playing this game with the boys in 1987.
Top gun is a terribad game, you can fly up or down and skip the whole level that way except for refueling.
If you did t play it in the era you won't really get it
Maverick aged better than this game.
That's what happens when you purge your body thetans!
Wow, did you actually dare to express a non-conservative political opinion on a videogame review? That's brave!
Heh, a wee bit sarcastic, are we?
@@YouaNumbahOneRacist Well, not really. I'm genuinely glad to find a gaming UA-camr that's not a bigoted basement dweller. Plus, his content is top quality.