Rock 'N Roll Racing (SNES, Sega Genesis)

World's worst Gwar cover band. Buy the game HERE or HERE!

When I was a kid, the combination of "rock 'n roll" and "video games" seemed like such a novel and awesome combination! Like peanut butter-and-jelly (and the even more awesome peanut butter-and-chocolate,) it would seem like the ultimate mash-up on paper. Keep in mind,  I was roughly 8 years old in 1993 - which made me too young to know about the mediocre Journey game for the Atari and it would be roughly a year before the horrific Aerosmith game Revolution X would puke all over my Super NES.  Naturally, a young Chris should have been worry-free in renting a game called "Rock 'n Roll Racing" for his Super Nintendo. Sure, racing games that don't feature either motorcyclists hitting each other with chains or Mario chucking shells at his brother don't tend to appeal to me - but this game has rock music and a groovy sci-fi backdrop. So the question remains: was it a great game and does it hold up now?

A tiny bit of history first (...and I get all of my historical information from Google and Wikipedia!) Rock 'n Roll Racing was developed by Silicon and Synapse. Ya know - that tiny upstart that became Blizzard frickin' Entertainment - one of the biggest game studios today. Published by Interplay in 1993, it is actually the spiritual successor (or perhaps follow-up) to the SNES game RPM Racing from 91-92. RPM racing in itself was a reboot of Racing Destruction Set from EA for the Commodore 64. So that makes Rock 'N Roll Racing actually "RPM Racing II." Err...or "Racing Destruction Set III." I prefer to call it "RC Pro Am III: This Time With More Space Mutants!"

Early 90's Battle-Racing games are so unique!

I would love to break down the excellent plot to you guys & gals, but there isn't one. The gist is this: you control one of six main racers (with two additional hidden ones) around racetracks in a top-down, isometric view, and proceed to blow up, trap, smash, outrun and bump your competition off the road.  Oh, and it has something to do with intergalactic racing. And Rock 'n Roll. You control racers such as Tarquinn, Katarina, Snake...wait, Snake? I'm sorry sir - there is only one Snake and that's Snake Plissken. And yeah, Solid Snake - but he's just modeled after Mr. Badass Kurt Russell himself.

no caption necessary

I digress...

One of the hidden characters in this game is none other than Olaf from the Lost Vikings! You can find my review for that wonderful Silicon and Synapse game here. Each of the characters differ by having a particular bonus strength in different aspects of racing, such as cornering or top acceleration, etc. I have to admit - they look an awful lot like characters from the later Might and Magic games. Not exactly hardened, alien, rock 'n rollin', race car drivin' material. Nonetheless, the game's presentation should look familiar to anyone who has played RPM, or the R.C. Pro Am games for the NES.

Apparently, my space-hardened battle racer has +7 Agility!

One of the most important aspects of any racing game is how it controls - and I can safely report that it controls fairly well. The caveat being that you need to upgrade your car to get the full potential of your vehicle (which only makes sense.) At the beginning of the game (depending on who you pick) your car can sometimes slide off of the track easily or have a little difficulty staying straight. Sometimes you will find yourself picking a character who is more balanced on the road but has less acceleration: in the end though - the differences in characters are small enough that after you win a few matches and upgrade your car, it all sort of levels out. As a racing game, R&RR is successful. The excitement of racing is also helped by the frequent outbursts of the announcer. The game features voicework ala NBA Jam and it helps the atmosphere of the game. It's a little crude by today's standards, but back during its release - having voiceover work in games that weren't on the Sega CD was always a pretty impressive feat.

Joe Camel's new gig after corrupting our youth - sell them cars in a game!

So now that we know the "racing" portion of R&RR is pretty solid, how is the Rock 'n Roll? Admittedly, it's not the best selling point of the game.  Don't get me wrong, you've got great songs for racing, such as: "Radar Love" (on the Genesis version,) "Bad to the Bone, ""Paranoid," and "Highway Star." However, you would almost hope that since the game was being pitched with licensed Rock music as the key feature, that there would be a few more songs. I know that the Super NES and Genesis had a finite amount of space to hold all of that data, but you had NES games that all had unique and interesting songs for each and every level (such as Mega Man 1-6.) You can't tell me that 5-6 midi versions of rock songs was the most you could fit on a cart! What about some Motorhead, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio, Stooges, Ramones, or Van Halen? I know licensing can be a beast, but a few more songs wouldn't have killed us. I remember even when I was a kid that eventually I turned the sound off - lest I have to hear a chiptune version of Paranoid for the 400th time. It's amazing that the one selling feature of this game turned out to be its one Achilles' Heel.

