I'm Josh Liston from on the Bubble podcast, an oral history of television fandom, part of the Gunner Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out now, shows on the network are individually owned, and opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other awesome, geeky shows@Gunnageeknetwork.com. And welcome to play comics, where once again, we are here looking at a video game based on a comic property. This time, we are digging way back, both in when the game came out and when the character started. Although the character starting thing is kind of a common happening over here. Today, though, we are looking at the Game Boy game, Popeye two. And I have Matt Storm here with me. Matt, how are you doing today?
I'm great. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to talk about this bizarre game from my childhood that I probably haven't played since my childhood that I revisited for the show.
I am so excited that some, somebody not only wanted to do one of these older games that I'm trying to catch up with, but wanted to do Popeye, because so far, the only time we've looked at Popeye was that initial episode when I did the Atari roundup stuff and me by myself, not exactly the best format for the show. So I'm glad that I could have.
A guest for this one. I'm happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
What was it that made you so excited to come on for a Popeye episode?
I mean, it's a few things. I love the Game Boy. We, not that long ago, as of when we were recording, did a retrospective over on my video game podcast, funny games about the Game Boy. Although I don't recall if I actually brought this game up, I may not have, but also, more importantly, I grew up being obsessed with Popeye. I had collections of the comics. But I'd say, of course, like, probably most people around my age, which I'm not going to say out loud, because it's just old. Assume old. Grew up on the cartoon. I loved the cartoon. All the different varieties of them. The cartoon movies, bunches of different stuff. And then, you know, there were also, I think there were Sunday funnies and, you know, there was just Popeye was incredible place. Even got a live action movie. And so, like, kind of popeyes always kind of been around. Since my childhood. I don't know that I've engaged with Popeye as much as an adult, but when I saw that you were doing a Popeye game, the first thing I did was like. I was like, I kind of remember that. So I googled a long play, which is a whole half hour long on most playthroughs, and watched it and went, oh, I do remember this. But, like, that was the first thing. And then I watched someone play it for a little bit to see quite how comprehensible it was, and went, no, okay, this looks like it's at least solid. I'll do it. And so then I picked it.
To be fair, though, sometimes the games that aren't so solid are fun, too.
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I have always said that sometimes discussing bad games that are bad for very specific reasons are also just as much fun to talk about, because you can dig into why and what could make it better or what. You know, there can be some joy found in some terrible stuff as well. You know, your bad movies and that kind of thing, too.
With Popeye, though, you've got a really interesting cultural character here. It seems like everybody that I know, they know who Popeye is, they can do a few little things about him, but I don't know anybody who is a huge Popeye fan. It's just everybody has picked up that Popeye cultural osmosis knowledge, and it's just sitting there flowing down from person to person, just like all the stupid songs we'd sing on the playground.
Yeah, I think Popeye is up there with Mickey Mouse and Mario and Superman, even Spider man, as, like, a character that even if you have never read, watched, or played a single thing to do with him, if you saw a photo, you'd go, that's Popeye. And I think probably, especially since there's, as far as I know, anyway, I could be wrong. There are no modern Popeye media. Like, there's no current movie or cartoon that I'm aware of. Like, I think that's probably why there aren't a ton of current Popeye fans. But, like, I know tons of folks, I'm guessing around our age, probably has quite a bit of nostalgia for him, at the very least because he was everywhere, especially back in the early days. Like, he was one of the most popular comic book and kind of cartoon characters for that time.
Popeye debuted in a comic called Thimble Theater all the way back in 1929. I mean, that is a really long time ago. It's about when Superman came out. It's about when Batman came out. Don't look at my math. It's close enough.
I mean, it is, and I hate to say this out loud, almost a hundred years ago.
Oh, yeah. Cause that means I'm record scratch years old.
Yes, yes, correct.
And then what I know Popeye from mostly is the Max Fleischer cartoons, which ran from 1933 to 1957, which, you know, obviously, if you go back and watch anything from that era now, you're gonna find lots of things that wouldn't really fly but were cool back then. Yeah, we're not gonna get too much into that because we don't need to. Popeye is happy.
The Max leisure cartoons. I mean, him, Superman, like, Popeye and Superman are the big ones, know from him. And, like, were just on when I was a kid. We had probably the vhs compilations and other stuff. And it was just one of those things played to placate me in my youth. And so while I probably couldn't tell you a specific storyline, I definitely have in my mind specific moments that flash to me. I think the one that sticks with me the most is, I don't know if you ever saw the Sinbad the sailor movie. It was like a short. And, like. So Bluto is. Is recast, you know, drawn as Pluto, but he's Sinbad the sailor. That's Popeye versus Sinbad. And, uh, I just. I remember him fighting like, a chimera at one point. I remember him, like, fighting Bluto. It's to rescue olive oil, I think. But, like, it was just, like, the biggest Popeye thing that stands out to me. Just so I remember watching it on loop as a kid.
