286 · Heavy Barrel

• The Ultimate Weapon that will blow you away
• NES Longplay
• Manual
• Maybe the first video game we’re playing where the main focus is the weapon not the character?
  • The guys on the box art look like they can barely hold it
• Bit of a stretch with the plot to explain the existence and gamification of the heavy barrel
  • Terrorist have seized an underground nuclear site
  • The site had the heavy barrel
  • The terrorists didn’t know that and so one of technicians carefully took it apart into 6 pieces and hid those pieces all around the complex
  • And they make NO attempt to explain that the technician did this more than once or why the heavy barrel has a 99 second time limit
• All that to say, how cool is the heavy barrel in game?
  • the game only contains enough pieces to allow the weapon to be built three times in a single game
• And what about when you’re not playing with the heavy barrel?
  • You shoot in the direction you walk
• Level Variety
• 2 player co-op
• Sequels and Spinoffs
  • None
• EGL
• Next week - Conflict
• NEStalgia Byte - Fuzzical Fighter

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

00:00 Heavy Barrel, the ultimate weapon that will blow you away.

00:19 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. And I'm Joe. Welcome back, Joe. Yeah, it's been a while. No, it hasn't. What are you talking about? He was on the Fisher-Price episode last week. I don't remember. I recorded schedule. I forget. You know, we've been a couple weeks in real time off. So I'm like, there was time where I was off. I don't remember what time. Welcome back, Mike.

00:50 Yes, I am actually back. Listeners on our Discord will know I went on vacation for a while. But non-listeners of the Discord will have no idea because, you know, we just keep releasing the episodes. That's how smart we are and how strategic we plan ahead. I was just going to hope that everyone would welcome each other and someone would welcome me back after a week. But you never left. See, but I was going on the idea that the listeners don't know about our gap. So I was just thinking a couple episodes ago, I was like... You mean like between weeks? I took a little vacation.

01:23 No, between weeks. They don't have any concept of Saturday through Thursday. That's true. So you guys think that they listen to the show for the three of us and not for the review of the old NES game? Whether or not that's the case, I think it's courteous to say hello. When I listen to a podcast, I say hello when people are introducing themselves. Yeah, but you also want to hear welcome back in addition. So if you think it was courteous of you to like welcome us back, why did it take you, you know, 280 episodes to first ever do that? Because I just came to this conclusion. Oh, okay. Gotcha. I'm trying to grow as a person. Yeah. If I can remember, I'll say goodbye to you at the end of this episode.

02:08 I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure people are skipping ahead right now to find out if I said goodbye. I'll know in about 30 minutes. Sounds good. So Heavy Barrel, maybe the first video game that we're playing for this podcast where the main focus of the game is on the weapon and not the main character.

02:27 Hmm. Is that true? I can't confirm or deny that. Is it something with like a sword or something? There's been definitely some swords. Right. No, but I'm saying like, so if the name of the game was Iron Sword, right, which I believe was one of the Wizards and Warriors, maybe the second one, that was like, yeah, Iron Sword is like some plot device or whatever. But there's still, you know, characters and story that like it's more about than like in this game. It's all about the Heavy Barrel, building the parts, collecting it, firing it.

02:58 Like, you know, it even says Heavy Barrel in game when you've collected all the pieces. That's pretty cool. The guys on the box art look like they can barely hold it. So they're also not making those guys look strong enough to wield what is Heavy Barrel. And of course, the back of the box said it is the ultimate weapon, which is up for debate. It's the ultimate weapon of this game. You know, every video game technically has an ultimate weapon.

03:22 I'd say even within the game, you know, there's other modes of shooting that come close. Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. It's like, I guess it's like the smallest amount of more ultimate than a few of the other weapons. Smallest amount of more ultimate. Yeah. Now, that's not to say that there isn't a plot to the game or I don't think the characters get names or anything. But, you know, the plot tries to explain the Heavy Barrel first and foremost. And so it's a bit of a stretch with the plot to explain the existence and then gamification of the Heavy Barrel.

04:02 So first they tell you that terrorists have seized an underground nuclear site. Okay, could be any NES game in the 80s. Then, you know, that nuclear site had the Heavy Barrel. And it's like, oh no, that's why they took it, right? Like they seized it because it's the ultimate weapon. But then the next sentence, they're like, but the terrorists didn't know that. And so one of the technicians that works on your team carefully took it apart into six pieces and hid those pieces all around the complex.

