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!

Sunset Riders (Super Nes, Genesis)

Buy the Super NES Version Today!

...or buy the Sega Genesis Version!

Konami is known for bringing outstandingly high-quality games to arcades and home consoles for years. They brought us such classics as Contra, Metal Gear, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Rush 'n Attack, The Simpsons arcade game (which, let's face it - is one of the only great Simpsons games,) and TMNT: Turtles in Time just to name a very few. They also are responsible for many sleeper hits, including this 1991 arcade masterpiece known as Sunset Riders.  While it is not the household name that games like Contra, Tiny Toon Adventures or Lethal Enforcers are - it is a fantastic game that is an absolute must for your collection.

Originally released in the arcades in 1991, Sunset Riders was ported to both the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo. Like most games brought to both systems, there are differences between each version. I personally have more experience with the Super NES release, so most of this review will focus on that particular version. However, it's important to get the differences between the two versions out of the way; that way you can make an informed decision on whether or not you would prefer the Super NES version or the Genesis version.

Doesn't my Pancho look soooo fashionable?!

The original arcade game allowed up to four players at one time and of course, (being the original release) does not suffer from hardware limitations or strict censorship codes - thus being the truest version of Sunset Riders. However, Lukie Games doesn't have arcade cabinets of it on hand and you're not likely looking for a big bulky cabinet anyway. The Genesis port came first and has a handful of differences from the arcade - mostly due to hardware limitations and localization. For starters, your roster of four characters is truncated to only two: Billy and Cormano. The amount of bosses is also cleaved in half - leaving you four of the original eight bad guys. The levels are rearranged and altered as well. However, something that the Genesis version has uniquely above the other two releases is a versus style gun fight where you and another player can test your quick-draw skills.

The Super NES version is more faithful to the arcade version, but also has a few changes here and there. For starters - your roster of characters is correct; however, only two players can play this game at a time. C'est la vie, multitap! Much of the other changes are due to Nintendo's conservative censorship policies. For example, the ladies in the game are wearing much less revealing attire, your characters no longer smoke or booze it up, and the Native American boss is renamed Chief Wigwam from Chief Scalpem. How this is more politically correct is kind of a mystery, but I'll buy that they were at least TRYING not to peeve the Native community. The graphics, sound and music are all top notch on the Super NES version and are noticeably less impressive on the Sega Genesis port. However, the Super NES version fetches a higher price tag, so it is up to you whether or not these differences will impact your buying decision. For serious collectors - why not get both?!



The gameplay of Sunset Riders is fast and addictive! If you love Contra, you will be well prepared for Riders, because the gameplay is very "Contra-with-cowboys." It takes great skill to avoid those bullets and your finger will constantly be on the trigger button at all times. If you want an extra challenge, crank that baby up to HARD mode and it will really feel like Contra. The western elements are all over this game and it makes you really feel like you're Clint Eastwood or John Wayne wasting a village full of bandits. There's stage coaches, saloons, train-hopping, cattle stampedes, falling boulders, and more. The game is fun by yourself, but even better with a teammate! This is definitely the game you bust out if you have a friend, girlfriend, cousin or whathaveyou come into town that wants to check out your game collection. Unless you're a seasoned gamer or have the difficulty set to easy - you'll really appreciate the extra help another player can provide in getting further in this game.

Yippie Ki Yay, Wagon-chucker!

Some of the highlights for me are the music, sound and humor. The game is full of great wild-west music and sounds that feel ripped right out of an episode of the Lone Ranger. The gunshot sound effects and stampeding bulls are satisfyingly accurate to a good, cheesy old-school western. There are hilarious scenes like the first boss battle where you knock Simon Greedwell out of the window and he bellows "Bury me with my...money!" Which sounds like "Marry me to my...money" through the Super NES' soundchip, but nonetheless is a comically corny one-liner that makes Sunset Riders feel like the authentically American western that only a Japanese game company could produce!

"Angry bees stole my...honey!"

In all honesty - aside from the few localization changes and the absence of a four-player co-op mode, I have absolutely no criticism of this game. It's addictive as all get out, the graphics are colorful and detailed, and the game feels like an authentic arcade port in your own home. It's a pricy game, but it's worth it. Grab a copy and a friend and blast through 8 levels of cowboy goodness. Yeehaw!

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.”

