PS1 Game Review: Final Fantasy Tactics

 Final Fantasy Tactics is a game on the PS1 with several later editions that was made in 1997 and brought to worldwide acclaim and to this day, massive Final Fantasy hype and acclaim today as well.  In advance, I will mention that I have not played any other version besides the PS1 version and after many years have beaten this game.  It's a game that lives on and is streamed today by many streamers and everyone comes out of it the same way, very impressed.  What does this game do well? What does it do that doesn't fit with the audience? All of that and more below!

Positives:

1. Job System: This is done very well, in my opinion to perfection in Final Fantasy Tactics.  Every class can be represented but really any sort of thing you want to do is up to you to master.  I felt that this game was so good with the job system and letting you know how to do accomplish different tasks.  

2. Graphics: Square did well, but anything with this game was so, so good on graphics.  Any level, any elevation and this was done really well overall.  The graphics can be looked at as a major plus overall.

3. Story: Major storylines in this game, even character storylines.  The game possesses a lot of things that are still active today, rich/poor relations, church and the power of the church over anything, royalty vs. commoners, civil wars, and so on. 

4. Music: This is a broken record for Square and gaming but the music is absolutely brilliant in this game.  From cut scenes, world map, shops, battle, boss battles, end game.  All of it is absolutely fantastic. 

5. Character development: The main characters have a lot of development from the game.  They all grow naturally as leaders of whatever they are trying to do, whether good or bad.  They all were fantastic and that is something I really enjoyed overall with this game.  Something that Square did was implement a limited amount of important characters but gave them a lot of growth throughout.

6. Presentation: The mark of a great game I have noticed is how it presents itself from the maker of the game.  For Final Fantasy Tactics, this game is expertly done and the presentation is a major thing of this.  Not just the opening and ending, but just all the presentation of the characters, story, chapters all make this an amazing game.

Negatives:

1. Beginning difficulty: If people didn't get past chapter 1, I definitely understand.  The difficulty in the opening is major amounts of tough.  It is nearly, honestly very nearly, to the point of unfair.  There are a couple other fights like that but this is the one that I would say is truly to the point of unfair.  There is a point the exact opposite happens and the game is almost broken with a character.  However if you get to that point is the question but I can't fault people who decide it isn't for them

Overall Rating

I think overall Final Fantasy Tactics is a must-have for PS1 owners.  I don't know about the other versions as I don't own them but I can't imagine they stray too far from that.  I think everyone would like the way the game plays, how much strategy you can include and do what you need to do from there onward.  So all in all it is a must have for gamers of Final Fantasy.

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10.  If the difficulty doesn't make you want to quit, you will be definitely fine!

SNES Game Review: NFL Quarterback Club

 Happy Halloween everyone! As we continue to dig into the foray of different games, one that gets mentioned as almost sort of a cult following is NFL QB Club (Officially NFL Quarterback Club, but I am shortening up.)  I think this might be because of the competition of a lot of the football games in the mid-90's.  Between this, Madden, Tecmo and so forth, there was a lot of competition overall to make great games.  Made by Akklaim and Iguana, it was a game that tried to compete with Madden and Tecmo, and came out with a game that did compete well I thought at least with Madden.   

Positives:

1. Graphics: I quite liked the graphics and thought they could be on par with Tecmo II.  They were far superior to Madden in my opinion.

2. Different modes: QB Challenge, Play Football and Simulation.  Those are the modes and games.  QB Challenge is similar to what they did in the 90's with different contests in the off-season with quarterbacks facing off in terms of accuracy, throwing power and targets.  For Play Football, I will say it was pre-season mode, regular season and so forth.  Simulation mode is putting through scenarios from the past and looking to either change the outcome or get the outcome the same as it was in real life, albeit probably in a different way. They all do well and add a layer of fun to the game I felt.

3. Presentation: I thought the music did well, I thought the studio (at the time sponsored by Polygram Video, a relatively popular video company in the 90's) was well done as well, even if the artwork of the studio analyst left a lot to be desired.  The presentation as well just in game was well done.

4. QB Play: Well this one is pretty straight forward isn't it.  A game called NFL Quarterback Club featuring great QB play. 

