Super Nintendo Reviews F-G

A lot of readers requested I re-review this futuristic racer, claiming it to be an SNES classic. After replaying the game, doing some soul searching, and carefully reassessing the situation, I feel compelled to respond, "What is wrong with you people?!" As an early title in the SNES lifecycle, F-Zero demonstrates the system's exalted "mode 7" technology (later used by Super Mario Kart). This hardware-driven visual effect makes objects appear to move over a bit-mapped surface - like a car driving over a road. But while the illusion of movement is smooth, the surface is noticeably flat and quite pixelated. To compensate, Nintendo made the tracks look as flashy as possible, but they tend to look gaudy. F-Zero is a single-player racer (sorry, no split-screen) with floating, pod-shaped vehicles. The objective is to obtain a number one ranking in a series of circuits of increasing difficulty. The track edges are lined with yellow circles that zap your energy. In the road there are helpful speed boosts and jumps, but also hazards like red mines. I really don't care for racing games with 90 and 180-degree turns, and F-Zero has a lot of them. The idea of branching paths seems cool - until you find yourself heading in the wrong direction! The game requires some time investment to get a feel for the controls and memorize the tracks. Once you do, it's possible to get into a Zen-like trance as you cut corners, weave through zigzag sections, and turbo-boost through straightaways. Each race is five laps long, which is two laps too much. There are a lot of CPU-controlled racers, and slowpokes you lap present serious hazards, thanks to F-Zero's "pinball physics". Especially after a speed boost, any bump will have you bouncing off the walls, zapping your energy and turning you in the wrong direction. It stinks, man. The soundtrack includes a few adrenaline-pumping 16-bit tunes, but most sound like lame Casio keyboard ditties. I know many gamers have fond memories of F-Zero, but this oldie is looking less like a gem and more like a relic. © Copyright 2009 The Video Game Critic.

Fighting Baseball might be considered a generic version of SportsTalk Baseball (Genesis, 1992) or Ken Griffey Major League Baseball (SNES, 1994). There's actually no fighting in this game, and believe me I tried! I find it interesting how a Japanese baseball title includes American teams as well as Japanese. Lacking an MLB license however you're stuck with city names and ugly, randomly-colored uniforms. I would have never even heard of Fighting Baseball if not for a popular internet meme poking fun of its fictional player names. You can tell the Japanese developers were trying so hard to create American-sounding names. You get rosters loaded with guys like Dave Cozlov, Mike Johnton, Stan Nurphy, Andrey Vurr, Chris Whitmey, and Jonasan Fidd. That's only a small sample; every team is a treasure trove. Fighting Baseball is mediocre but I like its fast-paced, arcade vibe. It took me all of ten seconds to figure out the controls. When pitching you have full control of the ball on its way to the plate, but making contact with the ball is tough. Maybe because my opponent is throwing 113 MPH fastballs? After hitting the ball the camera remains low as acres of green grass scroll by. It's especially disorienting because there's no full diamond; only dirt patches around each base. You can use your radar track fly balls, but fielders will gravitate to them on their own, extending their arms to indicate "I got it". When you get a runner on he'll go contact so you'll need to babysit him. The overall presentation is pretty bland, with sporadic cheesy scoreboard animations. Fighting Baseball has novelty value to spare but not a whole lot more. NOTE: I reviewed this on my Retron 5 console which can play Japanese SNES games. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

For some reason I've always held out hope for a decent 16-bit jet-ski title. Maybe it has something to do with my love for the Wave Race series? I was pretty psyched up to discover that Full Throttle: All-American Racing offers both jet-ski action and motorcycle racing. It should be twice the fun, right? You select characters with tough-sounding names like Eagle, Steel, Hammer, and the Hugh Jackman look-a-like "Crush". Full Throttle is played via split-screen (for two players) and uses "mode seven" effects convey movement over a flat surface. The motorcycle racing doesn't seem so bad at first. There's not much scenery on the side of the road but the tunnels and distant skylines are impressive enough. Since the Key West course runs over bridges, it has water on both sides of the road. Unfortunately, you can ride right over that blue part and you won't even sink! This lack of attention to detail is really indicative of the general lack of quality. Full Throttle's racing aspect feels extremely artificial, with the competitors evenly spaced out. When you approach one he tends to linger by your side and harass you. Kicking him would be a good idea if the collision detection weren't so awful. Despite being spread across the United States, the courses don't offer much variety. The track that runs from San Francisco to Washington state shows the Golden Gate Bridge in the background the entire time! The jetski stages are even worse than motorcycles. There's no sense of speed so it feels like you're just slogging through marshlands. You can collect power-ups, but they are so ineffective you can't even tell when a turbo kicks in. The music is pretty good, but there's only one song! True to its name, Full Throttle feels like a game that was developed as fast as possible with no regard for quality control. © Copyright 2013 The Video Game Critic.