Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Konami certainly picked up some interesting licenses in the 90’s. No brainers like Ninja Turtles and even Mission: Impossible. But then there were licenses like the one for this week. This week we look at Rollergames. Will this game skate to victory? Or does it roll down the slope at mach speed?
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1990
PUBLISHER: Ultra Games
GENRE: Platformer/Beat-Em-Up
Rollergames was a short lived television series that was a overly theatrical version of the roller derby. Essentially what would happen if Vince McMahon had a hand in the rollerblading business. And just like something out of the WWE, there are face and heel teams. The faces being the T-Birds, The Rockers (Sans Shawn and Marty), and Hot Flash. Because when you think of a hero team, you want to think of a side effect of menopause.
Due to poor placement of the show (usually around the same time as Saturday Night Live), it was cancelled after one season (1989-1990). However, it was around long enough for the game rights to go to Konami and Ultra Games (as well as a pinball game from Williams). Two games were released under the Konami/Ultra flag, one being an arcade game, and the other being an NES game, which has since earned mix reviews. Does this game deserve the negativity?
COVER STORY
It’s a decent cover. Lots of action in the background, and several of the game’s levels and enemies are well represented. My only issue is the the roller skater in the front of the cover doesn’t look like any of the characters in the game. But other than that, it is definitely an eye catching cover for people who didn’t even hear of the Rollergames TV show.
STORY
A notorious criminal group known as V.I.P.E.R, have their sights set on the Rollergames, the most popular sport of the 21st century (at least not according to the ratings) have corrupted three of the teams (Bad Attitude, Maniacs, and Violators), and have kidnapped the comissioner of the games. Since the FBI and CIA lack the “speed and skill” to save him, it’s up to the other three teams (T-Birds, Rockers, and Hot Flash) to defeat the rival teams, and save the commissioner. The very fate of scripted roller derby is at stake!
GAMEPLAY
Rollergames is a one player action platformer with beat-em-up elements. You control a member of one of the three heroic teams as you make it through 6 levels and deal with the evil teams. You move in all eight directions with the D-Pad, can jump with the A button, and punch with the B button. There is really no difference in the teams you choose other than the character design. The T-Bird skater is a rather heavyset man, the Hot Flash skater is a girl with pink hair, and the Rocker team is a guy with a mullet. You can switch teams at the start of each level, and when you continue post-death.
The majority of the levels work as follows. You’ll go through the levels defeating basic grunts while also avoiding the multiple hazards within each stage. Mainly potholes, barrels, and other things that can easily kill you. When you get to a certain point in the stage, you’ll have to fight a plethora of grunts in a beat-em-up style level. Controls remain the same, but now you can do moves like holding down the opponents and kneeing them in the face, as well as your jump can be a dropkick (which does feel a bit flighty and misses more than hits).
But the major thing you can do in these areas is a special strike. When you press A and B together, you’ll do a special kick that will almost always instant kill most enemies. You get three of these in one area, and you usually want to preserve them if you have tougher enemies to deal with.
The beat-em up portions are for the most part pretty easy. It’s the platforming in the game that really makes it a challenge. Since you are riding on skates, you won’t really be able to stop on a dime . You will always have some forward momentum. Your jump is also a make or breaker, most often breaker. You can overshoot platforms if you move too quickly, or if you go too slow, you’ll quickly fall. You’ll have to learn how to perfectly handle the jump if you want to make it even one iota of progress in this game.
For example, in the 2nd area of the 2nd level, you will get to a sloped area with the platform at the furthest end. You have to try to keep straight enough without losing momentum AND moving in the wrong direction. Other areas have this issue too, especially when trying to go up on slopes, which is already kind of strange with no forward momentum. This type of slippery platforming can be the ultimate deal breaker for many, but once you manage to get the hang of things, it’s far from impossible.
There are six levels in the game. Four of them are your platforming/beat em up levels. The other two that interlude between the 3rd level of the game are scrolling stages that will have you fight for survival as you dodge obstacles, deal with enemies, and platform to the best of your abilities. They have end bosses, but you don’t really fight them, you just avoid their attacks. The worst of these being Level 4, which has an end boss that is a giant truck that throws barrels. First off, if you don’t know it’s coming, it will automatically ram you, costing you a life. But if you learn to dodge it, then you have to platform over the barrels as the truck randomly backs up on you. This means you will more often than not take damage from the barrels, so hopefully you have a ton of health remaining when you get there.
In the other stages, they are broken into multiple parts. Once you get to a new part of the level, your health and special strikes are restored, and you will start at the beginning of that area once you die or get game over. The game has unlimited continues, and you earn an extra life by beating the set high score of 20,000. So, for the difficulty the game has, at least it is a little bit more generous than a few of the more tricky Ultra Games titles.
You’ll face four main bosses in the game. These are the leaders of the particular teams. The first being Lucy Fireball, who just sends her Bad Attitude soldiers, and once you beat them and the stronger soldier, she just flails back and forth, causing damage, until she stops, leading for an easy one super shot kill. The next enemy, Maniacs leader Guru Drew, starts the boss battle by sending his jumping leader at you, while trying to skewer you at the bottom of the stage. Beat the leader, then you simply have to dodge his spear, while getting in strong shots. The 3rd boss, Violators leader Skull Scraper, sends his basic grunts, and then tries to hit you with his boat, while dropping bombs. He’s the easiest boss in the game to avoid.
The final boss however doesn’t seem to have a real name. But I like to call him Jacked Up Ghandi. After sending some grunts at you, he comes in and is a psychotic striking machine. even with some saved up super strikes, he can be tricky, but if you are always just above him and striking, you can beat him, save the game, and get a really nonsensical engrish ending telling you that “The action is real. Not only from TV.”
GRAPHICS
The game has some great graphics, as is the norm for most Konami/Ultra games. The sprites once again are well detailed, but are lacking in any facial features. The levels all have great designs to them. Especially the 5th level in the jungle, which is usually the norm for NES to have great jungle stages. The cut scenes are well done, and do a decent job representing certain Rollergames characters, like the announcers in the opening scene. It all makes for a solid package
MUSIC
More excellent music from Konami in this game. Every level has a great track to it, and while it doesn’t use the Rollergames theme at any point in the game, it’s not a total loss. My favorite tracks include the boss theme, and the 4th level theme. I get a major vibe of the original Ninja Turtles soundtrack at times, especially in the first level. There is definitely some quality in this soundtrack.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Rollergames was a game I came into expecting to hate, mainly because I’ve seen reviews in the past making it out to be a terrible game. But honestly, after playing the game, and beating it, I honestly like it a lot more than I thought I would. Do I think it’s a top 10 classic? Definitely not. But did I come out of this game with a sense of enjoyment? Definitely yes. It has some major drawbacks, and trying to get used to the controls and the momentum of the characters is annoying, but manageable. For me at least, it’s a decent licensed title based off a rather forgettable license. If you can find it, I’d say give it a shot. You may not share my opinion, but for me at least, it rolled into my heart.
RATING: Thumbs Up