
	Platform NES Genre Action Publisher Taxan Developer Thinking Rabbit ETA 1989
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8 Eyes

After the success of Castlevania, it was only a matter of time before we started to see other games try and tap into the various play mechanics that made that Konami game a hit. One such title that has always stuck out for me in that regard is 8 Eyes on the NES. It had a very similar look to it, and the way action played out was almost identical to Castlevania. Strangely enough, though, the game was still reasonably decent, or at least fun enough for a pre-teen Mr. Nash not to really care too much if the game was trying to sneak in on the coat tails of someone else.

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Taking place in the ever popular post-apocalyptic hellscape setting we've seen sooooo may times in games (I'd argue it was even over used back in the late 80s when this game came out), the world is run by the Great King who has managed to bring about some degree of peace as he tries to rebuild the world, and help people have normal lives again. He did this through eight magical gems called the 8 Eyes. However, there were

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also, conveniently enough, eight dukes under him that wanted this power to themselves, so they each stole one of the gems, and proceeded to exile the king to a nuclear wasteland. With that the world was once again in peril of collapsing into chaos. This is where our hero, Orin, came in with his trusty falcon, Cutrus. The two had to fight their way through the fortresses of each of the eight dukes, battling through waves of soldiers, mutants, and whatnot until having a showdown with each duke, collecting the 8 Eyes along the way. After he was done this, Orin simply had to return the gems to the Altar of Peace so that the Great King could get back to repairing the world. Simple enough.

Looking at the actual gameplay, there are a lot of comparisons that can be made between 8 Eyes and the Castlevania series. Both were action games where players hacked their way through hordes of enemies, collecting various secondary items that they could use when a little extra firepower became necessary, while occasionally bashing a hole in a wall to reveal other useful goodies. One interesting addition that 8 Eyes brought to the table was the use of Orin's falcon, Cutrus. Players could use the bird to help in fighting enemies from time to time. It was pretty simple, but added a little something extra to the play experience. One annoying aspect was that Orin's sword was ridiculously short. With such little range, it was easy to get hit by enemies, so he would constantly take far more damage because of this. Also, each boss gave Orin a new sword, and was only vulnerable to a specific sword from another boss, making for some frustrating trial and error in figuring out what order to fight these guys in.

Besides the gameplay, one could also see similarities between 8 Eyes and Castlevania in terms of visuals (this easily being the most obvious parallel between the two games). The walls, stairs, backgrounds, and even some of the enemies look very much like something from a Castlevania game. With that, it seemed very much like 8 Eyes was simply trying to copy Konami's successful series. The only bright side to the game's presentation was its music, which was actually pretty good.

Ultimately, though, 8 Eyes was a poor substitute for a Castlevania game. It had both an inferior plot and gameplay, making it one NES title that was destined to fade into obscurity, and deservedly so. Given how much game cartridges cost back then, I almost feel bad for people who unwittingly bought this title.

roygbiv
June 12, 2011