Today, we're talking pink submarines, crab fuel,
and sea slugs with necklaces. It's Sqoon for
the Nintendo Entertainment System. Hello everyone,
welcome to Retro Gaming Beyond presents Retro
Game Club. We're your hosts, Joe, Eric, Ryan,
and Jacob Vanderloski, and today we are talking
Sqoon for the NES. But first, before we get there,
we got a quick announcement. We have socials.
We got Instagram at RGB underscore Game Club.
We've had a YouTube channel at Retro Gaming Beyond
HD. We've got the podcast, and we have like full
gameplays and stuff in there as well. And then
we have a Discord. I don't know if there's an
easy link for the Discord or not, Ryan. There
is, yeah. Okay. It's still a work in progress.
Yeah, that's fine. By the time this episode's
out, it won't be a problem. We'll put all those
links in the info, so you can check those out
there, too. But yeah, come by, check them out,
come join them. Put some comments out. It'll
be cool to see you guys out there. All right.
So now we're going to do our little Word of the
Nerd section. Just kind of talk about other nerdy
stuff in our life, because we're into all kinds
of stuff. comic books video games music tv shows
whatever so we just want to kind of discuss some
other stuff share stuff with you guys you guys
can share stuff back to us maybe we can learn
some new stuff we're like oh we didn't know that
existed that sounds cool so uh what do you guys
been up to this week other than video games not
too much um i never like announced this on the
channel or anything but i have a youtube channel
so i work on that constantly i've just been writing
scripts and stuff yeah doge right doge underscore
buddha doge buddha um i'm doing another video
on dire wimpy kid which is like a book series
um and the first one did pretty good it was the
second one actually that was the second has a
lot of views yeah um but then i'm doing like
a a video that i've never really like done anything
similar to it's kind of silly it's a little like
not serious kind of off topic to the channel,
but I'm doing a video where I review every single
Chris Hansen show or like his predator catching
shows. So it was supposed to be an April Fool's
thing, but I just never like really got around
to it. So I'm finally trying to get it together
now. That'll be interesting. Yeah. I haven't
really been doing too much. We're pretty much
a car family too, so I've been working on the
Firebird. I got to get new headlight motors for
it because one of them's dead. It won't pull
the headlight up. Yeah, yeah. Classic. Yeah,
it's an 85, but they're kind of a pain to find.
Well, yeah. And they're expensive. Yep, stuff's
getting old, man. A little over $100 for two
of them. I don't know. Other than that, nothing
really. No? No other video games? No TV shows
you haven't been watching? Actually, I started
playing Kirby. I forgot which one it was. Nightmare
in Dreamland. I think it's for the Advance. Oh,
okay. I haven't really played a lot of Kirby
games. I've been trying. But it's okay so far.
It's just pretty... just like a basic platformer
so yeah the Kirby games are always kind of kind
of on the easy side yeah yeah but it's nice if
you get the achievements and stuff too so yeah
add something to them I mean they're always fun
but yeah there was they always seem to be like
on the on the easy side yeah yeah can you kiss
anybody in that game uh I don't think so this
I think I think it started in the SNES one you
can like give your allies like health but you're
like you guys like kissers I don't know it's
weird Yeah, there's no allies in this one. It's
just you. But you get the power -ups and stuff,
though. Like the spikes. And the stone. I think
that's where the stone came from. Or whatever,
from Smash. Yeah. Well, that's been in the game
since the first one, I think. Oh, okay, yeah.
Yeah, stone's been in there a while. Alright,
cool. Just making my way through Super Zerk.
Getting close to the end on that one still. Yeah.
Then you're going to have to wait, right? Yeah,
I'm not sure if they're going to try to finish
up the story or what they're doing. I haven't
read too much into it. I don't want to know what's
going on, honestly. Yeah, I got you. And then
as you guys know, I've been playing some Need
for Speed Hot Pursuit 2. Yep. That's a great
game. Yeah, it's a good throwback. Fantastic
game. One of the best PS2 games, if you ask me.
Need for Speedwise? For sure. Yeah. I think that's
about it. Just playing some school, going through
that. Yeah, nothing too much. Nothing too much
crazy. All right. Yeah, I've just been playing
through Shadow still, getting farther in the
game. Starting to get into the good story parts
of it now. Just playing through that, spending
time in that. I think I told you I was watching
Earthworm Jim, right? Started watching that TV
show. Yeah. I only watched a couple episodes.
I need to start getting back into that and knocking
that out. But still enjoying that. It's still
pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, I stopped watching my
anime stuff. I need to get back into it. Yeah.
You were watching, what, Death Note, right? Was
that the last one you watched? That and Solo
Leveling. Oh, that's right. Yeah, I need to check
that out. Is there any good that Solo Leveling?
The first season was good so far. Okay. Is it
more like serious or is it kind of like a jokey
one? It's not. No, it's like pretty serious.
Okay. There's one called Konosuba. I think it
is. It's kind of like that same idea, but I think
it's more of like a kind of like a trope filled.
Like I think they're making fun of all like the
other animes basically in it. Oh, yeah. No, this
one's pretty serious. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I just.
i have a terrible habit of not finishing things
yeah don't we all yep i'm not a big like watch
tv shows and movies kind of so yeah yeah i don't
i don't have the attention span for movies man
as bad as it sounds it's it's only like i have
to watch certain types of movies yeah i don't
know like once i'm watching movie i have to watch
the movie Yeah, you can't stop watching. Like
starting it? Yeah. Starting to watch something,
yeah. Or like starting a new video game or something.
I don't know why that's so hard to do. I started
watching Reaper again. Remember Reaper, Joe?
Yeah. Reaper, that sounds familiar. Yeah. Was
that the one where the girl dies or whatever?
No, it's a show. No, that's dead like me. That's
dead like me. It's a show where the... kid his
parents sold to the devil and he's like a bounty
hunter yeah i think i've seen i don't think i
really like watched it watched it but yeah i've
seen this part of the show i'd finish that the
other day it's a stupid like 2007 show but yeah
yeah it's actually it's really good i think i
remember enjoying what i saw yeah yeah yeah it
was good i think you're talking about dead like
me ever seen that show um i don't think so Like,
some young girl dies, and then when you die,
certain people get chosen as, like, Reapers,
and they have to go around killing people. Oh,
okay. It's a pretty good show. Oh, okay. Kind
of, like, similar premise. Yeah, I think so,
yeah. Yeah, that guy that's in that, the main
actor of that show, of the Reaper show, isn't
there another actor that looks just like him?
