Written: 11.13.06
Acquired: 9.14.06
Status: Cart only
Price: $16

I discovered this game during the summer of '06. Its Bomberman-esque look immediately grabbed me. The game took me several months to find. Not too long ago we looked at Battle Racers featuring those four SD wonders. And now they're back at it yet again -- in their 42nd SNES game (Not really but it must be damn close)

You might be thinking "Oh no, not another Bomberman wanna-be." Actually, this one has a slightly different feel from Spark World and Otoboke Ninja Colosseum. Instead of dropping bombs of one variety or the other, you simply bash the others to oblivion with your chain ball

You begin with a short chain. Some power-ups include:

Longer chain

                      






                                                                                 Double Chain (now we're talking!)

The Almighty Gold Chain Ball
(Rips through consecutive blocks in 1 hit)

THE SUPER DESTROYER!!!! (4-way Chain!)

Get this baby and you're sure to rule the match. As you can see with Ultraman and Roah, players can nullify each other's chain attack. Note that the GOLD chain does 2 health bars' damage when up-close

NO BOMBS, OK, WHAT ELSE IS DIFFERENT?

Each player has 8 health bars. So battles in STF! tend to be lengthier than your regular Bomberman match. When hit, you're invulnerable for a few seconds, eliminating cheap consecutive hits. "A" jumps. If you jump on their head, it stuns 'em for a few seconds.
"Y" sees your guy flipping the tiles, stunning anyone caught in its path. In this sense,
it's a bit like OTOBOKE. Though there, you HAD to stun em in order to kill em. HERE
it's optional and certainly makes your life easier, but it's not mandatory

Ultraman flips the tiles...

                         






                                                                                   Roah is caught and stunned....

... Easy as 1-2-3

When hit, you lose the last powerup you had -- the icon goes flying back on the field waiting to be claimed by anyone. This is great since it prevents a potential "Ah crap, he got Boardwalk and now we're all screwed" type of deal

THAT IS KINDA DIFFERENT...

You betcha, and beware where you jump! Each player can jump past 1 square. Each stage has plenty of holes to be weary of. In the heat of the battle it's very easy to misplace a jump and plummet to the bloody rocks below. However, it doesn't ALWAYS spell instant doom. The price
is 4 precious health bars



Gun.... DAMN!

And don't you hate when you're alone playing 3 CPU's and you die first, having to sit there waiting
2 minutes for the CPU's to kill each other?  The programmers have sympathetized with our plight as anytime you die, the tiles fall off one by one until 1 CPU is standing. BLOODY SWEET. Give those chaps at METRO a hand *golf clap*



                                                                                             Ace scenery, eh?

HOW'S THE 1 PLAYER STORY MODE?

If you must know. 6 worlds, with 8 levels each, the 8th being the boss. You're free to pick from any of the 6 worlds. It's not bad. It sorta reminds me of an updated version of TRAMPOLINE TERROR

Enemies from each of the four protagonists' world appear, which is very cool

Ice to see you... har har

                    






                                                                                Awesome wavy effect in this world

The bosses are huge and pretty tough. Exclusive to the Story mode (1 or 2P by the way) are bombs (hidden in blocks). If you don't have at least 1 for the bosses, life is sure going to be messy

Here are four of the six:

Easy bloke

                                               






                                                                                              Mobile sucker!

Juggling the act of avoiding the rocks and
slipping through the cracks requires great
concentration

And this demon fellow here is my personal favorite. Look how bad-ass he is. Resting 1
hand on his cheek he uses the other to pound the tiles while emitting laser beams from
his demonic eyes. I love how he flashes when you hit him, too!  When defeated, you're
awarded with a satisfying animation of him cracking up... as you get the final laugh!

SHOW ME THE MONEY!


But of course. The meat of these games are the 4 player battles. STF! has 8 zones

#1

Standard 1st stage except for
the arrows which can effect the
direction of tile flipping. Enjoy
the friendly jumping lay-out
while you can...

                     #2

                     The silver blocks are unbreakable.
                     Jumping on blocks will break 'em,
                     but it takes two leaps. Make sure
                     you have a space to land back on!

#3

Arrows act as they do in stage 1

                                      #4

                                      The middle part sends
                                      you sliding across

#5

More arrows in a sort of X-shaped field

                              #6

                              Forces each player to jump
                              from the get-go... who will
                              be on the attack, who on
                              the defensive?

#7

Lots of solid ground in the middle,
and the many blocks are home to
numerous power-up's

                                        #8

                                        Ice with arrows. Note
                                        the slippery sections

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The battle zones appear a bit samey to me. They lack the "personality" of some others of this genre. But, the main thing is, the battle system is different; with the jumping, pitfalls, 8 hits... it doesn't really play like Bomberman

I was originally disappointed but the more I played the more it grew on me. And if you ask me to rank where I prefer STF!, Spark World and Otoboke I couldn't tell you. Any three is a fine alternative, with Tekkyu Fight! being the most different

Yes, that acronym is coming...

It's a nice 4-player battle game but.... NAGA (not as good as) Bomberman