04:32 And it's like, okay, a little confusing to explain why I'm collecting the pieces. And sure, okay. But they make no attempt to explain that the technician did this more than once because after you collect it, you only get 99 seconds with it. They don't explain the 99 second time limit with the Heavy Barrel, why it only works for 99 seconds. But theoretically, there were at least three of the Heavy Barrels down there. Okay, so two things.

05:01 You must have read the manual. I didn't. Yeah, I was just going to say. I didn't know if there was any explanation to the gun. I was just like, oh, you know, NES game. Gameplay and storytelling aren't fully intermingled yet. I like this gun. I like when it happens. I like to shoot it.

05:22 Second of all, you are not giving this game the generosity you'd give many games we've played in terms of trying to explain game mechanics through the story. I think you could cut it some slack there. Yeah. I agree that that is a good thing. It's a nice different element that we don't normally get where they're trying to explain it. But also, I don't understand what you just said. Yeah, it feels very reverse engineered. Yeah, why was your guy hiding things in your base?

06:02 I'm confused still. So yes, I give them credit for trying, but also I'm not sure that they pulled it off. Because the only story that I received was that we were paired jumping into an underground artillery base. And then everything from there just sort of happens. Yeah, because if you think about it, right? So just to explain the game a little bit, in the game, the way that you collect the heavy barrel is by first killing enemies that may or may not drop keys. And then you pick up those keys and then use those keys, you can collect more than one at a time, to open up. They're like suitcases.

06:41 And inside those suitcases, it may be a piece of the heavy barrel or it may just be something else. And that could affect your points or your weapon or whatever. But that's the flow of the game is proceed through the level, kill enemies, collect keys to open up suitcases to hopefully build the heavy barrel to use it for 99 seconds. We'll get more into the game side of it. But since we were talking about the plot, it just begs the question of, well, first off, who dropped the suitcases then all over the place? Did the technician also put a bunch of suitcases of other things as well? Is it one technician or a team of technicians?

07:20 Where did the treasure chests come from in Zelda? Okay, yeah. So that's a great question. That is a great question. But hear me out. That doesn't matter because they didn't try to explain the treasure chests. You know what I'm saying? This game took the time.

07:35 Right, right. If anything, just don't tell me about the heavy weapon or the heavy barrel. Or here's an interesting thought. What if they did capture the heavy barrel? And now you have to collect all six pieces by taking down six bosses or whatever to be able to successfully rebuild it and take on the final boss? Granted, that would mean that you don't get to use the heavy barrel until the end of the game. But that might make more sense of like, you know, the underground nuclear site's been taken over. They are trying to get control of the heavy barrel. They have the pieces, just not all together. It's up to you to stop them before they unite the pieces.

08:11 I could see that as a story improvement. But I do really like the way that the actual game mechanic works. So I would hate to do something that changes that. I think it's cool to be like, you can just run through this game. But also, like, if you want this super weapon, you've got to sort of be searching for it by collecting these keys, which look like thermometers, and then using them on whichever suitcases, treasure chest, whatever they are that you want. But it's like, you got to pick and choose properly. And if you don't, you got to find more keys to like, find all the different pieces. I'm going to step in and just say that this is not the issue.

08:53 The game is innocent here. The game is fine. The we're taking umbrage with the author of the instruction booklet, because I'm pretty sure people that made the game weren't thinking about this technician behind the scenes hiding pieces of a gun in boxes. And they're just like, oh, here's like a cool, like, long form version of a power up. And it's like, you know, some delayed satisfaction. Like they were just making satisfying game mechanics. And then this guy named Tim comes in and tries to actually give reasons for it and made Mike mad. So all that to say, how cool is the heavy barrel in this game? Well, that was what we were getting at before, right?

09:40 No, but I mean, like, once you actually assemble it, right? Like, forget about how we talked about how you find it and everything. But once you assemble it and use it, the, you know, the 99 second time limit, whatever, like, is it the ultimate weapon? Does it feel like you're completely indestructible for those 99 seconds?

09:57 Is it a rewarding experience that you want to like, immediately rebuild it again? Or is it kind of like, eh, whatever, just a heavy barrel? I think that maybe, maybe before I overstated a little bit, like, how slight the extra ultimate-ness of this is, because I do think that it is, it is a significant, like, power boost while you have it. What I'm a little torn on is the 90 second time limit.

10:24 Because on one hand, I like that it's a time limit and not ammo, because it just gives you basically like free reign to just be like, just go to town. You know, you don't have to worry about conserving ammo. In fact, the more you use it in these 90 seconds, the better. So you really just kind of become suddenly a juggernaut. But I do feel like the 90 seconds is a little too short for me to feel like it's really worth me risking my life to collect all the pieces throughout.

