Super Nintendo Reviews C

The SNES edition of Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball is certainly a step up from the mediocre Genesis version in terms of graphics and sound, but it's still pretty bland. In terms of baseball games, it doesn't get much more generic than this! Lacking a major league license, the teams, players, and three stadiums are completely fictional. The single exception of course is Cal Ripken himself, who appears in the game with a .348 batting average and 51 home runs to his credit - the best year he never had! Don't get me wrong - I'm from Baltimore and I love Cal, but let's get real!

The simple pitcher/batter screen is easy to control, with handy windows showing runners on base. In the field, the players tend to be sluggish but have cannons for arms. The outfields are expansive, resulting in an inordinate number of extra base hits. Cal Ripken Baseball's graphics aren't very detailed, but the players look sharp. Perhaps in an attempt to reproduce the grass-cutting patterns you see at many ballparks, the fields sport fat green stripes on the grass that look really, really bad. The control is much better than the Genesis version, except for the diving, which is terribly clumsy.

The baseball has a tiny shadow that makes fly balls difficult to track down. In terms of audio, this is a pretty quiet game. Low-key background music plays throughout the contest, and an enthusiastic umpire calls strikes and outs. Cal Ripken Baseball's best feature is the "zoom window" which displays full screen close-ups of exciting plays. These are cool but brief, so don't blink or you may miss them! All in all, this is a respectable baseball game for the SNES, but there's no way it can compete with the faster and more polished Ken Griffey Baseball. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

The original California Games was fairly popular but how many people knew about this sequel? I sure didn't. The title screen doesn't bode well with those faceless freaks lounging on the beach listening to horrible looping music. California Games II offers five events: hang gliding, jet surfing, snowboarding, bodyboarding, and skateboarding. As usual, the developers made these events needlessly complicated.

In hang gliding it's hard enough to stay aloft (thanks to abysmal controls) but you're also expected to drop water balloons on buoys and feed fish to dolphins! Do all hang gliders take off with a bucket of fish? Jet surfing (aka jet skiing) is a real atrocity. Instead of carving waves you're navigating a flat maze projected on the surface of the water. While it employs the mode 7 effects like F-Zero (Nintendo, 1991), the mere concept of a water maze is idiotic. I thought there were dead ends but it turns out they are flat ramps! Did I mention you're supposed to pick up garbage floating in the water?!

Snowboarding is even more bizarre, inexplicably limited to the far right edge of the screen. As you careen down nearly-vertical slopes all you do is hit a button to jump over hazards. The next event is something called bodyboarding. I didn't know anything about bodyboarding before, and I still don't! I couldn't even figure it out, disappearing over the top of every wave.

Skateboarding is another clunker. You travel down an endless half-pipe, periodically riding through round "aqueducts". During each event some bratty kid appears on the top right shouting stuff like "Yes way!", "Bogus!", and "Dweeb!" The best thing about California Games II is that it presents the games rapid-fire, so before you can realize how much one sucks you're quickly whisked off to the next one. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

Arriving four years after Super Castlevania IV (Konami, 1991), Castlevania Dracula X was a highly controversial title. Castlevania fans were expecting a port of the critically acclaimed Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (Turbografx-16, 1993). Instead they got something more in line with the original NES trilogy. Some may consider it a step back but it's still oozing with Castlevania goodness.

The graphics are about on par with IV. Dracula X opens with some nifty fire effects in a burning village. Later you'll forge through elegant ballrooms, clock towers, mines, and moonlit crypts. You'll crack your whip at levitating medusa heads, ax-tossing knights, floating eyeballs, and fire-breathing dragon statues. Strange how dog skeletons look a lot creepier than human skeletons.

If you're used to playing Castlevania IV, the controls may throw you for a loop. You can only whip straight ahead, so if a candle is over your head you need to jump high and crack your whip at the apex. Pressing up while attacking hurls special weapons, typically knives, axes, or holy water. I miss being able to tap the shoulder button, but it's still satisfying to whip out three daggers at a time.

The jumping feels different too, but not in a good way. You can control which way you're facing in midair but you can't adjust how far you jump. You really need to measure the distance, often taking a step back before taking your leap. I hate how you fall back when taking a hit, even when hit from behind, often sending you to an undeserved demise.

