Do You NintenKnow: September 2023

Below is a set of clues for games that have a notable US release date anniversary (5, 10, 15, etc.) in the current month. See if you can figure out the title before clicking the blurred image to find out if you were correct! Head down to the comments when you’re finished and reminisce about the personal memories that were dredged up. Remember that these are going by the release date in the United States. Have fun!

September 1988

Hudson Soft developed and published this NES title with a South Pacific theme. You play as Master Higgins as you try to rescue Princess Tina from the Evil Witch Doctor by surviving 32 stages over eight worlds. This title started off as a port of the Sega arcade game Wonder Boy, but the ownership of that name was with Sega which caused Hudson Soft to create Master Higgins and replace the original protagonist. Fun fact, Master Higgins was based on Hudson Soft’s spokesman Takahashi Meijin!

September 1993

One of the most popular arcade fighters of all time finally made its way to the SNES with this port by Midway, but not without controversy. Nintendo’s family friendly policies caused plenty of changes, including replacing blood with “sweat” and many Fatalities with less brutal finishers. Still, fans were keen to play as their favorite digitized fighters and the game sold incredibly well. To this day, people still argue about what Raiden says when he flies across the screen. Personally, I think it’s “Chumbawambacalled!”

In the age of the mascot platformer, Virgin Games tried their hand with this SNES game starring the “face” of 7 Up. The titular hero can jump, climb, and throw soda bubbles to help traverse the levels and rescue other “neat dots” in cages. As a personal aside, I remember playing this game in the hospital when I had my appendix removed…I had way more fun with it than the other choice which was Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts!

Konami published this “ghoulish” LucasArts title for the SNES where you take control of either Zeke or Julie to save oodles of people from many different types of monsters. The levels range from the somewhat benign suburban neighborhoods to more exotic locales like pyramids. There are plenty of weapons at your disposal including a weed-whacker! This game got a sequel, but they unfortunately didn’t name it “The Undead Consumed Nearby Residents”.

September 1998

This RPG dual release for the Game Boy extended the life of the platform and is one of the most important releases in Nintendo’s history. Developed by Game Freak, these games were already a phenomenon in Japan having been released there over two years earlier. The US market ate it up as well and a new type of “Mania” was born. Having exclusive monsters in each version of the game gave players an excuse to trade with their friends in order to complete their collection and be the very best…like no one ever was. Gotta catch ‘em all!

September 2003

Hideo Kojima took a break from the Metal Gear Solid franchise to produce this solar powered Game Boy Advance title for Konami. The cartridge had a light sensor to literally encourage you to play in the sunlight – which would have made it nigh impossible to see if you were stuck with the original GBA’s dim screen! Play as Django (whether unchained or not isn’t clear) and power up your Gun Del Sol to fry some vampires with bolts of sunlight. Don’t forget your sunscreen when you play outside!

Did you ever play Grand Theft Auto and think “Boy, this would be even better if it was set in the fictional universe of Springfield”? If so, you’d love this GameCube title from Radical Entertainment published by Vivendi Universal Games. Control a handful of characters from the TV show and try to unravel the mystery behind a “new and improved” flavor of Buzz Cola that causes insanity. D’oh!

Decades before Yuji Naka was known more for being a white-collar criminal or the awful Balan Wonderworld, he produced this GameCube 3D platformer from Sonic Team starring a boy dressed like a chicken. Help the “clucky” inhabitants of Morning Land by rolling and hatching eggs to expand the skills of the main character. The game received middling reviews and apparently sold very poorly…not quite as egg-cellent as it cracked up to be.

September 2008

Wait, the “blue blur” starred in an RPG? Sure did, as Sega published this Nintendo DS title from BioWare – the developers of the Mass Effect series. Discover the reasoning behind the disappearance of both the Chaos emeralds and your pal, Knuckles, with the help of Shade the Echidna. This game was meant to spawn a new series, but BioWare was sued for copyright infringement and plans for any sequels were scrapped.

September 2018

The Nintendo Switch finally got this Toby Fox RPG, which took inspiration from other games/series such as Mother and Moon. You control a child who has fallen into the Underground and can choose to spare monsters instead of killing them. These choices directly affect the game, changing dialogue and the story. Many things from this game have endured including Sans and the soundtrack composed by Fox, himself.