I think, Eric, we watched a show called The Loop
or something. You remember that show, The Loop,
that we watched? That had the guy from Whitest
Kids You Know in it? The Loop? Yeah, it had...
What's his name? The guy that passed away. Trevor?
Trevor? Yeah, Trevor was in it. Do you remember
that show? No. He's like, my moms were space
astronauts or whatever. He had lesbian moms or
whatever. We watched this? Yeah, you don't remember
this show? No, dude. That was from a while ago.
No, this wasn't Trevor. This was the other guy.
Was it Zach? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure
it was Trevor that was in it. No, it looks like
it's Zach. No, that's another show. He was in
another show called something. The Loop? Was
that the one? What was the one that Trevor was
in? I don't know. I don't think I've ever seen
this before, bro. We were watching it together.
I know we were. Because we were watching it at
the same time that we were watching The Whitest
Kids together. It was another skit show? No,
it was just a regular show. Breaking In? That
was it. I think that was it. Yes, it was this,
yes. I don't think I remember that one either.
No, you don't remember that one? It's actually,
this guy was in Reaper. So it's the same guy,
Ryan. That guy from Reaper, he was in the show
called Breaking In. Oh, okay. That had Trevor
Moore from the Widest Kids, you know, in it.
He's in the loop, too. Yeah, okay. I guess it's
the same guy, though. But there's still another...
I know there's another actor that looks like
him. Huh, okay. Nah, I'm not too sure. The loop
was... I don't really know a lot of TV shows
in that time frame. Yeah, there was a while I
was watching... It was a little before me. I
don't remember this at all, either. No, you don't
remember those? Nah. From what I remember, the
loop was pretty decent, too. This has that one
chick in it. This is the one that Zack is in,
the loop? Oh, I think it was Friends with Benefits.
That was what it was. What was that other skit
show we were watching? It was like an earlier
one. Kids in the Hall? Yeah, I think that was
it. Yeah, that one's pretty good. Is any of this
going in the video? Why not? I don't know. I
can edit it down. Okay. Well, we figured it out.
We got it now. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can edit
it down so it's not so long, but... Okay. Make
sure you put, give me fuel, give me fire. No,
it's not this episode. It's not this episode.
Ooh! Yeah, all right. Anyway, so that's enough
talking about why as kids you know stuff. But,
all right, yeah. I don't even remember what started
that. Were we talking about Reaper or something?
Yeah. Something irrelevant. Yeah. All right,
I think I only had one other thing. I've been
reading, I started a book called Footfall. It's
kind of like an 80s War of the Worlds. It's,
like, during, like, the Cold War, and then there's,
like, this alien ship that comes and attacks
Earth, and it's just, like, the Americans and
Russians kind of starting two different wars
with these aliens and everything. I don't know.
It was pretty good so far. It took forever to
get started, but now that the aliens are here,
it was, like, 100 pages before the aliens even
showed up, and then now that they're here, it's
getting pretty good, so. What are they? Look
like elephants? Yeah, they look like baby elephants,
yeah. What the hell? That sounds pretty cool,
though. Like I said, it took forever to get started.
The thing is, there's a view. There's the American
part of the story. Then there's the Russian part
of the story. Then there's also from the alien's
perspective of the story, too. There's a lot
going on. I'm enjoying it. That's how I felt
about World of Worlds. That book was kind of...
A lot slower than I thought. Yeah, it took a
while. Yeah, it does. It has a bit of a build
-up, too. War of the Worlds is, like, one of
my favorite books. I love that book. It's a cool
book. Yeah, my biggest thing with that book is
I just didn't know, like, he keeps naming all
these places. Yeah, well, it's in, yeah, Britain,
so. Yeah. I don't know where any of that stuff
is. It's like, oh, it's, like, five towns from
this and this. Yeah. That gives me no information.
You gotta look at it on a map, bro. I don't know.
I ain't got time for that. You don't even want
to read the book, so you're not going to read
a map. Yeah, I struggled my way through that
one. I don't know. I like that book. There was
no pictures to look at. That's true. There's
a picture on the front of the book. Just get
a look at that one. Yeah. Nah. Berserk's better.
Yeah, that's why he reads comics. Yeah, that's
why he reads comics. Yeah, manga. Because when
the words become too much, you can just look
at the picture. I just look at the picture, yeah.
Most of the time, there isn't really words. They're
just big pictures. Yeah, that's true. All right,
that's enough of that. Let's go ahead and move
on over to our game now. This is Scoon. It was
published by... uh home data and then or sorry
it was developed by home data and then published
by irem for the nintendo entertainment system
in 1987 it came out in 86 in japan um and it's
a it's just like a typical arcade shooter plays
a little pink submarine you have to shoot aliens
neptunians that have uh invaded and sunk all
like the major cities in earth were you guys
did you guys beat this game you able to complete
it yeah yeah yeah for sure Yeah, it was a little
tough, but it wasn't too bad. It's tough at first,
but once you realize... Yeah. It's not too bad.
Yeah. Once you realize that the other two buttons
are turbo buttons, it becomes much easier. I
don't think that's intentional. No, that's just
retro. Oh, man. Actually, I have a discussion
here before we get started here. Is Turbo Fire
cheating? Because I'm pretty sure we all used
it to beat this game. just the ice balls so you
didn't turbo fire the missiles no i didn't do
the missiles no just the ice balls i i mean i
don't think it is for missiles because in the
old nes games and arcade games anyway you have
to wait for them to get off you can only shoot
like three at a time anyway so yeah yeah jacob
thoughts i i guess it all depends like i think
it's a uh per game thing but for schoon eh not
so much because i don't i don't think turbo really
helps you that much in this game yeah i don't
i don't think it's cheating either especially
because these developers knew that those things
existed so they absolutely could have coded the
games to just not work with turbo stuff if they
didn't want it to so like you said even in this
game even though there's a turbo fire you can
only shoot three missiles at a time so I mean,
you can only shoot one ice ball at a time, too,
so they obviously had an idea for the Turbo stuff.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think it's cheating.
