By now you should have a good grasp on the fact that I play a lot of video games. It sounds nerdy and all, but it’s what I love to do. This is evidenced by all the many game reviews currently on the site. And the number was getting too high, so I wasn’t going to do another game review for a while, but when I found Super Back to the Future 2, I knew that I had to review it. It’s just the kind of thing that hits you. Like when you drink way too much water, you just know you’re going to have to take a leak.
If there is one thing that really annoys me about video games, it’s that a lot of them never see one region or another, and more often than not, it’s every region besides Japan that gets the shaft. Of course, we do get a lot here as compared to Europe and Australia, but we still miss out on a hell of a lot of cool stuff, like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy 2 and Final Fantasy 3. I guess it’s mostly RPG’s that anyone cares about, but there are also a lot of platformers that never made it out of the country. And of course, it can work the other way too, but it’s mostly just sports games that they don’t get.
But sometimes, it’s not such a bad thing that some games never make it here. And Super Back to the Future 2 just happens to be one of those exceptions. Now I’m not entirely sure that SBttF2 is a Japan-only title, but there was nothing about a North American version release on GameFAQs, so it must be. One final disclaimer, I didn’t actually play the game through, so I don’t know if all my info is accurate, but it’ll be a lot funnier if you believe it is.
So since this game is Japanese, and for the SNES, there was only one way to get my hands on it… I booted up the good ol’ ZSNES and loaded the game. I was greeted by a very long and uninteresting developer screen, and then a short and blue disclaimer/copyright screen. Then along came the magnificent title screen. As you can see below, it’s not all too original, but it gets the job done.
After selecting the “Game Start” option, I was given another choice of “Lesson” or “Start”. I decided that the lesson seemed like a good idea, so that’s what I chose. Upon arriving in the world of Lesson, I was expecting some tutorial boxes and stuff, but there was nothing like that to speak of. I guess it did kind of show me the basics of the game, though. Unexpectedly, we do not get to play as Michael J. Fox, but only some kind of strange Marty-wannabe. While I was rather disappointed, Marty-wannabe is an acceptable substitute.
Now the gameplay here might give you a very dèja-vu kinda feeling. It’s like a crapified Sonic the Hedgehog. Basically, you just go, (holding the B button to accelerate up ramps), and jump with the A or Y buttons. Like Sonic, Marty-wannabe picks up little gold things along the way, which are presumably money. Then there are larger “coins” with stars on them, which for all I can tell, give you bonus points. Unlike Sonic, the coins don’t provide him with defense; Marty-wannabe has a life bar which is measured in hover-boards. Why hover-boards? Don’t ask me.
It’s a side-scroller, and it’s got all the side-scroller traits we’ve come to love. Like Sonic’s games, there seem to be multiple paths, and a lot of false walls that lead to secret areas or paths. There are also springs that launch Marty way up into the air. Lastly, we have the little puzzles. In the shot above, Marty-wannabe can’t just jump over the wall, so what can he do? Flipping the red switch makes the box go up, providing a handy lift to the top. How does the box float upwards? We may never know.
You now you’re at the end of the level when you come across the very out-of-place Goal flag. Why there would be a Goal flag out in the middle of a city, I have no idea, but not much I this game has made sense yet. When you do get to the end, Marty-wannabe does a really crappy victory dance thing where he twirls his hover-board around. I’d love to get an animation of it, but I have no idea how, so you’ll have to be happy with that still. Then all the Star coins are counted up and we start the real game.
It starts out with a craptastic cut-scene with Marty-wannabe talking to some Elisabeth Shue impostor. You know, maybe they’re not impostors, and maybe that’s just what those people would look like it they were drawn by the Japanese. Nah. Just wait until you see Christopher Lloyd. So anyways, Marty-wannabe and Jennifer-wannabe are standing there looking at those funny Japanese letters. Then they kiss. It lasts about one 7th of a second, and then someone comes to crash the party.
I told you Doc looked funny. Actually, he looks the least like the actual character out of all three of them. He’s clearly got a wig, his clothes look like ice cream store attire, and his skin is outlandishly pink. What have they done to Doc? And why? This injustice will not go unnoticed. Another thing that’s bugging me is what the Hell they’re standing
in front of. It can’t possibly be a building of any sort, as it’s far too small, and it’s clearly not a park bench or a water fountain either, so what is it?
