If only I could travel back in time

I would find Jaleco’s graphic designers and say rude things to them. Seriously, these backward NES game box spines are harshing my mellow by making my bookshelf slightly inconsistent. Their failure to conform lives on in shame and irritates my OCD two decades later!

Of course, the fact that I own Shatterhand and Whomp ‘Em is probably a far more crushing cause of shame than some minor packaging glitch. And I was doing so well at being selective in my collection repopulation efforts, too. Man, Jaleco ruins everything.

33 thoughts on “If only I could travel back in time”

  2. Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t be too ashamed of Shatterhand. Personally, I always liked it.

  3. It’s good to know I’m not the only person who arranges everything alphabetically. My friends all seem to have this willful hate for order, and my inner Marc Summers freaks out when I see the chaos they call a bookshelf or CD tower.

  4. can’t you just put the jaleco boxes on your shelf upside down so that the text lines up correctly?

  5. I’m not actually that OCD. I do like things to be organized, but simply because it makes them easier to find.

  6. can we have a Whom-Em’ appreciation day at G-spite? Mega man clone or not, the gameplay was sound, and provided a solid weekend’s worth of fun at the least. Overlooked….

  7. I would argue that Rolling Thunder easily cancels out any negative impact those Jaleco titles may have on your collection. I love that series, and it’s begging for a retronauts, what with its old timey cover system. Not to be too subtle or anything.

  9. Man, I need a shelf for my NES games. They’re hidden in a bin under the bed. I want to be able to look over and see the spines all lined up like that.

  11. I heard a rumor that a Rolling Thunder Retronauts is on the schedule, but who knows if that is true or just a dirty lie.

  18. The worst part about Jaleco is when you’re leafing through NES cartridges and all you see is Jaleco on the top and you have to lift it up to see that it’s another stupid Bases Loaded game.

  19. “What’s wrong with Shatterhand?”

    Indeed. One of the better NES action games out there.

    I’m assuming Code Name: Viper is further left on the shelf? Because it really was Rolling Thunder 1.5.

  21. Personally, I think Ultima: Exodus for NES is more embarrassing than Shatterhand or Whomp ‘Em. Aside from Quest of the Avatar, the Ultima games never transferred well onto consoles.

  22. I (second * infinite) the motion of loving Shatterhand.

    Also, Whomp ‘Em was a really competent Mega Man clone. There are far worse NES gaames out there to be ashamed of.

  23. Shatterhand is good. However, it looks like Al Bundy is the star of the game rather than some hard 80’s street punk badass.

  24. Rolling Thunder was cool. If you have time on the podcast, please also talk about Sunset Riders. I believe it is secretly a 4-player Rolling Thunder clone, with one-hit kills and the Up+Jump to jump to the upper ledge play controls. It is tight enough to beat on one credit, and it has aged the best of all the Konami 4-player arcade games. It also includes Punch-Out level racial stereotypes. Bury me with my money.

  25. @ Suto
    Sunset Riders is hilariously awesome, especially the bonus stages where you shoot an obscene amount of brightly colored rednecks to appropriate hick music, that a friend of mine even came up with (filthy) lyrics to.

    @ Parish
    Whomp ‘Em (aside from the fact that the localization put an American Indian in ancient Japan) is suprisingly solid and challenging. I’d be more ashamed of owning “Rambo”…

  27. @Sven

    I own and love Code Name: Viper too. Gotta love startling twist endings in 8-bit games, and Reaganite war on drugs storylines. I also think the level design was pretty fantastic, I mean, snipers hiding in dilapidated buses? Awesome! And that was 17 years before Call of Duty 4! My 5 year old brain almost overloaded the first time I played it.

  28. @Suto

    While Sunset Riders was awesome, no game that I have played will ever be quite as racially insensitive as Gain Ground.

  29. I think the NES is pretty unique in that the line between “good” game and “terrible” game can often be really, really blurry. You have alot of games that exemplify that, I notice.

    But Rockin’ Kats is frankly, uh, Rockin’.

  31. This picture reminds me that I need to pick up Shatterhand and Magic of Scheherazade at some point. I think that $3 cart of City Connection is still at my local game store.

  32. Shatterhand was part of my last great NES bargain run back in the day – I got it, along with Gold Medal Challenge 92 (best track and field game ever), Solar Jetman and… I *think* Power Blade for a total of $20 from a closing Kay-Bee outside Boston.

    Also got an NES advantage in the process, which is about to be put to use as a MAME joystick. I was too dumb to get two….

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