Yeah, for this game, definitely not. I mean,
according to, you know, RetroArch, it isn't.
Yeah, that's true, that's true. Yeah, that's
true, that's a good point. All right, so, yeah,
you play as a little pink submarine, which, to
me, pink was kind of a weird choice for the submarine
because, you know, at this time, This was a pretty
young male -dominated market. I think they could
have chose a better color than pink. I don't
know. Yellow might have caused some... Yeah,
I don't know. I was going to say they could have
done yellow. Like the yellow submarine or something.
But I don't know. Just anything other than pink.
Well, from what... Well, I don't know. I know
pink stands out the best. Yeah, against the blue.
I'm sure there's reasons for it. I just think
it's funny that it's a pink submarine. But yeah,
you play... You're a pirate captain named Nerekin
or something, and you're in your submarine. I
don't know if you guys read the manual or not,
but in the manual, you're a piece of shit. The
world sinks. Apparently you hate humans or whatever.
The world sinks, and the president calls you
to save humanity, and you're like, no, I just
want Grog. The president basically begs you to
save humanity, and you're like, all right, I
guess so. Yeah. It's pretty funny. I think it's
kind of weird. I don't know if I misread the
manual or anything, but I could have sworn the
conversation between the president and the pirate,
it's like, no, I don't want to do something good
that would ruin my bad reputation. Later down
the line, he's like, well, you'll be called a
hero. And he's like, oh, I'll be called a hero.
Okay, I'll do it. It kind of convinces him. Didn't
you just say you wanted to be a villain? It's
dumb. It's because he drank too much grog. His
brain was... Yeah. Brain don't work. But yeah,
so it's just a typical arcade shooter. You're
a little submarine. You got your missiles that
shoot straight, and then you got little ice bombs
that shoot down, give you a down shot. And then
you just gotta attack the aliens. It's like a
horizontal shoot. Yeah, it gives you a horizontal
shoot. And then even some of the enemies can
only be killed with those shots. Yep. This game
is... got a pretty good feel uh i like how like
when the levels like it's all one continuous
level there's no like loading screen or anything
you just go from one level yeah there's no breaks
yeah that was pretty cool i like that going yeah
yeah that's actually a nice design and then um
so yeah so then you also have to save humans
that are like stuck down in these like neptunian
Meat factories, I guess. I guess they're eating
humans. I guess they're making man meat. I think
it said man meat in there. Or no, man ham? Man
ham. Man ham is what it said. Man ham. Yeah,
that's funny. So they're making man ham out of
these people. But you've got to blow up these
factories, and then the people will, like, swim
up. And then you've got to collect them before
the stupid sharks eat people. Those sharks were
annoying. Dude, yeah, the sharks were. Yeah.
Yeah. I thought they were dolphins at first,
and then I thought they were orcas. That's what
I thought. I thought they were orcas at first.
Yeah. And then I read the manual and they were
like sharks. And I was like, oh, okay. I don't
see that at all. But yeah, this thing has a cool,
I like the upgrade in this because when you collect
nine people, there's like a little ship up top
that you like send them to. And then that's how
you get the upgrades. I thought that was a pretty
cool kind of unique way to do two upgrades because
I can't think of any other game that makes you
collect stuff before you upgrade. Usually you
just get the upgrade right away when you blow
something up or whatever. But I thought it was
pretty cool. It took me a minute to figure that
one out, too, because I didn't read the manual
right away. Yeah, I didn't either. I was figuring
it out. And then it took me forever to figure
out the stupid fuel. So you also have a fuel
counter. It's like 60 seconds about of fuel,
and then it's slowly counting down all the time.
And then you guys shoot these stupid little crabs
that go across the screen. And then I guess you
get treasure or something, then you buy fuel
with it or something. I'm not exactly sure how
it works. Yeah, I think in the game it's called
gold. It's like a gold ore. I think that's what
they called it. Buy fuel. I just put crab fuel
here. Crab fuel, crab fuel. But the annoying
thing about the crab, though, is that they come
back. So if you shoot them in way too long to
go grab it, it'll freaking kill you, and then
you just lose a life there. It's so annoying.
Yeah, it's a really dumb way to die. And the
time frame's pretty short, too. It is, yeah.
And so you have to also dodge all the enemies
coming at you and everything at the same time.
It's kind of a pain in the butt. I like it. I
mean, it's a good idea. It definitely adds to
the game. Yeah, because it would have been way
too easy without it. Oh, yeah. This game would
have been way too easy without that. See, no,
I don't hate it. I just wish that that crab didn't
come back. That would have made it... I think
it would have made it better. Or maybe, you know...
Just a little bit of time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
There is also one thing that sucks. Like if you're
all the way on the left side of the screen and
you're either trying to get fuel or the power
up, it'll drop to a spot where you can't get
it. Yeah. You can't, you can't be right up against
the screen. You have to come. I have that. Yeah.
I found that out a couple of times. I was like,
what the fuck? Yeah. Yeah. So when you beat a
level, it just gives you a quick little respite
and then you're straight into the next level,
which I thought was pretty cool. And then, um,
So there's eight levels, right? You beat the
game. So you go through eight levels, and then
there's like a short little cut, like not even
a cut scene, but just a short little text thing
between level seven and eight. It's like, we're
not going to give up. And then you fight the
Neptunians in level eight, which was super, like
the easiest level. Wasn't level eight like super
short and easy? Yeah. Yeah. Dude, the hardest
level in this game, I think, is the second level.
Yeah. Yeah, those stupid tough things. Yeah,
it's like two or three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that
level sucks. When you beat the game, it just
goes all the way back to the first level again.
Then you just keep going and going and going.
I think you're supposed to do it three times.
Yeah, that's what I read online. I saw one random
forum online mention that. I did it three times
and it looted me the fourth. The third time,
you have to destroy every factory, everything
that you can destroy to technically beat the
game. Even where, like, the ones where the humans
are in? Yeah. Oh, okay. Like, you have to destroy
everything. Because when you destroy a factory
fully, the lights go out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you have to do that for every single one
in the game, is what I read. Yeah, I don't know
how true that is. It seems like it's a random,
just, like, internet form mystery, you know,
myth or whatever. There's also, like, nobody
that knows what this game is, so. Yeah, well,
there's that, too, yeah. Yeah. Which is surprising,
man. Yeah, it's actually a pretty decent game.
