Popeye
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2.94 average rating based on 121 ratings
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It's... very fun.
I don't know to precisely write this but I didn't except this game to be this good. Apparently it's just a Donkey Kong kind of game. an Arcade Platformer.
though, It's definitely better than DK on the NES. It's very fun and more challenging, despite staying in the same 3 Levels format.
Miyamoto's first idea
This review is for the Arcade version
Donkey Kong is what launched his career, but Shigeru Miyamoto's first idea was a Popeye video game. Well, after the blockbuster success of DK, Nintendo released Popeye. While it's not quite the classic Donkey Kong became, it's a pretty great game in a lot of ways.
As the famous sailor, your task is to catch things thrown from Olive Oil. You must do this while avoiding Bluto, the old hag and other villains from the Popeye universe. As expected, spinach while allow you to hit Bluto into the water. You do this over three levels that repeat over and over again.
I was very impressed with the graphics on the arcade version, which look very closely like the cartoon. Also, the music is just like the TV show.
Sure, it's that old school arcade "get the high score" schtick that some might find repetitive after a while, but I think it's a fun game.
Also, go and get the arcade ROM. DON'T get that trash game that is on the Switch.
Nintendo made a Popeye game
I can't speak for the NES port but the arcade version perfectly captures the look of the show. It's pretty impressive to do for 1982 and still holds up today. If you need a quick game that lasts 5 minutes tops this is a pretty solid choice.
The way I'd describe the game is pac-man but rather than being chased by 1 4 wimpy ghosts you're being chased by 1 big guy named Bluto and instead of collecting little dots you're collecting hearts that Olive Oil throws at you. Bluto can punch or throw beer battles as well as do some impressive things for a 1982 character like climb stairs or use the springboards in the environment. Sometimes you need to bait out his attacks to get by him, other times it's good to just run and use all the twists and turns to confuse him. It's pretty dynamic and fast paced since the hearts Olive Oil throws out put in semi-random locations and they expire if you don't collect them in time, leading to a lost life.
And of course, there's Spinach as a power-up (this game's version of the power pellet) which let's …
Nintendo made a Popeye game
I can't speak for the NES port but the arcade version perfectly captures the look of the show. It's pretty impressive to do for 1982 and still holds up today. If you need a quick game that lasts 5 minutes tops this is a pretty solid choice.
The way I'd describe the game is pac-man but rather than being chased by 1 4 wimpy ghosts you're being chased by 1 big guy named Bluto and instead of collecting little dots you're collecting hearts that Olive Oil throws at you. Bluto can punch or throw beer battles as well as do some impressive things for a 1982 character like climb stairs or use the springboards in the environment. Sometimes you need to bait out his attacks to get by him, other times it's good to just run and use all the twists and turns to confuse him. It's pretty dynamic and fast paced since the hearts Olive Oil throws out put in semi-random locations and they expire if you don't collect them in time, leading to a lost life.
And of course, there's Spinach as a power-up (this game's version of the power pellet) which let's you do a punch with an impressive animation that sends Bluto flying across the screen. Bluto runs away in fear when you get the item and if he finds himself stuck in a corner with nowhere to run he'll start shaking.
Other Popeye characters like sweet pea (the annoying babby) and Wimpy (the hamburger eating bum) show up.
There's 3 screens all in different locations: a port, a larger city, and a boat level. And after that the game just loops them with increasingly faster speeds.
Let's hope Popeye shows up in a Super Smash Brothers game.