Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (NES) Playthrough
245A playthrough of Virgin's 1991 license-based action-adventure game for the NES, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
With its all-star cast and its hit single theme song, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a huge blockbuster when it came out, so it seemed natural that a video game based on it would show up at some point.
It lacks the likenesses of Kevin Costner, Christian Slater, Morgan Freeman, et al., and there are no 8-bit versions of Bryan Adams' songs to sing along to, but this NES adaptation does a good job of following the film's major plot beats.
Prince of Thieves is an adventure game that plays as a top-down action game most of the time, but there is a lot more to it than that. There are large-scale battle scenes, one-on-one duels, chases on horseback, and some light puzzling to help spice things up.
There's an RPG-style menu system in place for when you need to do something more than kill a bad guy, like look at objects, speak to people, use items, and search the area around your feet. You can load out your band of merry men from the status screen by assigning items to your hands, chest, and head, and the more your characters are carrying, the slower they'll move.
Upon returning to England, you find Locksley Castle in ruins and your father dead, strung up as an example to anyone who'd dare act against those who are attempting to usurp the throne. You find the blinded family servant Duncan cowering inside, and once you've reunited with him you go to see the maid Marian. Just like in the movie.
Once you've found your way to Sherwood Forest and bested Little John in combat, you'll spend most of the remainder of the game going on missions to help build the rebel camp in preparation for the final showdown with the sheriff of Nottingham.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward, overall. The controls are a bit stiff and awkward but they're easy enough to come to grips with, and so long as you're sufficiently leveled up, none of the areas are particularly difficult to get through. The story keeps it pretty engaging, though.
(One major hint: Never give Marian's dagger to Duncan! If he's carrying it when he leaves the party, you can't finish the game. I've fallen victim to this trap more than once, and it sucks.)
It feels pretty similar to HAL's Day Dreamin' Davey, and since both were made by Sculptured Software, it seems reasonable to assume that they share a common code base. BUT, before that thought sends any of you fleeing in terror, know that Robin Hood is a far, far better game. The clunky controls and irritatingly fussy hit detection are in play here, too, but Robin Hood's adventure-centered design tends to minimize those problems. There are no huge mazes to stumble through, either, which makes for a much better experience overall.
The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag. The top-down action sequences are detailed but super ugly, but the duel scenes and the digitized photos of the characters look great. The music is nice throughout. The medieval themes are memorable and do a good job of setting the scenes, and I could rock out to that title theme all day long.
I remember being interested in this one after seeing Nintendo Power's feature coverage on it, but I never saw it at the store and eventually forgot about it. That's probably because it ended up being delayed - it was on the cover of the July 1991 issue, but the game didn't make it to store shelves until November of that year. Ouch.
I did eventually come back to it, though, and I really enjoyed it. It's unlike anything else on the NES, and even though some of its mechanics are a bit overwrought for a game that's so short and simple, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is overall an entertaining and memorable experience.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!