Negatives:

1. Defense: Almost no defensive plays work.  Maybe that is due to the game being Quarterback Club but it almost seems broken in that sense.  It was one of three things, negative play, massive play, or touchdown which felt odd. In the 90's NFL, defense was played and did well with it overall I felt.  

2. Slow: I felt the game was just too slow to be honest.  Not fluid like I thought it would be.  However I just felt if they did more to just make it fluid, not fast or in this case really slow then it would be a great, great game. 

Overall Rating/Rank

NFL QB Club is a pretty decent game for the SNES and the football is alright to a perspective.  I can't say it's the best football game on the Super Nintendo, but it is a game that does a pretty fluid job I felt throughout.  With some ability to have changed the speed of the game it would have been really, really good.

Overall Rating: I'll say 7.9 out of 10.  If they changed the pacing of the game from slow to moderately quick it would be in the 9's.  

Overall Rank: This is better than all of the Madden games from my point of view.  I'll put this probably 228th out of all the SNES games.  It's a relatively solid game overall for football.  The QB Challenge and Simulation modes boast a good couple of modes for fun.

SNES Game Review: Mario Is Missing

 Nintendo and The Software Toolworks are not notably known together in the same sentence like Rareware and Square are with Nintendo.  However they were noted together when they made a game together that was more of an educational piece featuring one of the more recognized characters of the Mario brand.  No it isn't Mario to be honest because the game is Mario Is Missing.  It's also as noted an educational game that focuses on geography and finding major landmarks.  So what does this game do well? What is a struggle? What does it rank as? Let's find out below!

Positives:

1. Luigi: Yes, Mario's skinnier brother comes aboard in this to find Mario and he is the main character as he tries to find his lost brother. 

2. Graphics: Graphics in this game is honestly pretty good and I enjoyed that this game was so good with it.  Made for a colorful game and one that does well also with frame rates as well.

3. Music: The music is very chill, very much something that you expect out of a game that is very laid back and not at all action laden.  It isn't until the end when it picks up.  It's something that you can just relax to and have a good time with.

Negatives:

1. Very limited Scope: This is an educational game, and while yes it teaches geography, it is just limited in scope and it is just all about go one place, and then another. 

2. Long time to finish: For an educational game, it is very long to beat this game.  Typically around 3-3.5 hours to do a full playthrough in one time.  I'd have a hard time going through this game if I didn't stream it for everyone on Twitch.  It's one of those boring games that doesn't entice you so it is just a game that exists and that isn't necessarily a good thing.

3. Boring: Yes it is a boring game.  Yes it is laid back but it is a significantly boring game due to just the limitations in scope overall.  It's just do one thing, go another place, do another thing and that's that.  There isn't any strategy, no things to do and that doesn't do much for it other than provide a geography lesson.

Overall Rating/Rank

Overall, Mario is Missing is what it is, an educational game formed around geography and landmarks.  It is super limited in scope and just used for educational purposes.  If it was a game that didn't take so long to get through, it'd be far higher up on the list because the graphics and music are actually quite alright.  However the length makes it so boring.  It's not a game I would recommend past a first and only time playthrough but do like that Luigi was in the game and the graphics were good.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 10.  The length and boredom really bring it down.  By no means though is this game among the worst for the SNES nor the best.

Overall Ranking: I'll go 580th.  Like I said, not the worst at all, but not good.  

SNES Game Review: NBA Live 96

 NBA Live was the EA Sports counterpart to what the 2K series is today and was one of a mesh of games that game producers made in the 90's.  It is noted that the NBA Playoffs series started it for EA Sports but they are more noted with the NBA Live franchise.  The series of NBA Live started with NBA Live 95 but it was really 96 that they started to get the idea of the series.  It is probably the best EA Sports NBA game on the Super Nintendo, though it does have its flaws as well.  

Positives:

1. NBA/NBPA license: Minus Michael Jordan, everyone is on this game and it is a good thing overall.  Jordan wasn't featured on a lot of games, which might have been a copyright thing rather than an NBPA thing.  However it was good to see everyone else on it and they did well with their strengths/weaknesses in the game for each player as well.

2. Basketball arena: It looks like a basketball arena, feels like it as well with the crowd noise.  The floors have great floor patterns and the whole feel of the basketball game is there, which is a good touch.

3. Graphics: Overall, pretty well done.  I thought the game did well graphics wise and the idea of the game to have good graphics was a good one overall I felt.  Same goes for the presentation graphics.  I thought they were pretty well done overall.

