"Flappy" - NES/Famicom

----- Introduction -----

Flappy was first introduced on the Sharp X1 in 1983, and quickly ported to the NEC PCs (the 6001, and the 8801, both in 1983) as well as the Fujitsu FM-7 (so, essentially, a bunch of 80s Japanese computers). By the time 1985 rolled around though, it was time to port this bad boy to the Famicom, and that's where we step in.

You may notice an interesting trend lately in the games we've looked at on Famicom, and that's that the ones that aren't arcade ports are mostly ports of PC games. I'm not sure how long this trend continues before you can expect more originals. It's something I've sort of wondered about, too, but I suspect it goes hand in hand with Nintendo's tight policy at the time of not allowing garbage (and therefore selecting proven titles) on their system.

Flappy was developed on the early PC releases by a company called dB-Soft, and they actually developed this Famicom port as well. This is their first outing on the console, so how is it?

The lesser known prequel to 2013's breakout hit Flappy Bird.

----- Playthrough -----

The main gameplay loop in Flappy is that you play as a little yellow... man... bird... thing, or something, I don't know. The Japanese Wikipedia just calls him "the protagonist," to avoid giving him that description at all, so there you go.

... anyway, his goal is to push the blue stone onto the blue brick platform, which makes him so happy to do that he does a little dance when he does it successfully.

I literally just noticed that says Flappy before you move all the stones around.

Unfortunately for him, he is subject to gravity in his fictional world, which means that he can't simply push the blue stone in any direction a la the aforementioned Soukoban, but has to make sure that he doesn't push it to a lower level than the platform, because he's not strong enough to pick it back up apparently. Also for some reason he isn't subject to gravity at all, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around that.

Which means that our boy Flappy has to do things like build platforms out of the other stones before doing anything with the blue one, lest it get stuck somewhere and leave him trapped in the level.

I guess I just live here, now.

Flappy also has to worry about enemies in the level that are wandering around non-maliciously. I say non-maliciously because they seem to only lazily target you, but if they touch you, you will instantly die. They're more of an environmental hazard than a direct threat. Luckily, there are sleeping mushrooms placed around the level, and hitting the enemy with these will stun them for a few seconds. If you can push them under a boulder and push the boulder off on him, he's dead for good.

The other power Flappy has is that for some reason he's strong enough to completely crush any of the brown stones by simply walking into them from the top, but he's still not strong enough to pick up that darn blue one.

Most of the puzzles seem to generally revolve around the different ways you can use the stones and how they can defy gravity, and you have to keep in mind what all they actually can do to be able to solve many of the puzzles.

Or you can stare at this screen on pause for 45 minutes because you only
have one life and you're trying to work out the puzzle without playing.

After you complete the first group of 5 levels, you'll be treated to a bonus level, where you can get revenge on all the enemies that would have killed you before. I wasn't clear on what to do at first, having been trained to avoid them, but it turns out you get the opportunity to get points by turning their old trick around on them: walking into them so they vaporize instantly.

I am the one with molten skin, now! FEAR ME, CRABS AND SOCK PUPPETS!

Once I completed a set of 5 levels, the game gave me a password ('4NADA' if you're a cheater). I assume this trend probably continues for the 200(!) levels of the game.

----- Review -----

Innovation:

Does the game show anything not yet seen on this system/ever before?


The whole pushing stones puzzle hasn't really showed up on Famicom yet. I guess Flappy was an innovation on Soukoban in 1983, but we can't really claim the Famicom port is the first one with this idea.

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Spitting Rage:

Does the game make you want to tear your own organs out of your body?

It's pretty genuinely frustrating when you dead-end yourself after several minutes of effort figuring out a puzzle, but that's why there's password checkpoints and why you have more than one try, I guess.

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Intuitive Design: 

How easy is it to intuitively understand the game?

To be honest I don't think there's much of an opportunity to misunderstand it-- the blue platform and stone are flashing to alert you to their presence and that that's your goal. Some simple controls experimentation in the first level (where you're totally safe) and walking around touching things will quickly tell you what you can do to achieve that goal. A basic ability to think should let you figure out this game even as a kid.

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Satisfying Gameplay: 

How rewarding does playing the game feel?

It's quite a struggle to get that blue stone onto that blue platform sometimes, so it is indeed pretty satisfying when you finally perfectly execute a run. It's also satisfying when you crush an enemy to death (it requires timing, so it's a challenge sometimes).

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Game Depth: 

How deep/long is the game?

This game is honestly pretty long for a 1985 Famicom game! With 200 levels, even this TAS (tool-assisted speedrun (read: basically perfect run)) it still takes two and a half hours to complete! You can bet you'll take at least 3x as long as that if you're playing it for the first time. Pretty crazy for a year dominated by arcade ports so far.

I'd get nice and comfy looking at this screen if you're going to challenge yourself to play the whole thing.

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Sound Design: 

How's the sound?

I appreciate the 3 music options-- the default one drives me a bit batty, so having an option to switch it up occasionally is nice. This game is so long, I can't imagine listening to any of the music for hours, so this seems like a game to listen to audiobooks while playing or something, honestly. That being said, it's all pretty much fine.

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Graphics:

How's it look?

Brick blocks on a black background make for the graphical experience you've come to expect from the Famicom. It'll eventually get more creative than this.

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Personal Chord: 

Does the game have that undefinable "something" for me?

There's some nostalgia here, but it's mostly negative, honestly. This one was also on my 'TOP GUN' bootleg cartridge (I'm going to stop saying that eventually, there were apparently a lot of games on there) so I played it several times as a kid, but this is probably the first time I ever completed the first level. I don't really like the design of the character or the general aesthetic of the game that much, so it doesn't really have "t-shirt appeal."

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Should You Play: 

Is there a reason to even bother with this one?

I think it's probably worth a play if you want a puzzle game on the Famicom. There's definitely a lot of content here to keep you entertained if this is your kind of thing. I'm not a huge puzzle gamer (sometimes I can be, but the idea has to be particularly creative (Portal, The Witness) to get me interested), so this is a harder sell for me. I think some people would definitely like it though.

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