Gyromite
| Developer: Nintendo | Publisher: Nintendo |
| Release Date: October 1, 1985 | Also On: None |
There once was a time when video games relied on a little thing called gameplay to make them fun, a time when graphics were not the major driving force behind the production of a game. Back during this period, in the early part of the 8-bit era, came a game called Gyromite. Originally intended to be a game compatible with the exceedingly rare ROB the Robot accessory for the NES, Gyromite for the gamer today is either a test of skill in holding a controller in each hand or a multiplayer affair.
My experience with Gyromite goes way back to when my brother and I first got an NES. We received with it Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. 3, but a few weeks later a relative gave us Hydlide and Gyromite. Gyromite has never been my favorite NES game, but it is one of the ones that is most consistently on my mind when I think about NES games.
The graphics on this game are about on par with Super Mario Bros., possibly slightly better, but not by much. Gyromite is a very early era NES game though, and the earliest of NES games did little to push the limits of the system. For its time, the graphics are decent.
Sound on this game is minimal. Music plays when you're playing a level, but it is the same music for each level. There is a different single song for each of the two modes though, which is a good thing. Overall, the sound is nothing to write home about any more than the graphics are, but it gets the job done.
Now, the gameplay on this game is different than most anything I have ever seen. Since the game was originally intended to be used with ROB the Robot, and most people don't have that particular accessory, this game is essentially forced multiplayer for all but the most talented. Here's what I mean. The person using the Player 1 controller uses the D-pad to control a scientist in a lab coat who goes around environments picking up stray piles of dynamite. The scientist can walk and climb/descend ropes. He can also pick up vegetables that are strewn around the environments. The vegetables are used to distract enemies, but only work until the enemy has finished eating them. The objective of a level is for the scientist to pick up all the piles of dynamite in the level within a certain time period, but that time period is so long it won't be a problem. The scientist loses if he runs out of time or he runs into one of the enemies, which are basically green monsters that walk around randomly and can also climb/descend the ropes.
Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. There are red and blue pillars strewn around the environments that block the scientist's progress, and the person using Player 1's controller can't do anything with them. Instead, the A and B buttons of the Player 2 controller are used to correspond to the red and blue pillars. I forget off hand which color corresponds to which button, but the point is that when Player 2 holds one of the buttons, he holds one of the two colors of pillars in its secondary position, depending on which button he pushes.
The pillars can be used to do three things for the person using the Player 2 controller. They can be used to crush enemies, they can be used to help or hinder the scientist from moving, and, if the person using the Player 2 controller is particularly cruel, they can be used to crush the scientist. When the game is being played by more than one person, it is generally Player 2's choice whether Player 1 succeeds or not. In the first few levels, the scientist can outmaneuver a Player 2 who is trying to crush him, but in the later levels, there will be red and blue pillars right next to each other, so Player 2 can easily trap Player 1. However, the roles can be reversed. There is a two-player mode where the players can take turns being the scientist or the pillar controller, so the two players can go against each other to see who can kill the other with the least points. Of course, a cooperative approach can also be taken with this game, but where is the fun in that?
For those of you who don't like the idea of this, there is a second gameplay mode. In this mode, the scientist is sleepwalking and thus automatically walks forward and climbs all ropes all the way to the top. This removes the need for anybody to use the Player 1 controller, and thus a single person can either squish the scientist or help him get to the end of the level, indicated by a bed. Each level is bed to bed, and there is no need to collect piles of dynamite in this mode. However, the green enemies still exist in this mode.
In the first mode, there are 20 levels to choose to begin on, but there are more if you beat level 20. I don't know how many more because nobody has ever cooperated with me long enough for me to see. In the sleepwalking mode, there are 25 levels, and if you get through them all, you go back to level 1 and the scientist will move faster. The levels are not particularly long, but this is a game that you could come back to many times for the sheer enjoyment of watching the scientist go smush, or for the fun of teamwork. Who am I kidding, the game has more fun to it when Player 2 is trying to crush you than when he cooperates. If you have a friend to play NES games with, and you find this game for a relatively low price, I recommend picking it up.
| Graphics: | 7 |
| Sound: | 7 |
| Gameplay: | 9 |
| Creativity: | 9 |
| Replay Value/Game Length: | 8 |
| Final: | 8 |
| Written by Martin | Review Guide |
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