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Nintendo Discoveries: The Adventures of Bayou Billy
With so many Nintendo games released between 1985 and 1993, there was no way a kid
could play them all. But that didn’t stop the game companies from marketing to
us in our TV programming, snack foods, and in my case, comic books. In fact, I
would wager that 75% of the ads in comics were video game related, with the
remaining 25% focusing on candy and Clearasil. One piece of propaganda that
seemed to stalk me with each turn of the page was the ad for The Adventures
of Bayou Billy by Konami. Everywhere I looked this Ragin’ Cajun was there
challenging me at knife-point to join him on a wild romp through the swamp. The
sad part is, I never took him up on the offer.
Arriving on
store shelves in 1989, I can only imagine I had already spent my allowance on Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman and Ghostbusters 2 merchandise. Plus buying NES
games was a major event back in the day with a very careful selection process
that had already burned me once with the purchase of Dragon Warrior (my first
and LAST attempt at an RPG). Being that Bayou Billy was an unknown commodity, it just didn’t
win my dollars. I always figured I would get a “preview” at a friend’s house,
but apparently none of my schoolyard chums were swayed by Konami’s barrage of
advertising either. Thus it remained an 8-bit mystery for these 25 years…until
last week.
That’s
right, thanks to the Retro Daze Points Store, I now own a copy of The
Adventures of Bayou Billy! This sparked a study into the many representations
of the character, in video games, animation, live action and even the comic
books where I first laid eyes on this forgotten hero. Much more than a review
of the game, I hope you walk away from this article understanding the many
influences that inspired the character, the numerous interpretations he
received and the reasons why he just didn’t break through. Are you ready, Mon
Ami? Let the adventure begin!
Starting
with the video game seems like a logical choice. Originally titled Mad City and
released for the Famicon in 1988 (with this awesome commercial), you play as
the titular hero, who was “raised by a family of gators…a swamp super hero…”
and now out to rescue your lady Annabelle who has been kidnapped by the evil
Mob Boss, Gordon, to be held on his plantation. Gordon doesn’t explain why your
“hankerin’ for bravery” has caused him to steal the belle of your heart, but
there can be no doubt that violence is the answer to the problem. The gameplay
is a mix of Double Dragon, Rad Racer and Hogan’s Alley, it’s like 3 games in 1!
4 levels involve
punching and kicking bad guys with the use of weapons like the hilariously
named Whipper Snapper and Ugly Stick. The attacks are kind of stiff, but they
make up for it with the variety of characters. How can names like Jaques
Killstow and Schwartz N. Eiger NOT get a chuckle out of you? But by far the
craziest enemies are the Alligators. That’s right, you actually fist-fight gators!
Originally I thought they were just an obstacle to avoid, but after a missed
jump and some panicked button mashing I found that I could actually injure the
toothy terrors, and what’s more, they coughed up “Raw Meat” to renew my life
meter, score!
Then there
are 3 driving levels, where you take to the road in “Billy’s Blazer” to blast
oncoming enemy vehicles to bits by hailing them with a barrage of bullets and launching grenades at
the suckers. It’s like OutRun with weapons or another arcade favorite of mine,
Lucky N’ Wild. The graphics are kind of
bland for these levels, but the challenge of driving and shooting at the same
time makes for an enjoyable ride. Speaking of shooting, this is the only game
I’m aware that has both controller and Zapper capabilities. Check it out!
Once you see
this screen, you know it’s time to play sharpshooter. This final gameplay
variation is reminiscent of Operation Wolf’s first person shooter style, where
bad guys run across screen trying to take you out with bazookas and dynamite.
What’s cool is you actually have the option to play with the controller or the
Zapper gun, but since today’s plasma screens don’t react the same way as the
tube-filled devices of old, Game B with controller targeting was my only
choice. The targeting system is actually very responsive, making it easy to
blow your enemies away.
