Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
Four months after the
release of Dragon’s
Lairin 1983, former Disney animator Don Bluth revealed his second videogame creation: Space Ace.
The game was developed by Don Bluth Studios, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems (later RDI Video Systems) and was similar to Dragon’s Lair. It allowed a
player to play through an adventure story with feature film-quality animation.
At certain points, the player would have to move the joystick in a certain
direction or press a particular button at the right moment in order to continue
advancing through the story. A few upgrades were made from the Dragon’s
Lair game with the addition of difficulty settings, multiple choices
and paths for player actions, and the ability to shift between the handsome
hero and his smaller, younger self.
Promotional poster for the game.
Space
Ace followed the adventures of dashing hero Ace (Jeff Etter) as he endeavored to stop the sinister Borf (Bluth) from
conquering the Earth. He planned to do so by using an “Infanto Ray” to turn
everyone into helpless infants. Ace was hit by the beam and changed into his
younger self, Dexter (Will
Finn), and his sidekick, Kimberly (Lorna Cook), was taken captive by Borf. Using a specialized wrist gadget to
“ENERGIZE,” Dexter was able to turn back into Ace for a period of time and take
the fight to his enemies. Like with Dragon’s Lair, the
production costs were kept low by foregoing professional actors in favor of
members of Bluth’s studio voicing the characters. The only exception was Michael Rye, who was hired to handle the game’s narration as he had done with
the previous game.
Space
Ace was adapted into cartoon form by Ruby-Spears Productions for the second season of their video game-based umbrella
program Saturday
Supercadeon CBS.Ruby-Spears already had an
association with Bluth as they also produced a Dragon’s
Lair cartoon that
aired at the same time on rival network ABC. Some
liberties were taken with the source material. Ace (Jim Piper) and Kimberly
(Nancy Cartwright) were members of Space Command working under Space Marshall
Vaughn (Peter Renaday). They continually fought against the evil alien
commander Borf (Arthur Burghardt) and his plans to try and conquer the Earth.
Unfortunately, being hit by the Infanto Ray caused Ace to constantly revert
into Dexter (Sparky Marcus) at inopportune times. Ace and Kimberly attempted to
keep Ace’s “wimping out” a secret by claiming Dexter as Kimberly’s little
brother until the effects wore off. Borf’s primary minions included the
cat-like Groots, amongst a variety of humanoid agents.
Promotional flier for the Space Ace cartoon.
Space Ace debuted
as part of Supercade on September 8, 1984, with William Woodson providing the opening narration for the segments. Plots
generally centered around Borf’s latest plans to conquer Earth and destroy
Space Command, and typically involved the Infanto Ray modified for some
specific purpose. As with the Dragon’s Lair series, the
character designs were made to closely resemble their game counterparts, but
lacked Bluth’s distinctive styling and the fluidity found in the game. Also,
Kimberly was less of a damsel in distress and more on equal footing with Ace
during their adventures; more so whenever his transformation hit.
Ace and Kimberly in the show.
Although Space Ace ran its course with the cancellation of
the Supercade, it would soon make a return in rerun form
after Turner Entertainment purchased the Hanna-Barbera library, which by then also included the Ruby-Spears library
as both studios were under the same ownership. Space Ace was
shown on Cartoon
Network late nights in the 1990s and as
filler between shows on its sister station, Boomerang.
Borf overseeing repairs to the Infanto Ray.
As for the game, despite an
impressive marketing campaign headed by Bluth that was usually reserved for
film promotion (press books, press kits and theatrical
posters), it didn’t perform as well as Lair did
when it hit arcades. It had a few things going against it: firstly, that
initially the game was offered as a new cabinet before later being offered as a
conversion kit for existing Lair cabinets; secondly, the
increased difficulty level was cited as a problem; and thirdly it was released
during the 1983-84
videogame crash when consumers weren’t
as interested in games. Also, owners and players were more eagerly anticipating
a sequel to Lair, rather than a similar game.
Regardless, Ace ended up ported to various home consoles like Lair with varying degrees of success.
