SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[excelsior]

Here we have another single-plane, licensed action game developed by Natsume. I'm not personally familiar with the Manga and only played this in Japanese so the story was lost to me - it could have been trash, a masterpiece, or anything in between for all I know. The gameplay itself is immediately accessible, however, likely the reason this game shows up on Super Famicom import recommendation lists regularly.

Play is really simple, with the only commands being movement, duck, jump, attack and a seldom used special ability. Attacks are done at close range though discoverable powerups give you a projectile until you get hit. Generally speaking, this falls into the easy and breezy category of difficulty, as per the similar Natsume game Power Rangers. Actions feel precise and responsive, with nice audio-visual feedback creating an overall good feel to play. There are a couple of vehicle styled stages which I found a little tougher, since they seem to be built with the idea of powerups in mind and it's not a certainty you'll have one available. Powerups also basically disappear towards the end. Generally speaking, I'm going to say the game feels fine to play, with its similarity making it unspectacular. The highlight here is the sprite work, which is colorful and evokes a light horror sort of feel with an amusing enough twist. Enemies always look interesting and the protagonist is well drawn and animated, with her outfit changing colour on each stage which is a nice addition. The game is short enough to see it through in around forty minutes and although I'm not enamoured with it, I find it to be a nice enough time.

Ranking - C

[spanky]

This actually looks pretty cool, looking for some time to play it this week.

[dsparil]

I have never heard of either this game or the original manga, but I played through the whole thing. Pretty much what you said, excelsior. I'd still go with a B though since the graphics are so nice.

[ommadawnyawn2]

It's another pretty good platformer, with the standout features being the visuals and the JP mythological/horror theme. Controls could've been better and the grapple usage and combat a bit more in-depth but it's worth a playthrough and gets a C from me.

[retr0gamer]

It's a decent enough Castlevania clone. It's fun but a little bland with nothing that really makes it stand out. Still think it's worth playing. I'll give it a C but it was quite close to a B.

One thing that always annoyed me about the game was the mosaic mode effect on the background waterfall in the second stage. It looks really bad. I'm guessing they were trying to maybe make it look hazy but it just looks blocky. Always figured it was an emulation issue but it looks as bad on real hardware.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Capcom
• Developer - Capcom
• Genre - Action
• Initial Release - November 1994

For years, the tiny island nation of Genosha has enslaved its mutant population while the rest of the world has turned a blind eye. Now, as the situation turns bleak, Professor Charles Xavior is stunned to find the true force lurking behind the Genoshan government. With the fate of all mutantkind hanging in the balance, Professor Xavior must unleash the X-Men to face the most powerful mutant of them all- The Mighty Apocalypse!

  

  

[nightdreamer]

I played and even owned X-Men Mutant Apocalypse. It's alright, imagine Mega Man X featuring X-Men characters and with inferior level designs. I'd give it a B.

[excelsior]

It's 1997 again! Crop tops are back, Saturday morning cartoon shows are all the rage, and I'm probably still playing X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse like it's not already a couple of years old. For clarification, yes, we're piggybacking off the hit show X-Men '97 this week, because why not?

Anyway, growing up as big of a fan of the X-Men cartoons and comic books as I did, with there only being 2 X-Men games on SNES, one of those being lousy, this was one of the biggest games for me at the time. Whilst it isn't perfect, it does a fantastic job of bringing the X-Men characters to life. Wielding their mutant abilities via Street Fighter style special moves, the X-Men have rarely felt this good to play. The deliberate pace seems to be a sticking point for some (also, the difficulty, but I could blast through this game daily with ease), but otherwise it controls accurately and feels responsive as it should. Of course, probably the biggest point in this games favour is that it simply looks fantastic. The X-Men, their powers and their enemies are drawn as well as anybody could ask for the time. Capcom's sound team also did a great job, with the sound effects ensuring each mutants attack feeling unique to the character, whilst also being impactful to give great combat feedback. I will say the game is a little short, particularly since we never saw a true sequel. It would have been nice to see other characters presented in this format. Otherwise, I don't have much to fault this game on.

I respect that I'm going to score this game higher than others. This was just tailor-made for me to play, to the point that it's a big part of my childhood. It's one of those games I can remember every single stage layout, enemy pattern, etc. For sticking with me for such a time, and remaining a great piece of nostalgia, I'm giving it an A.

--

I guess I did make a bit of a mistake in having two similar single-plane beat-em-ups in a row. That was due to Ghost Sweeper Mikami being a last minute change from what I'd originally planned. 

[spanky]

Despite being in the demographic, I never really liked the X-Men cartoon as a kid. I remember thinking the character designs were really goofy and unappealing. I think part of it was that I was salty over the rapid decline of my beloved TMNT. Regardless of the reason, it just wasn't my thing!
I hate to sound like some sort of weeb here, but the characters never did a thing for me until I played X-Men Children of the Atom because in that game the way they animated, with more Japanese visual flair, looked AWESOME!

Anyway, my nostalgic anecdote for this game is I remember renting it the day school let out for Christmas break - like I said, I wasn't a huge X-Men fan but it said "CAPCOM" right there on the box! How could I resist? I remember playing it obsessively during those cold, anxious days leading up to the holiday.

It's not as well-beloved as a lot of other licensed games, but I think this is a good beat-em-up. Each mutant has their own abilities and strengths, the sprites are large and there's plenty of familiar villains for you to fight throughout the game. At the end of the day though, you mostly walk to the right or hop on platforms and clobber mooks with Final Fight-style combos and the occasional Street Fighter-esque special move. I think the Genesis X-Men game kind of carries the concept better but this is much, much more fun to play. A very solid B title.

[dsparil]

I'm going to be the contrarian here and say I kinda hate Mutant Apocalypse. It does look amazing, but I don't find it especially thrilling. The stages are too short and mostly too easy, some of the bosses are too tedious, and it's way too difficult to pull off some of the moves. Psylocke's Flying Knee in particular would be very useful in many situations, but it seems easier to do accidentally than on purpose. I really liked X-Men at the time, and this was a decent rental. It just feels like it's coasting on the license and the graphics with gameplay that's only good enough.

C

[spanky]

Oh and I finally got around to playing Ghost Sweeper. I liked it quite a bit. It looks GREAT and the gameplay is rock solid as you'd expect from Natsume. It's short and simple but I honestly don't consider that a bad thing. B.

[excelsior]

Late with your homework, spanky? Without trying to amuse us all with so much of an attempt at an excuse... disappointing.

[spanky]

I'm an old family man now! Nice thing about having kids is you always have an excuse 

[ommadawnyawn2]

Been a while but overall I thought this was the best X-Men game of the era, a bit better than X-Men 2 on MD. The variety is good with mostly distinct characters, everything is well drawn, it moves a long at a decent pace and there are decent cutscenes in-between each level.
Not all characters are good, and it could've had a block or escape/desperation move, but the biggest knock against it is probably the lack of continues and checkpoints. I wonder how a coop mode would've played!

C

[excelsior]

• Publisher - SquareSoft
• Developer - SquareSoft
• Genre - Action RPG
• Initial Release - 6 August 1993

There is one force in the universe that keeps good and evil in perfect balance. It is called the tree of Mana. But a magic sword has tricked a young warrior into upsetting the balance, spreading evil throughout the land. Thus the warrior must undertake a dangerous journey to find the seeds of the Mana tree which has been hidden for centuries. Only then can perfect harmony be restored. In this incredible adventure, things are not as they seem. It's a world turned upside down that you must help the warrior make right. And the only way to succeed is to solve the Secret of Mana.