Tom And Jerry
MOUSE IN THE HOUSE
Nick tells us about his killer NES haul, which included this particular addition
» NES » 1991 » SOFTWARE CREATIONS Just about every retro gamer has a tale of extreme good fortune, and mine concerns the special Nintendo bag I got at a charity shop in 2007. The American SNES with a couple of carts was exciting, but I knew that the NES-101 was a real find. As I dug further through that sack full of stuff, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – Super Mario Bros 3, Contra, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Ducktales and more. None of it was boxed, but this was a ready-made collection with most of the best stuff. I’ve had dreams about retro gaming finds that didn’t match up to the reality of this one.
CJ – the previous owner, whose name was on the back of the carts in permanent marker – clearly had great taste, but everyone has the odd clunker in their collection and I was convinced that I’d found it when I happened across Tom & Jerry. Despite the fact that the licence seems like it would make for some great games, I’d been burned before by Tom & Jerry: The Movie for the Master System and I’d never heard anything good about the NES game. But my preconceptions proved to be unfounded, as Tom & Jerry proved to be non-dreadful, and in fact an entirely serviceable platformer.
Part of the reason that the NES game comes off better is that it feels considerably more responsive and gives you much more freedom to explore, but another major factor is that it simply seems that the developers understood their source material far better. I don’t want to play as Tom, chasing Jerry through obstacle courses while he lobs land mines at me – I want to play as Jerry, leaping around oversized environments and picking up invisible ink for temporary invincibility.
The Tom & Jerry NES game won’t be hitting any top ten lists – probably not even top 50 – but it’s not the bad game I thought it would be. What’s more, it proved to be an important reminder that if I leave my assumptions unchallenged, they could potentially cause me to overlook something I might really enjoy.