10:53 Because half the time when I get it, it's like, oh, awesome, here I go, I've got it. You can't, you can't choose when you use it. As soon as you get that last piece, you have it for 90 seconds. And then like, I get it. And then it's like, all right, get on this elevator. And then you're on an elevator for like, for like 40 seconds.

11:08 Yeah. And just watching the time tick down, not using it. Or like, there are no enemies all of a sudden. So like, the time limit thing is nice. But I almost wonder if it was like, oh, now you get to use this until you take a hit. Or now you get to use this until you get to the end of the level, even. Because you get them kind of late in the level anyways. Or something like that. That would maybe feel better to me. Yeah, honestly, I think the most value that the weapon has is just in the visual design. Like, it is a comically massive gun that doubles the size of your sprite, pretty much.

11:47 And the actual like, firing animation and the projectile that comes out of it, again, is hilariously large. And it just looks cool to fire. And it looks cool to deal damage with it. And everything just blows up quickly. But I mean, my issue with that is when it comes to the actual, if you get down to the numbers of like, you know, how much damage does this do? It's not really that much more impressive than the flamethrower, which was like my bread and butter. Like, it's got the same kind of spread. It's got the same kind of damage. But this doesn't look quite as cool to use. And it's more so a, you know, it's literally ammunition based instead of this time thing. So, it was still cool, though.

12:43 Yeah, do you think it had the same kind of spread? Because I was thinking that the spread was like the one thing that makes it better than the flamethrower because it is such a wide. Yeah, I'd say it's marginally wider than the flamethrower. Yeah. And also, now I can't remember, but like, I want to say that like the fire rate is faster, a lot faster. Yeah. So, like, that does make it a little better. But yeah, flamethrower was also what I was talking about earlier that like, that is similar. But honestly, even that other power up is another one that's like a scattershot sort of a shotgun thing that is also sort of similar, like fundamentally.

13:18 Yeah, the biggest thing about the heavy barrel is that you do want to save it for the bosses because that's when like, you know, some form of HP actually applies, right? Like most enemies in this game, other than some tanks and stuff like that, are just one hit KOs. So, yeah, it's nice that the spread's a little wider than some of the other ones or it shoots a little faster. Like, yeah, no doubt it's going to help you. But it's at its most useful when you're up against the bosses.

13:44 And so you do kind of have to time your building of the heavy barrel appropriately to like have it so that like early on you collect the first five pieces and then you just don't touch chests until you either have like played the game once already and know when the boss is coming up and then start opening up chests. Or, you know, pressure luck and just try and be like, well, as long as I'm surviving now, I don't need the heavy barrel.

14:08 Unfortunately, in a game with one hit KOs, you can't really think like that anyway. Well, I still think that the flamethrower still has value beyond that because it also will proceed to hit enemies behind the enemy you just destroyed. So it's great for those random groups of mobs. And also, I think like in addition to tanks, you've also got all of the turrets and there's a couple sub not sub bosses, but bigger mobs that take more than a couple hits.

14:46 But yeah, I mean, I just never thought of it that strategically because I already felt like as long as I'm walking into this boss with 50 ammo for this weapon, I'll be fine.

14:59 Yeah, it's funny because I definitely utilize the flamethrower in the way that you're describing, but I didn't really think about it until you just described it where it's I think it is a testament to the their gameplay design. That they have these like, a couple of different main weapons outside of the heavy barrel that like they do feel different. They're not just a sprite change and like a spread change like the fact that you that the flamethrower like the flames work like flames, you know, like like they're hitting enemies behind.

15:30 It's not just stopping at the guy that it hits like it. It does this bigger area of effect kind of damage like it's hard to even explain it without looking at it. So if you just you watch footage of this game or play it yourself, like you'll see what I mean. Like when you use the flamethrower, it behaves like flames. And and and that's different than the scattershot and it's different than the main weapon. And I don't know, I'm kind of I'm kind of impressed by that. Like for front of the NES, the design of the I guess the throwables or like your your side weapon are equally.

16:08 As varietous varied varied is the word because you got, you know, get your grenade, which kind of sucks. But then you've got this grenade that just like you sort of just poop forward at them and it just stays there. And especially with bosses, which are relatively large and don't move around too much, like it'll just continue to do net damage.

