History of LJN - Gaming Historian
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- čas přidán 4. 02. 2015
- Gaming Historian gives the complete history of LJN, a toy / video game company. Although notorious for their bad video games, LJN was more than just a game publisher and the story of their rise & fall is quite interesting.
Special thanks to Pixel Dan! Check out his channel!
/ mandalorian30
Angry Video Game Nerd: / jamesnintendonerd
LJN Defender: / cygnusdestroyer20xx
'Carefree', 'Hyperfun', 'Rollin at 5', 'Tempting Secrets', 'Awaiting Return', 'Sardana' by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
'Arabian Nights' by Purple Planet: www.purple-planet.com
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www.thegaminghistorian.com - Hry
So the founder of LJN was actually a smart man with an eye for quality, notice everytime he jumped ship the company would degrade soon after, lol
Sean Tiu except jakks Pacific. that's still around
I almost agreed, but THQ became much, much better after the 90's, so this isn't true. LJN though did become terrible, though it is obvious the guy had a heart for physical toys and digital media wasn't something he wanted to pursue.
@@rufrox9947 After years of financial struggles, stock value drop, and debt, THQ declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012 and began liquidation of its assets the following month, with several properties either being acquired or auctioned to other developers. In addition, most of the remaining staff were laid off.[4]
In 2014, the THQ trademark was acquired by Nordic Games, which had acquired some of THQ's properties in the auction. The company renamed itself THQ Nordic in August 2016.
Yep when the video started I thought he was gonna be a 'cheaper' business owner hopping onto profits at all cost (hence the shitty games), once it reveals he left the company first, *and is the founder of THQ and Jakks Pacific*, boy did that impression turn around 180
but they made so many bad games, video games that ultimately tarnished their reputation, If we could go back in time and prevent them from entering the video game industry, we would
What this video taught me was that the actual creator of LJN was a brilliant businessman who did his thing, saw his company going to shot so he left while making millions. Then went on to form multiple other successful enterprises like THQ and Jakks Pacific. So when I bash LJN for the majority of their horrible games they published, ill remember that it wasn’t the founders fault lol
And what an entrepreneur this man was!
Just shows though... Don't give up if the first thing goes up shit creek without a paddle,keep pushing
(But obviously if something fails the 3rd or 4th then, you may wanna look at other options.)
He was Jewish. That’s why Hollywood was in tight with LJN.
@@JRHYT409 Of course he was; Friedman and he looks it too. Smart businessman and sure some of the games were crap but those figures they made were probably better than average. I was into Visionaries, but my mate liked Thundercats and I played with those figures while at his house.
I learned the founder had all intentions of legitimately making good products, and he did in all of his companies while he was in control. Also I learned THQ stood for Toy Headquarters.
The origin story for the AVGN’s greatest antagonist.
Fred Fuchs?
@@lostfan5054 Fred Fuchs is someone who worked on "Bram Stoker's Dracula" for SNES and Genesis.
I'm definitely not here because of the AVGN.
Well, maybe a bit.
I definitely am.
a bit?
Germencio if you’re here from AVGN, don’t feel alone
Didn't know AVGN did a video with Gaming Historian in it.
The nerd is the only reason
Blows my mind that the founder of LJN also made THQ and Jakks Pacific. I learned so much now!
But sadly, THQ died along with him three years later...
quarlic wait, THQ doesnt exist anymore? How did i miss out on that? they made some games i really liked....
ThePompf Idk but they did go bankrupt 2 years ago and have sold all their ips and studios to various other triple AAA companies and most of them to Nordic Games.
ThePompf Me too... I liked Spongebob Boating Bash (i don't know the real title, i live in Dutch, so...) a lot.
quarlic No wonder they go bankrupt. Their last good game is You Don't Know Jack
Back in the day, when my friend bought a Dreamcast system, he was thinking of getting Spirit of Speed as his token racing game. Luckily, I stepped in and stopped him from tasting the rainbow.
I guess this rainbow tastes like *_ASS!_*
You're a true friend.
Give this man a cookie!
I see what you did there.
