What can you say about a game like Captain Silver? It’s a game. That’s for sure.
I found this game when I was doing the 365 Days of the NES and it was interesting enough that I thought it deserved a full play through and, boy, was I not prepared for what I found here.
We are (I think) Jim Hawkins and we’re off to fight Captain Silver and get his treasure. On the way we meet and greet all sorts of traditional Treasure Island characters like The Cheshire Cat and the Pied Piper. That’s really all I can tell you about the story here. It was an arcade game ported over to the NES and the Master System and at the time those weren’t exactly prize winners for plot.
Gameplay is your basic side scrolling platformer. Jim Jim Jimmy Jim Jim Jim Jim has a sword, he jumps, we has a funny walk. He’s not really good at anything. You pick up some sub weapons and powerups along the way. As you go through a level you’ll find some bonus rooms with either the Helpful or The Harming Hag. One of them is helpful, one of them is not very helpful. Shops also appear where you can get some powerups, extra health, etc. At the end of each stage you fight a boss. I believe Frankenstein was one of them.
** Look, I know it’s all hip to be “That’s not Frankenstein, that’s The Creature” on the internet these days. It makes you a bore. You turn into the “Um… actually” meme. So I’m gonna lay this out on you. Dr. Frankenstein is referred to by the Creature as “Father” several times in the story, this making The Creature the son of Dr. Frankenstein. Thus… making The Creature a Frankenstein. **
The graphics are basically garbage. I hate to say it but this game does not look good. The sprites are weird, the animations are basically non existent, the backgrounds are gross. A good game to look at, this is not.
The music doesn’t far much better. There are odd renditions of classical music that don’t really translate well over to the bleeps and boops. You can listen to it if you want to, but I’d advise against it.
I don’t know what this was like on the arcade machines or the Master System but the NES port is pretty bad. If you want to experience it just because it’s so weird, hey more power too you. But if you want to play something fun and engaging, well this is not the game I’d suggest.
| Plot | 5/10 |
| Gameplay | 5/10 |
| Graphics | 5/10 |
| Music | 5/10 |
| Overall | 5/10 |