Challenger (FC)
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Challenger' (チャレンジャー Charenjā) is an action game developed and published by Hudson Soft, released in Japan in 1985. It is based on the computer game Stop the Express. The player takes the role of an unnamed cowboy-looking protagonist, and the antagonist has taken his girlfriend. The protagonist must save his girlfriend.
The game is an action game that contains four levels (called Scenes). In the first scene, the game is an action sidescroller where you must make it to the back of the train, enter from the back, and go back to the front to save your girlfriend. However, when you do this, the antagonist pushes you off a train, and it's off to Scene 2. Scene 2 takes place on a large overworld. Here, you must enter several caves (which take you to Scene 3). Here, you must cross several deadly geysers, grab the item on the other side, and cross the geysers again safely. In the fourth scene, it plays similar to a level in the original Donkey Kong; the antagonist has your girl imprisoned in a cage, and you must dodge several deadly obstacles. After throwing a few daggers at the antagonist, you can save your girlfriend. The game then returns to the first stage where the difficulty increases.
The game also allows you to set your difficulty at the game's title screen, and is shown as a bar, rather than in textual form; quite unusual for a Famicom game. You use the D-pad to move the protagonist, the B button to jump, and the A button to throw your daggers. Unfortunately, the game is plagued by stiff controls, primarily by the standard A and B button controls for action NES games being switched around. Also, because the game is an early title on the NES, the graphics leave a lot to be desired.
The game was programmed by Masaaki Kikuta, with graphics by Tsuguyuki Yamamoto and music by Takeaki Kunimoto. Other staff include Katsuhiro Nozawa as a secondary programmer, Toshiyuki Sasagawa for additional graphics and sound programming, and Megumi Okamura as the game's adviser.
Contents
Screenshots
Music
Challenger features music by Takeaki Kunimoto; the first game he ever worked on. He had demonstrated a Yamaha CX-11 music computer to one of Hudson's staff members, Toshiyuki Sasagawa at a music store, in which Toshiyuki urged Takeaki to apply for Hudson Soft.
As an early Famicom title, the music leaves a lot to be desired, though isn't as dull as most other Famicom soundtracks at the time, thanks to Hudson using the talents of a professional musician.
To create the game's music, Takeaki wrote the music using FM Music Composer II for his Yamaha CX-7 MSX2 computer. He then sent the recordings to Hudson via demo tapes, in which Toshiyuki Sasagawa implemented it into the sound engine.
The first stage of the game uses an 8-bit arrangement of Franz Schubert's Military March. This arrangement was done originally by Kunimoto, not Sasagawa. However, Kunimoto's arrangement itself was arranged for the Famicom by Sasagawa, which is why Kunimoto and Sasagawa are credited as arrangers below. There are also two alternate versions of Scene 1 and Scene 2's music; both without their intro. However, these do not appear to be used in the game. When the player loses a life and starts again, the music restarts with the intro.
The song titles are taken from Kinoko Kunimoto Takeaki History Vol.1: Challenger and Famicom 20th Anniversary - Original Sound Tracks, Vol.2 (see below). However, we have slightly altered the titles for this site. Also, the latter has a track for the death sounds, but as these are sound effects, they are not included in this recording.
Recording
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
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| 01 | Scene 1 | Franz Schubert | Takeaki Kunimoto, Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 1:50 | Download | |
| 02 | Danger | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 0:20 | Download | |
| 03 | Scene 2 | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 2:21 | Download | |
| 04 | Scene 3 | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 1:22 | Download | |
| 05 | Scene 4 | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 1:11 | Download | |
| 06 | Congratulations | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 0:10 | Download | |
| 07 | Scene 1 (No Intro) | Franz Schubert | Takeaki Kunimoto, Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 1:46 | Download | |
| 08 | Scene 2 (No Intro) | Takeaki Kunimoto | Toshiyuki Sasagawa | 2:18 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper:
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Uncredited Composer: Takeaki Kunimoto
- Uncredited Arranger: Toshiyuki Sasagawa
- Uncredited Sound Driver: Masaaki Kikuta credited as Kiku
(Source: Kinoko Kunimoto History Vol.1: Challenger; Game lacks credits.)
For such an early title, it will come as no surprise that the game does not have credits. Even beating the game on the hardest difficulty yields no extra reward.
Takeaki Kunimoto has taken credit for the game's soundtrack, and has released the soundtrack (containing the original demo tapes) on the album Kinoko Kunimoto Takeaki History Vol.1: Challenger (see below).
Interviews with the developers have confirmed Toshiyuki Sasagawa as the sound programmer. However, Hudson used the term Sound Program as someone who arranged a composer's songs onto the target console. The driver was most likely programmed by the game's programmer Masaaki Kikuta, who hid his name in the ROM as Kiku, as he did with many other games he worked on.
Game Rip
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Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The music was recorded in NSFPlay Synthesia Mod.
Albums
Audio Devices
The game uses the RP2A03 of the Famicom for music and sound effects. The music never utilizes the noise channel.
Releases
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Links
- gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/578251-challenger - GameFAQs.
- mobygames.com/game/nes/challenger - MobyGames.
- atwiki.jp/gamemusicbest100/pages/1156.html - Atwiki.jp (Japanese).