Karl Medas Actually give this man 200$!
as James Rolfe, also Known as The Anğry Video Game Nerd Said, "There's No Gold At The End Of That Rainbow"
except for spiderman and vemon, maximun carnage
@@terrancebloxlore3209 Well that game is silver or bronze
yea, since the main problem is, it's made by Laughing Jokin Numbnuts
Rainbow in the dark
@@krzysztofcieslewicz962 Something like that
The creator of LJN was really a genius, huge respect for that guy
Yeah but the laughing jokers just don’t care about his opinion
@@sidneychannel the fat, living at Mommy's house laughing jokers are the butt to everyone else's jokes.
Imagine a person named Elle Jay Enne
I'm actually really happy that Jack Friedman was ok after LJN
Yeah guy seemed brilliant
Seriously, the guy founded 3 companies in his time and they were all profitable when he ran them.
I'm also kind of happy that he didn't run the company when it made these poor video games and toys. Seems like the classic story of undermining a company's reputation for an easy profit.
Ben Mursa Same, I was worried something bad happened to him. But now knowing he had a very successful life, I'm happy he was fine. May he rest in peace.
I literally bought some Nintendo figures made by his company after watching it.
GingerGuitarist THQ is kind of still around. They were acquired by Nordic Games and are now known because of the acquisition THQ Nordic, running both companies' logos as one single logo.
The history of the Laughing, Joking, Numbnuts.
Felicia French not funny -_-
Aj Pain Why not? Tell avgn that.
Felicia French good one!
I did xD
+Felicia French LJN made good toys, but bad games.
AVNGs influence on internet culture has been pretty impressive. I've been watching him since about 2005 and I just can't believe how massive he has become. His movie reviews are just as good as his AVGN persona.
And now the circle completes when the AVGN uses one of Norman's video for an AVGN video.
Aladdin Deck?
Yes, the Aladdin Deck Enhancer.
@@ThomasTHEONEANDONLY No. The Aladdin Dick Enhancer.
@@renewings *IDOIT!*
“Norman? Is Norman the name of the guy in the tank?”
I had no idea LJN was responsible for Entertech, and consequently the orange tips on guns we have today. That's pretty interesting.
The guns looked realistic and some kids that had Entertech got shot and killed by police officers by accident
The Transformers G1 Megatron action figure (as far as I know) has the orange tip.
The megatron G1 had no orange tip with the first version the orange tip was added later on as it had the same effect as the entertech guns but I'm not really sure if kids were shot by police because or it's realism with the megatron figure.
MrKenvader The original Megatron gun was pretty realistic, all things considered. They moved away from just adding an orange tip and started making toy guns have bright neon colors, because the tips could be removed. It's sad, I would've thought Entertech guns would've been really cool as a kid. But I can understand why we have unrealistic toy guns if kids were getting shot over it.
but atleast it changed the future for the better
I never knew the history of such crappy games could be so touching.
+chigimonky "Rainbow puke of shit " AVGN
I never knew the history of such crappy games could be so touching.
Well, if LJN never existed, then Japan can finally do games that are licensed that are good.
Porter Rockwell IM THE 330TH LIKER!
Same
JakksPacific is known for the creation of several licensed plug and play systems, some were actually good and original titles. It all makes sense now, Friedman wanted to keep making toys but the public was hungry for video games. Those system were a mix of both.
Nowadays with mobile gaming being bigger than ever and physical toys selling less and less, I can definitely understand companies like LJN and THQ changing priorities. When big companies like those grow rapidly in first years; they want to keep growing or at the very least break even money-wise, when the toy line of those companies start to underperform or just didn't meet thier "expectations", they drop them like a rock.
Atlus, the same company that made Persona 5, made LJN games. WTF
Well atleast sega owns them now...
Redemption sagas
They also made virtual hydlide
Well, the developers got better as time went on.
Guess you could say that you never saw it coming.
I’m not sorry.
This channel is like 12 years old now. We need a history of Gaming Historian video
There is, actually! Though, it’s up until 2015’s timeline.
*LAUGHIN' JOKIN' NUMBNUTS intensifies*
AVGN still lives
His bosses name was Numbnuts Jokin Laughin?
