SNES review | RVGFanatic

Plok (SNES)

***Pub: Tradewest | Dev: Software Creations | September 1993 | 8 MEGS***

PLOK! (henceforth referred to simply as Plok) is the epitome of the early-mid ’90s. Developed by Software Creations (John and Ste Pickford designed the concept), Plok was a colorful mascot platformer that followed the “attitude” set forth by the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog. Back in 1993, side scrolling platformers starring a mascot with ‘tude was all the rage, and the Pickford brothers were not about to be left out in the cold. The 16-bit age brought with it hopes of new IPs that would flourish and launch brand new tentpole franchises that would satiate both gamers and those who made them. Plok was another in a long line of such. Did it manage to rise above the muck? For the most part, yes. But sadly, despite its good press and mechanics, Plok never quite caught on. Such is the life and fate of video games, eh?

The Japanese cover is bonkers — **ALL CAPS AND ! BECAUSE ATTITUDE!**

25 YEARS AGO…

Like so many SNES games that eluded me back in the ’90s, Plok was one of those games I saw sitting pretty on the shelf every Saturday while out renting games with my old man. As readers of Memories of Renting may recall, my older brother made all the executive decisions when it came to renting. And sadly, Plok was never high on his want list. So it became one of countless SNES games I always wanted to play back in the day but never did.

Even the back cover looked great — Even the back cover had me intrigued

I would always grab the box off the shelf, admire the front cover and then flip it over to the back. It was full of attitude and bright yellow text — exactly the sort of stuff that would attract any 10 year old boy.

One of the greatest things about gaming back in the ’90s was picking up the latest gaming magazine and reading it front to back. Some of those old previews and reviews are burned into my soul. Plok had great press and it looked so good on paper.

Of course, part of the appeal was the weird name and design. PLOK was just too fun to say as a 10 year old kid. Magazines took advantage of this “pun” and found clever ways to incorporate it. It was cheesy but that only added to the quirky charm of the character and game.

And then came the ads... — And then came the ads…

Gaming ads were also part of the fun of anticipating a brand new title back in 1993. While this particular ad wasn’t memorable or special, the comic strips were!

Click if on desktop or zoom if on mobile

There was just something so damn cool about the Plok ads that still resonate with me 25 years later. Yes, that lovable strange little critter turned 25 earlier this month! In a day and age where so many of our 16-bit favorites are celebrating 25 year anniversaries, it’s sad that this one flew under the radar. Though, I suppose that’s only fitting.

Happy 25th, PLOK! — Happy 25th, ***PLOK!***

We havent forgotten! Be happy, dont worry! — We haven’t forgotten!
Don’t worry, be happy!

WHOA. OK, that escalated quickly — **WHOA**. OK, that escalated quickly

Here, your flag. See? Its all good — Here, your flag. Cheers!

Its your birthday and you can punch if you want to! — ***“It’s my birthday and I can punch if I want to!”***

UM... alrighty then — **UM…** alrighty then. This party’s getting freaky!

THE STORY GOES…

*[Can I get this in simple picture form? -Ed.]*

Courtesy of the almighty Super Play :) — Courtesy of the almighty Super Play

Its a silly plot but hey, its all about the gameplay! — It’s a silly plot but hey, it’s all about the gameplay!

WHAT THE PLOK!?

Eat your heart out, Rayman! — Eat your heart out, *Rayman*!

Rayman, originally released in September of 1995 (2 years after Plok), is another character that fires his fist. But Rayman has gone on to enjoy a rather notable franchise with his latest hit being the critically acclaimed Rayman Legends. Oh what could have been. Plok Legends, perhaps? Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Sorry, Plok! [Take your unwanted sympathy and go PLOK yourself -Plok]

Plok can even turn himself into a buzzsaw or collect presents to reveal a mystery power suit! It’s slightly reminiscent of Magical Quest: Starring Mickey Mouse, but the big difference is the power suits in Plok are temporary.

I wish you could switch back and forth but reducing their usage time does make it feel a thousand times more powerful and precious when you do get one.

I like how they incorporated a movie theme

Remember when instruction manuals were cool? Definitely one of the joys of gaming in the 90s — Remember when instruction manuals were cool?
Definitely one of the joys of gaming back in the ’90s!

Definitely one of joys of gaming back in the 90s! — The little guy can even ride various vehicles!

This was nearly 25 years before Super Mario Odyssey! — This was nearly 25 years before *Super Mario Odyssey*!

Talk about being ahead of the times! — Talk about being ahead of its time!

Hmmm... déjà vu indeed — Hmmm… déjà vu indeed

True, Yoshi's Island (October 1995) did it, too... — True, *Yoshi’s Island* (October 1995) did it too…

Plok still came out 2 years earlier — *Plok* still came out 2 years earlier

Granted, Plok had nothing like this :P — Granted, *Plok* had nothing like this

But Mario inspired Plok so yeah. Fair trade-off — But Mario inspired *Plok* so yeah. Fair trade-off

GOOD OLD DAYS…

Don't adjust your TV -- Plok goes black and white! It speaks to the game's unique charm and quirkiness — Don’t adjust your TV — *Plok* goes black and white!
It speaks to the game’s unique charm and quirkiness

PLOK THIS AND PLOK THAT!

There’s a hint of Tequila Song mixed in with a harmonica here that makes the opening title screen a very cool and memorable one.

Leaving his homeland of Akrillic, Plok hops on a raft to make the sojourn to Cotton Island. Maybe whoever took his flag took it there. Only one way to find out!

Picturesque and made entirely of soft fabrics, Cotton Island is famous throughout Poly-Esta for its gorgeous sunsets. Plok has some cool moves. For example, holding down while on a slope allows him to slide. Fire his limbs to take care of the pesky Shprouts.

Beware of wild rolling logs! They come at you fast and furious. His regular jump barely clears the hurdle.

Somersault to safety. It allows you to catch way more air. On the downside, you can’t attack in this state but it’s great for leaping over enemies and obstacles. Each stage ends with a flagpole. OK, so much for talking trash about Super Mario Odyssey copying Plok…

Recurring gag in the form of anything but his flag being raised! It’s good for a grin. Plok is filled with bits of humor.

Touching that icon turns our little hero into an indestructible spinning ball of steel, whizzing across the islands of Poly-Esta at breakneck speeds for a few short seconds. Anything caught in his path is turned into Shish Kebab.

Occasionally, you’ll see presents laying around. These bad boys turn our hero into a really bad boy.

Hiding in little nooks and crannies can be a lifesaver. Just make sure you don’t press down here or else Plok will slide off! Although there’s no way to preview what lies ahead by scrolling the screen up or down, the collectible shells indicate where you can safely jump and land. Brilliant.

Speaking of brilliant, Plok utilizes an energy bar system. Magic fruit can be found throughout the game and recovers four health bars. However, if you strike them once or twice, they grow bigger and refill your health even more. Just make sure you don’t get too greedy or else they will pop, leaving you with nothing! I love it when a game puts a slight twist on something otherwise so routine and basic.

Speaking of slight twist, this… er, OK this is pretty standard stuff. Still, I always love seeing arrows composed of collectible items pointing in the direction one should go. And hey, instead of blocks they used a rope… yeah… that’s all I got.

Colorful and zany, Plok is like a Saturday morning cartoon (or an acid trip) come to life. Watch out for Rockyfella who disguises itself as a landmark but quickly pops out of the ground with vitriol.

Formerly failed acrobats, Milton and Marshall Bobbins now roam the islands of Poly-Esta as thugs for hire. The Bobbins Brothers are rumored to be working under the Flea Queen. Some people say there used to be a third brother, Irving, who left the act many years ago due to “creative differences.”

Tougher than a $2 steak (shout out to Good Old JR Jim Ross), the Bobbins Bros (now there’s a real tag team wrestling name) are brutal. Usually platformers ease you in with an easy first boss fight. Not so here. Good luck!

Surprise, surprise. Plok’s flag is nowhere to be found on Cotton Island so he heads back home to Akrillic. Here a quirky new gimmick presents itself. Hit targets with your limbs. After doing so, your limb gets attached to a hanger nearby. Retrieve it if you can before moving on because you’re going to need all the limbs you can get. This gimmick, as you can imagine, sets up some interesting scenarios where you have to use your brain as much as your brawn.

Another new gimmick comes in the form of fleas. Each level now has a set number of fleas you must kill before you can exit the stage. Some fleas are out hopping about, but most are in eggs that will soon hatch. Be sure to dispatch of them quick! You can also collect hornets which can attack and kill enemies, but they’re pretty dumb. Still, just another wrinkle to Plok!

Although Plok looks like a “kiddy game,” do not be fooled. It is one HARD son of a bitch. It’s a shame there’s no password system, because this is a prime example of a game sorely in need of one.

Whatever you do, be sure to hang on to all your limbs. Your health is based on an energy bar, not how many limbs you have… BUT the more limbs you leave behind the harder it will be to defend yourself and ultimately survive.

ADE DUE DAMBALLA

Scratching your head wondering what’s going on? That’s typical after the first 10 minutes with this game and constantly dying. Plok is no walk in the park. To make life easier, there’s a Child’s Play option that reduces the speed and health of enemies. You won’t get to play some of the harder levels on this mode though, but at least you’ll get to see most levels you otherwise might not on Normal.

Normal mode doesn’t allow you to destroy logs and other rolling obstacles. Your limbs will sail through them harmlessly and hopelessly. Child’s Play, however, does allow you to clear the path for an easier adventure.

WHAT’S THE PASSWORD? … AH SHIT

Unfortunately, there’s no password system in Plok. But maybe there’s some sort of level select cheat? Nope, sorry. There is, however, a cheat that will take you to the 6th stage. It’s not much but it’s better than nothing. Jump in the water on the first stage and then hit the magic fruit three times.

Boarding his helicopter, it’s a race to the finish. Spiky obstacles block the path but it’s easy enough. Still, what a shame to have so many levels and no password system in place.

You're gonna need this and more... — You’re gonna need these tips and more…

No passwords is such a punch to the gut... — No passwords is such a punch to the gut!

Damn you, Pickford bros! :P — Damn you, Pickford bros!

I just want to see this damnit! — I just wanna see this, damnit

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Plok was well received by the critics of the time. EGM gave it scores of 9, 8, 8 and 7. Super Play rated it 90%. Super Play was notorious for being harsh with their review scores, particularly on “me too” platformers. The fact that they doled out a massive 90% to Plok speaks volumes.

Plok is also generally beloved within retro gaming circles. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel for decades. But so far, no más. Still, with the Nintendo Switch and so many old IPs coming back to life over the past couple years, never say never. Hey, one can dream!

No PLOKKIN way, you say? Let us dream, damnit! — No **PLOKKIN’** way, you say? Let us dream, damnit!

One day, like the Ploxterminator, hell be back — One day, like the Ploxterminator, **HE’LL BE BACK**

Back to rule the throne :P — **BETTER WATCH YO ASS,** **RAYMAN**

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Nothing beats quelling a childhood curiosity at last!

The fall of 1993 was a fun time to be a 10 year old kid. Both 16-bit systems were going strong and you had platformers and fighting games coming out left and right. As a fan of both genres, this pleased me to no end and made scouring the glossy pages of EGM and GameFan a monthly religion. I’ll never forget all the colorful previews of Plok and seeing the box at my local rental stores. Those giant orange yellow letters P-L-O-K always seemed to call out to me… but alas… my older brother called the shots 25 years ago and it was never meant to be. Years and years later, I assembled a massive SNES collection and began playing through them one at a time. For some reason, although Plok was always near the top of my to-play list, I always had the urge to play something else. Whether it was B.O.B. or Harley’s Humongous Adventure, Plok sat there patiently waiting. Once again, its big bold letters called out to me. I could always see it in the corner of my eye… and in the case of the picture above, literally. Finally, it was earlier this month that it hit me. Plok turned 25 PLOKKIN’ years old. It shot right up to the top of my queue. After finally playing it at long last, I can honestly say it turned out to be almost exactly as I imagined it being a quarter of a century ago…

Plok incorporates a lot of quirky little gimmicks. From donning power suits inspired from famous movies to manning vehicles of mass destruction, there’s always something zany to do. Small wrinkles are peppered in throughout the game to keep it feeling fresh. Whether you’re increasing the power of a health refill before consuming it, launching hornets at enemies, turning into an indestructible spinning ball of steel or collecting your various limbs off a hanger, Plok never has a dull moment. And whatever you do, avoid going torso only at any point. Poor Plok will bounce helplessly about if you lose all his limbs and he’s stripped down to the nitty-gritty. It may be comical at first to see the Plokster bouncing around only on his torso until you realize it’s a golden ticket to an early grave.

The graphics are amazing. It’s colorful and full of vibrant life. The music was handled by the legendary Tim Follin, so you know that’s on point, too. The only real complaint I have is the lack of a password system and how the game can be insanely difficult. The control is responsive for the most part, but it does seem to suffer slightly from the occasional pixel perfect jump. There are some frustrating leaps of faith too that don’t always have collectible shells to show you the way. It’s still a very good platformer, but it’s not quite in that upper echelon.

The list of 16-bit mascot platformers that challenged Mario for the crown but failed to live up to expectations is long and well detailed over the past 25 years. Bubsy is the poster child for that but there were many others. Plok managed to do what only a select handful could. Not only did it rise above the ranks of mediocrity but it’s a legitimately good game. It’s no Super Mario World but hey, what really is? Happy 25th anniversary, Plok, and here’s wishful thinking for a long overdue sequel.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8
Longevity: 6

Overall: 8.0
Silver Award

Rockyfella you look familiar... — Rockyfella, you look familiar…

Pickford bros also responsible for Equinox! — Pickford brothers were also responsible for *Equinox*

SD Hiryu no Ken (SFC)

If only the game were as badass as the box art... — *If only* it were as badass as the box art…

Godzilla: Kaijuu Daikessen wasn’t the only SNES fighting game I was curious about for over 12 years. EGM ran a tantalizing preview for a cool looking fighting game in early 1994 that immediately caught my eye. First appearing in EGM issue #55 (February 1994), SD Golden Fighter was slated for a North American release and I could not wait to rent and play it. Several months later (September 1994), EGM would preview it once more (issue #62). Rebranded as Galactic Defenders, I figured we would get it well in time for the holidays and that it was only a matter of a few short weeks before Galactic Defenders would hit the shelves of KB Toys and Software Etc. Sadly, the North American release was cancelled for whatever reason. Probably because Culture Brain figured it wouldn’t sell too well in the end. But thankfully the game did come out in Japan under the name of SD Hiryu no Ken.

A 12 YEAR ODYSSEY

I'll never forget this glorious preview — I’ll never forget this glorious preview

As a 10 year old boy who ate up any and every fighting game that came out back then, I could not wait to get my hands on SD Golden Fighter. I remember thinking that it looked like an arcade game! And feeling that it was probably going to be a lot better than most other SNES fighting games.

But it was the pictures that stole my heart. Good times

EGM really sold it well. It looked like a can't miss game — EGM really sold it well. It looked like a can’t miss game

But as I said, sadly, the North American release wasn’t meant to be. There was even supposedly a box already designed for it, too.

It was also called SD Dragon's Fist at one point — It was also called *SD Dragon’s Fist* at one point

The game of many names. It seemed like Culture Brain couldn’t make up its mind. Hell, it even changed from 10 MEGS to 12. In the end, it only came out in Japan as SD Hiryu no Ken.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2006

It was an innocent early Saturday morning just like any other. I remember going to GameFAQs (Classic Gaming forum) to see if anyone had responded to my question in a topic called “Saturn Collection 7″ regarding what everyone’s plans were for Labor Day weekend. It was there that I found someone raving about JapanGameStock.com. They were saying how JGS was having a special on Super Famicom games (Buy 3 Get 1 Free). I immediately visited JGS and what I discovered that night was a gold mine. A lot of the obscure Super Famicom exclusive titles I wanted were on there, including SD Hiryu no Ken! Once I saw the cartridge label, I had a hunch it was SD Golden Fighter AKA SD Dragon’s Fist AKA Galactic Defender(s). After checking AllGame.com (R.I.P.), it was confirmed! At last my 12+ year childhood curiosity was going to be quelled.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it — I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it

I ended up buying a crap load. Final damage: $362!

I ended up adding a few more games to the order on September 9, pushing my grand total to $362.16. Because JGS didn’t take PayPal back in 2006, I had to buy one of those pink international money orders. God, I think it’s been 12 years since I last purchased a money order. I bought so many of the green US money orders back in the early-mid 2000s for my Saturn game buying.

So freaking worth it :) — So freaking worth it

Fun fact: Once I bought these games during that fateful Labor Day weekend, I felt the timing was right to start my “Obscure Super Famicom Impressions” topic which I posted at several gaming forums. Prior to buying the games, I didn’t want to write about games I didn’t yet own out of fear of driving up prices. So once I knew I had secured a massive lot of them, I felt at ease to begin my topic having peace of mind knowing that I already own the games. My topic went on to become a cult hit within the retro gaming community. Keep in mind that late 2006 was before highlighting “hidden gems” and obscure Japanese games on YouTube, blogs and the like became all the rage. I’m not claiming to be the first one to ever do it, but I did become known as the guy who champions lesser known video games. My topic ran from September to December 2006 and eventually gave way to the birth of RVGFanatic in January of 2007. Without JapanGameStock’s help, there’s a chance RVGFanatic might never have existed. Nearly 12 years later and here we are. Crazy eh?

I bought so much they even linked my site on their site! — Look at the lower bottom right hand corner

I ended up buying so many games from them in late 2006 and early 2007 that when they discovered I started my own site to highlight obscure Super Famicom imports among other things, JapanGameStock linked RVGFanatic. It is still linked to this day. What an honor. Thanks JGS!

DOES SD HIRYU NO KEN DELIVER?

SDHiryuK

Choose from four different playing modes: Story, VS., Tournament and Practice. An options screen allows you to reconfigure the buttons, select your computer difficulty level and as was typical of that era, there’s a speed option with a cheat code that allows you to crank it up to a level 3.

