Retro game review: The Goonies (Nintendo Famicom)

Ask any Nintendo fan if they’ve ever played the Goonies game and more than likely, they’ll talk about the game where you had to save a mermaid and navigate a maze of connected corridors and rooms you explore in a first-person perspective.

That’s Goonies II, not The Goonies.

The first The Goonies game never left Japan, if you don’t count when it showed up in Nintendo “vs.” arcade system cabinets. The small-town bar I hung out in as a kid rotated different arcade games in and out fairly regularly. Karate Champ, Mr. Do’s Castle and Galaga were a few of the games I got to dump countless quarters into as my parents socialized with their friends. Vs. The Goonies was one I have fond memories of, however it was never released on the NES or any other platform. At least, that’s what I thought.

At some point I learned that vs. The Goonies was released as an arcade-perfect port, simply titled The Goonies, on the Famicom. With a Famicom-compatible Retron5 now in my arsenal, I now have a way to revisit this game from my childhood. As a 15+ year video game collector, this is the first import game I’ve ever purchased.

Let’s hope it holds up to my vivid childhood memories.

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In The Goonies, you take control of Mikey as he descends into the caverns below Fratelli’s restaurant to save his friends and discover treasure. The first stage is very simple and quickly teaches you the game mechanics. Press A to jump and B to kick. The most common enemy in the game is mice, who drop bombs when you kill them. You’ll need these bombs to blow open safes scattered across the levels. To drop a bomb, simply crouch and press B (then run!). Safes can contain keys, kidnapped kids, a slingshot power-up or health potions.

To exit the stage, you must find 3 keys and then find your way to the locked exit door. The first stage takes place in Fratelli’s restaurant and is only about four screens wide, so you can complete it very quickly. However, the stages get much more complex starting with stage 2. The second stage takes you into the basement/sewers/I’m not really sure. This level introduces skull-shaped doors that transport you to different sections of the level and flame jet stage hazards. Later stages get more challenging and the stage layouts get larger and more confusing to navigate. Add that a timer constantly ticks down, figuring out the layout of the levels is important so you can find all the keys and escape before you run out of time and lose a life.

Like I said, the most common enemies are red mice that walk around the levels. In addition, there are yellow mice that hop at you and turn into a fox after the first hit. A white mouse shows up later, which behaves the same as the red mouse but drops a cross powerup that makes Mikey invincible for a short amount of time. Later stages introduce more enemies, like pirate ghosts, bats and skeletons.

_{^{Image source: User nenriki86 on YouTube}}

You’ll also be constantly chased by the Fratelli’s who cannot be killed, only knocked down temporarily. In the first stage, the Fratelli fires a gun at you if you give him a clear shot. In later stages, he’ll sing and release notes that will damage Mikey if hit. The Fratelli’s are a constant threat, so its best to take them down and run when you see one.

The game controls very well, with tight and responsive gameplay. I never had problems making jumps or timing attacks. As the game progresses, it gets quite a bit harder mostly due to the confusing stage layouts. It will take some practice (or looking up maps) to learn the layouts of each level. All said, the game is a fun pick-up-and-play game that rewards you for exploration and learning the stages. Nostalgia didn’t cloud my judgement. It’s a well-made and fun game.

_{^{Image source: User nenriki86 on YouTube}}

The Goonies isn’t going to wow you with its presentation, but considering it was released in 1985 around the same time as Nintendo’s “Black Box” titles like Clu Clu Land and Balloon Fight, the graphics don’t disappoint. Sprites are well-rendered and clear, Mikey is nicely animated and the backgrounds and stage graphics get the job done.

Music and sound is surprisingly good. Sound effects are punchy and clear, but the biggest surprise is the tunes. For such an early game, it belts out a surprisingly good rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “Goonies R Good Enough”. There’s really only one other music track that alternates between stages, but it compliments the well-known song nicely. While it doesn’t hold a candle to more advanced NES soundtracks like you’d later find in games like Mega Man, its impressive in its own right.

_{^{Image source: User nenriki86 on YouTube}}

Its very disappointing that this game never received a release outside of Japan. It would have been remembered fondly by anyone who experienced the early days of the NES, instead of being an oddity that most people never knew existed. Explain how this never escaped Japan and the strangely titled Goonies II suddenly makes sense.

Fear not, the game is completely presented in English with no Japanese text to be found. If you didn’t see the Famicom cartridge plugged into your machine, it would be safe to assume this was a North American NES game. If you’re a fan of the movie or fun, simple platformers, I definitely suggest picking it up. That is, if you have a means to actually play Famicom games.

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

^{Cover Image Source: photo by retro-room}