The SNES Thread

[SuperBacon]

22 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

the Megadrive was ace too.

Agreed. Most people had a Megadrive, then the SNES, whereas I did it the other way round. 

Before that, we used to rent it from the local video shop. IIRC it was £50 deposit and then £10 per night. I am astounded it was never stolen, as my estate was an absolute shithole.

But it wasn't. Micro Machines V3 and the T2 games were my favourite Megadrive games.

[Wideload90]

My brother bought a SNES in 2001 from a friend for £15. It came with super Mario all stars and I maintain it contains the greatest Mario game of all time, super Mario Bros 3. Not even world comes close imo. 

A solid console which I revisit on the switch from time to time..

[Tommy!]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

The 16-bit era has never been beaten for playability and instant enjoyment

Graphical it's a sweat spot for me, going back to the 8 bit systems is noticeably basic, the early days of the following gen and early polygon 3d looks rough as hell with modern eyes but the Snes and mega drive seems like the peak of 2D style. Couple that with them moving far enough away from coin hungry arcade ports the overall delivery still looks and feels as sharp now as ever when it's done well. 

[RedRooster]

9 minutes ago, Wideload90 said:

My brother bought a SNES in 2001 from a friend for £15. It came with super Mario all stars and I maintain it contains the greatest Mario game of all time, super Mario Bros 3. Not even world comes close imo. 

The GBA port of Super Mario Bros 3 is my absolute favourite version of that game; but what a bargain your brother picked up back then. I miss the days of the 00s, where you could nab a bargain like that relatively easily! I picked up a SNES in 2008(ish) from Cash Converters. I can’t remember how much I paid for the console, but the games were £1.50 each, and included Mario World, Mario Kart, All-Stars, Super Metroid, Unirally, Plok, Pilot Wings, Secret of Evermore and Donkey Kong Country 2. 

I sold it, stupidly, a few years later and I can’t even bring myself to look at how much it would cost to reassemble that collection of games…

[FLips]

Tetris Attack

What is it?
Well first of all it's not Tetris in anything but name, and secondably it's the best puzzle game on the SNES and arguably the best puzzle game of the 16-bit era.
Tetris Attack is a Yoshi's Island-themed re-skin of japanese puzzle game Panel De Pon, which would also find popularity over here as Pokemon Puzzle League on the Nintendo 64 and Planet Puzzle League on the DS, both of which at one time I have owned and played to death.

In Tetris Attack the aim of the game is to match rows or columns of 3+ coloured blocks by swapping two adjacent blocks left and right as the playing field rises upwards, which then causes the above blocks to fall and create combos. Think Puyo Puyo meets Tetris and you wouldn't be too far off. Creating combos sends random blocks over to the opponent, knacking up their plans. If your blocks hit the top of the screen you lose.

How is it?
It's fantastic. The single player is charming, challenging and has plenty of modes including a very tricky Puzzle mode. Where the game shines though is 2 Player Vs.
My wife and I have spent countless hours on this and when we started she was rubbish but slowly got better and more times than not she beats me now. It's easy to learn, difficult to master, and nothing beats when a plan comes together and you do a disgusting combo to the other player.

Graphically it's gorgeous and has hand-drawn Yoshi's Island style backgrounds to the play area. The soundtrack is beautiful too, with some of my favourite SNES tracks being on this game.
If you like puzzle games it's worth a go, if you want one of the best 2 player experiences on the SNES then I would happily recommend it too. This is arguably the best iteration of the Puzzle League series too, with the following games having either a worse/no license, or lacking the charm and smoothness of this one. Honestly nothing negative to say about this one.

 

Edited January 8, 2023 by FelatioLips

[PunkStep]

1 hour ago, Tommy! said:

Graphical it's a sweat spot for me, going back to the 8 bit systems is noticeably basic, the early days of the following gen and early polygon 3d looks rough as hell with modern eyes but the Snes and mega drive seems like the peak of 2D style.

