SNES Timeline - Part 3: A Four Month Drought

So 1990 is done. Japanese gamers are busy rebuilding the world in ActRaiser and beating up gang members in Final Fight. Meanwhile in the States everyone is still stuck playing their NES and slobbering over Nintendo Power screenshots. This was pre-internet, remember? On a side note, I've heard that Nintendo Power is shutting down. I'd like to thank the staff for putting out such a good magazine all those years and wish them all the best in finding new jobs. RIP NP, you were a great memory from my childhood.

Anyway, I'm covering a whole four month span with this post. Only six games came out and it seems odd for such a long drought so early. I had never realized that it was such a slow start to the system in the East since the US launch was so full of games. I think I'm going to start something new and give these games an arbitrary and probably unfair grade, trying to factor in the time period. I'll also throw in if I think the game is still worth playing by today's standards.

Hole in One Golf - Par for the Course

Genre: Golf
Developer:
HAL Laboratory
Publisher:
HAL Laboratory
Released:
2/23/1991 (JP)
9/1/1991 (US)

Hole in one Golf is a very standard golf game. There's nothing flashy about it at all. It was also the first one on the SNES so it didn't have much else to draw inspiration from. There are a few different modes, and you can customize what clubs to take. The swing mechanic can be very touchy though, and low-power approach shots are difficult to pull off. It probably scratched an itch for some people and it did make it to the states, although I don't know why this would have been localized but not the superior golf game you'll see farther down.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: C-
Worth Playing: No

Jaleco Rally: Big Run - It's Like Rad Racer, With More Colors

Genre: Racing
Developer: Jaleco
Publisher: Jaleco
Released:
3/20/1991 (JP)

It's kind of tough For me to give this game credit. I've never been a fan of the "time limit" racing games where you have to get from point A to point B in a certain amount of time. You could be 5 or 6 levels in and miss it by a few seconds and it's a game over screen. This game goes a step farther by requiring repairs for your car mid race. Basically though, if you need to do this there is no way you can finish in time, so the feature, while an interesting idea, breaks the game. F-Zero set the bar very high for racing games, and this one just can't reach it. That's probably why it was never released outside of Japan.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: D+
Worth Playing: No

Darius Twin - Fighting Giant Space Fish, Co-op Style

Genre: Shooter
Developer: Taito
Publisher: Taito
Released:
3/29/1991 (JP)
Nov 1991 (US)

This is a game I've never played before, and it does a lot of things really well. The easiest way to look at it is a comparison to Gradius, since most everyone knows that game. First off, Darius has brighter colors and bigger, better, graphics. It also has very strange giant fish enemies that shoot at you. I also thought it was a bit harder, especially considering that you don't lose your power-ups when you die. The only real disadvantage is that there aren't any choices for weapons or upgrades. Darius also has two player co-op. I'm assuming this is where the twin comes from in the name. It's available on the Virtual Console if you're looking for an old school shmup, especially one with co-op. Darius Twin on the Virtual Console

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: B
Worth Playing: Yes, if with a friend

Harukanaru Augusta - Golf on an American Course That Never Came to America

Genre: Golf
Developer: T&E Soft
Publisher: T&E Soft
Released:
4/5/1991 (JP)

This is a Golf game that couldn't have been done on 8-bit hardware. Harukanaru Augusta is the first game of a series of golf simulators. We did eventually see one in the US under the True Golf Classics Label. It's very well done and a better game than Hole in One golf from two months prior. I'm not sure about the menu options because of the language, but they are laid out nicely and I was able to play a few holes. You start with a nice on-the-ground view along with an overview of the hole. Instead of a double tap swing system you have a power meter and then a graphic of the ball with a dot that moves around on it to get your accuracy. It's a great system that I think works better than the usual double tap version. You get a grid preview of the green to adjust your putt, and the power meter slows down to give you better control. I was actually very impressed with how this game played.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: A
Worth Playing: It's very good for it's time but probably not.