I'm surprised it's not more popular. I think
it's just because it was not marketed right.
It was from a lesser known publisher at the time.
Irem at the time wasn't super big. It's also
just a very odd looking game at first. That too.
A pink submarine with a really weird story. Well,
and then a stupid name. I mean, I'm sorry. The
name is just not a good name. It's a hilarious
name. Yeah. But they should have changed it to
just, like, submarine or something. Anything.
Yeah. And then changed the color. I think if
they honestly did that and then changed the color
of the submarine, this game probably would have
been a little bit more popular. Yeah. I mean,
it was still early. Everyone was still figuring
stuff out at this time. Yeah. But. This is, what,
two years after the NES came out? Yeah, NES is
only two years old at this point. This is the
earliest game we played on the podcast, right?
So far, yeah. Besides the arcade stuff that we
talked about. Well, yeah, you have that stuff.
Yeah, for the main podcast, yep. Yeah, that was
the other thing, too. So there was a few parts
where, I don't know if you guys did, but I got
slowdowns a couple of times in this game when
there was, like, too much stuff on screen. I
don't know if you guys got that. Oh, yeah. Yeah,
there's a couple parts that got pretty bad. I
mean, those old NES games did that anyway. Yeah,
yeah. It wasn't an emulation problem. No, I don't
think so. But they actually had quite a few enemies
on the screen at the time. Probably like almost
15, 16 or so at a time. That's quite a few. Especially
when you got all those dudes start swimming.
Yeah, you got the guys swimming. You got the
factory, because all the stuff moves in the factories,
and all the enemies, and then you got the ship
on top, and then all the humans. Yeah, and then
level two, you got all those little tiny guys
with the big guys coming at you at the same time.
Yeah. Yeah, dude, it runs pretty rough. The slowdowns
don't really bother me that much, though. No,
I mean, it's not a big deal. It's only a couple
parts. It's not a big deal, no. Yeah, because
it's not like internet lag. If the whole game
slows down, then... Honestly, it's kind of to
your advantage at that point. Yeah. You're able
to shoot them a little bit better. Speaking of
that, the title screen on this game is one of
the most frantic and hectic title screens I've
ever seen in a video game. There's so much going
on on that title screen. I've never seen a game
like that before. I do like it, though. I mean,
it does represent what's going on. The first
time I started up, and it was just like all that
stuff, and I was like, what is going on right
now? It's just all the flashing lights. Yeah,
just flashing lights. On a black background.
Humans, like, sprites flying everywhere. Yeah,
it was pretty funny. With the mermaid chick.
Yeah. The mermaids with rosaries, dude. Yeah,
yep, yep. It's just such an odd game. It is,
yep. It really is, but it's... I really enjoyed
this game. I didn't at first, because I was like,
dude, this... This game's just hard for no reason.
I'm just dying for stupid reasons. And then I
got used to it. It was actually pretty fun. It's
every shooter, man. Every shmup is just... It's
always like that until you start learning patterns
and levels. It's always going to be that way.
For me, my problem was once I realized that getting
power -ups also gave you fuel, you didn't have
to worry about the crabs so much. The game got
so much easier. Yep. That was my biggest problem.
When you get the last power -up, too, you move
faster. Yeah, you get speed on each one a little
bit, yep. I think it's just the first power -up.
I don't think, like, if the last one makes it
faster than the first one. Oh, okay. Yeah, I
just know that at that point you are a little
bit faster. Which, yeah, there's two power -ups.
So you have, like, a regular submarine missile,
and then when you collect nine people, you get,
like, a fiery. shot like a fire missile that
goes through enemies and then you get a third
one after another nine people that is like a
triple shot which uh was still i mean you could
still die the enemies could still get through
that triple shot so it wasn't that great i did
not like the triple shot i thought the first
upgrade was better the fire shot yeah it's more
it has more control for sure yeah yeah it also
like depended on what level you're on too True.
And I felt like it shot a lot faster too. Oh
yeah, the second one for sure. Yeah, the second
missiles were fast. Yeah. So the split shot,
it's too slow and there's like no control with
it. Especially since most of the enemies in this
game come out in a line. Yeah, there's nothing.
I don't know. Most of them are really fast. So
if you miss, they're already three quarters across
the screen. True, yeah. So that's the thing,
they, like, appear halfway on the screen. Those
first enemies kept screwing me up when the stupid,
like, this syndrical attack pattern they had
or whatever, man, that kept messing me up. Oh,
yeah. Those red guys or whatever. Yeah, yeah.
Good thing I was playing a lot of Galaga before
I played this game. They don't attack like that,
though, do they? I mean, I guess so. Turn it
90 degrees or whatever, yeah. I don't know. I
feel like it helped. I mean, I guess it's not
a big deal, though, because this game throws
one -ups at you, bro. There are so many. Like,
within the first minute of the game, you can
get five extra guys, like, right away. It's crazy
how many secrets are in this game. Yeah, dude,
there's a lot. Yeah. You get that little sea
slug that you can hit one. So if you hit him
ten times, there's a little sea slug at the beginning
of every level that just kind of scoots along
the screen. And if you shoot him ten times, he
turns into a rosary, which gives you a one -up.
But if you hit it again, he turns back to the
sea slug. And then I think if you hit him another
20 times, he turns into the rosary again. But
this time it'll give you three one -ups. I'm
wondering if you're good enough, if you can hit
it again and get like five. I wonder if it keeps
stacking. I don't think it does. No? No, I think
after the second one it stops. Yeah. Yes, then
you got that. Then there's also a secret. There's
also like a hidden secret one up in every beginning
area. Every beginning area shows like the city
that you're fighting for. And then each one of
those has like a secret one up in them somewhere.
