Sam’s Scores: SNES Jr. (aka SNES 2)
It seems lately that I’ve had a lot of luck on my thrift store hunts. I’m either finding huge scores, or nothing at all. You might remember the $5 Atari Jaguar I got about a month ago, well today I’m going to present to you my Super Nintendo Jr. find!
I’ve owned a normal Super Nintendo for about 12 years, but the poor thing rarely gets much love. I am a MASSIVE RPG fan and as we know the SNES’s library was rife with great RPGs, but that also means these games are either impossibly difficult to find or amazingly expensive! That isn’t to say my SNES game collection is small, I just haven’t been focusing as much time on it as I have my regular NES collection.
When I do find SNES games they’re generally sports titles, although I did score Batman Returns at a flea market a few weeks ago, which will be part of it’s own article later. Needless to say my SNES collection exists, but it isn’t as great as I wish it could be.
So every Tuesday my schedule is pretty much the same as I hit a handful of places and usually find little to nothing, but on some occasions I find great deals! The store where I found the SNES Jr is pretty hit or miss with what they have, but that day I walked along the electronics wall and saw it sitting in a clear plastic tub with 2 controllers, the power supply and the AV cable. When I went to pick the tub up, I noticed it was all taped to a shoe box underneath. I gave the box a shake and the unmistakable sound of SNES cartridges clanking around poured out of the box.
I saw the price tag and I needed to make sure it was all one price, even though it was all taped together. I found the nearest employee, who almost started having a childhood flashback right there in the store, who told me that yes it was that price and that I should probably go test it on their TVs, which I promptly did! The system had Tetris Attack already plugged in and ready to go. After getting everything hooked up the system powered on and Tetris Attack started working perfectly!
I didn’t even know what games were in the box until I got out of the store and gave them all a good once over. There was a total of 12 games, which I will be listing in the spoiler below, and sadly none of them were RPGs as I had highly hoped. Luckily most of the games that came with it are well worth the purchase, especially one in particular. The controllers included are 2 SNES controller variants I had never seen before, the SNS102 (embedded Nintendo logo instead of printed) and a normal controller with a painted L and R on the shoulder buttons.
I’ve only seen the SNES Jr on two or three occasions at Disc Replay, and even though I think they ask about $55 for the system alone they never seem to stay in stock for too long. My main goal in hunting has been to snag an NES 2, but I’m still searching high and low. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to pair one with this system, it can only be a matter of time, eh?
Tetris Attack
Family Feud
Jurassic Park
Road Riot 4WD
Yoshi’s Cookie
F-Zero
Super Play Action Football
Super Empire Strikes Back
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi’s Island
Super Mario All-Stars
Contra 3
College Slam
In 1996, Acclaim decided to go back to school and released College Slam for all major home and handheld systems. College Slam seems to be a more polished, albeit college themed, version of Acclaim’s smash hit NBA Jam. With NBA Jam you will probably remember shooting three pointers from just about anywhere and slam dunking from half court, all of which is still here in College Slam, as well as a few added features to increase the longevity of the game. Sadly, it seems since this game didn’t have the big names that it’s predecessor did, it didn’t translate with the audience as well as Acclaim may have hoped.
College Slam’s game play is identical to NBA Jam. You still have turbo to boost your player around the court for a short period of time before needing to recharge it, you can still shoot the ball from anywhere, steal the ball, push the other players over, elbow them and even catch fire. But unlike NBA Jam, you can call a time out at any point you possess the ball and substitute for 1 or 2 fresh players. College Slam also borrows from NBA Jam Tournament Edition with it’s more fluid movement and of course the tournament mode, as well as offering a more upbeat announcer who has more dialog than he did in NBA Jam. As you would expect, College Slam follows the college rule of 2 halves instead of four quarters.
To get started, you pick your team from a list of over 40 colleges, then select any 2 of 5 positions, as opposed to NBA Jam’s strictly 2 players per team. With College Slam there are no names, simply different stats for each position, which I like to think of as an advantage for re-playability. No matter when you play this game, you can just imagine you’re controlling your favorite college player (even if they weren’t even born when this game was released!) instead of being stuck with outdated rosters. From there you go to the Tonight’s Match-Up screen, where you can enter codes as the announcer tells you which 2 teams are playing and you prepare for the opening tip off.
Some people may prefer NBA to college, but in my opinion this game shined it’s whole career, but never made it to the draft. I own a complete in box set of this game as well as another cartridge strictly used for playing the game. Certainly this game will never become rare or highly valuable, but its a secret treasure for me to own a complete set of the game because I enjoy it that much! Still to this day I enjoy (win or lose) firing three pointers from the other team’s goal just to see whether I can get them to fall or not. NBA Jam has all the big names, but College Slam has the perpetual starry-eyed heart and determination it takes to make it to the big time.