Boasting an impressive roster of 15 warriors, SD Hiryu no Ken held the distinct honor of having the most selectable fighters in a Super Nintendo fighting game. All for a week anyhow. SD Hiryu no Ken was released in Japan on July 17, 1994, while Super Street Fighter II came out on July 25, 1994, and featured 16 fighters. Still, SD Hiryu no Ken certainly gives you a lot of options, especially at a time when 10 or 12 fighters was the norm. It’s got a good mix too of karate masters, badass rebels, muscle-bound maniacs and mutant monsters.

Ryuhi’s stage takes place on a beautiful cliff overlooking a rock formation that resembles a howling wolf. Ryuhi is a balanced fighter and the main character of SD Hiryu no Ken.

Suzaku is the main villain of the game. His background is the same as the character you are using.

Believe it or not, Hayato has better star ratings than the main character. In addition to having a sweet rising uppercut (more of a palm strike really), his stage reminds me a lot of the grassy and stormy background in Australia from Street Fighter Alpha 2, sans the impressive lightning of course.

Roseman is lacking in power, toughness and throwing ability but he makes up for it with really good speed. Plus, he just flat out looks super cool. Not to mention his background features the famous Big Ben tower. Win!

Jenifer has Daddy issues you say? I say you’re the one with Daddy issues! After all, you’ll have to contend with Daddy, Jenifer’s big bad pet manticore. Things start to get a little bizarre with this character here, but that only adds to the game’s appeal.

Mainohonda, I mean, Mainohana, is a grand sumo champion who is surprisingly well balanced and has more stars to his name than the main fighter. He likes to conduct his battles out in a wooded area where he meditates before and after each match. After all, you can accomplish amazing feats when you train your mind, body and soul to be one with nature.

Looking and fighting like your typical Yakuza, Tetsuo has “badass” written all over him. It’s a shame, then, that he only has a star rating of 9, the lowest total in the entire game. Oh well, at least he looks the part. That and his background is awesome. I love how you can see the sun just peeking out over the land, which most assuredly is somewhere on the wrong side of town.

Fighting games are notorious for featuring at least one fighter who is the residential “freak.” E. Quaker fits that job description to a tee. A serpentine mummy of sorts, Quaker looks to claim the crown as his very own.

Wiler’s mighty fist has secured him many wins in the past, and he hopes to continue that tradition in this tournament. A military warrior, Wiler prefers duking it out under the harsh elements of the Amazon. The rain makes for a cool atmospheric effect.

Shrouded in mystery, RAIMA is a fighting robot and one of the fastest combatants in the tourney. The lab where his fights are held is rumored to be the same place in which he was constructed.

What’s a fighting game without a lovely backdrop overlooking a pretty city at night? Min Min, a Chinese female fighter with kick-based attacks, likes to pummel overly cocky punks when she’s not busy sampling the latest trendy restaurant or taking in the night life.

Looking more like he belongs in the Primal Rage universe, Uruka is a hulking and feral freak. I’m a sucker for a quirky fighting game roster and SD Hiryu no Ken definitely has exactly just that. His background is admittedly a bit dull, but I dig the flamingos.

Syoryu is faster than a bullet and combines traditional martial arts with Lucha Libre. Rey Mysterio would be proud!

Reserved outside of battle, Yuuka turns into a savage once the bell rings. A master of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, Yuuka likes to create whirlwinds to toss her foes.

Powers, surprisingly, owns the highest total star rating. Clocking in at an impressive 17 total stars, he is the strongest, toughest and best thrower in the game. Talk about a Hulk Hogan-esque push! The Ultimate Warrior, anyone?

COOL FEATURES

Rather than always blocking, pressing R allows you to briefly side step and avoid potential attacks. Good stuff.

Pressing forward and R when close to an opponent allows you to go around them and strike them from behind. Both of these features add extra depth to the game and definitely puts a new twist on an old formula. Really keeps you on your toes!

MISCELLANEOUS

OUCH… that’s gonna leave a mark.

Dashing backwards can help you avoid getting punctured by Quaker’s vicious scythe. Tetsuo, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.

Dashing forward is also possible. See the different costume colors for Wiler there? You can actually select from 8 (!) different colors for each fighter. I always loved it when fighting games from that era had that as an option.

Monsters and muscle-bound maniacs battling feisty females? Sounds like another taping of Lucha Undergound!

Endless barrage of fireballs await.

Alongside belly flops both big and small!

There’s something classic and pure about seeing that Fight label flash across the screen right before two combatants duel to the death.

Special moves definitely look cool, but the control isn’t the best.

Seriously, marvel at how badass they are! Such a shame about the unresponsive control, then…

Roseman thinks he’s so cool, but he’s about to get lit up right under Big Ben!

Gawd damn I'm so cool... — ***GAWD DAMN I’M SO COOL***

That's one hell of a neat party trick, bro — That’s one hell of a party trick, bro

SAY WHAT NOW?!

Toru Kurosawa from Last Bronx. Hmmm — Toru Kurosawa from *Last Bronx*. Hmmm

Its even got the bridge... — It’s even got the bridge…

Kurosawa and Tetsuo could be brothers at the very least

Sega AM3 most likely wasn’t inspired by Tetsuo, but the similarities are fun to note nonetheless. Speaking of fun, Tetsuo has the greatest death cry in fighting game history. Whenever he loses a round, he actually yells “FUCK FUCK fuck!” Don’t believe me? Watch the clip below and tell me you don’t hear him dropping the F-Bomb three consecutive times

Or maybe that’s just his reaction to never receiving any royalty checks from Last Bronx.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

12 years is a long time to be curious about a video game you saw in passing as a kid. I couldn’t wait to finally play this game after a dozen long years wondering if it was as good as my 10 year old self imagined. Sadly, SD Hiryu no Ken goes down for me as a massive disappointment. It looks great, sure, but not as much when you see it in motion. The frames of animation are a bit lacking and choppy. This is a big no no for a fighting game. Worse yet, the control is leaning toward the unresponsive side, with simple commands such as D, DF, F being way harder than it ought to be. This really spoils the experience.

Sure, the game has got a ton of cool looking special moves, but what good are they if you can’t accurately rely on producing them on a whim? The jumping also feels clunky and the sound effects are lacking in oomph and impact. On paper, it looks like an excellent quirky fighting game. But somewhere in the developmental process, something went awry. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly not unplayable. And there are some fans who stand by this game adamantly. The 15 characters are varied and unique. The art style is also very appealing. But it just doesn’t play very well and that’s something I can’t overlook. It does play better on the higher speeds but even then, I can’t help but feel this was a major disappointment. I wanted so badly to put it on my top 50 favorite Super Famicom games list but truth be told, it just isn’t that good. If I had to rate it, I would probably give it a 6.0 or a 6.5. Maybe a 7.0 if I’m feeling super generous. By my account, this game should have been an easy 8.5 at the very least. Very disappointing, indeed.

Despite the flaws, there's still something cool about it — Despite the flaws, there’s still something cool about it

Still, something keeps me crawling back to it every once in a blue moon. A disappointment, sure, but also something of a guilty pleasure. With some tweaking and polish, SD Hiryu no Ken could have been one of the best fighting games on the SNES, especially when talking specifically about home grown fighters exclusive to the Super Nintendo. Alas, much like the canned North American release, it just wasn’t meant to be.

GIF BONUS

THE ULLLLLLLLL-TIMATE WARRIOR! -Vince McMahon — ***THE ULLLLLLL-TIMATE WARRIOR!*** -Vince McMahon

I want a donut THIS big — I said… I want a donut **THIS** big

Skyblazer (SNES)

Pub: Sony Imagesoft | Dev: Ukiyotei | January 1994 | 8 MEGS — ***Pub: Sony | Dev: Ukiyotei | January 1994 | 8 MEGS***

The SNES is home to many great action titles. Everyone knows about classics such as Mega Man X, Super Castlevania IV and Super Metroid. But there are a bevy of lesser known “hidden gems” that have since gone on to enjoy something of a cult following. Skyblazer is one of those games that sort of flew under the radar when it came out back in January of 1994. I missed out on it back then and was excited to finally play it in early 2006 when I had my SNES comeback. What’s all the fuss about? With the fan hype surrounding it, even back in 2006, I was anxious to see if it really was as good as many were claiming. I was only 12 years late to the party, but better late than never!

Skyblazer is known as Karuraou in Japan. To no one’s* surprise, the US box art was “modern and hip” while the Japanese box conveys a more anime-inspired cover.

*Unless you’re someone who wonders what SNES** stands for.

**Surely Not Everyone’s Stupid!***

***[Quit this asterisk nonsense! -Ed.]

If Skyblazer plays with a certain air of familiarity, that might be because you’ve played Ukiyotei’s first game, Hook. Skyblazer was their second, and the similarities between Sky and Peter Banning are quite similar.

I recommend Hook. Its a simple fun little game — I recommend *Hook*. It’s a simple fun little game

I’VE GOT THE POWER!

Sky will gain key magic powers throughout his journey. They’ll eat up magic points of course, but you can restock said points by killing enemies. Randomly, refills will drop. Use these skills to even up the odds.

THE STORY GOES…

It aint rocket science, folks — It ain’t rocket science, folks. It’s…

INTRO STAGE

SkyBl2 SkyBl2b

Things start off with a bang. A heavy downpour and lightning flashes make for a striking introductory stage.

SkyBl3 SkyBl3b

Showing off his magical prowess, Sky launches the Super Flash. It only consumes one magic bar and is generally useful in most situations.

SkyBl4 SkyBl4b

Clinging to walls like Spider-Man, Sky knows how to make a dramatic entrance.

SkyBl5

Speaking of dramatic, this is a great level to play on a dark stormy night.

Meet Ashura, Raglans right-hand man, er, demon — Meet Ashura, Raglan’s right-hand man, er, demon

But a bearded old man takes you in, saving you — … a bearded old man takes you in, restoring you

Between the three islands, 20 stages await — Between the three islands, 17 more stages await

FALTINE’S WOODS

Faltine’s Woods makes for a nice jaunt but I’m still racking my brains out over exactly WHO IN THE BLUE HELL IS FALTINE!? Nobody by the name of Faltine ever appears in Skyblazer. So pray tell, WHO!? *grumble*

One second youre streaking on top — One second you’re streaking on top…

... and the next youre slipping through the foilage — … and the next you’re slipping through the foliage

Every now and then I get a little bit lonely... — Every now and then I get a little bit lonely…

SkyBl10

Faltine’s Woods is too short a stage. Actually, that’s a recurring theme with Skyblazer. The stages are often over right before you can *really* sink your teeth into them.

TEMPLE INFERNUS

Clinging to the side of a roving block as it transports you across a fiery pit of hell is rather satisfying. Be careful of what lies at the other end, though…

SkyBl12

Skyblazer isn’t too hard a game, but it does ramp it up a bit later on. Mr. Genie here is a cakewalk. He’ll throw some fireballs at you but they float slowly and are easily avoidable. He can only be damaged when he’s in the lamp.

CLIFFS OF PERIL

Flying Hero, released on the Super Famicom on December 18, 1992, was developed by Sting Entertainment who later went on to make one of my favorite SNES RPGs, Treasure Hunter G. Anyway, that flying enemy in Skyblazer there always reminded me of the hero from Flying Hero.

TOWER OF THE TAROLISK

Skyblazer has some cool stages but this is arguably the most memorable and notable of them all. It’s cool to see the tower rotating as you jump about.

Magical powers, like the Comet Flash, come in super handy here.

SkyBl16

Beware of the spiky platforms… time your leap just right! Once inside the tower, you’ll have to deal with spiked walls and assorted nasties.

The Tower of Tarolisk is very reminiscent of an old 1987 video game by the name of Nebulus. Created by John M. Phillips, Nebulus was released to various home computer systems such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64.

Thanks for nothing, Nintendo of America!

SkyBl18

Crossing great distances is made a lot easier thanks to the Comet Flash. Talk about style, Sky’s got it in abundance.

Disappearing blocks appear just to make life a little harder. Brings back some bad Mega Man memories…

Making it to the top is a great sigh of relief. The walls inside close in intermittently, so don’t get crushed!

Notice how this giant spinning armored eyeball boss gets bigger each time you hit it. It makes the later jumps rather difficult. As you can see, I barely clear the hurdle on the fourth time.

Eventually it’ll get so big that you can no longer jump over it. Instead, kneel for safety. It’ll come awfully close to clipping you, but Sky will be in the clear.

Magazine previews of this giant rotating eye boss back in the day always caught my, er, eye. Sorry. But yeah, as a kid you couldn’t help but love it.

BITCH! -Jesse Pinkman, probably — **BITCH!** -Jesse Pinkman, probably

[SEE your way out... -Ed.] — *[SEE your way out… -Ed.]*

GATEWAY TO EASTERN PLAIN

Collect enough gems to earn an extra life

PETROLITH CASTLE

You knew a slippery ice level was coming. Step on those bad boys and they’ll give way. You don’t want to be riding one when it does!

Unless, of course, were talking about this! — Unless, of course, we’re talking about this!

Riding an ice wedge has its moments, though. Or rather, just one moment. But what a fine moment it is.

Flying Hero, I hate to kill you but sorry I have to! Later on, Skyblazer turns into Mario Blazer. Very reminiscent of Super Mario World, eh?

WATCH OUT THERE, SKY! It’s slippery so don’t let your forward momentum impale ya!

Another cool ass boss! With each rotation it makes in an attempt to crush Sky, the gap in the side of its wall will randomly change. Be prepared to jump, kneel or even cling and climb over!

WHOA, GET DOWN! Sky almost becomes a flattened pancake, but luckily he is able to duck in time. I love how the monster’s eyeballs are taken out one at a bloody time.

Naturally, the wall moves faster after each rotation. By the end, things get rather hectic… and deadly.

FALLS OF TORMENT

Skyblazer is largely a linear adventure, but this part gives you some freedom of choice. The Falls of Torment (what a name) has rotating logs that make standing still on them an impossible task. Pair that with some vile creatures and you’ve got a recipe for potential disaster.

LAIR OF KHARYON

Throughout the history of video gaming, water-based stages have tormented and haunted generations of gamers. This to me is the most annoying level in Skyblazer. Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about breathing underwater. However, there are a lot of switches to flip and annoying currents that correspond to said switches. I dread having to play this level. Still, it’s got nothing on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You know what I’m talking about!

THE SAND RIVERS OF SHIROL

Jumping from pillar to pillar as they steadily descend is not as easy as it may appear to be. Thankfully, the control is pretty good so it comes down to your skills and timing. But there’s hardly a safe haven waiting for you, thanks to fire breathing beasts.

GATEWAY OF ETERNAL STORMS

There’s a lovely fall (and even Halloween-lite) atmosphere to this stage, making it perfect to play on a late darkening afternoon this time of the year. Use your magic powers to clear the path.

SkyBl36

Creepy how killing this demon leads to his head falling off and then it disturbingly turns into a one-eyed spider with gangly legs. Nightmarish stuff, really.

Skyblazer is a beautiful looking game, with plenty of pretty parallax and scrolling. There’s a nice mystic quality to it all.

STORM FORTRESS OF KH’LAR

Gimmicks lead to more diversity, and this stage is no exception. Watch the currents. It’ll guide your path.

SkyBl39

Finding the exit is always a relief. It’ll lead you to more bizarre enemies but at least you’re one step closer to the end.

FORTRESS SHIROL

Reminiscent of the horizontal shooting levels from Legendary Wings. Sadly though, the control for Sky’s flight always felt annoying to me. Something about it that was slightly off. Hmm.

NOT MY GAMERA

Batman (1966) would be proud — *Batman* (1966) would be proud

THE LORD OF WAR

Remember him from the beginning? He's baaaaack... — Remember him from the beginning? He’s back…

You gotta beat Ashura first before fighting Raglan

This time you're ready for him — This time you’re ready for him

Prepare yourself for... — Prepare yourself for…

That's a lot of flashing — That’s a lot of flashing

Nice try, Sky. Hey, you can't blame the guy :P — Nice try, Sky. Hey, you can’t blame the guy

POSTERIZE ME

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Skyblazer graced the beautiful cover of Super Play — *Skyblazer* graced the beautiful cover of Super Play

Skyblazer received fairly strong reviews when it came out nearly 25 years ago. It even graced the cover of Super Play Magazine in December of 1993 (issue #14). EGM gave it ratings of 8, 8, 8, 8 and 7. Super Play rated it 78%.

Wil Overton with the gorgeous art as always

Not a bad rating at all, especially come from SPlay — A fairly respectable rating all things considered

DID YOU KNOW?

GameFan Graveyard September 2000 — GameFan Graveyard (September 2000)

18 years ago, GameFan ran a love letter of sorts to Skyblazer. Writer ECM called Skyblazer “one of the greatest SNES games of all time.” GameFan was well known for their hyperbole and overly enthusiastic opinions, and this was no different. Skyblazer is definitely a quality action game but one of the greatest SNES games of all time it certainly is not. At least, from an objective point of view.

Hmmm, might want to check your facts, GameFan... — Whoa, what?

Interestingly enough, the man responsible for Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi, is also the same man behind Skyblazer. Pretty cool obscure little fact!

Gran Turismo was a huge deal back in 1997 — *Gran Turismo* was a huge deal back in 1997

The franchise is still going strong, 21 years later

To think, he started here! — To think, Kazunori started here!

Pretty eye-popping if ya ask me... — Pretty eye-popping if ya ask me…

Sadly, not too many bought Skyblazer back in 1994 — Sadly, not too many bought *Skyblazer* back in 1994

It could have been a franchise. What could have been

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I came into Skyblazer with a ton of hype and 12 years of roaring anticipation. The previews back in the day made it look like a can’t miss classic. After reading all the rave reviews and love letters regarding Skyblazer both in print and online, it became one of the earliest SNES games I went out of my way to play during my SNES resurgence in early 2006. In the end, I was a little let down. Don’t get me wrong, I still consider Skyblazer to be a good game. But it’s hardly “one of the greatest SNES games of all time” as GameFan writer ECM put it 18 years ago. Too many flaws prevent it from reaching its full potential. I’m not a fan of Sky’s short limbs and the hit detection feels a little wonky at times. Clinging to walls is a fun mechanic, but there’s the occasional ill-advised spot where Sky will do so just because he’s near a surface. The problem arises when you don’t intend for him to latch on! And that could be the difference between winning and losing. Pressing a button to enable sticking to surfaces would have mitigated this unnecessary annoyance. Sky’s sound effect whenever he’s hit isn’t too flattering, either. He sounds a bit like Homer Simpson and it feels out of place. “D’OH!”

