SNES Game of the Week 118 - Clock Tower

[Apollo Chungus]

Decided to grab a ROM of Bubsy and play it on my 3DS for a bit. I'm at the second stage of the third world (the western one), and honestly I kinda like it. The controls are a lil wonky, but I think taking things slow helps enormously, and there's often plenty of ways to get through a level so you can try another route if the current one isn't working out. The many deaths you can experience are pretty funny, and I feel the game would be more enjoyable if you had more or unlimited lives to let you make mistakes and enjoy the silliness (that's why I'm cool with the Crash Bandicoot games throwing as many lives at you as they do).

The only point I've not really enjoyed, and where I had to start using save states to make it through, is the house of doors at the end of the circus world. Bubsy's fragility becomes a real liability when you have to find a specific route through while contending with tight corridors and various things that can easily kill you. I'm gonna keep playing and see how far I can get, maybe to the end even.

[spanky]

Oct 22, 2023 7:50:51 GMT -5 excelsior said:

Oct 22, 2023 7:24:51 GMT -5 spanky said:

I'll admit I voted for Bubsy. I love the SNES library, the good, the bad.. and the Bubsy.

lol! Almost spit out my coffee...

With regards to the poll, Star Fox is probably my least favorite of the listed games (still a great game of course) but I think I have the least to say about Chrono Trigger despite it's quality and wealth of personal nostalgia I have for the game so I chose that.

[ommadawnyawn2]

What could go wrong? A lot, apparently. I honestly struggled to get past the first set of levels in this one. The physics are really weird, you're not equipped for all the enemies everywhere when running around at the speed they seem to expect, and too many things kill you in one hit. I kinda want to give it an F after losing all my lives pretty quickly and getting sent back to the beginning by a hidden path at one point, but to be fair the gliding is kind of neat, there's a lot of checkpoints (and I think a bunch of 1-ups too) to lower some of the frustration, and they did put some work into the visuals. Didn't mind the music either. Comparing it to the MD version it's clearly better sounding on SNES, and unlike various other multiplats there's no horizontal resolution advantage on MD.

D

[Snake]

Bubsy the Bobcat Claws Encountered of the Furred Kind

Just so-so. A game to rent once, and forget about.  It just felt like a bootleg wannabe Sonic the Hedgehog.  2-D mascot platformer, moving at speed collecting not coins nor rings, but... balls of yarn?  But you would think they would ditch the 1-hit wonder deaths to make it more forgiving.  The graphics aren't half bad, nice and vibrant.  Though even the way Bubsy is spinning around on a stream of water mimics Sonic.  Music is mostly forgettable, but the stage end fanfare melody and one of the later tree top stages are followable. Feels more like a labor of concept than a labor of love.  

Rank C

[Apollo Chungus]

Welp, I ended up playing the rest of Bubsy this evening. Sadly, things didn't improve all that much from those first impressions, as the increasing difficulty ended up working against the game. Sometimes you'd have decent stage ideas that gave you plenty of freedom to find your way through a stage, like the fourth world with its high path of thin platforms and low path where you ride a water raft through tricky timing challenges or the fifth world's emphasis on verticality with all those vines and leaves you can climb up. But all that feels like it's in a battle against all the enemy placements and Bubsy's one hit point wonder status, resulting in a very trial and error ass game.

I had to use save states so frequently to make my way through, and perhaps that doesn't make for a fair judgement. But I'd rather have an unfair judgement where I still kinda like the thing and can see the good/potential in there, rather than going through it """properly""" and as a result disliking it so much that I want to pour cold custard down the designers' underpants. I can somewhat see why some people really don't like this game, and it's a shame that this is apparently the best of the series. That said, it's made me curious to try out some more of those mascot platformers that were all the rage in the early 90s, and see how they fared. Maybe it'll result in some articles for the site in the future??? Who knows???

Anyway, a rating. I'll prolly do a more overall write-up in the Game Fail Thread, so in terms of what reflects my feelings of "decent enough game fighting back against layers of bullshit", I'd say...

C-

[excelsior]

Serious poll this time with a genuine question I've been mulling for a while over with regard to the future of this thread. I've been wondering whether we should move to a seasonal schedule. Specifically I had in mind that we would run 10 weeks and then take a 3 week break, so we'd still be active the majority of the time. The idea is to give everybody a break so they can catch up on missed entries or just get away from SNES games for a bit and come back fresh if that's what people want. The start of a new season would also serve as a cut off point for being able to submit a ranking. I'm going to have to find a way to draw a line under that either way.

