SNEScapades

We had a tiny mix-up today, so we're only reviewing two games. We're discussing Actraiser 2 and Biometal. And you'll be sure to want to hear who won in the first four preliminary match ups of the 2023 SSMP Showdown.

Biometal is another horizontally scrolling shooter. But unlike other shooters on the SNES, this one is powered by Eurodance! Specifically, MIDI versions of songs by the 90's own 2 Unlimited.

And we'll just let ya know right now, that Actraiser 2 does not live up to the original. Actraiser is still sitting pretty high in the A tier. So how far does the sequal fall? B-tier? C-tier? Something worse than that? You'll have to listen to find out.

Thanks to everyone who voted, and check us out on social media to cast your vote for the next three rounds.

We decided we wanted to spice things up just a bit as we head down that road toward episode 100. Emmy and Chase are both picking 16 of their favorite Super NES tracks and pitting them all in a tournament to see which one is the best. And you're going to help us decide! We hope, please?

We'll announce who's moving on in different match-ups every episode starting with the next one. So be sure that you're following Chase on social media to let us know which tune you think is your favorite.

Check out Chase's Instagram account @snescapades to vote for your favorite. Also, you can reach out to him on Mastadon @snescapades@mstdn.social. Tumblr @chase-keys. Even Cohost, why not? @snescapades. Share this with your friends! We really hope we get a good turn-out. This'll be a pretty boring tournament without your help.

Another month is in the books and that means we're cracking open another issue of Nintendo Power. This time we're taking a look at the November 1993 issue.

This issue contains some interesting information about Secret of Mana (which we already played) and a lot of maps of the SNES Jurassic Park game (which we have not yet played.) There's also some info for SimAnt, Aero the Acrobat, the penultimate issue of the Star Fox comic, and a Nester comic that was *gasp* kinda good?

Most excitingly, we got what was a very early look at some renderings by some (at the time) very powerful CGI workstations which Nintendo hoped would be indicative of the visuals that its next console would deliver. But looking back on it all, was it a lot of wishful thinking, or was it accurate to the sorts of experiences the N64 would deliver?

All this, a check-in with Newsie, and a whole lot more on this edition of SNEScapades Playing with Power.

We made it just under the wire to celebrate Pride and wrap up the month of October 1993 with a nice, rainbow-colored bow. Today we're talking about The Wizard of Oz, True Golf Classics: Wicked 18, and Troddlers.

Wicked 18 takes the True Golf Classics series in a new direction with impossible courses. But is it par for the course, or do these courses get a bit too silly for their own good?

The Wizard of Oz on the SNES has a bit of a reputation and we're sad to say, it lives up to them.

And finally, Troddlers is a Lemmings-like that you may not have heard about. Can it live up to the lofty heights of its inspiration? All of this and more on today's episode of SNEScapades!

Hey everyone! We're still here, I promise. And we're talking about destructible toy lines, awful British fish things, and a really gross duo of cartoon animals. I guess you could say, this episode is about a bunch of dummies.

First we're talking about The Incredible Crash Dummies, and how a PSA pleading with stubborn Americans to buckle up in the 80s lead to a toy line that would become the bane of many a vacuum cleaner in the 90s.

Then we're talking about the Aquabats; an obscure spin-off to the somewhat already obscure James Pond franchise. We don't have quite as much to say about that one.

But we have plenty to say about the early Nickelodeon Nicktoon Ren & Stimpy. How well does the strange and off-putting world of Ren & Stimpy work in the video game Ren & Stimpy: Veediots? Better than you'd expect.

So buckle those seat belts, put on your running flippers, and sit down with your favorite tooth beaver. It's time for SNEScapades!

We've got cowboys, Jedi, and gambling. What more could you possibly want? Do you like really good arcade ports about colorful gun-slingers shooting capitalists? We got it! Do you like playing casino games but without the money or actual casino? We got that too! Do you like Star Wars? Oh boy, we got it!

We've got some history behind the company that made Super Caesars Palace, but not much to talk about concerning the game, cuz there isn't much to talk about. But is it at least as good as that other SNES casino game?

The Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back has a lot to live up to after the first game. The fact that it's not on the cover of this one should probably give you an idea of what we thought of it. But you can listen to our opinions anyway. May the Force be with you and all that jazz.

Finally, we've got Sunset Riders. This is a really enjoyable arcade port and we can't wait to tell you what we like about it. So please give this one a listen, won't you? Hee Haw!

Hey everyone! Chase and Emmy are back to discuss ants and rpgs. First up is the Maxis game SimAnt, another PC sim port. Emmy has a lot of love for this game, but Chase isn't a huge fan of bugs. Give this one a listen and find out if Emmy's nostalgia will win the day over Chase's entomophobia.

Then we have two games all about magic. The first is a traditional RPG called Paladin's Quest. It's certainly not one of the better known SNES RPGs. Is there a reason for that, or is Paladin's Quest a hidden gem? Finally, it's time to talk about Secret of Mana and it's well-documented troubled development.

Today we've got three games that are fine. These are fine. They're fine. Well, two of them are fine. Well, Emmy thinks two of them are fine. Chase thought one of these games wasn't worth his time. But they both agree on one thing: one of these games is very bad. The others... they're fine.

Emmy was pleasantly surprised by Lock On and found it's gameplay similar to parts of Star Fox 64 while Chase didn't care for it very much. Who will have more sway when it comes to placing it on the list, though? Well, if I wrote that in the description, you'd have less reason to listen to the episode, wouldn't you?

Pac-Attack is a falling-block puzzle game that adds some Pac-Man... and it's fine. It's totally fine.

You know what's not fine, the game based on Last Action Hero. It's bad. Give us a listen and we'll tell ya just how bad we thought it was.

Classic Looney Tunes shorts, American game shows, 90s anime; these are just some of the topics we talk about in this episode. We're talking about Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions, Family Feud, and Kendo Rage.

Marvin Missions is based on the classic Duck Dodgers and the 24th 1/2 Century short (that's really funny, you should go watch it.) Is this game worthy of the classic short, or is it as useful as a disintegration pistol? 

We also go into a brief history of the game show Family Feud before discussing the game. Did the SNES need a game based on Family Feud? Does something like this work in a world before the internet and easily accessible 4+ multiplayer? Are these questions hinting toward our overall opinions of this game? They probably should be.

Finally, we've got Kendo Rage. It's a bit amazing we got a game like this without it getting westernized to hell and back. We'll tell you what we thought of it and Emmy will even talk a little bit about the OVA based on the game.

All of this and a special message from Emmy at the end that we hope you'll stick around for. Enjoy!

Okay, Chase and Emmy were a little cranky on this one. But you would be too if you had to play these three games back-to-back. Cliffhanger is a boring game that plays acceptably, until it doesn't. Battletoads and Double Dragon isn't fit for either of those franchises (and that's saying something because we already kinda don't like Battletoads.) And Aero the Acrobat is kinda like if a DM went through the trouble of crafting a really excellent story, and was then just hell-bent on wiping the party and ending the game early.

I wish I'd thought of that metaphor on the show.

In any case, don't expect us to be kind at all to these games. If you really cherish any childhood memories of these games... it'll be okay if you want to give this one a skip. We also talked about the movie Cliffhanger (a first time watch for both of us) and we didn't like that either. So, you've been warned.

We are sorry about all the negativity today. We really don't like to be that kind of a show. We do discuss the brief history of Malibu Comics, and that's kinda interesting. We hope you still enjoy the episode more than we did playing the games we talked about.

We have made it to another month in our chronology, so it's time to talk about an issue of Nintendo Power. Our guests for this episode are two-thirds of the amazing team from the Gateleapers podcast. Jason and Matt might have been too young to have read this issue when it was new, but they have a ton of hilarious commentary to offer anyway. If you're into fonts, early 90s CGI, Yoda feet, Plok, or wrestling then we've probably got something for ya. Also plenty of humorous US/UK misunderstandings. 

