Welcome dudes and dudettes to another most excellent edition of Playing With Power. The radical review article that looks at all copacetic things Nintendo Entertainment System, dudeskis! And this week we have a game that’s totally not bogus. It’s not even totally gnarly. This week, we go back to the awesomest time of them all. The early 90’s bros, excellent!
*air guitars*
And what better way to go back to the totally tubular time, then to look at a game that totally, like, encapsulates the time, or whatever. So, put on your Chip N’ Pepper shirt, lace up those L.A Gear Sneakers, and grab your bodacious skateboard, because we’re looking at Totally Rad. Is it the most excellent of titles? Or is it a bomb-o-rama?
Okay, I’ll try to tone that down for the rest of this review, but who can really blame me? It’s just too fun to do, dude! Okay, let’s just move on.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1991
PUBLISHER: Jaleco
GENRE: Action Platformer
I miss the early 90’s for so many reasons. I think mainly because it felt like a far more fun and silly time to be around, not to mention the time when the NES was a totally awesome console. And if ever there was one game on the NES to encapsulate that era, it may have been this gem from a company known as Jaleco.
Jaleco was a minor league gaming company. Not to the tier of a Capcom or Konami, but still had some memorable games. They were perhaps best known for the Bases Loaded series, and their NES port of the PC classic Maniac Mansion. They were also notorious for putting their company name on the top of their cartridges, instead of the game title. A real pain for game collectors who like to sort their games in alphabetical order, that’s for sure.
The game was known in Japan as Magic John, and still followed most of this game’s storyline. However, I guess someone at Jaleco decided that the kids in America (Whoa-oh) wouldn’t like a basic game about a young magician’s apprentice. So, someone had the bright idea to fill the game cutscenes with over the top 90’s lingo, overhaul the main character’s design to look a bit more like Keanu Reeves as Ted Theodore Logan, and and give the game a totally rad name, no pun intended.
And when I say this game had an early 90’s feel to it, does it ever. Everything from the game print ads, to the instruction booklet are filled with cheesy dialogue, and jokes that would only work in the 90’s, and even then it feels like total overkill.
The Americanized version of the game was released in March of 1991 in the US, and wasn’t exactly the hottest of sellers. Maybe it capitalized too late into the early 90’s? Either that, or not too many people saw into the game’s obvious attempt to be “down with the kids, yo!” So, it’s a mildly uncommon title. But was this game a sleeper hit? Let’s dig further.
COVER STORY
I don’t know about the cover. While I like the border, as well as the font used for the title, the thing that sticks out like a rather ugly thumb is the gator creature thing on the box. It doesn’t appear in the game, and clearly was put there with his funky pink mohawk to try and make the box look cool. Honestly, it’s a turn off, and may have had a hand in keeping people from buying this game. Definitely one of the weaker ones.
STORY
Keanu… I mean Jake is your average beach bum surfer dude skater boy reganomics bromeister, who is also the apprentice of the great magician Zebediah.
Who appears to be a giant floating leprechaun head. And yes, he scares me too. He’s the first thing you see when you boot the game up, so don’t play this in the dark.
Jake and his righteous babe of a girlfriend Elizabeth are at the circus with Zeb, when all of a sudden creatures attack the circus, and kidnap Elizabeth. It’s up to Jake to save his totally awesome gal pal, and find out the mystery of these most heinous creatures.
And yes, the game’s cut scenes are filled with dilogue like this.
GAMEPLAY
Totally Rad is a one player action platformer. You control Jake as he must go through five levels to defeat the totally not rad monsters that have kidnapped your girlfriend Elizabeth, and her father (just known as Professor). You move Jake with the D-pad, can duck with the down button, shoot with the B button, and jump with the A button.
Jake has a plethora of powers that can help him throughout the game. First is his basic shot, which is used with the B button as mentioned. It can be used as a fast, weak shot, or if you hold the B button you can charge the blast, similar to the Mega Buster in the latter Mega Man games on the NES. This charge will do far more damage to your enemies. The downside to this mega buster is that while you can charge and shoot, and duck and shoot, if you jump while charging, Jake fires the shot. A very annoying thing, but it’s not a game killer.