Still, Skyblazer gets a lot right. It’s kind of got this cool epic mystic vibe going for it, even if much of it is extremely cliché. Some of Sky’s magical powers are really fun to use and light up the screen in a dazzling array of lasers and lights. Almost every stage has some sort of little wrinkle or gimmick to keep gameplay fresh and varied. One minute you’re scaling an impressive rotating tower and the next you find yourself slipping in and out of foliage somewhere deep in the woods. The difficulty starts out rather light but quickly picks up. It never gets too hard, but later levels can infuriate with deaths caused by the odd occasional bit of clunky control. It’s things like this that stop Skyblazer from achieving even greater heights.

The graphics are really good for the most part. It’s vibrant and cartoony, typical of its era. The Mode 7 actually adds to the package rather than detracts, and of course you can’t help but admire the insane amounts of parallax. Sky looks and animates great. But every once in a while you see a crap water effect or a dull enemy design that occasionally makes you stop and wonder. The music is a delightful and eclectic mix of different styles, each one befitting of its respective stage. Ranging from calm and soothing to frenetic and frantic, a sense of real adventure jumps through your stereo system. There’s definitely a Middle Eastern-inspired flare to it all which makes it stand out from your typical SNES action game soundtrack. The boss theme will definitely get your adrenaline pumping.

The biggest weakness of Skyblazer is less than stellar control (particularly in the flying levels) and the levels themselves are way too damn small. They’re more like bite-sized sections than they are full levels. Just when you’re about to sink your teeth into a certain level’s gimmick, it ends. More than disappointing, it’s downright annoying. It’s like they tried to rush this game out in time for the Christmas season of 1993, but they still came up short and in more ways than one! Nonetheless, if you can overlook some of the game’s shortcomings and focus on the positives, of which there are plenty, Skyblazer rises above the typical crop of forgettable, fair-to-middling SNES action games. It’s not in the pantheon of the upper tier classics, but it does hold its own pretty well against the rest of the field. Best of all, Skyblazer allows you to satiate your inner child by embracing your magical powers and taking on a band of mystical mayhem-mongers all while saving the universe from an ancient evil Lord of Darkness. Hey, that’s what video games are all about.

Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 8.5
Gameplay: 7.5
Longevity: 5.5

Overall: 7.5
Bronze Award

Maybe Skyblazer didnt quite reach its ceiling... — Maybe *Skyblazer* didn’t quite reach its ceiling…

... but its still pretty damn cool! — … but it’s still pretty damn cool!

Those blocks remind me of... — Those clear blocks are just like…

... the ones from the Batman toy commercials! — … the ones from the ’90s *Batman* toy commercials!

I call them the Batman blocks :P — I call them the *Batman* blocks

Classic stuff. I was sad the blocks were never included!

DAMN YOU, KENNER! *SHAKES FIST*

B.O.B. (SNES)

***Pub: EA Sports | Dev: Gray Matter | June 1993 | 8 MEGS***

I vividly remember seeing the box of B.O.B. at local game rental stores as a kid and always wanting to rent it. Alas, as readers of Memories of Renting may recall, my older brother called the shots back in those days. As such, B.O.B. became one of countless SNES curiosities that would elude me until much later in life. I recall being shocked seeing the name of Electronic Arts slapped on the box. EA Sports was known for their sports titles. Only years later did I realize EA Sports was the publisher. The developer was actually Gray Matter, who developed shitty SNES games like James Bond Jr., Wayne’s World and Incredible Crash Dummies. In fact, B.O.B. is based off the game engine of Wayne’s World. So right away things aren’t looking good for B.O.B. but somehow, Gray Matter managed to get this one right. I suppose even a broken clock is correct twice a day, eh?

The back of the box was so damn cool — Click on this if on desktop or zoom in if on mobile

I remember flipping the box over and gawking at the back cover in awe. Most SNES boxes had fairly decent back covers but B.O.B. raised the bar considerably, not wasting an inch of real estate. The back was splattered with color and action, and it even featured a badass logo of our newly minted hero on the sides of the box. Oh how badly I wanted to rent it then and there but the last thing I wanted was a pissed off older brother who could beat the snot out of me

The Sega Genesis box was damn cool in its own right

The cartridge had that cool yellow EA tab gimmick, too

You just don't see back covers like this any more — You just don’t see back covers like this any more

Looks familiar, EA... — Looks familiar, EA…

On a side note, EA Sports did develop their own action platformer a year later when they released Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City. Now that I think about it, it does have a few similarities to B.O.B. Makes you wonder if publishing B.O.B. inspired EA to eventually develop their own action game. Chaos in the Windy City isn’t shabby, but B.O.B. is the better of the two.

A LOADED ARSENAL

Pick from six guns and six gadgets to help even up the odds. There’s a bit of added depth thanks to these tools, and you can either pause the game to switch or switch on the fly with the shoulder buttons. Gotta love the SNES controller!

(MOSTLY) GUNS

If Doom were made into a cartoony side scrolling action platformer, it would look a lot like B.O.B. Use the fist to conserve your ammo. It really packs a, er, punch!

Your standard single shot is the weakest gun you have and since it doesn’t have unlimited ammo, you’ll probably end up using this one the least. Your punch is actually stronger than this!

The triple shot gives you great coverage with medium power. I use this the most.

Rockets seek out the nearest target and is handy for when you’re trying to duck and dodge while simultaneously shooting like a mad man.

The flame thrower eats up a lot of ammunition fast and has limited range, but it’ll burn up the bad guys in a hurry.

Think of the bolt shot like the single shot, only 20 times stronger.

The wave shot is essentially the BFG of this game. Ammo is limited, it cuts a huge swath and does a stupid amount of damage. Save it for the bosses…

GADGETS

Be like Mary Poppins and glide gently to safety.

The flash sends the screen into a frenzy and affords you roughly eight seconds to safely sneak through any scenario. The enemies will be too blinded to attack!

The almighty shield grants eight seconds of invulnerability.

For a much needed boost, bust out the trampoline. It can also be done in mid-air.

Floating bomb destroys (or damages) every enemy on screen.

Use the helicopter hat to reach new heights and places. Avoid touching ceilings or else!

THE STORY GOES…

Rather than saving the world, our hero just wants to meet his hot date on a Saturday night. Of course, before he can leave, his old man gives him a lecture.

Fathers know best, right?

Teenagers can’t always see it though, because they’re young and, well, 17.

WHEW! A couple close calls there but all is good…

OOPS… I spoke too soon! THE END IS NEAR indeed.

There’s a bit of a comedic touch to this game. The map screen kind of takes me back to the days of ToeJam & Earl!

Interestingly enough, the game came out first in North America. It was released a good six months later in Japan (December 22, 1993) and was rebranded as Space Funky B.O.B. Pretty strange if you ask me!

Ammunition is limited in this game so conserve your ammo whenever possible. Thankfully, the punch is actually fairly potent and useful. The acquisition of the triple shot does make life a lot easier, though.

Weapon and gadget icons are sparingly placed throughout the levels. Always search them out and don’t run straight for the exit. Doing so will only hurt you later when it counts. And yes, because B.O.B. came out in 1993 during the mascot rage, our hero has his own antics and ‘tude.

“Gnarly” lingo is sprouted off at the start of each stage. That was 1993 for ya. I love seeing his fingers ripple up and down as he slides from point A to point B. The sound effect adds to the fun of it.

Careful! He can’t fall great distances without sustaining some damage.

Reminiscent of Alien the movie as well as Alien³ the game. Fry those little suckers! Spotting the exit within reach is always nice, but if you have time be sure to check out the surrounding nooks and crannies…

Goodies (and danger) lurk just around the corner!

Totally (1993) indeed. Love the visual effect of leaving a level.

Ammunition is fairly scarce so grab every single one you can. And use the punch whenever you can. You’ll need to conserve your ammo if you want to make it far.

Wrenches fully recover your health. It’s great seeing one especially when you’re just about to die! Watch out for the various stage hazards as well.

Creatures and critters abound. Love the nasty mess they leave behind when you kill them. A nice squishy sound effect makes it twice as fun.

Grabbing on to a pipe or vine and then sliding through following a fall is inexplicably satisfying, and something you’ll do a lot of. There is a nice flow to B.O.B. and this aspect contributes to said flow.

Certain stages will deviate from the norm and put you in a B.O.B.sled sort of affair. It’s a nice break from the usual. Avoid hazards and make it safely to the end. It can get quite dramatic as you can see above — super low health and out of time! The cool thing about running out of time is you don’t automatically lose. Once the clock hits 0, your health will drain. So it gives you a little grace period and sometimes you’ll need it to win!

Facehugger, much? The Alien homages are cool to see.

Jumping to catch the tip of a ladder is super satisfying, but jumping from tiny ledge to tiny ledge can be a bit of a frustrating experience. B.O.B. doesn’t have the best control in the world. It’s manageable, but rather loose.

Rockets come in handy against the first boss, the gigantic Borg Snake. Your rockets will take out his rockets, and since you can fire more at once than it can, you’ll be able to inflict damage in the process.

Occasionally it will stretch its neck out in an attempt to knock you back but other than that, it’s easy pickings.

Sometimes you’ll run across a health chamber. Enter it to fully recover your health. It’s reminiscent of the health chambers from Corridor 7, although B.O.B. came out first. Occasionally you’ll need to use your helicopter hat to reach the exit.

Destroy the pods first and then the vile creature will drop to fight you, pissed off that you killed its detestable babies.

Mutant maggots launch an airborne attack. Tired of dicking around, you bust out the great equalizer — the BFG! It’s time to exit this god-forsaken planet of Goth and go meet your girl!

Finally, you’re on your way to meet your hot date…

DAMN!! Way too close for comfort but you’re OK…

Naturally, it had to be a small piece, no? First goes the top…

Followed by everything else. And you thought your Tinder date was a disaster!

Arriving on the planet of Anciena, there are booby traps galore that will kill you instantly. Anciena is much tougher than Goth was.

Crouching and punching is the way to go sometimes. The enemies get harder and harder as you go deeper in the game.

Gliding down slowly and safely via the umbrella is a satisfying technique that you don’t see nearly enough of in other similar games. But one thing that is universal… the thrill of reaching level’s end with hardly any health remaining!

Creepy indeed! It almost feels satanic… in a cartoony way, of course.

Eroding platforms make their mark here. Fire birds try to subdue you, but send their asses back to the fiery pits of hell.

Nothing tops seeing a wrench when you’re on the verge of dying. They’re perfectly placed too, which speaks to the diligent efforts of Gray Matter (a shocker, I know). Little details, such as being able to see the rocket when equipping the rocket gun, make for a nice visual touch.

Sometimes, the exit can be seen early on but it’s just a tease — it’s nowhere near as accessible as it appears to be. B.O.B. quickly becomes a tough test of brutality. Just how hard? Sometimes you’ll finish a stage with no time left and barely any health!

Beware of Mr. Potato Head’s evil twin. One punch from him sends you flying back a great distance. Here’s another stage where you must use the helicopter hat to reach the exit. Thankfully, the items you need are often placed nearby. But you’ll still need to be stingy with your inventory as you never know when you might really need something and resources are scarce.

Helicopter hat and the umbrella add such great versatility and depth to B.O.B., making it a cut above your typical SNES action title.

B.O.B.sled stages are simple and fun to navigate, adding value to the game. They’re also infrequent enough to never wear out their (novel) welcome.

Something bad definitely happened!

Beware its acidic tongue.

Konami would be proud of this boss design. I love how the bosses flash orange-red when taking damage. Takes me back to the NES days of gaming!

They’ll even flash blue, too. Give ol’ Lava Lord the BFG treatment.

Memorable boss fights is key to a quality action game, and B.O.B. definitely check marks that box. Love the way Lava Lord dies, exploding one body part at a time!

Spoiler: Red Skull takes a break from guarding the Soul Stone to make a cameo in B.O.B. I guess you could say overly positive fan reaction to his scene in Infinity War has left him feeling a little… big headed. Moving on, watch out for the cloaked wizards who can electrocute your ass.

Anciena is guarded by a big bad beetle bot. It’s pancake city and auto death if his fist connects.

Thankfully, one shot of the BFG will take out its arms. This boss killed me 30 times before I thought of switching to the BFG. D’oh!

Killing bosses in B.O.B. feels super satisfying.

Alright, it’s time to meet your hot date! You zoom by a gas station and think to yourself, “Nah, I’m good!”

Riding along, singing your stupid song, you come to a most disturbing sign.

GAWD DAMNIT! Not this shit again!

Crashing on the strange and dangerous planet of Ultraworld, only the toughest weekend warriors will make it out alive.

Definitely WEIRD that no one over at Gray Matter did a spell check! Ultraworld is ultra tough. You’re walking along when all of a sudden something barfs on you and a chunk of your health goes missing!

Glancing back, you see it’s some kind of nasty parasite. A lot of B.O.B. is level memorization and repetition. It’s the only way to advance. Go a bit further, die, learn from your mistakes and repeat. A certain enemy on this stage will release bullets even after being killed. This world is TOUGH.

Annoyingly not something you can kill, this obstacle will send you flying back a great distance if you get too close. Mercifully, smashing against a wall is only a sight gag; it doesn’t sap your precious health. However, any threat that you touch while flying backward is fair game!

Damn… even the ladders aren’t safe anymore! Make sure you look before you leap. Lots of weird and tough enemies here that will tax you to your limit.

Poisonous jellyfish zoom by turning our hero into Skish KaB.O.B. Expect to see that death animation over and over again… Ultraworld will punish even the most skilled players.

RUTHLESSLY BRUTAL

Hardcore players need only apply. B.O.B. will chew you up and spit you out. Whether enemies kill you or you get crushed or you simply miss the exit by a split second, B.O.B. is one of the hardest action games on the SNES. Goth starts out easy enough. Anciena kicks it up a notch but is still quite manageable. But then Ultraworld comes and kicks your teeth down your throat. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya…

GENESIS VS. SUPER NINTENDO

Having played both versions extensively, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the SNES version is far superior. Better graphics, control and sound. It’s not even close. Plus being able to switch guns and gadgets on the fly via the shoulder buttons makes SNES B.O.B. so much more enjoyable.

Mark Lewis, the UK boss of Electronic Arts, had this to say about B.O.B. in an interview conducted by Super Play Magazine (issue #8, June 1993). It’s interesting that they dropped the “Search For Ultraforce” subtitle. B.O.B. made a little history when it became the first EA-published game to appear on the SNES before the Sega Genesis. Sadly for Mark and others, B.O.B. was a bit of a critical flop and things never quite panned out for our bug-like bot.

Sadly, it just wasnt meant to be — Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be

MISCELLANEOUS

I love the fact that B.O.B. is such a bizarre game

The CyberDemon would be proud — The Cyberdemon would be proud

I’ll never forget the barrage of ninja skeletons. After you kill all of them, their heads will lift off the ground and attack you!

The last boss, appearing on stage 47, has three or four forms. I kind of freaked out the first time I saw him. It was a combination of finally making it all the way to the end and the wickedly memorable design. He was like an abominable cross between a mutant spider, elephant and octopus. The stuff nightmares are made of. Thankfully, you get helpful items appearing on either side of the screen to aid you in the final battle.

I remember my palms were all sweaty as I neared victory — I remember my palms were sweaty as I neared victory

Sheer euphoria the moment he came bursting apart

I remember sitting in the dead still of a hot August night as I vanquished the nightmarish final boss. Months of perseverance, repetition, level memorization and proper resource conservation all led to this glorious moment. B.O.B. is a satisfying conquest to those who can persist with the game’s brutal (yet fair) difficulty.

13 years after being curious about B.O.B. as a kid, I finally got to play it on June 10, 2006. It was a quiet Saturday night and the desire to at long last quell this childhood curiosity overtook me. As a kid staring at the tantalizing box at my local game rental store, I thought B.O.B. looked like it could be a good under-the-radar sort of game. It’s always nice when your gut turns out to be right so many years later. Childhood curiosities don’t always have a happy ending so it’s awesome when one does. On a side note, it blows my mind that it’s almost been longer since I beat B.O.B. in the summer of 2006 than it has been when I first wondered about the game in the summer of 1993. Frightening! It’s like the realization you have at 35 that you’ve been out of high school longer than how old you were your senior year! My, how time flies…

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Sadly, B.O.B. was mostly a flop with gaming magazines of the time. EGM gave it scores of 7, 7, 5 and 5. GameFan gave it ratings of 80, 70, 67 and 64%. Super Play buried it, rating it 54%.

But GamePro was a fan. I mean, take that for whatever it’s worth…

GamePro, however, wasn’t the only supporter. B.O.B. has a decent to solid fanbase as it turns out. Check out what some gamers have had to say over the years.

I always loved the game. I’m surprised that it never got a sequel -IronDraggon

It’s a decent game. I like the crouching and ways of shooting because games like Mega Man lacked that back then. I wouldn’t say there’s anything too special about it but it has its fun -cyberfluxor

I like just about everything about B.O.B. except for its hardcore difficulty once you reach the middle stages of the game. B.O.B. is resplendent with early nineties pop culture. You get a lot of funkadelic synthesized music that actually fits the foreign backdrops perfectly. I could rock out to the boss theme for a good ten minutes or so. B.O.B.‘s music and sound effects fit it like a glove -Snow Dragon

The graphics in this game were pretty darn good. The bug-like main character was chock full of detail. All the enemies were just as good as B.O.B. himself. The environments had a ton of detail drawn into them. B.O.B. was never a game that was really heard of a lot, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not good -BrakZero

The graphics of the game are pretty good. There’s good use of shadow, and B.O.B. looks excellent, as do most of his enemies. The animation also flows smoothly. The sound is good too, but not excellent. This game is worth a play. Although it’s mostly just an average shoot ‘em up side scrolling game, the humorous plot and difficulty will keep you coming back for more -Hiryuu

I really liked it. Really unexpectedly good game -PWHerman

Great game. I still play it now and again. If I recall right it flopped pretty hard critically since it was dismissed as just another SNES platformer. Dismissed as pedestrian and derivative when it is in fact a pretty fun refinement of this type of game -Neo Rasa

Well said, guys! I absolutely agree with Snow Dragon — I too could rock out to the boss theme for a good 10 minutes or so!