Dracula X is more challenging than Castlevania IV and I think more addictive. The music is classic Castlevania, and the clarity of guitar strings being plucked is amazing. Crisp sound effects add to the fun, especially those of crumbling bones. The password is a grid of nine symbols, and the kid who originally owned my instruction manual was considerate enough to jot down a few! Dracula X for SNES may not have been everything fans were expecting, but it's pretty solid when judged on its own merits. © Copyright 2023 The Video Game Critic.

Never get your hopes up for product-placement games. That's the first rule in reviewing video games. Not really. Chester Cheetah (mascot for the Cheetos brand) is a sunglass-wearing, ultra-hip cat attempting to locate five missing motorcycle pieces in a zoo. The title screen shows a reclined Chester who snaps his fingers when you select an option. The fact that the snap doesn't make a sound is indicative of the game's lack of quality assurance.

The opening stage is pretty ho-hum as you walk through a park while pouncing on turtles, bugs, and jumping fish. Unfortunately it's hard to tell who's hurting who - a problem I eventually chalked up to some really bad collision detection. Get used to it! The first boss seemed insurmountable until I realized I could just let him walk right by me! Too Cool to Fool tends to have you respawn in the same place you died, which is a really, really bad idea! One power-up is a guitar that lets you jam in place while creatures walk into you and die. Why are they walking into you? Why is the music fatal? These questions have baffled scientists for years.

A tennis shoe power-up lets you run and take long leaps, but let's face it - this really should have been a standard ability. The sunglasses let you locate hidden items, but using them dims the entire screen. Not only does this look bad, it makes no sense either considering Chester is always wearing sunglasses. You'll collect a lot of "paw" icons including big ones that give you health and small ones that can earn you an extra life.

The game does have a few things going for it including fluorescent graphics that really pop off the screen. The madcap musical score is well done, and the low difficulty compensates for the awkward controls. My wife was headed to the store while I was reviewing this, and wouldn't you know, I asked her to pick up a bag of Cheetos. As mediocre as it may be, this game clearly served its purpose. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.

The name "Choplifter" resonates with a lot of old school gamers. In the original game 8-bit classic you flew a helicopter over enemy lines to perform surgical strikes and rescue hostages, and Choplifter 3 remains true to that formula. After lifting off from your base, you fly across a side-scrolling jungle landscape while avoiding fire from cannons, tanks, and enemy soldiers. Every now and then you'll land to pick up friendly gray soldiers, and sometimes you must blow up enemy encampments to release captives. You adjust the orientation of your helicopter with the shoulder buttons, and it's easy to strafe the ground with your gunfire.

The colorful background graphics are a real treat, depicting a lush tropical jungle and scenic mountains. Choplifter 3 succeeds in the graphics department but falters badly in terms of gameplay. The first few stages are too easy and time-consuming, and it doesn't help that you get five lives from the start. Be sure to have at least an hour free before you sit down to play this. At first it's tempting to clear out every enemy troop you encounter, but they regenerate so don't even bother.

The fact that you cannot shoot your own soldiers might seem like a good thing, but it actually waters down the difficulty and eliminates the satisfaction of performing a "surgical" extraction. Choplifter 3 also suffers from a terrible case of boss-itis. Every few waves you're forced to deal with an oversized tank or cannon that takes an eternity to destroy! Adding insult to injury, the game exhibits some horrendous slow-down during these sequences. By the time your last helicopter goes down in flames, your desire to play this game will have gone up in smoke. © Copyright 2009 The Video Game Critic.

Whenever I have conversations about RPGs, it never fails that someone will mention, "You know what was a great game? Chrono Trigger." Many fans of the genre even consider it to be the best RPG of all time! The story revolves around Crono, a swordsman (circa 1000 AD) with wild red hair and a diverse set of friends. Together they embark on an exciting quest through time. Crono's ultimate goal is to prevent the end of the world in the year 1999 at the hands of an evil, magical entity named Lavos.