In the early 2000s, Ace again followed Lair and
was adapted into comic form in two series by CrossGen Entertainment and Arcana Studios.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Cute Groots” (9/8/84) – Borf modifies the Infanto Ray to
turn his Groots into cute kittens, which the then tricks Ace and Kimberly into
letting into the moon colony.
“Cosmic Camp Catastrophe” (9/15/84) – Vaughn assigns Ace
and Kimberly to accompany his nephew’s class on a camping trip that gets
interrupted by Borf.
“Dangerous Decoy” (9/22/84) – Borf sets his sights on the
young winner of a science fair for her video dematerializer device.
“Moon Missile Madness” (9/29/84) – Ace and Kimberly
infiltrate a space cycle gang in order to prevent them from stealing a missile
a missile for Borf.
“Perilous Partners” (10/6/84) – Commander Parch steals
Earth’s water in order to power his weaponry and conquer the universe, which
Borf can’t allow to happen.
“Frozen in Fear” (10/13/84) – Dexter accidentally flies too
close to warm meteors, thawing out a frozen prehistoric creature just as Borf
plans to use various creatures to attack Earth.
“Age Ray Riot” (10/20/84) – When Borf is hit by the Infanto
Ray, a race is on between him and Space Ace to acquire another ray that can reverse
the effects.
“Wanted: Dexter!” (10/27/84) – Space Ace and Kimberly are
sent after an outlaw that resembles Dexter.
“Phantom Shuttle” (11/3/84) – Space Ace is lured to a
phantom space ship so that Dregulon can use his lifeforce to power his
universe-conquering monster.
“Spoiled Sports” (11/10/84) – Borf decides to conquer Space
Command while its crew are competing in intergalactic games.
“Calamity
Kimmie” (11/17/84) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Three-Ring
Rampage” (11/24/84) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Infanto
Fury” (12/1/84) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE. Originally posted in 2017. Updated in 2020.
Emboldened by the success of Final Fightin
the arcades, Capcom decided
to revisit their Street Fighterconcept
and try to make it a better game. Street Fighter II:
The World Warrior, released
in 1991, followed a lot of the same conventions as its predecessor, but it
allowed players the options of playing with eight characters each with distinct
fighting styles and the ability to chain moves into combos (which came from a
bug in the programming). Coupled with brilliantly animated sprites and a
soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura,
the game became a hit and helped to revitalize the arcade game industry and
redefine the fighting genre.
Street Fighter II print ad.
Over the next few years, Capcom would refine the play
mechanics, graphics, character roster and more with a series of updated versions of Street
Fighter II in both the arcade and later on home consoles. While each
version was better than the last, the endless revisions became a running gag in
the video game community. Meanwhile, other game publishers looked to latch on
to Capcom’s success and began developing their own fighting games. Soon, there
was Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Samurai Showdown, King of Fightersand
many others. The fighting genre was beginning to become saturated, and
another Street Fighter II revision just wasn’t going to cut it
to maintain Capcom’s dominance in the field.
The Darkstalkers universe.
Capcom decided to use their unique Street
Fighter II game engine for a new kind of fighting game. Producer Alex Jimenez suggested
making a game involving the Universal Monsters,
based on his love of the properties. When Universal
Studios denied them the license, Jimenez decided to
create their own characters based on those and other monsters; a process which
he claimed took about an hour. The resulting game became Darkstalkers:
The Night Warriors (known as Vampire: The Night Warriors in
Japan). The game was similar to Street Fighter, but was
rendered with the most fluid sprite animation yet to convey each character’s
distinct personality, gorgeous background level designs, and introduced concepts
of midair blocking and extra-powerful attacks that would be integrated into
future Capcom fighters.
Character sprites (from top): Demitri, Victor, Raptor, Morrigan, Jon Talbain, Pyron, Sasquatch, Anakaris, Felicia, Bishamon, Rikuo and Huitzil.
