The Lone Ranger (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Konami's 1991 license-based action game for the NES, The Lone Ranger.

Similar to The Adventures of Bayou Billy and Laser Invasion, The Lone Ranger melds several different gameplay genres and perspectives into one cohesive experience. In combining elements from RPGs, light gun shooters, and side-scrolling platformers, Konami provides a fresh and polished action cart that matches the quality of their best NES titles.

Much like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, town areas and action stages are linked by an overworld map that's marked with enemy encounters and notable locations. The game’s eight lengthy stages are episodic in nature, and typically start with The Lone Ranger exploring a town, purchasing necessary supplies and finding out what he can do to help the locals (a treasure has gone missing, an impostor Ranger tarnishes the hero’s good name, a woman is kidnapped, etc) while pursuing the president and his abductors.

In each area, John will encounter several situations that shift the focus of gameplay: in towns and some action stages, the action will be presented in a manner similar to the 3/4 overhead perspective typical of many action-based adventures and RPGs  (Crystalis, Cowboy Kid,  Willow), while in others it is presented as a classic side-scrolling platformer with controls that are identical to those found in the Castlevania games in stiffness and precision. In both modes, the Ranger has full eight-way directional control of his shots, and both his gun and ammo are upgradable. There are first-person shooter stages that can be played with the Zapper or Konami’s LaserScope (or with crosshairs aimed with the D-Pad) where the objective is to fend off enemies that shoot or throw things toward the screen. When in some caves and buildings, the view shifts to the first person maze point of view (à la Wizardry, Golgo 13), featuring combat scenes identical to those of the first-person shooter stages.

The Lone Ranger‘s graphics are an achievement for the NES hardware, with careful attention provided to the subtlest of details. Though the sprites are small, the amount of detailing in the pixel art makes it easy to distinguish characters from one another, and many stages and cinematics feature an impressive sense of depth thanks to the parallax scrolling in the backgrounds.

The music is heavy with the drum and bass use that Konami’s sound teams were renowned for. The “William Tell Overture,” the theme of the original show, is used on several occasions during cut scenes, complete with a (heavily distorted) digital sample of the infamous, “Hiyo, Silver!” The original music in the game is all appropriate and memorable, and very hummable.

Considering the number of incorporated game types, The Lone Ranger manages to consistently keep its controls both intuitive and responsive. Unlike some games with an excessive number of complex control schemes to accommodate the game modes (California Games, Track and Field II), The Lone Ranger follows  the traditional NES control schemes for each game type, removing the single largest barrier to the majority of games of its ilk. The only potential problem I see with The Lone Ranger lies in its difficulty level. Each area must be completed in a single-life and several of the stages can take upwards of an hour to complete, and continuing from a game over places the Ranger back at the very beginning of the current area. Even still, a password system eases a lot of potential frustration, and overall the difficulty is nowhere near as stiff as that in Bayou Billy, making this one a far more enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately, because the NES adaptation was released 34 years after the television show ended, the license was unrecognizable to the great majority of the NES players at the time, and The Lone Ranger‘s release went virtually unnoticed in the shadow of the impending release of the Super NES.

But regardless of the cold commercial reception this US-exclusive received, The Lone Ranger is an NES showpiece thanks to both its technical achievements and the sheer fun it provides.

(This is a new playthrough using the Zapper, because really, the game is so much better with it! The video quality is also way better now!)
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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