Some of them I couldn't find. Yeah, there were
a couple I couldn't find, but I bet you they're
in there somewhere. Some of them are tough to
find. Because you have to like hit certain spots
and then it'll show up. Yeah. Yeah, like the
second level you have to hit like the top most
part of the... mountain or whatever mountain
peak and then it spawns the panda yeah but yeah
there's even like secret levels in here too yeah
um i think on like the third level if you destroy
i don't know which one it was but if you like
destroy a certain factory or like a certain amount
it'll turn like the whole background black yeah
so and then and then you won't lose fuel yep
so what you have to do You have to get the rosary
from the sea slug and then destroy a factory
without getting hit. That's what you have to
do. Oh, okay. Yeah. That's how you go. And then
it says in the manual, it says you go to another
dimension. But yeah, it turns the whole screen
black. And then, yeah, you don't lose any fuel
in that time while you're in there. But it doesn't
last too long. Like 10, 15 seconds, I think it
was. I think it lasts towards the end of the
level. Oh, does it? Okay, maybe it was a little
bit longer. I think... It's a little bit longer.
Maybe maybe like 60 seconds. Okay, maybe I think
it just might have been on what factory you destroy
Yeah, I might have been in there. So yeah, yeah
Yeah, I did it once like what the heck I thought
this game had messed up the first time I did
it And then if you do it again in the later levels
turns like green and like yeah different colors
I think one of them was like a weird like orange
color really weird yeah yeah but yeah that's
the cool thing about this game too i mean like
the levels repeat um yes because i think what
like the first four levels are all different
and then the last four levels are pretty much
all the same like level five is level one level
six is level two yeah so one two and three and
then there's four and then five six and seven
are one two and three again And then eight is
a different level. So four and eight are unique,
but then one, two, three, and four, five, and
six are repeats. Okay, yeah. With different colored
enemies. Yeah, they just change the palettes.
And then the water changes to like a deeper blue.
Yep. Like a nighttime almost. Yeah. And then
if you beat the game, you can start over again.
It'll just go all the way back to the beginning
of the game, and then it does not change the
colors, but then it does a couple of palette
swaps, like the sea slug turns into that little
ghost boy or whatever he is. A little smiley
face. Oh, yeah, a little smiley face thing, yeah.
That was such a weird thing to change. It is
one random thing. Yeah, they didn't really change
much else, right? Was there different colors
on the second run through? I can't remember.
I'm not too sure. I don't know if it changed
the watercolor or not. It changed the color of
the enemies, but I don't think it changed the
color of the backgrounds. Oh, okay. If I remember
right. I know the second half of the levels changes
the watercolor. Makes it look like it's a deeper
water. This game's just... I don't know, man.
It's just so weird. Such a weird shooter game.
Yeah, they were trying to make it... unique i
guess by making a submarine game but then they
still went like way alien with it like it still
had aliens yeah spaceship aliens so yeah yeah
just i don't know just like cucumbers the sea
cucumbers they changed like rosaries mermaids
had rosaries yeah fight mermaids in this game
yeah well apparently that was like a sea goddess
neptune or whatever and The Neptunians took over
or something. I read that. It was weird. I think
Emmanuel said the mermaids are good guys too
though. I don't know. They're just taking over
so what do you do? Kill them or not? Yeah, exactly.
But if you get hit by them you die anyway so
might as well kill them. I don't know. It's got
a good charm to it. Which is weird because they're
carrying a rosary so My instinct was like, oh,
if I grab that... Yeah, you're going to get an
extra life. I'll get an extra life. No, it just
kills you. Yeah, I'm not sure why they did that.
But it's just very out there. It definitely sticks
out compared to a lot of the other shooters at
the time, for sure. For sure. I think the first
thing, if you see a pink submarine on the box,
it's pretty self -explanatory. The game's going
to be a little different. Yeah. Well, the first
thing would be, I don't want to play as a pink
submarine. I want to play as Mario. Yeah. Yeah.
And I don't want to play a game called Schoon.
Yeah. What the hell is a Schoon anyway? The Schoon
Squad Pod. We're now the Schoon Squad pod. That's
what this is. We are the top three schooners.
Yeah, we are the top three schooners on the website.
Even if it wasn't broken, I think we'd still
be the top three schooners. Oh, yeah. I would
be number one if it wasn't broken. No, you wouldn't.
I'm number one. I got proof. I have proof right
here. I made it to like 1 .2 million and then
I just gave up. Yeah, I hit 1 .68. I probably
could have made it to two if I wanted to, but
I didn't. Yeah, once I hit that, I was like,
dude, I can't play this game anymore. Because
it's just the same thing over and over. It is,
yeah. Like, the first two runs are pretty fun,
but after that, it's just the same thing. And
some of those levels are kind of long, man. Yeah,
some of them do take a while. But that was the
only thing I... I wouldn't say... I mean, I guess
I hate it about this game. It's like, if you
die and it's game over, oh my god, it takes so
long to get back into the game. It takes so long.
Even if it was easy and you get the game down,
oh, dude, it just takes so long. Yeah, you have
to go through everything. You can't speed anything
up. It's one consistent speed. Yeah, true. There's
no moving things along faster. Nope. i was having
so much fun playing this game just because we
were texting each other like oh yeah yeah with
the scores and everything yeah dude this was
so fun i was having a blast with this i thought
this game was awesome yeah i mean that's dude
that's great to hear because that's exactly what
i wanted this podcast to be so yeah i'm glad
it's working that's that's awesome to hear this
game was so much better than the last game i
i agree i had so much This game was so much fun.
No, I'm just saying, I was having a lot of fun,
man. I was just like, like I said, just going
back and forth with each other, like the scoreboards.
Oh, man. Like I said, that's what I wanted with
this podcast, so I'm glad it's doing that. I
wanted that old school, like, you know, in the
schoolyard, like, oh, I made it to 1 .6 million
last night, you know. Yeah, yeah. We got that,
so that's cool. I'm glad to hear that. And I
don't believe him. I still don't believe him.
Yeah. I literally sent you a picture in the review
chat. I don't think I remember that. It's in
there. It's Photoshop. You can believe it all
you want. It's AI. Dude, dude, I couldn't even
tell you how pissed off I was. When it didn't
post? When it didn't post on the high score.