That's more concrete than I can remember because most of what I remember is, like, definite scenes from things. But it's Popeye fighting at the fair, Popeye fighting at the docks, Popeye fighting on an island kind of thing. And. And just that Max Fleischer art style. Like, one, once you see that and know what it is, you will never unsee it 100%.
And, like, Popeye also had a really great cast of characters that I remember really well. Like wimpy and Olive oil I mentioned earlier. Even poop deck Pappy was the older one, sweet pea the baby. What was the name of the creature? There was a creature, too. Like an alien cat thing. I can't remember his name.
Eugene.
Yes, that's right. And, like, I. So I remember the style of those drawings too, as well. Like, all of those characters really were stand out. And, like, it had, you know, not necessarily a rogues gallery, but it was like an ensemble. Like a lot of old cartoons at that time. There's quite a few characters that, you know, always had these bits. And, like, you know, wimpy wanting to borrow money to buy a burger and all of those things that. That stick with me to this day. Even I remember specific narratives with those characters.
If you were going to be one of Popeyes side characters, which one do you think you would be?
That's a good question. It doesn't have a ton of redeemable side characters. I can relate to wimpy. I've been that poor. I've had those days where it's like, oh, I just don't have any money on me. Could I borrow a thing to get a thing? I promise I'll pay you back. Best of intentions and all of that. So I guess I would say I most relate to wimpy. I mean, also, Bluto, like, was always kind of marketed as this bad guy, but I think he was just kind of jealous and kind of sad and needed care and support that might have helped him along in his issues if he had just talked about them instead of trying to punch Popeye to death, which often was the result of whatever narrative was happening in those old cartoons and comics.
I know a lot of people really like olive oil, but my wife and I were watching some of these cartoons while we were eating dinner. Before recording this, she looked at it and it was just, man, olive oil is being kind of a jerk. Like, oh, no. Bluto showed up at the door first. I'll go to the fair with him instead.
Yeah. Olive oil wasn't like, it's this damsel in distress, or that's how it was, like, framed kind of broadly. But it wasn't always that. It was like she kind of would go with the first guy who showed up, and Popeye was off within the dork who was left behind until, of course, he cracked open a can of spinach that changed everything. It's not till I think the later cartoons where Olive oil is this, like, devoted girlfriend, kind of kind person who supports him. I think a lot of the early narratives were very much like she was just kind of a floozy, I guess, for, to use terminology of the time.
That's spinach, though. I think that is probably the most iconic part of Popeyes character. And for some reason I kept, like, wondering why it was spinach and then never actually looked up why?
Yeah, I don't know that I know definitively why either. I can say that I ate spinach in my childhood because of Popeye. Absolutely. The kind of cartoon brainwashing slash marketing machine absolutely worked on me and got me. I mean, I was a kid who grew up who liked to eat vegetables, but, like, I didn't like spinach, but then I started seeing it in Popeye cartoons, and I was like, oh, I want that. Get me that. If it makes Popeye strong, I want to be strong, like it really did. That kind of childhood wonder worked on me. Uh, I still eat spinach to this day. Um, and I'm actually quite fond of it. But until this moment, I hadn't reassociated it with Popeye, even though, of course, it's like, the thing he's known for is eating spinach.
What is the best way to eat spinach to you?
I mean, I really like it in a salad. Kind of like, instead of romaine lettuce, like a salad with a spinach base. But I also don't mind it cooked. It depends on how it's cooked, but, uh, I don't actually mind cooked spinach in small amounts. I can eat, like, a pile of it, but, like, sauteed spinach, I think, is very good, actually. Especially depending on what you use to saute it with. You know, it can be quite delicious.
I am mostly a fan of spinach in all forms. Funnily enough, today, the one I hate the most is can.
Yeah, I mean, I think fresh spinach will always be better. Like, if you're making cooked spinach, not from a can or frozen, like, actually cooking down spinach, I think, will always taste better than out of a can or, you know, out of a freezer pack. But I also don't judge some folks. That's just how they can get it, how they prefer to get it. So, you know, you do you, as long as you're eating spinach.
And through all of my quick research here, which took exactly as long as think it did, it seems like spinach was chosen because it was the 1920s and thirties, and kids should eat spinach because it's high in nutrients.
I mean, that makes as much sense as anything else.
Honestly, I don't know if that's actually true, but that's what three of the top Google results showed me, so it's good enough for right now.
I mean, it's on the Internet. It can't be wrong, right?
Everything on the Internet is 100% true all the time.
Obviously, currently and forever.
