Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Rev up those thumbs kids, because we’re looking at another mini-game compilation. While we haven’t seen much success with them in the past, could this week’s stone age themed game fare a better fate? Or is it better off being chucked into the tar pits? Let’s find out.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1990
PUBLISHER: Data East
GENRE: Mini-Game Compilation
Not too much back story on the creation of Caveman Games. It was a game created by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on multiple consoles throughout the 80’s including the Commodore 64 and DOS systems. However, on those systems it’s best known as Caveman Ugh-Lympics. When Data East got the rights to release the NES port, its name was changed simply to Caveman Games. Most likely due to a copyright issue. However, despite the name change, every game, and character remain intact in the NES port.
COVER STORY
The cover is simple in design, but effective in execution. It does a great job demonstrating the great humor the game has. I also really like the cavemen designs. They make me chuckle, proving how well it works. Not to mention it does make reference to a couple of the games within like Clubbing and Saber Race. It really does a good job at selling the game by cover alone.
STORY
Back in the dawn of mankind, the bravest and toughest cavemen would square off in feats of strength to determine who truly was the ultimate neanderthal. Those events would be the cavemen games. Six terrible troglodytes battle it out in six stone age events. May the best brute win!
Yeah, not exactly a deep storyline, but that is usually the case with a lot of NES games. Especially mini game comps like this one.
GAMEPLAY
Caveman Games is a mini-game compilation featuring six stone age themed athletic events. Gameplay supports up to two players. There are six different cavemen to choose from. Each having their own strengths at certain events. Thag is good at Fire Making and the Mate Toss. Crudla, the only female of the group, excels at the Dino Vault and Saber Race. Glunk succeeds at Clubbing and the Saber Race. Ugha’s strengths are the Dino Race and Fire Making. There is also Gronk, who is good at every event, and Vincent, who is bad at every event. So yeah, only choose Vincent if you’re looking for a challenge.
You choose your caveman at the beginning of the game. From there you move on to the main menu, where you can choose to play all the events at once, or practice one at a time. There’s also the caves of fame, that show the best record in each of events, as well as restart, which just sends you back to character select.
Let’s get down to the Caveman Games themselves, and we’ll kick it off with Clubbing. In this game, you and your opponent stand atop a stone pillar, and only one of you intend to stay at the top. It’s your basic one on one fight. The game starts with a pre-match intimidation phase which will have both platers wiggling their D-Pad in all directions in order to see who will be pushed further back on the pillar. After that, it’s down to the actual fight. There are two ways to win. One way is depleting their heath entirely, and the other is pushing them off the edge of the pllar.
You move your caveman with the D-Pad, and can attack them with three different strikes. Up and A will execute a strong strike to the head, which will incapacitate your opposition for a couple of seconds, but takes a while to hit, leaving you vulnerable. The other two methods are a basic front strike with the A button, and a shot to the shins with Down and A. I find the hit detection on this one to be a bit flighty at times, and the game can be easily won with maybe one or two well timed shin shots, but despite those issues, it can still be a pretty fun game.
Ah, the stone age. When domestic violence wasn’t just okay, it was actually a sporting event. Up next is the mate toss. taking your mate by the legs, you spin her around by rotating the D-Pad counter clockwise as fast as possible. But make sure not to spin her too long, as your caveman will get dizzy, and drop your mate, leading to a loss. Once you’re spinning at peak speed, and in the best angle, let her go with the A button, and watch her fly. Points are determined by how far she lands. The better the flight, the better the reaction from your mate. I actually find this one to be one of my favorites in the game.
Fire Making is next up on our list. It’s a one on one battle to see which caveman can ignite their fire pit first. Tapping A will rub your sticks together, while the B button will smack you opponent on head, knocking them down for a few seconds, and giving you a better chance at lighting your fire first. Once you get to the red section of the meter, you will have to blow at your fire pit by tapping the D-Pad down.
Once smoke emerges, you have one more task to do. Hold up to inhale, let go for a second, then press down to give a good puff on the fire pit. Doing this at a good pace will lead to a quicker fire, but doing it too fast can make your caveman dizzy and disoriented, which could cost you the game. I found this one took some time to get used to, but once I learned how to get the hang of it, I found it to be pretty fun.
The next event we’ll look at is the Saber Race. This event pits two cavemen against each other, as they;re being pursued by a hungry sabertooth tiger. Tapping A will make you run, and Pressing B while running will help you jump over obstacles like water hazards and cacti. Once you catch up to your opponent you can push them backwards with the D-Pad. Victory in this match comes if you can make it up the tree at the end of the level. However, getting caught by the Tiger can lead to an instant loss. And the match doesn’t end if your opponent gets caught, if you do as well, it’s game over. I found this one to not be as fun as some of the other games so far. And definitely not as good as the next game we’ll cover…
The Dino Race. The object is to race on your dinosaur to the finish line before your opponent. Thankfully this time there isn’t a hungry tiger after you, but there are still plenty of hazards in front of you to worry about. Controls are similar to the Saber Race. Tap A to run, and B to jump over obstacles, like water trenches, and rock piles. I find this one doesn’t feel as slow and is far less annoying than Saber Race, and was one of my favorites in the game.
And finally we reach the Dino Vault. The last mini-game comp we looked at had a pole vaulting event, and it was completely broken. This one thankfully is not the same case, but is still kind of tough to get the hang of. The object of the game is to vault over the dinosaur, without ending up as his snack. You can customize how high up you want the dino’s head at the start. Like the other games, tapping A will get your caveman moving. Once you’re at peak speed and ready to launch, hold the B button to plant your pole, then release and tap B at the perfect angle to let go. This one took me the longest to get the hang of, and I still find it a bit tricky to master. But compared to the pole vault in Snoopy’s Silly Sports Spectacular, it’s a total Godsend.
GRAPHICS
While the game takes a massive graphical blow compared to other ports of the game, it still manages to hold up pretty well. It retains the comedic look and feel, and while the colors are very muddy, it doesn’t hurt the game too much. So while nothing too impressive, there really isn’t anything that will leave you feeling sour.
MUSIC
The game is sorely lacking in the music department. Other than the solid title theme, the pre-match and the caves of fame tunes, the actual events are lacking in any music whatsoever. A bit of a letdown I feel, but it really doesn’t hurt the game in any major way.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Caveman Games is a decent mini-game compilation. The controls work well for the most part, despite all the games really just being button mashers that will no doubt leave you feeling wicked sore afterwards. It lacks a bit in the graphics and music department, but that doesn’t hurt the game’s comedic look or its fun factor. The games all play well and can be pretty fun, though I have my issues with Dino Vault. It’s easily one of the better mini-game comps on the console. If you can pick up a copy of the game, you might find some fun with it. This is one title that has stone aged to perfection.
RATING: Thumbs Up