James Bang to the Rescue! Clash at Demonhead
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/77/1/James-Bang-to-the-Rescue-Clash-at-Demonhead/Page1.html
By Douglas Shepard (Editor in Chief, RarityGuide.com)
Published on 02/8/2009
What happens when melodramatic Anime meets the Superspy? Hilarity!
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Title: Clash at Demonhead
Publisher: Vic Tokai Inc.
Circa: 1989
Overall Rating:
Intro
The name’s Bang, James Bang. As I started the game up, I started wondering just what I was getting myself into. While it didn’t take long to find out, it still surprised me. One of those very rare games that in trying to do one thing they wound up doing something else completely. I don’t know if it was the translation from Japanese or it was really like that, but what I do know is that I found a side-scrolling platformer gem that I didn’t know that I had.
Story
You play as James Bang, a member of an elite Secret Organization. Your mission is to rescue the kidnapped Professor Plum and force him to build a Doomsday Bomb.
Gameplay
This game took some getting used to. Though I’d never played this game before just a little while ago, a lot of it was very instinctual (probably years of NES play at work there). This game presented something that wasn’t terribly common in its day: a map to honestly navigate around on. Once I read the onscreen instructions, telling me how to use the map to get to particular routes, I started making progress and eventually found a boss, who took a few tries to beat.
The Map navigation took a bit of getting use to, and as it was a key feature of the game, having a period where I didn’t understand very well was bad. Maybe the manual would have helped me understand the onscreen instructions sooner, but honestly just reading them told me everything I needed to get the understanding I needed. By surviving the different routes you move to other areas which ultimately let you get at other areas and ultimately bosses. This is something that it would take a good while of game play (or just some spare time, a notepad and a pencil) to make adequate notes to move around freely without much slow down. Still, even without such notes, it’s a good game to play through and enjoy with this form of navigation. In the long run it helps quite a bit though, especially if you’re aiming to make the most of each play though.
There is also a store system, making the money you earn more useful, but it does take having the manual to know about that in advance. It’s a good way to increase your speed and add a lot of goodies to your play-throughs. There is a stock limit of 3, but its easy to work with in many cases.
Multiplayer
None
Controls
Some parts are very sensitive and it takes some delicate control work to pull off some of the jump elements. Still, the controls are very straightforward and nothing in the manual would really help. Most stuff a quick bit of play will sort out and be relatively simple to do.
Graphics
Alright stuff here, nothing too great. Still, many of Bang’s animations are funny to watch, as he has the same animation when he gets hurt/shot as he does when you “accidently” hit his head on the ceiling.
Sound Effects & Music
Musically, nothing special honestly. It didn’t add all that much to the play and while it was good for the first few minutes, I found myself wanting to put other music on very quickly. That was mostly just to break how repetitious the music was. While I don’t mind it in some cases, it did get to me in this case. As I never encountered any points where the sound effects were crucial to my gameplay, I would recommend that course of action after a certain point in the game just to save people the monotony of the music and sound effects.
Obscurity
Surprisingly obscure, many people I asked to gauge were clueless.
Summary/Author’s Take
This is a game that you simply should play if you ever get the chance. For the things that are wrong with the game, the story alone makes up for. It really is one of those games where things are bad enough to be good. It’s hard to NOT laugh at some of the things James says or does. Remember that this guy is supposed to be a SECRET Agent.
Title: Clash at Demonhead
Publisher: Vic Tokai Inc.
Circa: 1989
Overall Rating:
Intro
The name’s Bang, James Bang. As I started the game up, I started wondering just what I was getting myself into. While it didn’t take long to find out, it still surprised me. One of those very rare games that in trying to do one thing they wound up doing something else completely. I don’t know if it was the translation from Japanese or it was really like that, but what I do know is that I found a side-scrolling platformer gem that I didn’t know that I had.
Story
You play as James Bang, a member of an elite Secret Organization. Your mission is to rescue the kidnapped Professor Plum and force him to build a Doomsday Bomb.
Gameplay
This game took some getting used to. Though I’d never played this game before just a little while ago, a lot of it was very instinctual (probably years of NES play at work there). This game presented something that wasn’t terribly common in its day: a map to honestly navigate around on. Once I read the onscreen instructions, telling me how to use the map to get to particular routes, I started making progress and eventually found a boss, who took a few tries to beat.
The Map navigation took a bit of getting use to, and as it was a key feature of the game, having a period where I didn’t understand very well was bad. Maybe the manual would have helped me understand the onscreen instructions sooner, but honestly just reading them told me everything I needed to get the understanding I needed. By surviving the different routes you move to other areas which ultimately let you get at other areas and ultimately bosses. This is something that it would take a good while of game play (or just some spare time, a notepad and a pencil) to make adequate notes to move around freely without much slow down. Still, even without such notes, it’s a good game to play through and enjoy with this form of navigation. In the long run it helps quite a bit though, especially if you’re aiming to make the most of each play though.
There is also a store system, making the money you earn more useful, but it does take having the manual to know about that in advance. It’s a good way to increase your speed and add a lot of goodies to your play-throughs. There is a stock limit of 3, but its easy to work with in many cases.
Multiplayer
None
Controls
Some parts are very sensitive and it takes some delicate control work to pull off some of the jump elements. Still, the controls are very straightforward and nothing in the manual would really help. Most stuff a quick bit of play will sort out and be relatively simple to do.
Graphics
Alright stuff here, nothing too great. Still, many of Bang’s animations are funny to watch, as he has the same animation when he gets hurt/shot as he does when you “accidently” hit his head on the ceiling.
Sound Effects & Music
Musically, nothing special honestly. It didn’t add all that much to the play and while it was good for the first few minutes, I found myself wanting to put other music on very quickly. That was mostly just to break how repetitious the music was. While I don’t mind it in some cases, it did get to me in this case. As I never encountered any points where the sound effects were crucial to my gameplay, I would recommend that course of action after a certain point in the game just to save people the monotony of the music and sound effects.
Obscurity
Surprisingly obscure, many people I asked to gauge were clueless.
Summary/Author’s Take
This is a game that you simply should play if you ever get the chance. For the things that are wrong with the game, the story alone makes up for. It really is one of those games where things are bad enough to be good. It’s hard to NOT laugh at some of the things James says or does. Remember that this guy is supposed to be a SECRET Agent.
|
Story |
|
Cliché, but good. |
|
Gameplay |
|
Simple, lengthy. |
|
Multiplayer |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Controls |
|
Touchy but easy to use. |
|
Graphics |
|
Slightly below par. |
|
SFX and Music |
|
Seriously, NO. |
|
Obscurity |
|
Some luck or just a habit of getting every NES game. |
|
Overall |
|
A B-game of goodness. |