I do know that Popeye comics are currently running in newspapers. The thing that I don't believe the most about that is that newspapers still exist, but apparently they do. Supposedly, the Sunday ones are new. The during the week ones are just reruns of older stuff. At least that's what it's doing right now. As of the time, we're recording this. I mean, it makes sense. Spend a week to get your good Sunday one.
I feel like at some point, Garfield recycled for a while too, but maybe not. It's hard to remember. I mean, Jim Davis has been doing that forever, but, yeah, I remember reading Popeye in the, like I used to as a kid, want us. Like, my dad would get the paper. I'd be like, please, can I have the comics? And then read the comics and Popeye, Garfield, Heathcliff, all sort of stuff. I used to read a lot of Sunday funnies and, like, the newspaper comics as a kid. I mean, as an adult, I don't get a newspaper much at all anymore, but, like, I, most of my comic reading is by omnibus. Like, I don't really buy single issues anymore, but, like, I haven't read, like, a proper newspaper related or what feels like a newspaper comic to me. Your Garfield, Heathcliff's, Calvin and Hobbes, although that ended, of course. Like, I haven't read those in a long time. And that actually surprises me because I grew up with, like, all of those anthology books that we all had as kids, kids of a certain age, and read them all the time. Like, I would stay up late under the covers of the flashlight, like, those cliches you see in movies reading these comics. And I don't really, I think that's also why I picked this, is because it was a chance to reminisce about something that was a big part of my childhood that I don't engage with as much as an adult.
Yeah, those daily newspaper comics. My brother and sister and I would always lightly fight over who got to read them first. And it was especially when they were in the sports section, because my brother and I would want to read the sports too. So then we're holding onto that paper even longer. There's just something about newspaper comics, because it really epitomizes the idea that everything, every piece of a story could be somebody's first part. Like, with comic books, you get around that a little bit because, you know, no matter what, they at least have that entire issue. But with comics in the newspaper, you don't know when papers are gonna start picking up that syndication. So any random ass spot could be where you have a whole audience of readers coming into the story.
Yeah, totally. And I think it's an interesting way to make comics. Right. I feel like it was always fun. Like, I go back to Garfield because it's the one I read the most. Like, there were the single panels, the three panels, and then the, like, nine panel, like, whatever, like, large Sunday comics. And some of them were, like, continuing this narrative of John dating Liz or whatever else, and then some of them were just, like, a bit, and it was a one time bit, and you could read it once and totally get it within the context of the comic. I think it's what set, like, like you said, I think it's what really sets apart Sunday funny and, like, newspaper comics from, like, superhero comics and, like, long running comics, you know, serialized comics in that way. I think they had more punch for little kids because they were these kind of one panel, three panel jokes that you could get, or one panel, three panel adventures that you could get real quick. And there wasn't a lot of, like, backlog or narrative understanding that was needed. It was kind of just pretty straightforward and presented pretty plainly and also horrible.
For the Sunday ones because there was always that portion of it that may or may not actually run into your paper.
Yeah.
Popeye, I don't think, is ever going to fully go away. We still see him on advertisements for spinach. We still see him as one of these stereotypical strongmen of the world. And there's just something endearing about Popeye and the only person who could probably get away with having a pipe these days.
Yeah, totally. I think also what supports Popeye in media, for sure, is, like, he had a jingly kind of theme song that was catchy and easy to memorize. A song written by William Costell. It's five lines, six lines. And I still remember to this day, even without looking at the lyric, it's just very funny to me because I feel like Superman had it. Look, it's a bird. It's playing. It's Superman. But he's had a variety of theme songs, all kind of similar and brassy, but none of them really have lyrics. Well, none of the good ones have lyrics, I'll say that, you know, or you think about, like, spider man, like, the Ramon Spider man song, and, like, spider Man's old, like, cartoon, like, also had, like, a very singable theme song. And I think that goes a long way also to endear, especially young children, to a cartoon character or comic book characters that have, like, easy to remember theme song.
I honestly can't think of anything bad about Popeye.
Yeah. I mean, like, I'm sure there's stuff in the comics and the cartoons, like we mentioned earlier, that hasn't aged well, but I think that's just about anything that's been around that long is that, you know, and, I mean, look, Mario is still saving the princess often, although she's getting her own game this year, which I'm very excited about. So, like, some of those things kind of stick with us for a long time. But I think beyond some of those, like, tropes and, like, things that were considered acceptable then that aren't now, for the most part, Popeye is still a pretty great character who has some pretty cool adventure.
Oh, on that note, we're gonna go cook ourselves up some spinach while I drop some promos for a few other shows. Do you feel like you're the only person in your circle who wants to go deep about video games regularly? We were like that, too. Until now. Welcome to Cross play conversations, the brand.