Because I was like, dude, Joe and Eric can never
be in this high score. We all knew it was going
to happen, bro. Come on, we all knew it was going
to happen. And then I refreshed RetroArch like
two times. I was like, there's no way it doesn't
go above a million. And it never did. The king
can't be dethroned, man. I'm sorry. I was up
to like 3 o 'clock playing that game. I know.
I was like, do I want to take the time to get
exactly to 999 ,000 or whatever it was and then
die immediately? I was like, no. I was thinking
the same thing. I know you guys were. Because
nobody's beating that. No, they can't. It's the
high score. Such a disappointment. But it had
nothing to do with the game. It's just stupid
retro art. I mean, you can do easily probably
second or third level. Yeah. But it made so much
sense because there was like eight people that
mastered this game. I was like, how do they do
that? We're the top three people with the highest
scores. Yeah. Well, what I don't understand is
more people have the beat phase eight again than
beat phase seven again. How is that even possible?
I have no idea. It's not working, I guess. It's
not working, right? Yeah, I don't know. Those
are questions. They didn't get the dinosaur achievements.
Yeah, they didn't get the dinosaur achievements,
the Plessy or whatever it was. Only 11 people
have mastered this game. Wow. Yep. That's only
11 people in the schooners world. And we're three
of them. Yep. We're the three highest scorers.
We're the top three schooners, bro. Yeah, heck
yeah, brother. Jacob, did you fall asleep over
there? What did you think of this game? I liked
it. It's fairly simple fun, but there is certain
complex things that you'll learn as you play
the game. So I definitely had fun with it. I
think at a certain point, though, I just kind
of had to stop. I mean, I know it's an arcade
shooter, but after like an hour or so, I was
like, okay, I kind of need to stop playing. Yeah,
I went through both worlds or whatever. I just
want to ask you a question. I'll give you a question.
When you looked at the submarine, did you see,
like, a face? Because, like, the windows were,
like, the eyes. Yeah, a little smirk. Yeah. I
saw a scowl, but I guess I could see it. Yeah,
I definitely seen it, yeah. I just saw the orcas.
That's all I saw. Sharks, bro. Sharks. Sharks.
That's another thing I don't understand, too,
is, like, they're clearly orcas. Yeah, those
are orcas. Like, there's nothing else. But for
whatever reason, they called them sharks. That
could have been a miscommunication or something
between the art department. Yeah, or a translation
thing, too. I don't know. Could be. But, I mean,
this game was published by American people in
America, so I don't know. Oh, bro, that didn't
mean nothing in the 80s. That didn't mean a damn
thing. I guess not. It was probably worse. Yeah,
that's probably even a worse thing. Yeah, probably.
Yeah. All right, so. Let's talk the look of this
game. This is a pretty boring looking game. Yeah.
There's really nothing. It's pretty basic. Beyond
simple. This is basic bitch graphics for sure.
Like there's no background. There's just a blue
background. You get like one city graphic at
the beginning of each level and then it's just
the enemies from there on out. And the factories.
Oh, that's true. Those are the factories, yeah.
Like the little pumping things or whatever. Yeah,
parts of the factory moving around, yeah. But
yeah, there's really not... Yeah, you got the
crab, though. Crab people. Crab look good. Yeah,
I mean, the enemies got some cool designs and
stuff to them. Just wouldn't it be nice to have
things like, I don't know, maybe like coral on
the bottom, seaweed in the background. Something,
anything, I know, right? Yeah, just small things.
Just some bubbles. Even just bubbles. Yeah, there
you go. Anything. It's literally just a smathering
of blue, and that's it. That's all you get. I
don't think the game can handle it, bro. That's
true. There was a lot of slowdown. It would make
it even worse. I honestly think they just threw
this game together quick. I think this is one
of their first games they did, so that's probably
why. Yeah, I mean, it's not like an ugly game.
Surprisingly, the pink with the blue and everything,
it actually works pretty good. I wouldn't say
it's an ugly game, but it's just very basic.
Not much to look at, I guess. For sure. The title
screen's got more going on than the whole game.
Yeah, the title screen's the most animated thing
there. That's the only other thing I would say,
too, is that the enemy sprites are very static.
A couple of them move around and stuff, but most
of them are just a static sprite that moves across
the screen. Yeah, it's a very basic -looking
game. Yeah. Yeah, and then the sound, again,
not too much here. I think there was about one
song. There was like one main theme, and then
each level had its own little intro, and then
I think that was it, right? Yeah, I think so.
I think there was also the pause menu had music,
and then there was like a little boss theme before
the final little factory at the end of each level.
It was a decent track. Nothing to write home
about, but it was fine. Yeah. It did it served
its purpose. Yeah, for sure. Yep. Yep. And it
had pause menu music, which I don't think a lot
of games back then had that stuff. So that was
pretty cool. Oh, yeah. I'm surprised I was even
able to pause the game. Yeah, true. Yeah. Yeah.
I didn't think this game would have a pause.
And then it was actually the start button. Some
of those some of those old games had some wild
control schemes. All right. We'll go ahead and
jump over to the achievements then. So what did
you guys think of this achievement list? Simple,
straightforward. Yeah. I mean, they match the
game. Yeah. Simple, basic, but... I mean, beating
the game is a little tough, but... Yeah, I think
this is probably one of the easiest. This is
probably the easiest one we've done so far, I
think. For sure, yeah. It's also probably the
most basic game we've played. Yeah, true, true.
We just have to... You have to beat the game
twice, and then there's a couple ones about collecting
so many people and then getting all the upgrades,
I think, and then I think that's it. Yep. Yeah.
Mostly just make it through the game, that's
all. Yeah. Yeah. It would have been cool if they
had, like, find all the extra 1 -ups and stuff,
too. Find, like, the secret 1 -ups. Yeah, that's
true. Like, the secret level and stuff. Yeah,
doing all that stuff. I'm not sure why they didn't
do those ones. Yeah, I know. There's, like, no
score. There's no... Yeah, there's no score ones.
Nothing like that, yeah. Well, the score doesn't
even work, so... Don't make it through the levels
without dying. Like the typical achievement stuff.
Yeah, this one's a little too simple. I don't
even have that. Honestly, I don't think this
game needed that. I don't know. In my opinion,
it's a very simple, basic game. And I don't know.
I think adding achievements like that kind of
just would ruin it. In my opinion. I don't know.
