Jaws

There was also a video game made for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) that was based on the movie. The game was made by LJN Toys, Ltd. and released in 1987. It is ridicuously simple to beat, from the first time that you get it it, it isn't difficult to beat it in only about 30 - 40 minutes. Nevertheless, it is entertaining.

You start with three lives, and you lose one when you touch ANY of the sea creatures.

You drive around a fairly small map in a boat, occasionally hitting objects, and sometimes even hitting Jaws. Once you have hit an object (but not Jaws), a message is displayed telling you that you have, and you are placed in the water as a diver. The water can be either shallow or deep (depending on where you were on the map). While in the water, you swim around shooting at the various undersea creatures, which are limited to manta rays, jellyfish, and small sharks. From senselessly killing these creatures, you usually earn one of three things: a conch shell which is used to upgrade your ship, a starfish which upgrades your points, or a crab, which also upgrades your points. And, sometimes if you kill a small shark, you get to play a bonus scene. Sharks always give shells, and jellyfish rarely do. You leave the water after a few minutes. But you never get a better driver so that you stop hitting stuff.

In the bonus scene, you are in an airplane, making passes back and forth across the screen. You are trying to hit the groups of 5 jellyfish that appear on the screen. You have unlimited ammo, but you can only shoot about three at a time. There are several groups of jellyfish that pass, and after they are all gone, you get 1 shell for every three jellyfish that you hit.

After collecting a certain amount of shells, you can head to one of the two ports (you can't visit the same one twice in a row), where you can get either a Jaws Tracker (necessary to kill Jaws), or increase your power (as it increases, the power of your shots when attacking Jaws goes up, so his power decreases more quickly). You start at power level one (imagine that), at which it takes forever to decrease Jaws' Power even a little bit. And he gets his power back as soon as you leave the water and get back in the boat. So, you keep killing innocent sea creatures until you have enough shells to increase your power several times. The cost of doing this increases by 5 shells each time and starts at 5. As soon as you think you have enough power, you go out looking for Jaws.

While in the water with Jaws, it is very easy to avoid death, since Jaws cannot go to the very top of the water. So, you shoot him as he approaches you, and then when he gets close, you go to the top. Using this process, you will wear down his health until he is killed. After he is killed, you are in the boat, and Jaws is swimming around you, much like the scene from the end of the movie. You wait until he is close, hit your strobe to cause him to jump out of the water, and then shoot him. And that is the end of the game.

And, as if it wasn't already easy enough, you sometimes can find a yellow submarine on the map. You obtain it by moving over it with your boat. The sub allows you to shoot faster while underwater, move faster, and also stop faster.

Overall, not a bad game.