This issue was a bit lackluster, but we had so much fun chatting with these jokers, that I don't think mind. But if you take away one thing from this podcast, it's this: Don't EVER suggest your girlfriend dress up like your mom, please.

Happy New Year, everyone! We're kicking off 2023 and saying goodbye to September 1993 with a trio of pretty all-right games.

We start with Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. It was, perhaps, a bold move to release what was an expansion for the computer versions of this game as a stand-alone game on a system that was already a bit ill-suited to it. Despite that (and not being a genre Chase enjoys all that much) maybe Chase and Emmy are feeling a little more fond of this game than they were with the original. I dunno. Listen and find out.

Then it's time to talk about World Heroes, and it's strange place amongst SNK fighting games. Is this one tough enough to rival the likes of Tuff E Nuff, or is this another poor fighting game that's not fit to wash Street Fighter II's gi?

And finally, it's Zombies Ate My Neighbors. Yes, we're going to talk about LucasArts. Yes, the game is amazing? How amazing? You're going to have to listen to find out just how high this one moves up the rankings.

It's a few days before Christmas, and we just have a regular episode that's been in the can for a week. Sorry about that. But the games are pretty interesting. We're talking about Tuff E Nuff and Top Gear 2. Also we briefly mention Utopia: Creation of a Nation.

Tuff E Nuff is a goofy fighting game taking place in a dystopia where society has collapsed and the majority of its roster is locked behind a cheat code. But other than that, this one actually isn't bad for a fighting game of this vintage. We'll tell you what we think it learned the right lessons from Street Fighter, and what it could have improved on... ya know, if Jaleco had ever given us a sequel to this one.

Top Gear 2 as a big legacy to live up to, as it's predecessor was a racing game that really took us by surprise. Does this one rise to the heights of the original, or will it be a disappointment? Listen and find out.

Well folks, it's finally happening. We've talked about wanting to make some changes to the list for some time and we're finally doing it. We're not just potentially re-ranking, we're changing the way ranking works. Basically, we're changing things to a tier list. We'll explain more in the episode. Is your favorite game getting a more or less favorable position on the new list? Listen and find out.

And there's one more little change that's going to be talked about at the end, so don't check out early or else you're gonna be confused when the next episode drops.

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay. We're back and we're recording again. But before that, we need to get this episode out there that we recorded months ago but never got to actually edit and put up. So here it is! We're talking about two classic children's franchises that were adapted to the Super NES. 

Actually, that's a lie. One of them is Super Widget, based on the cartoon Widget the World Watcher. Will this game be a pleasant surprise, or is it as forgettable as the cartoon on which it's based?

But we're also talking about Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Perhaps a timely game given that we recorded it in the moments before that railroad strike almost happened. Was... timely... Maybe we should stop talking politics, we are really dating these things. Anyway, it's a game for very young children so of course two childless adults are the perfect people to review it.

Finally, we're talking about The 7th Saga, a JRPG that doesn't get mentioned like other classic JRPGs on the system like Final Fantasy III or Chrono Trigger. Is there a reason it's not as beloved or is it something of a hidden gem? Listen and find out.

Hey everyone, sadly there won't be any SNEScapades in October. But here's a quick announcement about why and what the future might hold for the show and other stuff.

It's time to talk about a certain rodent who likes to go really fast, has attitude, and tends to get kissed by human ladies. We're talking, of course, about Rocky Rodent, the infamous dine-and-dasher. Emmy and Link are a bit divided on the game's quality, but Rocky himself makes for such a strange specimen, that they can't stop talking about him. It's a wonder that he never got a single other game other than this debut outing. It's a crime! There's so much more Rocky Rodent lore to be told.

Also they played Super Off-Road: The Baja. It was pretty good. And Super Bomberman. It's Bomberman. 

We've got, not one, but two racing games for you today... kinda.

Redline F-1 Racer really isn't much to write home about, but Rock N' Roll Racing has become one of our favorite racing games on the system. We hope you'll enjoy rocking out to some midi versions of classic rock songs while we talk about this strange spiritual successor to RPM Racing.

Also, Plok is here. He's alright. Has some neat ideas. Shigeru Miyamoto seems to have really liked it so that must count for something.

