You’ll Pop Your Eye Out!

December 1983

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #3

Fun fact: Did you know that the original Donkey Kong was actually supposed to be a Popeye game? Yep! But Nintendo couldn’t get the rights to the characters in time, so they ended up changing Popeye, Brutus, and Olive Oyl to Mario (or “Jumpman”), Donkey Kong, and Pauline (or “Lady”)!

 

And another fun fact: In Japan there was actually a sequel to this game… that was made to help teach kids English. I don’t know about you, but when I think about proper use of the English language, Popeye isn’t exactly in my list of good examples!

Mooortaaaaal Kooombaaaat! (II)

February 1995

X-Force #43

I don’t know about you, but Mortal Kombat was one of my absolute favorite series of games back in the day! I had (and actually still have, but just haven’t played in years) MKII for Game Gear, and while it was awesome, I don’t think I ever got particularly good at it. I’ll just blame that on the format – when you take a fighting game as rich and complex as this and have to scale it down for a portable system that only has two action buttons, it’s definitely going to lose a bit.

Mortal Kombat 3 (actually Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) was the one I really got into. I had that one for Genesis, so that was as fully functional as it gets! However, when I first glanced at this ad, I thought it actually was from MK3 – I don’t remember MKII having Friendships or Shao Kahn at all! I guess I was just never good enough at it to get to see those…

 

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Konami – For All Your Gaming Needs!

March 1988

Visionaries #3

Sorry the alignment’s not great on this one, but my scanner isn’t big enough to do two pages together, and this was the best I could do. Anyway, here’s Konami – producer of some of the biggest video game hits!

You may be wondering why there’s a Goonies II game when there was never a Goonies I. It turns out that there was… but only in Japan. So when Konami made the sequel to that game, it was still called “Goonies II” in all markets, despite the fact that most people never even knew about its predecessor.

 

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Batman: The Video Game Series

February 1995

X-Force #43

One of the best-known and -loved cartoons of the ’90s has been turned into a video game! Yes, the levels in The Adventures of Batman and Robin are actually based on episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.

I actually had the Game Gear version of this (which I don’t think I ever got very far in), but apparently that’s an entirely different game from the SNES version. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the SNES version is considered the definitive one, so I’d be curious to see it someday. However, the Sega CD version (also very different from either the SNES or Game Gear versions), also has cut scenes that some consider to be a “lost episode” of the series – definitely something I’d like to check out!

 

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Watch Out for Snakes… or Alligators!

February 1995

X-Force #43

It’s amazing how much a video game can evolve in 12 years – the original Pitfall was released in 1982 on the Atari 2600. At the time, it was considered a huge breakthrough in terms of graphics and gameplay. This newer, updated version of Pitfall was released in 1994 – and these graphics are quite a bit more advanced than the original! However, many thought the gameplay was a bit lacking (or lagging) on this one.

But there is a fun marriage of the classic with the new on this one: If you find a secret doorway, it takes you to the original game – pretty cool, huh?

 

CBA IRL – Iron Sword

So a buddy came over with a bunch of NES games, and check out what one of them was – Iron Sword: Wizards & Warriors II!

Fabio looks just as fabulous here as he does in the ad!

 

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CBA IRL – QuickShot

Lookie what I found in a local thrift shop last week – a QuickShot controller, featured in this ad from 1989 that I posted a while back!

I’m guessing that the $3.99 that Savers was asking for this is considerably less than it cost back in the day.

One thing I like about actually finding this is that I can see details not discernible in the ad, like “FOR PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS” printed just under the logo. Well, I’ve never been paid to play video games, so I guess I’m not qualified to use this controller. 😦

Did He Say “Strap In” or “Strap On”?

December 1989

Wonder Woman #37

Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the Family Guy joke. Anyway, here we’ve got Sky Shark, a game full of action-packed aviation adventure!

With the exception of one holiday-themed ad that I’m saving for Christmas, this closes out Wonder Woman #37! I promise that the next ’80s comic I post from will have a lot more toys!

 

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Get Set For Radical Action!

December 1989

Wonder Woman #37

Radical action, indeed! It looks like both these games are positively packed with action!

I find it interesting that it says “Capcom introduces two new thrilling games to its Nintendo series” – was Capcom making games for other systems at the time? Because it seems like Nintendo was by far the biggest player at the time.

Oh well, something for me to look up sometime, I guess.

 

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Hungry Like The Operation Wolf

December 1989

Wonder Woman #37

It’s the world’s #1 arcade game! And now you can play it at home! It’s… Operation Wolf!

Yep, “take no prisoners” and “teach the terrorists what terror is all about” in this action-packed game!

But personally, I’m much more interested in Bubble Bobble. 😉