Though The
Adventures of Bayou Billy seems to get a bad rap from most game reviewers
online, I find the variety of playing styles very appealing. A classic like
Contra may have given you 2 variations with the side-scrolling and
first-person-ish “Base Levels”, but 3 completely different games is a real
value. I also love that it has a practice mode, so if you can’t make it to the
shooting or driving levels, you can still get in on the action. Heck, they even
put out a handheld version so you could take the adventure on the road. What
more do you need? Now that we’ve talked about the video game influences, I
think there’s one cinematic icon that can’t go unnamed.
The
Crocodile Dundee films from 1986 and 1988 were huge box-office hits, so there
is no doubt that this is where Konami’s developers pulled their inspiration.
From the hat and vest combo to the “foot long blade” (That ‘aint a knife) and
the penchant for wrestling scaley creatures, I’m surprised they didn’t call the
guy “Alligator Andee”. Of course the whip attacks are just as much a tribute to
Konami’s other electronic warrior, Simon Belmont from Castlevania as Indiana
Jones.
You know one
thing that’s unfortunate is Billy’s face. He’s not quite the hunky hero you’d
expect in this kind of scenario. He actually bears resemblance to the Bum from
UHF or even more closely, the creepy storekeeper from Troll 2! Don’t you think?
It’s a wonder they didn’t hire the same actor to wrestle the stuffed alligator
in the live-action commercial for the game. But maybe he couldn’t get the Cajun
accent down. While the game may have borrowed its ideas from the “down under”,
the 5 issue comic book series from Archie Comics took the character in a
different direction.
You heard me
right, Archie Comics published The Adventures of Bayou Billy comic book. I was
used to seeing Betty and Veronica’s boy toy playing outdated video games with
Aliens, not rubbing shoulders with rough n’ tumble action stars, but the
Riverdale Redhead did team–up with The Punisher at one point, so I guess
anything is possible. I actually picked up a copy of the 4th issue
at a used book store a week prior to getting the game and boy is it something.
Luckily these newsprint pages contained Bayou Billy’s origin story, which begs
the question, what the heck was he doing in issues 1 through 3?
As it opens we learn that Billy was a soldier in Vietnam who came home to join the police
force in Lousiana. Billy lives a happy life, married to a pretty blonde named
Laurie. When he gets word that a Mob Boss he put away by the name of Gordon is
out of jail and looking for revenge, Billy tries to convince his beloved wife
they have to move immediately, but she shrugs off his concern while climbing
into the couple’s Jeep. Next thing you know, the car explodes in a burst of
flame with Billy to witness it all. If this isn’t a classic action movie
set-up, I don’t know what is.
As the story
returns to present day we learn it is the one year anniversary of Laurie’s
murder and the newly christened Bayou Billy is out for revenge with his bag of
tricks. I do question why he waited so long to begin his quest for vengeance. I
mean wouldn’t you want to get right on that avenging your wife’s murder thing?
Anyway, when Billy busts out his arsenal I was disappointed that we don’t get
any reference to The Ugly Stick or The Whipper Snapper, just good old fashioned
automatic weapons. The rest of the story finds Bayou Billy going through a
series of “sorry, the princess is in another castle” scenarios.
He basically
begins by shaking down local thugs on the track of Swampgas Charlie, the Darth
Vader like villain that can tell him who rigged Laurie’s car to explode. The
first group of thugs say they don’t know anything so they send Billy to brawl
with Siamese twin enforcer(s) Two-Head, who are also clueless and point him in
the direction of the wormy, Snitch who lives up to his name by getting our hero
on the road with a lead just in time to be sideswiped by Swampgas Charlie. Looking
quite different than his Aladdin inspired look from the game manual.
It’s here we
learn that “Billy’s Blazer” is now being referred to as (ugh) “The Billy-Mobile”. In
the end, Bayou Billy finally gets the upper hand on his gas-masked enemy, only
to be told the assassin was none other than Hurricane Hank, who drowned in
a previous encounter with our battlin’ boy from the Bayou. Which causes Billy to exclaim, "I've been cheated!" I guess he's mad because now he can’t murder Hank himself? Yeah man, Archie
is gettin’ dark. Around this same time, Bayou Billy shared a lighter adventure with a kid named Kevin Keene, but you might know him better as
Captain N.