Norman J. Lewis
r/woooosh
Yes
@@nickhueper2906 wow so cool he uses reddit
@@nickhueper2906 WOW kid you just got r/WOOOOOOSHED!!!! 😂😂
"Wooosh" means you didn't get the joke, as in the sound made when the joke "woooshes" over your head. I bet you're too stupid to get it, IDIOT!! 😤😤😂
My joke was so thoughtfully crafted and took me a total of 3 minutes, you SHOULD be laughing. 🤬 What's that? My joke is bad? I think that's just because you failed. I outsmarted you, nitwit.🤭
In conclusion, I am posting this to the community known as "r/Wooooosh" to claim my internet points in your embarrassment 😏. Imbecile. The Germans refer to this action as "Schadenfreude," which means "harm-joy" 😬😮. WOW! 🤪 Another reference I had to explain to you.♂️🤭 I am going to cease this conversation for I do not converse with simple minded people.😏😂
Have to admit, LJN knew exactly what they were doing the entire time.
The rainbow stamp of death
Dennis Groxo hey, the Democrats ruined ANOTHER business. Go figure.
Reagan Dow what do you mean?
@@reagandow850 wtf are you referring to? The toy gun debacle? Did you not pay attention to the video?
I almost got chocked up there at the end, almost.
....Why?
Me too, I don't know why I feel so emotional!
It was the saddest thing I've ever fapped to...
Big Herm 3rd for me
Probably because of Jack, honestly I didn't know he created THQ and Jakks until just now. The man is technically a legend, anything he created turned into gold. THQ had published the best games for WWF in the early stages (i.e WWF No Mercy and Smackdown Here Comes the Pain) and JP is currently doing extremely well in the toys section, they're worth about 804+ million USD alone. Unfortunately THQ went bankrupt but JP is still going. Funny how in the end, JP is doing better in the toy section when at the beginning LJN did well with with the same thing.
honestly my main takeaway was that LJN once literally got people killed thanks to their waterguns
And that's why Orange tips exist, kids!
Yeah, but what kind of officer shoots a kid to begin with? You NEVER do something like that!
@@GDNachoo ???
The kind of officer that has less than a second to decide what he needs to do to make sure as few people get hurt or killed as possible, and can't spare any of that on morality, procedure, or what some fuckboy on the internet thinks.
@@tarsier8261 "Or what some fu*kboy on the internet thinks?" Excuse me? If that officer can't learn to have self control, he's the one who can spend his time in a jail cell, not the people whom are supposed to be "evil" because our government proclaims them to be.
You mentioned AVGN honorably. My respect.
The piano music at the end hit me right in the feels.
Yeah, me too :(
TerryFGM asshole!
Lmao! Hilarious the way that just escalated.
Funny enough I actually have played the piece my self it is a variation of Jupiter
Apparently I wasn't paying very close attention. I didn't even notice it was Jupiter. Thanks for pointing that out, that's one of my favorite songs. I've never heard a piano arrangement of it, but I'm not at all surprised such a thing exists. It works really well.
AVGN and the LJN Defender should do a crossover. :D
lol that would be funny
I didn't even know there was a defender of LJN. Silly me.
AND THE CROSSOVER MUST HAPPEN!
srbarkerchan That would probably end up like the Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout episode.
AVGN: "LJN SUCKS"
Defender:"You suck"
AVGN:"No, you suck"
Defender: "No, you suck"
(Repeat).
or AVGN vs Nostalgia Critic. No wait, nevermind, you're probably right.
"There's No Gold At The End Of That Rainbow" -The AVGN
This man is so casual with blowing my mind. “Yeah, the same guy who made the worst game company for the 80s also made one of the most important companies for the PS2 and a well-known toy company. It’s no big deal.”
Imagine if AVGN gets to the point of reviewing PS2 games, he finds out that THQ is like the spiritual successor of LJN and it becomes a running theme of the Nerd reviewing THQ games.
That music that played when the founder dies is really sad. Like much sadder than I'm willing to get while watching it.
+billny33 It's a piano transcription of the Chorale from Jupiter by Gustav Holst. The sad - but fitting to the story - part is that this piece is called "the Bringer of Jollity".
"I Vow To Thee, My Country."
Yeah, I was totally caught off guard when I realized what piece it was.
I, too, was somehow shocked that a channel with a piano intro and ending would also use piano music within the episode.
billny33 He seemed like a nice man
dude your name should be "relaxed video game nerd".
+Potato Jr. And you should not be watching a video, i mean you are a potato!
+Potato Jr. you are a great potato :D
Better tahan for ex Angry Videogame Game Nerd.