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It's time to feel the rage. Join us on film rage, where we talk movies, current releases, coming attractions, streaming, and classic films as well. Directors and actors, beware as you cannot hide from the rage. My name is Bryce, and I'm part of the film rage crew, which also includes Jim, hey, hey, and Murray.
Why isn't you always talking all the time? I can't. This is the merman, the voice of reason. These two can't agree on anything most of the time. Some movies are Mondo, some are just every week, something is gonna make us rage. Join us every Wednesday and feel the rage. Those are some great shows to check out. But first, let's finish up with this one. So, Matt, it's Popeye. I have to address the elephant in the room here. We did not skip over Popeye one because it didn't come out over here.
Yeah, it's really interesting that Popeye. There's two Popeye games, but the first one only released in Japan, and then Popeye two came out here. They're both arcade games, too, also, I believe. But it's just very interesting to me that Popeye one, which I believe was on the Game Boy, either the game Boy in the NES over in Japan came out there and never came out here. And then I believe Popeye two came out everywhere here, Japan, Europe. It's just very bizarre, but also kind of fits like what we were talking about, how Popeye is like a thing that you can pick up at any point and enjoy. Like, the order of operations doesn't matter for the narrative, but I do think it's kind of ridiculous that, like, for example, if you say, downloaded a rom and then deleted it within 24 hours, to be completely legal, a thing we all do when we use roms, you would see in a list of Game Boy games, Popeye two, and that's it. No other Popeye games on the Game Boy. It's just very, very, very odd compared to lots of other series that were on the Game Boy that had multiple entries.
There was no renaming of the game when it came out over here. Yes, it's kind of weird, but it also means you don't have the Final Fantasy number problem. I can appreciate that.
Yeah, I mean, it's not the only sequel that was only on Metroid. On. I just let the cat out of the bag. It was the only sequel that was only on the Game Boy. Metroid, which started on the NES, got its sequel on the Game Boy, and then continued to only have one game, with some minor exceptions, on each console until, like, the Game Boy advance and the GameCube. So it does happen. But like, Metroid one did come out in the states, it was just on a different console. That's not the case here. It's literally the only Popeye game at that time that came out over here. I think there might have been an NES game at some point, but, like, we never got the original Popeye game for the game Boy.
Like, we got that Atari 2600 game.
Yes. Yes.
It's a 2600 game. I can't get. I'm not old enough to get into those.
No, I owned a 2600 and, like, towards the end of its life and loved it. Like, any little kid loves a thing, he doesn't understand. Not something that I look back to like, oh, boy, I can't wait to go play the Superman game on the Atari 2600.
I still own a 2600 because I'm a giant nerd, which is also why I'm not going to get rid of it.
Sure. Of course. Obviously, totally makes sense to me.
But Popeye two was made by Activision and Copya system. Activision has a ton of things that we've looked at on the show. A bunch of Spider man games, a bunch of X Men games, the couple blade games, and judge dread for PS one copy a system has had nothing that we have looked at here on the show.
Yeah, I've not even heard of them by name. I'm sure it's funny. Well, Wikipedia doesn't do many service. When you click on the link it takes you to nothing. So I'm sure they made other games at the time, but like, nothing that comes to mind. Like, I don't know that I've actually heard that developer's name out loud until this very moment.
Moby Games has them credited for 16 games between 1990 and 1999 and none of them are worth really mentioning here. Like, half of them are Japan only games, right?
It sounds like they were a Japan developer that never broke out in the States and this was one of a handful of games that came over here.
The plot of this game is pretty simple, which makes sense for a 1991 Game Boy game. You know, even though we got it in 92 or 93. One of those two I can't remember off the top of my head, but you know, it was made in 91 for Japan. I know that much for sure. Olive Oil finds a treasure map and then they all get on a boat and they go out to try to find the treasure and Bluto says, haha, no, I'm stealing everybody and you Popeye, and you have to go around and save your friends and then get the treasure map and then find the treasure.
Yeah, pretty straightforward. It goes back again to the thing we've mentioned a few times, that Popeyes narratives weren't super complex. So I mean, the intro to this game I actually really love. I think it's, first of all, the sprites are great on this. Like, game Boy sprites don't always look good, but like when they are made, well, they're nice and big and recognizable and all the sprite, like, you know, which each character is, you can see what's going on. For the most part, the screen crunch isn't too bad and the opening cutscene is just a fun little moment with dialogue boxes, which I was actually surprised about. I thought it would just kind of be pantomime and move on, but that we actually have dialogue too, which feel in the spirit of the characters. I mean, Popeyes line when he, you know, he says blow me down. Like I. I hear it. I hear classic Popeye voice in my head. I think. I think Popeye is one of the few characters anyone can do an impression of. That and solid Snake are like the two video game characters I think everyone can do an impression of. But yeah, it's a fun little story that really doesn't mean anything once you're playing the game. It's just kind of a framework for why you're doing the platforming.
