"I'm Popeye the sailor man!"

Intro
Nothing pleased me more than to see one of my childhood cartoons come into a game. This was exactly what happened when I got Popeye for the NES game console. It was a while ago when I first got this game, I'd say near 11-12 years. Either way, I knew the story behind it, and loved this game beside the actual point of completing the game. I even remember some old Popeye videos (which I may still have) that really got me to like the character as a whole. Bluto and Olive Oil, typically are involved in this game as well, just as they are in the cartoon. Also, the big brute Bluto is up to his usual tricks, and has once again made it hard for Popeye to live a normal peaceful life. Olive Oil is yet again caught in the middle, and only hopes Popeye can save him yet again from the evil clutches of the mischievous Bluto. And now, armed with his muscle-building spinach, Popeye the sailor trudges off on yet another adventure to stop the wrong-doings of Bluto.

This is a typical arcade-like game, there is one main screen, where you are overlooking the entire level. There's really not much to this game. It has 3 basic levels you'll be playing on, and every game your goal is to collect falling projectiles that Olive Oil throws down to you. I guess you could say the objective is to rescue her! But you won't have it easy! Bluto is lurking each level with random tricks up his sleeve to make it hard for Popeye to rescue her, and indeed, it makes a great match-up! ^_~

Story 5/10
Well, the story is fairly basic, you're acting as Popeye the sailor man, trying to rescue Olive Oil from Bluto. Typical bad guy vs. good guy match up here, even though you're really just trying to save Olive Oil, you'll find yourself confronting Bluto more than you want to throughout the game! Personally, I was a big fan of Popeye back in the day, so if you knew the story behind the characters, I hope you'd agree with me at a solid 5 for story.

Gameplay/Entertainment 7/10
You get the bird's eye view of everything, but you're main concern is to control Popeye and have him collect the falling projectiles that Olive Oil drops from her ''prison''. Bluto will be right on your heels though, so beware. He'll attack you with uppercuts, grabs from above you, and a flurry of beer bottles. If Bluto starts getting on your nerves, grab your spinach, and chase him down and give him a bop he'll never forget. That will put Bluto out of commission for a couple seconds, so you can both regain your sanity, and some projectiles that have gotten away from you. Most of the time, I used the spinach as a harassment tool to Bluto... poor guy... ;D Now, from all those aspects of the game, I had to say I really enjoyed playing this game every time I got it working in my NES game console, so although the lack of levels, I still give it a 7 for keeping me entertained.

Graphics 6/10
Not too shabby for an NES game back in the day. Popeye is fairly well defined as the character just as he is supposed to look from his cartoon. Ditto for Olive Oil. The same for Bluto as well, only I really need to comment, they did an EXCELLENT job portraying Bluto. He's a big brute like bearded guy who has a bad attitude towards Popeye, and they set that up fairly nicely in this game. There are some other small aspects such as the eagles in the 3rd level, but I don't want to waste much more time going into all of that. Overall, I'd give this game a 6 when gauging it up to other NES games.

Sound/Music 7/10
Although the music during gameplay was a bit repetitive, much of the rest of the game was quite good. The music at the beginning of the game was one I always remembered as a kid. That darn Popeye the sailor tune, I was always addicted to it, and it's easy to pick up and get it stuck in your head after hearing it once. Heh, I for one know it's easy to happen, because my parents always got that song stuck in their heads and used to hum it like crazy! Anyhow, I must say they did a decent job with that and the other areas in which they had little musical tunes, especially with the NES console. The cartoonish nature of the songs must be why I am rating that so highly, because the whole Popeye getup is supposed to be cartoonish. After all, Popeye did have his own TV cartoon back in the day. The sounds fit perfectly, I mean, punching a beer bottle sounded very much like a cartoon. The only funky thing was they used the same sound for the eagles in the third level O_ O, maybe Nintendo was getting lazy? Either way, the sounds were fairly good. Considering both the game music and sounds, I've decided a 7 fit this category.

Replay Value 9/10
Popeye fan or not, this game is fun. You're going to come back to this game, even after playing it for days straight. It just has that addicting arcade feeling to it, and you can't help but want to play it every time you walk by the game. I'm giving it a definite 9 here.

Conclusion 7/10
Whether you were a fan of the Popeye cartoon series back in my childhood days, or just an avid NES gamer looking for a good one to play, you're going to enjoy this game. I believe they had an arcade game too of this specific game, and by NES making an actual game out of it, you'd save money by purchasing the game to play on NES. But of course, my NES is a tough console to get working at this time, so even if I had the chance to play this game once again I'd be happy. Popeye the game has an arcade addicting aspect to it, and it would benefit you to try this game out at least once in your gaming career. You won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/02, Updated 07/18/02