Back to the Future (1989 video game)

**Back to the Future** is a video game release by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System on September 1989. The game is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name. A sequel, *Back to the Future Part II & III*, was released in 1990.

## Gameplay

In the single mode game, the player controls Marty McFly through various stages set in 1955 in which he collects various clock icons in order to advance to the next level, and avoid the gradual vanishing of his future (indicated by a fading photograph at the bottom of the screen). If the photograph fades fully, Marty would lose a life as it would show him vanishing. Collecting 100 clocks restored the photograph to its full, unfaded status. Two power-ups can help improve Marty's control: bowling balls that can destroy enemies and a skateboard which can speed up gameplay. There are also three minigames at the end of each stage, featuring such scenarios as Marty repelling Biff Tannen's gang of bullies from a cafe, blocking all the kisses Lorraine sends Marty (in the shape of little hearts), and having to position his guitar properly to stay in tune at the dance in order for George and Lorraine to kiss. The gameplay on these stages is often compared to that of *Paperboy*.

In the final stage, Marty gets to control the DeLorean time machine on the street at night, dodging lightning bolts and obstacles while accelerating in such a way as to reach 88 miles per hour (142 km/h) precisely at the end of the stage, enabling the time machine to bring Marty home to 1985.

The game only contains two songs from the film. One is a sped up version of "The Power of Love" which plays throughout most of the game; the other is "Johnny B. Goode," which plays in the guitar level.

If Marty loses all his lives, the player is shown a game over screen reading, "Tough luck Marty! It looks like you are stuck here." The player is also presented with this message if Marty fails to get the DeLorean to 88 mph by the time he reached the wires, regardless of how many lives he has left.

## Plot

In the game you take the role of a time traveling teenager named Marty McFly who is trapped in the past in the year 1955 and must venture through various stages, most of which happen to be street down to up scrolling and avoiding obstacles and collecting objects all the while. Also included in the game after three street stages are completed are mini-game based stages where you have to reach a goal of a target amount of items collected to move on to the next, more difficult set of street based stages.
The street stages are filled with clock icons that the Marty character must collect to keep the picture of himself, and his two siblings that is displayed at the bottom of the screen from fading away. If he fails to keep said picture from fading away through the clock collecting he will lose a life by way of fading into nonexistence and have to start the stage over again. Fading would also occur if the character failed to complete the stage before the timer expired. Collecting 100 clocks would restore the picture to full sharpness no matter what its state was.

There are also enemies of all types trying to stop Marty from reaching the end of the long street stage. Those include bullies, hula hoop girls, moving men carrying a pane of glass and giant killer bees. Marty can also pick up a bowling ball and skateboard (only after acquiring the bowling ball previously) to fight back at these enemies who are trying to stop him all the while.

The first set of streets end at Lou's Cafe which is a mini-game type of stage where Marty behind the cafe counter must toss milk shakes at the various bullies trying to get him. If he is able to hit at least 50 of them before they reach the counter to tackle him, you can advance to the next set of street stages. There are also super milk shakes that a waitress will sometimes deliver to Marty's counter that when used can take down all bullies on the stage instantly. The player had to be careful not to hit the waitress, or else she would turn the other way. As the player advanced some bullies would toss milkshakes back at the character, whom if he was hit would be stalled for a few seconds as he wipes himself off. If even one bully succeeded at reaching the counter, Marty would be thrown out of Lou's Cafe by the seat of his pants and be made to redo the last street if he hit less than 50 bullies. Hitting 99 bullies automatically ended the subgame and gave the player a bonus for surviving the onslaught.

The rest of the game follows a similar formula to this. With street based stages, mini game stage following and needing a certain amount achieved in said mini games to move on to the next phase of the game.

Some of the other levels in the game include a level at Hill Valley High School, where Marty has to use a book to block at least 50 kisses coming from his mother, in which if he lets even one kiss slip by he would be out of the subgame and have to redo the preceding street. As in the fight at Lou's Cafe, should Marty block 99 kisses he would be awarded a bonus.The penultimate subgame was the Enchantment Under The Sea dance where the player moves the guitar that Marty is playing to catch the notes, sharps, and flats that are coming at him, with a song that sounds amazingly close to "Johnny B. Goode". As in the other two, failing the subgame would cause a redo, but this was different as Marty needed to complete it before the song ended. No bonus was awarded in this case, rather the player needed to fill a thermometer-type "love meter" where missing notes would cause it to decrease and catching notes would increase it. When the meter topped out, George and Lorraine would kiss.

The final mini-level of the game involves Marty having to drive the DeLorean up to 88 mph while avoiding lightning that will slow him down all the while. The climactic scene would show the DeLorean blasting off into the future and leaving behind the signature flaming tire tracks.

## Trivia

* There are only two songs found in the entire game. One is "Johnny B. Goode" which will play during the school dance that Marty is playing on stage and sounds close to the version heard in the film. The other song is a repetitive looping song that will play throughout the game in non-mini game moments. There are suggestions that the song is supposed to be "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis & The News sped up and cycled differently. But it winds up sounding nothing like the actual song made famous in the movie.

* The last stage of the game involves Marty having to race the DeLorean down the main street of Hill Valley towards the clock tower while driving at 88mph. As the game does tell you via a cut-screen text moment, you have one and only one chance to compete this last stage successfully. If you do hit the wire with the lightning strike while at 88 you win the game and are awarded to another text based still screen telling you that you have made it back to 1985. If you don't do so you get a screen telling you that you were not successful and are trapped in 1955 and the game ends right there going back to the start screen, with you having to start all over again back to square one if you want to beat the game properly. The losing text screen would also be shown if the player ran out of lives, which read "Tough luck Marty! It looks like you are stuck here."