"Raid on Bungeling Bay" - NES/Famicom
----- Introduction -----
I've always thought this game had like the dumbest name of any NES game.
I may as well just get straight to the factoid that makes everyone want to play this game, if they ever want to play it at all. This was the first game ever designed by Will Wright. Yes, that Will Wright, the one who went on to develop SimCity, and then The Sims, and who founded Maxis.
Supposedly, the story is that Wright continued developing the city editor for Raid on Bungeling Bay after releasing the game, to such detail that it eventually became the prototype for the city-planning game, SimCity. That's pretty cool, if that's how it happened.
By the way, this game actually has something of a story. Supposedly, you're the lone helicopter pilot on a mission to destroy the "Bungeling Empire," by bombing all their secret factories in "Bungeling Bay."
I'm actually nearly certain now that it's the dumbest title of a game on the NES. Let's play the game.
I may as well just get straight to the factoid that makes everyone want to play this game, if they ever want to play it at all. This was the first game ever designed by Will Wright. Yes, that Will Wright, the one who went on to develop SimCity, and then The Sims, and who founded Maxis.
Supposedly, the story is that Wright continued developing the city editor for Raid on Bungeling Bay after releasing the game, to such detail that it eventually became the prototype for the city-planning game, SimCity. That's pretty cool, if that's how it happened.
By the way, this game actually has something of a story. Supposedly, you're the lone helicopter pilot on a mission to destroy the "Bungeling Empire," by bombing all their secret factories in "Bungeling Bay."
I'm actually nearly certain now that it's the dumbest title of a game on the NES. Let's play the game.
 |
| Bungelings, prepare your bungeholes for imminent raiding. |
----- Playthrough -----
I've actually played Raid on Bungeling Bay several times before, and every time I played it, I found it to be a substandard shooting game that seemed to have more to it than I really could understand just by playing it. And let me take a moment here to say, this is one of the complaints I have about NES/Famicom games (you thought I just loved them and had no complaints, I know)-- they can sometimes be way more complicated than you expect, and the game has nearly no way of communicating this. It's more the fault of hardware limitations than anything, but sometimes I feel if the creators had been more creative with how they taught you, they could have done so even within the limitations of the NES.
But anyway, they usually reserved their teaching for the inside of that relic of the golden age: the instruction manual.
Yes. And it turns out that my hunch was correct, this game is indeed more complicated than it appears to the casual player.
The whole point of Raid on Bungeling Bay is what I surmised based on my short play times of the past. There are a series of factories that must be destroyed to win the round (marked "F" on your HUD). You have some bombs (marked "B" on your HUD), and you win the game by bombing the factories until they die, and returning to your aircraft carrier and landing when you need some more bombs or to heal.
It turns out there's more to it than that, though.
So, here's the skinny. The map in this game is 10x10 screens in size; there are 100 4:3 screens to explore in each level. That's pretty big!
And these factories that you're destroying aren't just impotent buildings with defenses set up around them. The factories evolve as time goes on. In true Will Wright fashion, there's a simulation mechanic.
The longer that you go without destroying factories, the stronger and stronger they'll get. At first, they'll simply plop down turrets to defend themselves from you. Wait a little longer, and they'll start deploying moving tanks. Before long, they'll be producing fighter jets to attack you, and radar systems that span the islands to call the jets when you appear on-scene. In later levels, they'll try to build a battleship capable of sinking your carrier in one swift, destructive shot.
So, as the more astute may have noticed, Raid on Bungeling Bay is ALMOST a strategy game. The thing is, it's really only the enemy who gets to have fun playing a strategy game, and you mostly just get to play a subpar shooter. It's cool to know what's going on, but it really doesn't affect you, other than making the game feel sort of dynamic, and alive. Which is cool, for an NES game.
The enemies will mostly either attack you (when near a base) or attack your carrier (robbing you of your base). You can keep playing without your carrier, but the only place you can land without it is the secret Bungeling landing pad hidden on the map, which only partially heals you and gives you a few bombs, so it's subpar.
Anyway, your worst case scenario in this game is taking a long time to find and destroy the factories, which is exactly what I did. The last one was nearly undefeatable, respawning defenses as fast as I could shoot them, and killed me 3 times before I finally steered my crashing helicopter on top of it for a kill, ending the round.
And after all this effort, what magnificent congratulation do you get for all your hard work?
Anyway, then you're invited to play another round, if you like. I politely declined, but appreciated being asked.
Also, by the way, Game B just starts you on Round 3, if you're feeling adventurous.
But anyway, they usually reserved their teaching for the inside of that relic of the golden age: the instruction manual.
 |
| Reading books!? To play a VIDEO GAME!? |
Yes. And it turns out that my hunch was correct, this game is indeed more complicated than it appears to the casual player.
The whole point of Raid on Bungeling Bay is what I surmised based on my short play times of the past. There are a series of factories that must be destroyed to win the round (marked "F" on your HUD). You have some bombs (marked "B" on your HUD), and you win the game by bombing the factories until they die, and returning to your aircraft carrier and landing when you need some more bombs or to heal.
It turns out there's more to it than that, though.
 |
| If you tried to take off in a jet from this aircraft carrier you'd have like three feet of runway. |
So, here's the skinny. The map in this game is 10x10 screens in size; there are 100 4:3 screens to explore in each level. That's pretty big!
And these factories that you're destroying aren't just impotent buildings with defenses set up around them. The factories evolve as time goes on. In true Will Wright fashion, there's a simulation mechanic.
