Jeremy Parish
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NES Works 116: Mappy-Land and Dance Aerobics
🕑 Added 2023-11-15 14:12:40 +0000 UTCThere's something a little poignant about this episode arriving in the midst of Horrible Internet Discourse about The Marvels, because I think the legacy of Dance Aerobics has suffered due to the fandom perception that it's for girls and therefore inferior and probably infested with cooties. And yeah, it's certainly marketed toward women, but the assumption that a game focused on that demographic has nothing to offer is ridiculous. There's some pretty interesting and forward-thinking stuff happening here. Of course, it's shackled to a cumbersome peripheral, which doesn't do it any favors. But still.
Also, Mappy-Land is pretty good! Who knew? I did not know.
Comments
Vinushika
Having "Track & Field II" over a shot of the Black Panther museum scene while talking about cultural imperialism is just excellent. Great cut. That said, people are going to groan that you added a clip of Pump It Up when mentioning DDR. I think you should leave it, but get ready! Great episode as usual. I'm very surprised at how forward-looking Dance Aerobics is; I never gave it a second thought given how World Class Track Meet is just Track and Field but on a mat, but it's actually pretty cool!
Jeremy Parish
I've touched on this at various times, but Namco and Nintendo soured on each other in Japan around the time the NES launched. So Namco evidently didn't bother seeking an NES license, which meant its early Famicom hits largely didn't make their way here, or arrived belatedly through other publishers.
Marcus Trapp
I was always a big arcade-version Mappy fan and was disappointed that it never made it to the NES. I was shocked when I discovered it years later on one of those plug-and-play devices -- It had existed all this time! Just not in the US. I appreciate the explanation here.
