138 · DR. CHAOS

• Do you dare open the doors to doom?
• Introductions
  • What a title
  • Joseph Konopka
    • American citizen who served 16 years of a 20-year prison sentence for two felony acts of conspiracy to commit acts of terror
• Story
  • Dr. Ginn Chaos, a mad physicist, has invented an Interdimensional Warpgate which grants access to another world. Unfortunately that portal invites a world of monsters into the castle. His younger brother Michael shows up just in time to notice his brother DR. CHAOS is missing.
  • Does that mean his brother is named Michael Chaos?
• Gameplay
  • Blood dripping title screen
    • Skull shows up on the O
    • Lightning makes it all disappear
  • Why do enemies re-spawn immediately?
  • Exploring the castle
    • It is possible for a Room Monster (Big Lady, Omen, or Franken) to appear from any doors you leave open if you return to the screen at a later time.
  • Progression
    • Finding the first Warp Zone
    • Nintendo Power #7
    • Backtracking
  • The hallway, the rooms, and warp zones
    • Did first person improve over the goonies
  • How playable is Dr. Chaos?
  • There are 11 Warp Zones in all. At the end of each of the first 10 Warp Zones, Michael must fight a large monster that carries a piece of the Laser and guards a valuable piece of equipment
• Development
  • Kunihiko Kagawa - Producer
    • Bards Tale
    • Ultima VI
    • Pool of Radiance
  • Seishi Yokota - Designer
    • Never again
• EGL
  • A series of confusing design decisions are really what puts this off my essential games list. I welcome longer games on the NES, but not when long also means tedious.
• Next week - SUPER MARIO BROS. DUCK HUNT

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Dr. Chaos, do you dare open the doors to doom?

00:19 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. And I'm Sean. And again, that is it. We have been abandoned. And we're abandoned in a haunted castle this time. Is it a castle? Looks like a house. Can it really be described as a castle? Yeah, exactly. I mean, I guess a house is a man's castle. We have a lot of house cleaning here to do right at the top, Sean. How so? Well, did you just say house so?

00:52 Was you making a very clever house pun? I didn't mean to. That's very funny. Well, you know, first off, what a title. Dr. Chaos. Yeah. What are you what are you expecting? Well, we were just having a conversation. We were having a conversation. Me, you and one other person that shall not be named at this moment.

01:14 And he can he said that it was like a prog metal album, which I thought was I thought was actually pretty apt. What I what I was expecting was probably just another bland 3D. I'm sorry. Another bland side scrolling platformer of, you know, maybe it's going to have some spooky like vampires or something. I don't know. And you weren't expecting this game to be like an autobiography of Joseph Kanopka.

01:44 Could you could you elaborate on that? Joseph Kanopka, also known as Dr. Chaos, was an American citizen who served 16 years of a 20 year prison sentence for two felony acts of conspiracy to commit acts of terror. So, OK, this is part of, you know, of this is a blind spot of mine, I guess. What were these acts of terror he was going to commit? Well, they were only conspiracy. So we you know, we can't I don't want to pin the guy down and say that he was definitely going to do these things because technically he didn't get a chance to go through with them.

02:21 But he is Dr. Chaos. That's how he was referred to. And if you try to look up Dr. Chaos, you won't get the NES game. I guarantee it. I guarantee even if you like only search for NES games, you're going to get this guy first. Oh, my God. All right. Yeah. I'm looking at the Wikipedia page now. Yeah, he definitely looks like he might. I think it's the sunglasses. Yeah. He looks more like an agent of chaos than a Dr. Chaos. I wonder what his I wonder what his big plan was. Well, enough about him. And let's talk about Dr. Jin Chaos, who is the mad physicist that the game is named after.

03:03 What were your I don't even want to ask, like, what were your impressions of this guy? I don't think we ever really see him. But I don't Dr. Jin Chaos is a pretty cool name. And I will say that looking through the manual, this is one of the more coherent and cogent backstories.

03:21 So much so that it actually like it. It does make sense when you're playing the game that this is sort of what's happening. It's not a good story. And it has plot holes even in like the summary. I don't know why in the letter that he leaves, he says that you, your brother of of just a generic background of the only one that can save the house and the world.

03:49 But, you know, we're getting there. It's not a bunch of word salads now. Yeah, it's kind of fun until they just named the other character Michael. Like, you mean, Dr. Jin Chaos's brother is just Michael Chaos? Wow. I mean, is this just because like, do you feel like you have like a complex about your name, Mike? Well, first off, I will say that they were probably making some reference to the archangel Michael, who, you know, defeated Satan. Who's actually named after you.