We also have some history to dive into with Plok, so we hope you enjoy that.

It's time to talk about Koei for the very last time. Yup, we're calling it a day on covering Koei games (with possibly a few exceptions) as we just can't wrap our heads around them. We'll explain more in the episode.

But, for games we are going to talk about, we've got Mortal Kombat and Operation Logic Bomb. Mortal Kombat is a port of the classic arcade game that looses the blood. Is there anything that can redeem this defanged fighting classic? Well... you'll just have to give it a listen.

We also discuss Jaleco's Operation Logic Bomb. It's a top-down shooter with... something going on. We'll talk about this one and whether or not we think it's worth your time. Enjoy!

Today, Link and Emmy play a port of an arcade brawler from 1991 based on the Avengers. Will this be as good as other licensed arcade brawlers from the same era (like TMNT, The Simpsons, and X-Men)? Well... You'll just have to listen and find out.

Also, is it possible that a game ostensibly built as a playable commercial for a soft drink go beyond what is normally required of product placement and be an amazing game in its own right? Well... we have the answer for you. Listen and find out.

And finally, what's going on with the golfing robot? I can't actually promise any definitive answers to that one. But we'll have fun talking about it anyway.

It's an episode full of surprises, as we discuss Mecarobot Golf, Captain America and the Avengers, and Cool Spot. We had a lot of fun with this one and we hope you'll have just as much fun listening.

SNEScapades: It's an UP thing!

We're starting September off with a big ol' dull thud. Looking for uninspired brawlers, sports games we can't figure out, and hastily thrown together licensed games? No? Well we got them anyway. We're talking about Boxing Legends of the Ring (which you may know as Chavez II if you're from Latin America or the southwest US.) It's an impressive looking game, but completely incomprehensible to our hosting duo and raises the question, should they even keep doing sports games?

Then we've got Alien vs Predator. You might remember a really great Capcom brawler from the arcades around this time that had that name. Well this isn't that, sadly. It is a brawler but not a great one and Link and Emmy will tell you why.

Finally, it's off to Transylvania to talk about Bram Stoker's Dracula, based on the film of the same name. Let's just say, 16-bit Keaunu deserved better. 

Hey there! It's us! We're back! We're talking about another issue of Nintendo Power. This time it's issue 52 which came out in September of 1993. We listen to Newsie tell us about a movie, a song, and some tv shows that debuted that month. Then it's on to talking about more Super Mario All-Stars, more Final Fight 2, SNES RPGS, Rock N' Roll Racing, Mortal Kombat posters and so much more.

There's also a pair of comics. This month features a somewhat weak Star Fox and an uncharacteristically good Nester's Adventures. Speaker of Nester's Adventures, if you're reading these on the Internet Archives along with us, you might have noticed that the copy of the magazine that's up there is missing it's Nester's Adventures comic. Fear not, for Link still has this issue in his personal collection and you can see what all the fuss was about on his Instagram @snescapades (you are following him on Instagram, right?)

And speaking of social media, you can follow Link again on Twitter @snescapades because he just couldn't stay away from that hell site. Please follow him on Twitter again. He lost all of his followers because he didn't crawl back fast enough.

Two Capcom classics make a huge statement on the SNES to cap off August 1993. First, Link and Emmy talk about Final Fight 2, a huge improvement over its predecessor after denying gamers what they really wanted, to punch in the faces of Mad Gear goons with a friend. Co-op makes a huge difference (even if you can't turn off friendly fire) and three characters who all feel very different to play means there's some good variety to boot. 

But, of course, the real star here is Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Like Final Fight 2, it's also a big improvement over its earlier installment on the SNES. But unlike that game, this one already started out really great and just got more characters, more moves, and faster play speed. This might have some interesting implications for vanilla-flavor SFII on the list. But you'll have to listen to see what Link and Emmy end up doing.

Here we are! The final episode in our "Month of May-rio" specials discussing the games contained within the Super Mario All-Stars collection. We're talking about the big one this time around: Super Mario Bros. 3. SMB 3 probably doesn't require much introduction, to this day it's regarded by many as the best game to be released on the original NES and one of the greatest video games ever made. 

