Difference between revisions of "Back to the Future (NES)"

Revision as of 09:48, 3 December 2014

Back to the Future

Platform: NES Year: 1989 Developer: Beam Software Pty., Ltd. Buy: Amazon

This page is for the NES game, for other platforms see Back to the Future.

Back to the Future is a top-view side-scroller very loosely based on the movie of the same name. The player plays as the main character from the movie, Marty McFly, who has to go to the past to save the future. Like most LJN games, there is hardly any semblance to the movie, the play control is pretty awful, and there is little enjoyment to the game. Back to the Future screenwriter Bob Gale said that LJN would show him the game when it was finished. When it was finished, he was greatly disappointed from the game and wanted changes to be made to the game, but was told that it was too late to make any changes. LJN also wouldn't let Bob give any input on the game during development.

You'll spend most of the game collecting alarm clocks, avoiding swarms of bees, and tossing bowling balls at rock-throwing hula hooping girls (just like the movie, right?). After several levels of that, you'll find yourself in Lou's Cafe where you must throw milkshakes at 99 bullies who approach the bar. If any of them reach the bar, you'll have to start the level all over again. Then, it's on to more bees. Then, you have to catch your mother's hearts in the classroom (WTF?). Then, more bees. Then catch notes on a guitar? Then more bees. Finally, the ending level is pretty dull, you just try to get the Delorian up to 88 MPH by avoiding lightning on the ground, and if you're able to, you'll get a very dull "you win" message. If you fail a single time, it's game over, even if you still have lives left.

Screenshots

Template:Screenshots

Music

There are only two songs in the game, both were composed by professional bands and borrowed from the movie's soundtrack. The first song which is heard throughout the bulk game is a sped up version of Power of Love by Huey Lewis & the News. You can listen it how it could be, if the programmers didn't make this awful mistake, here, combined with original music (or go here and choose the 0/5 of original video speed, if you want to listen only original NES chiptune). The second song is a sped up version of Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry that plays at the dance (like the first, you can listen it with normal speed here. Both songs have a highly increased tempo of 150 BPM (beats per minute). Gavan said he had the sheet music for the songs at the time because he was teaching the songs to his guitar class.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Programmer	Length	Size	Listen
01	The Power of Love	Huey Lewis & The News	Gavan Anderson	Gregg Barnett	1:47	1.9 MB
02	Johnny B. Goode	Chuck Berry	Gavan Anderson	Gregg Barnett	0:55	933 KB

Credits

• Ripper: Unknown
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits
  • Not Credited Composer: Huey Lewis
  • Not Credited Composer: Chuck Berry
  • Not Credited Arranger: Gavan Anderson
  • Not Credited Programmer: Gregg Barnett

The game lacks credits, probably because of the game's poor quality, but Gavan Anderson has given us confirmation that he created the music and sound effects in this game. Gavan wrote the music using Beam Software's audio driver and entered the music in Music Macro Language. He said that the programmers chose the tempo for the music.

(Verified composer, game lacks credits)

Game Rip

Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

The music was recorded with Not So, Fatso!. Nosefart does not give proper playback.

Releases

USA Title: Back to the Future Platform: NES Released: 1989/09/?? Publisher: LJN Toys, Ltd.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/back-to-the-future - Moby Games.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/587101-back-to-the-future/data - GameFAQs.