04:24 Right. Everybody knows that part, too. Yeah. You know, just the interesting thing here, I guess, is that why go through all the trouble? Like Dr. Jin Chaos feels like that was left over from the Japanese side of the game. And then they forgot to translate that. And instead they just translated the brother's name to Michael because that's very English facing. I mean, I guess what I would say and Jin sounds like a pretty English name and chaos is an English word. But I guess what you could do to, you know, headcanon this is to just say that it's like a very like, I don't know, like a Slavic name, like Chopped Chouse or something like that. I guess I'm just a little.

05:05 Yeah, sure. That sounds great, too. Chouse. I like that. Or, you know, the Sonic Adventure Chouse, the Chow Garden. Yeah. Are you familiar with that? Yeah. I had Chouse. Because they're technically chaos because of the chaos emeralds in Sonic, but we call them Chouse instead.

05:22 Yeah. I think that I actually never heard the word Chow in like an official capacity. It was just. I'm making it official right now, right here. I'm taking my stand. Come after me, Sonic fans. Yeah. There are dozens of you. I will stand beside you.

05:41 And we have, you know, Dr. Jin Chaos, who's invented an interdimensional warp gate, which grants access to other worlds. But unfortunately, that portal invites a world of monsters into the castle. Michael. His younger brother, just a regular guy named Michael, shows up just in time to notice that his brother, Dr. Chaos, is missing. And then he goes and tries to fix everything. And that's what you do in the game. Because you are Michael. You are Michael. You don't think they picked Michael because of like Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan? Like. I think he's supposed to be an everyman and nobody of note has ever really been named Michael. Understood. Okay. Yep. I think there's like a council of Michaels who would like to differ with you there.

06:32 So, Dr. Chaos, you start, you're Michael, you start right outside the house. I think it's cute that they let you start outside the house because you can't walk around outside. It's just jump up the first step, which is something everybody does, right? You can't just walk up your steps. You got to jump up over that. Yeah. It's for the immersion. Yeah, I get it. And you might hit your head on the doorframe after the jump. So, they very literally coded that in there, too.

06:59 Great. And then you walk in through the door and, you know, I hear monsters came through an interdimensional portal and I think like, all right, that sounds like we're going to see some pretty scary stuff. And then it's just like mice and bats. Okay. Well, that's just like what happened to the house while it's been without a caretaker. You know, like the door was wide open. When you go on vacation, your house just has mice and bats when you come back? If I left the door open like his brother was, yeah.

07:27 All right. No, I can deal with that. I mean, in Animal Crossing, if you don't visit your house for a while, there's like cockroaches inside. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is just the things that happen.

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08:22 Let's just rewind for a second because we didn't talk about the title screen, which is pretty epic. It's a blood-dripping title screen with Dr. Chaos, like, written in blood. Oh, yeah. A skull pops up through the O. Yeah, I did appreciate that if you stuck around, there was a lot of cool stuff to see. Like, you see some weird dude in the window. It looks like he goes and stabs somebody.

08:48 I was very impressed by the blood-dripping and just how metal it looked. But it doesn't seem to be all that tied to the game itself. Well, that's what I was going to mention, is not only does it not feel tied to the game, because this feels almost like a Resident Evil-style opening, you know, and then you don't quite have that gameplay experience. But, you know, this also doesn't feel on brand for Nintendo. Like, blood, is that even allowed? I guess you could say it's ketchup, but it just feels like they would not want that as the title screen. Yeah, I mean, they have... I know that, like, later in...

09:28 Later they were more okay with it, but I did not see this coming on the NES. I mean, we have seen some intense stuff already, but this is probably as overt as it's gotten. Yeah, and then there's this strike of lightning on the screen, and then Dr. Chaos just disappears, that text, and you just see the house itself. And I was like, what does that mean? What is that foreshadowing?

09:55 I don't think... You're getting a lot of symbolism in this game that I don't think is actually there, Mike. We haven't even started pushing buttons. We haven't. We're just talking about the story and the title screen. You know it's good. Yeah. But when you do start playing, you've got to explore the house, which is a pretty big house, but you're only, like, allowed to go through, like, certain points when you first start. So you just have a few doors to explore,

10:22 and you have a knife, which feels like a good thing to bring with you when you go to see your brother. Yeah, I usually do. Yeah, and you have this knife, and you take on the bats and the mice, why do they respawn immediately? Okay, so this is going to sort of conflict with what I just said about how these mice and bats are just completely a normal thing if you leave your door open, because it seems that they get sucked back into, like, this warp portal thing, because they turn into, like, bubbles, and they just move around, and they respawn, like, where the bubbles last are. Like, did you notice that? I didn't really, I don't understand it, but I guess that's the way that they,

11:09 they deal with enemy respawns. That's their point in the interdimensional warp gate. They're, like, assigned those coordinates. Yeah. Oh, okay. I mean, no, that's me just, again, bringing a much deeper story to this. But didn't you find that frustrating, that, like, imagine if you stomped on a Goomba in Super Mario Bros., and then it just respawned where you first saw it on screen, immediately. I would think that there was something broken. But I don't think that, I think this is what they intended. I don't know why they intended it.