And after our trip down memory lane, we'll finally be ranking Super Mario All-Stars. So where will it go? Top 10? Top 5? Could we have a new number 1 on our hands? You'll have to listen to find out.

We're off to the land of Subcon to throw some vegetables into an evil frog's mouth. 

We hope you enjoy this, the second of our three-part series about Super Mario All-Stars and the four games contained within. Today, we're talking about Super Mario Bros. 2. It's a very strange entry in the Mario series due to being a re-skin of a different game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. As a result, it's often regarded as the black sheep of the Mario series, but is that warranted or does this game have even closer ties to the Mario series than most of us believe. We'll discuss that and more as we go into the history of this quirky game.

Welcome to the (slightly delayed start) of the Month of May-rio. We are talking about Super Mario All-Stars all month. Today's episode is about the original Super Mario Bros. and The Lost Levels.

We'll not only be talking about these games as they exist in the Super Mario All-Stars compilation, but we'll also discus the history of these two games on the Famicom and NES back in the 80s. 

And don't forget to tune in next week (hopefully) where we'll be talking about Super Mario. Bros 2 (the North American Version).

On this extra special (and quite long) episode, Brandon from the Namely 90s podcast sits down with us to chat about the August 93 edition of Nintendo Power. We talk about good bad Street Fighter II art, Star Trek, Aliens, and much more.

Which Looney Toon character is the most problematic? How's that Star Fox comic going? What's up with the purple goo in Zombies Ate my Neighbors? Did some random NP reader speedrun TMNT IV faster than anyone else in history? And what games introduced at CES 93 not make it to market? We'll get to the bottom of some of those questions.

We want to shout out a few folks today. Of course the Namely 90s Podcast, listen to Brandon and Andrew talk about what happened in a different month from the 90s in every episode. Also check out The Weekly Cooldown, on which Link was a guest recently. And give a listen to all the shows Brandon recently guested on: Everything 90s, The Nostalgia Test, and All 90s Action All the Time. OH, and the Prime Nostalgia Podcast.

It's a baseball game and a formula 1 game. Um... we're not sure what else to tell ya.

Obviously talking about these sorts of games are always hard for Emmy and Link as neither of them are fans of either of these activities in real life and don't enjoy playing simulations of them. But they try to keep it lively anyway, and hey, maybe they'll find enough in these games to rank at least one of them.

We've got some pretty fun games today, and two of them are pretty weird. We discuss Goof Troop, E.V.O., and First Samurai. Goof Troop is a fun, puzzle-based, action game that can be played co-op. E.V.O. is different and requires a lot of grind, but has plenty of redeeming qualities, and First Samurai is a 2D action-platform game that sings "Hallelujah" when you pick up food.

This is probably one of the better trios that Link and Emmy have encountered in awhile and they're really happen to talk about them, and Link is happy to tell you a bit about the guy behind the company behind First Samurai as well. We hope you enjoy the episode and we hope you're doing okay.

Hey everyone! Sorry this episode didn't end up being the bonus episode we planned. Things are kinda bad IRL right now and we just didn't have the energy to record.

On that note, if you're in a position to do so right now, we'd really appreciate it if you could donate some money to a worthy cause right now, like humanitarian aid in Ukraine, or to civil rights advocacy groups who are fighting the numerous anti LGBT+ bills that seem to be popping up in state governments all over the country, or shoot a message to some of your representatives and ask them to stop the GOP's attempts at trans genocide. That would be really awesome of you.

Anyway, this is still a podcast about SNES games and this is part 2 of the last episode that went up, so you'll probably want to listen to that one first. Big thanks to Trevor once again for joining us to record this VERY long episode with us and for all of his insight he brought to the table on the games discussed in issue 50 of Nintendo Power.

We hope to be getting back to the regular episodes very soon. Thanks for sticking with us.

