Hello friends. Dan Ryan here, you… there. Thank you so much for checking in and if you like what you see please comment and share. For this month’s 8-Bit Blockbusters, after a bit of a break last month, we get to talk about one of my favorite movies ever, and a pretty damn good, if not really damn hard, game to go along with it. Now keep in mind, I do not think this is a good movie but, it is a great movie. And it has without a doubt the best montage scene of any movie ever. Submitted for your approval this is 8-Bit Blockbusters: Rocky IV.

Released in 1985  and written, starring, and directed by Sylvester Stallone, Rocky IV is where the series really began its departure from reality. Rocky’s 1,2, and 3 are much better films than anything else in the franchise. (not counting the excellent Ryan Coogler Creed series) Rocky won the Academy Award for best picture in 1977, an incredible achievement for an independent film from a first time writer, Stallone, due to its gritty, realistic portrayal of a fighter getting his one big chance and making the most of it. It felt real, familiar, and spawned an entire universe of sequels, 3 of which are great and the rest of which are movies that came out. Rocky II followed the story to its logical conclusion in a rematch bout between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed for the championship, spoilers but Rocky loses at the end of the first one only to be triumphant in the sequel, and set the stage for future stories. Rocky III came a bit off the rails due to the inclusion of Hulk Hogan as the wrestler Thunderlips, The Ultimate Male, but also features one of the most terrifying performances of all time with Mr.T’s Clubber Lang. Seriously, Mr. T is scary in this movie and delivers one of the coldest lines ever in cinema when he shouts at Adrian, "Hey, Woman! Listen here. Since your old man ain't got no heart, maybe you like to see a real man. I bet you stay up late every night dreamin' you had a real man, don't ya? I'll tell you what. Bring your pretty little self over to my apartment tonight, and I'll show you a real man." And then we get to Rocky IV, released 40 years ago this month at the very height of the Cold War where tensions between the United States and Russia were at an all time high. You see, for the younger readers here, during the 80’s the bad guys in American movies were Russian. It was simple, formulaic storytelling but it worked really well on most, all, of us. It was borderline, and honestly sometimes right over the line, propaganda. And Rocky IV followed the playbook beat for beat.

In Rocky IV the villain of the piece is the absolutely menacing Ivan Drago, played in his acting debut by Dolph Lundgren. A blonde behemoth carved from granite, Drago was scary to 5 year old me. I vividly remember sitting in the theater with my folks and just being awestruck as he made his entrance for his fight against Apollo Creed. (I’m assuming you know the back story here but if not, please go watch these films, they’re amazing) Even as a little kid who had grown up on the good guys always beating the bad guys, especially Russians, I knew Apollo had no chance. What I didn’t know is that he was going to die! I mean, it was Apollo M F’n Creed, how could he die? After that sweet James Brown entrance too? I was devastated and felt the same as Adrian when Rocky said he would take on Drago on Xmas day in Russia, “You can’t win Rock!” Not in another country, not against a man abusing steroids and training on space age equipment. Not after having to put up with that stupid robot! (seriously, so bad) But win he would because of course he would. Rocky had one thing Drago did not, the BEST. MONTAGE. EVER. Seriously, if you watch this scene and don’t want to run through a damned wall I don’t know if we can be friends. Interviews years later revealed that during the fight between Rocky and Drago, Stallone and Lundgren were actually  punching the hell out of each other with one shot putting Stallone into the ICU for 8 days! I love this movie way more than I should but it hit at just the right time. I didn’t realize that this movie was taking Rocky from folk hero to super hero because I was a little kid and in my mind, Rocky already was a super hero. The recently released directors cut Rocky IV: Rocky vs Drago, fixes many of the problems with the original. It makes it a much more serious movie, in line with the 3 that had come before. It is a much, MUCH better film and definitely worth a watch. Nothing will ever make me stop loving the original cut however. I could, and have, gone on for ages about this movie. But we’ve got a game to discuss as well. And speaking off, that link right down there is a really great way to experience said game.

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Published and developed by SEGA in 1987 for the SEGA Master System, Rocky sees players take control of the titular fighter for 3, not a typo, fights against the main antagonists from the first 4 movies. Players must take down Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago in order to reach the ending screen. In between fights players must perfect training sequences in order to have a chance in the subsequent fight. (which 8 year old me did not know) Control is limited with the two button set up of the Master System controller with one button being for defense and one button for punching. Combining directional pad presses with either button gave players the ability to block and punch both up and down. Combos were even possible with enough timed presses in a row. The game looked incredible for the time and still holds up well today. The music, while not from the movies, is perfectly fine for the game it appears in. All in all Rocky for the Master System is a surprisingly deep, great looking, arcade style tie-in to a super successful movie franchise. There’s just one tiny problem, it is hard. Like, really, unfairly hard. Like, you better have a turbo button to get through the training sequences hard. If you don’t nail the speedbag training, you basically need to be superhuman to beat Clubber Lang in the second fight. Can it be done? Sure, there are people out there whose skills are just this side of god like. But for us plebs, not really no. It’s a shame too since the gameplay here is actually really fun and really satisfying. It’s not Punch-Out! Or Fight Night sure but what it is is very good. If you’ve never played through I would recommend doing so. (with a turbo controller) It has a decent two player mode as well where your friends and family can choose between Apollo, Clubber, or Drago to try and take down your Rocky. As far as movie tie-ins go, you could certainly do a lot worse. There is fun to be had, whether you are a fan of Rocky IV, the other movies, or of boxing games in general.

But I want to know what you think. Join the Stone Age Gamer discord, or you can find me on Bluesky to let me know your thoughts. In the immortal words of Billy Joel, “Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.” See you soon.