11:43 But, yeah. And that's something that just happens throughout the entirety of the game, too. It's not just in this opening hallway. It's not, like, a bug or anything. So I agree with you that they probably meant it. I'm just not sure if it's a great design decision

11:56 off the bat. You know, it's very unwelcoming because if you're just kind of testing things out, you might not have figured out yet, like, how to efficiently use your knife or, like, how to explore things. So you're just kind of walking around this house, getting hit left and right by bats and mice. And I know that doesn't sound like it could happen.

12:14 But, you know, if you are just kind of feeling out the game, I can see that happening to a kid. Well, I can give you a story of how I felt at the game on my first playthrough. Please! So, to preface, the walking around the hallways is just one part of this game. The second part is a very Goonies-esque, almost pretty much the exact same style of gameplay of walking into a room, and now it's first person, and you can click on things and interact with them,

12:48 which I'm sure we'll get into in more detail in a moment. But, you know, I go into this room, and I start clicking on things, and I immediately see a door open, and this goofball come out, and chase me out into the hallway, and then he bashes my head in, and that was in 50 seconds. Like, the game lasted 50 seconds

13:10 until that happened. So I'm like, I don't know if this game is just, like, not gonna fuck around with you, or if that was a random event. I couldn't tell. I mean, it didn't happen the next time I played, but... So that's the craziest thing, Sean, and we will talk about the first person in more detail later, but since you brought it up, in the first person mode, you have to open up doors, and open up windows, and open up closets and drawers, and what have you, and if you leave those things open, and go to another screen, and then come back to the screen where you left things open, there is a random chance that a giant enemy of sorts, like a Frankenstein or a mummy,

13:51 one of those characters will just appear in that because you left it open. What a scary thing. That's actually more impressive than I thought. Because that is something that you think about. I want to keep my eye on this open closet when I'm a child, and I'm afraid of the closet, because if I look away, something might happen. So I like that. I like that. But the uncertainty of it all, too. Like, never, as a child, when you go to check your closet, do you assume that there will be a 100% chance of nothing, but then going forward, a 50% chance every time you check it if you leave it open.

14:32 Yeah, right. I'm not thinking about it probabilistically, I guess. It's just insane, because you never get surprised by a Frankenstein or the like when you open up the doors on the first time. But there is something really, you know, like, this is the first time I've felt horror in an NES game. Wow. You know, Castlevania, a game that is definitely within that genre,

14:58 is not scary at all compared to the idea of an enemy that is going to destroy you until you eventually, like, collect the proper equipment and, you know, have, like, your gun loaded and stuff. If you just, like, stumble across one of those guys early on, there's really no chance of surviving. Yeah. No, I died immediately, like I said. And it also didn't help that for these kinds of enemies, like these stalker-type enemies,

15:28 they actually, for the NES, they have some, they have a pretty, like, creepy design. Oh, yeah, absolutely. They're up there with the designs of, like, you know, the later bosses in Castlevania, like Grim Reaper and, or they, I think they call it death in Castlevania. But, you know, that style of thing I thought was really crazy to see so early on in the game. But it does make you, I think it's something that needs to happen to every player to make you a little more cautious of how you explore the castle. Yeah, I think you're right. Or regular home, depending on how you look at

16:03 this game. All right, so let's just stay in the hallways for a second because that's our, like, 2D platformer way of playing the game. Not a lot goes on there. That is strictly just for, like, traversing the overworld, if you will, right? Yeah, it's, depending on where you are, it's, like, a little bit of platforming, a little bit of avoiding, like, shit mobs.

16:29 And if you do run into these monsters in the rooms, that's where the battle would take place. Right. And so what was your, like, exploration process, like, in the house? Did you just go from right to left as you went to, like, each door? Yeah, I tried. There were some doors that kind of move you into different parts of the house, so it's a little disorienting when that happens. But, yeah, I tried to just do a clean sweep.