I think "Calm Video Game Nerd" sounds much better
Juan Rangel Díaz haha lol
the end of this episode was heartfelt. Salesman for a toy company sounds amazing, and to travel around as well. I would actually like to collect some of LJN games. Also those reports of kids being killed with those toy guns is really sad.
"What were they thinking!?"
Avgn
"What a shitload of fuck"
Avgn
Spirit of Speed 1937 sounds like a great AVGN episode in the making.
Let's email him!
+Sporkaganza Oh I see what you did there.
+Sporkaganza James, the creator and actor of AVGN, said he doesn't feel spirit of speed 1937 would make a good avgn episode, so he played the game as his normal self with his friend,Mike
well spirit of speed is probably thier only good game lol
+nintendo wiiu Spiderman and Venom Maximum Carnage on SNES is awesome though.
I always call LJN .. Let's Just Not.
You watch GH?
+ToCzegoSzukasz I watch everyone. :)
*Laughing Joking Numbnuts
+Flashlight oh I didn't watch until 1:05 at that point.
i call them laughing joking numnuts
7:17 "... hang on, I know that sound font... Did the Megami Tensei composer write music for this damn NFL game?" *googling intensifies* HE SURE DID
2:31 - “Ljn, what did it stand for?...”
- “Aassssss!”
Wait...The same guy build a sucessful toy company(ruined by a bad move), a freaking amazing game developer(
I guess he had some good friends at those companies. I mean, when he was in charge with a company, that company was REALLY good.
He was jewish lol nuff said
I guess history would have told a different story if he was still in LJN
Pretty much. Jack Friedman is considered a legend in the toy industry for that reason - his new companies were all small fish in a big pond competing against Hasbro and Mattel... and he had the knack to make his ventures work. He seemed to know which licences, franchises and characters had the most appeal and acquired the rights while they were cheap... definitely had an eye for what sold well.
I guess pretty many would never been even heard of LJN without AVGN..
Or grew up in the late 80's and 90's and were unfortunate enough to play/own a lot of their games.
I grew up in 90s with NES and I never knew that LJN is the reason of shitty games :o
You must be 12. How could anyone have NOT heard of a company that made so many major video game releases? I guess we only know about Minecraft because of CZcamsrs, right?
Alot of respect for this guy. too many CZcamsrs out there only doing it for the money and this guy makes these videos for the joy of video games. gotta love it
Well idk about that, norm gotta make a living too, but yeah you can definitely tell he has love for old school games.
@@fuzzydunlop1753 Yeah but Norm makes it his living in a more respectable way than some other people.
@@tormentahlkorpseil5703 This is a great sentence. I like how it can be applied to almost anyone at any time thus making it universally useful...or is that useless ? I'm unsure 🤔
It's so funny how lonely I felt hating LJN games my whole life. It is thanks to te Historian and Angry Nerd I learnt I wasnt alone. priceless.
Out of curiosity, would you happen to know why a lot of LJN's later games share the same assets as the early THQ games?
I mean play Bart Vs The Space Mutants/vs the World, then play Swamp Thing and Home Alone 2. They all share the exact same sound effects and even the odd sprite and background.
I don't know if this is the case here, but another possibility is that they were using sound assets not developed in-house. It's not uncommon to find the same sound assets in many different games & movies. For a very obvious one, play Daggerfall (go on, download it, Bethesda has released it for free), listen to the sound that doors make when you open them. That sound effect is still being used to this very day in games, movies & TV-series. Another one that is easy to spot is the "fight sound" from Civilization 2, which sometimes is used for fights going on in the background.
Tell ashens I said hi
Well anything involving the Follin brothers is awesome.-
That's weird larry ... maybe those two companies had something to do with each other.
THQ was basically the successor to LJN: look it up.
I've watched this video so many times. I find Jack Friedman's history especially interesting because he was following his dream and knew what he wanted to do and worked hard it to be successful. It is somehow inspirational.
*EA:* Dad. When I grow up, I become a best video game company ever.
*LJN:* No, my son. You will become a worst video game company like me.
Lol
Nintendo:When I grown up I team up with Sega
Sega:Ok Nintendo
Sins of the father the game
At least LJN doesn’t put you in debt for breathing.