I was going to try and say something along these lines but couldn't explain it as well as you did. Absolutely spot on there. That's why apart from the odd game (sadly I would say Mario Kart is one of them), the games don't look dated. That's what makes this system so special and replayable for me. 

[westlondonmist]

10 hours ago, PunkStep said:

I was going to try and say something along these lines but couldn't explain it as well as you did. Absolutely spot on there. That's why apart from the odd game (sadly I would say Mario Kart is one of them), the games don't look dated. That's what makes this system so special and replayable for me. 

I can still happily play the original Mario Kart, think it's fun. It ages badly because it's such a strong series. I've definitely played worse racing games 32 bit to now. 

My fave games on Evercade are usually 16 bit, the platformers and scrolling beat em ups look good and the artistry is brilliant. 

[FLips]

I think the main reason the 16-bit era still holds up is because it's the peak of that actual style. Graphics before it were worse, and graphics after it could only really go 3D which in early iterations also looked worse. It was this fully mastered middle ground which even though it did have a few stinkers, for the most part even bad games looked nice.
32-bit "improvement" on things like the 32X never really improved on it and oftentimes looked worse for pushing the limits too hard.
Knuckles Chaotix for example has nice characters models and a lot of detail but lacks any sort of gameplay because of it.

Here's a couple more reviews of stuff I've been playing recently anyway.

Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind

What is it?

For as much as we gush over the 16 bit age, it wasn't half filled to the brim with absolutely gack mascot platformers. It wasn't until the next gen with the N64 and PS1 that these things started to slow down a bit and it drifted from "let's make a radical cool mascot and then make a game around it" to "let's make a really good game that just happens to have a cool main character".
There was still your fair share of gunk like Rascal and Buck Bumble, or failed 3D versions of popular 2D games like Earthworm Jim 3D, but for the most part we were blessed with Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Banjo Kazooie, and Conker.
The 16 bit gen is unfortunately a far cry from that. Mario and Sonic came out unscathed but alone they stood atop a pile of bodies that never caught up. Bubsy is one of those bodies.

How is it?

I'll start with the faintest of praise here, but Bubsy is worth the £5 I paid for it and probably not much more. He's an annoying as fuck wise-cracking bobcat with a strong lisp that moves like he has a gale force wind blasting him and never shuts up with catchphrases that never land.

The game itself isn't awful but it's not good. I have a little rose tint because this is a game I rented as a kid and at the time, it was OK. It's the usual run and jump fare, but he also has a glide which helps control your momentum a little and stops you dying from fall damage which he also has. Bubsy will die to pretty much everything in this including enemies, eggs, fall damage, running at a wall too fast, water and getting locked in a car.
He has no attack other than jumping so despite encouraging you to run at 100mph, if you do you will die almost immediately.

He's not funny, he controls awfully and he dies in one hit to things you can't see coming until it's too late, but there are some positives to it. The graphics are colourful and it has interesting and open level layouts for the most part, and the music is pretty decent with a couple of actually really good tunes on it. You start the game with 9 lives which is pretty cute. There are also some unique death animations that games like Crash Bandicoot would later adopt.

This would also be the peak for poor Bubsy. Bubsy 2 is a horrid mess and Bubsy 3D is a crime. Despite this, because the world we live in is messed up, a Hong Kong holding company called Billionsoft bought the rights to the Accolade publishing trademark and decided the best thing to do with this purchase would be to reboot Bubsy so we're still getting new Bubsy games.

Anyway here's his failed TV Pilot that never got picked up.

 

BlackHawk (BlackThorne)

What is it?

Developed by Blizzard Entertainment BlackHawk is an action/puzzle cinematic platformer in the style of Out of This World, Flashback and Abe's Oddysee. In it you must precisely run, roll, duck and jump through levels as you rescue prisoners, find keys and strategically use bombs to clear paths and open gates. The main draw for BlackHawk though is the shoot and cover system. You have a shotgun and holding Up on the D-pad hides you in cover. You use this cover to have really well-done gunfights with enemies, dodge incoming bullets, hide from patrolling enemies and avoid traps.