16:58 And, yeah, that's it. Yeah, because I think the manual lays it out that you need to find these warp zones that Dr. Chaos has opened up, and it kind of explains that to you, but it doesn't really tell you where

17:15 these warp zones are or how exactly to find them. And so, when you start off this game, you are kind of left to just going into the first doors or any of the doors you see and just kind of poking around and hoping you find something, right? Yeah, I think that's what you're meant to do. I still couldn't really understand what a warp zone was, because apparently they are just doors and windows, but I thought, because at the end of the manual, it gives you some tips, and then they're like, look for this thing first. And I'm like, okay, I would look for this thing in the same way that I would look for anything

17:55 by just, you know, randomly checking doors. So I wasn't sure what that was supposed to accomplish. Yeah, and I think you're talking about the ultra space sensor. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know where that is, but... And just to show you how crazy it is that, like, you know, you didn't necessarily know where that was, I didn't know where that was, in Nintendo Power issue number seven, which is like, we're only on number three right now, chronologically,

18:21 with Dr. Chaos. So it shows you how much later they finally get around to answering this. in the Counselor's Corner section of issue seven of Nintendo Power, somebody just finally asked, like, where is the ultra space sensor? Like, they had to address it. The very first item in a video game, and they have to, like, use a section of their guide to tell people, like, you know, this is the same thing with, like, how do I get infinite lives in Super Mario Brothers? and then it's like, in Dr. Chaos, how do I start the game? Yeah, exactly. I had to, like, I had to go into,

18:53 I had to watch a video just to get to the first, like, warp area. So, I guess, that sort of tells you, I know we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit, but that sort of tells you how obtuse this game can be.

19:08 That, yeah, you had, they had to answer it in a magazine, and I couldn't play it for, like, the first hour. Yeah, I think that's crazy, and, uh, the game, the game does pick up a little bit, though, if you manage to find the ultra space sensor, and you have, like, an idea of, because that is the gameplay loop, essentially. You traverse the hallways, find the correct door, navigate through the, uh, first person mode in the room, find the warp zone,

19:36 go into the, uh, warp world, if you will, and then, uh, collect the item after defeating the boss of that warp world, and then coming back out and doing the whole thing over again. So I think it's very important that, um, they should have laid that out a lot cleaner, even in the manual, just explaining how to do the first one, because aren't there, like, 11 or 12? Yes. There are 11 pieces that you have to gather, and apparently you need one to find the rest, and it's all just, it's all the same to them.

20:08 So is it, there's really no harm in including the first one, though, right? In the manual? I, I wouldn't say so. Yeah, I think that, like, I've seen, we've seen several manuals now that have, like, a, a beginner's hand-holding strategy guide for the first thing, and I'm not saying that a game should need something like that, um, but I, I, I thought that this kind of game could have helped with one.

20:33 Yeah, yeah. And, and so let's talk about that first person exploring the rooms, because you mentioned Goonies 2, and I think that's very apt, but we, um, you know, we've learned a little bit since then, but I imagine a lot of people who didn't pick up Goonies 2 and found this game, they, they'd have that same learning curve, at the start, you know, of what is a first person like thing, I've never played computer games before,

20:58 uh, now I own this game on the NES, what do, how did you, uh, did you like how they handled it, with the commands on screen, and the, uh, exploration with the compass and stuff, explain yourself. Explain myself. Uh, I thought that it worked, like, given, given what it is, it worked, uh, it took me a moment to, uh, get the hang of the controls in that situation, where you sort of have to hold down a button in order to pick your command, um, and when you're not holding down that button, it's just a, sort of a free look thing, um, but I eventually got the hang of it, uh, I, I guess, like, in this, in this mode,

21:44 it's where a lot of that obtuseness comes from as well, because you have a hit button, and that is your designated break down the wall, and I'm, I just haven't been a fan of that mechanic, and to make it, like, one of the, like, the things that are just, it's one of your verbs, is to hit a wall, like, hit down the wall. I, I found, I found that to be kind of annoying. I, I don't know how, what your thoughts were. Well, you know, Sean, I, I definitely agree that hit one is a mistake, but I'd argue that the whole context thing, while, while handled appropriately,

22:19 is, is a mistake, you know? You don't need to switch between open, get, go, and hit. That should all be contextual for the game to know, based on where your cursor is. Like, if you put the cursor in front of a door, and press the, the A button, it should know that that, that you want to open it. You're right. And if you put it over a gun, it should know that you want to get it. Like, you shouldn't have to, I'm sure that it's like, a way that they program the game that it needed, that, uh, differentiator, but, uh,

22:52 like a better programmed game would just know, based on context, what to do. see, I guess what I, so what I'm coming from, when I look at this menu, it reminds me very much, like, uh, the, um, adventure games that they had moved on from, you have to type out every action you wanted to do, like, go east, go west, whatever, and they just made it, like, uh, a menu of

23:16 selectable actions, and, when I, when I looked at it that way, it made sense, but now, like, now that you're saying this, I'm, I'm realizing, like, oh, there's only, there aren't any context things that you can do with each item, like, you're only going to be able to pick up a gun, you're only going to be able to open up a closet door, it's not like you can do anything else with these items, so, if it, if that was the case, then this menu would have reason to exist, but, it doesn't, so, it doesn't need to exist.

