Happy Friday, folks. No jokes about the title, okay?
Developed and published by Hudson Soft, Nuts & Milk was first released for the MSX, a computer in the Japanese and European market, in 1983. It subsequently saw release on more home computers, and then the Famicom the following year. It would be Hudson Soft’s first game for the Famicom. How did they do for their first game on the system?
The game opens up with a title screen in a style that I’m sure anyone who played the NES back in the 80s will recognize. Judging by the arcade-like title screen and short, cutesy music, I’m guessing this was intended to be an NES Black Box game. Hmm, I wonder why it never got released here. Here are the basics: the graphics look fine for an NES game. The creatures are exactly as advertised on the box: blobs with googly eyes. Everything else is pretty basic, but for an early cartoonish game it’s not bad. The music is your standard arcade stuff: quiet beeping during gameplay and short jingles in-between.
Nothing to complain about visually or auditorily. Time to talk about the gameplay. You play as Milk and your object is to collect fruit scattered around the level to bring to your girlfriend (named Yogurt) while avoiding Nuts, the jealous bully. Nuts will try to stop you and if he touches you once, you’re dead. Unfortunately, wimpy ol’ Milk can’t attack, but he can jump over Nuts. Nuts is pretty stupid in Game A, often committing suicide and just going in circles, but in Game B he’s a lot more intelligent and aggressive. So if you’re a beginner to arcade style games, Game A is best to start with.
The stage layout consists of pipes, logs, and water. If Milk falls into the water, it’s an instant death. Milk can climb logs, although he cannot jump on them. So if Nuts is coming at you on the logs, you’d better run in the other direction. Milk can run on the pipes and jump on them with no difficulty. Occasionally there will also be springs that can be used to cross large gaps. Milk will need to jump on them to use them, and in order to jump farther you will need to hit A at the correct time. Unfortunately, it’s very precise, so you could end up not timing it right and falling to the bottom of the map. It can get frustrating because of that.
Ah, yes, Milk also takes fall damage… to an extent. If he jumps from too great a height, he will be stunned for a short time. To get him back up, you will need to jam the A button a few times. There’s also a bit of a lag when he gets up, so he really can’t move at all for at least two seconds after a fall. If Nuts is running in your direction while this is happening, you’d better hurry, or you’re dead.
Once all the fruit in the level is gathered, you can make your way to the house at the top to meet Yogurt. Once you have reunited with her, it’s onto the next level. In subsequent levels, the house is harder to reach, there is more fruit, there are two Nuts, and there are more obstacles. Every three levels or so there will be a bonus round where you can gather fruit to earn extra points. However, if you die, you will not receive a bonus at all.
If you lose all your lives, it’s game over. Since this game gets very challenging at times, you may think that’s a little unforgiving. However, you are given the option to select the level you left off at. Your points are not retained, but at least you can play where you left off, even when you reboot the game. It’s kind of like Ice Climber, where you can select your mountain at the beginning of the game, regardless of where you started or left off.
Does this game have any flaws? Well, maybe a couple of minor ones. Milk controls a little stiff, especially when jumping. You have to be holding the control pad before you jump, because Milk cannot change direction in midair. This can lead to a few cheap deaths. Also, some spaces where the fruit are located are incredibly small, and they require precise jumps in order to reach. Like with the springs, incorrect jumps can result in you falling and hurting yourself. Because points are docked depending on how long you take to finish a level, this can really affect your high score in the end.
So, why wasn’t this game released in North America? Well, technically it was, on the Commodore 64. Melbourne House, later known as Beam Software, ported Nuts & Milk to the C64 under the name Hot Pop, retaining gameplay from the Famicom version. But that’s it; it never saw release in North America any other way. It may have something to do with Hudson Soft’s lack of presence in North America at the time, but it could also have something to do with its “silly” title. But, like Egypt, had they just changed it, it would have been fine. It’s not like Nuts & Milk has bad symbolism in it, nor is it a terrible game not worth releasing worldwide.
Being an arcade-like game, there isn’t much to complain about with Nuts & Milk. It’s not the best Black Box game out there, but it’s a fairly solid romp, save for one or two minor issues. If you have kids, they’ll definitely get a kick out of this. If you don’t, you may find some enjoyment in it as a time-waster. For only $3, I’d say it’s worth a play. I want some yogurt now.
Rating: 9/10
Featured Image art by Kaio Scott