LJN was a notorious company back in the 8 and 16 bit era, noted for the licensed games it put out that tended to not be received very well to put it mildly. LJN snapped up almost every movie license for a tie-in game, and while many were indeed poor, some were actually decent, while others got a bad rap but were actually relatively decent. Jaws fell into that third category, with a basic game set up that had a lot of potential but was not fully realized.
The thing is, while Jaws is often held up as an example of a bad licensed game, many have come to acknowledge that the game actually has a lot of merits to it and could be a good game with a few tweaks. It may be of interest for some that the game was developed by the legendary studio Westone Bit Entertainment, of Wonder Boy fame among other classics, and was only the developer’s second game. Enter Limited Run Games and gaming historian and content creator Jeremy Parish, who teamed up to not only bring back the original NES Jaws game for modern consoles, but also a new enhanced edition of the game. Both are included in Jaws: Retro Edition, but I am only going to be focusing on the Enhanced Edition of the game, and I will just start by saying this is the 8-bit Jaws game we always wanted.
Right from the start you can see how things are different since the original game was based on the fourth film, Jaws: The Revenge, but the Enhanced Edition now breaks the game into four phases, each based on one of the movies and the story does reflect this, though the storytelling is still minimal. The gameplay has been reworked from just going between two harbours and now you have specific objectives that pop up over time, such as needing to have a certain amount of encounters with Jaws, taking down specific enemies and so on. It still is a bit basic as this is essentially a souped up romhack, but it does a fantastic job altering the experience.
Jaws had minor RPG elements in its original form, but the Enhanced Edition massively overhauls this by making the game a full action RPG. When you go to the harbour now, you can spend currency to increase one of your stats, or interact with specific individuals to get tasks and objectives. Enemies will also take on new forms and level up across the different phases and you need to be ready for an increased challenge, especially since your stats reset each time you begin a new movie phase.
While the Enhanced Edition still uses the original map, there are some nice improvements, such as having enemies pop up on the overworld the same way that they do in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, where you can choose to go to the encounter, and appear differently based on the enemy type in that encounter. You will also find tools over the course of gameplay to help you locate enemy locations, as well as seashells ( your currency) as well as other items you need to find.
I will admit that even with the improvements, there are some issues as the gameplay still has a bit of input lag and some control stiffness although not much, and the combat scenes can get repetitive, meaning you could get bored after a while. I myself was hooked by the gameplay loop and had a great time, but will acknowledge that this is not for everyone, especially since button remapping is not available. Still, I had a lot of fun and before I knew it, hours had passed during my first gameplay session and I just wanted more. Considering that the original game could be beaten in a very short time, this is a vast improvement, but be aware of the fact that the game does not have an autosave function and requires manual saving.
Visually the game is mostly the same, but there have been some sprite flickering fixes and other minor changes like that, and the music is mostly the same, but with a few tweaks here and there. There is an option to play with a CRT filter and different screen sizes, and your mileage may vary on what you feel looks best here. There are some new visual designs that pop up for enemies to give new variety as the game progresses across different movies and to distinguish between the foes, and this is actually handled rather well.
I will be honest that I never felt Jaws was a bad game despite its reputation and status as a punching bag of the internet video game review community. What was done here though, takes an okay if flawed experience, and makes it a game that would have been considered a classic if it had been the one we had received back in the NES days. And now, I want more. Specifically, I would love to see other LJN games get this treatment, though I acknowledge licensing will make this difficult. A Nightmare On Elm Street is a hidden gem on the NES and I am just imagining how much better it could be with this treatment, while Friday the 13th could finally be the great game it had the potential to be.
Jaws: Retro Edition gives us the chance to play both the original decent but flawed experience and the amazing Enhanced Edition and you cannot go wrong with this. This is what we need to see more of when it comes to retro gaming, and hopefully the game will prove successful over time and will lead to more projects like this. This is video game preservation and a massive upgrade at the same time, and a must play experience. Yes there are some issues, but overall the experience is just so good that you will overlook the remaining flaws due to the fun you are having. Highly recommended.