23:49 Right, like, say you needed to inspect the gun, or swap the gun, you know, like, that would make sense for a different context, but they didn't, they didn't do that here, and to address your, your hit complaint, the biggest complaint I have with hit in this game, which I think is very similar to what the Goonies 2 problem was, is that hit becomes a very vague thing that only works on, um, objects or places that are not marked for it, so, there's never, like, a, oh, there's a dent in the wall, I should hit that, like, it's always just, hit everything, and hope something happens, and that's not fun. No, and I, and I know that we're not at the level of, uh, visual accuracy

24:32 that you can make a very subtle, like, a subtly broken wall, like, it's going to be obvious, so that kind of, that would defeat their purpose of making it hidden, but all you've done by going the other way is making this much more frustrating for me. Yeah, and in this one, different than the Goonies 2, there's also no one to talk to in these rooms to, like, gain clues or, um, get context to where things might be or warp zones might be placed. There's nothing like that, so you just, you just have empty rooms to explore and open things up.

25:08 Yeah, I think, like, if, the one thing that could have helped, and this is all just speculation, if, if on, if in these room sections, if the select button was, like, you could look at your, uh, your, uh, is it brother or uncle? I don't remember. I think it's your brother. Okay, just look at your brother's note, and your brother's note has some information, and, like, maybe it'll magically reveal more as you move forward. I, I don't know. I think that would have helped both our complaints in, uh, in, in just how

25:42 labyrinthine this is, and in this situation as well. I think that would have been great, Sean, actually, because that adds to the, you know, um, the mystery element of it, that you continue to kind of uncover more of the mystery of the house as you go along via your brother's notes, and that's something that could have been done as the, um, you know, after you defeat the boss of a warp zone world, you could have, like, collected a new note from your brother that would have given you context on where the next warp zone was. We've, we've improved the game, Mike. Absolutely.

26:15 The one thing I will say here, though, is that even though it's hard to figure out what to hit, every other object in this, uh, in each of these rooms is very clear on what it is and what to do, so there's no confusion there. Um, they, they've kept all the rooms very plain, so you know what a dresser is, you know what a window is, you know what a door is, and that's really, like, even though it kind of becomes tedious of just, like, open up all these things, very much so, but at your own risk.

26:42 At the same time, it is nice that they didn't make a bunch of objects that just don't matter. Like, if you had to, like, if they put a vase there and you were like, I gotta hit the vase every time too, or like,

26:53 you know, um, you know, there's a couch now and you gotta check under it, like, that stuff wouldn't, that would just add even more layers to it that it doesn't necessarily need. Yeah, you're right. There are still items in this that are sort of, like, what's the point, Dan? I mean, I know that, like, it makes sense that a cupboard will be empty. I get that. Uh, it makes sense that a wardrobe will be empty. It makes sense that a window will have no reason for you to climb through it. But, there are doors that you can open, and then when you select to go through the door, it says,

27:31 no way! And, I don't know what the difference is between a no way door and a door that your character is okay walking through. So, I thought that was weird. Um, I don't know if that's just, like, these doors are locked until I collect more things. You hit the nail on the head there. That's exactly what it is, and I think that sucks. he just knows. He just knows that he can't go through that.

27:56 Right, but again, that's stupid. Like, it doesn't help. Don't make the door locked and find a key instead. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I'm not, it's not just gonna be like, I'm too afraid at this very moment, but I'll be brave soon. I don't know. Yeah, there's no, like, Zelda temple in any Zelda game where it's just readily accessible and Link doesn't walk in. Instead, he just says, no way!

28:21 Like, that just doesn't happen. Yeah. All right, next point, warp zone worlds, I guess we're gonna call them. This is after you find, you know, the window or door that you need to walk through that enters a warp zone, and now it becomes a little more of a platformer than the hallways ever were because I'd say it's more like a action platformer like, say, Castlevania was, uh, and you have to go, you know, get, keep scrolling to the end of the level, and there's a boss fight there, but in the meantime there's a bunch of different enemies, the layout of the terrain is different, some are like underwater, some are jungles, some are rocky

29:04 sandcastle things, uh, every warp zone is different, and I think that's cool because it's an interdimensional portal, it should take you to different locations. What'd you think about this section? Uh, I thought that they were, uh, you know, in terms of the look and feel of the game, they're kind of breaths of fresh air, you get a different color palette at the very least, um, there, it is more of a traditional platformer with, and it's not based off of just, here's a flat hallway, um,

