Time to take another break from the usual, and take a look at the next Game Player’s Game Tape, this being tape 8 of the series. For those of you new to these tapes, they were produced in the late 80’s and early 90’s by the company responsible for the then new “Game Player’s” magazine to give gamers tips on popular games of the time, as well as throw a few accessory advertisements in their faces. The narration is a little odd, the footage is great sometimes, poor in others, and the tips range from full on walkthroughs to almost useless primers on how to play a given game, but no matter what these videos serve as a nice archive of what gaming was like in those years when the NES was at its peak.
In this tape we get a look at: Robocop, Astyanax. The Three Stooges, Adventures of Dino-Riki, and Double Dragon II.
As soon as the video starts on Robocop, you know you’re in for the same old corny narration and jokes these tapes are known for. You have to love absurd lines like “shoot him until he tosses a grenade, then gun him down!” What madness is that to tell a kid? Also hilarious is “give the next little creep more of the same.”
The guides for Astyanax and The Adventures of Dino-Riki are pretty typical, with both games looking to be pretty fun (I might try them out sometime soon) but The Three Stooges is widely considered to be just a terrible game all around – why it’s on this tape is beyond me. The one good thing you get is, just before that segment, the “Freedom Stick” advert we’ve seen before, which reeks so bad of 1990 it’s almost funny.
The tape ends with a preview of Double Dragon II with some tips for it, and the “Game Player’s Product Spotlight” where they basically bombard the viewer with information about all the extra crap you could buy for your Nintendo Entertainment System back in the day. Some good, some terrible.
That’s enough of my rambling, enjoy the video.