16:32 And then you've got the thing that sort of spirals out at you. So you don't have to you don't have to aim quite as much and you still get those multiple hits. Now, Sean, it's funny you say about the spiraling out thing, too, because it's only something you would know from the manual, but it doesn't look like it in the game. So I think you're right to describe like this spiraling out orb, but they are saying that's a mace that you are swinging.

16:54 Oh, that's where the chain is just getting longer and longer. Yeah, but you're swinging the mace and shooting at the same time. Like, damn, this guy is very skilled. Yeah, I love the idea that this like military guy with all this like arsenal of like guns and grenades also has a mace.

17:11 Like it just feels it feels like I guess we're I guess we're medieval now. I'd watch a movie, you know, like an 80s movie, but like it's in modern times. But the guy's just got like a nine tails or whatever.

17:57 So let's talk outside of controlling the heavy barrel and just the level variety and, you know, the enemies and stuff like that. But the overall gameplay experience without the heavy barrel, without the key feature of the game. Are you having a good time? You know, I am. But I was noticing this as I was playing. And again, I.

18:21 I think like how you start with your minimum weapons and without any power ups, it's kind of it's kind of shit. But I think like games like this, it's sort of designed to be that way. But it was weird because to me, this game broke one of those cardinal sins of the running guns of you can only fire in the direction that you're moving. That usually irks me. And it's still kind of worked me here. But for some reason, I don't know if it was another aspect of the controls or if it was just that the way that the the other weapons were designed. But I actually sort of I actually enjoyed my time with this.

19:03 Sean, I know exactly what you're talking about. And I think I think it has to do with because this is a run and gun that is top down. So in a in a side scroller where there might be like two different levels or whatever, I'm thinking like a Contra style game. Like, yeah, that would suck if you couldn't shoot up. But here shooting up is no different than walking up. So shooting and walking in the same direction kind of works in this game because everything is on the same axis. So sure. But that was the issue that I kind of had with Commando and why.

19:36 That was one of the explanations for why I sort of enjoyed Bride Fighter, because I you know, you want to be able to strafe. And that's why a game like Smash TV feels satisfying to me and why a game like Commando felt jank to me. But this but like somehow this this game made that design mistake, but I still enjoyed it. Yeah, I'm glad that you that you brought that up because that's like exactly how I felt to that. When I first started it, I was like, OK, this is annoying. It's one of those annoying games where it's like you have to sort of like run in circles in order, you know, because like if I want to turn this way, I got to start walking that way.

20:16 And yeah, it was what was the one that you just mentioned that sort of solved that that we played already? Yeah, Bride Fighter. Like, I liked that in this, but I don't I can't put my finger on. I really don't know why. But like once I started got into the flow of it, I was like, this actually isn't that bad. This is actually fine. Like I felt very comfortable with these controls, whereas in other games, it has been a bother for me. So I also don't really know what it was about this that like that didn't bother me. The game never really puts you in too much of a corner or puts you in a situation where there are too many enemies or too many bullets either.

20:48 You know, not to say it's an easy game, but it's more manageable on that side. You're able to definitely easy. Yeah, not not super not easy, easy, but it's easier. Right. And as I'm saying, I think like the problem with earlier games like Shauna, I'm actually glad you mentioned Commando because I was going to mention Ikari Warriors to like those earlier games that we saw maybe in like 87 or 86 for the NES. They're also top down shooter style games and they just don't work because either they're littered with too many enemies or the shooting isn't quite there yet.

21:20 I think I remember in Commando. That's the one where we made the joke about like, wait, watch out for that bullet. You could actually see it travel across to you. I mean, believe me, that happens a lot here, too, where I'm just like out running. We don't know what they're shooting.

21:34 These guys are using nuclear weapons for all we know or some, you know, some proto form phase stuff. I don't know. Anyway, the point being that this game controls really well for the same genre that we ragged on earlier in this podcast history. Yeah, absolutely. And as far as like just our enjoyment with the gameplay, like it is, you know, outside of those weapon power ups that we already talked about, which are awesome. There's not like a ton of them, but they are great.

22:03 It is like we've played this game before, you know, but I think I'm realizing something about myself. We're like, first of all, this, what do you, what would you call this? A run and gun? I mean, what would this be? Yeah, I think a run and gun is fair. A run and gun. Like this style on the NES has so much shared DNA with a shmup.

