The Adventures of Bayou Billy (NES)

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Description

Your best girl Annabelle has been kidnapped by the evil Gordon, the "gangster king of Bourbon Street", and as Bayou Billy it is your job to get her back! Bayou Billy is an arcade action game with three different types of gameplay: fighting, shooting, and driving. The fighting sections take place in both swamps and cities, where you can punch, kick, and jump kick the numerous enemies (and swamp creatures!) you will encounter. The shooting section can be played with either the NES Zapper or the controller. You have a limited amount of ammo to get through the level, and if you run out of it you lose a life. In the driving section your jeep is armed with machine guns and grenades to help get past the many enemy vehicles on the way to your destination. There is a total of nine levels, or you can play in the practice mode which lets you choose to play a fighting, shooting, or driving round individually.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "Mad City" -- Japanese title

Part of the Following Groups

• Games made into comics
• Genre: Light Gun Shooter

User Reviews

Versatile action game set against a Louisiana backdrop

Multimedia Mike (20636)

Critic Reviews

VideoGame	Jun, 1991		80
Tilt	Apr, 1991	16 out of 20	80
Play Time	Apr, 1992	71 out of 100	71
NES Player	Mar 03, 2002		60
Retro Game Reviews	Oct 11, 2015		50
The Video Game Critic	Jun 11, 2001	C	50
Just Games Retro	Jun 28, 2014		50
Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library	2016		40
Classic-games.net	May 03, 2021	4 out of 10	40
Questicle.net	Jan, 2011	D	25

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Trivia

Version differences

In Japan, Bayou Billy was originally Mad City, which was the same basic core game, but with several differences:

Gameplay

• Easier difficulty (enemies required less hits to die)


• Better control during the shooting stages. The cross-hair in the shooting stages (when using the control pad) is square-shaped in the Famicom version and circular on the NES.


• The final boss, Gordon, was slower but a bit stronger


• In the driving stages, Billy's truck threw dynamites instead of grenades in the Famicom version, the roads were wider and palm trees and street lights can be seen on the side of the road (instead of the generic-looking poles in the localized release). On the other hand, the NES version had no black bar on the top of the screen and a progress meter was added (in turn, the driving stages also became longer).

Graphics

• Better graphical detail (check out the swamp stages especially)


• Different graphic effects on the title screen (the Japanese logo slides in from the side as opposed to the "wavering" effect of the U.S. version)


• Annabelle's outfit was changed to enhance her "sex appeal". In the original Famicom version, she wore a long red dress and was barefooted, whereas in the NES version she wore a midriff-revealing t-shirt with daisy dukes and high heels.


• Billy's face during the opening intro has an older look in the Japanese version.


• Some of the color palettes were changed. For example, the bad guys in the first stage wore green instead of blue in the Famicom version and the final stage had differently colored wallpaper for it's background.

Misc

• Japanese dialogue (strangely written entirely in katakana)


• A few digitized voice samples were added to the localized version including Gordon's laugh between stages. The Famicom version had no voice samples, but Gordon's expression changed between stages (in the later levels, he has a more concerned look).


• The Japanese version feature an alternate ending where the player dumps Annabelle in the end by avoiding her when she tries to approach you. Moreover, the game penalize you for using any of the power-ups gained from the game's training mode by not giving you any ending at all.

Names

*With the exception of Billy (who's full name is Billy West in both versions), the characters are given different names with different titles in some of them (the "heir to Gordon's Underworld Throne" are listed only as "twin brothers" in the Japanese version and the "whipmaster" was actually a "whipwoman) in the game's ending. Here's a list of name changes ordered from their title followed by the localized name in the NES version and their original name in the Japanese version.

Title - Localized Name - Japanese Name

Annabelle - Annabelle Lane - Annabelle Luna

Bad Guy A - Thugs McGraw - Bren Wrestler

Bad Guy B - Kid Creole - Steven Barone

Bad Guy C - Tolouse L'Attack - Ray Harris

Frogman - Jacque Killstow - Diverman

Fatman - Hurricane Hank - William Deve

Punk - Cajun Cut Throat - George Snyman

Chainman - Migraine Mike - Vernon Taylor

Whipwoman - A.L. Hurt - Thousand Bird

Dogmaster - Swamp Gas Charlie - Tom Ogawa

Ironman - Blackie Blue - Carlos Olsen

Twin Brother A - Rocky - John Martin

Twin Brother B - Rocko - Grant Martin

Boss A - Louis Tor-ture - Matthew Birch

Boss B - Godfather Gordon - Richard Gordon

Information also provided by Johnny Undaunted