Lost Classics: End of the Year Edition

Like I promised, I’m giving you two of each of my articles this week. I’ll add $20 Game of the Week later this weekend, but for now, enjoy these two Lost Classics. One of which is a perfect example of licencing gone wrong while the other is one of the most underrated fighting games of the 16-bit era.

The Three Stooges (NES, Amiga, PC)

Back in the days of the NES and SNES, publishers made video games out of pretty much anything they could get the licence to. Nevermind weather or not there was content to make a game out of, if they could pay for it, then someone was gonna make a game out of it. As such, we got games based on such timeless properties as Home Improvement, Waynes World, Home Alone, and this. Now what kind of video game could one make centering around 3 idiots who slap each other? Actually, Activision and Cinemaware managed to put together a somewhat decent party game before Mario Party and it’s rip offs saturated the genre.

Ma’s orphanage is in trouble, and it’s up to Larry, Moe, and Curly to save it! (Come on, this is the stooges. Were you expecting Final Fantasy?) The trio must preform a series of odd jobs to raise as much money as possible within 30 days (or five fingers/lives whichever comes first). These tasks are based around various episodes from the famous TV program, each with thier own control scheme. One job has the trio following a nurse to the operating room while picking up the supplies she’s dropping. Another sees the Stooges engaging in a pie fight, and another simply involves the boys slapping each other to blow off some steam. There are multiple endings based on how much cash is collected. Although it’s not the most advanced game of it’s time, it’s pretty fun for casual gamers to pick up and play. Fans of party-style games should definently check out the rom.

Weaponlord (SNES, Genesis)
Okay, so you know about Soul Calibur, but what do you know about Namco’s other weapon-based fighting game? Well, this game was actually developed by Visual Concepts, years before the sports 2K line. You play as one of 7 characters that are ripped directly from a Boris Vallejo fantasy painting. These guys aren’t your normal martial arts experts and samurai, these are barbarians who are ripped to Conan-esque proportions, even the girls. Each had their own unique weapon and set of attacks. Truly skilled players can pull off a “death combo”, which were like Mortal Kombat fatalities, except harder to pull off and more rewarding. The game featured a password save and multiple endings, both of which were a rarity in fighting games. Even though this title was overlooked due to it’s high difficulty and the fact that is was released right at the beginning of the 32 bit era, it made extensive use of many features that are taken for granted today in fighting games such as parry style blocking, two-in-ones, deflect attacks, and costume damage. Hopefully Namco can hook us up with with a Virtual Console release, as fans of fighting games that take skill to master should eat this up.