Lethal Weapon (NES, Licensed version) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Ocean’s 1993 license-based beat ’em up for the NES, Lethal Weapon. Released shortly after Lethal Weapon 3’s run in theaters, this 8-bit Lethal Weapon game was a late-generation belt-scrolling brawler, quite different from the platformer that was released on the SNES ( ) and computers. There are three missions to play, and each contains three substages. You’ll have to go after a gun-smuggling racket, disrupt a money-laundering scheme involving illegally imported Krugerands, and finally, wipe out a band of criminals that have cleaned out the police armory. And just like Murtaugh’s toilet, each mission ends with a bomb that needs to be disarmed. The gameplay itself is as basic as brawlers get. There are no combos, special moves, nor grapples here. Riggs can kick, Murtaugh can punch, and both can jump kick or fire their gun. You can switch who you’re playing as by walking off the left-side of the screen, and though they essentially act as a pair of life bars, our heroes do differ slightly from one another: Since Riggs is more “athletic,“ he can jump higher and his jump kick is far more powerful than Murtaugh’s, but Murtaugh packs a lot more heat behind his punch than Riggs. Riggs can also pick up and throw knives, while Murtaugh can toss shipping crates at enemies for extra damage. But it all goes on for far too long. Lethal Weapon is incredibly repetitive and quickly becomes dull. There’s no variety between the stages beyond the backdrops, and since your gun is so underpowered, you’ll spend most of the game running up to the bad guys and smashing the B button as fast as you can until they’re dead. When you do this, though, you’ll usually get pegged with grenades that’ll quickly sap your lifebar, meaning that you’ll be regularly retreating to the left side of the screen to swap out your character. Thankfully, whoever is on standby recovers health while he is offscreen, so the game ends up not being quite as frustrating as it otherwise would be. Credit has to be given for the graphics and sound though - the music is great, and the graphics are bright and colorful, and the sprites are huge by NES standards. If only the game play had matched the presentation, Lethal Weapon on the NES might’ve been something special. But it wasn’t. If you’re really hankering for some NES brawler action, I’d suggest sticking with Double Dragon, River City Ransom, TMNT3, or Mighty Final Fight, because at this point, like Murtaugh, aren’t we all a little “too old for this shit“? _____________ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete () punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!