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The term “hidden gem” gets thrown around a lot, and many of yesteryear’s hidden gems no longer qualify as such because of people’s affinity to constantly mention them. Games like Demon’s Crest, Goof Troop and Run Saber have received more than their fair share of praise over the years, and deservedly so. However, B.O.B. even after all these years still does not receive the level of credit that I feel it should. Granted, it’s less appealing than those aforementioned titles due to a number of reasons. The control, while manageable, could have been tightened up. And the difficulty halfway through becomes downright borderline insane. But patient and persistent gamers seeking a stiff yet fair challenge are in for a treat. The exit for certain stages requires some thought. Some even require usage of the trampoline or helicopter hat. Speaking of which, the various gadgets give the game a more versatile scope as compared to others of its ilk. The many guns add to the fun as well, even though ammo is limited. Don’t expect a blazing run and gun affair. It’s more of a thinking man’s action game with deliberate pacing. Also, his ability to do simple things such as shooting up and crouching made B.O.B. rise above your average SNES action game.

Kudos to Gray Matter for skipping the played out hop ‘n bop routine. It’s a blast eviscerating bugs with the flame thrower or taking down massive bosses with the BFG. Aside from some minor control flaws (floaty jumps and control not being very crisp from a standstill point), B.O.B. is a well made game in many facets. Some stages have multiple routes, and while they’re very basic, the different routes are there at least. B.O.B. reminds me of some of the old classic 8-bit action games. There’s an old school back-to-the-basics feel, and this isn’t meant to be interpreted as a bad thing at all. Success largely comes down to repetition, memorization and proper management of limited resources. It’s very much trial and error like a lot of vintage NES games were. There’s an oddly addictive quality to see what the next level in B.O.B. will bring, despite a lot of them being somewhat similar. The B.O.B-sled levels do help break up the action, though, and those are well implemented both in terms of design and level placement.

Where's my long overdue sequel eh? Hello, Switch?! — Where’s my long overdue sequel eh? Hello, Switch?!

One random guy on the internet over a dozen years ago once eloquently stated, “Dude, this game is like… a retarded Metroid.” A backhanded compliment if there ever was one but HEY, you’ll take any Metroid-related compliments you can get! I really like B.O.B. a lot. Everything from its cheesy early ’90s atmosphere to the abundant amount of humor hits a sweet spot for me. With over 45 levels of ball-busting intensity and thankfully a password system, B.O.B. will provide hours of challenging gameplay and could easily occupy you for a few hardcore weekends. It isn’t the best SNES action game around but it truly is one of the more overlooked ones, even still to this day 25 years later. I once said B.O.B. is probably what Doom would be if Doom was ever made into a cartoony side scrolling blaster, in Ultra Nightmare mode mind you. So if that sounds appealing to you, do yourself a favor and check out B.O.B. the next chance you get. Besides, he needs your help to make it to his hot date. Forget saving the princess or the world, he just wants to get some. What a respectable lad

Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8
Longevity: 6

Overall: 8.0
Silver Award

Eat your heart out, Ripley :P — Eat your heart out, Ripley

Bahamut Lagoon (SNES)

Pub & Dev: Squaresoft | February 1996 | 24 MEGS — ***Pub & Dev: Squaresoft | February 1996 | 25 MEGS***

Squaresoft, one of the best developers during the Super Nintendo’s hey day, was responsible for such beloved classics as Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu III (AKA Secret of Mana 2), Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG just to name a small handful. That right there is a who’s who of SNES lore. When it came to third party developers, you could always count on the big 3: Capcom, Konami and Squaresoft. They produced some of the best games in the SNES catalog. In February of 1996, Squaresoft released a strategy RPG by the name of Bahamut Lagoon. Unfortunately, because it came out so late in the SNES lifespan and wasn’t a proven IP (unlike Super Mario RPG which came out in May of ’96), Bahamut Lagoon was destined to never leave the Land of the Rising Sun. But thanks to the dedicated efforts of Neill Corlett, Dragon Force and Clyde Mandelin (AKA Tomato), a fan translation was released and those unfamiliar with Japanese were then able to experience Bahamut Lagoon in all its glory. Earlier this year I finally carved out some time (57 hours to be precise) and got to experience one of Squaresoft’s “lost classics.” Bahamut Lagoon FREAKING ROCKS.

It looks so badass on that white cartridge! — It looks so sleek on that white cartridge!

WHAT IS BAHAMUT LAGOON?

Bahamut Lagoon is a strategy RPG that’s unlike your typical SNES RPG. It’s extremely linear, the game is broken up into 27 chapters and getting lost is virtually impossible. Naturally, there are pros and cons to this. If you’re looking for an RPG where you can really explore and branch off on your own path, this probably isn’t the game for you. But if you’re in the mood for a streamlined tactical RPG with some badass dragons thrown into the mix, this is the perfect game for you. In Bahamut Lagoon, you control up to six parties with each party containing four members and one dragon. Of course, members are interchangeable and different formations can be selected. You can adjust strategies as you wish. That’s mainly where the game’s freedom kicks in. You won’t get to explore a vast open world, but you have a bevy of options when it comes to offense and defense. Dragons add another key element to the puzzle. But more on that later…

MEET AND GREET

These are just 15 of the characters you’ll meet in your journey. Many others are waiting to be found. As you can imagine, each of them has their own personality, strengths and weaknesses. It can be fun to mix and match. Experiment!

ENTER THE DRAGONS

You can change their default names if they’re not to your liking. Dragons must be fed frequently if you want them to grow and increase in power. After a certain point, they can even transform…

Some forms can get pretty crazy... — Some forms can get pretty crazy…

CHARACTER CLASSES

THE STORY GOES…

There's definitely a Star Wars vibe going on — There’s definitely a *Star Wars* vibe going on

Resistance, Empire? Hmmm….

Squaresoft sets a serious and epic tone right away by casting ominous thunderclouds from the moment you power the game on. King Kahna tries to awaken Bahamut from its slumber to no avail. Might his daughter, Princess Yoyo, hold the key to saving Orelus and the once peaceful kingdom of Kahna?

Obsessed with ruling the skies and all of Orelus, Emperor Sauzer goes on a war torn path of destruction. Sauzer and his right hand man, Palpaleos, admire their handy work from a tower while contemplating a future where all cower before them.

Kahna: What are you scheming, Sauzer?! The Holy Dragons shall not awaken. I will not hand over their power to you!

Sauzer: They won’t wake up because their time of awakening has not come yet! The moment I conquer this world, their time shall begin! And that time begins now!

Kahna’s brutally murdered as one era ends and a new one begins…

Several winters later, Sendak (an old surviving member of Kahna) calls out to Byuu, a fierce young warrior who has since gone off grid. Sendak knows the Resistance will fall short without Byuu leading the charge. Sendak notes that everyone is saddened by Byuu’s absence and makes a harrowing proclamation: winter looks to be cold again this year. He wishes Byuu, wherever the young lad might be, the very best…

Naturally, Byuu makes a triumphant return and we get a flashback to provide a little backstory. Byuu was the one responsible for reviving Kahna’s Dragon Squad and during his hiatus he was out searching for all the dragons that went missing. Now that all the titans have been found, Byuu rejoins the Resistance force ready to reclaim the kingdom of Kahna! Pretty epic stuff, right? Squaresoft was simply the best once upon a moon…

Although the dragons have been found, it’s the Holy Dragons that must awaken. Specifically, Bahamut. Bahamut holds the key to everything…

ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Bahamut Lagoon has a unique battle system. The very first fight introduces us to the basic mechanics of the game. You can interact with your environment, something you couldn’t do in many other RPGs from that era. For example, if a bridge is broken you can’t cross the river unless you first freeze the water. It’s little things like this that makes the game so nice to play. Sorry.

Decide which party to go first. Then, you have a variety of options available. This includes moving your party around the battlefield, selecting the aggression level of your dragon and even using magic attacks from a safe distance. I like to select move and at the very least analyze how far I can advance. The screen will darken when you do this, with the lighted path illuminating your options.

Typically, you won’t be able to move far enough on your first try to get close enough to attack an enemy group. You may, however, be able to hit them with one of your magic attacks from far away. It’s OK too if the square isn’t directly on them. Press the button and it’ll show you the coverage. As you can see here, that enemy group is caught in the line of fire. Although damage is weakened when the enemy is not in the center of your initial square, it’s still nice being able to pelt them!

Damage is dealt to each bad guy in the group. Keep in mind as the game progresses you’ll have more mixed groups of enemies. For example, if an enemy uses fire magic then all fire-based attacks will not hurt them but it will actually heal them. So be sure to check the groups before you start hurling magic attacks!

Dragons come into play after your party launches a magic strike. Depending on the command you select (you can choose from go, come or stay), your party’s dragon will look for a nearby enemy group to attack. If it’s close enough, it will enter a new screen where combat will be conducted. This is a little dangerous as it gives the opposition a chance to hurt your dragon. However, if the dragon is not close enough to attack, it will then launch a magic attack from a safe distance with no chance for enemy retaliation (provided your dragon has enough magic points remaining). Naturally, you receive more points and bonus items for defeating enemies up close and personal. So there’s an incentive for those types of battles. Also note your dragon will only launch a magic attack if it’s within range. Stay keeps the dragon where it is. Come makes the dragon come close to you, and go is a complete wild card. It sends your dragon anywhere on the map. This can either work out in your favor or against, and it’s up to user discretion…

Whew… and that was just one party’s turn! Now you choose what the rest of your groups will do. All of your parties must end their turn before it switches to the enemy’s turn. Here we see Sendak just barely being able to attack the ice mages.

Salmando finds himself in a close quarters encounter, which shifts the scene to the classic side view as seen in many of Squaresoft’s previous RPGs. You can still perform magic attacks here of course, which is lovely for spraying damage to all enemies. Unfortunately, you cannot control the dragons. They move and attack randomly. The only command you’re in charge of is whether they will come, stay or go. I would have preferred being able to control them but being powerful beasts, I actually like their autonomy. Besides, it brings a certain wild card element to the battles which make it extra fun and sometimes slightly unpredictable. Thankfully, the dragons tend (emphasis on the word TEND) to make the right choice more times than not…

Nothing’s as satisfying as when the dragons attack exactly as you would have done, if you could control them. The best is when they launch a magic strike that hits multiple groups of enemies. Even better is when said strike takes out a group. You’ll get Flame Grass (a fire-based magic attack) whenever an enemy is killed with fire magic. You can use Flame Grass in battle or feed it to your dragons to increase their fire potency. But more on that later…

However, nothing’s more annoying than a magic strike that BARELY leaves them alive. If only that dragon’s Thunder Gale was a level 3 and not merely a level 2. Hmmm, what if I feed it some Thunder Grass…

Defeating an enemy group in this fashion grants you more money and items. Items can aid you in battle or be used as dragon food. It’s fun to experiment! Don’t just kill enemy groups from afar. You need money and items and beating them up close and personal gets you plenty of both. You’ll also level up a lot more!

Having exhausted all your parties’ turns, it’s now time for the enemy phase. I like how Squaresoft made sure we knew! Once you kill the boss of this chapter, bonus items and points are rewarded. And just in case you didn’t know that you won, Squaresoft spells it out for ya, literally.

HOW TO ~~TRAIN~~ FEED YOUR DRAGON

Following fights (and before), you have the option of feeding your dragons. I highly encourage that you do, and make sure you balance it out or else you’ll show favoritism and those neglected will lash out in various ways. Use items you’ve bought or gained during battle to feed your dragons. Some are obvious, like fire items increase a dragon’s fire magic. But some others aren’t so clear. Like what would happen if you feed your dragon a porno magazine? I’m not kidding. Find out for yourself…

IMPLORE TO EXPLORE

Explore your surroundings… you’ll never know what you might find. See, I wasn’t lying about that porno mag. It’s a real thing

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books from the ’80s and ’90s? One of my favorite things about RPGs is the option to select your response to a character’s question. There’s plenty of that sort happening here. It doesn’t change the game but it’s still nice having choices. Some humor arises like when you select “It’s kind of awkward, so don’t…” but then Princess Yoyo responds, “But… oops! Too late…”

Princess Yoyo is quite the sentimental lass. After arriving at the Church of Memories, she tells you the legend of how when two people who love each other come here, they’ll be destined to be together forever. She’ll then ask you if you want to go in. You can answer by saying “Yeah, let’s try going in” or “No way!” If you pick the former, she’ll respond “Tee hee… I’m just kidding… it’s still too early for us… we should have brought Matelite too.” Princess Yoyo is a tease after all, I guess.

Princess Yoyo changes the beat and things get a little more serious. I love this scene. It felt like something pulled right out of a Hollywood film. It reminds me of some girls I’ve known… sometimes they want you to promise them in the moment even if it’s a lie… it’s moments like this that make you forget for a split second that you’re playing a video game. At least, it was for me here.

Switching back to some lighthearted tomfoolery on a dime, Bahamut Lagoon does a good job of balancing things with the right amount of humor at the right time.

CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING

Before each chapter fight begins, you can adjust a variety of options and also scout the competition. This includes enemy health and even how many squares they can move. Once you’re ready, I like to take the fight right to them!

Usually before you can even attack, your dragon will launch its own strike automatically. This is nice for softening them up. Then it’s your turn. A direct hit is always satisfying, a MISS is always demoralizing.

Keeping your parties fresh by healing them when appropriate is the key to success. As with any other RPG, it’s winning 101. The cool thing about Bahamut Lagoon is that your characters can also be healed just by standing on the right square (i.e. squares containing a building). However, keep in mind that the same applies to the enemy.

Dragons are honestly overpowered, making this game even easier than it already is. But damn if it isn’t still fun watching the destruction unfold!

Sometimes your dragon will be flanked in all directions. This has the potential to be disastrous. On the bright side, it also leaves the enemies extremely vulnerable when clustered as such. A magic blast can potentially strike all groups at once for optimal damage.

Depending on the character, some are better off using magic attacks due to their physical attacks being shit. But the mini devils are the most infuriating to me. Too many times their offense will fail and you literally get a Fail! caption. You can almost hear Squaresoft’s evil crackle as it happens. There’s a reason why I sub out the mini devils as soon as I can…

Lanzenritter (no relation to John), the boss of Chapter 1, is quick to abandon ship once you prove your superiority. Bahamut Lagoon has some gorgeous visuals as you can see here.

Emperor Sauzer has kidnapped the princess and taken her to the green continent of Campbell. Palpaleos can’t sleep and decides to “check up” on Princess Yoyo in the middle of the night. It isn’t long before Sauzer has the same restless affliction and finds that his general has beaten him to the punch. They watch Princess Yoyo in the darkness as they talk — not creepy at all — and later find themselves contemplating the legend of the Holy Dragons…

CHAPTER 2: LEGEND WE DREAMED OF…

Farnheit sets sail for Campbell… but first, some basic training and words of encouragement are in order.

Matelite, captain of the guards of Kahna, gives a pep talk the likes of which George Lucas would approve of. Matelite even states that they won’t be known as the Freedom Force but rather the Resistance. Hmmm, where have I heard that before?

CAMPBELL HERE WE COME!

LONG LIVE THE RESISTANCE!

Environmental hazards come into play. Using fire magic in such areas will cause a fire to break out, which will harm anyone caught in its path. Good stuff. There’s plenty more cool tricks to discover in the game’s 27 chapters, which I’ll let you discover on your own.

MISCELLANEOUS

Upgraded magic spells get bigger and crazier in classic RPG fashion.

Speaking of bigger and crazier, that’s what will happen to your dragons if you feed them accordingly. Don’t be shy to experiment — you never know which new forms you may unlock!

Speaking of the dragons, take good care of them. They can catch colds. Hell, they can even get married! Yeah… I’ll let you figure that one out on your own…

Beginning around Chapter 6 or so, a side quest option is available to select. From here you can pick either Granbelos Fortress or Easy Dungeon. It’s basically a place to level up your characters, earn more items and money. The background sadly stays the same for both side quests throughout the rest of the game. The only thing that changes are the enemies. A third bonus side quest, Hard Dungeon, opens up later on and is insanely difficult. Enter at your own risk!

Landscapes vary. Some are standard but a few get pretty creative and crazy. Take, for example, the cave where the walls are organic and will close and open on every turn. If caught while it’s closed, those party members will be rendered useless for the duration of that round. I do think there could have been a little bit more variety and imagination but what Squaresoft did give us is satisfactory.

Donfan is probably the one character I remember most when all was said and done, simply because he had the most outlandish lines and he was such a creepy pervert. His interactions with the female characters never failed to entertain. A perfect comic relief character. I don’t think I used him in battle once

Bahamut Lagoon translator “Dark Force” was not too pleased with Squaresoft…

And here I thought Donfan was the pervert of the group!

[Always knew Steve was a perv -Ed.]

From a certain perspective, sure it can be. In the game’s context, most definitely. You’ll just have to play it to fully understand…

After you beat Bahamut Lagoon, an “Ex-Play” option is made available at the title select screen. This allows you to play through the game again but with your current levels, items, weapons, spells and money. Basically you’re overpowered from the start and the amount of destruction you can unleash is quite satisfying!

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

It’s a shame Bahamut Lagoon never received a proper North American release. But it’s understandable. Released in Japan on February 9, 1996, it would have been mid ’96 at least until a translated copy would have hit North American stores. The SNES was on life support by then and Square didn’t want to chance it with an unproven new IP. As such, Bahamut Lagoon faded into “obscurity.” Only the most diehard of RPG and SNES fans kept clamoring for it and keeping its memory alive. Then when our boys translated the game, it reached a whole new audience. Nowadays, it’s often held in high regards. Sure, there are some critics who claim the whole thing is far too easy (they’re not wrong) and that it’s not as great as they had hoped, but the majority seems to love it more than not.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

For years I had heard the hype surrounding Bahamut Lagoon. I’m glad I finally made time to play through it. Being a strategy RPG, it’s a little different from your typical SNES RPG which I found infinitely refreshing. Battles are long and I like how the game is broken up into 27 chapters. It’s almost like reading a great book. Playing one chapter at a time is enough to scratch your itch for the night. Rinse and repeat. Carefully positioning each group in your party while managing your individual and collective resources is satisfying even though the game is so easy that you could “brute force” your way through without much of an issue. Still, I like to be efficient and make sound tactical decisions wherever possible.

