254. Predator (Klon, Famicom, 1988)

Released as a tie-in to the popular Arnold Schwarzenegger action thriller film that hit theaters the previous year, Predator the Famicom game opens with a small amount of backstory and a lovely big sprite of Arnold flashing through some cool color effects.

Unfortunately, the intro is just about the only good looking-thing about Predator. Once the game starts, you are presented with a screen that lets you know you are going to enter "big mode". Big mode is thusly named because it features a very large (for the Famicom) sprite of Arnold, as he auto runs sideways in a scrolling shooter section. Even though the background is just a solid color and you are just fighting different-colored orbs and bubbles, this section manages to be a decently good time. Enemies are fairly easy to avoid, weapon pickups are frequent, and you can jump the entire height of the screen. 

After a while, the titular Predator shows up, appearing at a random place on the screen and firing some destructible shots at you before he disappears again. Again I found this to be a kind of cheap gimmick, but also decently fun to fight against, and the predator went down pretty quickly. What also went down quickly was the quality of the game, as you are then dropped into the fist "real" level. 

While the regular levels of Predator do have actual backgrounds, they also turn our man Arnold into a tiny, impotent little sprite who is about a quarter the size of Mr. Big Mode. You also lose your gun, which is replaced by a punch attack that has a very short range. You are also beset upon by enemy humans, many of whom have guns and vastly outrange you. The platforming is also uncomfortably floaty and slippery, yet the levels require many precise jumps to avoid instant death pits. The only redeemable part of these levels is that they are very short, so I can generally ignore getting damaged by enemies, as I run for the exit.

2/5, a cheap-feeling game whose only saving grace is "Big Mode"