Obviously, I welcome opinions and suggestions should you have more to say on the matter also.

[spanky]

Either way works! If you feel like you need a break once in a while, absolutely do the seasonal option.

[Snake]

No preference, I'm cool with any kind of format and improvisation! It's just nice to talk gaming.  Especially lovely SNES gaming.

[dsparil]

I voted weekly then changed my mind to seasonal. Although what if instead of 10 on / 3 off, it was 3 on / 1 off?

[excelsior]

I wasn't suggesting that I need a break - when I do, I will definitely take one as will be the case in some weeks in the November/December period. I prefer people to vote on the basis that they themselves benefit from a break sometimes. Though, yes, a more frequent one week break would work too. I just prefer to be able to prepare a schedule so I can set expectations.

[Snake]

3 on, 1 off sounds like a good interval.  

[excelsior]

• Publisher - Capcom
• Developer - Capcom
• Genre - Action
• Initial Release - 4 October 1991
• 
  

You are Arthur, the boldest bladesman alive. You are caught in a dangerous quest! Fiendish foes and grim demons are about to hurl disaster your way!

You must save the wondrous Princess Guinevere. But beware! The reeking ruler of the forbidden land can call forth evil and destruction. Who knows what creeping, leaping terrors haunt this dripping realm!

You may lose your armor and your strength. You may be hexed. You may become a baby, a duck, or a skeleton! But you are never without a weapon. And magic awaits to help you.

Destroy the witches, ogres and ghosts. Escape the snapping skulls and ghastly ghouls. And save Guinevere from the mysterious depths of the Phantom Zone in Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts!

  

  

[excelsior]

Some changes to the OP on the front page:-
1. A cut off point indicated by a dotted line on the list of weekly thread links. For anything above this point I will no longer accept rankings, though feel free to post about these games.
2. An upcoming schedule which will indicate which weeks will have a game and which will be a break. 
3. Within this schedule a hint towards next weeks discussion. This will be updated weekly.

--------

Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts is mostly an excellent game, with a well measured difficulty that feels rewarding as you get further each time. Every obstacle can be learned to the point that it can be dealt with. On top of that the audiovisual experience is lovely. Controls are also great, and there's a nice set of weapons to get to know and help you through areas. Unfortunately, the devs hated players and didn't want them to have fun. Forcing The Goddess Bracelet and a second loop through the stages to reach the end is a choice that is mostly questionable because the bracelet is just no fun to use, and doesn't show the gameplay in its best light. 

Ranking - B

[spanky]

Ghouls for the Genesis is one of my favorite games but shockingly I like the SNES sequel far less. I can't quite put my finger on why - I always get held up on the boring raft section in the second level and start to lose interest. I realized I had a save on the NSO version of the game at the beginning of the final level and spent about 20 minutes getting murdered by Red Arremers. Double jumping is a cool, classic game mechanic but here it just frustrates the hell out of me as it usually gets more in more trouble than I bargained for. I do like the mid level green armor and early SNES Capcom aesthetics really hit me just right. I feel like a B is just right though I can't help but think that's being a bit harsh for some reason.

[retr0gamer]

I can really talk about this one as the original Ghouls 'n Ghosts was my game on megadrive and arcade. I really love this game but it's only issue is that it's not as good as the original gng and you kind of have to compare the two.

The level design is mostly excellent with great set pieces and fun use of mode 7. The castle levels are the only weak point in the game. The game also has a fantastic soundtrack.

I really love the new weapons. The arrows are by far my favourite and are quite overpowered. Enemies like the red arremers are fooled by the weird trajectory and the green armours homing ability nearly breaks the game.

Now on to what annoys me about the game. Despite the new double jump, which I really like, Arthur has much less combat options open to him as he can't aim up or down when jumping. The biggest problem with this is the red arremers who are a total pain to deal without the ability to fire upwards. Their AI is also a little broken compared to the original game as they tend to fly right out of the bounds of the screen a lot. You can alleviate this with the arrows but on the second loop with the bracelet it's super annoying, in the original the bracelet was short range but nicely overpowered especially with the gold armour.

I could be harsh and give it a low B but really it's one flaw is comparison with one of the all time classics. I'll give it a high B+. Fantastic game but a smidge off greatness.