So after he drives up in the DeLorean and ruins the kids’ moment, there is more funny letters and they all drive off, leaving us who never actually saw the movie to wonder what’s going on. Yeah it’s true; Back to the Future 2 is the only movie in the trilogy that I haven’t seen. So I’m going to have to make up some kind of story along the way, or just not try to explain anything at all. I like the second option better, but you never know. Any who, they drive away, and then we’re left with one of the most perplexing mysteries of the game…
The blue sky screen. And that’s all it does. The only animation that ever appears is the camera tilting up a bit. I’m not sure if there’s supposed to be something here, if the ROM has a glitch or what, but it does nothing. Maybe the story is somehow intertwined around the fact that the sky is a shade of blue that is darker than usual and Marty-wannabe must travel in time to fix it. Though if chemistry class has taught me anything, it’s that traveling in time will not help you save the colour of the sky. It just continues playing the music and does some fancy sound effects, so I’m at a very unfortunate loss to explain what’s going on.
A very dramatic level display thingy shows us exactly what level we are in. Currently, we are in level 1. Although why it’s called “Open”, I can’t say. I also can’t say what those funky Japanese letters say. My training only covers the numbers 1 to 3 and how to say some words. So I guess the best course of action to take at this point would be to continue past this greatly confuzzling screen.
And surprise! Wouldn’t you know it, the actual game is almost the exact same as the Lesson. Only now there are more enemies, the level is longer, and I forgot to point out those fancy soda machine things. They aren’t actually soda machines, but that’s the best comparison I could make. They way they work (if you’ve played Halloween Harry, you’ll have an idea) is if Marty-wannabe has enough of those coin things, more specifically the number on the side, he can get the powerup inside, which is pictures on the machine. They give life, a one-hit barrier, and an invincibility power which is strikingly similar to that of Sonic the Hedgehog. There may be other goodies, but I haven’t seen them yet.
The way Marty-wannabe attacks is very much the same as Sonic’s attack. He jumps up in the air, spins around, and anything that comes in contact with him goes poof! And while I’m at it, I’ve only seen three enemies so far. One is a garbage can with wheels, another is that cop guy with the too-big gun. The last one, not pictured above, is some kind of flying robot thing. Aside from the cop, none of them look or act very deadly, but running into them with that mindset would yield some rather unhappy results.
The fuzz got me… Yes, after getting hit too many times, Marty-wannabe will die. Cartoony cross-eyes and all. I’d expect him to bounce off the screen Commander Keen-style or something, but not die. Geez. At least he’s only a wannabe and a new one is supplied quickly after one has kicked the bucket, same goofy smile and all. Ah, those crazy Japanese and their zany ideas. I guess it’s kind of hard to comprehend, but after this medium to long level, there is a boss. That’s right, one level and then a boss.
See this guy here? I don’t know who he is, but he seems to have something against people who go parading around as Marty McFly. Maybe he’s the president of the McFly Fan Club? I don’t know, but he’s easy to beat. It’s a simple matter of jumping on him, landing and jumping again. His perfect amount of flashy time allows you to simply stand there jumping over and over until he dies. Now this would seem dumb, and it is, but there is also another totally different way to beat him! See the red buttons off to the sides? (one is under Marty-wannabe) When pushed, they spring out a TV, which bops the big guy.
After beating this guy, you’ll get a bunch of star coins, and run away. Then a cut scene comes along, and the big guy sends out his cronies after you. Why are they so loyal to him? Why is he five times as big as everyone else? Will Marty-wannabe be okay? Who ate my pie? All these questions and more will be answered next time on Super Back to the Future 2! Same bat-time, same bat-channel!
Actually, they won’t be answered at all, I’m just going to move on to the next level. And it just happens to be level 1 with a palette swap and a new background. Aside from the fact that level 1 and level 2 are eerily similar, there are a few differences. First off, there is a new hazard: little spiky balls. They just float around and wait for foolish people to jump into them. Then there are the big guy’s punks, who pose little to no threat, even though they can attack. The last new thing is the flying cars. They don’t add a lot to the level, they’re just this game’s rendition of floating platforms. Other than those things, the level is pretty much the same as the first, even the map is left heavily unaltered. Just take a look at this shot from level one.