29:35 that being said, it really doesn't, um, the mechanics of the platforming don't make this feel good, like, this sort of exposes that, um, your jumps are very stiff, that your, uh, attacks are kind of punchless, um, it, it's, uh, it doesn't make the rest of the game feel that much better, um, I will say that, uh, it is good that you get to see a cool new design for a boss at the end, um, because I do think that these are also well designed, um, but in terms of the gameplay itself, it, it exposes its weaknesses too much. Yeah, and I think, you know, there's also a, uh, a platformer problem in a lot of these, uh, these zones, because the jump on the character isn't that great,

30:28 and the, the, the common idea in the game design here is just like, oh, if you fall off the, like, path we had designed, you fall to the bottom of the screen, and now you have to walk yourself back and re-try to climb all this stuff. Yeah, exactly. And so that's not fun either, because that's just a, another repetitive decision there, uh, and the bosses are, are strange. They're, they're not exactly the hard boss fights I'm used to, they were manageable, but at the same time, they're not necessarily, at least in the early ones, they're not necessarily enemies that read any different than the enemies that you've been seeing the whole time.

31:07 Well, I mean, they, they read differently than just the trash mobs that, Oh no, I'm sorry, yeah, they are definitely, uh, like, designed unique. Uh, what I mean is, is that they're not necessarily, like, harder or to, to a, to a bigger scale, or like a, you know, there's no feeling of, like, this is a boss battle until, I guess, like, later on in the game, as I'm starting to look at some of these enemy, bosses I didn't fight. But the, the first, like, the first two bosses that I remember, one was like a, a squirrel looking thing, and the other one was a ghost? Yeah, I mean, that, I, I get that. I mean, I didn't think that they were much harder than, I, I just had trouble with this game because it was so stiff, so, um, I,

31:54 I was using my gun, and that, you know, I, I may have been a little lax with my ammunition prior to that, but, um, I'm not gonna say that I won the first time I ran into one of these things. Got it. But, you're right, the, the boss, in terms of mechanically, the boss designs are, are not very good. I,

32:18 I was just impressed by their, uh, visual design. Yeah, and I think, you know, the only, uh, saving grace there with the, with the gun, and, um, I think you also have, like, an Uzi, and a, and a bunch of grenades. The, the thing there is, you can collect a lot of that stuff. Like, you could have 65 bullets, you could have 99 bullets, like, it's all up to how much you explore the house beforehand going into these levels. Like, so, it does, it does make sense to explore all the rooms rather than just jump right into the warp zones because you might come unprepared. Yeah, and that is sort of a thing that, like, it does seem proto-survival horror-y, um,

33:02 and with the, with the kind of, um, resource management that you have to do, it's not balanced well, you usually get more than you need, I was just very bad at the game, um, but I, I can kind of see a glimmer of survival horror in that design. Yeah, and so, you know, you face off against these bosses, you go through, um,

33:23 these levels, you usually get a piece of your laser, um, like a piece of your laser gun, you need 11 pieces to get the laser gun to help you defeat the last boss in the game, and then you also collect at the same time a item that is only good for like, you know, to help you get through like another section. So the first one gives you like the ultra space sensor, uh, you can get an air helmet, you can get jump shoes that let you, uh, jump a lot higher,

33:52 um, there's a bunch of things like that and those are cool because they help you power up, but they, they aren't like substantial or, or changing power ups in the sense of, you know, things that you got in Metroid. Yeah, they don't, they don't change the way you really play the game that, and some of them just act as keys and I hate that when it comes to upgrades.

34:14 Exactly, yeah, like the air helmet is only designed so that you can finally go to the underwater warp zones because if you get there too early, you won't be able to explore those underwater warp zones. Yeah, but again, this wasn't really a game that I was expecting, like an upgrade path, so it didn't, it wasn't as big of a con to me as it would have been in, say, a shmup, but it's still like, they didn't do it right. Yeah, and it's an interesting decision to get like two

34:41 power-up collectibles at once, like you get the laser gun, which is like your key to beating the final boss, and then you also get this like smaller thing that just kind of helps you as a character progress to whatever would be the next warp zone. Yeah, it's a little redundant. Yeah, well, the redundant part comes next because you see after you defeat the boss and collect those things, you don't get like warped back to the room that you were in or even to the hallway part where you were. You have to just walk back, take the trek, yeah, back through the whole

35:12 warp zone again and climb back out the door or window of which you came from. I don't know, I guess it does kind of make sense, like why would you be warped out of it? You weren't warped into it, I suppose, but it just felt like unnecessary backtracking and I didn't enjoy it. Yeah, I think in a game that you've already established that warp zones are a thing, you could have like explained it away that way. This is the game to warp back.