Throughout your quest, choices you make in the past affect the future. As a result, the game has an astounding 13 possible endings! Chrono Trigger is a classic 2D, turn-based RPG. The sprites and backgrounds are clean and bright, as if lifted from a cell-shaded animation. The musical score is catchy and effectively conveys mood. Chrono Trigger's gameplay is fantastic. You can have three characters in your party at any given time, and Akira Toriyama (character designer for Dragonball and Dragon Warrior) lends his pen to create a truly memorable cast.

As your party runs down a hallway and encounters a monster, the battle menus scroll in and the fight takes place on the same screen. Armed to the teeth, your characters have two types of special moves: magic spells, and "tech" attacks. It's innovative how tech attacks can be combined, so up to three characters can contribute to one massive monster hurting! I haven't seen this done in any RPG since.

The story is a work of art, and obviously a lot of thought went into the various subplots and determining how events affect each outcome. Throw in some fun mini-games, a bunch of enjoyable side quests, and some pop culture references, and you have one of the most enjoyable RPGs ever made. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

It's hard to believe my friends and I actually liked this game at one time. An opportunistic release, Clayfighter came out when one-on-one fighters were at their height, resulting in a short-lived burst of popularity. What was innovative about the game is how it incorporates pseudo-3D "clay-mation" characters never before seen in a video game. The result is a bizarre fighter that's short on gameplay but long on novelty.

I will give Clayfighter credit for being imaginative. The well-rendered but unlikeable clay characters include an Elvis impersonator, a scarecrow, a blob, a fat opera woman, and an evil snowman. These are not exactly your usual suspects when it comes to fighting games. They perform some humorous animations and sound bites, including Elvis saying "thank you very much" after winning a bout. When executing their bizarre attacks the fighters will sometimes transform into oversized weapons like hammers and buzz saws.

While amusing at first, you can expect a lot of cheap hits and minimal technique. Although the characters are nicely rendered, they lack smooth animation, making it hard to tell what's going on in the heat of battle. You can adjust the game speed, difficulty, and controller configurations. Clayfighter is amusing for the short term, but in the long term it's more irritating than anything else. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

This is one of the more blatant examples of a company trying to cash in twice on the same freakin' game! Besides a new intro and some minor tweaks in the gameplay, this is exactly the same as the first Clayfighter game! There aren't even any new characters! Pass! © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

Cliffhanger is based on the "white-knuckle action movie" starring Sylvester Stallone. You play a mountain climber named Gabe out to save your friends from the clutches of the evil Qualen (John Lithgow). As you forge your way through side-scrolling stages you'll battle henchmen in snowy mountain environments. There are really only a handful of thugs, but they come in an array of colors.

The kicking and punching action is intense, and proper technique is required to properly dispose of gangs of converging thugs. You can block their attacks, but where is the throw move? It would have been nice to send these goons plunging to an icy death. Enemies blink and disappear when defeated, but sometimes they blink and then get back up in clear violation of video game ordinance. I hate it when they continue fighting with only a tiny sliver of life remaining. Die already!!

In addition to beating the living crap out of everybody Gabe must overcome perilous platform challenges. You'll jump between narrow ledges with gunmen situated on them. You'll hop across floating logs that only surface briefly. You'll scale the side of a mountain as riflemen shoot at you from point-blank range. But the toughest part of the game by far is the ridiculous run-from-the-avalanche stage. It wouldn't be so bad if Gabe didn't trip over every little twig. You'll need to memorize the stage to get through, and it'll cost you many lives in the process.

There are continues available, but they take you way back to the beginning of the stage. Cliffhanger makes up for its by-the-numbers gameplay with its attractive snowy mountain scenery. The icy cliffs, snow-encrusted trees, and mountain backdrops look bright and inviting.

This version looks sharper than the Genesis edition but plays slower. That's fine, because the slower pace actually helps you navigate some of the more hazardous areas. Maybe it's the nostalgia, but I find myself enjoying this game more and more each year. If nothing else, it's enjoyable to play on a snowy day. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.

Make no mistake - College Slam is nothing more than a blatant attempt by Acclaim to milk its aging NBA Jam franchise for all it's worth. Simply replacing the NBA players with college players sounds pretty easy (and lame), but Acclaim couldn't even get that right! Players are identified by number, but Acclaim didn't bother making them look or play as they do in real life! Don't be surprised if your favorite player is inexplicably wearing goggles or isn't the correct skin color!