Because there's really nothing to this game.
There really isn't. Yeah, it's straightforward.
I mean, to add, like, arbitrary achievements
just to make it harder, eh. I don't know. I just
thought it would be cool to have, like, the other
dimension one would have been cool. Just because,
like, most people may have not even really existed
to, like, see that. That would have been cool.
Like, the hidden stuff? Yeah, I agree. Yeah,
it would have been cool to see those, but, yeah.
Or get, like, the rosaries from the... Right,
from the sea slug. Sea slugs, yeah. Not cucumber,
sea slug. It's a cucumber, bro. No, no, no. Yeah,
they're not orcas. They're sharks. Yeah, they're
sharks. I don't care what the manual says. You
got to go by the manual, bro. But, yeah, I mean,
it's a fine set. Yeah, it's not a bad one. It's
just very simple, but I enjoyed it. You guys,
everyone mastered it, right? I think we all mastered
it. Yeah, we did. Jacob, you don't do achievements,
so. Uh -uh. He can't. Too difficult. I just don't
care. He's too good for him. Yeah. No, he uses
the random. He doesn't use Retro Orc, which I
don't blame him. Yeah, not really too much. I
think you just beat the game twice and then do
a couple other random stuff and you're good to
go. But yeah, like I said, the game itself is
challenging, but it's not too bad. So I don't
think it's too bad. No, it's not impossible.
Yeah. Just put a little bit of time into it and
then, you know. Yeah, I think other than... maybe
other than like Donkey Kong, this is probably
the easiest one we've done. I don't know if Donkey
Kong is easier now, but, uh, Donkey Kong had
a little, little different, a little bit of difficulty.
Yeah, I guess so. So it's probably the easiest
one we've done so far. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
All right, so let's get to the end of the Schoon
Squad pod here. Let's go over the reviews for,
or let's get to the reviews for Schoon here.
Just a quick explanation. We're just doing a
quick, did you enjoy the game? And would you
recommend the game? So we'll go ahead and throw
it over to you guys. Who wants to go first? Who,
did you guys enjoy this game? Yeah, this game
is definitely enjoyable. It's simple, but it's
enjoyable. Sometimes that's the best. Straightforward.
Yeah. I don't disagree. I think it's a simple
game, but that doesn't make it bad. It's just
a fun thing to sit down. Video games are just
time wasters anyway. That's what they're made
for. I think this fills that role. It does a
pretty good job at it. Is it the best shooter
on the NES? No, but I think it's still a pretty
good one. It's kind of sad to see that it's as
unknown as it is. Especially with how popular
In the Hunt is. I can't believe this. I was going
to ask you that because I don't think Jacob and
Ryan, you played in the hunt, but do you feel
like this, can you like see the like inspiration
for in the hunt in this game? A little bit. I
mean, it's, it's kind of there, but nothing crazy.
Yeah. I don't really see too much. I mean, just
other than it's, I can actually, the, the ice
bombs kind of look like those bombs in the, in
the, in the hunt. They have a similar design
to them. Cause you get those. But other than
that, there's not too much similarity. No, because
there's no aliens or anything. I don't think
there was aliens. Was there aliens? Actually,
there might have been aliens. I don't know the
story. I can't remember. Actually, I think it
was aliens. I can't remember. That game's tough.
That's a tough game. Yeah, In the Hunt's tough,
for sure. But we're not talking about In the
Hunt. That's one of my favorite arcade games.
Yeah, In the Hunt's great. I know I would love
to have an actual arcade In the Hunt machine.
Yeah, that'd be crazy. Ryan, what do you think?
Yeah, I love this game. It's just such a simple,
basic game. I mean, like I said, there's not
much to it, but it's just so weird. Almost everything
about this game is just so odd. Just the pink
submarines, you shoot sea slugs or sea cucumbers.
You have to fight sharks because they eat your
people. There's mermaids with rosaries. And the
whole story is just... Yeah, and the whole story
of just awkward aquatic aliens. Well, and just
your character doesn't want anything to do with
it. Like, he's kind of... Yeah, and you're a
drunk pirate with a submarine. That was the weirdest
part of it to me, yeah. But it's just... It's
so weird. It's good. for me I don't know it's
just such like a good charm to this game even
though there's just gameplay wise there's just
really nothing to it it's just a nice basic sit
back and play game but damn is this game weird
I'm curious if the Japanese version has that
same storyline I wonder if they Americanized
it at all I don't know I'm sure it's pretty close
They didn't change his name, Nerekin. There's
no way that's an American name. No. I'm sure
they didn't change it too much. Because, I mean,
if they did, they must have been smoking something.
Oh, for sure. They all were back then. It was
the 80s. Coke was all over the place back then.
Yeah, that's true. But I don't know. To me, it's
just so odd that it's good. I don't know. It's
so absurd. It's interesting. It's different.
It's a different thing than all the other shooters
that are on the NES. Yeah, it sticks out for
sure. But yeah, I love this game. Jacob? Yeah,
I enjoyed it. I would recommend it. I think the
thing I really like about this game is that it's
more than just, like, an arcade shooter where
you just move, shoot, and avoid your enemies,
right? You also got your bomb attack, which can,
you know, hit the crab, and you can pick up the
gold. You can use it to destroy the factories,
and you get upgrades, and, you know, they'll
give you, like, more missiles to shoot, you know,
changes your missiles, stuff like that. And you
also have to worry about your fuel, too. So I
like how it's... It's simple for the most part,
but then there's these things in there that you
really have to consider if you want to keep going.
It keeps you on the edge of your seat, but it
doesn't overcomplicate stuff. It's still simple.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. So, Jacob,
you recommend it? Eric, Ryan, do you guys recommend
people to check this game out? For sure, man.
Yeah, I would too. If you can. Try to play with
like a group of people or like with a friend
or something. Yeah. Yeah. Like arcade style.
Yeah. Because I mean, like what me, you and Eric
did. But me and Eric were going back and forth.
Yeah. The most. Yeah. And dude, that was probably
the funnest moment on like just us doing this.