But since Jake is Zebediah’s most awesome apprentice, he also comes equipped with multiple magic attacks that can help him in a jam. These include restorative powers, elemental attacks, and transformations that can be used to aid in some of the trickier parts of the game. These can be seen by pressing the start button, and can be selected by pressing A. Then, whenever you wish to use them, you hold Up+B to activate it.
The restorative magics include full and half heath restores (which trust me, is no doubt what will be your go-to magic throughout the game), a shield that lasts briefly, and the ability to freeze enemies (didn’t I just review a game that gives you those exact abilities, give or take?). Next are the elemental attacks of fire, water, wind, and earth (screw heart and Ma-Ti). They all do the same thing, which is either completely destroy, or weaken an enemy.
Finally, there’s the transformations. These include a lion man, which has a screw attack-style move, which can help you pass most creatures in the game. There’s a bird man which can fly over most hazards in the game. And finally, there’s the fish man, who is best used in the stock water level of the game. You can’t activate other magics in these forms, so you have to select the ability that will change you back to Jake. Tedious, but worthwhile.
All of these magics cost magic points which are represented by the bar on the left hand side of the screen. You have to use what you have wisely, because you can’t restore until you get to a checkpoint in the level. You even go bare bones when facing the end level bosses.
You start the game with three lives, and six points to your health. There are no items to collect in the game, since the object is to use the magic for any needed situation. You can also earn extra lives by defeating 100 enemies (a counter at the pause menu will keep score). The levels of the game will take Jake from the circus, to the city streets/sewers, to the forest and its underground lake. Then you’ll head into the underground base of the creatures that Jake must face, and finally the lab of the big boss of the game, known as Edogy.
Enemies of the game range from robotic mines that chase you (similar to Batman), and turrets with missiles, to weird guys on spike pogo sticks, giant bees, and scorpion beasts that throw boomerangs. Every level has several mid-bosses, each with their own patterns to learn. Though the best lesson is to stay out of the corners, because they do like to rush at you.
The bosses of the game are giant ugly beasts, and just like the mini-bosses can keep you trapped in a corner if you’re not careful. Each usually have a weak spot that you have to exploit and lay charged shots at to finish them for good. They have a health bar at the bottom, represented by their faces. Each face takes two hits, or a well charged shot to get rid of.
The game has a moderate difficulty. If you’re a novice at these types of games, you will have some difficulty with it, since it can be tough in certain spots, and cheap enemy placement makes it that much more annoying. But if you’re like me, and are used to these games, you shouldn’t have too much problems. You get plenty of continues, but start at the very beginning of the level, should you bit the big one, dude.
GRAPHICS
This game has some really nice graphics. Sprites all look really well done, backgrounds all are very energetic, and have a lot going on. Not to mention the bosses are all really awesome looking. Some of the biggest, and ugliest bosses on the NES for certain. But the best part of the game are the cut scenes. All look really nice, and while the story isn’t the most enthralling, the cringeworthy 90’s lingo keeps it from being too dull.
If I were to give this game one demerit in the graphics department, it’s the elemental summons. They look ok, but the flashing the screen does is way too bright and the flicker is way too fast. I was almost worried about getting a headache, or even seizure when looking at them. That blight aside, the game looks good, especially for a game from 1991, when the graphics were at their best on the NES.
MUSIC
The game is pretty good in the sound department as well. Nothing that really fits the “radical dude” nature of the game, but still decent for action platformer tunes. The best is easily the 2nd half of the circus level, with an action packed, and creepy theme that would definitely fit in a deranged big top. There’s nothing here that would be considered underrated earworms, but there’s certainly nothing here that you’d hate either. Give it a listen at least.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Totally Rad really doesn’t do anything groundbreaking. It feels a bit like a slightly easier Journey to Silius mixed with some Mega Man, and even some Golden Axe in the elemental summons. The platforming is definitely stuff you’ve seen and played countless times and has been handled in better games.
But does that make this a bad game? Certainly not.
The gameplay is still quite fun, it has great graphics, and some quality sound. Not to mention the cheesy charm of the cut scenes, and the overall over the top 90’s lingo and silliness that makes you shed a tear for the “good old days”. It’s definitely an oft-forgotten gem on the NES. Nothing super amazing, but still lots of fun. If you can find it, give it a play. This is one totally radical and tubularly excellent title that all dudes and babes should experience. Be excellent and party on dudes!
Reaganomics.
RATING: Thumbs Up