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (Super NES)

Battletoads and I go way back. It was probably my favorite 2-player experience on the NES and a game so good that I was willing to play it on the black and white tv in my grandmother's room. You know what? It still looked freakin' awesome. The graphics were great, the music was groovy, and the action was outta this world. It was also one of the hardest games I had ever played. Amazingly, I had enough patience back then to at least make it to the final stage before dying. I swear a buddy of mine and I beat this thing. It was years ago - did we really beat it? Was it my imagination? A fever dream? Did Game Genie bless us in our quest? I still don't know for certain to this day.

In fact, a whole slew of gamers have had awesome experiences with Battletoads. It was insanely popular among all of my friends, it was infamous for that crazy difficulty level - heck, it's even the source of a popular internet meme/game store prank. No need to preorder a copy from Lukie Games, they've probably got some in stock as we speak! What started as a cult classic Nintendo game quickly spawned awesome sequels and spin-offs as well as a failed cartoon. They battled evil with Billy and Jimmy of Double Dragon fame in the crossover "Battletoads and Double Dragon," they destroyed rats in an over-the-top gruesome bash-fest for the arcades (my personal favorite,) and blasted onto the Super-NES in this 16-bit beat-em-up extravaganza "Battletoads in Battlemaniacs."

Epic double-fisted pig destroyer

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was released in 1993 once again developed by Rare and published by Tradewest. It opens with the Battletoads landing their helicopter at a monastery where their trusty mentor Professor T. Bird is demonstrating a new artificial game generator by this company called Psicone. Suddenly a pig riding on the back of a dragon kidnaps the daughter of Psicone Inc's C.E.O. and Zitz, so it's up to Rash and Pimples to get them back. I suspect the Dark Queen might be behind these shenanigans. To anyone unfamiliar with the Battletoads games - I'm sure this plot sounds pretty Fruit-Loops, but that's half of the fun of Battletoads. It's all kinda nutty, but you learn to love it!

A pig on a dragon just stole a lady I barely know. Okay?

The first thing you'll notice when cracking into Battletoads in Battlemaniacs is that it's very similar in presentation to the original Battletoads. It's still a side-scrolling beat-em-up where enemies come atcha from every direction. The graphics are a great improvement over the original, but retain a lot of the original's cartoony charm. It actually reminds me a bit of the Arcade game that would come out about a year later - the action is tighter, the graphics are better, and the big over-the-top finishing attacks like the "battering ram horns" and the smashing mallet fist are big, bold, and hilariously cartoonish. The level design is great. It's neat to walk through the level and have craters form and cliffs and mountains pop from the ground. The music is pretty rockin'. It's like heavy metal in midi complete with squealing guitars. The sound effects are limited but effective - every punch, kick, and super attack emits a nice "Pip!" "Pap!" "Smack!" noise.

This might look familiar

Controlling Pimples and Rash should feel pretty familiar as little has changed since the NES days. That's both a good and a bad thing, I suppose. The controls feel nice and familiar like a comfortable old pair of sneakers. You only need two buttons; one for punching and one for jumping. In order to work your attacks into combos all you have to do is tap forward twice and hit punch to headbutt, or punch multiple times to work your special attack in. Hit detection is pretty close to perfect and the controls/hit detection feel tighter than the original game. The only major problem I have with the controls is the lack of innovation. You guys had 6 buttons to play with and stuck with just the two action buttons and no real deviation from the original control format from the NES. For shame! It's a very competent beat-em-up and the level design is interesting and innovative, I just wish they had worked a little harder on taking advantage of the Super Nintendo's capabilities.

Anyone familiar with the Battletoads series will know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that this game is tough. These games are notorious for their difficulty and I would be lying if I said that I beat this thing. It's rough because without another player helping out it really feels like you're getting swarmed with enemies. Most of the enemies are pretty easy to tackle with just a small flurry of hits - but some of the more powerful ones can be a pain to kill. You'll feel like you're having to smack around a Viking pig for 20 minutes before the darn thing bites the dust. Most of the difficult isn't so much in the enemies you face but the obstacles built into the level design. In the first level, there are plenty of pits, broken bridges, fireballs raining from the sky and other hazards that will do much more damage than a skeleton warrior or a raging hog will any day. Sometimes these enemies will come running at you from offscreen and knock you into said pits if you aren't careful.