Ultraman - A Power Ranger Before They Were Cool

Genre: Fighting
Developer: Bandai
Publisher: Bandai
Released:
4/6/1991 (JP)
8/13/1991 (US)

A Fighting game staring an Asian styled super hero no one in the US knows, where he fights against monsters from his Japanese show that no one in the US can watch. Apparently someone thought this game screamed localization back in '91. How we got this and then missed out on so many great games is a mystery to me. From a purely technical standpoint I suppose it isn't horrible. You can only be Ultraman, though, and it's only a one player game. There's a punch, kick, jump, and special button. A meter fills up automatically to use different special moves. The dumbest thing about the game is that once the monster's health is gone, you have to wait and use the highest special move to actually win. This single aspect of the game makes it infuriating to play. I'm not familiar with Ultraman so maybe that's how he had to defeat monsters on the show. One odd bit of trivia is that this is the second game to feature Ultraman as a playable character, the other being SD, the great battle. That would make him the first character to be in two games on the SNES.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: C-
Worth Playing: No

SimCity - The Most Damage Bowser's Ever Done in a Game

Genre: Simulation
Developer:
Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
Released:
4/26/1991 (JP)
8/13/1991 (US)

I was wondering how this version would play now that we'll soon be into the fifth game in the series, along with all the other spin-offs and copycats that have come out, and it's just as fun as it was back then. It's a much simpler SimCity, with power being the only thing to connect, and only having fire and police to worry about services wise. With the classic doughnut block shape it's easy to set up a nice city and get it going. Plus this version has Bowser as a disaster to unleash on your city.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: A
Worth Playing: Yes, especially to introduce someone to SimCity

Only six games in four months? Things certainly pick up after this as Japan is about to get a rush of games coming out leading up to the US launch. Thanks as always for reading and I hope you're enjoying this little journey as much as I am.

Demon's/Dark Souls and Claiming Victory Over Sin

I'm going to shift gears a little bit from previous posts. It's my belief that from the right perspective, we can use the things of the world to draw us closer to God, even if they might appear to have no connection to Godly things, like I've done with the meme-related posts so far. This time I'm going to try looking at a video game in the same way, and the game, or I should say series, is Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls are a pair of mature rated games where you play a character in a fairly traditional fantasy setting, who is tasked with going through the game's areas and slaying evil monsters. As you defeat enemies, you gain souls that can be used to upgrade your weapons and abilities to help with the greater challenges later in the game. What makes this series different from other action/rpgs is the level of difficulty. These games are hard. Notoriously hard. The website for Dark Souls is even called preparetodie.com. It's also a rewarding game to play, and rarely feels cheap when you die. If you're up for a challenge, and don't mind some blood and a few demonic looking creatures, I'd recommend trying it out. But how on Earth am I going to relate this game to our battles with sin? Let's start with the easiest connection to make.

Demon's Souls is Hard / Combating Sin is Hard

Becoming a Christian isn't some instant win where your life suddenly becomes easier. We are still in this world and have to deal with the realities of life. Perhaps dealing with life's trials can be easier, since we can take hope and courage in knowing we have the gift of salvation. What a lot of people don't understand is that part of the responsibility of being a Christian is that we have to deal with the spiritual sin and temptations in our lives as well as the same worldly problems everyone faces.

Let's use lust as an example, since it's a temptation that probably everyone deals with.

You know you want me.

Two guys are walking along when a pretty girl walks by. One guy isn't a Cristian. He thinks it's fine to watch her, maybe even turn around and watch her walk away, or think for a while about what he'd like to do with her. He's oblivious to the damage those types of thoughts can do. The other guy though, is a Christian. He notices she's pretty and while he's certainly allowed to appreciate beauty, it's unhealthy to take it further than a passing appreciation. He knows that lusting after her belittles her and he should know, value, love, and respect a person before even having thoughts like...and now he's watching her walk away and thinking similar things to the first guy. He just lost a battle. It's that easy to loose. You can lose just as quickly in Demon's Souls. You turn a corner you shouldn't and find an enemy you aren't equipped to deal with. And then you see this:

You will see this screen a lot, and it's disheartening when you do. It means you have to start the level over, and you've wasted some time. The first time you die, OK let's just try again, but what about the second, third, or fifteenth time you fail? It's easy to start getting frustrated and think you'll never win. Losing those battles to sin and temptation can be just as frustrating, but this life is not a game.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sound serious? Think you're doing well in the not sinning department?

Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

How about now?

How is thinking something the same as doing it? It almost doesn't seem fair. The reason is that we aren't talking about criminal acts, here. I hope it's safe to assume that most of us don't have any trouble not murdering people and stealing things. We're talking about your spiritual health. When you have lewd thoughts about someone it's hurting you, not them. When you sit there wishing you could knock some sense into that annoying co-worker it's hurting you, not them. Again it's similar to how Demon's Souls works. If you screw up it's your fault, not the game's. Both the game and real life are about preserving your health, either virtual or spiritual, while trying to achieve the goal laid out for us. And it can oftentimes be very hard to do consistently.

People can either help you or hinder you

There's a unique multi-player concept in Demon's Souls called phantoms. You can either summon people to help you (Blue Phantoms), or people can invade your game to try and kill your character (Black Phantoms). It's unique because the single-player, co-op, and PvP are all combined. Players can also leave messages, either helpful or tricky, that show up as symbols on the floor.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

Unfortunately, the people we meet in real life don't come conveniently color coded, but some mean to help us and others to harm us just like the game. Sometimes it isn't personal, and others it is, but the end results to our spiritual and emotional health are the same. We need to be careful who our real friends are. Someone might seem fun to spend time with, but if they are encouraging you to compromise your faith or your values, they're no real friend to you. Of course the Bible warns us about our choice in friends as well.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

The Odds are Stacked Against US

So the worlds of Demon's Souls and our own are stacked against us, and even some of the other people in it with us are going to bring us down if they get the chance. This is where the game and our battle with sin go in different directions. In both cases a major tool for learning and getting better is to learn from your mistakes and not give up. Get beaten by a tough monster. Learn his attacks and try again. Get burned by a sin you didn't expect to fall into. Learn from your mistakes so you won't fall victim again. Luckily for us though, there's another option to help us in our battles with sin.

Enable God Mode

A lot of older games had a cheat code to put in that made you invincible, and they commonly became known as God mode. There is not a God mode or cheat in the Demon's Souls games, but there is a real God mode for our spiritual life. God loved us enough to give us free will, even though he knew we would fall to sin from the very first couple. He loved us enough to make that decision knowing the way to get humanity back into heaven was to sacrifice His Son on the cross. God knows what we deal with, and He knows that temptation is strong. He knows we will all fail at some point. The Bible is full of evidence of that.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.

So how do we turn on God mode? The first thing is to accept the gift of salvation by believing that Jesus was the Son of God, He died on the cross to pay for the sins of humanity, and He rose again three days later claiming victory over sin and death. Think of it as the greatest DLC you could ever get for your spiritual life. And it's free!

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

The way God mode turns on in our daily lives is through prayer. Take that battle that you keep losing and turn it to God. Prayer doesn't have to be full of thee's and thou's to be effective. Talk to God like you would talk to someone you have respect for. Something like "Dear God, I'm having a rough time dealing with _________ right now. I really need you to come down and turn my God mode on and protect me from this. Thank You, Lord for hearing my prayer. Amen."

I think a good summary for all this is the concept of putting on the armor of God. Armor fits both the concept of the game and our spiritual protection, so I'll leave you with those verses to think about. God Bless, Thanks for reading, and good luck if you decide to pick up Demon's Souls!

Ephesians 6:10-18, 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

SNES Timeline - Part 2: A Little Late to the Party

Well, it's time to keep going through the SNES catalog. There were six more games released in 1990 that didn't make it out at launch, so let's just go ahead and finish out the year shall we?

