SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[ommadawnyawn2]

This was a really good port besides the fairly weak OST translation. I was kind of obsessed with MK2 for a while as a kid thanks to the character designs and what I thought was pretty imaginative world building and aesthetics, but funnily enough the GB version is the one I played the most because my mom made me return this version on the same day I got it after she saw the blood and everything (good thing she didn't find out we had Doom on the PC upstairs). If the cracks I eventually inflicted on the screen are anything to go by, that portable version wasn't very good, but it was good enough to sort of convey the experience at the time (along with the manual and sometimes playing a proper version elsewhere) and I managed to beat it once or twice. IIRC because I lucked out with the AI and used very repetitive tactics.

I agree this works better in MP although it feels a bit shallow still. I'll give it a B.

---
Speaking of MK I'm actually playing Shaolin Monks for PS2 right now. It has the longer combos from later games (which is tied to an exp point leveling system here), a similar vibe to MK2 and it's a rare co-op metroidvania. That's not to say it' a masterpiece or anything but it's a pretty fun game.

[excelsior]

I'm also going to give it a B.

Feb 21, 2023 16:37:54 GMT -5 dr_st said:

Feb 20, 2023 6:00:55 GMT -5 excelsior said:

Nothing, NOTHING can prepare you for the ultimate arcade translation of Mortal Kombat® II.

The PC DOS version is without a the ultimate contemporary home version of MK2, though. None of the console versions come close, and only the Arcade Kollection of 2011 is completely (or almost?) Arcade-faithful outside emulation.

I'm sorry, I've changed it.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Virgin Interactive
• Developer - Westwood Studios
• Genre - Platformer
• Initial Release - October 1994

You think you want to be King? Get real. You're starting life as Simba, the cub. To survive and grow into a powerful adult lion, you must perfect your savage pounce, reckless roar and master fighting with all four paws. If you survive the challenge, you'll grow into a strong, ferocious adult lion. So prepare to scrap with hyenas. Blast through an elephant graveyard. Battle an in-your-face stampede of trampling wildebeests. And you'd better quit hanging with slackers like Timon and Pumbaa, unless you want to be scarfing bugs the rest of your life! Are you sure you want to be King? Then it's time to cut loose in the deadliest one-on-one brawl ever. Defeat your evil Uncle Scar. Recapture the Pridelands. And reclaim your rightful place in the Circle of Life!

  

  

[spanky]

This is a game I played quite a lot when it was originally released but I haven't touched it in decades. My sister and cousins were absolutely obsessed with the movie and the game ended up being a frequent rental. I believe we even bought the game as a gift for my cousins when I saw it in the bargain section of a Toys R Us. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I know what score I'm already going to give it but I still want to give an honest chance so I'll fire it up one day this week.

[dsparil]

I have a lot of fond memories of The Lion King and played it to the point that I know it like the back of my hand. It looks and sounds great and plays okay. It is way too hard until you've played it a bajillion times, and I think that it is probably yet another game with rental inflated difficulty. I don't really care at this point so I'd give it an A.

[Snake]

Lion King, Rank B

Visually cool, tight control scheme.  Great maneuverability and animation.  But geez, this game was a challenge.  Takes a lot of replays to really just learn the game and which way to go.  Stage 2 was already somewhat frustrating for me.  While I'm not in love with it, I think it does a fair effort of translating the film into a decent video game.  

[spanky]

Alright, spent some time with this. The Lion King is a pretty good platformer with some very technically impressive visuals and a well done rendition of the film score. The game was developed by Westwood who mostly made PC games, and Disney themselves handled a lot of the art. The sprites and animation have a lot of personality as you'd expect and they have this slightly shaded almost pre-rendered look to them. It's looks fine but I think I prefer both the look of the Genesis Aladdin (which looks much more like cel animation to my eye) or just plain ol' sprite art. The stampede level is still pretty cool and was a real "gee whiz" moment back in the day. Adult Simba having a completely different playstyle than his younger self was a good call - being able to fight the hyenas on their own terms after spending most of the game avoiding them and using hit and run tactics is very satisfying.

It's very tough with a lot of hallmarks of western game design in it's difficulty. Cheap hits, questionable death traps and some slightly sloppy controls at points. For example - when Simba is standing still, his jump is high but has very little forward momentum - you need to be running if you want to do a long jump. This would be fine except his turning animation takes a split second and if you jump during that animation he will do the high jump instead of the longer one. It cost me quite a few lives. The easy difficulty setting gives you a ton of extra lives at least but it's still very tough for a kids' game and the higher difficulties do not mess around at all. Many of the Capcom Disney games that came before this if anything, are a bit too easy so I guess this feels like an attempt to rebalance things.

This game is alright in my book, not great but not bad either. It scored very well in it's day and the Genesis version won a few GOTY awards in magazines if I remember correctly. I don't think it's aged quite that well. It's a C for me.

[dr_st]

Yeah, "beautiful but super-hard" is an accurate description. I don't think I ever beat The Lion King without cheating at some point or another.

