John Adventure

Of all the titles that graced the Watara Supervision’s short-lived run, John Adventure is perhaps the one that most desperately wanted to be a cinematic action epic. Released in 1992 by the ever-present Sachen team, it attempts to blend the exploration of a platformer with the high-octane shooting of a side-scrolling action game. It casts the player as the titular John - a character who looks suspiciously like a budget version of an eighties action movie star - tasked with infiltrating a series of heavily fortified military bases and natural caverns.

The gameplay is built around a "run-and-gun" loop that feels a bit more deliberate than something like Contra. John is equipped with a firearm that allows him to take out enemy soldiers and automated turrets from a distance, but the game places a heavy emphasis on verticality and platforming precision. You aren't just sprinting to the right; you are constantly climbing ladders, navigating precarious girders, and jumping over pools of hazardous waste. The physics have that characteristic "Sachen weight" to them, where John feels a bit heavy in the air, requiring you to commit to your jumps early and account for a slight slide when you hit the ground.

One of the more interesting aspects of the game is how it handles its level progression. Rather than a series of disconnected stages, there is a loose sense of a continuous mission. You might start in a jungle exterior, fighting your way past snipers hidden in the foliage, before transitioning into a sleek, industrial laboratory filled with laser traps and moving platforms. The enemy variety is quite impressive for a four-shade greyscale game, forcing you to switch between ducking under high-calibre fire and jumping over low-crawling mechanical traps.

Visually, the game does an admirable job of working around the Supervision’s technical flaws. The screen was notorious for "ghosting" - where moving objects left a blurry trail - so the developers used very distinct, blocky silhouettes for the enemies. John himself is well-animated, with a clear sprite that doesn't get lost even when the background becomes cluttered with girders and pipes. The use of dithering to create the illusion of different grey tones gives the industrial levels a gritty, metallic look that fits the "action hero" theme perfectly.

The audio presentation is a quintessential example of early nineties handheld chiptune. It features a driving, rhythmic bassline that aims for a "military march" feel, though it is limited by the Supervision’s somewhat tinny internal speaker. The sound effects for gunfire and explosions are punchy enough to give the combat some weight, even if they are mostly composed of modulated white noise.

John Adventure might not have the legendary status of the platformers found on the Game Boy, but for those who owned a Supervision, it was a standout title. It offered a level of ambition and "big screen" action feel that many of the simpler puzzle games on the system lacked. It remains a fascinating piece of history, showing exactly how much a dedicated team could squeeze out of a budget handheld when they wanted to create a proper hero’s journey.