I'll drive off this bridge if I have to hear "Highway Star" again...

Final thoughts? Rock 'n Roll Racing is an above average racing game for the Super NES and Sega Genesis. Being a fan of the RC Pro Am series and other racing games where shenanigans and violence are equally important to skill, this is another fun entry into the battle racing genre. Are there more accurate and overall better racing games on the Super NES? Sure. Try Top Gear 1 & 2 on for size. However, for a fun, fast way to kill a weekend, I recommend Rock 'N Roll Racing.

You may have gotten first place, but you're still no Snake Plissken!

Soul Blazer (SNES)

Click here to pick up your copy!

Full disclosure: when I was younger - I didn't care much for standard role playing games. Growing up, my only real experience with RPGs was playing over at my friends' houses. Typically, they would have another buddy already over there and they both would be huddled around the Super NES with controllers in-hand trying to blast through Final Fantasy II or III (or Final Fantasy IV and VI in Japan.) Which usually meant I had to patiently wait around near-silent for a few hours while they leveled up, combined magic, and screamed at the screen. Meanwhile, all I wanted to do was rip into Mortal Kombat a few times before I had to go home again. Outside of Faxanadu and Castlevania II - I didn't really own games with more than mild RPG elements. Naturally, this left me with a bad taste in my mouth for RPGs that lasted until a buddy of mine leant me a game that completely changed my view on RPGs forever. It was way outside of the realm of "typical" RPGs and played more like an action/adventure game (which I would later find out was similar in nature to Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, one of the greatest Super NES games of all time.) It was called Soul Blazer and would prove to be one of my favorite games for the SNES. I recently bought my own copy from Lukie Games to see if it still holds up to the nostalgia I've held onto since 1992. So the question is: does it live up to my memories?

Typically one of the most important elements in an RPG is the story. However, for the uninitiated - Rpgs can be an incredibly long time-sink that require paying attention to minute details and dialogue trees. "Where did the king tell me to travel to again?" "How am I supposed to free the mighty blade from the ground?" In Action/RPG games such as Soul Blazer, the story is still important in the overall enjoyment of the game; however, it is not nearly as lengthy or crucial as in games such as the Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, or Ultima series. In this game, you control a hero sent from "the master" to resurrect a series of towns held captive by the evil Deathtoll. Along the way you meet a cast of characters who give you items to progress through the story and to bring these dead cities back to life. It is a classic tale of good versus evil and is similar in tone to other Enix games with spiritual/religious undertones such as EVO, Illusion of Gaia, and the Actraiser series. The story and dialogue are decent enough, but might not satisfy the hardcore RPG crowd. For everyone else, this is a good primer for the RPG genre and the story moves along quick enough to not hinder the action.

"Paging Craig. Clean up on Aisle 5!"

Speaking of the action - it is quick, exciting, and effective. You have a sword attack and magic (both of which you will find upgrades for as you progress through the game.) Different swords, armor, and magic will be useful in different situations. IE: in the underwater city, it is crucial to have your bubble armor equipped - lest you take damage and drown. Some swords and magic are tailored against certain enemies, such as rock monsters or flying enemies. For the most part, you can progress through the game with your most powerful equipment on at all times - but in order to unlock all secret items and get through to the final stage - it is important to know what tools to use where. Battles are uncomplicated and flow in a swift pace (ala Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.) Instead of typical turn-based battles - you are free to hack, slash and even run past enemies if you wish. There are boss battles at the end of each level and thankfully three warp zones per level to return to the safe room - where you can save, load, and travel at your will.

BAH! What the heck is THAT thing?!

One of the main highlights of Soul blazer may also be my biggest criticism: at times, the game is perhaps a little too accessible. The challenge level is perfect for people who do not have much RPG experience under their belts, and for an 8 year old Chris - it was a perfect primer for the genre. However, I have now taken down several RPGs since, and what once was a cute, engaging action game has become a breeze to play. Most bosses have easy to master attack patterns and with the right technique can be killed without taking much damage. Most enemies can be struck down with one or two sword blows if you're properly equipped. Finally, aside from having to hop back and forth between levels in order to track down all of the hidden booty that you missed while you were a weakling - the game is linear enough that you're never going to get lost. When I stopped playing Chrono Trigger for a year and came back to the game - I had literally no idea what my last move was, so there was a lot of backtracking in order to figure out what to do next. In this game - I could leave it 90% finished, come back in three years, and know exactly what is left to finish the game. That is a terrific feature for beginners, but as a somewhat seasoned gamer it makes the game easy enough to beat over a long weekend.

