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Collection essentials #185: F-Zero (SNES)

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Here we have one of the few Super Nintendo launch titles, a game that served as a technical showcase to demonstrate what the powerful new hardware was capable of. F-Zero is a futuristic racing game which takes place several centuries from now. The Super Nintendo was capable of “Mode 7” graphics, which basically meant that it could freely rotate a background layer, and so this is how F-Zero’s tracks work. When you turn in F-Zero, you’ll see that the whole track under you rotates, and in a way that looks natural. That might seem kind of basic, but other consoles at the time couldn’t do that! Look up racing games on the NES and Genesis and you’ll find that none of them look quite like F-Zero. This does mean that F-Zero’s tracks are 100% flat with no hills of any kind, but that doesn’t ruin the game. Being a futuristic racing game, you can probably guess that F-Zero isn’t very realistic, and that’s a good thing. It’s a very fast game, with a lot of hazards to be wary of. You have an energy
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Collection essentials #184: EarthBound (SNES)

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Ooh boy, here’s one with a lot to write about. Gonna be hard to keep this brief. EarthBound is a turn-based JRPG, the second game in a series which is known as “Mother” in Japan (the creator says he was inspired by the John Lennon song of that name), and the first one to see a release outside Japan. Most RPGs, especially from this time period, take place in some kind of a high fantasy setting. Although the locations are fictional, the settings of these games are much more contemporary, resembling a more normal and modern world. They’re also quite humorous, being somewhat of a parody of the genre, but the games are not merely one huge joke, as they do tell stories with a coherent narrative as well. The main character of EarthBound is a silent protagonist, a boy who you may name whatever you want (though his official name is “Ness”). At the start of the game, he lives in a regular home with his parents and sister. The game begins with a meteorite crashing outside, and you as a curious bo
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Collection essentials #183: Dragon View (SNES)

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Dragon View is the sequel to an RPG from early in the SNES lifespan called Drakkhen, which I don’t own and frankly isn’t a very good game. But for this game they changed things up, in a good way. This game plays like a blend of an RPG and arcade-style beat ‘em ups like Final Fight or Streets of Rage. You control a character who gets stronger by leveling up, getting better gear and magic. There’s a linear storyline to follow, and a world to explore with towns, dungeons and a world map to get from place to place. However, when you actually get into an area with combat, battles play out in real-time much like one of those arcade games I mentioned.  Dragon View’s story isn’t very memorable, but what does stand out is how it presents its narrative. All dialogue in the game is presented from a perspective as if you’re reading a book, with a narration describing how the characters are acting and quoting the characters when they’re supposed to say something. You could argue that a video game l
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Collection essentials #182: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble (SNES)

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After two smash hits, Nintendo and Rare didn’t want to stop making these games, so for the third year in a row the world got a Donkey Kong Country game. This would have to be the last one, as time was running out on the Super Nintendo; the next console generation was in full throttle now, with Nintendo having released their newest console earlier in the year. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that DKC3 was the least popular of the three games, but still quite successful in its own right, reaching the highest respectable position of 11th-best-selling Super Nintendo game of all time. The story this time around, is, well…uncreative. In the previous game, Donkey Kong got kidnapped, and the objective was to save him. This time, Donkey Kong AND Diddy Kong got kidnapped. I guess they just really wanted the excuse to make Dixie the main character this time. So who’s her partner? Well, it’s the brand new “Kiddy Kong”, who is clearly a toddler, but belongs to a big and strong species of ape so h
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Collection essentials #181: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (SNES)

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Donkey Kong Country 1 was such a huge hit, it’s no wonder that a sequel landed a year later. And boy, what a sequel it is. It pretty much doesn’t mess with any of the fundamentals that made the first game work, and it simply does just about everything a little bit better. A little note about this game: it’s notoriously easy to get the title wrong. For many years I thought it was “Diddy Kong’s Quest”, then it came to my attention that I was playing the apostrophe and the S in the wrong place, as it is a play on the word “conquest.” The correct title is “Diddy’s Kong Quest”. If you have always gotten this wrong and I just blew your mind, you’re welcome. The story this time is that, rather than steal Donkey Kong’s stash of bananas, King K. Rool has kidnapped Donkey Kong himself instead. And so Diddy Kong sets off with his girlfriend Dixie to save the day. This has some gameplay implications too. In the first game, Donkey Kong was the “power” character who had an easy time dispatching cert
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Collection essentials #180: Donkey Kong Country (SNES)

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Donkey Kong, as I’ve talked about, was Nintendo’s first real smash hit in arcades in the early ‘80s. There were a couple sequels, but Donkey Kong as a character and as a franchise didn’t seem to have much staying power. Mario had found a different recurring foe with the iconic reptile Bowser, and Donkey Kong had found himself a villain to a different hero in Donkey Kong 3 but nothing beyond that. Nintendo got several strong IPs going in the NES era and then for most of the SNES era, but Donkey Kong wasn’t a part of that.  In the ‘90s, American gamers placed a premium on graphics. Video game technology was steadily improving, and gamers were super hungry for the most cutting-edge real-looking 3D games to be made. The Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were the main big home consoles out for a few years, but it was clear that the power of those consoles would be made obsolete before very long. Some companies tried to rush new systems out the door too soon or add peripherals to their existin
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Collection essentials #179: Dolucky’s A-League Soccer (SNES)

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Here’s a really fun non-traditional sports-game, and I’m not sure why this one never left Japan. Dolucky’s A-League Soccer is a super fun take on the popular sport featuring four teams (plus one hidden) of different animals.  The action is pretty fast-paced, and obviously there’s stuff here you wouldn’t see in a real soccer match, like the players jumping super high. And most notably, there’s a “super meter” that fills as you play, and once it’s full you can activate it to temporarily power-up the player you’re controlling, letting you move super fast, and it’ll be way easier to score. You see, if a goalie blocks your shot when you’re powered up, they’ll get knocked over briefly, so you have a chance to get the ball back and shoot it uncontested. I like this, because the power-up is still very meaningful, but it takes a little skill and precision to pull off rather than just give you a freebie. In multiplayer, there are a variety of gimmicks you can add to the match, such as mines or c
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