LJN is a notorious name among gamers. The company put out so many games of questionable quality that they are synonymous with bad NES games. But not everyone hates their games, and some even argue they are good. This is the basis for Matt Ezero’s youtube series, The LJN Defender. Matt feels LJN games get a bad rap and wants people to take a second look at them. This is a really unique thing and his videos are great. Matt really goes all out to make his argument for why some LJN games are not all that bad. He was greatly inspired to do this after replaying some LJN games such as Wolverine on the NES. Matt also reviews retro games and rom hacks and now romhacker PACNSAKDAVE has decided to give matt his own adventure ala Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures.
The game is a rom hack of Wolverine but with numerous changes, and starring the LJN Defender himself. The game stars Matt, the Defender who while playing Wolverine, is zapped into the game along with a box of LJN games. The resulting fusion creates a new game where the Defender must fight through a world inhabited by various characters and objects from LJN games, including the Karate Kid, Back to The Future and The Ultimate Warrior (Matt’s favourite wrestler). You can interact with other characters such as Spider-man and can get help from Hulk Hogan himself (replacing Havok from the original game). The Berserker rage feature is still here, but the lives have been increased from two to eight. Lastly the strength move special does not drain health from the meter. In other worse this is a new game based on the original game but redesigned just enough for modern gamers and to make this more accessible.
Every game needs a villain, and replacing Sabretooth from Wolverine is the man who hates LJN as much as the Defender likes them, The Angry Video Game Nerd himself. The Nerd and his right hand man have set up a murder world for the Defender to fight through, and honestly, I think this is the perfect setup. LJN’s arch nemesis vs their biggest advocate. It just makes so much sense.
The controls are spot on, even more than in the original game, and the great soundtrack is still there. This is something very much worth checking out. I think others will have as much fun as I did.
I played this on the PC and my controller worked great (although keyboard controls are possible), however PACNSACDAVE also is selling actual NES carts of the game here If you want the PC Version then it is free here. This is not an infomercial for the game, and I am not being paid to shill it. I simply want people to know all the options they have for playing this game.
You can see a video of The LJN Defender discussing the game here (Spoilers Included)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebCWcCMA8T0