That little green donut unlocks a bird...or a mermaid...or a...

So the question needs to be answered - is Soul Blazer as awesome as I remember it? Absolutely. It's fun, addictive, quick, and action-packed. It's also ridiculously easy now that I've clobbered more complex RPGs and admittedly - the story is a little thin. However, it is still well worth your time and investment for a relatively underrated Action/RPG classic. It's a bit on the collectible side these days so it may run you a bit more than your average SNES cart - but it's worth it. Pick up a copy for yourself!

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (SNES)

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest or as it is known in Japan “Final Fantasy USA: Mystic Quest” was Square’s response to the lack of interest western audiences had in Role Playing Games at the time (excluding table-top games naturally). This one of a kind game simplified the RPG formulas to such an extent that Square believed any person (read: American) would become hooked on RPG’s. The game itself is fairly lackluster when it comes to story and it’s most commonly noted fact is that the game had an amazing soundtrack which was a wonderful blend of rock and techno. I personally played this game long after I had played games such as Final Fantasy III and Legend of Zelda Link to the Past for the SNES. So to me this game was far from impressive until I took note of the hilarious dialogue and great soundtrack.

Oh you!

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest is horribly simplistic and lacks many of the conventions of modern RPG of it’s day. There are no random encounters, fetch quests are fairly simplistic and don’t involve much travel, and you can never truly lose the game. Now what do I mean you can’t “truly lose the game”, well if at any point in time you are defeated in battle you are giving the option to retry the battle with all your stats and items reset to what they were at the start of the battle. With such an option it makes it so that no matter how hard the game gets you are always able to move forward. The game also lets you save anywhere at any time, which is handy and in my opinion an option that all RPG’s should have.

Unlike most RPG’s where you buy your equipment and items in Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest you will find all of you equipment in dungeons aside from a select few, weapons however are mostly given to you by whomever it is that has partnered up with you for whatever dungeon it is you are crawling.

Then Bomberman stole all of them.

This brings me onto the whole “party” concept in this game, in FFMQ you will only ever have one other person in your party aside from the main character and your party member will always start out at a higher level then you. Unlike your character though who gains experience and levels your party members will remain stagnant. This isn’t a bad thing and is done for a very specific reason, your current party member whenever he/she joins will start out at whatever level it is you will be by the time of the boss fight so if anything the party members stand as a testament to how you should level. Your party members will also always have better stats then you, so you should just accept that fact now.

She’s only wearing a dress and she had higher defense? :/

All of the towns in the game are very simplistic and in only a few of them are there puzzles which get you a magic book or some cure bottles. For the most part towns are used exclusively for plot related events and for sleeping so you can heal.

Magic in this game operates similar to the “charge” system the first game had where you could use different types of spells a certain number of times before you need to use an ether or go to an inn. Spells are all found through books hidden throughout the land (mostly in dungeons). Interestingly enough many spells have dual purposes and can be used on both enemies and the party, a good example is the spell “Life” which can fully heal or revive a party member, or instantly destroy an undead opponent.

The battle system itself is limited to three options “Battle”, “Run”, and “Control”. Battle does what you would assume it opens a sub menu where you can choose to attack regularly or you can use a spell or item, run allows you to attempt to flee, and control switches the main character from “Manual” to “Auto” (player controlled to computer controlled).

Damn Centaurs, the fake you out by surrendering then they tell you a riddle to confuse you.

This game has status effects and almost all the enemies in the game can inflict one upon you, so expecting the unexpected is key in battles. Another thing of note is that over the course of a battle as you damage a monster its sprite will change to show you how low its HP is. Generally most monsters have two sprites but more important monsters with high HP can have 3 or more.

He needed to get some filing done anyway.

Another integral aspect of the game is switching weapons which you can do at any point in time by pressing the shoulder buttons. Each weapon in the game had special characteristics and uses such as the axe which can cut down trees and the bomb which can blow up obstacles. They each have their own unique status effects they can inflict upon an enemy not to mention that some weapons are naturally stronger then others. Though one thing of note about weapons and attacks is that in FFMQ any and all attacks which target more then one opponent divides the damage it would have done amongst all the enemies (i.e. Using a bomb which targets all opponents and there are three of them, it does 300/3 to each monster).

