To start things off: I use "licensed" in a broad term. It refers to, hereto forth in all of my stupid whiny blog posts and future "Games I Remember Being Awesome" posts, games based off of cartoon/movie/comic properties, rather than developer IPs or such.

There are tons of licensed games out there. Everything from Marvel games to anime games to old 90s cartoons. Most of them, suck ass. Case in point, Back to the Future for the NES.

But some games are shining examples of what can be done with licensing and a good dev team. This list will be composed of (and maybe updated later, if I remember more) games that totally kick ass and are based off of licensed properties.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series

System: NES, SNES, Arcades



The TMNT beat 'em ups are legendary for being incredible arcade to console ports of games based off the cartoon of the same name of that era. Barring the first TMNT game, anyhow. Don't know if it had an arcade port and I'm too lazy to look right now (and I'm stilled pissed off at that damn bulldozer thing that killed all my friggin' turtles when I was a kid) but it was still a good game.

The games have solid two player modes, four player in arcades, that allow good co-op action through several levels of tiered enemy fights and bosses. Each game's story is usually the same, Shredder's-causing-trouble-gotta-stop-him, but the fun factor of the game with as many players as you can get stands firm. I can't remember, but a 4 player game may or may not have been released for the Gamecube. Not sure if it came out or not.

Not much else to say besides "This game is badass and the turtles are named after Renaissance artists with the exception of one of them. If you can find a copy, get one."

I do recall that Turtles In Time was remade for the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, however.

Bucky O' Hare

System: NES

Note: Yes, I know that there is an Arcade beat 'em up by the same name. I've never played it and can't pass judgment, but it seems to be good.



Bucky O' Hare is certainly one of my most cherished NES experiences. Developed by Konami, this surprisingly solid platformer may be one of the hardest frickin' games I've ever played. On an NES, at least.

Fast paced mine cart rides (is that what they were?), lava streams that with one tiny mistake means death, long climbs up asteroids and ships firing lasers, and that frickin' irritating-as-hell "Get hit and you can't move" damage system that would send you careening into the abyss or a pool of molten lava every single time, this game was full of difficult challenges and pure fun.

You start out as Bucky, the captain of his ship, and must traverse four planets to rescue your shipmates, who each carries a special weapon and charge-up power of their own, from telekinetic attacks, to charge lasers, to climbing, to a short jetpack.

It will always stand as a difficult game to me, even though save states of the day have made it ridiculously easy to restart sections that require utmost precision.

Though some are still near impossible. Here's looking at you, robot ice snakes.

Or it could just be that I sucked at video games when I was six.

Captain America and the Avengers

System: Genesis, Arcade

Note: And yes, another game that shares a name with a platformer, for the NES. The platformer's damn good too.



Surprise! Another beat 'em up arcade port! This time, it's a jaunt featuring none other than Captain America and the Avengers, who are fighting their way through various super villains to take down the ultimate commie super villain, Red Skull. (He was a commie in this time period, right?)

Anyhow, the game lets you (and a friend) choose between four characters: Captain America, Hawkeye, The Vision, and Iron Man. Each character has standard punches and kicks, but they each also have their own projectile. Captain America naturally throws his shield (Can't remember if he needs to pick it up to use it again...), Hawkeye shoots an arrow, The Vision shoots a beam from (I want to say his eyes? I never played as The Vision...), and Iron Man shoots a beam from his arm. Each of these special attacks can be used in the air for a diagonal strike.

Each stage also has ample amounts of props to pick up and attack with, such as oil drums and tires and the like. A good, solid beat 'em up for two players (Or four if you can find the arcade version or just build a cabinet like I want to do) featuring some of America's favorite super heroes.

That's all I can think of for now. I have to dig through my monster-bin-'o'-NES/Genesis/SNES games and then start thinking about later console games. If you can think of any, make a comment and I'll try to remember it.

(Tagged Retro, if anyone has a better tag for it, I'll tag it under that. This post classifies as Retro at the very least...)