4. Music: Normally I wouldn't say yes or no to music on a sports game, but the music in NBA Live is actually quite good overall.  I liked the upbeat style of it and the city background for the game.  It's an added plus to the game.

Negative:

1. Shooting: Yeah this wasn't a good positive.  It seemed for me at least the only way to score was by moving with the shot and if you are standing still you are easily able to get blocked on the shot.  I felt that was not crafted well in development as most players don't move and jump in midair shooting like 8 feet to make the shot.

2. The sprites: They are all literally the same.  There is just the height difference on some players.  No like big dude down low like 90's NBA was and it was just the same player sprites in a large amount of ways to be honest.  I's actually quite disappointing they didn't expand on that further.

Overall Rating/Rank

Overall despite the downsides of NBA Live 96, it's still a very playable game with a lot of good features to it.  There are some downsides but they can be overlooked in some way, especially the player sprites.  However the Shooting was a massive negative and if someone says no to the game I would understand.  I do recommend this game at least on a season playthrough or at the worst, a playoff format playthrough (as there are multiple modes.) 

Overall Rating: I'd have to say 7.5 out of 10.  The shooting if refined by the time of release of the game would have been a solid 8 to 9.

Overall Rank: In the case of NBA Live 96, it's not a top 100 game, but I would say it can crack the top 200.  It's probably around 180th overall.

SNES Game Review: Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble

 The trilogy of Donkey Kong ends with Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble for the Super Nintendo.  The folks at Rareware had to be clapping immensely to themselves over having 3 of the top 10 selling games on the Super Nintendo and they happened to be the three Donkey Kong games.  A massive achievement for sure, but they all had last impacts on the series that continue to this day and is a very big edition to the Super Nintendo library of great games.  Where does DKC3 rate among those and what do they do well? Let's take a longer look.

Positives:

1. Graphics- You knew this was going to be the case but Rareware did really well with this and again with the different versions of levels in every way possible.  They did an outstanding job again with this and it shows.

2. Differences of levels- There are some where controls are opposite, there are some where you have to have a speedrun mentality, some where you have to dodge a lot of things.  There are more than just layouts with this and it is honestly cool to see them be as interactive as possible with this.  

3. Dixie Kong's skillset- Overall a great skillset much like DKC2 but she plays a much larger role in this one.  There is a reason for that and it is also below. However Dixie Kong does so, so well weith this game and you are so much in debt to her through the game.

4. Music- This is just lather, rinse, repeat.  Great music for Rareware as like the other two games. 

5. Frame rate- Very smooth, very crisp overall and one that does well especially in a streaming mode (Such as I did with this game.)  It is a game that graphically is amazing but with the frame rate is not choppy or slow at all.

6. Difficulty is better- It's not overly easy like DKC1 and not almost impossible with some of it like DKC2.  This is probably the best of the 3 for difficulty purposes. The bosses are a bit more scaled down which is a bit of a drag and will be mentioned below, however the levels themselves have challenges but they do well with making it a challenge but making it fair.

Negatives:

1. Kiddy Kong- Yeah there is a reason I said Dixie's skillset is needed.  Kiddy Kong is just a lumber of a character.  I didn't find much use for him, much like Donkey Kong in DKC1.  I felt other than a couple things, he wasn't worth much value which is honestly unfortunate.  I think they wanted a different character than Dixie and Diddy, but in this case it doesn't work to be fair.

2. Bosses- I felt they scaled down a bit too much other than the final boss.  That still remained a struggle but the rest were more or less pretty easy after a time or at most two.  There were a couple bosses that provided a lot of strategy but you got the main picture of how to beat them easily.

Overall Rating/Rank

DKC 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble is a overall well made game that deserves high praise.  I felt if they kept it with Diddy/Dixie it would have been absolutely splendid and something that made it well worth the praise.  However with Kiddy Kong, it does bring it down slightly.  However that isn't to say this is a bad game, not at all.  This is a splendid game that I would still highly recommend overall.

Overall Rating: 9.1 out of 10, despite Kiddy Kong being here, it doesn't detract from the game in a major sense and the game is actually quite well done overall. 

Overall Rank: I would put this 18th in the Top 20 of SNES games.  It is a very, very well made game and 2nd best of the 3 on the SNES that are Donkey Kong Country.