The addition of the dragons is a clever and intriguing gimmick. They’re a wild card, making each fight slightly unpredictable since control of them is rather limited. Feeding them is simple and handled well. It’s quick and easy, and doesn’t really detract from the game’s flow and pace. If anything, it’s a nice momentary break from the lengthy battles. The ability to alter your dragons depending on what you feed them helps with the game’s longevity, not to mention the nifty Ex-Play mode which is unlocked after you beat the 27th chapter. Graphically, the game looks gorgeous. Massive and detailed dragon designs that look like they were plucked straight out of a top selling manga, awesome spell attacks and amazing usage of parallax are just some of the key highlights. The music is classic Squaresoft — it’s epic and memorable! You can’t help but feel like there’s a spectacular struggle for power and world domination happening right in front of you thanks to the game’s stellar soundtrack.

If you consider yourself a fan of 16-bit RPGs and miss the golden age of role playing games but have yet to play Bahamut Lagoon, you should probably rectify that at your earliest convenience. It’s a grand adventure that’s just begging to be experienced at least once. It’s not Final Fantasy III or Chrono Trigger, but hey, what is? It’s brilliant in its own way and easily makes the cut as one of my top 10 favorite RPGs on the SNES. If you’ve ever wanted to summon a big ass dragon and have said beast blast a bunch of bastards to Kingdom Come, then Bahamut Lagoon is definitely right up your alley.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 9
Longevity: 9

Overall: 9.0
Gold Award

"Ill be back!" No he wont... — *“I’ll be back…”* No, you won’t

Run Saber (SNES)

***Pub: Atlus | Dev: Horisoft | June 1993 | 8 MEGS***

One of my sore disappointments when it comes to the SNES is the fact that we never got a Strider game. Whether a port of the 1989 arcade classic or a kick ass sequel, it just wasn’t meant to be. I mean, how ridiculously sick would Super Strider have been? We’re talking BADASSERY on a grand scale! But thankfully, a little company by the name of Horisoft offered Super Nintendo owners a small consolation prize in the form of Run Saber. Although it’s no Strider, it’s definitely the closest thing to it on the SNES. And it sports a 2-player co-op mode. Not bad for a company that only has one title to its name!

Strider was such a cool game — *Strider* was such a cool game

Run Saber has a lot of similarities — *Run Saber* has a lot of similarities

MEET THE CREW

Nintendo Power was the best with their descriptions

Fun Useless Fact 1: I had a huge crush on a girl named Sheena back in the 8th grade.

Fun Useless Fact 2: I got her number one day and it took me an hour just to muster up the courage to call her. It was just like that one Wonder Years episode!

THE STORY GOES…

Futuristic Earth is not a pretty sight. The year is 2998 and Earth is hopelessly polluted.

Mankind’s last chance for a clean planet rests in the hands of ~~Captain Planet~~ Dr. Bruford. He has devised a plan to use radiation to trigger a change. Unfortunately, the experiment went horribly wrong and Dr. Bruford was mutated. Now he and his army of the unholy are looking to conquer Earth!

Fortunately, not all hope is lost. Enter the Run Sabers. Cybernetically advanced humans with the raw power to level cities, Allen and Sheena stand as Earth’s defenders and the last true bastion of hope.

STAGE ONE: TAJ BASE

Enhance your slash range by picking up the appropriate power-up. Allen’s slash looks just like Strider Hiryu’s… hmmm…

Scaling walls and causing tons of debris to fly everywhere is just another day at the office.

Another power-up allows you to perform a killer spinning attack. I love how you can cling to various scaffolds and lift yourself up.

Speaking of clinging, you’ll be doing lots of that!

Expansive and mysterious, eh? I wonder what will come out…

Excuse me for being slightly disappointed, I was just expecting something more than that. But what isn’t disappointing is Allen’s picture perfect jump kick.

Multiple tiers and platforms allow you to play a game of cat and mouse with this mini boss. Gotta love the explosions. Classic ’90s SNES stuff.

Peculiar enemies litter this once defunct command center that is now fully operational. It’s hard to miss but make sure you don’t rush to the exit — handy items could be lying nearby…

Horisoft had quite the sick imagination. Like something out of a nightmare, these weird and wicked female ghouls come bursting out of the wall with homing missiles ready to greet you.

Sliding to avoid the missiles by the hair of your chinny chin chin is way too cool. Speaking of cool, strike a pose whenever you beat a (mini) boss.

Interesting choice of colors here. Why do I suddenly feel like brushing my teeth? It’s moments like this that sometimes makes Run Saber feel rushed or incomplete.

Motion sickness be damned! This fighter jet takes you up, down and all around before revealing the evil that lurks within.

Enemies start popping up from the tail and mid-section of the jet. They’re easily subdued with a single slash.

Destroy the last one near the nose and enjoy the flying debris.

Hideous and tormented, this mechanical brain-like boss doesn’t put up much of a fight. In fact, most of the bosses in this game sadly don’t.

Brownie points though for the neat setting. Shades of Contra III.

Experience the gnarly power of MODE 7!

STAGE TWO: TONG CITY

Without a doubt the best looking stage in this game, Tong City is flat out gorgeous. But beware of the statues — some will spring to life and try to send you to the afterlife!

Reminiscent of Run Saber. I hope they don't come alive! — *Illusion of Gaia* had a similar scene, hmmm…

Fortunately, you can break incoming spears. Be careful not to get fried!

Sliding is mandatory here. Watch out for evil Mr. Clean.

Graphical glitches do crop up here and there, as seen above. The night life in Tong City is so beautiful that you can’t resist going back there.

Unfortunately for you, the locals aren’t so friendly. I love slashing the spear men in half. Shocking that Nintendo of America didn’t censor that.

Recurring mid-boss, that one. It’s ~~Proto Man~~ Kurtz, your cyborg predecessor. He retreats once defeated and it’s back to the teeming night life you go.

Strider flashbacks, anyone? That spinning ball of destruction never gets old.

Patience is key… as is holding on!

Another mini boss of sorts, this rock monster slightly resembles Godzilla. And in typical action movie style, our hero leaps out of harm’s way just in the nick of time. Actually, those explosions can’t hurt you but it’s a lot more fun pretending they can!

Atmospheric!

Coolest looking boss in the game is hands down the Wicked Witch. That’s Konami or Capcom level of creativity and intrigue!

Beware of the lasers that fire out of her fingertips. Unleash your ultimate special attack to put the bitch down!

STAGE THREE: JOD VALLEY

Things start off fast with a mini boss fight in the form of a vicious giant hawk. From the night time city to the open wilderness you go! Swing from the vines like Tarzan. Chest beating optional.

Elongated beasts will try to ambush you from the walls. And is it just me or does that enemy walking around there look like a cheesy bad kaiju suit from the ’60s?

Claustrophobics need not apply! That armored beast is yet another, you guessed it, mini boss fight.

Winged demons swoop in looking for a meal. Get past them and face Skeltor the Dragon. Skeltor once roamed the surface of the Earth eons ago but has been extinct for ages. That was until a parasite brought the fossilized fire-breather back to life! Life, uh, finds a way, does it not, Dr. Ian Malcolm?

STAGE FOUR: GRAY FAC

Entering an ancient mining facility, you’ll have to carefully navigate your way around a pair of swinging spiky balls. Sliding works well even if sometimes you cut it close!

Clinging on to dear life, Allen works his way through and does the spin cycle to take out a creepy looking mercenary.

Obliterate more mutant freaks on your way to another mini boss fight. This time it comes in the form of a giant flying knight. Watch out for his massive sword and projectiles.

Gargantuan spiky wheels plummet from the heavens right before your battle with Kurtz once more.

Sothern Jambalaya (such a weird name) has been overtaken by a mutant parasite and is now a raging machine of death! Your first task is to move to the right while avoiding the blue electric blasts the mechanical creature emits. Once you reach the vertical shaft, jump up and grab onto the beams while hacking away.

Slowly but surely you’ll strip it piece by piece until it crashes back down a twisted heap of scrap and metal.

STAGE FIVE: BRUFORD

There’s definitely a Contra vibe to this last level. Slice open the dim-witted mutant zombies but beware of the dangerous glop that flies out as a result. Luckily, you can strike those down with a well placed slash.

Visually, this last level was a bit of a letdown. It feels a bit rushed as the background just isn’t very interesting or creative. But there certainly is no shortage of minor bosses to battle.

Navigate your way through the hellhole and grab any helpful items you can.

Foreshadowing is always nice. But first, you must fight Kurtz for the final time.

Lovecraftian in nature, this mini boss screams H.R. Giger from Alien fame.

Getting frisky there, are we? Slide to the other side to avoid getting violated (unless of course you like that sort of thing). The final boss reminds me of a mix between the Robo-Corpse from Contra III and Freddy Krueger on steroids.

Without a doubt the hardest boss in the game, you’ll need all your special attacks you can muster!

Pollution ceases and Earth recovers. The Run Sabers have not only saved the day but the planet as well. The ending shot is a peaceful and promising sunset of a better tomorrow soon to come.

GIRL POWER

Sheena plays very similarly to Allen with the only minor difference in terms of gameplay being that Sheena’s attack covers a little more ground vertically while Allen’s is more horizontal. Her slash reminds me a lot of Guile’s Flash Kick.

CENSORSHIP STRIKES

Hardcore Gaming 101 cites that the original plan was for the second boss to be a reclining giant woman. Nintendo of America didn’t like the idea of kids beating up on a woman so the switch was made to instead use a zombie witch. In a rare instance of censorship working out, I actually prefer the change. The zombie witch not only looks better but it definitely comes across as more menacing and memorable.

DÉJÀ VU COVER ART

Reminds me of something... — Reminds me of something…

The art for Run Saber, with the artist’s name sketched in a corner, has an oddly familiar feel to it. Is it just me or does it remind anyone else of the Goosebumps books?

Definitely not the same artist but the signatures are reminiscent of each other along with the “93” number next to both artists’ names, indicating the year the art was drawn. Just me? Alright, moving on then…

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Run Saber was fairly well received by the critics. Although GameFan never reviewed it, they spoke of it very favorably in the preview. EGM was going through a funky experimental stage with its review system when Run Saber came out. Rather than the traditional four reviewers, for a couple months they had some reviews featuring just one score, tucked away on the side of the page. EGM gave Run Saber a rating of 8. Super Play, however, was less impressed. Essentially calling it a homeless man’s Strider, Super Play rated it 59%.

I'm glad EGM didn't keep this scoring system for long — I’m glad EGM didn’t keep this scoring system for long

Too harsh once again, Super Play. Too harsh... — Too harsh once again, Super Play. Too harsh…

Oh yeah? Take THAT, Super Play — Oh yeah? Take ***THAT***, Super Play

Run Saber is often held in solid regards within SNES circles. Most acknowledge it as a fun 2-player game and it frequently receives praise by appearing on many SNES 2-player recommendation lists that various retro gamers have constructed over the years. Similar to the previously reviewed Goof Troop, there are only five short stages but what fun you’ll have with a friend in tow.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I’m still kind of sad we never got a proper Strider game on the SNES back in the day. But I’m certainly grateful for Run Saber. While it may be a far cry from the glory that is Strider, Run Saber is very competent and enjoyable in its own right. It’s also the closest thing to Strider on the SNES as one can get, and that 2-player option helps it tons, too. It’s pretty bare bones though — what you see is what you get. Visually, the game is a mixed bag. There are parts, namely Tong City, that look absolutely stunning but then there are way too many stretches that come across as rather drab and uninspired.

The music isn’t anything to write home about and the floaty jumps can sometimes annoy. The control hovers around fine, although it’s not super crisp. For example, climbing and clinging are great in theory but in the chaos it’s easy to get nicked when doing so by the horde of mutant freaks. On the bright side, Run Saber is never too hard where this hampers the game beyond a reasonable point. In fact, Run Saber is far too easy for its own good. And with only five short levels to its name, it won’t last you terribly long to blow through the whole thing in less than 40 minutes or so.

But bottom line, it’s just a fun game. Run Saber is a short but sweet ride while it lasts. Maybe it didn’t quite live up to its full potential and maybe its development was slightly rushed, but the fact that it still turned out to be pretty good says a lot. It’s just plain fun to slice spear throwing samurais in half and dismantle mechanical monstrosities limb by limb. There’s something very satisfying about that. I also dig its distinctively dystopian post-apocalyptic setting. From the moment you first land on Taj Base you can just sense that something is terribly not right. And that you are the cure summoned to right all these sordid wrongs. Malpractice and mutants run rampant, and it’s your mission to terminate all the viruses and parasites that have ravaged Mother Earth. A solid and steady side scrolling slash ‘em up, Run Saber is one of the better 2-player action games on the SNES in spite of its various shortcomings. Because at the end of the day, fun always wins out and this game is definitely a good time.

Graphics: 7
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 7.5
Longevity: 6.5

Overall: 7.5
Bronze Award

... or is it? No, it is :P — Ah, nothing like the promise of a better tomorrow…

Goof Troop (SNES)

***Pub & Dev: Capcom | July 1993 | 4 MEGS***

Capcom has a long track record with their video game adaptations of the Disney Afternoon. With solid hits on the NES such as the Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers series, Darkwing Duck and the DuckTales games, as a kid back in the early ’90s it was exciting to ponder the 16-bit possibilities. Capcom’s first Disney Afternoon game on the SNES was Goof Troop. But rather than doing your typical platformer (as was so often the case with these sort of games), Capcom decided to switch things up a bit. Goof Troop features top-down action with puzzle elements thrown in for good measure. Some even say that Goof Troop is slightly reminiscent of a more streamlined Zelda. Obviously it’s nowhere as fantastic as Link to the Past but just being able to draw those pseudo comparisons speaks to the game’s quality. There are only five short levels but it’s a sweet ride while it lasts. Best of all, a 2-player option allows you and a buddy to play as the father-son duo of Goofy and Max. Use brawn and brains alike to rescue Pete and PJ from an awful pirate kidnapping. Not merely an action affair, it’s a bit of a thinking man’s game with just enough brain teasers to satisfy beyond the typical SNES action game.

THE DISNEY AFTERNOON

Being a kid in the early ’90s rocked. Thanks to awesome video games (the NES and later the 16-bit war) and television programming (TGIF and the Disney Afternoon), growing up back then was a magical and special time indeed. The Disney Afternoon made its debut on September 10, 1990. It ran four 30 minute cartoon shows from the 3 to 5 o’clock hour. For two hours, right after school, grade school kids would just plop themselves in front of their TV to watch great Disney cartoons such as DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, Aladdin and Gargoyles just to name some. Fridays were the best because it signaled the end of the school week and you celebrated it by watching two hours of the Disney Afternoon followed later that night by two hours of TGIF (with classic shows such as Family Matters and Full House). It was the perfect veg out way to kick off a kid’s glorious weekend. And that happened EVERY Friday back in the early to mid ’90s. Man, TV was the shit back then!

Goop Troop made its Disney Afternoon debut during season 3 (1992-1993). Premiering on September 5, 1992, Goof Troop ran for nearly 80 episodes. It also had two feature length movies produced (A Goofy Movie in 1995 and An Extremely Goofy Movie in 2000). Goof Troop focuses on the father-son relationship between single father Goofy and his son, Max. Along with the always entertaining neighbor, Pete (and his own family), Goof Troop was a great show and one of my favorites. The father-son aspect made it unique and special.

The first one is really good and underrated

But perhaps the best thing about Goof Troop was its stellar intro. Cartoons used to have the best songs and intros, and Goof Troop was no exception. I mean, just check it out for yourself!

It’s a crime not to like that.

So being a huge fan of the show, I was thrilled to no ends when I started seeing Goof Troop previews in the pages of GameFan back in 1993. The SNES was getting its first Disney Afternoon game at long last. Although I was disappointed we never got a DuckTales or Darkwing Duck game on the Super Nintendo, I was grateful for Goof Troop.

Thanks for all the memories, Disney Afternoon!

ALWAYS STICK TOGETHER

As the show’s theme song goes, “We’re the Goof Troop, and we always stick together.” The 2-player mode is teamwork personified. Look no further than being able to toss objects back and forth as desired.

HELPFUL ITEMS

Up to two tools can be carried at any time. Should you already have two and want to pick up a new item, you’ll swap the currently selected one with the new one.

THE STORY GOES…

Another gorgeous sunny day in Spoonerville, Goofy and company headed out to the ocean for some fishing. Cruising for the big ones in open water, Pete and PJ were suddenly caught in the ominous shadow of a gigantic ship.

Victims of a pirate kidnapping, the towering ship set sail for Spoonerville Island. Goofy and Max rowed for all they were worth but they couldn’t catch the pirate ship before it landed on the island. Determined to save their friends, Goofy and Max set out to explore the island and find the pirate stronghold.

Presentation is simple yet slick in that classic Capcom way. Goofy is slower and stronger while Max is faster and weaker. When playing with a friend, I recommend Goofy for the more experienced player and Max for the other (Max’s speed makes life easier for novices).

LEVEL ONE: THE BEACH

Spoonerville Island consists of five levels. After landing on shore, an islander is ready to greet you and offer a few tips.

Cherries add hearts to your life. Grab the hookshot. Then talk to the islander and go on your merry way.

Enemies are defeated when you throw boulders and blocks at them. The same goes for snakes, except the hookshot can conveniently thwart their efforts as well.

Barrels and pots are fair game, too. Goof Troop has its fair share of puzzles. These usually consist of the “kick the blocks in the square” variety. The first one is easy peasy but they gradually tick up in difficulty.

Shovels allow you to dig for goodies. Certain blocks can be kicked, taking out any enemy caught in its path.

Unable to cross the bridge due to the gap, you spy a board lying in the far corner. You’ll have to work your way around in order to grab it, but once you do, you’ll be able to pass to the next section.

There’s something satisfying about clearing a room of its enemies and using your hookshot to grab the items.

Puzzles grow increasingly harder. Love the palm trees. A nice touch, for sure.

