It's Back to the Future Day! October 21st 2015... the day that Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrived in the future, and cried: "We, Doc Brown and Marty McFly, have arrived in the future!"
There they encountered a world of holographic cinema marquees, flying cars, Pepsi Perfect, auto-drying clothing, and a reference to the Cubs winning the World Series which - even 30 years on - nobody our side of the Atlantic understands.
Please accept our apologies for adding to the pile of what will doubtless become today's tsunami of Back to the Future articles, with this: some Back to the Future games you've probably forgotten about. Now get a fat load of this knowing reference: You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!
There they encountered a world of holographic cinema marquees, flying cars, Pepsi Perfect, auto-drying clothing, and a reference to the Cubs winning the World Series which - even 30 years on - nobody our side of the Atlantic understands.
Please accept our apologies for adding to the pile of what will doubtless become today's tsunami of Back to the Future articles, with this: some Back to the Future games you've probably forgotten about. Now get a fat load of this knowing reference: You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!
BACK TO THE FUTURE ADVENTURE (MSX2)
What even was the MSX2? Who knows? Who cares? It was probably just some baby's toy that you had to use your hands to play with.
Back to the Future Adventure came out in 1986, and had but the most anaemic of ties to the movie. Looking more like an urban Wonder Boy, a squat Marty McFly leapt through levels while avoiding the police (or maybe they were The Blues Brothers), and barely tolerating an endlessly repeating, vaguely rock and roll, tune. Reaching a dancehall would reward you with the sight of Marty's parents falling in love. Repeat ad infinitum.
Back to the Future Adventure came out in 1986, and had but the most anaemic of ties to the movie. Looking more like an urban Wonder Boy, a squat Marty McFly leapt through levels while avoiding the police (or maybe they were The Blues Brothers), and barely tolerating an endlessly repeating, vaguely rock and roll, tune. Reaching a dancehall would reward you with the sight of Marty's parents falling in love. Repeat ad infinitum.
BACK TO THE FUTURE (C64)
As in the movie, this Back to the Future game - also released for the Spectrum and Amstrad - saw Marty attempting to force his parents to have sexual congress, in order to ensure his birth. Horribly, contact with your teenage mother made this more unlikely, as Marty's boyish good looks stirred erotic feelings in her.
Despite some surprisingly authentic depictions for five of the film's locations - albeit all squashed together into a single street - and a nice touch in the way your health/remaining time was represented by deteriorating photos of Marty and his siblings, it was a convoluted action adventure thing that pleased nobody. Least of all Chronon - Emperor of Time. What a stupid baby's toy.
Despite some surprisingly authentic depictions for five of the film's locations - albeit all squashed together into a single street - and a nice touch in the way your health/remaining time was represented by deteriorating photos of Marty and his siblings, it was a convoluted action adventure thing that pleased nobody. Least of all Chronon - Emperor of Time. What a stupid baby's toy.
BACK TO THE FUTURE (NES)
Just like in the movie, the NES version of Back to the Future had Marty collecting clocks. Clocks from here, clocks from there - he literally couldn't get enough clocks. He was thoroughly clock mad, was Marty McFly.
Unlike the above games, this one accompanied Marty's manic clock-gathering with semi-recognisable versions of Johnny B. Goode and The Power of Love. A handful of mini-games punctuated the main stages, including one - set during The Enchantment Under the Sea dance - which saw the player fighting to keep his fingers on the strings of Marty's guitar. It sounds like something a baby would have as a toy!
Unlike the above games, this one accompanied Marty's manic clock-gathering with semi-recognisable versions of Johnny B. Goode and The Power of Love. A handful of mini-games punctuated the main stages, including one - set during The Enchantment Under the Sea dance - which saw the player fighting to keep his fingers on the strings of Marty's guitar. It sounds like something a baby would have as a toy!
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART 2 (Master System)
As Doc Brown often exclaimed, this Master System interpretation of Back to the Future Part 2 was "Not great, Scott!".
A mix of Paperboy-esque, avoid-the-dogs/Biff's cronies levels, top-down stealth, side-on platform sections, and puzzle minigames, it was about as convoluted and all over the place as the timelines were after Biff Tannen got his hands on the Sports Almanac! Do you see? Do you see what we did there? That's like something proper writers would do. Not like something a baby would do, with its stupid baby hands.
A mix of Paperboy-esque, avoid-the-dogs/Biff's cronies levels, top-down stealth, side-on platform sections, and puzzle minigames, it was about as convoluted and all over the place as the timelines were after Biff Tannen got his hands on the Sports Almanac! Do you see? Do you see what we did there? That's like something proper writers would do. Not like something a baby would do, with its stupid baby hands.
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART 3 (ZX Spectrum)
In this better-than-average baby's toy, players encountered side-on horse riding and hoverboard stages, isometric wandering, and first-person shooting bonus levels... Back to the Future Part 3 is notable for turning both Doc and Marty into "Injun"-slaughtering mass murderers. And thus, the violation of indigenous peoples is perpetuated.
SUPER BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 (Super NES)
A slightly pretty, but mostly average, run-through of the movie's main moments - albeit with a hoverboard glued permanently to Marty's feet. It was notable for two things: only being released in Japan, and featuring about forty different interpretations of the Back to the Future theme. And a third thing: Marty McFly grinning impishly, as a ghoulish Doc Brown drops the bombshell that his father has been murdered by Biff Tannen. And a fourth thing: being like a baby's toy.
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS THEME PARK ADVENTURE (GameCube)
Not a Back to the Future game per se, Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure boasted mini games inspired by a number Universal Studios theme park attractions. At the time, one of these was a much-loved Back to the Future ride - now re-themed as a Simpsons experience.
Weirdly, the levels were introduced by Woody Woodpecker, taking on a sort of ersatz Doc Brown role. Though a simplistic and broadly awful racing game, it's a real curiosity in that it boasts sections taken from the ride, which never appear in the movies - including an Ice Age and prehistoric Hill Valley. And yes - you did have to use your hands to play it. You know: like a baby would.
Weirdly, the levels were introduced by Woody Woodpecker, taking on a sort of ersatz Doc Brown role. Though a simplistic and broadly awful racing game, it's a real curiosity in that it boasts sections taken from the ride, which never appear in the movies - including an Ice Age and prehistoric Hill Valley. And yes - you did have to use your hands to play it. You know: like a baby would.
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