SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Bandai
• Developer - Natsume
• Genre - Beat-em-up
• Initial Release - June 1995

The Power Rangers stripped of their Mighty Morphin Powers and forced to flee Earth? Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd overwhelmed by an evil far greater than their combined nastiness? The Command Center totally obliterated and Zordon on the brink of death The fate of the world in the slimey hands of Ivan Ooze, the most sinister monster the universe has ever seen? Could this be a bad dream? Don't count on it. It all happens in the Morphinominal Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Movie! And now, you can battle Ivan Ooze, the vilest villain in Nintendo history, and a whole host of his mean and ugly minions in this hyperaction, seven level, no-hold-barred brawl featuring the eye-popping graphics and ear-pounding sounds of the Super NES. So, morph into action, and lead the Power Rangers on to their greatest victory.

  


  

[dsparil]

Pac-Man 2 is such a weird game. It's sort of an interesting experiment for an adventure game, but it's not one I enjoy all that much. I don't necessarily disagree with either of you, but something about it doesn't quite do it for me. I'd still go with a B though. It does look quite nice at least.

[spanky]

Man! Have not that may people played Pac Man 2?
,
MMPR The Movie is a fine and mostly improved sequel. The first game was pretty much just a simpler Ninja Warriors, but this one adds some new ideas. You've got your two player mode, you have a Fatal Fury-esque "lane switch" feature, and now turning into your ranger form requires you to build up energy from defeating enemies instead of just happening at some pre-determined spot in the leve. In your rangers from you're obviously stronger, but if you power up your energy bar a second time, you can start using your weapon or sacrifice it all for a smart bomb. Both absolutey rip through enemies and bosses so the main strategy of this game is timing your second power up so you still have it when you reach the boss.

Like all the other SNES Natsume games, it looks great and the game does a pretty good job of capturing each ranger's individual personality and character through their animations in human form...though everyone except Tommy shares the same ranger sprite. It is pretty funny watching the lithe Kimberly go from using graceful gymnastics kicks to turning into a hulking ranger and crushing putties with haymakers. I've never thought the putties were interesting mooks though. All of the environments in the game are a lot more intersting than anything I remember from the show. Oh and the music kicks ass.

I've never seen the movie so I can't comment on how accurate it is. I was never a Power Rangers kid! Tengo Project synthesizing elements from both SNES MMPR games into one of their modern remakes would be awesome and probably preferable to that Shredder's Revenge-esque game we seem to be getting but whatever. A very solid B.

[excelsior]

I don't really think there's much in between the two games, really. I don't like how in this one the most threatening enemy is a falling sign and the ski level really sucks. Minor gripes really. I think the two planes probably work better for the two player option, but I haven't had the chance to try it out. Anyway, I prefer the first game a little bit. I do like the boss battles here, though.

Going with a C.

spanky - I think most people only know Pac Man 2 through AVGN tbh. Maybe that put people off playing.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Tonka House/Seika Corp./Hudson Soft
• Developer - Factor 5
• Genre - Action
• Initial Release - May 1993

You are Bren McGuire, on a United Planets Freedom Forces mission to save the peaceful planet Katakis from the Machine, source of all that is cruel and evil in the universe. The only weapon on your side is the state-of-the-art Turrican Assault Suit. Equipped with multiple weapons, including the incredible Freeze-Beam that temporarily immobilizes almost any enemy, the Turrican Assault Suit gives one man the power of an entire army.

  

  

[dsparil]

For some reason, I have very vivid memories of the first season of Power Rangers, but I think I might have started to drift away from it once the cast started changing. I did see the movie, but I have no recollection of it at all. I don't think this game ever got a rental from anyone I knew either. It seems okay, but nothing special overall. C

Super Turrican on the other hand, is pretty good. I'm not a Turrican super fan by any means, but I do have the feeling that it's a less remembered series in the US. Some of the problems that European platforms can have fade away in a fast paced action game, so I've never minded some of the sprawling excess that the Turrican games can have. This specific version does have an issue in being cut down from what was intended for whatever reason probably a last minute cart size reduction. Wikipedia says the full version was planned to be Wii VC, but Nintendo nixed it as not having a previous release which is sad. I'd go with an A here.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Super Turrican is pretty good, although I never understood why they changed the weapon system and some level design for the worse (some pixel perfect jumps due to the invisible roof in the sky and some leaps of faith, much fewer bosses) compared to Turrican 3/Mega Turrican. You also can no longer jump after rolling off a platform (like in DKC). Super is more forgiving about continuing, but the game is not that hard anyway and it's one level shorter here. You don't even get to fight the bad guy from the intro (which is also shortened)!

Still it's worth playing for the alternate levels and I find the music a bit better overall, so I'd give it a C. 

[dr_st]

I can barely tell the foreground from the background in the last Turrican image. The one before that is OK, though.

[excelsior]

Oct 7, 2024 15:00:03 GMT -5 dr_st said:

I can barely tell the foreground from the background in the last Turrican image. The one before that is OK, though.

Complaints about the contents are pretty disheartening when I've put a lot of effort into keeping a thread going. Please don't do that.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Might just be a criticism of the game's visuals there, but either way thanks for keeping it going for so long excel.

[excelsior]

Oh, fair enough. I'll give the benefit of the doubt. I'm open to suggestions of improvement, what games to cover etc, but criticisms will be met with my scorn. Especially when it comes to my carefully selected game imagery.

I need a refresher on Super Turrican. I get the two mixed up. I remember liking one a fair bit more than the other.

[spanky]

Always appreciate the hard work excelsior!

Turrican is Euro Contra, right?. Is that comparison too obvious? Anyway, this is a pretty cool little shooter though it's not a patch on Contra IMO. I think the game has a really small cartridge size (4 megs I think) but they manage to squeeze a lot out of that. I do wish you could fire your standard weapon in different directions, it would probably make the richochet shot more useful. Still pretty fun though, B.

[ommadawnyawn2]

Sort of, or maybe just western Contra since the level design is similar to the Keen games for example. I don't think they're really going for the same thing though, Turrican seems more rooted in early '80s collectathon/maze platformers and maybe more methodical JP platformers like CV and Revenge of Shinobi.

In Mega, rebound shot is the alternative to aiming vertically kinda like sub weapons in Mega Man are.

[excelsior]

I put some time in. I actually really like it. I'm not usually a hige euro game kind of guy, but I think the exploratory stages really work here. The action is nice, fast and fun. I do agree that more directional control would work well, but at least there's a nice selection of power ups to use. I also like how the music contrasts with the games themes, but compliments the fast paced action.

I'm going with an A.

[excelsior]

• Publisher - LJN Ltd.
• Developer - Probe Entertainment Limited.
• Genre - Action
• Initial Release - May 1993

The ALIENS are fast, spit acid and are right behind you! The motion tracker is your only warning. No time to think, no time to catch your breath... RUN! Can't see very far ahead in these air ducts. Hard to breathe. Face-huggers can be anywhere. You have the firepower... blast the ALIENS with your machine gun, flame thrower and grenade launcher. You know what you have to do... rescue the trapped prisoners and end this nightmare! Just keep telling yourself, "This isn't really happening. It's only a game!!!"