Genre
Action

Dominant Algorithm
Environment Exploration/Yo-yo Violence

Game-play
You control Michael “Mikey” Walsh as he traverses the excitement/mystery of caves in search of his lost brethren (who, incidentally, never say ‘die’). You are armed with a yo-yo at the beginning, but your arsenal expands as you progress through winding shacks, caves, and mazes.

The platforming elements are all standard; enemies range from insects to pistol-armed humans, falling down pits yields death, comrades are rescued, jumps must be precisely timed, and so on. Occasionally, you get to explore door-mazes where you find new items and weapons. These are all standard ingredients, but they are well-mixed at the hands of Konami’s programmers.

Sweetness
Cindy Lauper’s tie-in pop song sounds incredible rendered 8-bit. Dare I say, it’s even more at home pumping through an 8-bit sound chip than with full studio production. Also, Konami games on the NES were masterpieces of difficulty scales. From your first movements to the final battle, the challenges ramp like poetry.

Weakness
Door mazes. Endless, stupid door mazes. There is nothing exciting about a door maze. Even regular mazes lean towards the mundane. But, door mazes? The worst~

Invaluable Lessons:
2) You don’t need a part 1 to enjoy part 2.
3) If you punch a wall with your fist and a prize doesn’t come out, try using a hammer.
4) There is never a need to check translations, even on major franchises:


Ahhh... the joys of hitting wise old men!


Here is where the heart is.


Hurrah indeed!

Still Fun?
Absolutely. The game is more fun now than it was then. Readily available FAQs do away with the ultimately boring trial-and-error of the door mazes and let you enjoy the tight action and detailed design. Good programming is still good two decades later. Also, your reward for completing the game is a naked mermaid.

Relevance Satellite to the Paradigm Shift from my Youth
Goonies 2 for the NES was a slight anomaly. The first game was only released in Japan, an astute decision as Part 1 is basically identical Part 2 in every way except that it’s not as good. This wasn’t the only time that chronology was lost in translation (Doki Doki Panic, Final Fantasy VI).

Furthermore, it’s relevant as Astoria celebrates the 25th anniversary of the film this year. Congratulations, Astoria! You were home to something truly special.

While fan-art for the game is scarce, the movie has its loyal contributors:


A day in the cave

More fun in the cave!

An interesting piece of data~

Brevity is key. That is: Thanks for being, brief.

Augmented Reality - Old Skool Style!

Jesse Koester is a film producer working in Tokyo whose work can be found at www.iceblockfilms.com. Jesse dreams in 48 colors and 5 shades of gray with up to 24 unique colors on a single scan line.


  • Punkdefied

    The movie holds a special place in my heart. The game was awesome but way too hard for me at the time. I never beat it on cartridge (or emu for that matter) but I totally remember the 8bit soundtrack Goonies (2) ‘R’ good enough!

  • Freddie

    This game was killer hard… I remember getting lost and running through the same areas 20 times before I could find the right pieces to give to the appropriate parties.

    One game I wish they’d put out on VC, especially with it’s 25th anniversary just being yesterday.

  • http://www.bonus-level.com Paul

    you don’t kill enough things with yo-yos in games these days.

  • http://www.Bonus-Level.com Jesse

    @punkdefied – The game is beatable. But, I needed a FAQ to get through the mazes. With that stuff out of the way, the rest of the thing is a blast.

    @Freddie – True dat! When better to relive the thrills than right now?

    @Paul – Maybe _you_ don’t…

    @everyone – Anyone here ever play Wai Wai World?