So creative.....😐
"Jack wasn't happy and he felt like he wasn't control anymore"
Well, Jack, that's because you weren't in control. That's what happens when you SELL your company, lol
Purple for putrid gameplay.Blue for bad musical abominations.Green for graphical farts & garlic.Yellow for pisspoor lack of loyalty to the source material.Orange for "ORANGE you a fucking idiot for playing these games?"Red for high-level stress-inducing masochism.
Put 'em together and you get all the colors of the Shit Rainbow. Hooray, LJN.
Ironic that THQ would later go bankrupt from screwing up a addon for the gaming industry.
I thought they lost money from Darksiders II's failure?
That played a part in it. They were hoping Darksiders 2 would sell like hot cakes to bring them back into the black but it was the massive failure of the udraw game tablet that made them so short on funds. The udraw tablet sold ok initially but then they made too many and they had millions piled up in warehouses nobody wanted. I remember a friend picking up one of the tablets really cheap, he didnt say he wanted it to play, he said he wanted it as a piece of history of the thing that brought down THQ. :o
700gsteak but thqnordic is better now also Thq is mostly called ThqNordic
700gsteak Yeah Jack Friedman was a smart guy he left the company; before bad things started to happen there, and was never responsible for the bad things that happened there
israfil Avci I hope we get Darksiders 3 and 4.
LJN should've just stayed as a Toy Company.
They died because of the Entertech toys.
As someone who has a weird obsession with bad video games, I'm kind of grateful for LJN.
To be fair back in those days video games were considered toys
But then again it would NEVER become THQ Nordic.
Your under the impression of AVGN
LJN and THQ? Men... THQ was really good...
Yea. Created the two of my top fauvorite strategic games of all times.
Company of Heroes and Dawn of War.
THQ IS back its great go get the new Destroy all humans remain coming out on the PS4 or xbox1
T H Q *SLAM*
Man that brings back good Scooby Doo Night of 100 Frights memories.
Their early years weren't as good, though I wouldn't THQ was/is an excellent publisher.
@@eugeneketaminekrebs3403 I mean THQ made Scooby-Doo Night of 100 Frights, so they're ok in my book.
This is what I wish school was like.
More history videos! ;) Could watch these all day.
Hi Chad :D
Didn't expect to see you here!
hi chad hows ur charizard card
yeah same
Agreed, Gaming Historian's content is great. I'd love to see a second collab between you two.
I thought he was going to turn into AVGN at any moment.
Thank you Jack Friedman for giving us THQ and Jack's Pacific! Without you we wouldn't have gotten all those magnificent WWE wrestling games! May you Rest In Peace.
That was really, really great! I'm a big video game history nerd, and you still told me some stuff I didn't know. Your research obviously went extremely deep, and the video is full of good information. Yet, you kept the tone light and fun. It never felt too info-heavy. The vid was just the right length, too. You also did a great job as the presenter. You've got a good voice and a friendly presence. Just a superb, excellent job all around. I loved it! A+
Wow, thank you!
+Gaming Historian Dude thats angry nerd ...lol
+Gaming Historian thanks for this video 😎
I was rooting for the Friedman guy and when you mentioned THQ and his last endeavours that hit me right in the feels
8:17-8:19
ljn would touch the ground
seein' their world spinning upside down
and cause a crashing, mighty sound
I had the gotcha! pain guns as a kid and they were indeed defective. All of them failed to fire the paint balls after a short duration.
The pain balls were stored in a fat hockey puck shaped plastic disc which you inserted into the top of the gun to the rear. The paint ball was dried onto a plastic cylinder which was fired along with the paint. You were supposed to soak the disc in water before firing to get the dried paint wet.
What would happen was the barrel would get clogged with the paint or the plastic cylinder that the paint was adhered to. So you could fire the gun but nothing would come out. What was worse was the loading/rotating mechanism that spun the ammo disc would lock the entire hockey puck into the gun, so you couldn't remove the paint unless you misfired the entire cycle so that the cartridge came back to the "empty" position.
We had 3 of them I think, and they all quit working in the same fashion
Wow what a brilliant guy. He always made the right moves. "Games are too complicated and I don't understand them anymore. Rather than destroying this company and the livelihoods of all it's employees, I'm out. Peace".
First - did anyone notice that the NFL theme sounds a metric ton like Friday the 13th?
The NES LJN games were sort of crappy. Usually not the worst games in the world, but rarely anything excellent.