Hey everyone. Welcome to the month of July 1993. We decided to use Playing with Power episodes as an excuse to have guests on the show and will continue to do this going forward. Our special guest for this one is Trevor from Catching up on Cinema. It's actually fortunate that we had him on because he had a lot to say about many of the games featured in this issue of Nintendo Power, like WWF Royal Rumble, Run Saber, and E.V.O. 

We had such a good time talking about all the content in this issue that this ended up being our longest episode to date and as a result, we're just going to break this up into two parts. Part two will come out next week, so it's not even interfering with the regular episodes coming out. You're just getting a bonus episode!

And I guess you can thank Trevor for that that, so go follow him on twitter (@CatchingCinema) and listen to his show (Catching up on Cinema) as a way of saying "thank you!"

In this episode, we're talking about WWF Royal Rumble and Yoshi's Cookie. Two games that couldn't be much different from each other.

Link and Emmy gave Royal Rumble a real shot and came away mostly impressed, despite the fact that neither of them have much nostalgia for wrestling. But was it impressive enough to crack the top 100?

Then it's off to the bakery to talk about the interesting history behind Yoshi's cookie, its connections to Tetris, and the history of the guy who founded the company that made it, Bullet Proof Software. And, of course they'll talk about the Nintendo-branded puzzle game itself. Will this be the new king of the mountain as far as SNES puzzle games are concerned? Listen and find out!

We're getting to the end of June 1993 (finally) and we're talking about two of the final four games.

First up, we're talking about Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, a topic we've discussed already back in our Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego episode. How does this port of the classic 80s piece of edutainment hold up to the already-released port of it's older sibling? We'll tell you. 

And then we discuss Wolfchild by Core Design. This is the second, and final, game from the company so we discuss their history just in case we didn't when we talked about Chuck Rock. 

We'll be frank, the games in June 93 aren't getting much better. But listen to the episode anyway. SteampunkLink has a little surprise for you if you listen all the way to the end.

All this and we didn't even make any jokes about how this is episode 69. Cuz we're classier than that.

It has BEGUN! Emmy and Link welcome Trevor from the Catching up on Cinema podcast to talk (for a very long time) about the 1995 film "Mortal Kombat." All of your favorite characters are here. Johnny gets a few great lines, Sonya... falls down while trying to throw a kick, and Lu Kang is the most special boy. Trevor, Link, and Emmy will discuss all of their amazing battles against Kano (chump), Sub-Zero, and Scorpion who really just should have been using a regular spear. 

Also the Goro animatronic is impressive, but is he wet enough?

Mortal Kombat was regarded as one of the most faithful adaptations of a video game when it was released, but how does it hold up? In the course of breaking down the movie, the trio talk about the filmography of Paul WS Anderson, speculate how last-minute casting resulted in a few issues for some of the fight scenes, wonder what it must be like to be beaten up by two different Lu Kangs, and ask "Why didn't Robin Shou have more of a career?"

We can't thank Trevor enough for joining us and sharing his knowledge of all things cinema with us for this episode. You can listen to more of him, and his co-host Kyle, on the Catching up on Cinema podcast which you can find on all of the podcast apps. You can also follow them on Twitter @CatchingCinema.

Not too long ago, we had an idea of a way we could get through sports games on the SNES. That idea was just to do them all in chunks to help get them over with faster. Unfortunately, we don't really think we nailed it with that one.

So we close the book on "Sports Desk" episodes with all the 1993 football games. Going forward, sports games will just go back into the regular chronology and we will reserve the right to put any sports game we don't find interesting enough to talk about into the "unranked" pile. I wish we really could rank every single game, but doing it this way is just going to make covering sports games a chore that won't be fun for us to do or for you to listen to.

So enjoy this final (and short) sports desk and find out which of the seven football games that came out in 93 Link and Emmy found noteworthy enough to add to the list.

Here it is, folks. By the end of this episode, there will be 200 games on our ranked list. Not only that, but two of these games are going to shake up the upper portion of the list. Perhaps even a top ten contender? Two top ten contenders? I'm not saying here. You're just going to have to listen.