But that opening scene, I would put it a step or two below Link's awakening in quality, which Link's awakening came out later too, so of course it's going to be better. But, you know, if that's what I'm comparing it to, you're in pretty good company.
You know, it's very easy for Game Boy games to be kind of arcadian basic. And this one kind of impressed me from the moment I turned it on. And like I said earlier, I do recall playing this in my childhood. Nothing was familiar after, like, the first two minutes of the game. Like, I don't. If I played further than that as a kid, I definitely didn't retain it in my aging brain.
And then once you get into the actual gameplay part, you know, it looks a lot more like an early Game Boy game, which is to be expected because you have to work around the player doing things and you can't just perfectly pixelate where everything needs to go. But that's okay.
Yeah, totally. And I think what's real. So it's a platformer. 2d platformer. Think Mario Bros. The interesting conceit here is your health and your power. Your strength is the same thing. It's Kansas spinach. You start with three or four, I think, and you can find more and get up to like six or seven, something like that. When you max them out, you get a kind of lynx adventure for the NES, kind of laser shot, except throw Kansas spinach. And the fun conceit here is like Mario. There's a growth mechanic, but it's not Popeye growing. Your fist gets bigger. Your, I think right fist, right, right and left are hard in an audio space.
You can't see anything, whichever one is in the front.
Right. When you get more cans of spinach, your fist gets bigger and bigger. And like, that was kind of a fun thing too, that, like, it's playing on kind of the Mario idea, but doing its own thing. You can't jump on enemies, you can only punch them. But like, it's still kind of playing with the kind of things we had seen in video games before, but kind of making it feel like Popeye.
That's the main thing with this game. You've got such a simple story, got such a simple graphical capability to work with. Sound is basically non existent. On the Game Boy, as far as passing things along goes, and you've got this game that just feels so right for Popeye in every single way.
Yeah, I mean, and as far as platformers go, not the worst. I mean, it's not in the upper echelon. It's no Super Mario land. Two six golden coins. Like, competent for sure. I mean, so I played this to put out. I do not have an original cartridge of Popeye two. I wish I did, but I played it on. I have the analog pocket, which I love, and I played it through totally legal means on the analog pocket and looked great. Sounded great for what it was. Your music is kind of repetitive and not the most interesting composition I've ever heard. It's akhiko mori. Like, it's entertaining and catchy and, like, the platforming is like, it's your whole beat punch and to run and then a is to jump. And for what it is, it works pretty well. There are some leaps of faith as all games that this era had, but, like, the. It controls pretty well. And like, I used save states because I didn't want to re traverse the stage. But like that said, I got through a lot of stage on the first try or second try. And so, like, I was actually quite smitten with it. For a game that I expected to be average at best. I actually had a really good time with.
I mean, this is a pretty solid game in so many ways. Like, I'm not going to invite friends over to watch me play it or anything, but, you know, I'm not gonna be disappointed if this is what I'm playing. And you gotta remember, too, game Boy games were small. I mean, we're talking some of them, 256, 512 kb. Ridiculous. I remember in middle school, my friend and I would have on a three and a half inch floppy disk, a Nintendo emulator, and a couple games because everything was small enough to fit on one of those three and a half inch discs. So, I mean, that's the kind of memory limit you're working with here for the entire game. Of course you're going to have repetitive music.
Yeah, I actually, it's funny you mentioned that. The first way I ever played Pokemon was not on the game Boy. It was on a Nintendo emulator, on a three and a half a floppy disk, and it was Pokemon green. And I would play with my friend, I would take it home, play it on my computer, and then I would bring my disc to his house, put it in his computer, and we trade and battle. I wouldn't get Pokemon yellow until much later, a copy of which I still own to this day. And it's one of the few games from my old collection that I still have. But, yeah, this game was. It took me a little over an hour to beat. The faster, more expert players can do it in about 30 minutes, but that was pretty standard for Game Boy games back then. I mean, one of my favorite Game Boy games of all time, Kirby's Dreamland. I remember taking forever to beat as a kid, but as an adult, I can blow through it in 45 minutes and, like, not rushing 45 minutes, so I'm used to that length. And also, as a grown ass adult, quick games are always welcome, since I'm also playing a lot of long rpg's this year. So, like, a quick game that I can kind of romp through is a lot of fun. And this kind of really scratched that itch.
This game is just so simple to get into. A little more complex than Mario, because you're doing more than going just left to right, but not so complex that you have to figure out an entire maze of everything. And, I mean, it's just. It's good in the way it's put together. The thing that gets me is the bosses. I have no idea where most of them come from.