The system's been out for almost a month now. Bowser's been beaten countless times. F-zero's tracks have been mastered, and everyone's getting tired of setting off bombs in Bombuzal. Japanese gamers were surely ready for something deeper. They were ready for ActRaiser.

ActRaiser - Master of 2 genres

Genre: Action / Sim
Developer: Quintet
Publisher: Enix
Released:
12/16/1990 (JP)
11/1/1991 (US)

ActRaiser is actually two games. There's a side-scrolling portion that's a mix between Castlevania and Ghost & Goblins. Then there's the simulation portion where you need to develop the town and seal up monster layers. The better you do in the sim side, the more powerful you are in the action levels. Everything was solid in this game, from the graphics, to the soundtrack, to great mix of gameplay. ActRaiser is at least a must-play, and you can get it on the Virtual Console here.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: A+
Worth Playing: Yes

Populous - Buttons, Buttons Everywhere

Genre: Simulation
Developer: Bullfrog
Publisher: EA (JP)
Acclaim (US)
Released:
12/16/1990 (JP)
9/1/1991 (US)

Populous is an early god-sim where you are tasked with helping your tribe to prosper. I'm pretty sure this was a PC game first that was ported to the SNES and it's easy to see that it would work better on PC. The screen layout is confusing and while it may be deeper, it's not as clean as the sim part of ActRaiser.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: B-
Worth Playing: Not unless you love steep learning curves.

Final Fight - I Wish More Mayors Would Suplex Gang Members

Genre: Brawler
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released:
12/21/1990 (JP)
11/10/1991 (US)

Final Fight is a ported version of the arcade game of the same name. It's a pretty faithful job considering how early it is in the SNES life-cycle. You choose one of two characters and go through the city beating up everyone in sight to save the girl and stop the gang. It holds up pretty well if you don't mind the challenge that comes with ports of arcade games designed to eat all your quarters. You can find it on the Virtual Console here. I also wonder if mayor Mike Haggar was Arnold Schwartzenegger's inspiration to go into politics.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: B+
Worth Playing: Yes, but the lack of co-op makes the arcade version better.

Gradius III - UUDDLRLRBASTART

Genre: Shooter
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Released:
12/21/1990 (JP)
8/13/1991 (US)

Another entry into a new genre for the SNES, Gradius III's 100% classic shmup gameplay had you saving the galaxy as the pilot of the Vic Viper. It's got tons of enemies, huge bosses, and a steady stream of power-ups. It was also a game that used the famous Konami code. One of the cooler features was the ability to change the weapons loadout so you could try different setups. The only downside is that the graphics, especially the backgrounds are pretty bland. It's on the Virtual Console so you can check it out here if you want to play an old school shooter.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: A
Worth Playing: Yes

Pilotwings - You Want Mode7? You Got Mode7!

Genre: Flight-Sim
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released:
12/21/1990 (JP)
8/13/1991 (US)

Pilotwings was designed purely to show off the (at the time) amazing Mode7 effects that the SNES could produce. Your task is to earn licenses in various flying activities like planes, parachuting, hang gliding, and even jet packs. While the effects were great and it deserved the success it had, the game doesn't quite hold up as well as other early titles. You can still play it on the Virtual Console though. Click here to go to the page.

Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: B
Worth Playing: No

SD The Great Battle - Black Sheep of the Launch

Genre: Action
Developer: Banpresto
Publisher: Banpresto
Released:
12/29/1990 (JP)

And now we come to our first game to never be released outside of Japan. It's also the only game released in 1990 that didn't make it here. Not only was it based on Anime, which was just starting to gain a following in the US, but the SD meant Super Deformed, so the characters were all squished and childish looking. Gameplay wise it's a pretty generic top-down action game.
Game info and shopping options:

My Grade: C+
Worth Playing: No

Phew, that was a lot of games, but we're done with 1990, and the SNES owners in Japan have a nice variety of games to play. My 10 year old self, however, was still slobbering over the pages of Nintendo Power waiting impatiently for the US release. Thanks for reading and God Bless!