RETRO REBOOT | The Adventures of Bayou Billy (Nintendo Entertainment System)
How using every function the NES has to offer can make a game borderline impossible
RETRO REBOOT
"ColonelFancy" Mike Lind
8/25/20265 min read
Developed by: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release date: June 1989
Dang it, I recall the commercials for this game being so cool. The Adventures of Bayou Billy seemed like a piece of software that aims for the stars. Something that combines side-scrolling brawling, racing portions, and the Nintendo Zapper? On paper, this is one of the most ambitious games I can remember. Had it not been for the notorious difficulty and spotty hit detection, it may have held that honor. Instead, it ends up being a frustrating endeavor that's nearly improbable to beat without the utmost skill, timing, and knowing all the tricks to advance.
Back in the day, a game like this (and other culprits being Abbadox, Silver Surfer, and The Lion King) were speculated to have their difficulties injected with The Ultimate Warrior's body weight in steroids. This was so Blockbuster could cash in on heavy volume rentals.
"Those snotty brats won't spend THIS weekend beating Gradius! Come back with your allowance next week and try again!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
It's actually a hell of a racket. For as much as the gaming community rants about microtransactions and live service models (I am neither an advocate for them or vehemently against them), back then this was the "pay to play" structure. Same for arcades. What's truly messed up is, this game had a chance of being really, really cool. It's got pretty good music, the character kind of has that rugged, macho, take-no prisoners aura that an Indiana Jones would embody. And was still probably the most accurate character Captain N: The Game Master represented in his brief appearance.
Starting with the graphics, Bayou Billy is an inviting game. There is some flickering here and there, and the animation won't wow you (most attack frames are one stiff looking frame), but the sprites are fairly clean and have a good amount of detail. Along with that, many of the stages don't look too bad. It may get a little bit repetitious, as the driving portions look virtually the same. That being said, the swampy jungle you traverse through, along with the streets of New Orleans, are nice 8-bit quality that comes with some jank.
The music is great. You can seldom count Konami out for awesome OST, and Bayou Billy is far from a letdown, as those savvy, rich baselines permeate your eardrums, then it hits the bridges. Each of the three modes come with their own tracks, so it offers some variety. The soundtrack is almost worth indulging the game, if only for a handful of minutes. The composers are Jun Funahashi (Contra Force, Batman Returns on SNES),iKiyohiro Sada (Blades of Steel), Hidenori Maezawa (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse), Atsushi Fujio (Contra III: The Alien Wars), and Tsutomu Ogura (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time) make up this all-star team of sound engineers. And I gotta say...hot damn. Given the Japanese Famicom uses a more sophisticated sound chip than the gray box we got here in NTSC Land, it does sound even better. I normally don't prattle on this long about a Nintendo game's OST, but Konami sound production is in a class of its own. Some of the sound effects are little mushy. It's hard to get a read on when you hit an enemy in brawler stages, and kinda sounds a bit on the generic side.
Adventures of Bayou Billy plays fine enough, for the most part. It's not like the controls are insufferable, but just unresponsive enough to make my hair turn grey. The brawler portions are brutal, as there are only a few ways to keep enemies from swarming you and running your health bar through the meat grinder. Mastering getting through stages while taking as little health as possible is something that puts your gaming senses on high alert. Hit detection with the punches and kicks are suspect, and it feels like an enemy is going to land a shot on me before I even hit them. Auxiliary weapons you pick up barely offer much aid the way they would in Double Dragon or Streets of Rage.
The driving stages where Billy commandeers a jeep and gives chase are an intense race where you have to dodge other vehicles and long range offense from helicopters, by throwing grenades (like ANOTHER awesome Konami game) all while trying to not let the gap get too far. Easier said than done, as you want to move as fast as possible. But it's agonizing, as staying out of the line of fire, staying on the road, AND defending yourself are tough to juggle at once. And these portions are LOOOOONG!! I've had an easier time beating Super C with only the rapid fire upgrade.
As mentioned before, the railgun portions utilize the Zapper. But none of mine work that well over the years, so I've always used the controller, which lets you guide a reticle across the screen. Putting aside the fact that I SUCK at shooting games, the hit detection is again very suspect, and the enemies are highly aggressive. I'd need a photographic memory and Tony Jaa's speed and reflexes to survive these.
In the end, I hate this game. Yet, it was one that was in our collection for the longest time. Perhaps it can be viewed as one of those games that truly caters to the most skilled Nintendo players. But I would have to be committed if I called this a "hidden gem" or overlooked. There's a difference between challenge and shoe-shedding impossible. Adventures of Bayou Billy is in the category of NES games that bullied kids.
The gameplay is just tolerable enough, but punishes you so severely, and any minor error costs you potential progress. I have stated it before, I've beaten my share of super hard NES games. But some just aren't fun enough to warrant trying to get good enough in this game to beat it, especially now that I'm in my 40's, and my reflexes are reaching the point of being compromised. It's a shame, because it's a waste of some sweet music. The visuals are pretty memorable. And I do enjoy the character, if only for the commercial that made him seem cooler than he probably really is.
It's far from the worst game in the NES library. If you're reading this, and have yet to experience The Adventures of Bayou Billy, I'd recommend trying it emulated. Then promptly discard the file and never revisit again. For the betterment of your long-term health.