My friend Eric is a die-hard college basketball fan, and he was totally disgusted with College Slam. In the one-player mode, you can't even select your opponent - the computer chooses it randomly! The crowd is a bit more defined and there are some cheerleaders on the sideline, but the gameplay is still a poor man's NBA Jam.

There's really no good reason to purchase this pathetic rehash. Note: At Best Buy, this game initially came with a free "so-bad-it's-funny" VHS tape called "Slams, Rams, and Jams" featuring a few minutes of old grainy footage of unremarkable plays. As low quality as it was, it actually had more entertainment value than this game. © Copyright 2004 The Video Game Critic.

It's a little sloppy, but if you enjoy side-scrolling beat-em-ups Combatribes serves its purpose (but please don't ask me what that purpose might be). Its surreal introduction prominently features the World Trade Center towers, and the background story centers about a mysterious organization called "Ground Zero". Strange coincidence, huh? The music that plays during the intro is totally bad-ass. Combatribes gives you three muscle-bound brutes to select from, ranging in height from 6'9" to 7'1"! Why is the black guy wearing lipstick?

The opening stage takes place in Times Square, and the layers of neon-lit buildings look great. The characters are oddly designed with huge upper bodies and short legs. After dispatching a few waves of henchmen you encounter a very cheap boss. Bosses usually possess some kind of weapon or a physics-defying attack, so when they unleash their fury it's best to just stay out of their way. Stage two pits you against freaky "demon clowns" on Coney Island, and another stage puts you in a dance club against roller-derby chicks.

The controls are pretty basic (two buttons) but your ability to attack guys lying on the ground spices up the action. The ability to swing one around by his legs (to clear out surrounding thugs) is the most effective move by far. You can also bash their heads into the ground, which is both therapeutic and enjoyable.

The frame-rate and collision detection are pretty loose, but the game is still fun with one or two players. There's no score, but completing the game is challenging enough to keep you coming back. The passwords issued between stages are will not let you continue the game - they only unlock new characters in the worthless "versus" mode. Combatribes won't win any awards but it's worth playing if you're in the mood for some shallow fun. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

It's the same old story: boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy loses girl, boy gets turned into monkey by demon. Congo's Caper is a pleasant enough platformer set back in prehistoric times when everything was so much fun. Coming hot on the heels of Joe & Mac (Data East, 1991), Congo's formula feels very familiar as you hop between ledges and beat pterodactyls with your club. The bright jungle graphics and festive steel drum music are enticing.

Congo begins as a kid who turns into a monkey after taking a hit. Set the controller down and watch that little monkey shake his butt. Very cute. Just don't let the monkey get hit or he's a goner. I like how fossils are embedded in certain platforms but otherwise there's not much to see. Pressing up while jumping lets you somersault high into the air. Landing on top of a creature will daze them, allowing you to stand on top unharmed. From there you can vault off a caveman's head or take a ride on a pterodactyl.

Some of the stages are bizarre. In one you seem to have reached a dead end, but if you wait a flying fish will construct a series of vines in the air for your hop between. There's another stage that lets you swim through a dinosaur's digestive track! Hey - Bonk's Adventure (Turbografx-16, 1990) called and they want their gameplay back! Slot machines earn you bonuses but they don't seem to fit the theme. Collecting yellow diamonds earns you extra lives but they are so ubiquitous you get tired of scooping them up.

The controls are good - maybe too good. The first boss is the obligatory T-Rex encounter, and you'll think you need to do something special to defeat him. In fact all you need to do is start whacking away with your club and frankly you don't even need to make contact to wear him down.

After a lengthy series of stages in the "valley" you finally reach a stage select. Why did that take so long? Don't get too excited though, because even stages with names like "ghosts and ghouls" and "water world" are awfully bland. Don't get excited about the two-player mode either, because it's alternating. Congo's Caper isn't a bad little game for a Saturday morning but you're bound to tire of it by noon. © Copyright 2021 The Video Game Critic.

