// That’s the Way Game Playin’ Go

This is the start of what I hope will be a life-long journey. An exploration of the games that came before my time.

I love video games. If you know me or are reading this then it’s highly likely you do as well. But I have a glaring blind spot in my video-game-playing experience: Retro games.

To avoid the fruitless task of defining what a retro game is, I’ll just say that my loose guidelines are anything before the year 2000. It’s around there that I feel my gaming experience is lacking. That said, I might play a game from 2001 and call it retro. Too bad!!

But why now?

Although my time playing them has been brief, my time following other people who play them has not. I’ve been a frequent flyer of the retro gaming scene on YouTube for quite a while now.

I was saddened last week to learn that Billy Hudson of The Game Chasers had passed away. Now while I won’t pretend that my parasocial relationship with him was anything but that, I still really felt this one. I had been watching Billy and the chasers since I was in high-school. Checking back in every now and again for new episodes was a real comfort. They were just goofballs having a good time hunting for old games.

Many of the other people in the same sphere put out videos talking about Billy, his life, their friendships, and his love for what he did. Guys like Johnny from HappyConsoleGamer and Wood from BeatEmUps.

The sense of community, love, and bonds formed around this hobby we all share was never more apparent. Whether or not you know who any of those people are, I’m sure the sentiment will resinate with you over a community you enjoy or some connections you have in real life.

Much like this online community I’ve watched from afar through my screen for the past decade, many of my real life friends I met because of video games. In fact, almost all of them!

While processing Billy being gone and The Game Chasers being forever changed – which, frankly, was a much more emotional experience than it probably should have been or that I ever expected it might be – I decided what I wanted to do to celebrate the life of Billy, to celebrate my oldest hobby, and to celebrate the passion that has led me into a life of friends I’d happily call family.

Why, it’s so simple! I’ll just play more video games! They haven’t led me astray thus far.

// Why Little Samson?

Unlike many classic games of yore that everyone has heard of – Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, etc – Little Samson is not exactly a household name. I’ve selected this particular video game as the premier GCRetro review as a tribute to The Game Chasers.

Little Samson is an excruciatingly expensive video game to own. At the time of writing, a loose cart of Little Samson will run you a clean $2,445.47. Raise that to $4,805.71 if you want the box and manual. If you happen to find a new copy of Little Samson in your attic, you can expect to sell it in the ballpark of $20,000.

Knowing this, it really makes the early-on episode of Game Chasers where they found it for $10 all the more exciting. This impressive deal became a benchmark of sorts. While I don’t believe it was ever surpassed, it was frequently mentioned, becoming a homegrown meme of sorts.

So I figured what better place to start my retro journey than with Little Samson.

// What the Heck is Little Samson?

Little Samson is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was released in 1992. It’s a 2D platformer (I suppose the 2D should be implied but here we are, I already typed it) developed by Takeru and published by Taito. You’ve probably never heard of Takeru. They were around for 3 years then went bankrupt. Taito was more of a big deal. They made a little game you might’ve heard of called Space Invaders. 

From what reading I’ve done, Little Samson saw a perfect storm to create an expensive collector’s item. The game apparently received terrible marketing and had a low print run. I’ve seen people speculating on 10,000 copies. But without any proof, you shouldn’t put too much stock into the exact number being correct.

On top of this, it’s achieved some level of fame in the modern age for not just being an incredibly expensive game, but also a good one.

That said I obviously didn’t buy this game. I uh, know a guy who has it, and he let me play it at his place.

// On With The Review

Okay so what about the damn game. I really enjoyed it!

The distinguishing shtick that Little Samson brings to the action-platformer genre that was so popular at the time is that you can select one of four characters to play. You can swap on the fly between them.

Samson (of Little fame) is your main guy. He can run, jump, fire projectiles, and climb walls and ceilings. He’s the all-rounder. Kikira is a dragon who can fly and shoot fireballs that angle upward. Gamm is a golem who is really slow but can punch hard, take a lot of hits, and walk on spikes. Finally, you have K.O. the mouse. K.O. is tiny, moves quickly, can climb things, drops bombs, and has a smaller health pool.

This offers the player a lot of freedom in how they want to tackle each level. Do you walk over the spikes at the bottom of the level, or fly past them at the top? Do you jump through a passage or climb the walls?

You’ll likely be swapping between them frequently to find the best ability for each task. This was a ton of fun!

Additionally, you’ll find items on your journey that increase your total hit points. Whichever character collects them will get the increase, offering you further decisions about how you’ll play the game. Do you invest in getting K.O. health up to a normal amount, or do you simply beef up Gamm into a mega tank freak?

// Big Samson Energy

Older games have a reputation for being unforgiving. I usually get my butt kicked the few times I’ve gone back to play an older game. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised by Little Samson’s accessibility.

You begin the game by selecting Easy or Normal mode. I was surprised to see a difficulty selector at all in an NES game. I still played on easy because I was afraid.

The game also gives you a password after each level. You can punch this in to jump back to that level at any time. This is a nice feature when many games of the era simply made you restart the game when you’ve died too much. Or turned off the console.

The game difficulty felt just right to me. I died a decent amount, but never so much that I quit the game or felt it was unfair. Another thing to keep in mind is that I’m not very good at platformers. If you’re a Real Gamer™, you might have an easier time than I did.

I was able to complete the game without the need for save states or other emulator assistance in about 2 hours. For legal reasons that was a joke. I played this at my friend’s house on his NES.

Also worth noting is that you’ll have to play Normal mode to unlock the special, endgame levels past the Easy mode final boss.

// Little Samson, Big Style

This game looks freaking fantastic. It helps that this game was released near the end of the original Nintendo’s lifecycle, but they really knocked it out of the park.

The pixel art is detailed both in the environments and the characters. Some of the larger bosses deserve a specific shout-out for their intricate pixel work and animation. I have to shout out the crab specifically.

At times, Little Samson looks like it could be a Super Nintendo game.

It’s almost hard to believe it’s the same system as some earlier NES titles. 

The music was notably pleasant and fun, but it was the visuals that really did it for me.

// Conclusion

Here is my conclusion from a guy who doesn’t know a whole lot about games from this era. I think Little Samson is a great achievement. It looks great, it’s not too hard, it’s a quick play, and it’s a bunch of fun.

I’m not generally a guy who has a lot of fun playing side-scrolling platformers (a taste I’m working on acquiring) but I legitimately enjoyed this one.

What I do know is that I would never have played this game if it weren’t for Billy’s vision and talents bringing The Game Chasers to life 14 years ago. His passion has spread far and wide and – if you’re reading this – now it has reached you.

I know next time I’m digging through a bin of old games at a flea market I’ll be thinking of Billy. Maybe one day when I’m dead, someone will read this and play Little Samson. Maybe they’ll think of me when they play it (I’d also be happy if this happened before I died).

A love of the game passed from one person to another. If that’s not what it’s all about folks, then I don’t know what it ought to be about instead. 

So hug your friends and go play a damn video game.

// Afterword

Thanks for reading, hope I didn’t blindside you too much with the sappy stuff. Sometimes life throws inspiration at you in the strangest ways. Right now, this has been what’s compelling me to get out there and create stuff.

While I have you – are there any games you grew up playing that you think I should give a try? Let me know! I’ll probably play them and write up a review.

Next review in the queue is a game you have probably heard of before: Super Mario Bros. for the NES.