The game was centered on the conflict of supernatural
beings known as Darkstalkers who came to inhabit Earth through the gradual
merging of the Earth realm with the demon world known as Makai. Cosmic being
Pyron came to Earth with the intentions of conquering and devouring it, and
only the Darkstalkers stood a chance of stopping him and saving the world. The
game featured ten playable characters: Demitri Maximoff, a vampire lord who was
banished to Earth from Makai; Morrigan Aensland (named for the Celtic Phantom
Queen), a succubus (initially a vampire but changed to add
some monster variety) and adopted daughter of Belial, the king of Makai;
Felicia, a catwoman (or bakeneko) raised in a nunnery with a desire to become an actress;
Jon Talbain (after the character John Talbot from
the Wolfmanmovies),
a werewolf struggling to control his animalistic urges through the study of
martial arts; Anakaris, a 5,000-year-old resurrected mummy; Bishamon (based on
Japanese god of war Bishamonten), a cursed suit of samurai armor that takes over whoever
wears it and fills the host with its bloodlust; Rikuo (named after Ricou
Browning who played the Gill-man in Creature from the
Black Lagoon), a merman whose race was
wiped out by the coming of Pyron; Sasquatch, a member of a race of yetis in the
Canadian wilderness with a fondness for bananas; Victor von Gerdenheim, a
dimwitted Frankenstein
monster whose creator died shortly after making him; and
Lord Raptor, an Australian speed metal guitarist resurrected as a zombie that
could transform his limbs into chainsaws. The two unplayable boss characters
were Pyron and his robotic minion, Huitzil (named for the Aztec god of sun and
war, Huitzilopochtli).
Initially, Jimenez wanted Felicia to be from Africa with the ability to turn
into a panther as her special move, as well as the sexy character. Morrigan’s
change to a succubus made her the default sexy one, leaving Felicia to become a
cute white cat at Capcom’s request.
The arcade game was released in Japan in early July of
1994 to generally favorable reviews, then worldwide later that month. When it
became one of the best-selling fighting
games, Capcom was quick to give Darkstalkers the Street
Fighter II treatment and released an updated version the following
March in Japan, which also saw a North American release in April. Night
Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge (Vampire Hunter in Japan)
featured new combos, two types of special moves that required different levels
of the special gauge to utilize, and made the bosses playable. It also
introduced two new characters: Hsien-Ko and Donovan Baine. Hsien-Ko was
transformed into a jiangshi, a type of Chinese reanimated corpse, with formidable
magical powers. Her sister, Mei-Ling, keeps her in check as the Ofuda (a
talisman believed to be imbued with the power of the deities) on Hisen-Ko’s
hat. Donovan was a dhampir that wielded a magical sword called “Dhylec” that
can channel divine and elemental powers. Donovan traveled with and protected
emotionally-detached young girl Anita,
who possessed powerful psychic powers. Both Hisen-Ko and Donovan were Dark
Hunters and gave the sequel its Japanese name.
Pyron and Huitzil hold Rikuo captive.
The series proved popular enough for Capcom to begin marketing it
in other media. Graz Entertainment optioned the license to produce an animated series based
around the game in North America. Expanding upon the game’s limited story,
Pyron (Richard Newman) had returned to Earth to find it teaming with humans. To
restore the balance where Darkstalkers ruled them and, in turn, served him,
Pyron recruited Demitri Maximoff (Michael Donovan, using a slight Transylvanian
accent) and Morrigan Aensland (Saffron Henderson, using an Irish accent) to
head up his army.
Morrigan and Demitri take down Victor.
Demitri used Pyron’s ship’s tractor beam to recruit
said army. He awakened Anakaris (Scott McNeil & Zoltan Buday, using an
Egyptian accent) from his deep sleep, which seemed to have warped his mind and
caused him to speak gibberish at times; Bishamon (Colin Murdock, using a
Japanese accent), who was dismayed to discover his curse persisted; and Lord
Raptor (McNeil, using a British accent), after resurrecting him from the plane
he crashed in while on tour in 1970. He also attempted to recruit Jon Talbain
(Lee Tokar) while he was on a hunt; the vain Rikuo (McNeil) as he lamented the
loss of his kind while also admiring himself; Victor von Gerdenheim (Ian James
Corlett, impersonating Arnold Schwarzenegger)
who was dormant in a movie studio prop room; Bigfoot (Sasquatch renamed, voiced
by Dale Wilson) as he was with his nephew, Hairball (Laura Harris); and Felicia
(Lisa Ann Beley) as she was rejected from yet another stage role. However, they
avoided his efforts.