22:23 Like really what's different is like it's not auto scrolling. Usually they're not as hard. And like otherwise, like, yeah, you're getting power ups. You're, you know, if you get hit, you lose your power ups. You're fighting all these enemies that are coming. It feels very shmup like to me. Little bosses and stuff. But something about this compared to like, I think I just like, I think I've really enjoyed every game in this genre that we've played. But like, so I think that's just like a me thing where like, I can't put my finger on like, what about this? Like, what about a shmup? I'm usually like disappointed to play.

22:56 Like, is it the auto scrolling? I don't know. But like, I really enjoyed this gameplay. But I think some of that is just like my personal preference. I think one of the things that I liked about this game, because the, you know, the backgrounds aren't very varied. Like, I know you mentioned, Mike, like, what did you think of like level design? And it's really like there's different shapes of hallway and there's some changes of direction. And then you've got your elevator levels. So many elevators. There really isn't much going on that's like super cool in the level design category.

23:35 Where I think it shines is the goofball animations that enemies go through when they die. Which I think a lot of these games that we mentioned in the past didn't have. They might have just like flashed and disappeared.

23:51 And maybe the, some of the boss designs are cool. Um, visually. So, I think it's got, it's got its pros and cons when you step away from the, the weapon variety. Which I have, which there really isn't that much of anyway. Speaking of all, speaking of all the elevator levels and everything. Can anyone explain why, um, the grunts are taking the stairs to get onto your level? Like, and why you can't just jump to the stairs? Yeah, and they're, they're faster. You know, they're not on your elevator. They can catch up to you. Maybe they, maybe they just built the heavy barrel. They're like, I'm not going to waste it on the elevator.

24:33 It's true. There's more than one heavy barrel to go around. It's just, it's a matter of when you collect the first one that determines how many more you could possibly, uh, build. But they have all the keys.

24:45 So, like, why aren't they building them? Well, they all only have one key. That's true. And they won't share. Yeah. Now, I thought they were suitcases, but they are not. These are clearly treasure chests. No. But I was going off memory, and I just remembered suitcases for some reason. But I guess I was playing a different game before this. That was a dream you had. Yeah. Another one of those fever dreams I've been having lately. That was before the episode that that reference is from, so. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's right. You could just say it's from a dream you had. Most of the stuff I, uh, you know, expand upon is dream related.

25:16 Yeah, absolutely. You know, I play heavy barrel, and then I go into my dreams, and I decide what I'm going to vote on the essential games list that way. Lettuce. Joe, curious to know if you played any two-player, you're usually the guy who does it, because this has true two-player co-op, which is kind of a big deal, because not all NES games are created that way. A lot of them will be like, yeah, it was that way in the arcade, but now when you play, it's like, uh, player A goes first, and then player B. Um, I don't know why I did A and B instead of one and two. That's another part of my fever dream, I suppose.

25:56 I'm just really embarrassed to be here today, guys. I hope I'm wearing pants. Uh, anyway, uh, did you, Joe, did you play two-player? I did not. It sounds fun, though, because, like, this is just a game that, that I feel like, uh, would work well with it, especially if it's, like, actual co-op. Um, but, unfortunately, I didn't this time, and also, I gotta admit that, uh, I played through one player, got to the end, and was like, oh, like, I guess, I guess it's over. Cool, I beat it, whatever. And then it wasn't until, like, we started recording, and I booted up the video I always watch of, like, of it, where I'm like, oh, there are, there's, like, another mode. There's, like, other modes that I, like, didn't even try. There's a battle mode, too.

26:36 Like, 1v1? Yeah, so you got one player. Unless it, unless this is just one-player battle and two-players battle, but it looks like you can select battle. I think I'm having a, I think I'm having an episode. Yeah, I definitely didn't do that. Can you select that? Like, I want to see that. I don't think you can, because that's not even in the manual. Now that I'm thinking about it, it says one-player battle, two-players battle, but it's Right, I think it's a one-player battle. Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Still weird. No, that's, that's the same thing. It's the same. It's just one-player game, two-player game. Two-player battle, I guess, through the game, making me think, like, oh, you're gonna battle against another player.

27:10 Does this have online support? Can you? All NES games have online support now, thanks to emulators, but, you know, the only thing I was really curious about, and I couldn't get a definitive answer for in my research for the game, is that if we did do two-player, if you collect a heavy barrel, you know, I saw a two-player playthrough, but I didn't see if anybody collected the heavy barrel or not, there's only one heavy barrel, like, icon on the bottom. So I wonder, like, does player one automatically get the heavy barrel when it's built, or does it go to whoever collected the sixth piece?