Level hazards continue in subsequent levels like in stage 2 where you face off with spiky logs on both sides of the screen and descend down a pit ala Battletoads for NES. The real challenge comes when the screen speeds up to a frantic pace and you have to avoid the spikes with all of your might. This is where I have died, and died, and died again. That leads us to what the main strategy for all of the Battletoads games is - play, die, memorize, and repeat. Eventually you'll have fallen through every pit, gotten struck by every fireball, stabbed against every log and will have a better idea how to get through. This strategy would work well if it weren't for the very limited amount of continues you get - 2 continues and then it's game over. Overall the game has a few less levels than the first game and is a tiny bit easier - but you'll still get frustrated by nonsense hazards nearly everywhere.

Helloooo Nurse!

Overall Battlemaniacs is a good (though not perfect) follow-up to the insanely hard and quirky-as-heck original. It's really surprising that there weren't more entries in the Battletoads series since this game. Why weren't there any on the N64? Heck - there was even a Toejam and Earl game for the Xbox. Why no Battletoads? Anyway, this is a more than enjoyable 16-bit slice of beat-em-up toad action! You really ought to add yourself to the waiting list at Lukie Games because it's not often you can control a humanoid toad person and smack pigs with your hammer fist. Trust me - I've tried.

Power Piggs of the Dark Age

Old-school gaming was littered with wacky characters in bizarre situations. From the early days of Pacman to classics such as Super Mario Bros and Battletoads - the concepts were more than a little strange. Plumbers eating magic flowers and throwing fireballs, a yellow hockey puck that swallows pills and eats ghosts; there's no denying that while today's games are often based around some exaggerated form of reality (ie: the two-million Call of Duty games, Grand Theft Auto, The Sims,) early games were all about the surreal. So it should come as no surprise that Titus Software's "Power Piggs of the Dark Age" for the Super Nintendo is one big slice of crazy.

Released in 1994, this action platformer lets you take control of Bruno - head of the Power Piggs, on a quest to defend the kingdom from the Wolff Wizzard. Notice a trend with the "Super Kool 90's Spelling?!" The game tosses in a handful of references to fairytales such as the three little pigs and red riding hood and would definitely place pretty high in the "really original concept; if by original, you mean totally insane" contest. Did I mention the Power Piggs are the proud owners of what has to be the only pig-run donut shop in the dark ages? Total insanity.

Totally Bonkers

So how does Power Piggs play? Surprisingly well for a relatively unknown platformer. Bruno has two attacks, a sword slash and a donut throwing attack (of which there are a few varieties.) For the most part, the controls are competent. However, I would have liked a jump action that was a little less stiff. Your Power Pigg just sort of flops around instead of gracefully jumping from platform to platform. This can lead to some aggravating blunders and frequent trips to the spike pit if you're not extremely careful. There are quite a few airducts scattered around that will blow your character to higher platforms and add a fun dynamic to otherwise repetitive platforming.

The graphic style is a sort of mixed bag. The art style and bright, colorful graphics lead me to believe the developers might have been planning a cartoon spinoff ala "Earthworm Jim." It wouldn't be hard to picture a "Power Piggs of the Dark Age" cartoon on the WB or NBC Saturday morning lineup if the game had really taken off and become a franchise. The backgrounds are colorful - filled with candy-cane trees, swampland, and cartoony, stylized buildings. Sadly, in spite of the interesting direction that was taken with the graphics - some things still feel unfinished. I can't help but think a little more time could have been spent on your main character. Bruno just looks a bit, well...off.

Some of the enemies look great - the knight wolf at the end of stage 1, the window hanging wolves, and the giant wolves in the donut factory stage are top notch. However, the archers and "grandma" wolf feel flat and rushed. And why DOES the grandma wolf blow fireballs out of his dress?

Some less than stellar sprites aside, there are quite a few different enemies in Power Piggs and it doesn't feel like you're constantly coming up against the same two boring sprites.

Power Piggs of the Dark Ages is a little known and very original platformer. The cartoony art style works fairly well and the controls don't provide too many "controller-hurling moments." The music's funky and the game provides quite a bit of a challenge (sometimes intentional, sometimes as a result of a less than stellar jumping mechanic.) This game is not without its flaws. However, with a little patience, Power Piggs can be a rewarding action-platformer. So if you're on the lookout for a crazy, relatively unknown Super NES game to amaze your friends with - this one will do the trick.