Harry tries to keep Donovan from killing Felicia.
Felicia attempted to find help against Pyron’s forces
by heading to the home of Elijah Grimoire; a powerful wizard descended
from the legendary Merlin (Newman). Instead, she found young Harry Grimoire (a
new character originally named Bobby Bridges meant to serve as an audience
surrogate, voiced by Kyle Labine) who had inherited his ancestor’s power, but
not the knowledge to use it. Complicating matters were the Darkstalker hunters
Donovan Baine (Garry Chalk) and Hsien-Ko (Beley, using a Chinese accent), who
attacked without discrimination regardless of their targets’ intent. Felicia
and Harry served as the series’ primary protagonists as they sought to increase
Harry’s powers and thwart Pyron’s plans by teaming-up with the random
Darkstalker they encountered. Likewise, Morrigan and Dimitri served as the
primary antagonists with the others appearing every so often.
Jon Talbain, Rikuo, Klaus, Bigfoot, Harry, Felicia and Victor at Victor's castle.
Anakaris joins a video conference on Pyron's ship.
The show took some liberties with the source material in order to
make it more suitable for their intended young audiences. Instead of using the
Japanese character designs, the characters’ models were redesigned by Frank Brunner, Patrick
Gleason, James Glader and Paula
LaFond. As a result, Morrigan and Felicia’s
bodies were toned down and covered up a bit more. While still a succubus,
Morrigan was made the descendant of legendary enchantress Morgan
le Fey (also Henderson). Donovan’s sword was
simply called the “spell sword”, and Anita (renamed “Amanda” as she was in the
North American versions of the game) absorbed the power of the sword after
surviving an attack by Demitri (her origin remained consistent, but the
identity of the attacker tended to change between media). Raptor relied on
sonic attacks from his guitar rather than transforming his limbs into chainsaws
as in the game, and often spoke in song titles. Bishamon’s curse was housed in
the sword he possessed rather than in the armor, and once freed from the curse
he had to fight on the side of good in order to be reunited with his dead wife.
Victor was made a bit more intelligent and was given a manservant in his
father’s castle in the form of Klaus Schmendrick (Gerard Plunkett), whose family had always served the von Gerdenheim’s. Similarly,
Hsien-Ko was in the service of the goddess Quan Yin (Venus
Terzo), who was responsible for her creation
and her mission.
The series didn’t perform well with audiences. Many criticized the
writing and poor animation, as well as the addition of the annoying lead
character, Harry. As a result, the show was cancelled after its single season.
A second attempt at a Darkstalkers animated series came
when Madhouse and DR
Movie produced a four-episode OVA in Japan
called Night Warriors: Darkstalkers’ Revenge. McNeil was
retained to once again voice Lord Raptor (called Zabel Zarock), while Kathleen Barr, who played Harry’s mother, became the voice of Morrigan. In
comparison, the OVA was better received than the North American series.
Concept art for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011) showcasing the Darkstalkers members of the roster.
Following the release of Darkstalkers 3 in
1997, the game series was allowed to stagnate with only revisions and re-releases
to sustain it. Lackluster
reception to these efforts prompted Capcom to cancel
any plans for future installments. However, their representation continued
as Morrigan and Felicia, the most popular characters with gamers, would appear
in many of Capcom’s later fighting games and merchandise.
In comics,
the Darkstalkers would appear nearly a decade later in a mini-series by Devil’s Due Publishing, and then in
various books published by UDON Comics.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Out
of the Dark” (9/30/95) – Pyron returns to Earth and summons the Darkstalkers to
help him conquer it, and the only one Felicia can find to stop him is the
descendent of a powerful sorcerer.
“Donovan’s
Bane” (10/7/95) – Harry and Felicia head to Great Britain to find a ring
connected to his family, while Morrigan seeks out her own heirloom to take on
the Dark Hunter.