The longer that you go without destroying factories, the stronger and stronger they'll get. At first, they'll simply plop down turrets to defend themselves from you. Wait a little longer, and they'll start deploying moving tanks. Before long, they'll be producing fighter jets to attack you, and radar systems that span the islands to call the jets when you appear on-scene. In later levels, they'll try to build a battleship capable of sinking your carrier in one swift, destructive shot.
 |
| Such a small building... but such a large capacity for Bungevil. |
So, as the more astute may have noticed, Raid on Bungeling Bay is ALMOST a strategy game. The thing is, it's really only the enemy who gets to have fun playing a strategy game, and you mostly just get to play a subpar shooter. It's cool to know what's going on, but it really doesn't affect you, other than making the game feel sort of dynamic, and alive. Which is cool, for an NES game.
The enemies will mostly either attack you (when near a base) or attack your carrier (robbing you of your base). You can keep playing without your carrier, but the only place you can land without it is the secret Bungeling landing pad hidden on the map, which only partially heals you and gives you a few bombs, so it's subpar.
 |
| Leave my dad alone! |
Anyway, your worst case scenario in this game is taking a long time to find and destroy the factories, which is exactly what I did. The last one was nearly undefeatable, respawning defenses as fast as I could shoot them, and killed me 3 times before I finally steered my crashing helicopter on top of it for a kill, ending the round.
And after all this effort, what magnificent congratulation do you get for all your hard work?
 |
| I can tell this screen is where the majority of the dev time went. |
Anyway, then you're invited to play another round, if you like. I politely declined, but appreciated being asked.
Also, by the way, Game B just starts you on Round 3, if you're feeling adventurous.
----- Review -----
Innovation:
Does the game show anything not yet seen on this system/ever before?
Wow, yeah, absolutely. The whole factory/real time aspect is something I'm honestly not sure I know of in a Famicom title going forwards, let alone what we've seen already. This is also a surprisingly evolved shooter now that I think about it. The big map is really impressive to me for this genre. It's really a sack full of new ideas for the Famicom in 1985.
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Wow, yeah, absolutely. The whole factory/real time aspect is something I'm honestly not sure I know of in a Famicom title going forwards, let alone what we've seen already. This is also a surprisingly evolved shooter now that I think about it. The big map is really impressive to me for this genre. It's really a sack full of new ideas for the Famicom in 1985.
-----
Spitting Rage:
Does the game make you want to tear your own organs out of your body?
It's not bad at first, but the helicopter starts to feel unwieldy and difficult to control when you're trying to make precision shots (such as trying to defend yourself from the extremely fast (relative to you, anyway) jets). The other time I felt frustrated was when I let the factory build itself up so much that it was impossible to kill the things around it fast enough to get a second to bomb the factory. This, however, is perhaps why you're not supposed to take so long.
But I'm amazing at games so it wasn't my fault, it was the game's fault.
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Intuitive Design:
It's not bad at first, but the helicopter starts to feel unwieldy and difficult to control when you're trying to make precision shots (such as trying to defend yourself from the extremely fast (relative to you, anyway) jets). The other time I felt frustrated was when I let the factory build itself up so much that it was impossible to kill the things around it fast enough to get a second to bomb the factory. This, however, is perhaps why you're not supposed to take so long.
But I'm amazing at games so it wasn't my fault, it was the game's fault.
Intuitive Design:
How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?
Bad. This maybe isn't the game's fault totally, although at least a heads up text screen when starting the game that the factories would evolve over time would have been cool. If you read the manual, the game becomes pretty easy to understand, but all I could intuit was how to control the helicopter, not what was going on in the game.
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Satisfying Gameplay:
How rewarding does playing the game feel?
So-so. Bombing a factory successfully is cool and makes you feel good, especially if you had to fight hard to get it alone so you could have the chance. That being said, it could feel better, and the fact that they can start to take upwards of 10 bombs to destroy as the game goes on only makes you feel more and more impotent and less satisfied with your abilities.
I'm already unsatisfied enough with my abilities in real life, Bungeling, I didn't need your help.
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Game Depth:
How deep/long is the game?
For once, actually kind of deep. I wish that there was more depth of strategy for the player, and not just the enemy, but seeing all the things the enemy does overtime is pretty cool. It's surprisingly complicated for an NES AI, that's for sure.
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Sound Design:
How's the sound?
There's really no music in this game and the sounds are just okay. There's not much to write about here, just basic kssshh explodey noises and pew pews.
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Graphics:
How's it look?
It looks alright. I'm not ready to hand out any awards or anything, but everything looks pretty decent, and I think it's cool how the bay changes colors based on what's going on in the game. For instance, I destroyed a factory at one point and earned a "special" (the manual is unclear on what that even means), and it changed the color scheme to this cool black one.
Sorry, I can't stop making Bungeling puns. We're almost done here.
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| Revved up like a deuce, another Bunger in the night! |
Sorry, I can't stop making Bungeling puns. We're almost done here.
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Personal Chord:
Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?
Mmmmyeeeaaaahhhhh... I don't really know about that.
I think the game is pretty cool now that I know about the whole AI, RTS aspect of it, and it certainly seems like an accomplishment. The game still isn't really that... "fun?" It's cool, and I'll probably point it out to other people as an oddity on the NES, but I don't know if I want to rep it, honestly.
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I think the game is pretty cool now that I know about the whole AI, RTS aspect of it, and it certainly seems like an accomplishment. The game still isn't really that... "fun?" It's cool, and I'll probably point it out to other people as an oddity on the NES, but I don't know if I want to rep it, honestly.
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Should You Play:
Is there a reason to even bother with this one?
Like I just said one second ago, I think it's a cool oddity on the NES. I think it's maybe worth checking out if you want to see what I've written about here for yourself, but really I'd prepare to be disappointed if you're going in expecting a thrill ride. It's cool... but not really that fun.
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