A company that has a bad reputation among retro gamers is LJN. LJN published many games back in the eighties and nineties that are viewed as low quality and the subject of scorn today. However, the fact is that not all of their games were bad. LJN was a publisher and not a developer, and some games with their logo were not bad despite the claims. Today I want to take a look at eight games published by LJN that are actually good.
True Lies
True Lies is a neat game. It is an overhead shooter and one with a high level of difficulty. True Lies has brilliant visuals and audio and the gameplay resembles the experience of something like Zombies Ate My Neighbours, just a lot more violent and difficult. There is not much more to add here, but the game is just fun and deserves more attention. It is repetitive and mindless but in a good way.
A Nightmare On Elm Street
An unfairly maligned game, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the most innovative games I have seen on the NES. It had a unique way of adapting the films and did so in inventive ways. Great visuals, outstanding music and the fact that the game allows for four player action make this a standout. The levels are well designed and the bosses actually make sense within the context of the films. Far from the hate this game gets, I feel this is actually a hidden gem on the NES. There are some issues such as enemy behavior, but overall this is actually awesome.
NFL Quarterback Club
LJN was the publisher of this NFL game on SNES and it is quite an interesting experience. If you played the Game Boy version or NES predecessor, you would not expect much. The SNES incarnation on the other hand, was a great experience. Its not on par with the other major NFL games of the time, but there is enjoyment to be found here. A nice collection of side games in addition to a fun football game with excellent visuals makes this a must play. All of the warts of the series till now were ironed out, and the result was an extremely polished experience.
Town & Country II: Thrilla’s Surfari
A game many do not associate with LJN, Town & Country II: Thrilla’s Surfari is a great platformer that deserves more attention. Starring the mascot of the Town & Country Surf Design company, T&C II saw you going on a surfboard and skateboard through various stages and avoiding obstacles. Its actually a rather fun game, even if it has a high difficulty. The game is about memorization and patterns and once you learn that, the experience gets a whole lot better. Its not the best platformer on the NES but a lot better than some from other publishers who will go unnamed.
Alien 3 (SNES)
Alien 3 is an interesting game. Some may have seen AVGN’s episode about the NES version, but the NES version is an inferior version to the SNES version. The SNES version is actually a fun game that plays like a non linear version of contra. Every idea that the NES idea tried to do and failed was done perfectly here. There are puzzles to solve, intense action and there is a lot of exploration to be done. It is not exactly true to the movie, but neither were many great licensed games that managed to have good reputations. Despite LJN’s reputation, this is a fantastic experience.
The Punisher
This is one of the most interesting games on the NES. An on rails third person shooter, The Punisher feels like the Terminator 2 arcade game adapted to the world of Marvel’s vigilante and done well. I do not understand why this game is not brought up more. It has easy to learn controls that are adapted well to the NES, fun gameplay and good visuals and it managed to capture the spirit of the comics. This is a must play for any NES owner or comic fan.
T2 The Arcade Game on SNES
Speaking of Terminator 2, the arcade game received an excellent port to the SNES that was published by LJN and it is surprisingly faithful to the Arcade release. While there were some compromises that had to be made, the overall experience is there. Even the audio and voicework feels true to the arcade experience, moreso than the Genesis version. This version can be played with the controller or the Super Scope, but the best way to control the game is in fact the SNES mouse. I will go so far as to say this is the second best LJN published game.
Spider-Man/Venom : Maximum Carnage
The best LJN published game of all, Maximum Carnage had almost everything perfect about it. It was an adaptation of a storyline that proved to be better than the storyline, had amazing music, fun gameplay and the visuals captured the feeling of the comic. There were two characters to choose from and the levels were different depending on if you played as Venom or Spider-Man creating tons of replay value. There were numerous secrets to find and other heroes could be called in to help as well. The only drawback is that there is no two player mode.
And there we are. I hope you all look into these games more, and realize LJN did indeed put out some great games. There were others I wanted to include, But I might do a follow-up list and so I saved them for later. In the meantime, let me know what your favourite LJN games is.
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