Little Nemo: The Dream Master

Little Nemo: The Dream Master

NES - USA - 1st Edition.

Developer Capcom Publisher Capcom Published 1990-09-?? Platforms NES Genres Licensed, Platformer Themes Adventure, Cartoon, Surreal Series Little Nemo Distribution Commercial

Little Nemo: The Dream Master is a platform action adventure game developed and published by Capcom and first released on the NES in September 1990. It is based on the film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland which is based on the original Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No.

I first saw this game in a television commercial on TV in 1990, and it looked really interesting. I think I saw it in Nintendo Power and other gaming magazines and kept being impressed by it. I even tried making a similar style of game using Game-Maker, though I hadn't yet actually played the game, so I was just trying to duplicate pictures of the level 1 map from memory. I first played it at my friend Chris's house who had rented it. We both found it to be really hard and we never made it past level 2. Later, my brother and I borrowed the game from someone and made it to level 3, which I don't think I've ever beaten. I've spent a fair amount of time hacking the game and recording the soundtrack, so I know just how difficult it really is and have no desire to try and get good enough to beat it.

Review

4	4	8	7	3

Best Version: NES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The graphics and animation are fantastic for an NES game.
• Junko Tamiya's soundtrack is amazing. The songs really fit the theme of each level and even stand well on their own.
• The game play mechanic is really great. Being able to "ride" various beasts in the game and use their abilities was very creative.
• The game has fantastic atmosphere. Each level has its own mood and color palette. From a multi-media stance, the game is well-honed.

Bad

• Enemies respawn far too easily. If their spawn point is even a few pixels off screen, they will come back. The designers either should have put a delay on how frequently they respawn, or just kept track of which enemies had been killed in the level.
• While it's nice to see characters from the film, they only play bit roles.
• I don't like how you can be hurt by the animals that can be your friends after they're fed candy.
• The game manual isn't very well-made. It doesn't talk much about the game, and the cartoon art is pretty bad.

Ugly

• The game is far too difficult to the point where it's more annoying than fun.
• The dandelion seeds (float-fiends) are extremely frustrating to deal with.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese box art is a collage of the various monster and levels in the game. It gives the viewer a good idea what to expect from the game, but I think it's a bit too busy. The magenta background is terrible, but I love the stars in the lettering.

• 

  The American and European art is expertely painted, but has practically nothing to do with the game. Flying alligators, an orange cat, and evils trees are nowhere to be found, and Nemo's walking bed, though present in the film, doesn't exist in the game. The only thing that matches are the spiked snails on the mushrooms at the bottom.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - NES - USA - Revision.

Maps

• 

  1 - Mushroom Forest.

• 

  2 - Flower Garden.

• 

  3 - House of Toys.

• 

  4 - Night Sea.

• 

  5 - Nemo's House.

• 

  6 - Cloud Ruins.

• 

  7 - Topsy-Turvy.

• 

  8 - Nightmare Land.

Videos

Review - Hungry Goriya.

Commercial.

Longplay - NES.

Play Online

Famicom, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The Princess of Slumberland is a damsel in distress. Other than her, some of the enemies could be considered female.
Bechdel test?	Fail	No women ever talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Every character is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Credits

Role	Staff
Executive Producer	Tokuro Fujiwara (Arthur)
Game Designer	Tatsuya Minami (Mickey)
Programmers	Yoshito Ito (Leo), Yamaken
Character Designers	Naoya Tomita (Tom Pon), Yoshifumi Onishi (Toshichan), Eanie, Natsue Ueda (Onatsu), Oharu
Music and Sound Effects	Junko Tamiya (Gonzou)

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Japanese	パジャマヒーロー NEMO	Pajama Hiro Nimo	Pajama Hero Nemo

Links