Puzzles, though they increase in difficulty, never get too out of hand. Nothing that a little staring contemplatively at the screen won’t solve!

Kicking a block into a bad guy never gets old.

Remember Whac-A-Mole? The first boss, Jester Hole, is a lot like that. Except you catch their barrels (and even bombs) and throw it back at their sorry faces. A password is given once you clear the stage, along with a tally of your time.

LEVEL TWO: THE VILLAGE

Questioning the jester goons on the whereabouts of Pete and PJ, we come to find out that the pirates mistook Pete for Keelhaul Pete, Pete’s evil pirate doppelgänger. This leads our heroes to the local village for answers where they’re immediately greeted by a pair of not-so-friendly locals. No rest for the wicked!

Another puzzle but this time the stakes are raised. You have to solve it while avoiding the fireballs.

Snakes are no match for the hookshot. Enemies get a little tougher as the game progresses — those guys can heave their swords at you!

Lollygag here and you’re screwed!

Hookshot can be used to cross gaps or procure goodies far away. Nice.

Rolling enemies are fast and deadly. Better slip into an alcove for safety. The second boss, Fire Bug, makes Dhalsim green with envy.

Beware of the torches. After exhausting the barrels at the bottom of the screen, you’ll have to catch incoming barrels from the locals.

LEVEL THREE: THE FORTRESS

Damnit, almost under 20 minutes. Always fun to try and best your time. Goofy and Max find themselves standing before a huge fortress. Goofy suggests knocking but Max knows it’s going to take more than that…

Maybe not that much more, though.

Cannonballs come firing in different directions. Spikes come into play as well. Keep an eye on that armored suit… it’ll spring to life!

Darkness reigns in some rooms, so find the candle to widen the scope.

Harvest Moon, Goofy wants to audition!

Casually strolling by with not a care in the world like only Goofy can. Catch the bombs and give it a taste of its own medicine.

Armored suits resurrect unless you damage them when they’re down. By the way, notice the crack in the wall there? Hmmm…

Ringing the bell makes the bad guy come to you. Line him up and take him out.

Doesn’t take a genius to solve this one

Protection? No such thing in Goof Troop. Pots travel through even walls. And although the hookshot doesn’t directly eliminate a bad guy, it can be used to push one over the edge. Sweet!

Turning a corner in a dark room only to run into a bad guy inches away is quite the tense moment. Make your way to the boss room before that moving wall crushes you.

Reanimated skeletons are bad to the bone, literally. Avoid the bones they’ll chuck your way, then grab them and heave it back at them. Heads will roll!

LEVEL FOUR: THE CAVERNS

Always fun to see the clear time under 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Pete and PJ are treated as royalty. The pirates don’t realize that’s not really their leader, Keelhaul Pete. The idjits.

There’s a chill in the air, brrrr. These caverns are damp and cold. Bundle up!

Barrels R Us! Get your arms up and catch those bad boys, then chuck it right back at them. But be careful, they can catch them too!

Exploding blocks add some extra depth to the puzzles.

Frozen rooms are slippery and a little trickier to navigate. Light up those flames before time runs out to open the door.

Quickly set the blocks in place while avoiding certain death.

Nothing like lining them up and mowing them down

Falling boulders are a great hazard. Ride the mine cart and take out any poor sap caught in your way.

Solving a puzzle in a dark room is definitely annoying. And so is being in a room with no barrels or pots to throw. But both instances up the difficulty a bit, which is sorely lacking in this game.

Brainteaser, this one.

Waterfall blocks your path. Clear it and then come back to enter the boss lair.

Rumblers crawl about looking to ruin your day. Grab the rocks that fall and let ‘em have it. Damn, almost 23 minutes. I wish more games from that era listed your clear times. It’s a detail I’ve always appreciated.

LEVEL FIVE: THE SHIP

Having spotted his neighbor and pal, Pete, Goofy rushes in only to fumble the situation in classic Goofy fashion. That’s when our heroes realize that’s the pirate king, Keelhaul Pete!

Graphically, the previous level was a bit drab. Thankfully, this last level looks a lot better as it’s filled with lush colors.

Hooray for being able to catch bombs. That conveyor belt could not come faster.

Crashing the party like only Goofy can, he really knows how to let loose. Hell, he’s about to jump on one of those tables and pull a Pee-wee Herman. No, not THAT. Thank God not that. I’m talking about the classic TEQUILA scene from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Later on, a tricky puzzle stands in the way between you and the key.

Shifting holes in the ground make this a bit tricky to navigate, especially for the impatient and hasty player.

Catching barrels from bad guys is the best. But always keep in mind they can do the same!

Keelhaul Pete stands between you and paradise. Watch out for his spin attack and his extendable hook.

Keelhaul Pete is done for, and you rescue your friends in the end. All’s well that ends well. The ending screenshot displays your total play time. Again, I wish more games from that era did this as well. It’s a nice little touch, especially for those who like to chart their play time.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Goof Troop for the most part was well received in North America. GameFan raved about it in its preview, although they never reviewed the final product. Magilla from GameFan had this to say: “The magic of Capcom and Disney is back! The game is kind of like Zelda with just the dungeons. Capcom’s done a great job with the interaction between each player in the 2-player mode. In one situation, you’ll come across a room full of pirates. One player will use a bell, which will distract the pirates, while the other player moves by them undetected to flip a switch… way cool. It’s not Zelda, but it’s a great game.” EGM gave it ratings of 8, 8, 8 and 7. Super Play was a little less impressed though, rating it 69%. James Leach reported, “Goof Troop could have been excellent. It just needs a bit more variety, a bit more difficulty and, in fact, a bit more everything. So be wary, challenge fans.”

Heres what I say to that! — Here’s what I say to that!

Mr. Leach certainly was right when he said the game could use more difficulty. It’s quite the cakewalk. But I strongly disagree that it could, “in fact, use a bit more everything.” But don’t take my word for it. Goof Troop is often held in pretty high regards among SNES fans.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Capcom’s Disney Afternoon debut on the Super Nintendo was a success. There’s a reason why so many retro gamers often cite Goof Troop on recommendation lists along the lines of “Underrated SNES Games” and “SNES Hidden Gems.” It’s easy to pick up and play. The visuals are simple yet colorful and extremely inviting — the game’s overall look and aesthetic just makes you want to explore Spoonerville Island and discover what lurks behind every last nook and cranny. Animations are great and there are some bouncy tunes to bob along to, with each theme fitting that particular part of the island quite well. I especially love the sound effects. The sound of gaining a life is deeply embedded in my mind even all these years later. But the main ingredient that Goof Troop nails is the gameplay. It’s a breath of fresh air; I feel there aren’t nearly enough games like this on the SNES, which makes Goof Troop all the more unique and special.

Teamwork is the name of the game, and Goof Troop easily stands as one of the shining examples of 2-player co-op SNES experiences. Not only are Goofy and Max distinctively different, but the ability to catch and throw blocks in addition to a number of other strategies makes it a very rewarding 2-player team effort. It’s still fun when playing alone but the true magic lies in teaming up with a buddy. Items are perfectly allocated and the game flows extremely well. There’s almost never a dull moment or a stretch where there isn’t some fun gimmick to employ in one way or another. The puzzles are on the easier side (sans the final one) and you could beat the game on your first try. It’s not one of the all-time greats in the SNES pantheon by any stretch but as far as “best of the rest” goes, Goof Troop deserves its place in any well-rounded SNES collection.

Graphics: 7.5
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8.5
Longevity: 7

Overall: 8.5

Final Fight 3 (SNES)

**Pub & Dev: Capcom | January 1996 | 24 MEGS**

The original Final Fight was ported over to the Super Famicom on December 21, 1990. It came out exactly one month after the Super Famicom launched in Japan. Final Fight 3 came out five whopping years later, landing in Japan on December 22, 1995. This time however, instead of being a revolutionary console on the upswing, the SNES was a grizzled vet practically on its last leg. Capcom cranked up the voltage as Final Fight 3 clocked in at an impressive 24 MEGS, making it the largest beat ‘em up on the SNES in terms of megabits. It featured branching paths, special moves, SUPER special moves and even a 2-player mode where the second player can be controlled by the computer if you didn’t have a buddy nearby. Capcom definitely redeemed themselves for the disappointment that was Final Fight 2. Let’s head back to Metro City one final time…

THE FINAL FIGHT — REALLY THIS TIME

I remember seeing previews for Final Fight 3 and Mega Man X³ in the back pages of GameFan in late 1995. Capcom was back at it milking more sequels than Friday the 13th. But that’s fine by me. Final Fight 2 was a sore disappointment and I had pretty decent hopes that they might get it right with Final Fight 3. Mega Man X³ looked like a welcomed addition to the series and it was just nice to see the Big C still supporting the Super Nintendo.

My brother and I hadn’t ‘upgraded’ to the PlayStation or Sega Saturn yet. We clung on to our Super Nintendo during its twilight years, although we certainly didn’t play it as much as we had done during the system’s peak. Still, I remember feeling like Final Fight 3 and Mega Man X³ was something of a last bastion of hope. A beacon of light in the darkness for the remaining loyal SNES fans who stuck by the system’s side even in its dying days.

Final Fight 3 is something of a special game to me in many ways. My family moved in late January of 1996. My childhood home. The place where I carved out countless memories with my parents, brother, uncle and friends for 10 years. The place that meant so much to me and was more than a town, more than a suburb. It was, in many ways, the wonder years.

And Final Fight 3, of the hundreds and hundreds of SNES games I rented from 1991-1996, proved to be the final (har har) Super Nintendo game I ever rented while living in my childhood home. In fact, it was just the weekend before we moved. I remember playing it with moving boxes all around the living room, cleaning up the streets of Metro City one last time alongside my older brother. Made for some good times and memories. As such, Final Fight 3 will always hold a special place in my heart.

THE FINAL FIGHTERS

Guy returns! As does good old standby, Mike Haggar, complete with a brand new ponytail. Some fans are split on the look but I always dug it. Dean and Lucia are the two newcomers. Bye bye Carlos and Maki from Final Fight 2. Honestly, I never liked them much.

Height: 5'10" Weight: 159 lbs Hobby: Ninjitsu — Height: 5’10”
Weight: 159 lbs
Hobby: Ninjitsu

After completing a martial arts training trip, Guy returns to Metro City only to find himself caught up in a riot. He is happy to once again team up with his old comrade, Mayor Mike Haggar, and bring justice to Metro City once and for all.

Height: 6'6" Weight: 214 lbs Hobby: Driving (fast) — Height: 6’6″
Weight: 214 lbs
Hobby: Driving (fast)

A former street fighter with a thorough knowledge of Skull Cross gang operations. He always carries a small picture of his family wherever he goes. The Skull Cross maniacs slaughtered his family when he refused to join up. Now Dean seeks swift retribution and some good old fashioned cold blooded vengeance!

Height: 5'8" Weight: 115 lbs Hobby: Cooking (not a good cook) — Height: 5’8″
Weight: 115 lbs
Hobby: Cooking (not a good cook)

A detective in Metro City’s Special Crimes unit, Lucia became Haggar’s ally after he helped clear her of a corruption charge. Now she’s returning him the favor.

Height: 6'7" Weight: 269 lbs Hobby: Politics — Height: 6’7″
Weight: 269 lbs
Hobby: Politics

The most popular mayor Metro City has ever known, Mike Haggar seems to become more powerful with age. And who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Haggar has a few new moves up his sleeve… well, if he wore sleeves. Ah, you get the expression.

THE STORY GOES…

Well, that’s Super Play’s interpretation, anyhow. Classic SPLAY. No, here’s the real plot…

Classic Metro City map from the first Final Fight returns.

“GODDAMN look at you, Guy! Looking good as ever. How did your training go?”

“I picked up a few new tricks…”

“Metro City is under attack! If we don’t intervene quick, the Skull Cross gang is going to rip the city apart!”

“HOLD UP — WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

“Does it really matter? All you need to know is I know where those scumbags are headed.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice. But if you’re lying, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you!”

“GONNA BE JUST LIKE OLD TIMES… FOR THE FINAL TIME.”

Questions abound — will the Skull Cross gang succeed where the Mad Gear gang failed? Will Dean get his revenge? Will Haggar’s ponytail choke a bitch? Let’s find out!

Japanese version on the right. Notice that it’s much fancier and was known as Final Fight Tough over in Japan.

ROUND 1: POLICE STATION

Running attacks are new to Final Fight 3. Each character also has a special move which is executed in Street Fighter fashion. These new tricks really add to the gameplay and helps to keep things fresh.

Another brilliant addition by Capcom, SUPER special moves can be performed when you fill up a small meter at the bottom of the screen. SUPER specials inflict a ton of damage, not to mention they just look frigging cool.

Barrels contain goodies to recharge your health or boost your point total. Making your way through Metro City Police Station, incarcerated members of the Skull Cross gang can be seen from behind their prison cells. Nice touch, along with the dim flickering lights.

Capcom delivers a nice tip of the hat to its roots. This scene is reminiscent of the car bonus stage from the first Final Fight. “OH! MY CAR” remains one of the most memorable lines in gaming history.

Known for its big beefy bosses, Final Fight 3 continues that tradition well. Meet Dave, a corrupt massive cop gone rogue. Gorilla slam his ass into oblivion, Ultimate Warrior style.

Unfortunately, our heroes were duped. The Skull Cross gang staged the riot to keep the police busy as they freed one of their leaders from prison. Meanwhile, Dean apologizes for before. He didn’t have time to explain then. He tells them he was a former street fighter on the circuit, and when he refused to join the Skull Cross gang, they slaughtered his family. Now it’s payback time!

ROUND 2: MAIN STREET

Haggar loves to show off his sinewy tight muscles as he sprints ahead. Now that Costco is infamously no longer selling their $1.50 polish dogs, everyone is flocking to Metro City for their hot dog needs.

Although perhaps not quite mutant, I like how Final Fight 3 introduces some gray area into some of their bad guys. I’ve always preferred my beat ‘em ups to stray a bit from the beaten path. Some of the fat enemies don’t look quite human. It’s almost like some of them are failed experiments gone wrong, or right, depending on your perspective.

Speaking of paths, one of the best things about Final Fight 3 is that there are multiple routes to take. Bust that door open and you’ll enter the Club. And speaking of best, what’s better than finding a big piece of BBQ chicken (that will fully recover your health) when you’re just one hit away from dying?

Callman, another big beefy (bald) badass, will kick the ever living shit out of you if you aren’t careful. The furniture goes flying!

Haggar’s mighty axe swing helps even up the odds.

Callman would be a hell of a linebacker in the NFL. I love how he’s so damn big that Haggar’s spinning piledriver on him looks a bit ridiculous!

Destroy the fence instead however and you’ll find yourself in a rundown park. Notice on the bench (zoom in if you’re on a mobile device) the word FUK. How that slipped by Nintendo of America… I’ll never know! You still fight Callman at the end here if you take this route.

ROUND 3: BUS STOP

Shattering glass windows is quite satisfying. This stage allows you to take a shortcut and skip directly to the next level by breaking the bus stop sign. But if you don’t, a bus will come by to pick you up.

Daaaamn! That’s the first thing I thought when I first boarded this bus. Look at the size of that ham hock! It’s almost big enough to fit a T-Rex.

Electrocute the competition with Dean’s mighty fist. There was a rumor that Dean is really a robot but that’s never been confirmed. Also, because the game refers to his family, that’s reason to believe the robot theory is off. Andore makes his first appearance here. Get too close and he’ll choke the hell out of you.

Showing off his strength, Dean lifts Andore high over his head before sending him crashing down across his knee. Ouch! Talk about a mean back breaker.

Eventually the bus stops at a scrap yard. Next stop: ELECTRIC AVENUE!

Soaring high into the air, Dean’s SUPER special is a throw from the heavens.

Jumping on top of the bus now, Dean faces off with Caine and his cronies. Caine is a lot tougher than Dave and Callman.

Caine’s odd design left me feeling a little unsettled as a kid. The hunchback, the abnormally long arms and incredibly shrunken head made him exactly the kind of creep you wouldn’t want to run into down a dark alley…

ROUND 4: THE SHIP

Destroying the bus sign allows you to skip the bus and fighting Caine. It takes you straight to the docks. Haggar loves a beautiful sunset.

Andore continues his progressive transformation toward becoming a full time Frankenstein. Watch out for those killer abs!

Running attacks brought a sense of speed to the game. It never gets old hitting a running clothesline on some sucker.

Finally, we get female enemies in a Fight Fight game on the SNES! The previous two games in the series altered the female enemies to be guys. ProTip: Avoid being in the middle of an Andore sandwich.

There’s an age old debate among some folks pertaining the question, is a hot dog really a sandwich? Fear no more, Final Fight 3 puts a definitive end to that debate.

Survey says… NOT A SANDWICH! Thank you, Capcom, for putting that silly notion to bed. You have a choice to go up the stairs or through.

Careful there Mike, those tiny masked guys are fragile. Most beat ‘em ups on the SNES features three enemies on screen at the most, but Final Fight 3 has a few sections where there’s four (as seen above).

Carrying a huge anchor, Drake (nope doesn’t look like Dave whatsoever…) will swing it around and try to crush you with it. If that fails, he’ll rely on his heavy bottom to take you out.

Another cool aspect about Final Fight 3 is that the shoulder buttons allow you to lock in on a direction. Double tap back when doing this and your character will do a quick hop backward. It just adds another layer of depth and nuance to the game and is the only SNES beat ‘em up to feature this.

BONUS ROUND 1: THIS IS SOME BULL

Bulldozer comes steaming after you, trying to knock you off the pier. Only jumping attacks work, and there’s barely any room (literally) for error.

Should you fail, one of your teammates will fly in for the assist. But if you can beat it, you’ll earn extra points.

ROUND 4B: CHINA TOWN

Boarding the bus and defeating Caine takes you straight to China Town. It’s a beautiful depiction of China Town at night with all the fancy lights shining.

Detective Lucia reporting for duty!

Andore likes it rough but not THAT rough.

Haggar takes over as we enter the kitchen. Wong comes busting out!

Similar to Caine, there’s something that’s just OFF about Wong. It’s definitely his creepy looking eyes, which left me a little unsettled as a kid. Watch out for his Blanka-like rolling ball attack.

