Clu Clu Land

I think the fundamental design of this game just does not work for me. You basically have to be constantly aware of where you need to move to next, since you are constantly moving and occasionally pressing down a button just to turn, as you hopefully uncover the picture without losing most of your lives by the end of each round. The controls feel very unintuitive and clunky for that. I'm sure it's a better control scheme over time if I give it quite a bit of time to master it... but by that point I'd be playing a different game. I think this is probably the Nintendo NES game with the worst first impression.

Clu Clu Land is a decently creative game, especially as a launch title, but it's admittedly one I still have trouble with. The controls are a little confusing (although I could just be dumb) and the gameplay can get a little stale, but it's a cute enough puzzle game, and with some solid sound design to boot.

Clu Clu Land is so exciting! The objective of Clu Clu Land, as a fish, is to reveal pictures or patterns while avoiding enemies. You do this in a grid space by crossing in-between pegs and revealing golden ignots, which constitute a simple picture(such as a man, a house, or a butterfly, down to abstract, arabesque shapes.

Giving you a headache is the dizzying control scheme which literally revolves around pegs, but it's a fun kind of challenge, that doesn't lend itself to any cheap deaths or trickery, as it's easy to navigate around enemies, and the game also gives you the capability of immobilising them with your fish-sonar.

A marvelous early NES title that's also unlike any game that has followed since, especially great to grab a second player for.