Okay, who's looking for non-stop, rapid-fire action? How about huge hulking bosses and ridiculous explosions? Can I interest you in snazzy 3D effects and general mass destruction? Well in that case it sounds like you're in the mood for Contra III: The Alien Wars. As one of the better shoot-em-ups for the SNES, this game has it all!

One or two players can blast their way through six harrowing missions to save the planet from invading aliens. Besides firing at everything that moves, you'll leap over fireballs, hang from rails, and perform death-defying somersaults. You're also equipped with a few smart bombs, and can even commandeer tanks and plow right through those alien bastards.

Although mainly a side scroller, two missions offer an overhead view, providing a nice change of pace. The bosses look absolutely disgusting. Contra's controls take a bit of getting used to at first, especially when it comes to dropping to the ground. The game offers a few continues, but no passwords, so your journey is going to be a long one. But at least with Alien Wars, you know it's worth the effort. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.

This interactive soft drink commercial was pure summer fun on the Genesis, so you might be wondering how this SNES edition turned out. Well, at first glance it looks just as good, if not better. The intro features the 7-Up bottle riding a wave. The bright beach stage offers a few new sights (like a walkman in the sand) and animations (Spot performs cartwheels as he tumbles). Crab claws stick out of the holes in the sand. The balloons are different colors and semi-transparent. There are even some modest lighting effects in the attic stage.

Not all the graphical changes are for the better however. A metal panel spans the top with your vital indicators, but it looks ugly. The graphics look slightly washed-out and the reggae music doesn't sound as clear (which is surprising considering the SNES audio superiority).

The gameplay is fun but not quite as satisfying as it was on the Genesis. The controls aren't as crisp and Spot does not automatically latch onto ropes in stage two (the dock stage). Enemies tend to regenerate, which is a bummer when you die and need to replay a section. That said, Cool Spot on the SNES still has the same happy-go-lucky spirit and fun-in-the-sun gameplay. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

I prepared for this review by watching the 1992 film of the same name. How bad can a movie starring Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, and Gabrielle Byne be? You'd be surprised. Sitting through the entire movie felt like an endurance test. The only thing I enjoyed was the twisted, surrealistic city architecture, and this game offers some of that.

You play the role of a dude walking dingy streets lined with weird buildings and wandering cartoon characters. Beware of hopping little "police" creatures that latch onto you like leeches, eventually hauling you down to a precinct where nothing of consequence occurs.

Attempting to enter an establishment is problematic. Go in the club and a turnstile spins you back out the door. Try to enter the library and you're told bring a book first. Wait what?! In the bank you can open an account. Were the designers even vaguely familiar with the notion of "fun"?

An extendable boxing glove lets you punch random cartoon creeps and also pull yourself up the floors of buildings. Collecting items lets you unlock new areas, but this is complicated by the fact that you can't tell what anything is. Those hopping white ears are supposed to be keys?

There's a store with all sorts of mysterious unlabeled items. When I tried to buy one I was told "your arms are already full". I can't buy an item if I'm holding one? How do I drop it?! The controls are unresponsive and you often find yourself dying for no apparent reason.

The dark atmosphere exudes mystery, but the gameplay is inscrutable. I guess there's a modicum of entertainment value in trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Like the movie, Cool World tries to be zany and fun, but comes off as peculiar and abrasive. © Copyright 2021 The Video Game Critic.

I wasn't very impressed with Cybernator back in 1993 when my buddy Steve brought this game over to my house. I did however appreciate the tremendous amount of destruction you could unleash. You control an oversized "mech" robot with its jet propulsion and loads of firepower. Each stage provides plenty of enemy robots and armaments for you to blast before facing some big mechanical boss. There are multiple weapons, power-ups, and everything else that you would expect in a shooter like this.

Unfortunately, the storyline sometimes gets in the way by forcing you to scroll through endless text (Do you mind? I'm trying to blow stuff up here!). Although the screen tends to get overcrowded with large objects, the graphics are high quality and the explosions look exceptional. The controls are fair (every button is used), but navigating around enclosed areas can be awkward. The high-energy music is a big plus. In retrospect, Cybernator is much better than I ever gave it credit for. I guess I owe Steve an apology. © Copyright 2000 The Video Game Critic.