27:45 Would you both get one, maybe? Yeah, if you both got one, that'd be the best of both worlds, right? But then there's, like, some kind of, you know, similar to the new Super Mario Bros. games, where it's like, yeah, you're all playing together, but you're also all trying to kill each other all the time. There's, like, some competitive angle there, too, where it's like, yeah, we're both trying to beat this game, but I'm gonna have the heavy barrel.

28:05 Yeah, I mean, I've, just in my life, any co-op game that has any sort of point scoring or, like, any sort of way you could come out above the other person has just always inevitably become not a co-op game, where it's like, yeah, we're working together, but I'm working together better. Like a beat-em-up. Yeah. No sequels and spin-offs for Heavy Barrel.

28:56 Surprised. Thought they could have done something more with the weapon. But it's Data East, and it seems like, for the most part, as of late, Data East says, you know, one is enough for a lot of their games.

29:08 So, you know, I don't know. Was there an appetite for a Heavy Barrel 2 or a heavier barrel? Would that, what would have been the title? Yeah. I did like, at least, you know, on the Wikipedia page, that cannot be edited by random people. It did say that there was gonna be a Commodore port that would have been developed by, like, an accounting software company. So that would have been cool to see. But they wanted a business, apparently. Well, they just couldn't edit. Sorry, I was just thinking about, like, they just went bankrupt in their financial accounting. Yeah. They just went bankrupt before they could finish the game. They didn't account for that. Yeah. Got them.

29:54 Yeah. The reason that I'm kind of surprised there's no sequels is because I feel like, as much as I really liked this game, it did feel a little bit like, like, maybe they had to rush it out or something. It felt like something about it was, like, a little unfinished.

30:08 I don't know if you guys got this, but, like, there would be times where there would just be, like, random, like, okay, it's time for the boss battle. And just, like, the textures all pop out of the game. Yeah. That was strange. And then, like, the boss battle is over. Yeah. You shoot something or whatever. Like, I'm trying to think. There were a couple other times where, like, weird things like that happen. It's like, all right, we're on the next thing. And then, like, the game, like, when I was at the final boss, this is going to also kind of encompass a little bit of my just thoughts on the boss battles in general. So let me back up a little bit here. But, like, I played through the bosses and they were all very easy.

30:39 Like, I don't know if you guys got this, but they were all, like, a few hits and they were dead. Yeah, there's a few. There's, like, dead zones that you can hang out in. Yeah. They needed enemies on the screen as well to, like, give you something to juggle with. But we hate that. No, I know, but I'm saying, like, unfortunately for the way they designed their bosses, they needed that in addition to give you something else to deal with. Uh-huh. Yeah. So I was... So there it felt like that was, like, a little under-designed. Even though, like, a lot of this game felt really well-designed. And I was, like, throughout this game thinking, like, okay, this is, like, not super hard.

31:14 You know, you'll get hit and you'll die and stuff. You got a few lives. But I was like, I think this is one that I can, like, maybe actually beat, you know? And so I'm getting to the end and I don't even know I'm near the end. I'm just, like, fighting a boss. And I'm like, wow, it has gotten harder, finally. I'm, like, on a level where, like, the difficulty ramped up. And I'm finally starting to, like, lose a bunch of my lives or whatever. And I game over, quote unquote, or I lose all my lives. And it just gives me the option to continue. And I just continue exactly where I am with two more lives and keep fighting. This is on the final boss.

31:47 But I don't realize it's the final boss. Okay, I didn't know if that's how that happened. Yeah. And then I die again. I lost those two lives and just continue. I'm like, yeah, sure. And I continue exactly where I am, shoot him a couple more times. And then it's, like, I beat it. And then it just, like, cuts to, like, the credits. A second later. Congratulations. Yeah. Wow, even when Data East does something good, it's still, like, they fucked up. And that was so disappointing to me because I was, like, I think I'm actually going to do it. I'm actually going to do it. And then, like, just at the last second, they're like, you really didn't do anything.

32:17 You couldn't have died if you wanted to in this game. So, and maybe, I don't know, maybe you only get two game overs or three game overs and I just didn't get enough of them. But it just felt like in the end I was like, oh, I can just, I don't even have to worry about dodging the bullets here. Like, I just keep spamming until this enemy dies.

32:34 Wow. That's like a big rigs over the road racing kind of bug. Like, if it weren't, like, avoidable if you're good. That's crazy. And we say Data East sometimes and people are like, you guys don't know anything about video games. They don't, they're just the publisher, blah, blah, blah. It's like, well, this time they're also the developer. And this game was in arcades. And it actually wasn't that different in the arcades. You know, usually sometimes we have, like, amazing features or whatever.