SNES Game Review: Tecmo Super NBA Basketball

 Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl's three editions are well sketched and well noted in the minds of the public for nearly 40 years now as the first game came out in the last 80's and into the 90's when they made three games for the Super Nintendo.  However the folks at Tecmo made other sports games as well, one of those was Tecmo Super NBA Basketball.  This game was based on the 1991-92 season, so nearly 30 years in the making already.  This game made its North American debut though in 1993.  All in all, what does this game do well? What does it struggle with? All that and more below!

Positives:

1. Graphics- Tecmo does well with the graphics in this game I feel.  It's not as 'tadow' as the Tecmo Super Bowl versions 2 and 3 but it does do well to capture the essence of a basketball game with a well done court (if basic but on the Super Nintendo you had to be basic) and the crowd and the noise of the crowd. 

Credit to SNESguide on YouTube

2. Well done player sprites- They are essentially 3D player sprites and they do really well for making them look and seem like basketball players.  I thought this was a bit ahead of it's time as it took EA a few years to perfect this when they finally got it down with NBA Live 96 for the SNES.  So good job on that Tecmo.

3. Michael Jordan- Most will wonder why I put him on here.  Here's why: This is one of the few actual basketball games he is featured in.  He isn't in NBA Live with that series of games.  He isn't in NBA Jam, so Tecmo is literally one of the few games he is in.  I believe that this was due to trademark of himself rather than the NBPA or the NBA as to why he isn't in other games but players should take notice and enjoy having Michael Jordan in a game.  

4. Realistic schedule/ratings of teams- The schedule is what it was in 1991-92 so they did a really good and extensive job with the calendar on this game.  However the ratings of the teams are also quite good and competitive.  1991-92 was the year of Chicago which is also evident in the game but the teams that played them are pretty competitive and they do well to exemplify that competitive nature in the game.  Unless a complete mismatch, it's typically pretty close games.

Negatives:

1. Shooting/passing- These can be major let downs.  Shooting if you are not just absolutely perfect on it is going to be so hot/cold.  If you are not perfect to the pixel, you will miss almost all the time.  If you are right on the pixel for it, you will not miss.  It's pretty unforgiving overall and you will feel pretty frustrated by it.  For passing, it seems this is more on just players passing into the defense for some reason.  I noticed this playing against the computer, they pass so much but it also leads to a lot of turnovers.  I am not sure why that is but it would be a major downside as well to the game. 

Overall Rating/Rank

All in all, when you get past the shooting/passing flaws, though major, this is a well made game by Tecmo.  I do have to admit that the shooting/passing are major flaws though.  Anyone that was expecting this game to be that of NBA Jam/NBA Jam: Tournament Edition is kidding themselves though.  Not even NBA Live 96 can get to that extent.

Overall Rating: 7 out of 10 is fine.  It's not a great game by any stretch due to the shooting/passing flaws.  But it's not a trash game.  

Overall Rank: Top 300 is fine, I'll say 248th out of the SNES Games. 

SNES Game Review: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

 The sequel of Donkey Kong Country on the SNES by Rareware was Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.  Yes Kong Quest is there for conquest, but since Diddy is a Kong, then ah you get the point already.  Anyway, This was the second in a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games on the SNES, and all three are top 25 games.  However, this game is probably the best of the three.  Here is why below!

Positive:

1. Graphics- Rare again does a fantastic job of graphics in this game, but with a lot, lot more complicated levels than that of DKC 1.  These are moving ships, hidden parts to levels, secret levels, different scenery from almost every aspect.  This is far better and they made it so crisp in just about every way possible.

2. Frame rate- They also fixed the frame rate in this game to not be so choppy and it is more fluid and flowing.  Rare literally took any mistakes on this from the first game (First try mistakes we'll say) and made them a lot, lot better. I was positive on this throughout the game.

3. Better camera positioning- One thing I didn't really comment on in DKC 1 was the camera because for the most part it was fine minus some positions in say water levels where it doesn't keep up with Diddy/Donkey a lot.  Same with some of the snow/ice levels.  However in DKC 2, it keeps up with Diddy and Dixie all the time and makes it again more flowing from a camera perspective.

4. No Donkey Kong- Okay now I go hard on this and I am also attaching the DKC 1 review as to why.  However you have two speedsters here and more flexible characters in Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong.  They fit the game a lot, lot better with their quickness, speed, flexibility, being nimble.  Donkey was more of a clunker and it made for a difficult struggle with him in DKC 1.

5. Better bosses- You have actual strategy for the bosses this time, which makes for a fun game overall.  In DKC 1, the bosses were very, very basic and didn't lend itself to much difficulty other than get through the levels.  However in DKC 2, you have to try, and in some cases (cough final boss cough) try a lot to get the job done.  I do like this as it presents a massive challenge to the player.

6. Music- Rare and Nintendo do it again, fantastic music for literally every level and boss out there.  It was a terrific sight to see and they did the best overall with it and notes to this being a terrific soundtrack to just vibe to, chill or just game up.  Well done lads and lasses on this. 

Negatives:

1. Difficulty- Okay so I may have mentioned that DKC 1 may have been too easy.  If Rare wanted a challenge oh boy did they get a challenge with this game.  It's almost to the point of some levels being completely unfair.  The bosses, minus the final one, are pretty fair.  The final one is exceptionally difficult.  I feel though some of the levels could have been toned down on the sheer difficulty factor.  And yes I did take my account of being completely bad at games before writing this.

Overall rating/Rank:

To me, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is an absolutely brilliant game by Nintendo and Rareware.  They did well with giving the game more to the player in terms of better camera positioning, frame rate, boss difficulty, but kept the graphics and music extremely good as well.  This is a game that deserves a high rating and a high rank.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10, and the reason it isn't a 10 is just due to the extreme difficulty of some of the levels.  If they had toned down on that, it'd be a perfect game.

Rank: Out of the 721 games made for the SNES, DKC 2 is very high up there.  A lot of people rank it as the best of the 3 on the Super Nintendo and I tend to agree.  For me this game doesn't crack the top 10 but it comes close as it is 12th in my list of games. 

Link to the DKC 1 review:  https://mywideworldofblogging.blogspot.com/2018/07/snes-game-review-donkey-kong-country.html

N64 Game Review: F-1 World Grand Prix

 Formula 1 racing has been around since 1950 and has produced some of the greatest drivers ever.  From Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Sebastian Vettel to Lewis Hamilton it has produced amazing champions of the sport.  It has also produced a lot of games from different companies.  Currently Codemasters has the F1 games and has for quite some time, but before that different companies made F1 games.  Notably, EA Sports made F1 games for a number of years before bowing out to other endeavors.  When the Nintendo 64 came around, Paradigm Entertainment came around with this game, F-1 World Grand Prix.  This game is also available on Dreamcast and PS1 and Windows but they were a full year later on than the N64 version.  What does this game do well? What didn't do well? Here we go friends!

Positives:

1. Challenge Mode- I love this mode and it is cool to challenge yourself in this rather than just race.  It provides unique experiences with different drivers of different cars and is overall a good representation of the nuances of F1 at the time.

2. Graphics- I thought the graphics were done well, if a bit boxy on the cars.  It's overall a good representation of 1998 with the track layouts and configurations and crowds.  There isn't much in the way of pixelating or polygonal delay, and it flows through the track.

3. Racing- It's actually quite good to be honest, and the presentation of this is noted to be done quite well.  I thought it was good to race on the 1997 calendar or the 1998 calendar as well.  Both were really welcome editions and it was a good thing to do overall.

4. Realism- The drivers, minus Jacques Villeneuve, had accurate representation over their likeness and the game overall does well as I said above with the layouts of the tracks and how well they were done in terms of their layouts and designs from the 1997/1998 seasons.

Negatives:

1. Camera angle- Especially in braking zones, the camera is super wonky and seems to want to stay straight ahead rather than follow you.  Not that it is severely detrimental but it just is really wonky overall.

2. Boxy cars- Yeah when I said the cars are boxy, it just doesn't promote themselves well.  Like I said with the graphics the cars are boxy in ways and they drive oddly in the braking zones.  Every time it feels the car will snap on you and you have to do your best to control it.  Other than that, the cars are fine.

Overall Rating:

I would give F-1 World Grand Prix probably a 8 out of 10.  It's a fine racing game for its time and one of the better games on the seemingly next gen consoles of PS1/N64/Dreamcast. I have only played this game for the N64 however but it was a fine game and one I would recommend still today for those racing game completionists out there.

SNES Game Review: Illusion of Gaia

 Illusion of Gaia is a game made by Enix that hit shelves for the SNES in North America in 1994.  Enix was available for a number of games before it's merger with Squaresoft, including one I have reviewed prior in The 7th Saga.  This game is not that tough or that unforgiving so you won't see much in the way of comparisons anyway to it.  However that doesn't mean it doesn't have it's downsides and doesn't have it's own positives which it does.  Those are below!

Positives:

1. Graphics- Enix had a lot of games on the SNES and those are all very graphically well done.  This game is the same way, from any dungeons, the map, sprites on the screen, to the details of anything all make this a really well done game on the graphics aspect.

2. Different stories- Each character has it's own story and its own progression in that story.  The main one is Will, who is trying to find his father and become what he was.  But every non-playable character also has their own story as well.  It's one of the cool parts to this game and is one of the lasting thoughts of the game as well, the friendships made in this game.

3. Will's story- Will is the main protagonist in the game, and so his story is told for everyone to see.  He does well for a protagonist who switches to different characters in different dungeons and that is something of a change.  You could consider it a new job class but he is allowed to do this and it is very beneficial to the player overall.

4. The story itself- Aside from the characters own stories the story itself is one that is really, really amazing.  What starts out as you getting thrown in a jail in a kingdom opens itself up in a large, large way.  You go a lot of places, meet a lot of friends and find out a lot about all the characters families.  They also help others.  I will also say a couple of the parts of the game there should be a trigger warning, but you could easily figure out what those are when you get to that point.

5. Music- Enix, along with Squaresoft, had games that just did well with music.  I love the open world map music here, town music, castle and dungeon music.  It's all very well incorporated into the story and everything plays a good, major role here. 

6. Difficulty- This game isn't unforgiving like The 7th Saga, but isn't too easy like that of FFIV.  You experience, especially for a first time game player, some difficulty with bosses. However the main thing is it has a lot of strategy you have to encounter with bosses, so it is a fun game from that perspective.

Negatives:

1. Jewels- I feel the only major downside of this game is the jewels you collect.  There are 50 to collect and to be honest, some are hidden.  In my playthrough of it I relied on a guide to help me out on it.  Otherwise if you don't, you'll miss a lot of them.  I felt if they had done more with this to make it a bit easier, they would have been better off.

Overall Rating/Rank

Illusion of Gaia is a really well made game by Enix for the Super Nintendo.  The game has a lot of depth, a lot of great storylines, a great story within itself.  The music is fantastic, not too difficult while also having a lot of strategy involved.  I feel this was a game that I almost didn't appreciate the first time I played it as much as I should.  I feel when I play it again I will appreciate it more.  It's a game that will do well with first time gamers of this and experienced players.  I highly recommend Illusion of Gaia, I give it a 9.3 out of 10 and an overall ranking of 16th on the SNES platform.

SNES Game Review: NCAA Basketball

 NCAA Basketball is a basketball game for the SNES made by Sculptured Software.  The game is a glimpse into what the college game can be, much like Bill Walsh's College Football from EA Sports.  It didn't have the lasting legacy like the NCAA March Madness series did but the game does have it's ups and downs.  Without any further ado, here is what went well and didn't go well.

Positives:

1. Major colleges: This game wasn't going to feature the 200-300 college basketball teams that it did at the time but there was the positive that pretty much every major college conference was involved.  The ACC, SEC, Southwest Conference, Big 10 and others were involved.  So that included schools like Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, and so forth.  If you wanted to make a college basketball game for the SNES, the big conferences needed to give it staying power.

2. Mode 7 camera- This actually works for this game.  The game itself rotates well and is paced well with the camera so you won't get a sense of motion sickness like you would in a fast paced game.

3. A feel of control- You can pass, shoot, play defense.  You have all that in a good pace.  It seems good overall in that sort of game.  At this point that seems like it should go well to be honest and it does do well.  I felt in control of playing well overall.  

Negatives:

1. Graphics- Yeah these aren't the best.  Just feel choppy and just feel at times blurred which Sculptured didn't seem to equate this.  It just seemed graphics just weren't a major thing for them and it is a big downfall.

