My girlfriend’s cousin has taken to crashing on our couch of late, and the other night she had this sudden, random desire to watch The Goonies and play the NES game. So I broke out my crappy NEX and a copy of The Goonies for Famicom — the first one — since I figured its more straightforward approach would be more palatable than the sequel for someone who doesn’t game much. (Well, ever.)
She seemed a bit disappointed that it wasn’t the game she remembered, though. I thought about explaining to her how the original game never came to the NES and that I personally wanted to own a copy for years after playing the PlayChoice 10 version for a year of Sundays at the local pizza parlor and that it turned out I spent well more than the game was worth in my eagerness to snap up a copy on eBay, but… ah well. I guess you can’t brute-force someone to share your own nostalgia. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find my copy of The Goonies II, so we had to make due with what is apparently a pale imitation.
On the plus side, last night was the first time I’ve watched the movie since visiting Astoria a couple of years ago, and I was surprised by how different my perception of the film’s setting is. I should visit the filming locations of all my childhood favorites. I hear Tunisia is nice this time of year.
Please note that tomorrow is final day for this month’s Shiren the Wanderer Fun Club session. Is it strange to say that I’m proud of everyone involved for the way this thread has gone? Because I am. It’s a vicious little niche game whose considerable pleasures really must be sought out, actively — the kind of game that requires patience and open-mindedness before its merits start to peek through. Even so, it’s been the single most active Fun Club entry to date, with nearly 600 posts, the vast majority of which have really and sincerely been in the spirit of the game. You kids are the best.
I loved this game! I remember spending lots of time playing it at a movie theater when I was a kid. It always got under my skin that it was never released in an official capacity for the NES… damn you six game licensing limitation!
I think this is the first time I’ve heard Jeremy say anything nice about the Talking Timers. :)
This is going in my scrapbook. lol
I’ve also been playing a but of Shiren but I haven’t had time to post about it. :(
I think I still like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games better (because I’m a wuss) but I’d call Shiren my second favorite. it’s much more interesting than Izuna (which I didn’t like much).
In contrast, May is going to be a month of scorn and ridicule as we all giggle at Atlus’ newly localized Penis Monster.
I’ve few regrets in recent memory greater than not having that game so I could join in the fun.
Made for some great reading though.
It makes me sad when Fun Clubs end, especially for a game I love as much as Shiren. I know the conversation moves elsewhere, but it’s still the end of an era! Especially for the month long RPG fun clubs.
Shit, I wish I would’ve payed attention to what was in the Fun Club: I’ve been playing Shiren for the past two weeks. Oh well, I guess I’ve got some thread readin’ to do.
Hey, that looks a lot like the Goonies game I used to play on the MSX. It was the first game I ever owned, and man, I played the shit out of it. The music is permanently burned into my mind (and those of my parents, I’ll bet). I never got further than the second level or so, though. I was like five years old, cut me some slack!
Jeremy, thanks again to turning us all on to Shiren, it’s such an awesome game. I hope we see more Shiren games (Wii?)released here in the future.
Maybe you can find out how the did for Sega?
As a fat kid in elementary school when it came to theaters, I always hated, HATED goonies. All my friends love it, but when it came out I had jerks following me around at school yelling boom babba and telling me to do the truffle shuffle. My girlfriend loves that move and doesn’t get why I can’t even watch it. Same goes for the NES game unfortunatly.
I’m not sure about Shiren. I’m a big retro gamer and like some so called “rouge likes”…but not all, I’m not sure what the distinction is. But I’m holding off on Shiren until someone at work picks it up and I can get some hands on time.
Sheesh, when am I going to be able to download DS demos from the wii or something.
I loved the original Goonies game shown above. It was a great arcade experience.
And the Shiren fun club was great. I’m glad I could finish the main dungeon in the time of the fun club.
Though nowhere near as in-depth as the sequel, I’d sooner replay the original Goonies for its more breezy pace, and especially because Mikey’s kick attacks were much quicker than his yo-yo attacks from the sequel.