(Popeye's English Game) is a 1983

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

. The game was based on the comic strip of same name created by

E. C. Segar Elzie Crisler Segar (; December 8, 1894 – October 13, 1938), known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip ''Thimble ...

and licensed from

King Features Entertainment King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

. It is a spin-off of the ''Popeye'' arcade game made by Nintendo. It was released exclusively in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It was followed by the similar ''

Donkey Kong Jr. Math is an edutainment platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is a spin-off of the 1982 arcade game '' Donkey Kong Jr.'' In the game, players control Donkey Kong Jr. as he solves math pro ...

'', which was released about one month later. This game was never released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

because of the majority of English speakers in the United States and Canada and a corresponding version that would teach players

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

was not created due to the technical limitations of the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

along with the lack of popularity in the West to learn Japanese aside from cultural or business purposes in the 1980s.

Gameplay

In the game,

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

word A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...

s. The layout is similar to the ''Popeye'' arcade game, except that players cannot "die", they can only get incorrect answers. The game includes three modes: Word Puzzle A, Word Puzzle B, and Word Catcher. In Word Puzzle A (based on the first level of the original game), the player is given the Japanese term for a word in one of six categories:

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

Sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, and Others (due to technical limitations, these terms are displayed entirely as

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

, regardless of their origin). Blank squares for the English word are given, and the player must maneuver Popeye around to point to

letter Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...

s of the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syll ...

in order to fill in the blanks. Each wrong letter entry prompts Brutus/Bluto to punch a

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

carrying

Swee'Pea Swee'Pea (alternatively spelled Swee'pea and Sweapea on some titles and once called Sweep Pea) is a character in E. C. Segar's comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''/''Popeye'' and in the cartoon series derived from it. His name refers to the flower kno ...

; the player must solve the puzzle before Swee'Pea's basket is knocked off the platform it is attached to. The player may also forfeit the puzzle by punching the "?" icon. If the puzzle is lost or forfeited, the correct English word will be displayed. Word Puzzle B is identical to the "A" mode; however, the player is not given the Japanese term beforehand. In the two-player ''Word Catcher'' mode (based on the third level of the original game), the first player controls Popeye and the second controls Bluto. Three Japanese words are displayed on the screen's left side, and both players compete to collect letters thrown by

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

to spell out their English equivalents. A player wins when he or she has correctly spelled five words.

Notes

References

External links

''Popeye's English Game''
a
NinDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popeye no Eigo Asobi 1983 video games Children's educational video games Japan-exclusive video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Nintendo games no Eigo Asobi Video games developed in Japan Multiplayer and single-player video games

Gameplay

See also

Notes

References

External links