Every weekend here at Nintendo Life we take a look at the regional box variations in retro video games and drive a poll wherever it goes. It's a fun, lighthearted game; actually excuses for a fun look (and some not so fun) old-school cover art, which firmly takes the back seat to menu icons in digital times.
Finding people who will vote for the best difference between regions is not as easy as you might think. More often than not, the two regions use the same art (especially in North America and Europe) and for the last 10 years companies have been using the same art in all regions. However, it is a strange thing to stumble upon a potential candidate when each version includes not only a completely different cover, but a completely different license.
The games seen above were created by Kemco, the developer and publisher best known to Nintendo fans for publishing top Gear series. Kemco has a history extending back to the Famicom era and, as we'll see, the company has a form when it comes to switching sprites, redefining games between regions, and lending an idea or two.
The story of how one game ended with three different, universally beloved licenses began to go back to 1989 when the Crazy castle Series was debuted on the NES via Bugs Bunny Crazy castle. The game has broken down a large set of platform-visible platforms where players interact with each other simple levels like a maze, to tie things in transit and avoid adding badges. The original game didn't include a jump button and, with its rolling enemies and collectibles, you could compare it to the platform version Pac-Man. Progress & # 39; saved & # 39; with a password program that returns you to the level you last played.
The Crazy Castle series is a solid, unchanging (if not unseen) series with standard levels that can easily be seen with a sexy spin or two, and Kemco (formerly known as the Kotobuki program) quickly realized this. The company also targets these games with different licenses in different regions, depending on the rights they hold in each region. Bugs Bunny had already replaced another rabid rabbit originally independent in Japan …
From the rabbit to him wabbit
The GUN Bunny Crazy castle of the NES is itself a hit which directly changes the sprite the original Famicom Disk System Roger Rabbit. Kemco had acquired the rights to Japanese sports in the Robert Zemeckis film & # 39; 1988 Who Gets Rabbit Roger, produced by Disney-owned Disney Pictures. In the West, however, publisher LJN had acquired those rights as well someone else The game – a film-based action platform – was developed by Rare in the UK (not the best developer job, it must be said). Wanting to release its Crazy Castle title overseas, Kemco has decided to buy the rights to Looney Tunes characters from Warner Bros. and turn his chariot commander away from the rabbit turned around wabbit.
So far, he's believed it, but that wasn't the last thing for Crazy Castle's first game, either. Kemco dropped another licensed rabbit hole the Boy Scout hole which became a Disney license The Mickey mouse in Japan. In the West, the Game Boy version has kept the Bugs brand because Capcom owns rights beyond Disney properties (leading to Classics bidding DuckTales and Chip & # 39; N & # 39; Dale & # 39; s Rescue Ranger). Very good Jeremy Parish World boy video game (more) focuses on the Game Boy iteration of The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle – arguably the first licensed game ever to come in hand – but also compares to other versions, so give it a watch if you're curious.
From the beginning, then, the Crazy castle series was a web connected to some of the most popular character calls ever made, and there was a lot of confusion to come.
Hugo will call?
Kemco's way of acquiring a high meter from its basic game continuity game remains unprotected through the 1991 Game Game sequence known in North America as Bugs Bunny Crazy castle 2. Mickey Mouse also picked up characters in the Japanese genre (named, logically, Mickey Mouse II). Unfortunately, things were going to get trickier in Europe when two versions of the game were released: one starring Mickey Mouse (though remember that the first game with Disney's mascot was Japanese-only, so in Europe the sequel was just called The Mickey mouse).
You would be forgiven for thinking that and others The European version of this game will also have bugs. Yes, you would be wrong. Instead, Laguna Video Games threw the ITE & # 39; s Scandinavian Troll and Children's Goods Hugo entered Crazy Castle 2, and renamed it Hugo, and another license was renewed in the Crazy Castle mix.
Apparently, Hugo, a Danish actor and multimedia franchise, has catalog of fascinating games, although we admit we have never heard of him.
Enter Kid Klown
The next entry in the Crazy Castle series covered a standard gameplay instead of a regular 2D platformer that included a nice jump integration. In 1992. Mickey Mouse III: Dream Balloon released by Famicom in Japan, even though the North American NES market was the game She has been transformed into the star of Kemco's Kid Kidown character and released the following year as Kid Kidown in Night Mayor World. The game never received the light of day in Europe, probably because they were still confused about the whole Mickey / Hugo scene.