The varied gameplay is very impressive for the time. Young Simba and adult Simba make for quite different style of platforming, and then there are the special stages (like the Stampede), the bonus levels, the puzzle where you have to scream at the monkeys the right way, the annoying maze in the level before last.

[ommadawnyawn2]

This game isn't perfect and it's another one where I prefer the MD version in some ways, but I think the difficulty is exaggerated nowadays. Beating this is nothing compared to most NES games held in high regard for example and I feel it has the right amount of memorization to not make it boring but also not get too frustrating (besides maybe that ostrich ride part which has odd hit boxes) but if you disagree there's also an easy mode and various hidden lifebar upgrades. You can get a nice flow in this game when you're good at it which reminds me a bit of Super Metroid in how the momentum works, and the progression follows the movie pretty well for the time and genre.
This version has the better audiovisuals (though the PC version is as good and also higher res) and that's certainly a big part of the appeal for the disney games, although compared to Aladdin and Jungle Book they kinda skimped on the cutscenes here even if the in-game scenes are admittedly well done. The animation is some of the best that generation.

For me the MD version gets a B (just barely), while this is more of a C.

[personman]

I don't believe I was ever able to get past the ostrich ride in the second level as a kid. I never beat this till way later when I save state scummed through it. I don't have too vivid a memory of it but like others have said its a more style over substance affair and some of the difficulty is flat out artificial like the screwed up hit detection in the second stage. I wasn't really impressed when I played through it later and I'm not willing to revisit it so maybe this isn't fair but I'm gonna give it a D. I'm just not fond of how cheap it gets and borderline broken the second stage is.

[excelsior]

I'm going to give it a C. I have a vague memory of beating it using action replay codes back in the day. Art and music do a lot for the game, as well as that it does a nice job following the film. I'm less keen on stage design and the difficulty spikes rather than keeping a nice progression.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Enix/Nintendo
• Developer - Quintet
• Genre - Action Adventure
• Initial Release - 27 November 1993

Journey into the dark side of an ancient civilization.

Radiating an ominous light in its path, the Chaos Comet threatens the existence of the planet. Battles erupt and a tentative peace is returned to the lands. Danger lurks as the Chaos Comet orbits and dreadful beasts lie awaiting.

In the Age of Exploration a boy named Will is born. Tragedy strikes during an expedition to the Tower of Babel separating Will from his father. Telekinetic forces awaken as Will returns to South Cape. Armed with his transformation abilities of two great warriors, Will must save the planet.

Gaia, Will's guiding spirit bestows magical powers and advice along his journey. With the help of his friends Will must battle relentless enemies and solve the puzzles of the ancient ruins. Patience and knowledge are essential to reunite this father and son.

[spanky]

IoG is a technically competent, well made game but I have a lot of issues with it. It's much more story focused than Soul Blazer but I found it sort of overwrought and preachy. A lot of moments that are meant to be touching come off as eye rolling, the most famous example being when Kara's pet pig sacrifices itself for dinner and the spirit of Will's mother emerges from it's roasting body.

It does look pretty amazing though. The sprites are large and well detailed - I love how your characters animated differently when the wind is blowing and how that's even used with some puzzles. Freedan struts and looks like a complete badass. There are story and character elements I do enjoy - like Kara and Will's relationship (the raft segment was unlike anything I've seen in a video game at the time) and how your party steadily loses members until the endgame. I really miss the world creation aspect of Soul Blazer but the game does a good job of introducing interesting locales and characters. The marketing focused on how you explore real world structures but I thought the original locations stood out more - like the village of the (strangely beautiful) mole people or the floating town. I do wish you could return to the beginning areas of the game as they are several items that are permanently missable. There is a heavy melancholy air throughout the game (the music really contributes to this) and it kind of fills me with dread as I play it.

Nintendo published it in the US and it had a pretty strong marketing push. It was featured in lots of print ads (Play It Loud, bro), the manual is pretty much a full guide and it even came with a T-shirt! It's good but I'd rather play Actraiser or Soul Blazer. B.

[ommadawnyawn2]

This game is pretty good. But it has pacing and balancing issues and isn't that well translated overall, enough that I kinda prefer SB to it even though there are various improvements such as move variety, puzzle design and obviously the graphics. Running from the get go is also a nice touch. The story is at least ambitious with some unusually dark themes and some good satirical scenes.
Musically most of it is kind of forgettable to me, and it often has a muffled and somewhat wonky sound, which is odd considering the heights that SB and especially Terranigma's OSTs reach.

I agree that it'd would've been nice to be able to return to any previous area.

I should replay it sometime but right here and now it's a C(+).

[Snake]

Illusion of Gaia - Rank B

Decent game.  But dungeons began to feel like busy work filler, halfway through.  I hoped for more characters to use, other than Freedan and Shadow, and it seemed like forever until Shadow became available.  Teen angst driven plot is kinda meh to me.  Not really my thing, but in the vein of Actraiser, Soul Blazer, and Terranigma, it is pretty cool to be traveling around the world.