The Rocketeer (NES)
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- For other games in the series see The Rocketeer.
The Rocketeer is an action-platformer that was developed by Realtime Associates with Ironwind Software and published by Bandai. Realtime had previously worked with Bandai on Dick Tracy (NES).
The game is loosely based off the events of the Disney movie of the same name, rather than the comic book series. A mysterious jetpack ends up in the hands of Clifford "Cliff" Secord and his friend Ambrose "Peevy" Peabody. Peevy starts to work on the jetpack until the two are ambushed by thugs led by Neville Sinclair (the Nazi references from the movie were removed). Later, Sinclair kidnaps Cliff's girlfriend Jenny, and so it is up to Cliff to protect the jetpack and save Jenny.
The game is broken up into six stages, dubbed by the game as "Chapters". Each Chapter contains around three segments. In each level, Cliff, controlled by the player, must face off against a variety of different enemies. Most of them are standard grunts, but there are other enemies such as turret guns, as well as mini-tanks. Cliff has many weapons at his disposal. The default weapon is a punch, but Cliff can also use a pistol, tommy gun, rocket launcher, grenade, and other weapons. While all the weapons are available to Cliff right from the start, each one uses up a certain amount of ammunition, which maxes at 99. The ammunition Cliff collects each level is shared between all weapons. Cliff can also use the jetpack, provided he has enough fuel, which can be picked up throughout the level.
If Cliff dies at any point, he is sent back to the beginning of the segment, but there are infinite continues. A 9-digit password can also be used to continue from the beginning of a chapter.
The game received mixed-to-positive reviews. Some thought the levels are repetetive, and there is no variation in enemies. Early on in the game, all the enemies in the game are encountered. The controls can also be a bit awkward at times, such as starting and using the jetpack.
Screenshots
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Music
The Rocketeer features music by the two main musicians of Realtime Associates; George Sanger and David Hayes. The game has about the average amount of songs for an action-platformer for its time, as there are twelve songs. There are four different tunes that play during the cutscenes, and only two stage themes throughout the entire game. However, the two stage themes are quite lengthy, and they change throughout each chapter. The music consists mostly of fast-paced rock, though a few tracks, namely the cutscene themes, have a more orchestral feel to them.
George Sanger went on to compose the SNES version of the game. This version's music borrows motifs from the Ending track, suggesting he composed this track. He also likely wrote Boss due to the style of the composition. David Hayes most likely wrote Stage Theme 2 because of the rapid delivery of 16th notes on the triangle channel; something he does in most of his works (Caesars Palace (NES) is a good example). Both composers should be contacted to see which tracks they composed.
George Sanger used Performer for the Macintosh while David Hayes used Cakewalk for DOS. Both composers wrote their music in the traditional MIDI format. Their music was then arranged by David Warhol, who also used Cakewalk, and converted the MIDI data into his sound driver.
Recording
| # | Title | Composer | Arranger | Length | Listen | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Title Screen | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:25 | Download | |
| 02 | Chapter Start | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:04 | Download | |
| 03 | Cutscene Theme 1 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:37 | Download | |
| 04 | Stage Theme 1 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 2:37 | Download | |
| 05 | Stage Theme 2 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 2:11 | Download | |
| 06 | Boss | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:51 | Download | |
| 07 | Death | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:04 | Download | |
| 08 | Stage Clear | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:04 | Download | |
| 09 | Cutscene Theme 2 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:13 | Download | |
| 10 | Cutscene Theme 3 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:10 | Download | |
| 11 | Cutscene Theme 4 | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:23 | Download | |
| 12 | Ending | George Sanger, David Hayes | David Warhol | 0:19 | Download |
Credits
- Ripper: MrNorbert1994
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Music: George Sanger credited as George Sanger, The Fatman
- Music: David Hayes credited as Dave Hayes
- Produced and Directed by: David Warhol
(Source)
The game's credits are displayed upon completion of the game. George Sanger is credited both by his real name and pseudonym. Though Warhol is not credited specifically for music arrangements, we have received verification from Warhol that he did the music arrangements and programmed the sound driver.
Game Rip
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Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.
Releases
Links
- mobygames.com/game/31555/the-rocketeer/ - MobyGames.
- gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587580-the-rocketeer - GameFAQs.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocketeer_(NES_video_game) - Wikipedia.
