NES Smash TV

[chrisbid]

I was going through my NES arcade games today (inspired from the previous thread talking about the number of arcade game abuses on the system), and i pulled out Smash TV not thinking it would amount to much, but i have to admit that i was pretty impressed. The game runs smoothly without slowdown and flicker. The graphics use somewhat dull colors, and it obviously isnt as fast and intense as the arcade version, but the team that put this together knew what the NES could do, and pushed it to the limit without accepting flicker or slowdown.

 

I also liked how they implemented the two-controller setup. NES controllers feel quite comfortable in the vertical position. Pretty good stuff late in the NES's life

[Raijin Z]

You need a four score or a satellite to play it with two players and two pads each.

[DeV0]

Smash tv on the NES is excellent, I finished it 1st go but only using a stick for th left and a pad for the right. Its a great port,

[chrisbid]

You need a four score or a satellite to play it with two players and two pads each.

 

ive got the four score, and seven controllers (and a couple of NES Advantage sticks), but i dont think i have any friends with the patience to play this version of the game, when there is the Super NES version and Midway Arcade Treasures on the Xbox sitting on a different shelf

[kisrael]

Once I posted to rgvc about NES Smash TV, and I'm not sure if I got a newsgroup reply (couldn't find it w/ 3 or 4 minutes of searching on google) or email, but he said his friend worked on the NES conversion; at first I assumed he was doing something magic like writing graphics directly to a framebuffer or something, but no he's using regular NES sprites; the flicker is hidden with exceedingly clever selection of color (which is probably why it looks a bit drab). Still, over all one heck of an achievement for the old NES, right up there w/ Battlezone for the 2600 in my book.

[NE146]

I passed on Smash TV when it was released simply for the reason I had "moved on up" and obviously already had SNES Smash TV. But I do remember at the time thinking that it would suck since obviously... how could you do the control on the NES pad? Of course the answer was the same as the Famicom Crazy Climber... you simply use two pads!

 

In retrospect I eventually DID check it out when the cart was in a block of NES carts I got at a flea market, and I will say I was sufficiently surprised at how good it was. It definitely did the trick to get some Smash TV action on the NES. If I had played it back in the day I would've definitely given it thumbs up, and I still do.

[MegaManFan]

In my entire life I've probably spent more time playing the NES version (we used to rent the game and a console from a place called Noble's) than the arcade version, which I maybe saw in an actual arcade ONCE in my whole life before I started going to game cons. I think my honest to God reaction the first time I saw it was "cool just like the NES game."

[Jess Ragan]

Whoa, whoa, hold the phone. There was an NES version of Crazy Climber?

 

JR

[MegaManFan]

Whoa, whoa, hold the phone.  There was an NES version of Crazy Climber?

 

JR

 

Famicom/Japanese one.

[Balloon Fight]

I never like the NES Smash TV. I always preferred the SNES version, mainly because of the controls.

[NovaXpress]

You Ioaw kids were so deprived. By the time the NES version was released I'd already finished the arcade version (thanks to my friend who managed Aladdin's Castle- throught he entire late 80s I played for free and even tweaked the specs to my liking).

 

The NES and SNES versions are both great. That Robotron-style gameplay never gets tiresome for me.

 

How about the sequel, Total Carnage? Why wasn't this as big a hit?

[kisrael]

How about the sequel, Total Carnage?  Why wasn't this as big a hit?

Guess not. I think I played it like once. Wasn't it a bit of a scroller? Kind of lost something in that, I think, though it probably seemed like the next logical step.

[Jess Ragan]

Wow, you're right! And the best part is that Crazy Climber isn't a straight port of the arcade game, but Nintendo-ized, just like other NES ports like Bump 'n Jump and Gyruss.

 

Now all I need to do is figure out how to actually PLAY the game and I'm all set. The control seems really funky... do you have any suggestions as to how I'm supposed to play the game?

 

JR

[NE146]

Now all I need to do is figure out how to actually PLAY the game and I'm all set.  The control seems really funky... do you have any suggestions as to how I'm supposed to play the game?

 

JR

 

Yeah just like smash tv you slap two + control pads.. one in each hand and voila!

 

in an emu I guess you could map the player 1 and player 2 control pads accordingly to a keyboard or something...

[Jess Ragan]

I've tried that. It feels as though the controls are tilted, possibly so the player could align two NES controllers so that the D-pads are side by side, rather than seperated from one another. I may have to configure the controller settings to accomodate this quirk.

 

JR

[NE146]

If I recall correctly, you hold the NES pad so that the buttons are facing downward.

 

So Left becomes Up, Right = Down, Down = left, and Up= right.

 

I guess this makes sense because how else would you hold two NES pads (one in each hand) to manuever... you'd hold them perpendicular to the floor with the directional pad side facing upwards.