“Pyramid
Power” (10/14/95) – Morrigan, Demitri and Anakaris travel back in time to find
out the fate of an ancient gem while Mrs. Grimoire heads to Egypt to
investigate a floating pyramid.
“The
Game” (10/21/95) – Pyron pits Morrigan and Demitri against each other to see
who can capture the most heroes.
“And
the Walls Come Tumblin’ Down” (10/28/95) – Raptor’s guitar, Harry’s ring and
Anakaris’ computer all detect something strange that sends their respective
owners to investigate.
“Ghost
Hunter” (11/4/95) – Raptor investigates a possible Darkstalker to be recruited
while Felicia asks Rikuo to look into the mysterious death of a man in Africa.
“Little
Bigfoot’s Last Stand” (11/11/95) – Pyron abducts Harry and Hairball, leaving
Felicia and the Bigfoot tribe to figure out how to rescue them both.
“My
Harry’s in the Highlands” (11/18/95) – It’s a race to retrieve a magical ring
from Harry’s ancestor before Morrigan gets her hands on her own.
“Aliens
Keep Out” (11/25/95) –Rikuo recuperate in Atlantis after escaping the Dark
Hunter, but their rest is cut short when Pyron appears and is captured by an
ancient robot.
“Samurai’s
Honor” (12/2/95) – Donovan stops Demitri from devouring a young girl and takes
her to Felicia and Harry for help, only to discover there’s more to her than
there seems.
“There’s
No Business Like Dragon Business” (12/9/95) – Harry and Hairball find a dragon
in the snow who’s turned against Felicia by Raptor.
“Darkest
Before the Dawn” (12/16/95) – Demitri comes to possess a powerful mystical
crystal.
“Everyone’s
a Critic” (12/23/95) – Pyron is forced to team-up with the heroic Darkstalkers
in order to save the world from his brother, Terramon. Originally posted in 2017. Updated in 2024.
Following the
incredible success of arcade hit Donkey
Kong, Nintendo commissioned the
creation of a sequel. Donkey Kong Jr. hit
arcades in 1982 and followed the son of Donkey Kong as he set out to rescue his
father from the clutches of Mario (in
his only turn as a videogame villain). Ralston, having already
produced
a cereal for Donkey Kong, quickly snatched up the license to Jr. and created a cereal based around
that.
Unlike Donkey Kong Cereal, Donkey Kong Junior
Cereal was fruit-flavored and featured shapes reminiscent of bananas and
apples. The commercials for the cereal featured two kids sitting down to
breakfast, then becoming immersed in an animated jungle once they start pouring
the cereal into their bowls. Unlike how he appeared in the game art, Junior
wore a full-body red outfit with a yellow “J” and white cuffs. The cereal
offered several premiums, including baseball
cards, three
different game books, free fruit flavored Pez,
and a mail-away
offer for a Junior
Pez dispenser (which was just their standard gorilla dispenser with a “J”
stuck onto its hat).
After the major success of the
arcade hit Donkey Kong, Nintendo was eager to
duplicate that success and commissioned the creation of a sequel. The game’s
creator, Shigeru
Miyamoto, went to work on the first of many entries into the
franchise: Donkey Kong Jr.
Jr.
was the culmination of ideas Miyamoto had for Donkey Kong but was unable to incorporate due to graphical
limitations of the time. It was a departure from the previous game, as it
focused on Donkey
Kong’s
son, Junior, who had to rescue his captured father from Mario.
This marked the first and only time that Mario was a villain in a video game. The
reason Junior was made the star was because Miyamoto wanted the player to be
able to play as Donkey Kong, but
again graphical limitations prohibited the use of such a large character in an
action game. The style of platforming was also different as this time around
Junior had to climb a series of vines in order to reach Donkey Kong’s cage at
the top while knocking objects onto enemies to destroy them. Like its
predecessor, it featured four distinct levels repeated with increasing
difficulty. The game would end after the player lost all their lives or reached
the level 22 kill
screen.