35:41 Right, right, yeah, exactly. The warp zones in the title and then you're not doing anything that's funny. Yeah. So Sean, as you mentioned, 11 warp zones in all and at the end of the first 10, warp zones, you gotta fight a boss, then you get the laser piece and then you finally take down the final boss. Just think about how long it took you and I don't know how far you got, I really only got up to probably warp zone 4. Think about how long that took and now, is this really how long you want this game to be? Like, was 11 too much at a certain point? Again, my opinion may have changed if I was around when this game came out. It has the password, so it's not like you have to do it all in one playthrough.

36:29 And I would want more content on my game, so maybe then I would say, like, no, this is just the perfect length. But no, you're right, at this very moment in time, it's kind of long. Yeah, and you know, it's funny because we didn't talk about the password system at all, but this might be the first game where you can just choose to discontinue at any time and get the password prompt and then shut down the game. Like, you don't have to wait till you beat the next boss to get the password. Oh, that's what, I thought it was a typo. Like, why would you want to

37:07 discontinue? Oh, yeah, you're talking about in the manual? Yeah. Yeah, it's really funny because it gives you a very detailed explanation on how to even like begin a game. Yeah. Like, push start, choose new game. But yeah, to discontinue is a weird phrase of words. That's probably why I said it because I was glossing over the manual before we started. But I do think that's interesting that like there's a way to get the password to appear on screen because there's a lot of times where, you know, you're a kid and your mom says you got to go somewhere and they don't understand that you can't save. Yeah.

37:41 So, everybody's been there. So, I think it's a nice touch that they put that in there. Yeah, I guess I didn't even notice that that was one of those quality of life things in there. But that's cool. You're right. A longer game, especially on an NES or something like that, is helpful when they include either a save or a password system. and, you know, I probably shouldn't have said, like, is it bad that the game's so long? I guess what I really meant is that you're doing the same explore the room, find the warp zone, get through the warp zone, defeat the boss, like, you're doing the same thing over and over again. And I guess at a certain point you could say a game like Legend of Zelda

38:27 also is that, right? Like, you go and find a dungeon. That's kind of what games are. It's called a gameplay loop. Yeah. Yeah, you know, but I think that this gameplay loop is too redundant because the power-ups you get don't substantially change the game in any way that makes it, like, more fun. You know, we were saying Metroid earlier.

38:45 Like, it feels good, Mega Man even, it feels good to have, even if the stage idea is the same of exploring the stages, it feels good to have new power-ups that you get to, like, fully take advantage of, and this game doesn't have a moment like that. Yeah, I guess what I mean is that it's not, yeah, it's not the game's fault that it's giving you more content, it's just that there isn't very, so there's not a lot of, there's not any escalation of difficulty, well, maybe there's an escalation of difficulty, but it's the same low level of fun throughout.

39:21 Like, it's neat, but I wouldn't really say that, like, you get into a situation where, like, oh, I can do this now, so I'm going to have fun with this mechanic now. Like, it's just the same thing the whole time. So yeah, you're right. And not to be surprised, no sequels and spinoffs for Dr. Chaos. not even like a little, like, 15 minute TV show, like, you usually have 15 things. I know, I was thinking about, like, where's the Game Boy game? Yeah. But this game was published by FCI,

40:17 the same people that brought us Mag Max, so, and C-Cross, I-Cross, whatever you want to call it, they brought us those games, so it seems like they kind of just bring these games on and then forget about them because neither of those games got sequels either. They probably are only interested in what we like to call original titles. They're always daring, always innovative. Very daring. Yep. And the developer, I think their name was Marionette, I couldn't even find anything else about this company.

40:46 Marionette. This might have been the only game they made, and it's interesting because the producer for Dr. Chaos would go on to make a ton of early RPGs like Bard's Tale, Ultima 6, Pool of Radiance, as a producer, not as a writer or developer or anything. But I think that's pretty neat that he started at Dr. Chaos and went on to work on these big RPGs. But then the designer,

41:16 Saishi Yokata, never again was he heard from. He designed this game, and they were like, goodbye. It was his swan song. Yeah, hand in your keys to your video game developer because you're not allowed to, you're not allowed to talk anymore. You're not allowed to talk anymore. That's what they say to you. That's like the goodbye kiss.

41:42 Once you're told you're not allowed to talk anymore, you may as well just pack up your box. All right, we're going to give Dr. Chaos our goodbye kiss in the Essential Games list. Okay, it's time for the Essential Games list. Sorry if that sounded like we weren't going to vote Dr. Chaos into the Essential Games list. We're definitely going to give it a fair trial, and that trial starts with Sean. All right, well, I'll be its judge, jury, and executioner right now. The game, I like this style. I still think it has potential, like this whole side-scroller slash genre that we keep running into,

42:27 but it's still, the execution is not there in terms of keeping the game fun, and having actual kind of discovery happening when you're in this first-person mode. It's just going through the motions. I did really like the design of a lot of the enemies, at least for the ones that would come in and chase you, because that was spooky, but all told, the game is mediocre at best, so it is not going on my essential games list. All right, and that means it can't be on the essential games list, because both of us would have to vote it on. True.