~~Sleeping~~ burning on the job there, are we, Wong? The way he convulses at the end is also a little disturbing. Quit staring at me with those alien eyes!

ROUND 5: FACTORY

Haggar finds himself trudging through a sewer to begin this stage. Capcom’s classic Yashichi icon can be picked up for temporary invincibility. Look between Haggar’s legs… damn that sounds like a sordid piece of fan fiction right there.

Another cool thing about Final Fight 3 is that certain weapons are better used by certain characters. For example, Haggar really knows how to swing the lead pipe whereas Guy is not nearly as competent with it. Again, this is another feature that you won’t find in any other SNES beat ‘em up.

Haggar in a shady back alley? Nope, nothing wrong with that. A new enemy called Hunter appears on this stage. Armed with a baseball bat and a mask, he’s pretty cool looking but is painfully slow. Still, a unique enemy especially in the Final Fight universe.

Hunter reminds me a lot of an enemy from Undercover Cops, who also wields a baseball bat.

Always fun to see stuff like this.

Destroy the second door to unlock a secret area.

Decimate all the computers here and you’ll be taken to the final round without having to face the boss of this stage!

However, if not, you’ll have to work your way to the boss.

Obviously, doing so is going to make your life harder but it also extends the game and lets you face arguably the toughest boss from the Skull Cross gang, Stray.

BONUS ROUND 2: RUNNING OF THE BARRELS

ProTip: Avoid barrels. Break computer.

ROUND 6: SKULL CROSS HEADQUARTERS

Finally, we come to Skull Cross HQ. Guy takes over, tossing bad guys around like sacks of potatoes.

“HADOKEN!” Not quite, but it’s still pretty cool. As is his spinning kick.

Capcom messed up on Guy’s SUPER special move. The bad guy always falls down before Guy can hit his little fireball, making this move look a bit silly.

Uncover more bonus rooms by breaking them open.

Peculiar to see BBQ chicken hiding inside a water dispenser, but alright then!

Andore’s no match for Guy’s fireball. And here’s another section of the game where four enemies crowd the screen at once.

Special moves really add to the quality of gameplay, requiring some level of skill to execute rather than just mashing away at the buttons. Toward the end, a chopper reveals itself to set up the final battle.

Details are on point here. Shock waves can be seen on the ground complete with a perfectly matching sound effect to punctuate the arrival of Black, the big bad of Final Fight 3 and leader of the Skull Cross gang.

Bursting out of his jacket, Black uses a spinning attack even more effectively than Haggar’s. That’s because Black’s spin attack actually sees him zipping around the screen like a mad man!

Beware of all the knives he’ll throw as well. When his health is depleted to the last bar, the screen will shift to the right slightly, revealing an electric generator.

Satisfying way to kill him! But you won’t have long to celebrate — the generator goes bonkers and the whole place is about to blow. RUN!

Haggar: “We saved Metro City! Thanks, Guy!”

Lucia: “AHEM!”

Haggar: “Er, I meant thanks, guys.”

Guy: “No problem. But look at the city — it’s nearly in ruins.”

Lucia: “Well, that’s a problem for Mayor Haggar to deal with, isn’t it now?”

Haggar: “Don’t remind me…”

Drifters, by nature, come and go. Dean’s work is done. For now at least.

Kansas’ Carry On Wayward Son can suddenly be heard playing in the background…

“Carry on my wayward son.
There’ll be peace when you are done.
Lay your weary head to rest.
Don’t you cry no mooooore.”

Haggar and friends go out in style.

UH EXCUSE ME — PRESS START ANY SECOND NOW!

Capcom always had the greatest continue screens with their Final Fight games. Final Fight 3 is no exception.

GLITCHES R US

Although the production values for this game is solid enough, there are a few instances where you can see ever so briefly (less than a split second) some funky not-so-fluid glitches. It really doesn’t kill the game in any way (especially since it’s really not that bad) but it’s interesting to note regardless.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Lucia graces a gorgeous cover of Super Play

Final Fight 3 pretty much got brutalized by the critics when it was initially released back in January of 1996. The game was criticized for being outdated, out of touch with the times and not offering anything new. Which is crazy, considering Final Fight 3 not only added special moves but SUPER special moves (among other standout features). But I get it. It was simply a victim of its time. Back in 1996, most people were not looking to play an “archaic” 2D side scrolling beat ‘em up, and the game’s review scores reflect that sentiment. EGM gave it scores of 6.5, 5.5, 5.5 and 5. GameFan gave it ratings of 77, 67 and 55%. Super Play minced no words, slapping it with an embarrassingly low rating of 49%.

I love Super Play. That fact is well documented around these parts. But I vehemently disagree with their assessment of Final Fight 3. First of all, to me it’s just ludicrous that you can rate a game’s gameplay as 70% but rate the game an overall score of 49%. I believe the gameplay and overall score should be similar. Yes, graphics, sound and longevity all play a factor in deciding the overall score but gameplay has to be where the emphasis lies. Come on Super Play, that wasn’t cool.

Eat this, Super Play :P — Eat this, Super Play

And don't forget this — And don’t forget about this

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Final Fight 3 is one of those games that got killed in the press when it initially came out but is now acknowledged as a (really) good game. In fact, I can’t think of an SNES game that was more criticized at the time of its release yet is now so beloved as Final Fight 3. Again, it was a matter of timing and circumstances. Back in 1996, with all eyes toward the (32-bit) future, a game like this looked like a couple years too late. Capcom was accused of once again releasing a lazy sequel. But now however, Final Fight 3 has been received with welcome arms and is often considered as a top 5 beat ‘em up on the SNES. It added some great new features to the fold, including special and SUPER special moves, running attacks, throws from behind, the ability to lock your direction and even retreat with a quick dash backwards.

Haggar AND Guy at long last! — Haggar ***AND*** Guy at long last!

Lest we forget the branching (and secret) paths which help add to the game’s longevity. Hey remember those old “CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURES!” books? Yeah, Final Fight 3 kind of has that vibe thanks to its multiple routes one can take. Of course, perhaps best of all, two players can FINALLY use Mike Haggar AND Guy simultaneously. The two new characters, Dean and Lucia, aren’t too shabby themselves and are much more interesting and fun to use than Carlos and Maki from Final Fight 2. Oh and you can’t forget the brand new Auto 2-Player mode. This option allows the computer to control the second player. It’s handy for those nights where it’s just you and your Super Nintendo [Isn’t that you every night? -Ed.] Shush! *looks into imaginary camera* This is a cry for help!

The graphics are pretty good. Sprites are big and beefy. There’s a good amount of color on screen, although a few areas are rather drab and lacking in intricate detail. Animation is a little on the wonky side though. Some animations could have benefited from more frames, but it’s certainly not wooden by any means. It’s just not as silky smooth as you would expect coming from Capcom. Sometimes Final Fight 3 looks great, and other times it looks only average. The same could be said for the music and sound effects. Some sound effects are a little muted while others, like the chopper landing sending out shock waves, are spot on. The music is pretty good in certain areas while forgettable in others. Thankfully, it’s the gameplay that matters most, and this is where Final Fight 3 delivers its biggest punch. It’s simply a blast to play, and thanks to all its nuances, it doesn’t grow nearly as repetitive as many other beat ‘em ups I could name.

Don't be an Andore sandwich — Don’t be an Andore sammie!

But the game’s biggest flaw is that it suffers from some slowdown in the 2-player mode. Not to the point where it’s unplayable, but enough where it’s definitely a bit annoying. Still, that doesn’t stop Final Fight 3 from being the best Final Fight game on the SNES by a comfortable margin. It’s funny how so many people came to appreciate this game more only years and years following its initial release. There are a few other SNES games I can think of that fit this bill, such as Mega Man 7 and Street Fighter Alpha 2, but none wears it finer than Final Fight 3. While it has its share of flaws, Final Fight 3 is easily one of the top 5 beat ‘em ups on the SNES and a damn fine example of a beat ‘em up done (mostly) right.

Graphics: 8
Sound: 7.5
Gameplay: 8.5
Longevity: 8

Overall: 8.5

Zoom in if mobile. Click if desktop. BTW how in the hell is 68% considered good?! — Zoom in if on mobile. Click if using desktop.
How in the ***HELL*** is **68%** considered good?!

Long Live Super NES indeed! — **LONG LIVE SNES** indeed!

Final Fight 2 (SNES)

Pub Dev: Capcom | August 1993 | 10 MEGS — ***Pub & Dev: Capcom | August 1993 | 10 MEGS***

Final Fight, originally released in 1989 in the arcade, was a huge success for Capcom. It was ported to the Super Famicom in Japan just in time for the Christmas season of 1990, and it came out stateside for the SNES in September 1991. Although an impressive early SNES game in many ways, the port was somewhat butchered. Namely, it lacked a 2-player co-op mode, Guy was M.I.A., an entire stage was cut out and of course, censorship because Nintendo early ’90s. In the late summer of 1993, Capcom attempted to rectify matters (and cash in) when they released a sequel, Final Fight 2, exclusively for Nintendo’s 16-bit system. It might very well be the first SNES game to have an exclusive sequel with the first game being an arcade port. (I certainly can’t think of an earlier example of such off the top of my head. If you can, then comment below). Unfortunately, Guy and Cody are sadly nowhere to be found, but on the bright side there’s now a 2-player co-op mode. Was Capcom able to strike gold, or were they simply looking to make a quick buck based on the brand that was Final Fight? Let’s head over to Metro City and find out…

OK heres the real box art. The first one was a fan box — Here’s the real box art. The first one is a fan box

The North American box is a little shady. Damnd, an old boss from the first Final Fight, can be seen on the box but he never appears in Final Fight 2. Also, there’s a green mutant peeking from underneath the sewers. There was no enemy close to this in the actual game. Ah, the ’90s. Bless your heart.

"Still got my royalty checks!" — *“Still got my royalty checks!”*

STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE

The above was originally written on RVGFanatic (the first version) on November 21, 2012. That date marked the 22 year anniversary of the Super Famicom. As I write this now, the Super Famicom is now nearly 28 years old and counting. Wow, if that doesn’t make me feel old! Well, as the picture above states, I suppose I owe you a story…

It was a trip that haunted me and has never left... — It was a trip that haunted me and has never left…

December 1991. I was 8 years old on vacation with my family and friends in Lake Tahoe. Back in the day my family formed a strong friendship with four families. Together, between 10 parents and 16 kids, we had some of the most legendary sleepovers in the history of mankind. 11 boys and 5 girls, ranging from birth dates of 1978 to 1986, staying up late doing whatever it is that boys and girls do. We rented out a HUGE cabin where all 26 of us stayed. It was INSANITY. One of the guys, Tommy, brought along his newly acquired Super Nintendo with copies of Super Mario World, F-Zero and Final Fight.

I couldn't believe it. Home alone in the cabin from hell — I couldn’t believe it. *Home alone in the cabin from hell*

A very bizarre and peculiar thing happened on that trip. Something so strange that it haunted me throughout my childhood. That Sunday morning, my mom decided to let me sleep in while everyone else filed out for breakfast. I woke up to an empty cabin with weird odd noises coming from every which direction. If only those cabin walls could talk, who knows what ghastly and terrible secrets might be shed? I tip-toed downstairs, calling out the names of my family and friends. All the while knowing deep down that no one would answer my cries. No one living, anyhow.

Indeed, all I heard back in response was the loud hissing and groaning of the creepy cabin. Suddenly a cold chill swept up and down my spine as I knew something wasn’t right…

After braving my way to the kitchen at long last, I found a note taped to the fridge.

Steve,
Everyone woke up early except for you and we went out to get breakfast. You stayed up so late last night and you need the rest. Make yourself some Honey Nut Cheerios, and don’t watch too much TV. We’ll be back soon.Love,
Mom

I couldn’t believe it. My mom actually left me home alone in the middle of nowhere — OK not quite, but still! Did she not watch Home Alone?! I remember opening the fridge and seeing an ice cold can of 7 Up, my favorite soda back then. Oh how I wanted to grab that bad boy and chug it. But alas, I was not about to use the bathroom. There was no way in hell I would risk having to saunter down that demonic looking hallway that stood between me and the bathroom…

I felt a grim presence that dreary December morning... — I felt a **grim** presence that dreary December morning…

Ever feel a presence in the room with you? That someone, or something, is watching you? That’s how I felt on that cold dreary December morning of 1991. But being a resourceful kid, I believed that spirits would never mess with you if you had the TV or radio playing. Any kind of noise would ward off evil spirits. They would only attack those who were alone in silence. So I promptly turned on the TV to watch WWF Wrestling Challenge for the hour. It wasn’t long before I spotted Tommy’s Super Nintendo lying on the floor. This was my chance! The older kids hogged the system the night before, leaving me out in the cold. I fired up F-Zero first and then played Final Fight until everyone came back from breakfast. Part of me was ecstatic to see them again as I was no longer alone in this cabin from hell. But something funny happened during my first SNES experience. It made me forget about all my fears and worries. Instead it transported me to the future of video gaming, where you could snap a guy’s neck in two and soar 200 feet across a race track suspended high above a futuristic city — all in stunning graphics and sound. And ever since that fateful December morning nearly 30 years ago, I’ve been a Super Nintendo fan for life.

Family, friends and SNES made Christmas '91 special — Family, friends and SNES made Christmas 1991 rock

THE STORY GOES…

THE FIGHTERS

Sadly, Cody and Guy are nowhere to be found

Usually billed as 6'7"... Haggar's gained 3 inches — Usually billed as 6’7″… Haggar gained 3 inches

Honestly, did anyone really like Maki? A bit forgettable — Honestly, did anyone really like Maki? Meh…

Tenant at Haggar's home? Hey, I ain't judging — Tenant at Haggar’s home? Hey, I ain’t judging

ROUND 1: HONG KONG

Guile also makes a background cameo later on

Oddly (and regrettably), weapons in Final Fight 2 are more detrimental to you than they are to the bad guys. That should never be the case. There seems to be a split second delay when trying to use weapons, and I definitely do better when fighting with just my bare hands. The sound effect for the weapons are also incredibly weak. Nowhere near Capcom’s usual quality. Shocking and disappointing, which is sort of the theme throughout this game.

Haggar’s piledriver now rotates in mid-air and looks a lot more fluid and impactful than it did in the first game. At least Capcom got something right here.

Capcom milking a franchise? Never.... — Capcom **milk**ing a franchise? Never…

Censorship strikes again. Won Won looked even nastier in the Japanese version — he wields a deadly meat cleaver there.

ROUND 2: FRANCE

"OUI THIS, BITCHES!" — ***“OUI THIS, BITCHES!”***

And he looks GREAT in his second 16-bit outing — And he looks *GREAT* in his second 16-bit outing

Andore and Abobo were my two favorite goons to beat up as a kid. There’s just something satisfying about destroying the snot out of a towering titan with a jacked up physique.

Oh yeah, ALL DAY, son! — Oh yeah, ***ALL DAY***, Abobo!

This technique carries over from the first Final Fight — This technique carries over from the first game

Punch, punch, press up and punch. It’s an instant 3-hit combo ending in a throw that protects you and dishes out extra damage to any surrounding bad guys. In a pinch? You can do this after one punch instead of two. A staple of the Final Fight franchise, I wish all beat ‘em ups featured this handy technique. No need for grapples, although you can still do that if you want.

You’re on a midnight stroll looking for some thugs to trash and you spot some lackeys loitering around. Sometimes you can even sneak in a hit or two before they come to their senses. Truly a beloved staple of the genre!

"MIKE HAGGAR DON'T PLAY THAT, PUNK!" — ***“MIKE HAGGAR DON’T PLAY THAT, PUNK!”***

You have to show them that you’re really not scared
You’re playing with your life, this ain’t no truth or dare
They’ll kick you then they beat you then they’ll tell you it’s fair
So beat it, but you wanna be bad

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, BEAT IT!
No one wants to be defeated
Showing how funky and strong is your fight
It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right

JUST BEAT IT, BEAT IT, BEAT IT!

The Street Fighter games and the original Final Fight did this a thousand times better. From the weapons sounding weak and lacking impact to the way the car is animated as it’s being destroyed, this car bonus stage comes off as a very weak homage. Shame, Capcom. SHAME!

ROUND 3: HOLLAND

Mines are scattered throughout this stage. Holland is my favorite level in the game because of that and the boss, Bratken.

Sorry, I cant help it — Sorry, I can’t help it

They told him don’t you ever come around here
Don’t wanna see your face, you better disappear
The fire’s in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it, just beat it!

You better run
You better do what you can
Don’t wanna see no blood
Don’t be a macho man!

Standing 6’7″ and weighing in at 434 pounds of muscle, Bratken is a psychotic overgrown boy who loves toys. He was bribed to join the gang by being locked in a room filled with toys. But now he’s bored and wants to get out. Looks like he just spotted you, his next teddy bear victim. It’s too bad the rest of the game isn’t as interesting as this.

Love his, ahem, smashing entrance. Not the best animation though as dude is a bit stiff. But hey, that’s probably from being cooped up in his little cell there more than it is lazy programming on the part of Capcom, yeah? Right…

DarkStalkers was the shit! — *Darkstalkers* was so freaking badass

ROUND 4: ENGLAND

[Gotta love women who can -Ed.] — *[Gotta love a woman who can -Ed.]*

No one ever accused Final Fight 2 of being original. I love how Andore looks when he’s being thrown. Seeing his big old carcass flying around the screen like that is real sweet and satisfying.

I'm a sucker for these sort of backdrops — I’m a sucker for these sort of backdrops

Most of Final Fight 2 possesses a desolated and bleak look but this stage is the lone exception.

I never liked this clown. The look, the aesthetic, even his name Philippe. It just came off as very generic and forgettable to me. Give me Clown from Fighter’s History any day!

Fighters History Dynamite — *Fighter’s History Dynamite*

Round and round he goes Where he stops... Nobody knows — Round and round he goes
Where he stops…
Nobody knows

This bonus round is damn hard. Props if you can complete it.

ROUND 5: ITALY

But did you ever say that to Haggar, hmm, Carlos? — But Carlos, did you ever say that to Haggar?