The games dialogue is campy and obviously meant to not be taken seriously, the graphics for the game are slightly less impressive then that of FFII for the SNES but the actual monster sprites I’d say are about the same in uniqueness. The soundtrack is the games most endearing quality and is the main reason for the games cult following. Give it a listen:

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest was generally considered a failure by many of its early fanbase, yet strangely enough it received average reviews and over time has garnered a much larger fan base from newer gamers and retro gamers. In my opinion this game is not truly meant for someone uninitiated to the world of Role-Playing games but instead is best for those who have been fans for a while and want something unique to change things up. The game is far from perfect as at times the dungeons crawls, just like in any RPG can get tedious, though despite that the game was innovative in how it handles many things (i.e. letting you jump over stuff). I recommend this game to any who are fans of Role-Playing games, or to those who are looking for something different.

Maybe if he invests it in mutual funds he’ll be able to afford it in fifteen years.

Harvest Moon (SNES)

Harvest Moon, a game which is shockingly not about harvesting moons but instead is about building up your own successful farm and starting a family. Naturally one would assume that such a concept for a game would fail immediately and slip into the cracks of gaming history as another failure, however Harvest Moon did none of that. Harvest Moon and all the subsequent games in the series which would follow all garner a massive following, this game over the past decade has transformed Natsume a formerly small video game designing and publishing company from making adequate licensed games to producing exclusively Harvest Moon and Harvest Moon spin-off games.

Serious Farming.

in Harvest Moon you play as a young man who inherits a decrepit farm from a recently departed family member, upon arriving you meet the people of the nearby village and the man who collects the goods you ship, then you adopt a dog. There is no true story to this game and it essentially never ends as once you get married and have a kid the game keeps going on.

He sure got the raw end of the deal. :/

One of the more interesting aspects of the game is courting system, the courting system is the mathematical system used to determine how much whichever woman you are attempting to woo like or dislike you. Each potential lady in the game has there own set of likes and dislikes and a certain value of increase or decrease to the level in which they like you dependent upon your actions and gifts you give to her.

Ladies~

Don't think Harvest Moon is all about the ladies though as the main brunt of the game is operating a successful farm. Unbelievably running a successful farm takes a great deal of time, patience, and stick-to-itiveness. With the games internal world time where every second of real world time is equivalent to a minute, that generally equates to time passing rather quickly so you have to choose your priorities, ladies, or running your farm and getting money (the answer is running your farm). On your farm you are given the option of ranching livestock or farming crops as a way of earning a living on your farm (you can also do both if you so please).

Like a boss!

Both farming and ranching have their own unique tool sets, many of these tools you start out with and over time more advanced tools become a available that you can purchase. Just like with the ability to purchase better tools you can also purchase additions to your house after collecting a certain amount of wood and money.

If you want to grow any plants you’ll need to purchase them, though that doesn’t under any circumstance mean that you can just purchase any seeds you want, certain seeds are only ever available during certain seasons; the only seed which you can get during any season is grass seed, so any and all other seeds are exclusive to specific seasons. You can also purchase less important items such as food or drinks neither of which you get to keep as they are both instantly consumed by the character.

Harvest Moon has a decent amount of things to do in the game as there are several hidden areas that can only be accessed after a certain point in time, the main element of the gain (i.e. Farming/ranching) are the main draws of the game, and both of which are done remarkably well as plants need to be consistently taken care of in order for them to produce any product, the same can be said for any of the animals you rear as they require both affection, feeding, and milking/egg collecting(?). I personally found that over the course of the entire series you aren’t provided with much in the way of startup money or materials so most of your first couple of weeks will be spent collecting various odds and ends that are laying around the place (i.e. grass, rocks, fish, wood, mushrooms, berries) and shipping them as your main source of income. Some alternatives to farming and ranching can be mining or fishing as they both present themselves as options once you get the right tools.

Manly Things.

Character interactions aren’t very diverse as many characters who are not potential wives provide little useful dialogue, The most you will get out of the NPC’s will be special events and festivals which happen on specific dates over the course of a year, even then they won’t say much aside from comments on the particular event.

Harvest Moon isn’t the kind of game where graphics really matter, but the game has very nice sprites and the player sprite in particular has a plethora of animations which are all amusing at worst. Harvest Moon has very unobtrusive background music that will fade in and out depending on the time of day at whatever season it currently. In my opinion that is how background music should very well be, unobtrusive and doing nothing more then setting the tone for whatever it is that goes on.

