Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
265A playthrough of Electro Brain's 1992 action-adventure game for the NES, Stanley: The Search for Dr. Livingston.
Loosely based on the classic story revolving around the British Dr. Livingston's disappearance in the uncharted jungles of 19th century Africa, you assume the role of his student and disciple, the titular Stanley, running about, taking on giant spiders, man-eating plants, spear-wielding natives, jaguars, and other expected (and sometimes insensitively stereotyped) dangers. It's quite similar to The Battle of Olympus, but the map screen mercifully cuts out any need for backtracking. Why didn't more games adopt such a feature?
Each square of the initially blank map represents a stage, and when Stanley completes one, it fills in. You collect weapons, items that boost your stats, temple and gate keys, and other various items that you'll need to fetch for random NPCs. The colonialist slant might leave a bad taste in some people's mouths, but the general atmosphere, unique subject matter, and way it encourages you to explore every single nook of the jungle interior make it a memorable experience.
(Just remember to use your gyrocopter! Stanley doesn't do well with falling from heights. )
Remember what Super Pitfall tried to be? This one succeeds in pretty much every way that that game did not. It has its hiccups, sure, like the awkward hit boxes and the occasionally goofy jumping, but it nails the gameplay in most of the important ways.
The graphics were a real standout for me. There's an impressive amount of detail in the backdrops, and the animation is usually pretty smooth. The shading and dithered colors don't look nearly as nice on modern screens as they did on CRTs, though, so if your playing on an LCD panel, I'd recommend using some sort of shader to mimic scanlines.
It was developed by Sculptured Software (with their famously spotty hot-and-cold track record), but their experience really shows here and it's one of their best NES titles. It is amazingly polished for a game that, despite receiving a Nintendo Power feature, upon release immediately faded into complete obscurity. Stanley is not easy, not short, and not for those lacking patience, but if you're looking for a novel, well-crafted adventure/platformer on the NES, try it out!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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