This is particularly hazardous as you don’t have a whole lot of wiggle room and as I stated earlier, the weapons in this game suck. A beat ‘em up where weapons are useless is a crime. That’s a plain simple fact.

Who knows why Capcom dropped the "o" — Who knows why Capcom dropped the “o”

Capcom made a few glaring omissions with the SNES port of the first Final Fight. One of which was taking out a stage that featured Rolento at the end. I guess in their quest to fix past errors, Rolent came back for Final Fight 2. Love the shadows that trail him. Still shots does this no justice. You have to see it in motion to truly appreciate it.

Can't deny this was a nice little nod to Final Fight fans — Can’t deny this is a nice little nod to *Final Fight* fans

Welcome back, Rolento — Welcome back to the ~~fold~~ fire, Rolent(o)

ROUND 6: JAPAN

We come to our final stop, Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun. And, apparently, the Land of the Rising Haggar. Hmm. I’ll leave it at that.

Andore’s design was inspired by Andre the Giant. The 7’4″ 500 pound giant was a major attraction in the world of professional wrestling. Rest in Peace, big guy.

WrestleMania III (1987) — *WrestleMania III* (March 29, 1987)

OK not really obviously, but these guys are annoying

He blocks a lot and is a pain to put away.

Carlos is so tough that his sword is mostly for show. He’ll whip it out though in a tight spot. The sword, of course.

Sick entrance for an otherwise forgettable final boss

But ah, if only it were that simple. With Belger rotting away in some ditch, the new head honcho is a weird looking dude that goes by the name of Retu.

"HEY BARBIE -- THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!" — ***“HEY BARBIE — THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!”***

As the boys are busy trash talking, ~~Tung Fu Rue~~ Genryusai hangs precariously in the air.

Classic bad guy from Fatal Fury — Classic bad guy from *Fatal Fury*

More decent fan service on Capcom's part — More decent fan service on Capcom’s part

A dramatic ending to a rather dull, pardon the pun, final fight.

The text above was inspired from the final two lines of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN. Speaking of which, I had a chance to see the original Halloween in theaters back in 2012 when it had a special one night only showing. I can’t wait for the definitive sequel this coming October!

Fear not, Belger fans. He would later return to the series as Cyborg Belger in Mighty Final Fight, and then once more in Final Fight Revenge.

Final Fight 3? Naaah, Capcom would NEVER milk a franchise… oh who am I kidding? Let’s face it, they’ve produced more sequels than most horror movie franchises!

And Guy did return... in Final Fight 3 — And Guy did return in *Final Fight 3*

Good stuff here from Super Play Magazine

SAVE ME MAYBE?!

Obscure video game fact: Mike Haggar has a twin. The Haggar we know and love died in Final Fight 2 (as you can see here). That explains the ponytail Haggar sports in Final Fight 3…

Hmm. No, of course Im just joking — Hmmm. No, of course I’m just joking

Dont be cruel and let them die! — Don’t be cruel and let them die!

"SERIOUSLY, MAN?!?!" — *“SERIOUSLY, MAN?!?!”*

"WHEW! I owe you one, bro..." — *“WHEW! I owe you one, bro…”*

TRICKS AND SHENANIGANS

Interesting note about the 2-player mode: you can hit your buddy but the damage inflicted is minimal. A fun little trick is hitting both your partner and a boss character simultaneously. You can hit your friend repeatedly without them falling over, and bosses can get caught in this endless loop. Your friend takes very little damage per hit while the boss will take normal damage. You can easily abuse this system. There’s also a code to play as the same character. Press Down, Down, Up, Up, Right, Left, Right, Left, L, R at the title screen.

Final Fight 2 offers four difficulty levels. The easier ones are a joke but Expert is downright brutal, with enemies requiring a hundred hits before perishing. You can only unlock the full ending if you can beat it on Expert (which features a nice Guy cameo). On a final note, there is some text in-between stages but no pictures to go along with them. It reeks of lazy programming and a lack of attention to detail, something very uncharacteristic of Capcom back in the ’90s.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Final Fight 2 received mixed reactions. Oddly enough, despite being previewed twice by EGM, it was never reviewed. However, in EGM’s bi-monthly affiliated sister publication, Super NES Buyer’s Guide, Final Fight 2 received ratings of 85, 85 and 92%. GameFan, notorious for handing out high scores like free condiments, was split with their thoughts on this sequel. They gave it ratings of 70, 78, 84 and 93%. The 23% differential in the 70% and 93% ratings makes it one of the biggest scoring discrepancies in GameFan’s history. Super Play rated it 75%, which by their standards is a fairly respectable score especially for a beat ‘em up (a genre they often rated on the lower side). Most gamers seem to agree that Final Fight 2 is slightly above average at best, and at worse, kind of dull and not too good.

One of the largest scoring gaps in GameFan history

Not bad, considering its coming from Super Play — Not bad, considering it’s coming from Super Play

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Final Fight 2 was one of those sequels that my brother and I highly anticipated back in 1993. We loved the first Final Fight but hated that we couldn’t play it together. Final Fight 2 promised to fix that glaring omission. While the 2-player mode is nice, there’s a bit of occasional slowdown. But that’s not the worst offender. The game, for some reason, is missing the magic of the first Final Fight. Even if you forget about comparing it to the original and judge it strictly on its own, it’s honestly kind of drab. There’s nothing particularly lousy about Final Fight 2, but it just lacks the magical ingredients that made the original so fun and endearing. Final Fight 2, in a lot of ways, really feels like a “direct-to-video” (or direct-to-SNES) sequel. And maybe that’s because it literally is. But Final Fight 3 proved you can be direct-to-video and still be good. Frankly, Capcom kind of went through the motions here and it shows.

That’s not to say Final Fight 2 is a bad game. But being decent yet disappointing sums it up best, and shows you the high benchmark standard that Capcom set with the first Final Fight. On the bright side, the visuals are pretty strong by late ’93 SNES standards, aside from some stiff animation and some backgrounds border on being a bit lifeless at times. On the down side, the music and sound effects are below Capcom par. Weapons are essentially ineffective. Carlos and Maki are generic enough to be forgettable as is the final boss. But although it lacks the polish you expect from a firm like Capcom, there’s no denying that beat ‘em up fanatics will still find some level of enjoyment; it’s not incompetent or unplayable by any means. There are just so many better choices available on the SNES, such as Return of Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. I’m glad Final Fight 2 came out, but I’m disappointed with how it turned out. Oh well, at least Capcom got it right on their third try. After all, they say third time’s a charm…

Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 5.5
Gameplay: 6.5
Longevity: 5.5

Overall: 6.5

BONUS: MEGABITS AND ANNIVERSARIES

August 1993 was a big month for Capcom. They released two major sequels: Final Fight 2 (10 MEGS) and Street Fighter II Turbo (20 MEGS).

20 WHOPPIN MEGS! — **20 WHOPPIN’ MEGS!**

I remember thinking how cool 10 MEGS was because at the time SNES games were either 4, 8 or 16 megabits. A few were even 12. But 10? That was unheard of, and I think Final Fight 2 is the first 10 MEG game on the SNES. Games boasting 10 megabits were even harder to find than ones with 12.

In the same month Capcom blew our minds when they released the first ever 20 MEG game, Street Fighter II Turbo. What a time to be alive. Can’t believe it’s been 25 years. Happy 25th anniversary to Final Fight 2 and the SNES port of Street Fighter II Turbo!

Rocky Rodent (SNES)

***Pub & Dev: Irem | September 1993 | 8 MEGS***

The Super Nintendo is home to dozens and dozens of platformers. As with any genre, it comes with a wide range of quality. Some are well known and excellent (Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World) while others are a bit more obscure and not too shabby in their own right (Dino City, Harley’s Humongous Adventure, Hook). Then there are downright awful ones that are better off forgotten about. It was merely a sign of the times. Speaking of which, the early-mid ’90s became the age of the me too mascot platformer. Sonic the Hedgehog created a massive stir when it became a mega smash hit for Sega in 1991 and had countless companies clamoring to throw their name in the hat with their own mascot platformer. Animals with attitude were the order of the day and Irem was no different when they released Rocky Rodent. The question is, does Rocky Rodent make the grade? Let’s find out.

25 YEARS OF… NITRO PUNKS?!

Exactly 25 years ago today, Nitro Punks: Might Heads (what a title) hit the Japanese market. July 30, 1993-July 30, 2018. Yet another game from my youth turns 25 — gawd damn I’m getting old. Nitro Punks was renamed Rocky Rodent and was released in North America during the fall of ’93. I remember seeing Rocky Rodent in various game rental stores throughout my area in late ’93. I never got to rent it but I always wanted to. Alas, you know how older brothers often get their way, and sadly for me, Rocky Rodent never piqued my brother’s renting interest. The box of Rocky Rodent would come to haunt me as its titular rodent would seemingly sneer at me at every turn. In my own mind I envisioned Rocky Rodent being a pretty fun and competent platformer. It became one of many SNES childhood curiosities I would finally quell following my SNES resurrection in early 2006. Sometimes, your gut was right all along. Other times, not so much. Which one you gonna be, Rocky?

Spoiler: Pretty close to my gut feeling back in 93! — Spoiler: Pretty close to my gut feeling back in ’93!

Happy 25th nevertheless! — Happy 25th Rocky!

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Various spray cans litter the stages waiting to be picked up. Each hairdo not only grants Rocky certain abilities but an extra life as well (Rocky dies if he’s hit when bald). It’s a pretty cool gimmick although you can still hop and bop to your heart’s content. But the zany hairdos definitely steal the show.

The Braid allows Rocky to swing as well. The Mohawk leaves Rocky vulnerable when tossed. Technically, you are bald when chucking it, so be aware of that.

Use the Spring to reach new heights. The Bird Nest Wig unleashes Picky, a bird who acts as a computer controlled helper (similar to the option helpers from Gradius III). Each hairdo has its own pros and cons. They add to the game’s quirky atmosphere.

THE STORY GOES…

Rocky, a dine and dash artist with an insatiable appetite, finds himself in a… ahem… hairy situation. Apparently Rocky has gone and done it again, trying to cheat yet another restaurant.

Fortunately for our anti-hero, Rocky runs into the Rose Restaurant owner whose only daughter Melody has been kidnapped by Mafia member, Don Garcia. He makes an offer Rocky can’t refuse — save Melody and it’s all you can eat on the house. It’s a very nonsensical plot but there’s sort of a cheesy charm to it all.

DOWNTOWN

Remember Sparkster from Rocket Knight Adventures (and er, Sparkster)? The very first enemy you encounter in Rocky Rodent, an armored armadillo, looks awfully similar to Sparkster. Just a random coincidence though, as Rocket Knight Adventures came out on the Sega Genesis almost exactly one week later (August 5, 1993).

Spruce up your style with a brand new hairdo. Not only will you look cooler, but it’s vital to staying alive longer. Not to mention all the cool new tricks you’ll be able to do with a new ‘do.

Rocky’s cling and fling technique with this first hairdo is sure to impress the ladies.

Impale enemies with your spiky hair and toss them back to take out an entire row. Works just like the Koopa shells from the Mario games. Use the water sprout for a much needed lift.

Speaking of lifts, bounce off the café awnings to reach the rooftop where Rocky will be greeted by all his favorite yummy treats. I like how he slides on the roof. It’s the little details!

Similar to Sonic, Rocky is a fast little sucker. However, be careful about when to exercise said speed. Here, it’s required. But most elsewhere, speed kills.

SUNSET FREEWAY

Platformer rule #72: There must be some kind of auto scrolling stage. Bingo, you’re looking at it. Race down this freeway and avoid the various hazards. I like how you can see the sun gradually setting over the horizon.

Hightail it, Rocky! Chuck E. Cheese’s reject sighting!

Gorgeous… but deadly. Oh so deadly.

Bizarre doesn’t begin to describe this game. Mutant rats driving a ’70s Volkswagen while a Mob boss attempts to mow you down with a Tommy gun? Yeah…

GHOST APARTMENT

Mohawk acts like a boomerang. Sick.

Mohawk also allows Rocky to cling and fling.

Makeshift boost as well! Nice.

Whoever owns this apartment is going to curse Rocky for all the property damage he’s causing.

Platformers sometimes need a way to impede certain routes at least for the time being. These funky door blockers earn Irem bonus points for creativity. Best of all, when you eventually do reach the other side, you can ram Rocky’s spiky hairdo up their you know what! Hey, it’s the little things. Also, hit those markers to save your spot ~~should~~ when you die (this game is freaking hard).

Falling chandeliers and going down random tubes are the order of the day.

Crumbling blocks lead us to… Slimer and friends?!

Apartment with a random teeter totter and anvil? Alright then. It sends Rocky sky high.

Admire and enjoy that cool night air, because it’s going to be hot once you get back in.

Poltergeist shit starts to go down. Hey, this place isn’t called Ghost Apartment for nothing.

Random furniture and crap start coming Rocky’s way fast. Be quick!

Haunting the apartment is the ghost of Mr. Potato Head. He seems tricky at first but he actually has a very easy pattern.

RANDOM ROCKY

Man, they’re really taking this “Mascot with Attitude” thing seriously, aren’t they?

Don't accept rides from strangers, kids — Don’t accept rides from strangers, kids

Yeah, that’s not creepy at all…

Rocky Rodent has its fair share of sight gags. They don’t cause any harm to Rocky; they’re just there to make you smile.

I kinda miss the days when mascot platformers had all these wacky sight gags. It was sort of a sign of the times. It felt like everyone and their brothers were doing it. Endearing when done right!

Loved him back in the '80s! — Loved him back in the ’80s!

Here is the controversial scene Nintendo didn’t want you to see!

Just wait ’til Rocky puts the moves on her.

How Irem managed to slip this past Nintendo remains a mystery to this very day.

Rocky Rodent wasn’t their only SNES game mired in controversy.

Irem CEO: Hey! Why the dirt on our good name, sir? What wrongs have we EVER done?

[I’ll handle this… -Ed.]

Irem CEO: *sweating* … oh right, THAT. Um, look over there! Quickly Smithers, TO THE BASEMENT!

[At long last, sir! -Smithers]

See the trouble you’ve caused now?

[*snickers* -Ed.]

Back to Rocky Rodent, then…

The ad typified the times we were living in, back in good old 1993. I remember sort of drooling over the ad thinking that Rocky Rodent was a great name for a mascot platformer, Rocky was cool and that the game would probably be pretty good. It somehow reminded me of the spirit of NES games from the early ’90s, and I mean that in the best possible way. Just made me think of lesser known obscure NES platformers like Totally Rad and Werewolf for some reason…

Awesome fan art by theoriginalmistajonz!

More cool Rocky fan art, this time by elchavoman

ROCK HARD

I remember seeing this as a kid back in 1994 and thinking “Damn, Rocky Rodent must be super hard.” And it sort of is, especially once you get to the second half of the game. Starts out easy enough, but absolutely wrecks you later on. EGM wasn’t kidding!

Yeah, get ready to see plenty of that.

Thankfully there is a cheat code for infinite continues but EVEN THAT is hard to do! Press start at the title screen and Rocky begins his mad dash. Press Y, A, R, A, B, A before he reaches the end. I can’t consistently pull it off because that bloody Rocky is quite the runner, the bastard.

The later levels are so hard that your heart will feel like that playing it. Oh and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Rocky Rodent has the coolest (and grossest) 1-UP icon in the business.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

Rocky Rodent fared well with the critics, at least the ones here in North America anyhow. They thought that it was a very solid and even surprising semi-hit of sorts. They also voiced their desire for a 16-MEG sequel in 1994. Of course, it was never meant to be as this is Rocky’s one and only showing. EGM gave it scores of 7, 7, 8 and 8. GameFan gave it ratings of 79, 82, 85 and 86%. Super Play, on the other hand, was not impressed. No shocker there as they were notorious for being harsh on “me too” platformers and beat ‘em ups in particular. Super Play rated Rocky Rodent a paltry 50%.

Ouch. Super Play was too harsh I think... — Ouch. Super Play was too harsh I think…

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Mascot platformers were a dime a dozen back in 1993. Sonic the Hedgehog more or less kickstarted that whole “me too” movement that would inevitably flood the gaming market (a much different and not so serious me too movement from the one we’ve seen in recent times). You had to be special to stand out in a crowded genre. You had to be different. Distinguished. Some, like Rocket Knight Adventures and Plok, managed to rise above the ranks and captured the hearts of many. But too many others failed to make an impression and quickly faded away into obscurity. Rocky Rodent, for me at least, lies somewhere in the middle. Though sadly, its fate is still that of one that has vanished into the ether.

Rocky Rodent got lost in a crowd of countless me too platformers that overflowed the Super Nintendo in the early-mid ’90s. It’s not a shabby platformer at all. The different hairstyles add some strategy and depth to the game. The game looks relatively good for its time and the music was actually pretty catchy and a tier or two above most games of this ilk. I found myself bobbing along with the soundtrack at points. The music in the Ghost Apartment was far creepier and more sinister sounding than I expected in a “kiddy game” such as this.

Even though Rocky Rodent is fairly paint by the numbers, the dressing is slightly different enough to make the game feel like Irem actually put in a good effort. And that effort certainly shows at times. The different hairstyles are fun to to use and the stages are designed around the abilities of said styles. Sure, Rocky Rodent might come off as a bit generic at times but I think it’s got some soul to it as well. Irem injected a good dose of humor and personality into the game. Look no further than the various sight gags or that random shower scene in the apartment. So wonderfully odd and memorable! On the downside, the control is not as crisp as I would like. The insane difficulty, combined with a lack of password system, definitely brings down the game a bit. But hey, there are far worse platformers you could play on the system. *cough* Bubsy *cough*

Interestingly enough, the game has a bit of a 1940s look to it. Just take a gander at some of those old vehicles and buildings! In addition, it admirably refrains from regurgitating the same old tired themes such as wood, fire and ice-based stages. It somehow manages to come off smelling like a slight breath of fresh air despite being standard platforming 101. It’s by no means an all time classic but if you’re in the mood for a simple yet challenging platformer, this may suffice (and in some cases, even satisfy). As such, Rocky Rodent is a worthy addition for anyone looking to expand their Super Nintendo library beyond the usual suspects.

Graphics: 7.5
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 7
Longevity: 5

Overall: 7.0