Wow! It's a really bad fighting game on Game Boy. Who'd have guessed? This Japan-only game adaptation of a Japan-only manga and anime series from the '80s offers nothing of value for anyone unfamiliar with the franchise, or in fact to anyone, so feel free not to bother hunting it down. Let it lay forgotten in history.

This game marks the entry of new publisher Yutaka into the market. And by "new" I mean "a crummy old publisher under a new name." Can you guess which one? Do you even care?

Note: I realized after this episode was posted that the reading of the title's kanji characters found in most online English-language resources, while correct, is not the actual reading the game gives. So it's "Meioutou Kessen," not "Meikoushima Kessen." My big dumb American mistake. But, arguably the same level of quality control the game itself demonstrates, so... fitting.

You've seen the NES lineup for 1985, when the console debuted in America. Now compare those sixteen games to the nine contained in this episode, which explores the equivalent launch time frame for the console's Japanese birth as the Family Computer back in 1983. How different were the early days for the console in its two biggest territories?

This is it: Super Mario Bros. Everything about Good Nintentions 1985 has been leading up to this grand, climactic moment, the generational leap that justified the NES and set it apart from everything that had come before. Also, it's a pretty rad game in its own right, let's not forget that. Alas, at a mere 23 minutes long, this video doesn't begin to do the game proper justice.

By patron request, a follow-up to last week's look at Super Mario Bros. in the form of a look at the sequel to Super Mario Bros., more or less. Yume Kōjō Doki Doki Panic is probably the best-known Famicom Disk System release of all time, and all because its relationship to Super Mario Bros. 2 rendered countless American childhoods a lie...

Special thanks to Joseph Wawzonek for the episode.