The Maximum Carnage and Separation Anxiety games were great in their day, particularly the latter for being co-op.
They have one saving grace in my book: In their day, the WWF titles they made were great games.
As usual, Historian - good episode.
I believe those games had the same composer, Hirohiko Takayama. Thanks!
UNDERSTATMENT OF THE CENTURY
Also sounds a lot like a tune from Xexyz
and after looking it up Xexyz also shares the same composer. Ahh memories
I loved maximum carnage and just picked up separation anxiety today. I actually have 2 copies of maximum carnage one red cart for snes and the standard black for genesis (although I am hunting down another red cart for my genesis).
ahh.... the EA of the early 80s and 90s
EA is the LJN of the 2020s
Eh, I'm pretty sure EA was the EA of the 80s and 90s.
@@fuzzydunlop1753 no way. EA in 90s actually cared for their audience and didn't beg for money
Data Design Interactive is basically the LJN of the 2000s.
suniface71 sure
"So, whats your profession?"
"I'm a Toy Expert"
5:25 holy shit I thought that was going to go another way....
"Jack Freedman felt like he wasn't in control anymore...."
"2 years later in 1987 Jack Freedman...."
WHAT..!?! killed him self Jesus
"Left the company"
Oh okay lmfao
Me too I thought
Nope, he sold one company and got rich from it, then founded two more that were actually good and successful, one of which is still around.
A little late to the party here, but I really enjoyed this piece. It was great to learn more about LJN the toy company and about its founder's travels. I honestly didn't know about the LJN/THQ/Jakks Pacific link.
LJN games do get a bad rap, but it's not always deserved. ***** does a great job bringing to light some of the positive points and serves as a great balance to Cinemassacre and the comedic slant that James Rolfe takes as the Angry Video Game Nerd. That's not to say that there aren't clunkers (OMG NFL WAT), but there are definitely a few good games, too. It was really neat to see James and Matt mentioned in the same segment, by the way.
I always learn something when I watch these videos, and that's a big reason why I became a fan.
“It’s being known to gamers as one of the worst gaming companies of all time!”
EA: Hold my micro transaction.
“My Kansas City Royals” it always freaks me out when people on CZcams are from Kansas City area like me. Like when the defunct land guy reminisced about worlds of fun Orient Express. Anyway love the series.
Immediately likes when I heard the shitty royalty-free music.
I assure you it will become a meme...
it already is
would you rather he get YT blocked?
same, but 'cringe' instead of 'like' - its not shitty but overused lol
\Vanux/ What music?
At first I felt bad about this guy forming LJN but learning he moved on to THQ and Jakks Pacific, that's not too bad.
Especially since the last one survives to this day and returned to it's founders original roots of making and selling licensed toys.
Remember when that rock band, the Lone Rangers, used the LJN guns to hijack a radio station?
Dan The Man is that an actual story and if so please link me to a vid about it I’m intrigued
No I don't? Is that an actual thing?
I don't know was that actually a thing but I have seen a movie with that plot though don't know was if it based on a real story.
Lol
No, it's from the movie Airheads.
Love your work Gaming Historian. Hope to keep watching for years to come.
First video I watch from this channel, clicked thinking it would poke fun or throw a few jabs at LJN. Gotta admit it was A LOT more informative and insightful than I thought it would be. Very cool video.
Wait, RARE made some Ljn games?!
Nightmare on elm street is one of them
Yea youd be surprised what shit games were made by companys that would later be good. Bethesda made the crappy NES Home Alone games.
Back in the day, Nintendo had a contract limiting a companies annual releases for 5 games per year. This was due to limiting the amounts of chips being used in production to save money so companies like Rare had LJN publish titles because they didn't wanna use all of there limited releases per year on complete shovelware. A lot of companies had LJN publish games under there name too for the same reason, they are shitty for sure but they are a quick pay check to keep these companies in business.
Uh....Yea
Just imagine if LJN developed Goldeneye.
Honestly this warmed my heart more than anything. Good man behind plenty of good content with some scuffs here and there.
I can't believe Atlus developed some of these games, it's insane how they went from this to Megami Tensei and Persona.
The main theme from T&C Surf Design was actually remixed in MT1+2.