Just look at it, and then compare it to the last pic, which was from level 2. It’s the same thing, just with some extra coinage. Like I said, there rest of the level isn’t very different either. Just a few extra hills here, some hidden rooms there, and it’s a “new” level. And just so you don’t get confused, the levels don’t consist mostly of towers like the pics would like to have you believe. They’re very much like levels from Sonic the Hedgehog, and they are actually of a pretty decent length. Now if only it was fun to play.
After making it thought this level, that big guy comes back, and this time you can’t just jump on him, cause he’s flying. I think you have to jump on one of his projectiles and then use that to bounce up to him. If that sound too hard you can just hit the buttons, which activate a fountain, which in turn will send him flying into a background. There is actually a pretty funny animation for when he gets hit. Anywho, I quit playing after this guy, so I can only hope that the rest of the game isn’t just the same stuff rehashed over and over.
So that’s what the game is all about, or at least what the first two levels are about. Next up we’ll talk about where the game gets and loses points, and since I’ve already described the gameplay in full detail, I’ll just give it a quick run down here. The game itself is just a bad Sonic the Hedgehog clone, with a little Punky Skunk mixed in. (which is very inaccurate, since Punky came after this). The controls are okay, but most of the buttons are useless, as you can only speed up and jump. Controlling Marty-wannabe in the air is a mixed bag; sometimes he responds, sometimes he doesn’t. In the end, it’s not that fun or original, so it’s gonna end up with a bad score.
The music is the crown jewel of this game. For the most part, it’s just one or two mixes of the Back to the Future theme. Even though it’s that that plays throughout most of the game, it sound really good and you’ll be humming it for a while after you play. As for sound effects, I didn’t really notice any. I think there may be one for when you bop and enemy, but other than that I can’t think of anything. Maybe a jumping sound? No clue.
The graphics, by default, are very good and colourful. The animation is lacking to a certain degree, but it still looks good. My biggest qualm is that the fact that Marty doesn’t look like Marty. I mean, the face is the only thing that doesn’t fit, but it still bugs me. While that doesn’t lose any points, the almost scary interpretation of Doc Brown loses a lot. Come on guys! Doc isn’t pink! Any idiot could figure that out, and his hair should look more like a mess than one of those judge wigs.
As I stated earlier, I don’t know the story, and there isn’t enough in the cut scenes to tell me what’s going on, so I really can’t rate the quality of the story. Even if I could, I don’t seem to be able to tell a good story from a rock, so it doesn’t matter. As for anything else, the level design is good but repetitive, and the boss fights are great because of the extra ways you and go about doing the job.
So overall, the game isn’t that bad. Despite the lack of entertainingness, poor level design, and somewhat bad controls, the game has some pretty good qualities. It’s not extremely boring to play, and you should be able to make it to the end at least once before it gets too boring to stand. If it wasn’t such a ripoff of Sonic, I might have been able to give it a better score, but as it stands, Super Back to the Future 2 only gets 63 out of 100 points. That rounds it out to a decent 6/10 or on letter grade, a C. There’s just one last little thing they could have designed better….
Thankfully, that’s the end of that. It’s not that I hate the game, I just had a rough time writing this. Sure, it’s got a lot of words, but I had to think hard to make a lot of that filler quality literature. I guess if you want, you can download the ROM, but I don’t want to promote piracy *wink wink* so I’m not suggesting you do it. I guess there’s no other way to play it though, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you want to actually try it or not. Now the only thing I have to do now is to go watch the movie so I can figure out what the crap was going on, and why TVs were used as tactical weapons.
Now that I think of it, if you do download the game, don’t make a mistake and get either of the NES games. Those are BAD. I had the original game, and yeesh it’s terrible. Almost as bad as the X-Men game for the NES. In other news, I’m working on not much, and I’ve got technical problems for both the other 3-Foot 6-Pak games, so I may not be able to review them at all. The next thing I might be doing is a mini movie review. I don’t know if I want to do a real review, even for the movie I’m currently thinking about. I’ll give you one little hint; it’s got a guy feeding his breakfast Mr. T cereal. If that didn’t give it away, you clearly don’t care about groundbreaking 80’s movies. So that’s the end of today’s crap. Now make like a tree and get out of here!
~Ryan
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Mr_Hotshot64v2@hotmail.com
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