Harvest Moon is essentially a reality sim wherein you play as a Farmer/Rancher and seek to be the best at what it is you do. It’s a very solid game with a great deal of replay value for its intended audience, however Harvest Moon has little to no appeal to those who are not interested in game where the only content is growing plants and raising some cows. I’d also like to point out that the game is far from perfect, once you are married and have your child the game falls into a limbo where you’ve essentially “beaten” the game (though I’ve noticed this is a problem in pretty much all the games though). I’d recommend this game to anyone who is already a fan of the series, or to any person(s) who are fans of more casual games as this game has great pick up and play value. Harvest Moon the first game of the series is by far the purest incarnation and I’d say the only other game to perfectly emulate the formula would be the Gameboy Color games, so if you are interested in a game about farming or ranching I’d suggest giving this game a looksee, or its Gameboy versions as they are fairly similar.

“It was at that moment upon reaching the summit that I realized, I forgot to water the onions this morning.”

Mortal Kombat (SNES)

Many politicians, concerned parents, religious leaders, teachers, and the like have discussed, debated, and railed about whether or not violent video games produce violence in reality. It's a topic that's probably a bit too heavy for this particular blogger's taste (or maybe I just don't feel like citing research. After all, that was what college was for.) Given that we're here on a video game retailer's blog, it would stand to reason that I take the opposite view of this: violent video games do not have a causal relationship with violent behavior. And it's true: I've played plenty of violent video games and never had the urge to off anybody (outside of maybe driving through downtown traffic - but I don't blame Carmageddon for that one.)

However, I would love to play devil's advocate for a second. I would like to take you back to the first time you played Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat in the arcade. Remember the intensity with which you played (probably against another player,) and how feverishly you hit the buttons? How your sole aim was to smack that other dude's character silly? Remember jumping up and down when you won or banging your fist on the machine when you lost? How about the glee you had when you finally unlocked the first fatality or figured out how to pull off any of Zangief's moves in SF2 (which are honestly like deciphering Sanskrit to me.) Sure, you didn't run out and punch a baby afterwards - but you have to admit that these games unlocked a very reptilian part of your brain that Bubble Bobble just doesn't. A Roman Coliseum of bloody pixels and sweaty joysticks.

Sweet, glorious violence! Call Slayer - it's Raining Blood!

As far as fighting games went in the early 90's: there were two frontrunners. The original button-mashing, quarter muncher - Street Fighter 2 and the ultraviolent new kid on the block - Mortal Kombat. They were the Coke & Pepsi of the arcades and people would line up to play both: memorizing special moves and seeing how far they could make their 25 cents last. I loved me some Street Fighter, but Mortal Kombat was my jam. So when Midway released the game on home consoles in 1993/1994, (I'm embarrassed to admit this) I bought the game on every system I had. Now THAT'S dedication. The Sega Cd version was probably the most accurate console version I had (it was the most faithful to the arcade,) and the Genesis and Game Gear versions had all of the fatalities and blood intact by way of the famous "ABACABB" code, and the game boy version was...well...Mortal Kombat on a Game Boy. However, it's the Super NES version that is a true oddity and served to cause controversy among fans and had myself and many others scratching our heads in confusion.

They did leave in the part where Scorpion gets a splinter

Nintendo has had a long history of censorship over the years in regards to games that are ported over from arcades and games that are imported from Japan. Often games with politically incorrect humor, taboos such as smoking, sexual innuendos, salty language, religious elements and of course blood and guts - would either get the axe or get trimmed or somehow otherwise censored when released for the Nintendo or Super Nintendo. Sure, there's a handful of games that break with these rules - and they seemed to have been enforced on a game-to-game basis, but a game as bloody and controversial as Mortal Kombat was bound to be stripped of its blood when it was released for the Super NES and Game Boy. The question is this: does this hurt the game and are there any areas where the Super NES is superior to the other ports? Let's dig in!