Sam’s Scores: Nintendo Edition!!
Today’s edition of Sam’s Scores is ALL about Nintendo! If you thought I was only going to make a special Sega edition, you were wrong! Maybe an Atari one next?… With this edition comes another slight change to the layout, I think I’m finally getting it in order!
8) – Gameboy Pocket
As almost always, number eight was found at a local thrift store. It was hidden amongst the bric-a-brac and at first I wasn’t sure the screen worked, until I adjusted the contrast (I almost forgot that was an option on the Gameboys). It had Pokemon Gold in the back and it was all one price. It was dirty and a little beat up, but it still functioned so I bought it!
Pokemon Gold is notorious for not saving, mine doesn’t either.
7) – Gameboy Pocket Protector
Number 7 goes with number 8, though they were found in different stores. Searching through bric-a-brac, again, I found a strange rubber device in the shape of a Gameboy. After picking it up and inspecting it some more, I found it’s a (Gameboy) Pocket Protector. You slide your Gameboy Pocket into it and it protects it from bumps and scratching, I wish my Gameboy Pocket had this in the first place!
6) – 15 NES games
Recently one of my favorite thrift stores had a stack of NES games, so I bought them all! Some notable titles include: Guerrilla War, Kid Icarus, Adventure Island and Double Dragon II. Many of them were in poor shape and 2 of them had ripped labels, but they were all worth buying!
5) – 8 SNES games
A later trip to the store from the above score gave me 8 SNES games: Super Mario World + All-stars, Super Mario World 1 and 2, Pac-Man 2, Yoshi’s Safari, Frogger, Populous and Kirby’s Avalanche. This time the SNES games were all in good shape!
4) – Plush Donkey Kong
Number four isn’t a video game but a plush video game character! Thrift stores are a treasure trove of things people don’t want, you just never know what you’ll find! I often check toys and electronics in search of misplaced or miscategorized items. I happened to pass the stuffed animal bin and saw Donkey Kong gazing out at me…I had to have him!
3) – Gameboy carry bag
As I’ve said before, I am always looking for anything related to video games, especially carrying cases! Number 3 was hidden in with the purses at a local thrift store. I was going through a bin filled with CDs right next to the purses when I saw GAMEBOY jumping out at me. I picked up the case, inspected it and bought it!
2) – NES-039 (aka Dog Bone Controller)
On a whim I went a flea market I hadn’t checked in quite some time and came out pretty well! They had a lot more booths with vintage games than I remember, but all of them wanted too much. While looking through a small basket of cables and power supplies, I noticed the carved back of the infamous NES Dog Bone shaped controller. I used to have one as a kid and I have wanted to find myself a set more recently, but I’m not the only person wanting them and they can get pretty pricey. The start and select buttons are gnarled but they still work, sadly the SNES start/select pad looks close but won’t interchange. With the price I paid, I can’t complain.
1) – Super Gameboy CIB
I found this one at a local used media store which I only purchase games from on rare occasions. The chain of stores are all individually owned and pricing seems to be the same throughout, but this particular store seems to be more fair and a little cheaper than the rest. Within their glass case they had several Super Gameboy units, I inspected them all to find the one in the best condition. Although they were all the same price they were all in varying conditions, mine happened to be the only one complete in the box.
Soul Blazer
Ever wished that there was a game out there that crossed both the action and town building elements of Actraiser in a top-down action game like Zelda or Illusion of Gaia? If you missed it, your wish was granted back in 1992 with the release of “Soul Blazer” by Enix for the Super Nintendo. Published by Enix, Quintet was actually the company that developed it, the same people behind Actraiser. Given the similarities between the two, many people think of Soul Blazer as the true “Actraiser 2”. Where Actraiser was half side-scroller, half city-builder, Soul Blazer blends these 2 elements much more directly into one top-down Zelda-esque action RPG platform. The gameplay is quite similar in style to Zelda or Crystalis (top-down action) with a semi-grid style map (finer than “full square”, it’s more like “1/4 square”). It certainly leans towards more RPG elements however, as interaction with others and the story is somewhat important to the game’s progression. The story isn’t nearly of Final Fantasy uberness or depth, but is a little stripped down, easily understandable, and adds a nice touch and mood.