Kid Klown will return to the series in the future and star in other spin-offs, including an isometric platformer for SNES called Kid Kidown at Crazy Chase. However, Klown has settled the next couple of Crazy Castle games and Kemco has added new licenses for the fourth game in the series.
Mickey's not afraid & # 39; no … lasagne
Apparently feeling that his license portfolio needs to be split, Kemco has not added one yet, but two a completely new face created by the mix of the next entry, and a regular agreement with the House of Mouse in Japan.
The owners of the Japanese Game Boy got it Mickey Mouse IV: Mahō no Labyrinth (above). However, in the US Kemco had gotten its hands on the rights to The Real Ghostbusters (by joining forces and activation, it seems) decided to release Peter Venkman's Mousekey Mouse.
Ghostbusters IP rights were a bit confusing before Kemco joined the team, and this was what led to two NES models of Ghostbusters II: the HAL Laborator-developed good & # 39; New & # 39; s featured headline never released in the US, too which alarms one activation tortured Stateside fans. American gaming fans have received the prestigious Game Boy version of the HAL title, however, in the hope that they do it for Kemco's due diligence.
In Europe, it was decided that Monday-hatin & # 39 ;, Lasagne-lovin & # 39; Garfield is the cat to take on the fourth title of Crazy Castle, and the game was re-exchanged Garfield's Labyrinth. Make no mistake, without appearing to be a game in the middle of the same pain.
Film and animation buffs will no doubt enjoy the & # 39; crossover & # 39; his strange; Actress Lorenzo Music provided dulcet tones for both Garfield and Peter Venkman in a photographic way, while Bill Murray played both characters on the silver screen.
If this scenario weren't already good enough, the confusion from this cast of characters is compounded due to the various elements and build-up levels in this Mickey / Ghostbusters / Garfield game that is completely removed from the completely unrelated title – 1991 P.P. Hammer and his Pneumatic Weapon for Amiga and Commodore 64. If you look at the first paragraph of the videos above, you'll see that something like the broom that Mickey and Garfield will actually download is a jackhammer like PP (Venkman doesn't need one as he uses his proton pack to blow holes in the ground).
Of course this was okay another Kemco's use of conventional economics, no? Unfortunately not, according to a PPP developer. Hammer, Gunnar Lieder. In a title track several years ago, he confirmed there was no deal with Chemco:
So, a cloud of suspicion now surrounds this invincible border of world-famous actors trapped in Kemco's Crazy castle. Although it doesn't look like other games & # 39; borrowed & # 39; elsewhere, the series certainly did not end with a driver's license.
More Mickey Mousecapades
Kemco kept things simple next, and after gaining the rights to release the Mickey Mouse game in the US, Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands! it was a local exposition that took place in 1993 Mickey Mouse V: Mahou no Stick, even though one released five years after the Japanese version with the support of the Super Game Boy.
The game has also seen deliveries throughout Europe, though not as popular with the & # 39; V & # 39; Roman yet. Apparently, European footballers were supposed to have a & # 39; V & # 39; s reference to a bunch of magical wands rather than going in five in a series they had just seen with Mickey Mouse at the helm.
Return of the Bugs Bunny, with one final license …
Kemco has broadcast Kid Klown again with the title of Japanese Game Boy Soreike !! Kid: Go! Go! Kid In 1997, although the game received a Game Boy Color makeover two years later he returned with the Logs & # 39; Looney Tunes team as Bunny Bugs: Crazy castle 3 in all places, followed Bunny Bugs in Crazy Castle 4 of GBC one year after that.
For the last console game in the series on Game Boy Advance, Kemco turned to a single license after acquiring Universal Studios property rights (they also published the worst Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure on GameCube).
The bugs got the boot and Woody Woodpecker joined Tantalus Interactive & # 39; s Woody Woodpecker at Crazy Castle 5, the last piece of entries in the series is too much.
With the exception of the mobile game in 2004, we haven't heard of the Crazy Castle series since Woody Woodpecker's management. Looking back on these games, it's a unique and proven web site, of course, and almost none worth playing unless you're a fan of Crazy Castle.
Still, it's hard to say another series with such a complex history, which does not include the light from the animation world – Wonder Boy / Adventure Island melange it is not linked to a popular license like this one. The game itself may not be that old, but you can't help but be surprised by the confusion of Kemco's license around the Crazy Castle base.
Let us know below if you have any of the above games in your collection.
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