How is it?

Truly it's a hidden gem on the SNES. Until recently I'd never even heard of it but after trying the ROM of it, I went out and got it from my local retro shop. If you enjoy the previous games I mentioned there's nothing to dislike in this. The animations are impressive, the controls are responsive and the atmosphere and music fits like a glove.
The main bread and butter of the game is the gunfighting which is brilliantly done. Intuitive controls, enemies all with different patterns and timing to add suspense, and like in Abe's Oddysee the prisoners can accidentally become collateral damage which you want to avoid because they give you hints and items for being rescued.

The platforming works well enough as you run, jump and hang from ledges avoiding pitfalls and pressure plate traps. Unlike other games like this, it's quite forgiving too with plenty of health pickups, pits and enemies that aren't immediate one-hit kills, and a fairly spaced out password system so you can restart at the beginning of sections. The game is set out in around 4 sections per area.
There's also a Dizzy-style inventory management system where you can only hold so many items so often you'll leave a key or bomb on the ground and go back for it when new paths are open. Items don't transfer between areas so you never become overpowered. As you finish full stages your gun gets powered up and new items unlock including a levatating platform, and a flying manually controlled bomb.

Between each area you get a cutscene from the perspective of the antagonist as he sends more minions after you. This is the only true weak part of the game as the story is confusing and honestly not that interesting. Something like you have a magic stone and he has a magic stone and he wants to combine them to rule the world but it complicates it with hard to pronounce names and characters that don't need to be there.

Edited January 9, 2023 by FelatioLips

[RedRooster]

Really enjoying these posts @FelatioLips. They're keeping me good company during my lunch break - thanks for writing them. 

[DavidB6937]

It's funny how many of these games I actually forgot existed. Yet I know I played so many through random rentals at Blockbuster.

[BomberPat]

Bubsy! I rented it on the Mega Drive, and had such an undiscerning kid that I actually really enjoyed it, and probably rented it a few more times after. Any time I've tried to replay it, I've wondered how I ever managed, it's pure dogshit.

It's also responsible for my favourite bit of playground bullshit. There was a kid at school who was adamant that his uncle worked for SEGA, and that the reason that Bubsy was on the Mega Drive and the SNES was because Nintendo had spies who stole the game from SEGA and released it themselves.

[Mikeymike83]

On 1/7/2023 at 6:49 PM, DavidB6937 said:

Its weird how I remember the consoles so vividly.

I think this must have been the one where my parents made me open presents in order at Christmas and I opened a SNES game and they were like oh is that the one you wanted.. knowing full well I only had a Gameboy and so it was the wrong bloody type of game.

The same thing happened with me too. The exact console too, must have been some underground fight club style SNES forum for the parents to dupe their kids.

I remember opening (I wanna say it was F-Zero) and my Dad giving my Mam 'daggers' cos she'd "bought a game for the wrong console". Lo and behold, I opened the SNES last and they had a chuckle to themselves!

[WyattSheepMask]

Looking forward to @FelatioLips’s review of The Firemen. 

[FLips]

2 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Looking forward to @FelatioLips’s review of The Firemen. 

The plan was to only do games I have the cartridges for but i’ll gets roms if anyone wants a specific game!

[Arch Stanton]

This thread inspired me to dig out my SNES Mini. I picked one up when they came out because I'd never had a SNES as a kid but of course I always wanted one. When I got the Mini originally I think I played on it for a couple of days over Xmas that year before it got put in a drawer and largely forgotten about. I came to realise that the nostalgia I have for retro gaming is much stronger than my patience when it comes to actually trying to play them. Setting it up again last night just confirmed this for me, but I don't want it to be this way. I would really love to be able to recapture the way I used to feel playing games from the 8- and 16-bit era, but they can be so unforgiving and I am not a skilled gamer!