Back to the Future
Nintendo Entertainment System
Beam Software/LJN
Genre: Run-and-Gun Action
1989

Here we are again. Another film adaptation game on the NES, another trial I have wittingly thrown myself into. I’ve made no secret of my love for the somewhat broken Friday the 13th and my enjoyment of the slightly-more-broken Nightmare on Elm Street. That said, those games are also based off of films that I love. Is it biased to give games leeway because we love the source material? Kind of. I still stand by the idea that Friday the 13th has more to offer than it gets credit for, at the very least.

That said, what happens when a game comes up for a property that you’re ambivalent about? Don’t get me wrong- I really enjoy the Back to the Future films. I didn’t grow up watching them every day or anything, though. In fact, I didn’t watch the entirety of the first film until sometime in my late high school career. I enjoyed it, but it doesn’t have the nostalgia factor that some of my favorites have.

I did, however, have vague memories of playing the game on Nintendo a while ago. My childhood mind had some recollections of near-impossible minigames and something about running down a street. For whatever reason, I decided that I wanted to try to fill in those gaps and go back to play Back to the Future now that I’ve grown a bit and found an appreciation for particular game design choices and gained more of a critical eye for ways older games could be improved on.

I’m sure you can already tell how this went, but let’s push forward and maybe we’ll learn a thing or two along the journey!
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