33:04 This one did have the eight-way rotary joystick, which I guess, like, technically that's just better. Like a telephone? No, no, no, no. The little loop that you put your finger in? Yeah. No, the rotary, the way they call it like that, is not the same as the rotary phones. I want to play a rotary phone game now. It just basically means you can move in eight directions as opposed to the four on your NES D-pan.

33:33 Okay. So you could have moved diagonal, you know? Like, that's not, as I'm saying, it's not a game-breaking feature of like, oh, man. You could move diagonal in this game. I know, but I'm saying, according to the controller, yeah. It doesn't matter. It's like one of those few where, like, all of a sudden the arcade game isn't some, like, heavily nerfed thing on the NES. For the most part, it's like, yeah, it was, the graphics were a little nicer. I mean, I'm looking at the arcade version right now. It's your call, which one looks better, to be honest.

33:59 Wait, are you serious? Yeah. Well, no. I'm looking at it and I'm like, wow, this looks way better than the NES. I guess what I mean is, is I'm like, you know, it's not, there's no compromises here for the gameplay experience. Yeah, gameplay-wise. In fact. I'm just looking at that death animation and it's so much funnier in the arcade version. They're like airborne, they do like three flips and then die.

34:21 In some ways, like what we just described, like, this seems like a truer port. Because if you're playing the arcade game, you could probably just put more quarters in and you could continue to fight the final boss. And this just, you know, you don't need to do quarters. Yeah, I think actually you're expected to honor system is just you have a jar of quarters that you deposit a quarter in every time and you mail it to Data East. This forgot to program a different fail state.

34:48 Right. Joe, you're right though. There is more, it's more cartoony in the arcade version. Even the guys, like, climbing down the stairs or running up the stairs, it's funny. It actually, you know, in the NES one you're questioning, like, why are they climbing the stairs? And now in this one it actually, like, it reads funny.

35:06 Yeah, and like, that death animation you were talking about at the NES one, it is funny in it, but like, I didn't get what they were going for until I see the original. And I'm like, oh, it just doesn't look as good in the, I guess now that I'm rewatching it, they just kind of shortened it so it's not exactly the same. Even your death animation too is funny in the, it's actually funnier than the normal death animation in the NES version. Because it looks like he's just like doing a, like a Squidward dance with his arms.

35:35 Weird. Yeah, also, can we talk about, speaking of weird animations, when you move into a new level, you like Sonic the Hedgehog into a ball and roll into the. Yeah, like, that's a really weird, like, unexpected thing, I thought this was just like a normal guy. Surprise, they didn't try to explain that in the manual. Yeah. You also have a weird bone disorder, where you also have some, you can kind of twist them up a little bit. Yeah. And that's how you get from place to place. You see, in the Heavy Barrel sequel, Heavier Barrel, they would have revealed that Heavy Barrel, those six pieces make up his dead wife.

36:13 Oh, damn. That's, that's backstory. He just wants his kids back. Exactly. Alright. So what does his wife have to do with it? Uh, she, she, they haven't had kids yet. They need to have the kids.

36:28 This is very silly. Oh, God. Alright, I think it's time for a segment that everybody was probably waiting for and probably expected about ten minutes earlier. And that is. Yeah, what makes you think it's time? Oh, it's not time? I got time, Joe. I don't know if the listeners have time, alright? They're on, we're on a commute right now. I don't want anyone to be mad at me for postponing the Essential Games list even longer. Well, now you know what segment it is. It is the Essential Games list.

36:54 Yeah, I enjoyed my time with Heavy Barrel. Um, give or take. I, I think, uh, it's definitely a complete game. It's a game you can complete, which is also nice, uh, when those, when both those things happen.

37:06 And, um, it's, it's a great run and gun game that, uh, does a lot of, finally achieves a lot of the things that we were hoping earlier NES games would. And so why am I, like, sounding like I'm not gonna put it on the Essential Games list? And I think that's because, ultimately, it is a pretty bare-bones game. Um, it, there isn't really, like, a lot of, uh, variety or, uh, replayability to it.

37:30 Uh, so just being, like, competent enough to be able to play through and enjoy, I'm not sure that that is on my criteria for the Essential Games list. So, this would be on, like, my list of top run and guns on the system and everything right now. And I'd have no question about that. But I would feel kind of weird putting it up against, you know, the Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, Castlevania.

