Jaws (1987) NES Review

Jaws (1987)
Developed by: Westone
Published by: LJN
Released in: NA

Jaws has become an infamous title amongst NES players over the years, often regarded as one of the worst games on the system. Such a stinky reputation is hard to ignore, but I, being the adventure seeking NESologist that I am, held a neutral approach while diving headfirst into the choppy waters ahead.

First of all, Jaws’ development history is worth mentioning, since it’s more interesting than the game itself. The forever controversial LJN was a questionable publisher, working with more than a few development studios to churn out sub-par games they’d end up taking all the credit for. Why they wanted to crucify themselves like that remains to be seen. Regardless, one of LJN’s favourite companies to work with was Atlus.

Yes, that Atlus.

Having their hands in a lot of LJN’s output, Atlus is directly responsible for more than a few games often considered to be some of the worst of the 8-bit era. But they’ve likely sold 6,000 copies of Persona 5 in the time it took me to type that sentence, which just goes to show that you should never give up on your dreams.

But wait! The plot thickens. Teddie does, too. As it turns out, Atlus wasn’t directly responsible for the development of Jaws, but pulled an LJN and took all the credit for it. They produced the game and hired Westone to develop the game for them instead. It’s thanks to this convoluted chain of pawning off work that we got an NES game that was worked on by Ryuichi Nishizawa, the creator of Wonder Boy (who was the artist on Jaws), and Shinichi Sakamoto, the composer of the very same series! I just thought that was neat.

That’s more than enough about the behind the, uh, “magic” behind Jaws, though. How’s the game itself?

It’s quite a unique specimen. At its core, Jaws is a bite-sized action RPG. Playing as the unforgettable protagonist known only as “Diver”, you travel from the dock on the right side of a small body of water to the dock on the left side and back again, running into “random encounters” as you go. Random encounters in this game are arcade-like single screens in which you blast away at manta rays, jellyfish and sharks, who all want you dead. Once in a while, the oh so terrifying sea life you slaughter will drop a seashell, which acts as currency you can use at the docks to purchase level-ups. The higher your level, the easier the final fight with Jaws will be.

Squaring off with Jaws isn’t as tough as the movie made it out to be. Most people agree that the final leg of the showdown in which you need to ram your boat into the shark is the most difficult, but I did it on complete accident on my first try. Oops?

I didn’t mind Jaws in the end. The game’s got a simplicity that makes it easy to pick up and play, and just enough depth to keep you engaged and entertained for the duration. Which is about twenty minutes, by the way; Jawsy doesn’t overstay his welcome, I’ll say that much. I don’t personally think Jaws is a game that’s earned its bad rep, but it’s by no means the catch of the day.

Initial Interest Rating: 8/10
Final Rating: