Sega Genesis #3

Developer: Treasure 

Publisher: Sega 

Release Date: December 1993  

 

It really is just like the picture 

 

McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure is a strange case. I can’t help but wonder if it was an attempt by McDonald’s to expand their brand outside of the fast-food business. Were they trying to become the next Disney? I guess we’ll never know for sure, but a strange thing about this game is its lack of anything McDonald’s related. Outside of the characters and a few appearances of the golden arches it could be a game based on almost anything. There is not one burger or French fry in site. I played the whole game and didn’t get hungry once. That’s unusual for me playing any game let alone one made to sell bad cheeseburgers. Another interesting thing about this game is its connection to one of the most legendary Sega Genesis games of all. When Treasure formed, they started to make Gunstar Heroes. Sega, however, wouldn’t give a publisher contract to the brand-new company. So Sega forced them to make McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure first so that they could get some experience. Many of the same people worked on both games, and Treasure would release Gunstar Heroes to critical acclaim. So, this is a game forced on a developer with the goal of selling Happy Meals to hungry 90s kids such as myself. It’s not exactly a recipe for success, but the end result surprisingly mostly works.  

 

The strange rogue’s galaxy 

 

It’s hard to dislike a game designed so well. It’s bright, colorful, and filled with strange enemies. Ronald ends up in space by the end of the game, but the monsters and levels on Earth are strange enough. If you want to fight evil gnomes and eagles wearing top hats than this is the game for you. The levels are well-designed with many interesting experiments. In one level Ronald is on top of a dark train with only occasional lamps to guide him. In another level sumo wrestlers split the road causing elevations to change. Even more interesting is climbing up a high-rise and having the same sumo wrestlers causing the building itself to slide back and forth. Treasure could’ve phoned it in and made a bunch of standard left-to right, avoid the hole-type levels, but they really put a lot of effort into it. I also enjoy how the levels are connected to each other. Ronald will end up in some circumstance, such as a tsunami, which will directly take him to the next level. It’s not just a fade to black which randomly sends him to another location. It almost plays like one long level. 

 

 

It’s not all good, however. The experimental nature of the levels leads to a few frustrating moments. The worst part has Ronald riding a platform with random beach balls falling on it. When this happens it spins around, and if you don’t time it right you fall off. As far as I can tell there’s no way to know when the balls are going to fall. The only way I could figure out to get past it was kind of cheat by falling in a hole and riding one of Ronald’s balloons up to the top. If you got to the level and didn’t have any balloons you’d be stuck in a very difficult loop. Also, the story kind of annoyed me. Yes, I really am going to talk about the story in a McDonalds video game. It’s a bit of a cop out with Ronald and the gang getting stuck on the moon. Ronald finds the treasure from the map, but tells its owner that he really doesn’t want it. All Ronald wants is a way back to Earth. So what’s in the treasure chest? It’s a magical rainbow that transports everyone back home. Why this would be in a treasure chest, and why said treasure chest would have a map leading to it in the first place is not explained.  Was the final boss just waiting there for someone to get stuck on the moon and beat him up so he could save the day? Perhaps I am overthinking things a bit, but if I’m going to spend my New Year’s playing a game, I at least want it to make sense. There is also a weird system for fighting the bosses which makes losing health a requirement. You can’t attack them until they have stolen your health and are licking their lips in satisfaction. At least it’s an easy pattern to memorize.  

 

I really can’t get over this weird guy 

 

For a licensed title from the early 90s this one rates fairly high. It’s certainly not one of the best Genesis games, but I enjoyed it for a couple of hours, and it would’ve been a fun rental back in the day. I was obsessed with McDonald’s at the time, so I am very surprised I never played it. I never even heard about it despite going to McDonald’s practically every Friday until I was about twelve or so. Better late than never I suppose. For now, I am ranking this one at #33 right below another food-themed game, Panic Restaurant which I enjoyed just a bit more, probably because I am a sucker for 8-bit platformers. I haven’t played many Genesis games for the blog yet so I can’t say how it stands up among other games on the console, but it was surprisingly fun, and one I can recommend for 16-bit fans. In the right hands, licensed games can be fun. 

 

 

images are from mobygames.com

Super Nintendo #7: Soul Blazer

 Developed by: Quintet

Published by: Enix

Release Date: August 1992

Soul Blazer is one of the strangest games I have ever played, and I don't think weirdness was their intention. You could set out to make the weirdest game possible and you still wouldn't come close to the level of oddity that is Soul Blazer. For Quintet, however, this is just the way games are supposed to be. Before this game they made the cult classic ActRaiser which is also an oddity. You can certainly see that both games were made by the same company. Like ActRaiser the game is split into two parts and involves putting the world back together. Soul Blazer does so in such a strange way though. It's a game that only works because of how well made it is, but it's one of the most well made games in history. The pure fun of it helps it to overcome any problems it may have.  It's fairly short, repetitive, easy outside of boss fights, barely an RPG even though it is advertised as one, but surprisingly engaging and satisfying. I've never played anything quite like it, and for once that is a good thing. 

In Soul Blazer you play as a celestial being trying to put the world back together after an evil force has utterly destroyed it. You know, that old story. You do this by going through dungeons and fighting monsters. When you defeat enough of them their lair will start to glow which will trigger an event when stepped on. Sometimes it opens new areas or makes treasure boxes appear, but most often the lair causes new residents of the area to appear in the overworld.  It's not only people either but animals, plants, and inanimate objects almost all of which have a story to tell. This may be the only game I have ever played with both talking flowers and doors. Destroying monster lairs is basically the entire action portion of the game. This fact might ruin a lesser game. It's basically stand in one spot and swing your sword over and over again. There is very little strategy in the combat, and if you die you just teleport back to your home base with very little penalty. Once you clear out a lair it doesn't come back, so the dungeons can get fairly empty. There are only a few bonus monsters left, so it doesn't have the endless monsters of a typical RPG. 

It sounds like the combat is going to bring it down in the rankings, but somehow it doesn't. Soul Blazer is truly one of the best SNES games. Everything adds up to a great experience. The combat is somewhat boring, but the presentation is great. Every monster lair is exciting just to see what it is going to reveal. Sometimes it's the answer to a puzzle, sometimes it's important information, and sometimes it's just silly jokes and flavor text. Very few games have such an immersive world. After destroying a few lairs I start hoping that I get killed just so I can go back to town and see what I uncovered. I think if the combat was more difficult it would hurt the overall experience. It's all about the world building and puzzle solving, and making it more challenging would just get in the way. Each level is completely different and unique. There is a city full of talking animals, underwater mermaid world, and secret laboratory where you end up shrunk down and fighting monsters in a miniature world just to name a few. It's impressive how much care they put into each level. A lesser game would just do typical green grass cities with maybe a snow level. Soul Blazer was made by people who actually care and it shows in every detail. 

It's not too hard to tell that I am going to rank this one high. It goes right into the timeless classic section all the way up to #6. It would probably rank higher if I hadn't played all those beloved arcade game already. Soul Blazer is probably the best SNES game I have played that I never played as a kid. I am judging it not by nostalgia but by honest playability. I am even more in awe of the fact that Soul Blazer isn't even the best SNES game or probably even in the top 10. If you are judging a console by its top 100 games the Super Nintendo might be the best of them all. I can't wait until I have top 100 lists of specific consoles.