A playthrough of GameTek's 1988 game show game for the NES, Jeopardy! Played against two CPU opponents on difficulty level 2. In 1987, IJE, the company that held the rights to produce electronic versions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, saw plenty of opportunity based on the success seen by licencee ShareData, who developed and published numerous home computer adaptations of Merv Griffin's hit shows. Does anyone else remember the classic DOS CGA versions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! that each came on a single 5.25" floppy disk? The games with the neon yellow, orange, and green CGA graphics with a "soundtrack" that was so aggressively honked by the internal PC speaker? Deciding that self-publishing these titles would net a larger profit, IJE established the GameTek label, and the released their first game under the new banner in late 1988. That game was Jeopardy! for the NES, developed by Rare. Closely mimicking the competitive “provide the question that goes with the answer” play of the television series, Jeopardy! presents players with 1,500 questions created specifically for the show’s first Nintendo outing. All of the staples of the show are present and accounted for: three-player competitive play, risk-versus-reward style scoring, Daily Double challenges, and the opportunity to win massive sums of cash in the no-holds-barred Final Jeopardy! round all make for an authentic experience. Well, except for the weird omission of its superstar host. Or any visible host, for that matter. Considering how many games that they were pumping out every month at this point, Rare maintained a surprisingly high level of quality, and Jeopardy! was no exception. The game plays smoothly and at a good pace, and the graphics are pretty neat despite how barren and goofy they are. The eyes terrify me and those reaction animations are so janky, but the game's overall look is weirdly appealing. The questions are too easy and the text parser is occasionally a bit too rigid, but I've always loved Rare's NES Jeopardy! games. They're fun whether you're playing alone or with friends, and a full game can be finished in less than a half hour, making them nice, simple pick-up-and-play titles. I'd call it classic NES gaming, all in all. _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete ( punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