43:07 But I really forgot for a minute how scary the idea of monsters coming through open doors, like doors that you already thought were safe, is. And for that, this game is a true innovation. Like, in many ways, there's nothing scarier yet on the NES than this moment, where open doors can reveal gigantic monsters that will be sure to kill you. Aside from NES baseball. Right, right, in which case all the players are ghosts.

43:40 But, you know, to get back on topic here, the game is ultimately just like a series of confusing design decisions, specifically around the first person mode and the warp zone world. So, that really just means the whole game's fun is contained to exploring the hallways, and I wouldn't say that. No. So, this is what, the design aspect of this game is really what puts this off my essential games list. I'm totally willing to welcome longer games onto the NES, but not when long also means tedious. And so, I'm not surprised that the designer of this game didn't get much work afterwards, and I'm also not surprised to see it removed or never on our essential games list.

44:28 Very harsh. Well, you were the executioner. I just came in and hit a home run. I, like, I, we were trying, I guess we were playing, like, good executioner, bad executioner there. I hate when we do that, but it's true. Yeah. What, you know, since no one else is around, what other NES hot takes do you want to just, like, give out right now? You know, I was, I was never really a fan of, like, how you put in a cartridge. I thought it should always be, like, it's a Nintendo game, like, you should be able to see, like, the, the box art.

45:03 Oh, so you're saying you're a fan of the top loader design and not the original NES. I'm not saying I'm a fan of the top loader design. I think it could have been done better. I think that, like, you know, if the cartridge was designed better, like, it would, it would be, it would look more, it would look more natural like the Super NES. Okay, okay, I, I could see that. My hot take,

45:24 Super Mario Brothers 2 better than Super Mario Brothers 1. Wow. 100% the truth. Did you, did you say that in the episode? You know, I don't know, but I do know that I said in the episode that Nintendo Power said it's the best of the three. Ooh, so. And that's crazy. That's like, that's like a parent picking a favorite, you know? Yeah. You know, speaking of Nintendo Power, we do have to cover the next issue of Nintendo Power in one of our post shows. So I think, you know, we have a great episode next week,

45:58 Super Mario Brothers slash Duck Hunt. I think it's a game where Mario slashes the Duck Hunt dog after it laughed at you so many times. Oof. Or maybe it's, um, maybe it's like a gumshoe-esque game where you, uh, control a zapper for Super Mario and every time you shoot, he jumps instead. And, uh, you just, you manually control the reticle in, uh, this, this Duck Hunt platformer. Yep. Okay. Wow. I think this sounds great. Yeah. Uh, that's a great episode that we have for you next time. We're definitely going to make it interesting and unique. It won't just be coverage of Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt, so stick around for that. And also, you know, another game coming up, Super Team Games.

46:46 I, I'm not sure, uh, if that is, quite makes sense. Like, if you had to guess, Super Team Games, what are you thinking? Um, I'm, well, I'm not thinking any sport. Maybe it's going to be like, like dodgeball and a bunch of other weird things. I don't know. I went to dodgeball too. I went to dodgeball, kickball, tug of war.

47:06 Yeah, yeah, they're just gym games, gym class games. Foursquare. Oh, I love the Foursquare. That's not a team game, though. Yeah, it's really not. You're right. We should figure out a way to make Foursquare a team game. We could do it. But that, that's a great episode coming up, so maybe we'll also do Nintendo Power number three in that, uh, in that issue. Let's do it. Sorry, I should have mentioned, NostalgiaCast is becoming a magazine. We're going to have, uh, monthly issues. Yeah, monthly issues of NostalgiaCast. Uh, they'll all be typed up by Sean. On my, uh, on my typewriter.

47:41 Yes. We just sent out the manuscripts. Yep. It's, um, it's going to be a thing. We just need it funded. So, if you want it funded, type in fundies on Twitter and send it to at NostalgiaCast and that's your way of donating to the fundamentals of funding the magazine.

48:03 I, I won't be a part of this. I'm not on the Twitter, but, I'm looking forward to hearing about it. You know, NostalgiaCast is on the Twitter at NostalgiaCast. I'm on the Twitter at Esposito Film. He is Sean. I am. Insert last name. And, this has been a great episode of Nostalgia. Sean, take it away. And I

48:31 will always love you.

48:48 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Thank you.