The plot is pretty basic: you play as one of seven fighters (each with their own backstory) competing to the death in a fighting tournament called Mortal Kombat. You must beat the other 6 opponents, a mirror version of yourself, a few tag-team battles, and finally the shapeshifting master Shang Tsung and his 4-armed henchmonster Goro. Each of the characters have their own unique special moves and a finishing move that can be executed while your enemy is stunned at the end of the final match. These finishing moves are primarily where the Super NES version differs from the arcade game and the Sega ports - as instead of ripping out spines or hearts, you're dealing a weak punch or kick to the chest. A few of the less gruesome fatalities still exist, such as Raiden frying combatants into a pile of ash or Scorpion roasting them into a science lab skeleton complete with "oh no!" face. No longer do big, unrealistic droplets of blood rain from the sky when you uppercut your opponent - instead, they spray sweat off of their foreheads like a tubby kid trying out for track.

We could fight...but I'd rather talk about the deficit!

Is the omission of graphic violence a bad thing? Well, sort of. After all, half of the appeal of the Mortal Kombat franchise lies in the absurd humor of ripping a fella's head off and dangling his spine like a mobile. That being said, the SNES version does a lot of things right. For starters, the graphics are possibly the best of any version of Mortal Kombat; including the arcade version. The shading is crisp, the sprites look cleaner and even more lifelike, and truth be told the sweat spray is a smidge more realistic than the globs of hemoglobin that splattered everywhere in the arcade and Sega versions. Heck, if you want a small taste of the ultraviolence you can hook the cart up to a Game Genie and there's a code that will turn the sweat into a burgundy color - not quite the same but it sorta works. The health bars are bigger, the sprites are bigger, and the overall detail level is great. This trend of graphical excellence continued when the second installment came out for the SNES (with all of the gloopy, gory violence intact!) The gameplay is solid, the controls are easy to master and you don't have any of the choppy loading that the Sega CD version has (which was always one of the most frustrating elements of that system.) The sound and music are also top notch and capture the arcade's thunderous music. This game always had a great soundtrack and the SNES version is one of the most faithful representations of the arcade's thumping tunes. So it really comes down to how much you miss all of those body parts in the pit stage and tearing out someone's heart and showing it to them.

Hellooooo Nurse!

We know what's missing: the blood. Anyone who wants that should feel free to pick up the Genesis version of MK1 or pick up any of the follow-up games for the SNES. Though the Sega CD version was most faithful to the arcade out of the early ports - the SNES version had a leg up on that version in several different aspects including graphics, load times, and overall gameplay. It's a port that perhaps didn't get a fair shake simply because of the lack of violence. While we all love a good gladiator fight - maybe solid graphics and fun gameplay trump that every now and then. Then again, sometimes they don't. Pick up a copy from Lukie Games and judge for yourself!

She fell into a pit of spikes and didn't hit a' ONE on the way down!

E.V.O. Search for Eden (Super NES)

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work "The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection." It is one of those works that has revolutionized the way scientists view species development and has opened up scientific understanding of how life on this planet has changed, expanded, and branched-off over billions of years. Darwin's theories have come under scrutiny and have brought forth a fair amount of controversy from biblical literalists and fundamentalists - however, there is much to be gained from reading Darwin's work (or at the very least understanding the basics.) This opposition proposed a different theory - that of "intelligent design." A theory in which the universe was created by a supreme being and any variance in species is according to the plan of this deity.

One hundred and thirty four years after Darwin's "Origin" was published, video game company Enix released a revolutionary action/RPG/Simulation game for the Super NES called EVO: Search for Eden. It tells the tale of a creature that must evolve through a series of stages in order to win the favor of Gaia - the earth mother. The game fuses elements of intelligent design, polytheism, hippie-spiritualism, Darwinism, and a splash of good ol' fashioned alien-love for good measure. I have a hunch this isn't quite what Darwin had in mind.

Richard Dawkins just spit out his Fruity Pebbles after seeing this

E.V.O introduces us to our intelligent designer right off - The sun. The sun birthed the planets and decided that life will thrive on the third planet, Gaia. It is your job as one of these early creatures to evolve from a tiny fish into a land-based mammal in order to win a place next to Gaia in Eden. Does it sound like we're mixing up our science and mythologies yet? Best of all...

***spoiler alert***

...the means by which your character evolves are evolution crystals. These crystals were placed here on earth by Martians. I'm not making that up - I totally wish I were.

