The Adventures of Bayou Billy (NES)

Difficulty: ****1/2

Controls: **

Sound: ***1/2

Graphics: ***1/2

Overall: 13 1/2 stars out of 20

You play as the swamp superhero known as Bayou Billy. Your Cajun Queen Annabelle has been captured and help hostage by the local kingpin Gordon! It'll take strength, hard nosed driving skills and a sharp trigger finger to get her back!

First and foremost the game is very hard. The poor hit detection in the beat 'em up stages will cause you to lose many upon many of lives. Added to the fact that the driving stages have very loose controls means you won't be having a good time. There are 9 stages total and aside from the zapper gun stages, are brutal.

The controls have already been mentioned but you have to wonder how Konami (who are known too be a top rate gaming company) got away with these shoddy controls. During the beat 'em up stages you press the 'B' button to punch, 'A' button to kick and A+B to jump kick. When you get a firearm you can select it via the 'select' button.

There is nice variety in the music. You get some very southern Cajun style tunes as you slog away through the baddies. Your attacks don't sound to convincing though. But on the bright side you're treated to some nice voice synthesizers (Gordon laughing at you, the title being said and the grunt of death by Billy himself)

Bayou Billy sports some sharp graphics. You get cut scenes between levels and they all look nice and crisp. There is a plethora of bad guys to dispatch. Frogmen, various punks, cars, planes, birds and even alligators! The driving stages look nice too (especially the highway stage). There is some slowdown and flicker issues in the driving stages but nothing too much to scoff at.

Pick this game up only if you find it for a rock bottom price (I picked mine up for $2) The game is very hard due to the poor hit detection in the beat em' up stages. The driving stages have you controlling a jeep that is very loose and frustrating. The sound with its various voice synthesizers is a treat to hear. The graphics are also very well done (standard Konami fare). Overall, this could have been one of the ultimate beat 'em up games on the NES. Not being able to have a second player join in the bayou brawl is a shame. With all its diversity the game is marred by poor controls. A shame really...