In this game, all living creatures in the world have been imprisoned by the demonlord Deathtoll, and you are an angel in human form sent by “The Master” (God, Gaia most likely) to release all creatures, large and small, from his clutches. You have the power to communicate with all living creatures, which is good because you will have to free not only humans, but all manner of woodland critters, sea critters, plants, and even sentient machines! You do this by journeying into dungeons (and in some cases dreams, paintings, models, machines, etc.) and defeating enemies and sealing their “Lairs” (Hello, Actraiser!). You must destroy the enemies that each Lair spawns, and when it runs out, you can step on it to seal it. Each Lair you seal (there are a lot of them!) will release a resident of the town near whichever area you are freeing, and will spontaneously rebuild parts of the town as well. In this way, you rebuild the world, and as you do, the residents will reward you with advice, gear, or insight into how everything fell apart. There are many points where the only way to advance in the dungeon is to free a specific individual to help you, so frequent trips between town and dungeon are a good idea. When you clear an entire area (with a few exceptions) you will then be able to move on to another part of the world that needs your help.
Throughout the game, you acquire new swords, armors, spells (8 of each), and a variety of unique items to use in battle or to progress. You’ll need them all, since many enemies are only effected by certain attacks, different armors help you survive different conditions/enemies, and most spells, even the early ones, are useful throughout the entire game in different situations. You can only have one weapon, one armor, and one spell equipped at a time though, as well as one of the many extra items, so you must pick carefully depending on your needs. You are also accompanied by a Soul Orb that is the focal point for several Angel spirits that will help you throughout your journey, showing you invisible enemies, secret passages, lighting up the darkness, etc.
This Soul Orb is also where most of your spells are actually cast from. When cast, the spell launches from the Orb in the direction you are facing, which gives an interesting tactical approach to magic. To use a spell, you must have enough “Gems” to cast it. Gems drop from enemies, but in limited amounts, so you can’t just spam spells at everything, and you may need to save them up to kill certain enemies and bosses. As you hoard Gems throughout the game, you can save up enough to use spells quite frequently later in the game, which is nice.
If the gameplay reminds you a little bit of Illusion of Gaia, that is no accident. Soul Blazer is the first installment of a very loose trilogy of games, Illusion of Gaia being the second, and Terranigma (a game that unfortunately never arrived in the US, and hopefully the subject of an upcoming article) being the third. The play style and themes are relatively similar amongst all three games, but with IoG being almost exclusively action oriented. As I said above, some people include Actraiser in this, but there are no solid links between the games, so it’s up to interpretation. I can really feel the heritage from Actraiser in the themes, story, graphics, and more though. I just discovered that the Playstation game “The Granstream Saga” was also created by many of the same Quintet people working under a different name, with the intention of it being a spiritual sequel to Terranigma! I’m gonna have to check that out! In addition, Soul Blazer also feels like quite a gameplay/character system successor to Crystalis in the main action aspect and the equipment system.
Overall, a very fun game for fans of Crystalis, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Actraiser, Illusion of Gaia, etc. The raw action element itself may feel *slightly* slower-paced in some regards, but not by much (and not always!), and is well made up for by the fact you make real progress rather quickly and consistently. On a first play through, the game can take many partial days to complete, but once you’re a pro at it and know everything, it could probably be beaten in a good day or two. There isn’t much grinding needed (or to be done) and progress is pretty smooth, keeping things challenging throughout, but not frustrating. Most bosses are more a matter of strategy than raw survival-of-the-fittest hack’n’slash, You’re not going to be bogged down for 40 hours of grinding/training to be uber-pro with this game, and is a good pickup for a short-medium romp through an action RPG!
The 7th Saga
“The 7th Saga”, released by Enix for the SNES is one of my all time favorite games! Every time I run into someone else who’s played it, they get this wistful look in their eye, fondness tinged with madness at the game’s occasional (read: near-constant) difficulty and level grinding. Unless, of course, they loathe it for the exact same reasons. This can be one of those ‘Love it or Hate it’ kind of games.
At it’s base, it is a fairly traditional turn-based RPG where you start your journey as one of the 7 apprentices of King Lemele, sent out into the world to recover the 7 Runes of Power. Whosoever completes this quest shall succeed Lemele and become King (or Queen). This all sounds pretty stock, but there is some pretty heavy-duty twisting towards the end. Each character travels along the same basic path (with one or two exceptions), but will interact with the other apprentices throughout the game. Some compete with you to gather the Runes first, some want to team up with you (with a bit of care, you can form a party with any 2 of the apprentices, despite what the manual says!), and some just be general punks and try to fight you and take your Runes. Their attitudes change throughout the game and you should always save before talking to any of the other apprentices. When you have to fight other apprentices, these can be some of the most challenging fights in the game, especially later on, because while they level up with you, they also gain stats faster than you! At very high levels, some apprentices can be nearly (or literally) unbeatable, but you shouldn’t have to deal with them anymore that late in the game.