While Run Saber and Pocky & Rocky are some pretty great games, Link and Emmy also have to talk about Mario is Missing, which is less good. But it gives Link a chance to talk a LOT about Software Toolworks.

Is there any redemption this odd piece of Mario branded edutainment? Where the heck did Run Saber even come from? Can Emmy convince Link that Pocky & Rocky is good actually? Some of these questions will be answered in this episode!

The theme of today's episode is "Who thought this was a good idea?" Who thought it was a good idea to release a 6-year-old western computer RPG on a system that had some of the best RPGs for consoles? Who thought it was a good idea to make a game based on an imperiled animated sitcom that no one seemed to want? And who thought it was a good idea to release a minimal-effort, top-down racing game on a system that already had Top Gear and Mario Kart on it?

We can't tell you the "why", but we can tell you the how as we do some deep-dives into the creation of the original Atari ST smash Dungeon master and the dumpster fire that was the production of Family Dog. Also, we remember that we played Kawasaki's Caribbean challenge this week. 

Not the best crop of games, but listening to us talk about them has to be better than playing them.

We have the good, the bad, and the indifferent today, and you might be a little surprised to find out which one is which. 

Cacoma Knight is the one Emmy and Link don't have strong opinions one way or another about. It's not terrible, but it's basically just another version of Qix, an arcade game that goes back to the 80s. We talk about the flaws and the things that make this version stand out a bit.

As for the bad category, well, that would be Battletoads. Link and Emmy discuss the series' promising roots and what makes this one such a let down for them. 

And then there's BOB, which is a solid run-and-gun platformer that our hosts rather enjoyed. And Link will tell you a bit about the sequel to this game that sadly never was.

The Battletoads may have usurped BOB for the cover of the last Nintendo Power they discussed, but Link and Emmy are making BOB the cover boy he was meant to be in this episode of SNEScapades.

Another month down, another Nintendo Power issue to talk about, and another episode of SNEScapades that goes on longer than an hour. In this episode, Link and Emmy discuss Jurassic Park, interesting controllers, cute teenage robots, iffy Nintendo science, and games you can play with your dad (or maybe your imagined younger self as the mid-life crisis sets in?)  

This issue also marks a somewhat abrupt end to the Star Fox comic. Is an opinionated NP reader to blame? Probably not, but they'll drag him anyway.  

Battletoads appeared on the cover of this one which was fitting as they were also appearing in games on every Nintendo system at the time. Your hosts will talk about their experience with the toads that do battle and talk about why such a promising franchise never really grabbed them and why (in their opinion) the series was MIA for such a long time.  

All this and a French fox who may or may not have once been a French comedian on today's Playing with Power episode of SNEScapades!

It's the last episode for May of 1993 and we're talking about two firsts. The first casino game compilation and the first of two Carmen Sandiego games that ended up on the Super NES. 

First we discuss Vegas Stakes, a compilation of several popular casino games that add a little flavor in the form of AI friends to join you and random events that can bring good or bad fortune. Is it enough to put it in the upper echelon of the list? Or is this game more crap than craps?

Then we hop in our Acme Chronoskimmer, and take a journey through history with our trusty desk encyclopedias to track down Carmen Sandiego and her VILE henchmen. How does this port of Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego fair in the Google era? And why didn't PBS get Rockapella back for the history-based sequel series? We discuss all this and SteampunkLink's 4th grade Halloween costume on today's episode.

As we start to wind down May of 93, we've only got a few games left to talk about. On today's show, Link and Emmy are talking about Super Turrican and Taz-Mania.

Taz-Mania was a strange game on the SNES, using racing game-like mechanics in an action game. They game isn't amazing, but it is kinda unique and worth talking about. Also worth talking about is the strange popularity of the Taz character in the 80s and 90s despite being a pretty seldom-used character in the Looney Tunes pantheon at that point.

There's also Super Turrican, which has an interesting history all its own. It's a pretty decent run-and-gun shooter that keeps coming back.

We hope you enjoy.

It's giant robot tanks, fishing, and cyberpunk rpgs. Three games that couldn't be more different. Despite not being your typical SNES games, both Emmy and Link walked away mostly positive on these games.