Yeah, they seem like it's that old school Nintendo thing where you have a licensed game and most of the characters are there, and then the bosses were made up for the game. Yeah, I don't recognize either. Any of them either. I mean, one of them, I think, is like the maiden on the front of a ship, and so, like, that thematically sort of works. But I think one was a clown. One was, oh, what was the other one like there? Like, you just seemed like kind of nonsense, and. Which is fine. And they weren't particularly hard once you figured out the patterns either, which was kind of neat. Much easier to beat when you had your full size fist. When you have your little, like, regular, normal fist, it was. It was tougher to beat them. But all, all in all, not really that difficult. And there are no power ups in this other than the spinach. The spinach refills your health, is your life, and powers up your fist. But that's it. There are no, like, additional power ups like a standard mario or Sonic game would have. It is pretty straightforward. Like, you have to platform. How are you going to get through that wall? Punch it. How are you going to beat that boss? Punch it. How are you going to fight those little enemies, these bats? Punch it. Like it was not. Wasn't a diversity of mechanics, but also kind of made it pretty easy as far as solutions to problems.
I mean, they say violence doesn't solve anything, but they apparently have not played this because punching your way through everything is the way to solve all the problems.
Yeah, and, like, punching the like. So there are regular, like, bricks that you walk on or that disappear as you stand on them. And there are these walls that look a little different that are meant to be punched, and there are power ups in them. There's the equivalent of a star man in this. I think it's actually a star that makes you invincible. And it was really satisfying to break those bricks in the same way that, like, breaking bricks in Mario is satisfying, where often I would go out of my way and double backwards for stuff just to, like, fully clear the section of bricks. It's like, on a basic game design level, the feedback is really solid.
And jumping back to the bosses for a second, even though we don't remember seeing them in any Popeye thing, just the vast variety of adventures that Popeye gets into. I can totally see him having to deal with these characters. They make sense, even if they're not Popeye accurate at all.
Yeah, I mean, and Popeye, like, wrestling wild animals like snakes and spiders and bats, is not that unlike Popeye. Like, popeyes fought lions and tigers and stuff. And so, like, it seems in that vein, like, there were no bosses where I went. This doesn't make sense. Most of them, I was just like, okay, this is a little weird fighting a giant clown, but okay. Because Popeye has kind of been around so long and is such a kind of slice of life, almost superhero sailor cartoon, almost anything would make sense in it.
As you're here going through this game, looking at everything, what do you think this really gets right and is wrong about Popeye compared to how you remember him from your childhood?
I don't know that it gets anything wrong. I mean, for sure it gets right. The look. We talked about the sprites earlier, but all the characters look like themselves from their proper cartoons and comics. You know, the typical kind of game Boy thing where the bodies are smaller and the heads are bigger so they can be more expressive, but, like, olive oils in it, sweet peas in it. Like, you're rescuing these. These characters also, and Blutos in it. Like, I would say Bluto is the character who looks least like himself because he's got this, like, kind of narrow body with a big head that looks like Bluto's head because of how the models were created, whereas Bluto is a broad, kind of burly character in the cartoons and stuff in the comics. But barring that, I think it gets a lot of it, right. I mean, I would guess. I guess my biggest nitpick, which is minor at best, is the environments don't feel super Popeye. You're on a beach, you're in a cave. You're in a lot of caves, actually. And then you're, like, on a. Like, when you're on the ship, it makes sense. So, like, I would say that the locations don't feel super Popeye, but you also, you have a treasure map, and you're going to a deserted island. So being on a beach, being in caverns, like, all that stuff makes sense for the kind of adventure they crafted, for sure. So those are the big ones I can think of. I mean, I guess, also the only downside is the music. Like, I don't believe the actual Popeye theme song is in this, which is, as far as I can recall, which is kind of a bummer because it's such a simple tune, you would think they would want to use it. But beyond. And then, like, the sound effects and lack thereof, because there's not a ton of them, are kind of basic at best. There's obviously no vo or even digitized vo because that wasn't really a thing at the time. But, like, that, even the tiny bits of dialogue are all very Popeye like. They're written simplistically. But again, because Popeye was such a kind of slice of life simplistic cartoon and comic, it fits. You can fit it into this small packet.
I think the only things really wrong with this game, comparing it to the comics and the cartoons and everything fall into two categories. Either it's something they obviously had to change because they're making a game and you have to make game mechanics work, or it's a hardware limitation because it's on the Game Boy. And I can't fault them for either one of those.