37:52 Like, it's just not fully there. They didn't, maybe if they had more, uh, variety in the, in the stages or if they had more, uh, weapons for you to dispose of. It's just, um, as it stands right now, it is kind of arcade-y and, um, and short-lived. So, I don't think I'll be thinking about it next week. And that's another thing I have to think about when I put my Essential Games list votes down. So, it's a no from me, but a great game.

38:19 Sean? Yeah, that's actually a good point. Like, this will be one of those games that I'm gonna, like, snap my fingers to you guys on, like, the best of 90 or maybe a week from now. And I won't be able to remember what the name of the game was. Or if I remember the name of the game, I can't, I won't be able to, like, bring it into my headspace, what it looked like.

38:40 Um, but that's, that's more of a me problem. But it also speaks to the game itself. I did think this was a pretty tight experience. And I did enjoy my time with it. And I did like setting dudes on fire and watching them swan dive on their back and that kind of stuff. But it, there, I agree with Joe as well, where it also kind of feels a little unfinished. And, it, but it's, those are sort of forgivable offenses. Because, again, it, like, it's not trying to do anything annoying.

39:12 Um, so, yeah, it's not essential, but it was fun. Yeah, I, like I said, I had a great time with it. I think part of this is a little bit of just, like, a personal bias I have. I just, like, have fun with this type of game. Um, if I'm looking at it objectively, I think that it did, it did need a little more. Like, I mean, I don't want to say, like, it's too short. Because that doesn't necessarily mean it's, it's not good. But I think it's, it's short and, like, it needs to, it still feels like there needs to be a little more to the gameplay.

39:44 And, like, for it to really, really stand out to me. Uh, I think it's a fun, it's a fun experience. But then also the just infinite, I don't, maybe I'm wrong on that still. But, like, just the bad taste left in my mouth really was from that, like, final boss where I just felt like, oh, I just actually can't die. And there's really no consequences. Now, again, like, maybe you only get so many continues. But, um, but overall, I just, I think it was, I think it was a good game. But it will, it will fade into obscurity. So I'm going to say not essential. This might be the most unanimous, not essential, great game vote we've ever had on the Essential Games list or on this podcast.

40:30 And I think, you know, even some people might be surprised to hear that. Because, I don't know about you guys, but I have never even heard talks of Heavy Barrel before it came up. I was expecting a very mediocre game.

40:43 No, I mean, it's also, it's sort of like when you go to a, go to the theater to watch a popcorn movie. And, you know, you really liked it, but you kind of forgot that you saw it a year later. And then you'd watch it on Netflix thinking that you're seeing it for the first time. And then there's just that one line that's like, wait, I saw this movie. Yeah. So I think it's sort of like that. Well, that's a great analogy, Sean. And I'm not sure I can top that explanation for anything that I'm about to say.

41:07 So instead, I am just going to let everybody know that next week, it's not going to be a heavier barrel. It's not going to be, I mean, you could argue, though, that just like how every game has an ultimate weapon, that every sport has an ultimate athlete. And maybe Jack Nicklaus was that guy in Jack Nicklaus's greatest 18 holes of major championship golf.

41:31 Maybe there's a certain club that is his ultimate club in that game, and we'll unlock it. And we'll talk about how awesome it is to do that. In the future, we should focus more on what the ultimate weapon is in every single video game. Because I'm sure as we continue to go through and play games like Kid Cool or Magic Johnson's Fast Break, what's up with all the athletes lately? Did you guys notice that? Jack Nicklaus, Magic Johnson. What did we have? We had Al Unser Jr. Al Unser. Yeah.

42:05 And, geez, I think there was another one, too. Was Larry Bird giving a game recently? He shared it with Magic Johnson. Yeah, that's right. Oh, no, it was Jordan. It wasn't Magic Johnson. Jordan versus Bird. Yeah. So nobody's repeat yet. There's never been a repeat athlete tie-in. So that's pretty cool. Little do we know, like, you know, at this point, it's 1990, and we had no idea we were going to get, like, 40 Maddens.

42:35 We're almost at 40, right? Something like that. But this is the Bills year, Sean. It is the Bills year. Both in the NFL and on the cover of Madden. We'll see. Usually something bad happens to the cover athlete. Oh, that's true. Oh, no. Okay, well, nothing bad can happen to Josh. He is a good boy. All right. Well, that's all the time we have for this episode of Nostalgia. Goodbye, Sean. Thank you. Good memory. Bye, Sean. Bye-bye.