I always see videos where people talk about the things that companies like LJN produced. That's all well and good, but I want to hear from the developers who worked on these titles. I want to know, were they inexperienced? Did they know what they were doing and want to do better but were hamstrung by MBAs goosestepping around and chanting 'the perfect is the enemy of the good'? Were they just accountants whose boss threw a devkit at them and demanded they produce a game on a tight schedule? I want to know!
This would be an intresting thing to hear from some company programmers from IJN, US Gold, or Ocean.
Oddly, some of the Twitch communities I follow in are unusually populated by Developers or folks who have at least some experience with the tools and techniques used for game development. The gaggle of game devs there ultimately convinced me to try my hand at making something for the wider market myself (and thusly gave me an understanding of why these awful games happen).
Any dev I've ever spoken about it with has told (if not warned) me that working on titles that are licensed is one of the most difficult and stressful projects a developer team can be tasked with. Unlike working with one's own IP, you're often tied to a VERY strict delivery date. This is bad now, and in the days where a factory making carts had to test every flashed ROM chip and cart, practically impossible.
To make matters worse, the team actually working on the game was often times much smaller then it should have been, adding to that, the muckitymucks who own the IP can and do get involved, to the detriment of everyone. The famous E.T. Atari game that basically pushed the industry over the edge was made by one guy, in like a week, because of the time needed to make carts. There where not day one patches, so a broken game was a broken game unless you mailed in for a replacement cart (gray cart Turok Rage Wars for the N64 is an example)
I agree, LJN seems to have gone around publishing these shitty games, but why were the developers releasing such garbage games? That's the real story.
his super smasho bros retrospective focused a lot on the developer masahiro sakurai.
Howard Scott Warshaw programmed E.T. in like 6 weeks when it took normally 8-9 months to program something.
The fact that the game was playable at all is a testament to Warshaw's talent and genius.
Atlus, developers of Shin Megami Tensei/Persona, Catherine, and Etrian Odyssey, developed Karate Kid.
Rare developed a couple of games like Friday the 13th and Beetlejuice.
Beam Software (later Krome Studios Melbourne) developers of the NES game Nightshade and the SNES version of Shadowrun, developed the Back to the Future games.
LJN Video Art doesn't have a paint bucket tool, what were they thinking???
It's LJN
It's a little known fact that they attempted to make an LJN Classic Edition in 2017 (similar to the NES Classic Edition), but it didn't work out. It turns out loading all of those horrendous games onto one micro-console caused it to physically transform into a mound of dog excrement.
Maximum Carnage still holds up.
They got one right, at least.
That game was hard as balls.
@@b.lloydreese2030 I don't think I ever finished it. I got as far as the Muttroid in Four Freedoms Plaza (The Fantastic Four's second headquarters).
@Keith Nowak the nerd said it was good.
"It has that distinct LJN feel." They knew it was bad!
A game based on a toy line based on a movie about paintball. If that's not the greatest premise since the Bebe's Kids video game, I don't know what is.
LMAO, there's a Bebe's kids video game? *Googling intensifies*
Bebe's kids, ha, I played that game once totally by mistake...
I just remember the LJN logo and sound coming up on the wrestling games and they were all good games :X.
My older brother had those wrestling figurines when he was younger and those were definitely pretty badass for their time
As fucked up as this sounds, WWII may have actually benefited society in some pretty strange ways. After all of the horrors and atrocities in the War To End All Wars, all people seemed to do was want to focus in on something good afterwards. They immediately came back, took advantage of the GI Bill, started families like crazy, and soon a new brand of toys, cartoons and other contraptions began flooding the markets. Consequentially there's a noticeable spike in creative minds after WWII.
Not trying to sound like a knowitall, just saying. My grandpa was one such person!
johnlewisbrooks Also helped pull the US out the the depression.
johnlewisbrooks You are right. Sad as this sounds, War in general is VERY necessary in our culture. It organizes what would otherwise be widespread terrorism. However, here's why everyone is so opposed to war now: It simply isn't necessary anymore. 70 years ago everyone was still pretty much omniphobic to those who weren't like them. It hasn't been this way SINCE WWII ended.
People call World War II The "Last Good War" for a reason: Because the wars after it were about more and more trivial matters and the causes were only based on greed (this could also be true for WWII however, but the Allied Powers for the most part wanted to combat the Fascist desires of the Axis Powers).
