The Adventures of Bayou Billy (1989). Play online

Summary

The Adventures of Bayou Billy feels like three games stitched together, hopping from side‑scroll beat‑'em‑up streets to first‑person shooting galleries and even a hectic jeep chase. It’s a nostalgic reminder of how the NES era loved mixing play styles into a single cartridge.

In the brawling stages Billy throws punches, kicks and a simultaneous jump‑kick using A + B, and he can swap melee gear when enemies drop a throwing knife, a club or a whip. Guns are always on‑hand – pull Select to draw or holster, and the flashing bullet indicator warns when ammo is low. Health can be topped up with a chicken drumstick, while body armor dampens enemy fire and strikes.

The shooting sections (stages 2 and 7) switch to a first‑person view; you can play with the standard pad or hook up the NES Zapper, blasting gunmen while hunting for extra ammo, hourglass invincibility or a screen‑clearing star. Driving stages 4 and 5 put you behind a jeep where the D‑pad steers, A and B fire grenades, and gasoline cans extend the timer, but a single crash steals a life.

A practice mode offers stripped‑down versions of each segment, rewarding successful runs with power‑ups. The NES version got tougher, sported brighter graphics, DPCM voice samples and a more revealing Annabelle, and it finally resurfaced on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2016.

Storyline

In The Adventures of Bayou Billy, former U.S. soldier Billy West—better known as Bayou Billy—roams the Louisiana bayous as a Crocodile Dundee‑style vigilante. He’s already tangled with the local crime lord Godfather Gordon, and the boss strikes back by kidnapping Billy’s girlfriend, Annabelle Lane, to draw him into a final showdown. Billy’s rescue mission spans nine distinct stages, taking him from murky swamplands through the neon‑lit chaos of Bourbon Street. Along the way he battles Gordon’s assorted henchmen, using his survivalist skills and street‑wise grit. The journey culminates at Gordon’s sprawling estate, where Billy finally confronts the crime boss face‑to‑face.