The Untouchables (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Ocean's 1991 license-based action game for the NES, The Untouchables.

This video shows playthroughs of two different versions of the game. The first is of the original release version. The second, beginning at 16:47, is of the "Revision B" version, which updates the title screen graphics, changes the order of the stages, and improves the controls in the roll-and-shoot stage.

Ocean's The Untouchables for the NES, a game based on the 1987 De Palma gangster flick set during Prohibition, is a port of the 1989 8-bit computer game of the same name.

It loosely follows the events of the movie, and according to the ads, its "six inspired action sequences" provide you the means to "re-live the knife edge existence of Ness in his struggle against the retribution of Capone."

The Untouchables follows Ocean's typical mini-game driven approach to adapting movies. The first and fourth stages are alleyway shootouts, the second stage is a platformer, the third stage is a Cabal-style shooting gallery, the fifth stage is a top-down shooter/obstacle course, and the sixth and final stage is a rooftop shootout.

The seemingly diverse set of game styles and the distinct lack of slider puzzles (yes, I'm looking at you, RoboCop 2) certainly sound promising, and the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions were praised for the quality of their graphics and sound and for how the gameplay reflected the themes of the film.

The C64 version was ported to the NES by Special FX Software, a company established by ex-Ocean employees, and the NES version faithfully replicates its gameplay.

And that's its biggest flaw. As an action game that was sold on a cassette tape for 8-bit computers, The Untouchables was plenty impressive, but as a full-priced game released on an NES cartridge in 1991, it was quite the opposite. The individual game types lack any sort of depth or longevity, the controls are frustratingly stiff, and the challenge is derived from strict time limits and unavoidable hits. Making matters worse, the game's biggest selling point, its presentation, took a huge hit in the conversion. The graphics have been overly simplified and look flat, and the audio has been reduced to an irritating cacophony of apreggiated trills peppered with white noise drums and gunshots.

The superior computer version saw a budget rerelease in 1991, and you have to wonder just how Ocean thought anyone would've been willing to spend $35-40 on a worse version of a two-year-old game that could already be played elsewhere for a fraction of the price.

Let Capone do his thing, I say. Stopping him isn't worth the effort.

Or play Dick Tracy instead. It's much better.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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