Alright, so maybe the mythology/plot of this game is totally bonkers but at least we can take comfort in knowing that the gameplay is a wonderful thing. You control your creature through several stages & worlds where you must battle tougher opponents and munch on weaker opponents in order to gain evolution points. These evolution points are the equivalent of XP in this game and help you to increase your various character stats. Every character change you make can have an effect on another attribute of your character so it's always wise to be conscious of this when you start thinking that your dinosaur really needs a wicked cool spiral horn and a pogo-jumping tail. Control is solid as can be as you move perfectly on command - can often run with a double-tap of the direction (which is usually a really nice feature in games such as this) your jump, attack and everything else is dependant on what you have/have not evolved on your character. This gives the game a really deep level of gameplay and allows for multiple run-throughs without getting bored and feeling you've done the same thing multiple times.

That is - until we discuss the one key flaw in this game (which, let's face it: is a key flaw in nearly every XP based RPG) which is grinding. Much like many games before and since - you have to grind for evolution points and it can become a chore at times. That's why the save feature is your friend and you've got to try your darndest not to die too often (lest you be willing to lose half of your EP progress.) If you don't mind spending an hour or two jumping on lizards in the middle section of the game, you'll be well rewarded through most of the rest of the game. It's primarily in that dinosaur stage and early mammal stages where you will spend the most time grinding as your enemies are probably some of the toughest there. Those darned bees...

YOW!

The graphics aren't likely to win the game a spot in any "best graphics" polls, but they definitely do more than get the job done. The graphics are colorful and cartoony - which may not be necessarily what you want for your big scientific game on evolution (but seeing as most of this game eschews real science for fun gameplay, convenient game mechanics, wacky storyline, and fence-sitting "have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too" Creatio-lution - this game isn't really much of an educational tool anyway.) The fun cartoony graphics have me cracking up at many different times because of the goofy expressions that characters make or just how wacky and deformed I can brew up a tragedy of evolution - complete with horns, wings, a spiked tail, and tiger jaws. That thing is 8 kinds of ridiculous and the slightly cheeseball cartoony graphics actually help lighten up the otherwise serious tone of the game. It is stylistically similar to Chrono Trigger in terms of color/character shading/development - just on a lesser scale.

The music is truly magnificent and something that adds an awful lot to this game. The score is full of harpsichord chimes, that classic "angel synth," brooding and heavy tunes and light orchestral numbers. The music can get a touch repetitive because of all of the time you're going to be spending in these worlds grinding for evolution points - but the music is as diverse and quality as can be expected. I especially enjoy some of the doofy sounding tunes that come up when you hit land for the first time. You'll hear a couple of really goof-ball droopy sounding tunes while blasting lizards in the head through the grass.

The only game where 'Green Meat' is something you strive for

The difficulty level is relatively low -with the occasional spike whenever you hit a boss. The most difficult boss is the final boss (an amoeba-like single-celled creature that spills objects, enemies etc. at you.) With a save feature and the fact that there's no real way to "die" in this game completely - Gaia will pretty much always revive you, stealing some of your evolution points along the way. It's all up to how iron is your will and how bad do you want to see the end.

E.V.O - Search for Eden is one of my all-time favorite games for the Super NES. It's an accessible RPG style life-simulation game that shouldn't be hard for folks who are new to the genre. It's also an incredibly unique game: very few games have come around to tackle a topic such as this and none have done it as well as EVO as far as I'm concerned. Some folks might be put off by the evolution aspect - and yet others might not dig the fact that there's shockingly little science in a game based on a scientific theory. If you belong to either camp - nothing I'm going to say is going to change your position. For the rest of us who can appreciate a game for what it is (and even perhaps for what it isn't) this is the game for you. It's addictive, it's unique, it's original, - sure, it's a smidge pricey - but it's totally worth it. Get a relatively rare, sought-after, and mostly well-regarded Super NES classic. You'll be glad you did!

Does this mean I'm OT VIII?

The Lost Vikings (SNES, Genesis)

Interplay's "Lost Vikings" is one of those games that I heard about for YEARS before finally playing it. I'm serious. From 9th grade until I finally played it in senior year of high school I had my best friend, classmates, neighbors, Blockbuster employees, mail carriers, garbage men, and CPAs all tell me that I absolutely had to play this game. With all of that ridiculous hype, you would think I would either praise this game as God's gift to gamers or cast it into the fiery pits of gamer hell along with "Shaq-Fu" and "Dudes with Attitude."

Truth be told, it belongs in neither category - which is a good thing and a bad thing.

