Do You NintenKnow: August 2024

Below is a set of clues for games that have a notable US release date anniversary (5, 10, 15, etc.) in the current month. See if you can figure out the title before clicking the blurred image to find out if you were correct! Head down to the comments when you’re finished and reminisce about the personal memories that were dredged up. Remember that these are going by the release date in the United States. Have fun!

August 1989

This iconic Enix RPG for the NES may be responsible for introducing many North Americans to the overall concept of the RPG in video game form…but not initially. The title originally came out in Japan in 1986 and the North American release had some notable changes including a battery save in place of a password system. They took out the “puff-puff” references too! In 1990, Nintendo leveraged unsold units by sending subscribers of Nintendo Power a free copy of the game along with a strategy guide. That’s one way to introduce a series to the public!

August 1994

This fifth entry in Technos Japan’s famous sidescrolling beat’em up franchise eschewed that genre altogether in what would become a Street Fighter-style SNES fighting game. It makes sense when you find out that Technos Japan had no involvement in developing this game except licensing the IP. Leland Interactive Media, famed developers of titles such as Quarterback, John Elway’s Team Quarterback, and All-American Quarterback, based the game on the animated series which was in turn based on the NES original trilogy. Bimmy and Jimmy were there, of course, along with a whole cast of the Shadow Warriors, including their leader – the aptly named Shadow Master. Fun fact, the subtitle of the game is actually the title of the first episode of the animated series. Less fun fact, I not only remember watching the cartoon, I also have action figures from it and own a copy of this game.

Before there was Conker, this SNES platformer from Ocean starred a different anthropomorphic red squirrel. Make your way through six levels as the self-titled character on a quest to stop the yeti, Mr. Blizzard, from turning the world to ice. This is a very serious game, so no “Deez” jokes here, please.

Would you like another random SNES game from Ocean? Of course you do! Ocean Software published this Krisalis Software port of an Amiga sidescrolling platformer where you control a kid with a soccer ball on his quest through several countries to repair the World Cup – all while being opposed by an evil alien pirate named Scab. In other countries, the title is the very original and creative Soccer Kid but not here in the good old USA! Jokes aside, the main character has some pretty neat movement skills and attacks featuring different soccer moves like headers and bicycle kicks. This is another game with a personal tie for me as I would play it when I went to my cousin’s house. The power of nostalgia!

August 2004

A side-scrolling beat’em up/shooter for the Game Boy Advance based on a Japanese manga that began in 1952? Ok… Don’t let that information scare you away, this Treasure-developed title is regarded as one of the best games to ever grace the handheld. The titular character can punch, kick, and shoot lasers at the enemies which will fill the EX gauge. When that fills up, you can perform special attacks to help wipe out waves of baddies. The game was delayed in North America so it would release with the coinciding TV series which was already obviously well known in Japan. This allowed Treasure to clean up the frame rate and add a third difficulty level. The name is similar to “Space Lad: Alpha Facet”.

Captain Olimar was back again in this Nintendo real-time strategy sequel for the Nintendo GameCube…and this time, he had a friend! Louie joins the fray, forcing you to split your squads (and your brain) to accomplish multiple tasks at a time. Besides a new character, there are also new “soldiers” in the purple and white variety with the former being much stronger allowing them to lift 10x a normal grunt and the latter being resistant to gases and poison. You can also explore beyond – or should I say underneath – the environment with the addition of caves. Time slows to a stop in these caves, taking some of the stress from the game’s day/night cycle. Once outside again, you better make it back to the ship before dark or all your little buddies will be brutally murdered!

August 2009

Archeology and dinosaur buffs were ecstatic when Nintendo published this turn-based RPG on the Nintendo DS. Visit various dig sites to find “Fossil Rocks” that contain parts of a dinosaur which are then used to revive a “vivosaur” to be used in battles. If you like Pokémon and dinosaurs…you might get a kick out of this one.

The original farming sim series branched out a bit with this “puzzling” entry on the DS. There’s a glowing tower that is causing crops to sprout all over the island and it’s up to up to YOU to gather them up and fix the problem. This was before the “series split” so thank goodness I don’t have to explain that here. Considering that the regular games cause some people to stress out, I can only imagine how they would react to this one!

August 2014

The 3DS was graced with this crossover title co-developed by Capcom and Level-5 where two popular franchises combine to solve the mystery of Labyrinthia. There are puzzles and Picarats from Level-5’s tophat wearing sleuth and the courtoom-related fun(?) from Capcom’s famous fictional lawyer. While Level-5’s series always had animated cutscenes and voice acting, this marked the first time those appeared in Capcom’s franchise. No objections here!

August 2019

Nintendo published this title from PlatinumGames for the Switch with quite a pedigree from the action genre including the director who was previously the lead designer for Nier: Automata. Noted block extraordinaire on X, Hideki Kamiya, was also a supervisor. Control one of the new, twin recruits on the police force and use your “Legions” to unleash some wild attacks against the enemy “Chimeras”. There are also investigation sections to give you a bit of a reprieve from the intense action. If you want some comedic relief, there’s Lappy, the mascot of the Ark Police Force!