Friday, June 29, 2012

Video Game Review: Double Dare (NES)

Welcome to another video game review courtesy of Old School Lane. We're going to conclude our discussion of Double Dare with the video game adaptation on the NES.



Ever since the NES came out, the video game industry that had died out in 1983 had risen again from the ashes and captured a new generation of kids. The NES is known for releasing now classic games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Contra, Final Fantasy, and so much more. So someone at GameTek thought that if you put these two things together, you'll get an instant hit. I mean, after all, this sounded like a great idea. As Kevin mentioned in his Double Dare review, everyone who saw the show always wanted to do the physical challenges or the obstacle course. If you try to do at home, then...



Yeah, you would have an angry mother. So does this video game adaptation of Double Dare make us feel like we're playing the game show at home or does it fall flat? Let's jump right into Double Dare on the NES.



The first thing I noticed was this start up screen. Marc Summers looks like Elvis and the kid contestants are wearing hats. I don't remember hats in the show, do you? Also, why is the kid grabbing a flag? There's no obstacle course going on. Also the set doesn't look right. Sure it has the iconic checkered look, but everything else is unrecognizable. Admittedly, the theme song sounds pretty good 8 bit, so no complaints.



Then we get to the first game. Just like the show, it always start with a challenge. Mine started with throwing a banana at a gorilla's hand. The first team to do it is the winner. The first thing I noticed right away were the controls. There's a bar on the left side of the screen indicating on how hard you throw and at what direction you throw it at. 9 times out of 10, I miss. The mini challenge continued on until I get lucky enough to have the gorilla catch it or if the other team did it first. Usually, it was the latter. The challenges ranging from throwing eggs into a clown's mouth, throwing kangaroos on large clown pants, mini golf, or bowling were pretty much the same. The controls are awful.





The rest of the game consists on Marc asking questions. The questions range from really easy:



to really hard (for kids, anyway):




to questions that would have been common to ask in the 80's:



For today's standards, those pop culture questions are extremely dated. Unless you know about that movie, singer, or show, you will never answer it without cheating. But I tend to stick to answering questions because as I said, playing physical challenges are really difficult because of the controls. But you're going to get bored rather quickly answering these questions. This is no You Don't Know Jack in which asking questions can be fun.



This is really straight forward. Truly, the most boring part of the game and the show.



If you do happen to win the game, then you get to do everyone's favorite part of the show: the obstacle course. But unfortunately, just like the physical challenges, the controls are awful. At first when the clock started, I tried to move, but I couldn't. It wasn't until I realized that you have to hit right and left on the controller just to move. Really? Right and left? Also, the obstacle course looks really bland and boring.



Where's the color? Where's the iconic obstacles that we know and love? As of now, I have yet to beat the obstacle course. I had played this game 5 times trying to win the obstacle course level until finally I gave up. Here's a video of someone who had way more time than me beating the obstacle course.



Overall, I do not recommend playing this game. It's boring and frustrating at the same time. Stick to watching Double Dare on the Internet or doing your own Double Dare game show at the park or home or somewhere. Anything is better than playing this awful game.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia

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