No, me neither. And it's different from, say, the Xbox 360 era, which was famous for terrible licensed games and famous for slapping other characters on an existing game and making it licensed. And that even happened, of course, back in the NEs and SNes era, too. But this isn't one of those games that was built for one thing and then converted. As far as I can tell, it feels like a Popeye game through and through, whereas there were lots of other licensed games around this time where it's like, all right, we have this. The Batman game for NES, for example, not. Wasn't really, as far as I know, built to be a Batman game. There aren't really any Batman characters in it besides some thugs. And I think the Joker's in it. But, like, beyond that, you, like, fight a tank and like these, like, robots and other things. But it was a Batman game. You played Batman, you threw batarangs, you punched, you kicked. That's all that mattered. And that was pretty common at the time. This, at least aesthetically mostly feels like what the character would be doing, which is kind of actually surprising, considering, again, a lot of licensed games with characters. Didn't always acquiesce to that.
I have a feeling. I know how you're going to answer this, but I'm going to ask you anyway. If you found one of the few people who doesn't know about Popeye already and they want to get into Popeye, would you give them this game as a bit of a primer course for that?
I mean, I don't think so, but I don't think, on the other hand, it would be a detriment. Like, there were some people, like I mentioned in some of the community discords I'm in that I was playing this game and they were like, popeye, why it's so bad? And I'm like, is it? I don't know. I think it's fine. I mean, it's not, again, it's not the tightest platformer I've ever played, but because I'm. And it could be because I was using save states, but, like, it didn't feel that terrible to me. But no, I mean, I probably would give an anthology book or like a VHS if they have a VCR of, like, a compilation of cartoons or comics before this. But also, if they were a video game fan and I knew they were a platformer fan and they wanted to get into Popeye, I'd say you could do worse than this game. Like, I think it's a caveat I'd recommend, but it's not. Not a recommend because it doesn't do anything wrong. I would say in that sense, I'm shocked.
I think this is the first thing that we've disagreed about in all of this because I would definitely give somebody this game. Like, I would give them the warning that this is a really early game boy game. And so you're going to have all that early Game Boy game problems because, like, me with the 2600, like, you've got to be the right age to be able to appreciate it and everything, but this feels like Popeye so much. And, yeah, like, right afterwards, I'd give them some comics or some cartoons, but this is in that first group of things I'm giving them.
I mean, that makes sense, and I'm not in total disagreement. I think that other mediums would probably give a stronger vibe of Popeye. But you're absolutely right. There's nothing not Popeye about this game. It is pretty Popeye through and through.
Looking at that same person. What comic would you give somebody to convince them to check out Popeye besides a Popeye comic?
Oh, interesting. Like a different comic. That's maybe the vibe of Popeye.
Yeah.
If I wanted someone to like Popeye and I was giving them an anthology of Popeye comics, I'd probably also give them an anthology of Heathcliff comics. Heathcliff started, I don't know, around the same time, but they were definitely in the papers together. So maybe that or even early Garfield or maybe even a newspaper anthology of the Spider man comics when Spider man wasn't the papers, because I think any other newspaper style comic would pair well with Popeye. It wouldn't necessarily be the same kind of story, but it would have the same vibe, the one panel or three panel comics that people can understand simply, I think that those kinds of comics would pair well with, with a Popeye.
I was thinking kind of the complete opposite direction of that and go on the adventures to random places route.
Okay, yeah, sure.
Older DuckTales comics.
Oh, hell, yeah. Absolutely. I can see that. Totally. Especially, like, yeah, the old Scrooge McDuck stuff. I love that his origin story is only in the comics. The cartoons, they poke fun back at it, but I think the newer cartoon actually does show his origins, but his definitive Scrooge McDuck's definitive origins are from the comics, and they're great. Yeah, I could totally see that. Like, I would also recommend any Disney cartoon to pair with the Popeye cartoon. Your darkwing duck, your gargoyles, your DuckTales, your goof troop, your tailspin, any of those, I think tailspin especially, I think would be a fun pair with Popeye. Same vibe for sure. Absolutely.
I don't know why I never thought of that, but piratey bad guys and going around on adventures on your ship and everything. Yeah, that is perfect.
Yeah, people forget tailspin. One of my favorite cartoons during that afternoon block, a lot of folks were like, ugh, dark queen, ducks over. I'm turning off tailspin. But I love that show. I thought it was a lot of.
Fun, but, Matt, it has been great talking to you. About all of this, and I'm glad that we randomly ran across each other because this has been such a great talk. With this and listening to your shows and everything, where else can people find you around the Internet if they want to hear more from you?
Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I agree. I'm glad that I believe Eli and Jay are to be blamed for this of the super bracket bros. Podcast, a phenomenon podcast by two very handsome hosts. I believe we met in that discord. And definitely folks should go check it out if you ever made your action figures fight. It's a perfect, perfect podcast for you. But yeah, thank you for having me. I'm glad that we connected as well, and I hope we get to do this again in the future. Who knows? Final games. At some point we'll cover video games based on comics broadly, and you'd be a perfect guest. I could safely say. If folks want to find me, I guess the best place is the hellhole that is Twitter. I refuse to call it X. I don't believe in dead naming, except for that website website because f Elon Musk to keep it somewhat clean. But you can find me there at DJ Stormageddon. I'm also DJ stormageddon on Instagram and Twitch. I'm just DJ Stormageddon on Blue sky because they don't believe in underscores for some reason. And then if you want to check out all the shows that I do, you can go to djstormageddon.com. I made it really simple. It's my link tree, has links to my merch store, all of the podcasts I do, and I would safely say that if you like this show, of my shows, the one that you probably enjoy the most is fun and games, which I host with the incredible Jeff Moonan and is a topic based video game podcast where we cover different topics from in and around the games industry. We interview game developers and composers and voice actors. We've talked about topics, we do console retrospectives, genre retrospectives. We've done a whole ton of stuff as of when we're recording. Our most recent episode to air is about long running franchises and great entry points in franchises. Like if I were to talk about the Popeye video game Pantheon, this is a great entry point because you don't really need to know anything to play this game, but it's a fun show. And then we have a sub series within that feed called Sidequests, which every episode is a different host talking about a game they love and why they love it. That's it. No caveats, no making fun of if you enjoy a game a lot, good, bad, and different, you can come on and talk about it for five to ten minutes and it's a blast. It's one of my favorite things to put out there because I've been able to grow the fun and games community through these awesome stories of games that mean a lot to people, and so I would recommend that as well. I think that's really it. If you see me across the Internet, feel free to say hi. Throw me an at, tell me how you found my stuff.
And as always, we will have links down in the show notes because especially when there's punctuation involved, it is so much easier trying to click links than remembering how to spell things.
Yeah, I'm a big proponent of show notes, and linking to things makes it easier for the listener.
And we can't get away from this without mentioning screen snark because Rachel is scary in that Louise Belcher kind of way.
I think that they would be charmed by that. Yeah, screensnark is my tv and movie pod. It's currently on hiatus for the for the winter. It's hopefully going to come back in the summer. We've just both got a lot going on, but there are a ton of episodes in the backlog and it's me, Rachel, and a guest talking about a tv show or movie that we really love. It's roundtable, and then we also bring a guest to talk about it, and then we usually interview the guests as well. During the strike, we did things that weren't tv and movies, video games, CD or music. Nobody listens to CDs anymore. Music plays, live events, all sorts of stuff. And so there's a diversity of things in there. Tons of great guests. We've had. The offer mentioned both Eli and Jay as separate guests on the show, and they were great. And yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's kind of an excuse to make goofs and do fart jokes while actually talking about media as well. It's been a blast. So thank you for listening. And again, I say I think Rachel would be honored that you made that comparison.
Well, maybe we can sucker that many coming on this show too.
I think you definitely could. If you want to talk about a wrestling video game based on a wrestling comic, if that even exists, that would be the surefire way to get them on.
I'm pretty sure there is at least one.
There's gotta be.
As always, if you want to hear more from me, the best place to do that is to just head on over to playcomics.com, where there's links to all the social media things, you know, mostly on Twitter, because that's where the audience is, because that's where the creators are. And, yeah, it's just kind of a Stockholm syndrome at this point. Playcomics.com does have links to all the other stuff, you know, the blue sky and the Instagram and, you know, those things that don't get used as much as they should. Give me shame for that, because I deserve it. If you want to help support the show, you can share with your friends. You can leave a review on Apple Podcasts or podchaser or something. Or you can be like, oh, no, lit class and Dan McMahon and Carl Antonovic and give money to the show because you love me that much and you want to help cover my hosting costs. And that would be very nice of you, and I would appreciate it very much. And I would probably send you a nice thank you note on a voice memo probably once I can figure out how to do that for you, because, you know, individual circumstances and everything. Don't forget that play comics is a part of the get a geek.com network, home to such wonderful shows as legends of S H I E l D, where they are going to without me for a couple weeks. Get to talk about X Men 97. And that makes me very sad because X Men 97 makes me very happy. Except for this latest episode, as I'm putting this one out, which made me very sad because it was good, but it was also sad. Something that's not sad is that if you like the music that I'm really talking on top of right now, you can head on over to Soundcloud.com. Bestday to check out best days music. But most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics, and go find yourself a new favorite character. And if you want to record on your end, go ahead and press it, and I'll worry about matching things up later if I actually need to use it.
Okay, sounds good. Let me start that right now. Okay, it's going. And I see the little squiggles, so that's a good sign.
Squiggles are good. Future Chris, start punishing yourself for saying so like that all the way back in 19, but the thing scrolled away from me.
I mean, it's on the Internet. It can't be wrong, right?
Everything on the Internet is 100% true.
All the time, obviously, currently and forever.