 Where's Wimpy?
Well, blow me down! Nintendo decided to make a game out of Popeye? Way before people started making video games out of movies and TV shows, you have this classic. It pretty much started the whole horrible transition from movie/TV to game fad. But this game was actually pretty good. Although, there are a few flaws...
Sound: I've heard MIDI files more entertaining that the music they dish out in this game. They have the theme song to your favorite cartoon character in it, but other than that, the rest of the music is better off mute. Control: You can't jump. You just punch. Punch and run. What do you punch? Bottles. And an occasional vulture. Try to punch Bluto and you bounce off his gut and into a life loss. Fun: Although it was fun, it was missing Wimpy. If Nintendo would have put Wimpy in the first time, it would have been one of the greatest games ever made. But it is better than most movie/TV to game transitions out there.  |
So it goes like most of your tired old Popeye episodes. Bluto, or Brutus, or whatever they decided to name him this time, has kidnapped Olive. Enter Popeye the Sailor man. He goes out and tries to save her. Of course, as we all know, Bluto, which we will call him as of right now, is stronger than Popeye. I mean, look at the physical comparisons. Popeye is a twig, and Bluto is a pink Hawaiian shirt wearing fat man. You, the guy controlling Popeye, have to run around, avoid Bluto, and collect these weird red paper napkin things she throws down at you. Collect them fast, because if even one of them sinks too deep into the water, you lose a life. If Bluto gets into visual range of you, he throws bottles at you. If you are directly above him, he'll do an uppercut through the floor and knock you out. If you are directly below him, he will either try to grab you from above or jump down at you. See that green can blob on the edge of the game screen? Yup, that's Popeye's Spinach. Punch that and you will have a limited amount of time to run around and chase Bluto down and beat him into the icy water below. Of course, when your Bluto-pounding power is gone, he comes right back, full swing, and hunts you down again. It's like Donkey Kong without a real path to follow.
So what's the major flaw in this game? Look to your left. That's right! Wimpy, the coolest of all Popeye characters, that burger-eating jolly fat man, is missing from this game. How can that be? Maybe it's because the game is trying to promote healthier eating by telling you, the consumer, to buy more spinach and less hamburgers. But you are smarter than that. Everyone knows an artery-clogging burger is tastier than that green stuff. So although this game is fun, it's missing the great Wimpy. What are we trying to teach the youth of America? That fighting is more important than consuming massive amounts of hamburgers? Only time will tell.