Jaws (NES) Playthrough
427A playthrough of LJN's 1987 license-based action game for the NES, Jaws.
Jaws was one of the first NES games to bear the LJN logo when it debuted in November of 1987 alongside The Karate Kid (https://youtu.be/7rqkMK2mf5E) and Gotcha! The Sport!
Coming along about four months after Jaws: The Revenge belly-flopped into theaters with a resounding thud, the game was ostensibly posed as a tie-in to the film. It has no connection whatsoever to the movie's plot, but that was probably for the best.
Instead of having you satisfy a personal vendetta against a psychic shark, Jaws for the NES keeps things simple: the great white shark has been hanging out in the harbor, and it's your job to get rid of him.
As you steer your boat through the local waters, you'll occasionally be told that you've hit something. This kicks off a "random encounter" shooter-style stage against the local sealife in which you dive into the water to kill rays, jellyfish, and baby sharks with a harpoon gun.
These creatures drop all sorts of collectable items: stars give you bonus points, crabs boost your swimming speed, and seashells act as currency that can be traded for equipment upgrades.
If you kill enough baby sharks in a scene, you'll be scuttled off to a bonus game that involves dropping depth charges from a plane to kill chains of jellyfish for extra shells.
The first time you pull into a port after collecting enough shells, you'll receive a tracking device that beeps whenever Jaws comes near. Once you've collected a few more shells, you can return to the home port to power-up your harpoon gun, and after going back and forth to upgrade your gun a few times, you'll be given access to a submarine for improved maneuverability.
Eventually you'll come face-to-face with Jaws. To win, you'll need to whittle down Jaws' health in the shooter segments. Once you've emptied his power gauge, the game shifts to a first-person view and Jaws charges. As he approaches, you'll need to set off a strobe device that will make him angrily rear up out of the water, and the moment Jaws reveals his white underbelly, you hit the B button to violently stab him with your boat.
Jaws has been harshly criticized over the years, but I find it to be a fairly fun game. It feels like an early 80s arcade shooter that has been dressed up with a few creative mechanics to give it a bit of depth for the home console crowd. The premise is entertaining and bizarre, the graphics are appealing and bright, and the controls are fine - it's a pretty solid effort despite being way too short and easy.
One interesting thing to note is that the game was created by Westone (the company that made the Wonder Boy arcade game), working as a subcontractor for Atlus. LJN may have been the publisher, but the game had some solid talent standing behind it.
It's not a masterpiece, but Jaws is a much better game than that LJN logo might lead you to believe.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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