Original Release: Nintendo, 1990, Famicom Disk System
A Japan-only standalone backgammon game notable for coming from Nintendo’s internal studios and having a high-quality soundtrack.
Backgammon (Famicom, Nintendo, 1990)
Where to Buy: ebay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
You might say to yourself, “C. M0use, why waste your time on some little ancient backgammon game for the NES (or Famicom Disk System specifically)?”
Well, one answer is that standalone backgammon games aren’t exactly falling off trees these days (never were really). I mean, you might find one in a big PC games compilation or something. But otherwise you’re probably fishing around in the suspect and questionable world of phone apps for something quick and easy to play. So if this is a solid and playable game, the backgammon fans out there might find it quite useful.
Another thing that makes this noteworthy is that it’s a Nintendo first-party title, which means it’s more polished than most (as you’ll note right away from the smooth little bossa nova jam on the title screen and the surprisingly expansive soundtrack – apparently Koichi Sugiyama even kicked in a track in one of his rare appearances outside of Dragon Quest due to being a huge backgammon fan).
It also has a surprising amount of play modes. You can watch a non-interactive demonstration to learn the rules, play a “tutorial mode” where you get tips as you play, play a one-off match against the computer with selectable settings, play in a single-player tournament, or do hot-seat multiplayer.
Sadly, a couple of things held me back from a robust evaluation of this game. One is that I haven’t played backgammon since I was a little kid and I completely forgot the rules. The other is that the game was only published in Japan, so I couldn’t read the demo or tutorial modes and that didn’t help much. Couldn’t find a fan translation either.
Still, if you’re already familiar with backgammon and looking for an easy/quick and very hardware-undemanding version to emulate on desktop breaks or on your phone, this seems like a pretty good choice.
Links
Cutting Room Floor page w/ cheat codes
This “Electro Gammon” account seems to be a prime source if you’re looking for old standalone backgammon titles to emulate
Videos