YMMV / Karnov

• Cult Classic: Thanks to its unique (if not all that well-executed) mechanic that makes the game stand out from other competitors, Karnov is usually one of the first games mentioned when people talk about Data East.
  • In 2001, Something Awful paid a tribute for it with a rhythm game called Dance Dance Karnov, which has a funky Karnov theme remix, occasional juvenile gore that'd make Newgrounds proud, and an overly enthusiastic narrator with a broken Engrish accent. (Note: It's pretty difficult.)
  • 2005 saw the release of a 33-minute live action fan movie, created by film students of Pittsburgh. Picking up where the video game left off, it also features various cheeky cameos from other NES games such as Little Mac and Samus Aran. You can watch the trailer on the producer's official site.
• Improved by the Re-Cut: In the Japanese release of the arcade version, the item HUD was on the top of the screen, which tended to obscure the player's view. The international version rectifies this by switching it with the score board at the bottom. All the home ports, including the NES version, follow this design.
• Polished Port: In the arcade version, toggling the cursor in the inventory bar was a bit of a pain, because you needed to tap the joystick to do this, which also moves your character. In the NES version, you can select the item on pause, and summon it right after you resume.
• Porting Disaster: The ZX Spectrum/Amstrad CPC/Commodore 64 versions have tons of slowdown, and the screen scrolls only when you walk past a certain point on it. It takes forever to beat even the first level.
• Underused Game Mechanic: A lot of situational items, that can only be activated when the game randomly allows the player to, count as this, but the Trolley takes the cake — it's used only once during the entire game, in a section where you don't even need it to pass through. It was wisely replaced in the NES version with something a lot more useful.