Let's start off with all of my personal, nitpicky complaints first - that way we can try and be objective about this whole thing. I have a love/hate relationship with these type of puzzle-formers. "Lemmings" is probably in my top 30 games of all time list - but after about an hour or so of watching those little green boogers explode into a pixelly mess or splat like raindrops from a tall platform - I want to throw my controller through the flatscreen. That being said, I have a lot of experience with these types of games. I have walked many a "Lemming", "Troddler", "Human", or even Krusty's very own "rats" to their early gaming graves - so sad to say, a game like Lost Vikings no longer has the fresh coat of originality it may have had back in '92. So is that a fault of developers Silicon & Synapse - the company who would later become the behemoth known as Blizzard? Well, no. Out of Troddlers, Humans, Lemmings, and Krusty's Fun House - only Lemmings predates Lost Vikings, so it isn't like this had become a glutted market yet. However, all of the other puzzle-formers came out the same year - so it's hard to compete when so many similar games come out at the same time.

Booooing! Hey, that block is supposed to be up here!

Out of that batch of games, Lost Vikings plays closest to "Humans" in that you switch between a handful of characters and combine their strengths to reach the goal, rather than controlling a few out of a much larger pack and just arranging the talents of a select few to get the whole tribe out of the exit. I know that sounded like the same thing twice, but anyone who's played these might know what I'm talking about. In easier terms - 3 Vikings enter, and if you did it right, 3 Vikings leave. In Lemmings, 40 Lemmings enter, you make a handful parachute down and create a bridge so that hopefully, 29 or better will leave.

Crispy fried Viking. I'm NO GOOD at this game...

Now that I've explained my personal bias against puzzle/platformers - let's discuss the myriad of things that Lost Vikings gets right. First, this is the kind of game that benefits greatly from having a partner or two. Vikings lets you have up to three players control Erik, Olaf, and Baleog through these spaceships, pyramids, etc. It is a game that controls pretty easily with one player - you hit the L & R buttons to switch between Vikings and move them into position. However, having two or three players cuts the time down tremendously and makes chores that require; for instance, Olaf to make his shield into a platform for Erik to jump upon, much easier. You still have to coordinate the strategy with your real life friends and keep them from jumping down pits or getting zapped by lasers, thus negating all of the planning you guys did - but that's all on you, buddy! It's nice every once in a while to find a game that allows you to have more than two players at a given time (provided you have a multi-tap.)

For the most part the graphics are pretty well done. Your Vikings are fun, colorful and expressive. Jump down a long pit and watch your the facial expressions your Vikings make! Hi - larious. Their hair flips through the air, they have clean and fluid animations whenever they are running, jumping, shooting arrows, and more. The backgrounds and level designs are a bit of another story. For the most part, levels are fairly bland and repetitive with the same few sprites repeating constantly. I'll admit though, it's very hard to make a spaceship look exciting and many other games have lamer level design and background graphics. The music is nice and funky. It has that early 90's hip-hop stank all over it, and you half expect M.C. Hammer to bust out or Vanilla Ice to bring his "Ninja Rap." While not quite as funky as a game like Toejam and Earl, the soundtrack is fun and works well. The sound effects leave something to be desired as there really aren't too many to speak of. That being said, the presentation of Lost Vikings is better than average.

An example of some of the sassy Viking humor you'll see!

Side Note: The screenshots provided are from the Super NES version. There is a slight difference between the SNES and Genesis versions graphically speaking (I would argue the Super NES one is more detailed) as is usually the case when games are ported across both systems.

The difficulty level is exactly as you would expect from a Puzzle/Platformer and is pretty typical of the genre. If you can get 100% of your Lemmings out alive in at least 25% of the levels in that game - you will probably smoke through Lost Vikings in a short weekend. Folks like me who are clumsy at these games will have considerably more trouble - especially once you have to rely on multiple Vikings simultaneously and you don't have a partner to back you up. You will die - constantly. Rumor has it that the Genesis version has more levels than the SNES version - which is good for you guys and gals who want even more of a challenge. The box boasts "over 40 rip-roaring levels." I can give you a guess as to how many I completed successfully in all of the times I've played this game, but let's just say I never saw my way out of that friggin' space ship.

A Viking's Funeral. Get used to seeing this cutscene...

Lost Vikings is an above average puzzleformer in a sea of similar games. The animations are smooth, the gameplay is top-notch among this genre of game, and there is plenty of challenge to be had here. It's a real treat to find 3 player games and this would definitely make for a fun party game (until one of your friends calls you a dirty name because you guys had to see the "Viking funeral" animation for the 400th time.) It's difficult, it's generally a fun time, and it's available for both the SNES and Genesis over at Lukie Games right freakin' now! Get over there!