Donkey
Kong Jr. was released to arcades in August 1982, just weeks apart in both
Japan and North America. The game proved as successful as its predecessor,
earning the 1984 Arcade
Award for “Best Video game Audio-Visual Effects”. It was
selected among five arcade games for history’s first official video game
world championship in January of 1983, filmed at Twin Galaxies
in Ottumwa, Iowa by ABC
reality program That’s Incredible!Like its
predecessor, Jr. was ported to the
home consoles, with the Coleco Adam
version gaining an exclusive fifth
stage, and to the Game
& Watchseries
of handheld games which reproduced the first
level. The third and fourth levels of the game were reproduced
in the follow-up, Donkey Kong II. Jr. also
had its own direct sequel in the form of educational game Donkey Kong Jr. Math for the Nintendo
Entertainment System. The game, however, was poorly received
and future entries in the series were quickly cancelled.
Donkey Kong Jr. aired
concurrently to Donkey Kong and
featured Junior (Frank Welker) travelling from the jungle to see his father,
Donkey Kong (Soupy
Sales), in the circus. Learning of his escape and desperate
to find him, Junior partnered with clumsy biker, Bones (Bart Braverman), and
took off on Donkey Kong’s trail. Ken Boyer
and Patrick
A. Ventura created the character models that adapted the cabinet
artwork easily animated television stars. The theme music was composed by Shuki Levy
and Haim Saban.
Height comparison character model sheet.
Junior
and Bones would often end up following a false lead and instead find some kind
of trouble they would get involved with; be it foiling a robbery or protecting
children from bullies. Junior was the most headstrong of the pair, always
charging forward into situations and even taking over the operation of Bones’
own motorcycle. Bones generally stood to be the voice of reason and usually ended
up taking the fall when Junior’s schemes went awry. Junior’s battle cry was
“Monkey Muscle!”, which he exclaimed whenever they were about to encounter a
problem or felt Bones needed a bit of encouragement.
Bones' motorcycle.
Although
the Supercade ran for two seasons, Jr. wasn’t carried over and ended after
its 13-episode run. It, along with Frogger
and Pitfall!!, were removed and
replaced with Space Aceand Kangaroo. Like most of the Supercade,
rights issues regarding the various properties have prohibited much in the
way of home media releases, although Warner
Archive had reportedly begun investigating the possibility of doing so back
in 2010. While Junior in his established form wouldn’t be a starring character
again, he was continually featured as a character in compilations and re-releases
of Donkey Kong and other Nintendo
games, such as Super Mario Kart. However, it has been heavily implied that the Donkey Kong that
debuted in the Donkey Kong Countryseries of games was a grown-up Junior
or the son of Junior.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Trucknapper
Caper” (9/17/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Sheep
Rustle Hustle” (9/24/83) – Junior and Bones help protect a ranch from sheep
rustlers.
“Rocky
Mountain Monkey Business” (10/1/83) – An escaped convict and his pet bear sets
their sights on a park ranger to help them find stolen loot they buried
somewhere in the forest.
“Magnificent
7-Year-Olds” (10/8/83) – Junior and Bones end up in a conflict with bullies
stealing bikes from all the local kids.
“The
Ventriloquist Caper” (10/15/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Great Seal Steal” (10/22/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“The
Jungle Boy Ploy” (10/29/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Junior
Meets Kid Dynamo” (11/5/83) – Trying to stop a robbery leads Junior and Bones to
encounter real-life superhero, Kid Dynamo.
“Amazing
Rollerskate Race” (11/12/83) – Crooks hide stolen gold as roller skate wheels
on skates accidentally given to a team of kids.
“A
Christmas Story” (11/19/83) – NO SYNOPSIS AVAILABLE.
“Gorilla
Ghost” (11/26/83) – A gorilla ghost kidnaps animals from the zoo where Junior’s
uncle lives in a plot to use them to steal some gold.
“Teddy
Bear Scare” (12/3/83) – Babysitting at a carnival leads to Junior winning a
teddy bear stuffed with stolen loot.
“Double
or Nothing” (12/10/83) – When his cousin Lucy Belle ends up abducted, Bones
disguises himself as her to attend the reading of a will. Originally posted in 2017. Updated in 2020.
