Once again, Valentine’s Day quickly approaches. And as you scramble to find a gift for that special person in your life, just remember, video game characters have probably done a lot more for their lady love or gentlemen caller. This year’s example is once again lifted from a licensed story, but not one that’s commonly talked about now a day, similar to Felix the Cat. I’m not saying it’s obscure, because these characters rest in the back of all our minds. I think everyone listening knows who I mean when I talk about Popeye the Sailor Man. This is Popeye for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
The story is of course as classic as Popeye himself, though has no meat on it so to say… kind of like Olive Oyl. As usual (for her), she seems to have gotten herself into trouble: this time it seems Brutus has become infatuated with her and decided to keep her from Popeye. Oh, wait, there’s a mistake here on the page, it says his name is Brutus; it should be Bluto. *Producer: whispers* Wait, he’s called Brutus in this game? *Producer: yeah* But that doesn’t make sense, from what I gather he was only really called Brutus for a short time in the 60’s. I have no idea why they would call him that in this game, but I guess his sprite does meet the fatter, less muscular look given to “Brutus”. Anyways, sorry for getting distracted by a name difference, but that is actually more interesting then the plot that can easily be described as “Popeye saving Olive Oyl”. Let’s move on from both now.
Originally having been released for the arcade, this game is a very typical “arcade game”, meaning that most of the game will happen on one, fixed-camera screen until the level is done and the true goal is just to rack up as many points as possible. To save Olive Oyl, you have to collect the hearts/music notes/letters that she lets fall until you’ve gathered enough to move to the next round (the higher up you collect the falling object, the more points you earn). Brutus is constantly moving around each level and if he touches you (or hits you with a bottle) you lose a life. (Be careful, because he can jump up or down a floor, unlike Popeye, who needs to use the stairs). Your only real defense is your fists, which can take out the Sea Hag’s bouncing skulls and the bottles, but aren’t so useful against the big Brutus. But as always, Popeye has his trusty Spinach to help him! There is one can per level, and when you grab it, you can temporarily take Brutus out of the picture. Again, there’s not a whole lot of depth to the game play, but it is good classic fun. There’s no flaw in it, because for everything that hinders Popeye, something else seems to help him, and it all becomes part of the challenge. I enjoyed playing this game.
Originally I was going to end the review here and pair it up with another video game, since this is all I really have to say. But while researching this game, I found out something interesting. Did you know that if it weren’t for Popeye, Nintendo’s mascot Mario might not exist? Popeye was originally developed and released by Nintendo for the Arcades around 1982. Turns out, however, that the original Donkey Kong game, released in 81, was supposed to have a Popeye license. Due to complications revolving around the copyright laws, Nintendo wasn’t sure if they would be able to use the characters though. Instead of just scrapping the entire game, they decided to just replace the characters with original designs: Mario taking Popeye’s place, Donkey Kong for Bluto/Brutus and Pauline for Olive Oyl (and might I suggest that the hammer replaces spinach?). It really makes sense the more you think about it. As you probably all know by this point, THAT game was a smash success, and the demand for another similar game was very much alive at the time. After having properly obtained the licensing, this game was then released. This explains why the general look is similar, has sort of the same feel and many of the sound effects are reused. So, Popeye cause Donkey Kong and Mario to exist and the Donkey Kong video game caused the Popeye video game to be made. The rest is history.
I enjoyed the Popeye video game, and it has its place in history, but I have a hard time recommending it, generally because it hasn’t aged well. There’s next to no plot (nothing new for arcade games though). The graphics are well detailed at some points, like being able to see Popeye’s tattoo, but the backgrounds are jokes, with the boat one looking like it was drawn by a 4 year old. The music is slightly bland, and has it’s off key moments. Finally the game play, though fun in its style, is repetitive and pointless since it doesn’t save the scores on this port. If you like old arcade games (such as Donkey Kong or Pac-man), do yourself a favor and play this, but as a general recommendation, I can’t give it as high of a score as I want to. I give Popeye for NES 7.5 levels out of 10.
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