The 7 apprentices you can start as, team up with, or confront all have different strengths and weaknesses:
Kamil: A Human warrior that tries to be a jack of all trades. A competent fighter with average stats that can equip most gear and use some healing and fire magics fairly well.
Olvan: A Dwarven warrior similar to Kamil, but is a little slower, a little better in combat, and a little less competent with magic.
Valsu: A Human Cleric, he is very fast and has access to all of the best healing and support magics. He can deal a little bit of physical damage, and his only attack spell is a basic Ice spell, but it somehow works fairly well for him.
Lejes: A Demon War Mage, he has all of the strongest Fire and Ice attack magics and can also deal respectable physical damage, as well as weakening opponents. His stats are fairly similar to Kamil’s, but he has pretty light defenses, making him something of a glass cannon.
Esuna: An Elven Wizardess, she is the only female of the bunch. She is very fast and has a good spread of magic. Her healing is second only to Valsu, and while having fewer attacks spells than Lejes (focusing only on Ice), she is generally better with them because of her better magic stats.
Wilme: An Alien Fighter, he doesn’t use (hardly) any equipment, but is incredibly strong and fast, making him a powerhouse with his physical attacks. He has very weak magic however.
Lux: A Robot Warrior (a “Tetujin”), he is similar to Wilme, but is slower, can use some equipment way later on, and has better magic including unique Laser and Thunder spells no one else can use.
Through most of the game, you can go it alone, and you’ll level faster for it, but it can be rough going at times. Eventually, at a certain point, you’ll REALLY want to team up, but I’d rather not spoil the surprise! Just be sure to keep a backup save before anything that looks like it might be the end of the game!
Magic is a little unbalanced in this game in 3 ways: 1.) Higher level spells don’t do a great deal more damage than lower level versions (Ice 2 is only marginally better than Ice, for example), 2.) the Magic stat gets capped at 255 eventually (but only at VERY high levels), so magic stops getting more powerful while physical power keeps going up, and 3.) most monsters do not have different elemental strengths or weaknesses, so usually Ice = Fire = Lightning, unless an enemy is just resistant to magic period. All that said though, magic is great because you can attack multiple foes at once, and it is still quite powerful, even when capped. Healing magic is a real life-saver, especially after you can’t “freeload” anymore (nod nod, wink wink, say no more) and the buff/debuff spells are great! Nothing says howdy like: Lux: ‘DEFEND’, Valsu: ‘SPELL->POWER’, Lux: ‘PWN’! (Note: A technique that you’ll use often is to use ‘DEFEND’ with a character, then ‘ATTACK’ on their following turn. This will increase your damage while protecting you half of the time. Particularly useful against enemies with strong defenses.)
Battles consist of your 1-2 characters facing off against 1-3 enemies at a time. What’s unique about the battle system is that when you enter battle, you spin down to a 3rd person, Mode 7 battlefield, something I’m not sure any other SNES RPG ever did! For the time, it was rather cool and unusual! The battles can get pretty hard at times though. At first, things seem to go alright, but if you go to new places a little too early, enemies can really pummel you, so you need to be careful when exploring newer regions. You also need to save up money for the best gear you can buy in an area (unless you’re playing as Wilme or Lux), so there’s a little bit of grinding as you go along throughout the entire game. In the Japanese version, characters gained stats faster (hence why rival apprentices get stronger than you, they missed that part during porting!), making things go a little smoother. There are ROM hacks out there to restore this, but to a lot of people who’ve played (and liked) the US version, including me, the difficulty is part of the charm. I’ve never played it, but I hear the Japanese version is almost TOO easy.
As you travel through the world in your quest for the Runes, you run into various towns and kingdoms that have different issues you can help them out with, most of them actually directly related to finding the Runes. You even run into a lost civilization that becomes more than it appears. You overthrow usurpers and monsters (and the occasional rival apprentice) to gather the Runes and generally help folks out. At one point, depending on which apprentice you choose in the beginning, some of the paths diverge when you need to visit a new continent. Most apprentices follow one path, but a couple end up going somewhere completely different, and yet a third character can choose a unique path that only he can access. They all eventually re-converge, but where you go can have pretty special challenges. Many of the bosses along the way can be real treats, too! And by treats, I mean “WTF?!”
All in all, a very unique and challenging game for people who wish Dragon Warrior was much more complex, difficult, and better looking! Sign me up! If you like your first playthrough, this game has quite good re-playability since the characters are so different, many different teams will provide a new set of challenges and strategies.
