Cobra Command Anticipation retrospective: White flight, NES Works, 097

This week we have a pair of perfectly tolerable games that seemingly no one remembers. Yes, by late 1988, the NES library had grown sufficiently large that it could contain games beyond brilliant and execrable works of competent mediocrity doomed by their lukewarm nature to be relegated to the dustbin of obscurity. Cobra Command takes a mundane autoscrolling shooter and turns it into a Choplifterinspired adventure with a touch of exploration and puzzlesolving. A fine start But utterly relentless in its difficulty level and saddled with some very strange, almost sticky controls. It s fine, almost good, but it just misses the mark. Meanwhile, Anticipation offers inclusive thrills (if you are a preppy, 30something Caucasian) and demands you deduce the nature of premade connectthedots puzzles before your competition does. It s fine. It exists, and it rounded out the NES library with more familyfriendly board games. But does anyone want to play