It was just it's such a stupid thing, man. Yeah,
I know. Just trying to get a high score on just
a game like nobody knows about. Yeah. damn man
that was just it was just so fun well i kept
checking your achievements too and i'm like oh
he made it to this level i'm like i gotta make
it past that level man oh yeah we just checked
each other's achievements and i saw you got so
far i was like damn it dude now i gotta beat
him oh dude it was so funny yeah yeah i agree
i think it's a i think it sticks out enough from
a lot of the other stuff on the NES at the time
that it's just a fun little quick little game.
And that's the other thing too, is it's not like
super long. So you can like, you don't have to
spend a ton of time on this game. So, but yeah,
I think I would recommend it. Everybody check
it out. So, all right. That was our scoon review.
So we're going to go ahead and step over here
to our next game, which we are going to be playing
Demon's Crest for the Super Nintendo. You guys
have... any experience with this game no just
uh been on my want to play list for a while yeah
but i've never played it before this isn't the
this isn't the ghouls and goblins uh uh series
you play as the armor i think is his name you
and this is his game he has like his own solo
game i know a little bit about it um i watch
a game center cx if anybody knows what that show
is it's a japanese show where comedian guy named
arino plays old he challenges himself to old
classic games it's it's an awesome show it's
so funny um but he played this game so i remember
watching him play through it so i know a little
bit about it but i've never played it myself
but it looks cool it's got some pretty pretty
cool graphics and stuff and i know that much
and i know it's kind of a tough game because
it's a ghouls and ghouls and goblins game the
capcom games some of them are pretty tough so
yeah yeah i've heard this game is notoriously
hard I hope it's not ghouls and ghosts hard or
whatever it is. Or goblins and ghosts. What is
it, goblins and ghosts? Whatever. I'm willing
to put the effort into it. Yeah, I'm looking
forward to it, yeah. I wonder what those chivos
look like. Yeah, probably. Probably pretty rough.
All right, so let's go ahead and take a look
at the box art here. So we've got a pretty cool
hand paint. It looks like hand painted art of
the armor with a skull in his hand. And you see
just jumping out of the box, it says, Demons
Crest. It's pretty sweet looking. Yeah, that
looks dope. Isn't that Exact Voice? Yeah, Exact
Voice or Demons Crest. That's how I would read
it. Yeah. That's what it looks like to me. It's
got like fire. It's got the fire on it. It's
got like a cone head. Yeah, he does look like
cone head a little bit. Yeah, I mean, dude, as
a young boy in the video game section of Kmart,
I'd be like, I want this game right here. I'd
be like, Mom, I need this game. Yeah, and then
Mom would be like, you can't have demons. Get
out of here. It does look sick, dude. We're going
to buy you Sesame Street on the NES. I don't
want Sesame Street. Yeah, that's a pretty sick
cover. I'm already sold for this game. There's
three different skulls on here, so I don't know
if they had enough skulls on the front, though.
They could have added one more in here somewhere.
A couple more would have been nice. They're all
different, like, shapes, too. Minus one point.
He's got, like, a vampire skull in his hand or
something. Yeah. And then the other two look
like human heads. Yeah. You know what this reminds
me of? It reminds me of, like, the old Conan
art. That's what I was thinking, too. I was like,
this looks a lot like Conan. Like the old fantasy,
like, Conan -style type of art. That's what it
looks like to me. This is actually a really good
drawing on here. I wonder if this looks dope.
I wonder if this actual painting exists somewhere.
That'd be cool to have. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Yeah, that'd be dope. Alright, let's go to the
back here. Demon's Crest. Six stones with unimaginable
power. The Demon Realm is peaceful until six
wondrous stones fall from the sky. Each stone
represents a portion of the Demon's Crest. When
united, the stones of the Demon's Crest bring
the user ultimate power over demons and humans.
These stones were so highly sought that civil
war broke out in the realm. The fight led to
much bloodshed until one gargoyle emerged victorious,
the red demon known as Firebrand. After Firebrand's
final battle, his evil nemesis, Phalanx, ambushed
Firebrand and stole the stones. Now Firebrand
must recover the stones and unite the power of
the Demon's Crest before both realms fall into
the hands of the sinister Phalanx. Morph into
six different forms to explore new areas when
you find parts of the Demon's Crest. Incredible
Mode 7 effects as Firebrand flies high above
the Demon Realm, overlooking seven intense levels.
25 items hidden in the realm, with different
endings based on how many items you find. For
one player. Plus one. I'll put the plus one back
on. Yeah. I guess they didn't have enough in
the front. So this has got that mode seven in
there. That's cool. Everybody loves mode seven.
So there's different endings, I guess. 25 items
hidden in the room with different endings. Based
on how many items you find. So we're going to
have to find 25 items. I hope we don't have to
beat this game multiple times. It looks like
it. There's only seven levels. That's true. But
they're all impossible. Yeah, this still looks
pretty cool. You can see the Mode 7 down here
where he's flying over the map. And I guess these
are boss fights. These look like boss fights
they got in the back here. Yeah. This game looks
awesome. Yeah, the art is pretty wild in this
game. I do remember that from the Game Center
show. The art in this game is awesome. It's pretty
cool. I mean, this is Capcom, bro. They were
pretty... They knew how to work that SNES, bro.
They were pretty good at that. Yeah. All right.
That's Demon's Crest. You guys looking forward
to playing this game? Definitely, man. Yeah.
Absolutely. It looks so awesome. Yeah. I'm ready
for this game. This one's on my list for a while.
So, yeah. Let us know out there if you guys have
any experience with this game. If you guys are
looking forward to playing it, we want to hear
from you guys. And then we just want to remind
you, we got an Instagram at RGB underscore Game
Club. We got YouTube at Retro Gaming Beyond.
We're going to have a Discord soon that we'll
link in the description. And then also, if you
want to listen to this podcast in audio form,
you can do so on Apple, Spotify, we're on everything.
Even Deezer. Deezer nuts. I had to get that in
there. Why is that so funny? I don't know. I
guess no one's ever heard of Deezer. But we're
out there. I couldn't get us on TuneIn. I guess
TuneIn isn't accepting new podcasts. I don't
know. Whatever. Anyway. So yeah, that's it. We
want to hear from you guys. Let us know what
you thought of Scoon. And then we'll see you
for the next one. Peace. See ya. Scoon Squad
out. Peace out, Scooners.