MDK22420 There were some good things that happened as a result of world war 2 (penicillin & computers) but the death of 1,000,000 american troops hardly benefited the economy and the national debt was 112% of the GDP in 1945. There were certainly better ways to end the depression than a global war that cost 60 million lives.
johnlewisbrooks Doesn't sound fucked up at all, if nothing else wars provide much need population decreases... IMO war, hunger, disease, etc are all good things.
em0rox Oddly enough, it's absolutely right. Fighting and staying sharp have basically laid the rule. The weak die soon, the strong live longer.lol
Way fuckin cool Norm. Great video, it was very interesting to see LJN's humble beginnings
The more I researched, the more excited I was to get this episode out. Thanks!
***** Do you think AVGN jumped the shark?
hagensalley.wordpress.com/
***** I've got a Rubik's cube-like toy made by ljn
Hey man, watch the language pal.
Ghouse666 your being highly. afendable btw those are the devils numbers
"If you see the LJN logo on your NES cartrige it's probably because the game sucks" -AVGN
Me: But in my opinion, good games from LJN are T&C and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for NES and The Amazing Spider Man for Game Boy. The former was developed by Atlus, and the latter two by Rare.
This is awesome. LJN influenced my childhood quite a bit. I had one of the water guns and still remember how fantastic it was. I also really enjoyed TC surf designs on my NES. Thanks so much for the video. I had no idea this company existed.
My name is Lj and my last name starts with n so every time I heard ljn it sound weird in my ears.
ljn369 as long as you dont suck you'll be ok😎
Im truly sorry for you my friend. I dont know how old you are, but id like to say it gets better as you get older, but it doesnt. Youre fucked.
6:40 Are you... are you wearing a PLASTIC baseball cap?
Hell yes, I got it at the game. Came with nachos!
I loled when i saw that. So delicious
I remember what DQ served sundays in mini caps like that. The KC one was always the one that stood out.
Jay Choppy What did they serve sundays in mini caps like that?
Ice cream sundaes..... Yeah yeah I see what I did there.
Excellent piece of history by the Gaming Historian. Many thanks for sharing. I have to say, I'm quite fond of the SNES version of Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, which was published by LJN. The game may not have the hottest graphics, but the music and game play is pretty solid and challenging. ;)
Great work. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you for another history tour.
Whoah, so THAT'S what THQ stands for...
Great video, man!!
Haters are gonna hate but I actually consider Karate Kid to be one of the good games. Good lecture. Thanks Mr. Historian.
I enjoyed what I played, it is just so short!
Even AVGN confirmed that LJN have few good games. That not change fact that they mostly publish crap.
actually, i liked friday the 13'th. i still sometimes put that gqame in and play again to this day
Did you know that was made by Atlus?
Yes, THAT Atlus.
I never tried it but I agree that for a LJN title it did looked pretty decent!
It's kinda awesome how Friedman kept starting new companies each time they went a different route until he finally had one that stayed most of the course, all due to his love for making toys. Most would give up after selling their first for loads of money.
Been gaming my whole life and LJN did not ring any bells, but I do remember liking T&C Surf Designs and Jaws on the NES a lot.
PS I know I'm 10 years late to your channel but I am really enjoying all these Gaming History videos you guys put together. Great work!
Great Episode, really enjoyed it as I have been playing a lot of LJN games lately and can honestly say that they are actually rather good, sure a few bad games, but a few a number of them are a lot of fun.
They definitely had more bad than good, but I do really enjoy Nightmare on Elm Street & Jaws! Glad you liked the episode.
Wow had no idea about the history of this company. Really enjoyed the video. Thanks much!
So much time wanting to know about the history of this company beyond the videogames. Thanks Norman!!
Norm without hat: mid 20's
Norm with hat: 13
Jesus fuck, this video got WAY darker than I was anticipating.
It's great to see videos involving video game history or stuff along those lines without a bunch of dumbass, random jokes thrown in for an attempt (I stress that word, attempt) at being funny, which ruin their boosts of being an "intelligent show" (Game Theorists in a nutshell). So thank you for these videos, The Gaming Historian deserves much more popularity and attention than it already does.
Everyone talking about him bringing up AVGN, but I just appreciate my man mentioning the LJN Defender. I salute thee.
This appeared on my CZcams feed, I think because of AVGN, and I'm very thankful. Gotta follow and turn on the bell.