Both MechWarrior and Shadowrun are based on tabletop games by a company called FASA, so this episode starts with a quick rundown of that company before going into the games themselves. MechWarrior is a bit complex, but not overwhelmingly so, and Shadowrun is a pretty fascinating RPG hindered by a few poor design choices. 

And finally, there's fishing. It's fine.

Will MechWarrior's complexity keep it out of the top 100? Will Shadowrun join the upper echelon of SNES RPGs? Will Link land that big bass that's hiding at the bottom of the lake like a coward? Listen and find out!

We've got three 2D, sidescrollers today. Some are alright, some aren't very good. None are amazing. None are awful. One has some cool things that make it stand out, another is interesting in the ways it falls short, and the last isn't really interesting at all, but won't ruin your day.

We start with Alien 3, and though proper horror isn't really something that Nintendo of America seemed interested in bringing stateside, games like this were about as close as we'd get. 

Then it's off to Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, a game that we will address as Bubsy 1 from here on out. We discuss the rather infamous, and persistant franchise that began with this game before talking about what works and what doesn't. Was Bubsy doomed from the start, or was there some potential that was just never realized?

Finally, we talk about Congo's Caper. It's fine.

There is so much to talk about in this May 1993 issue of Nintendo Power, that we needed a super-sized episode cram it all in. We're gonna talk Batman Returns, The Wonder Years, Dave, the Mario Bros. movie, Kawasaki jet skis, defunct comics! What more could you ask for? 

Oh, I guess we could talk about some games as well. We'll be discussing Batman Returns, The Lost Vikings, Kirby's Adventure, and more. Do you like your games with a clumsy environmental message? We have at least two of those! There's also a sneak peak at the original Game Boy version of Link's Awakening and the Super NES version of Shadowrun. As if that weren't enough, we'll break down that month's Star Fox comic and tell you who Nintendo Power readers voted as their favorite games from 1992. All this and more. 

Give it a listen!

It's finally here! The final episode for April 1993 contains a classic. The Lost Vikings may not be a name that carries quite the legacy of a Mario or a Halo Chief (that's the character's name, right?) but it ought to be up there because this game is pure 2D puzzle-platforming bliss.

It's a shame then that we didn't get to talk a little more about it despite having only one other game to discuss today. That game being Tom & Jerry. We dug into the history of the Tom & Jerry cartoon and it's almost like once we start talking cartoons, it's hard to get us to shut up about them.

But it's nice that April 93 gets to go out on a high note.

SNEScapades is going to the movies today. We're discussing three games that were based on movies.

First up we talk about the very strange Robin Williams movie Toys. The game it's based on isn't very good, but it gives us the chance to talk about Absolute Entertainment and to talk once again about prominent devs like David Crane and Garry Kitchen. Crane and Kitchen have some important games under their belts, so it's a shame that all of their games for the SNES haven't been amazing.

Then we talk about Wayne's World. This is a game with something of a reputation for being pretty bad. Surprisingly, this one is actually a lot better than we'd been led to believe.

NOT!

Finally, we talk about the Terminator; a strange movie to be getting a game given that the movie was pretty far in the rear view mirror by the time it came out, but perhaps with T2 on the horizon, Mindscape thought they could cash in. 

Not gonna lie, none of these are particularly great games. Which one of these is the best of the worst and will there be any bottom 10 contenders? Listen and find out.

On today's show, Emmy and Link talk about a pair of games that merge genres together in interesting ways that produce less than stellar results. First up is Super Ninja Boy. It's a game that combines the dungeon-crawling of an RPG and swaps out the turn-based battle mechanics for a belt-scrolling brawler; an idea that sounds good on paper. 

Then it's time to drive into an apocalyptic wasteland to talk about Outlander; a game that combines driving combat with on-foot resource-gathering excursions. 

Finally, we need to talk about Street Combat. It's a fighting game that has roots in a popular manga series that was completely washed out of the American release, leaving us with characters that are... a bit strange.

And speaking of strange, have you heard the stories about defunct game developer Culture Brain? Whoo boy!