In the 1st
season episode, “How’s Bayou”, Mother Brain is spying on Kevin while he’s trying
to beat what is definitely not The Adventures of Bayou Billy. The footage they
showed was like an animated version of Pitfall for Atari, which is strange.
Anyway, Kevin sucks at playing The Adventures of Bayou Billy, so “Her
Braininess” makes a plan to lure him to that world and his ultimate demise. Along the way Kevin loses his dog and runs
into Bayou Billy, who saves The Game Master from being eaten by his pet alligator.
This version
of Billy is more southern than Cajun, with a jaw to make Popeye jealous. The man of the swamp takes Kevin under his
wing to teach him the secrets of the Bayou while battling frog-monsters and
robotic vultures. Eventually Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo feel the crack of
Billy’s whip and we get to see the 3rd incarnation of his favorite means of
transportation as he swoops in to save the day. You can watch the entire
episode here.
So why
didn’t The Adventures of Bayou Billy spawn dozens of sequels and a legion of Cos-Playing fans?
You can’t say it’s for lack of trying, the guy definitely made the rounds in
the world of kid’s entertainment. If I had to point to one thing, it would
probably be that he was just nothing new. The game was innovative in combining
3 kinds of games and 2 controller options, but lacked originality. It was like
combining Big Mac with Chicken McNuggets and a McWrap into a "Big McNugWrap".
Sure it’s never been done before, but we know all those flavors separately and
the novelty wears off quickly.
Still, I
can’t help believing that if I had come across a copy of The Adventures of
Bayou Billy in my youth, I would have been teaming up with my buddies to rescue
Annabelle both in the living room and on the playground. I guess we can still hold
out hope for The Further Adventures of Bayou Billy for the Wii or a direct to
video movie starring Bruce Campbell, but until then, POWER OFF.
Benjanime Posted on May 20, 2019 at 08:27 PM
even in my adult years i have yet to beat this game. i heard the japanese version is actually easier than the U.S. version.
retroboy Posted on Oct 28, 2018 at 09:31 PM
I never played Bayu Billy
Frankayy81 Posted on Sep 04, 2015 at 09:30 PM
Love this article! I'm with you: I think the 3 in 1 idea adds some variety/spontaneity, which makes it TONS of fun. I've gotta check this one out for myself.
Vaporman87 Posted on Jun 23, 2015 at 05:53 PM
Ha! That's hilarious DirtyD. Kind of like when me and my brother would play-fight and I would constantly quote Altered Beast, saying "Welcome to your doom!"
DirtyD79 Posted on Jun 23, 2015 at 09:39 AM
Haha I still remember how for some odd reason as a kid that game made me think people really do say "Ugggggghhh!" when they died much like Bayou Billy. That person could die a perfectly natural death of old age in their sleep and they would let out one final Uggggghhhhh! I didn't own that one though. I did rent it a few times but really couldn't get too far in it.
massreality Posted on Mar 21, 2015 at 08:17 AM
I loved Bayou Billy, but had no idea he existed in any other form than that one NES game. That's so cool.
Hoju Koolander Posted on Jan 25, 2015 at 03:33 PM
@Fulton4V I know what you mean. I have the same sort of relationship with Double Dragon. It's my favorite, but I can never pass the cave level. Still, I always enjoy playing the stages I can pass.
Fulton4V Posted on Jan 24, 2015 at 10:33 PM
Bayou billy was one of my favorite games for the Nintendo. But I could never get far int it as it was pretty difficult to me.
Vaporman87 Posted on Jan 24, 2015 at 06:35 AM
Never did I think I would come to know so much about Bayou Billy. And yet, here I sit, well educated on the man at long last, LOL.
I would say there is not doubt about the influences that lead to the character. You've laid that out pretty clearly. Funny that with so much attention to the character in the cartoon series, and his own comic book mini series of sorts, that more wasn't done to push him further into our collective consciousness. Perhaps the marketing bigwigs finally came to the conclusion that "It just wasn't working", and pulled the plug on old Billy. I suppose we'll never know.
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