2. The blue screen- I contemplated making this neutral but it seems to be combined with the graphics.  The blue screen just isn't a good eye sight for the game.  It just makes it muddled and makes it look worse in a graphics sense.  Add to that the mundane crowd noise and it's just meh at best.

3. No mid-major schools- Yeah this is a downside, as it is so limited in scope and sphere that with the graphics issues you would think it would be good to then add more schools.  Alas it was just a major conference game and that was about it for this basketball game.

Overall rating/Rank:

This is an average at best game.  You feel in control, you can do the basics of basketball well but the graphics, lack of depth in this game really hurts it overall.  I can recommend it from a pure just play as a one time, maybe season mode game but that's really it.  Not much more than an average game at best.  Personally I rate it 5 out of 10 and it's probably around 400th on the list of SNES games.

SNES Game Review: Final Fantasy IV

 This will be more than just a SNES review of Final Fantasy IV, it will be talking about all the platforms of this game, because there are very many of them.  The game started out on the SNES, then went to the PS1, the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and has had a sequel called Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.  To say this brought FF to America mainstream is probably being politically correct, but it wasn't the Final Fantasy that made it popular.  That would be FF7, another game I will review in time.  In this game review, I will primarily go through the SNES version but also then tell you the later versions that I have played, which are DS, PS1, and GBA (that would be Game Boy Advance.) This will probably be the most in-depth of the reviews that I have done, or at least the most in-depth in quite a number of years, so here we go!

Positives (SNES Version):

1. Graphics- Square did well with the graphics despite it being 1991.  I thought they did very well to do the mountain stages of the game, the caves, the towers as well.  The more simple designs are castles, forests and such and those are also made well.  Square with Nintendo deserve a round of applause for this.

2. Music: Final Fantasy, Uematsu, yeah this is literally all I am going to say about music (and if you want me to say more, I'll say YouTube FFIV music.)

3. Story- The story is absolutely fantastic on the whole.  I love the whole aspect of the story, and it doesn't leave much in the way of plot holes (any that are are minimal and described in The After Years anyway) but it is a game that you know is great on storyline and great in every single way.

4. Character development: Oh boy there is a whole lot of character development.  Some very quickly, some characters evolve over time.  You have a quick feeling of strong development with the Protagonist, Cecil, early on.  However the other characters, whether it is Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Yang, Palom, Porom, Cid, Tellah, Edge, or Edward.  They all have some sort of development and this is honestly one of the better games for character development of the pre-PS2 Final Fantasy games.

5. Battle System- Pretty easily done, pick up and play and attack, use magic, and some strategy and you are good to go.  It's pretty fluid as well so you aren't struggling to stay alive and you have a good sense which makes it a good game for a beginner to Final Fantasy

Negative:

1. Translation- Oh dear me, the translation is horrendous in the SNES version but I feel a lot of that is due to the.. let's go strict nature of Nintendo promoting itself as family branded at the time.  A lot of this is noted in the text, but also the magic (For Instance, Holy is White.. yeah..) and it just makes it severely awkward and yes that is why I put the picture here as well.

As an aside, people say the SNES version is easy.. I can tend to agree there.  It is an easier game but I don't think it is so easy a young toddler can play it easy.  It still involves strategy and the ability to do well and progress.  It's just an easier difficulty than that of the versions later.

For the PS1 version, the end boss is a LOT, LOT tougher.  Yeah whatever the SNES one had with being light on the boss is worse with the PS1 version because the end boss is not forgiving.  You have to change a lot of your strategies for this boss with that one part.  On the whole, for the PS1 version it is a lot, lot better in translation, mainly because the Sony limitations of rules for family friendly are just.. let's just say non-existent.  So the game provides better context into their translation and that's the main difference here.  It still sold well and was with a combo pack of this and Chrono Trigger for the PS1 which sold well.  The story is still the same as the SNES version, no major differences in the art style, gameplay other than different buttons for the controllers.  Overall the disc version of this game doesn't hinder the speed like it does with Chrono Trigger because the fights all are the same way in the SNES version, just random.  

For the GBA version, at the worst I would say it is just the same as the PS1 version, maybe just a bit more of a finer text to make it look cooler.  Otherwise some graphical changes and essentially the same difficulty exists as the PS1 version.  Overall I enjoy the GBA version and think of it highly much like the PS1 version.  

For the DS version, oh boy do bosses get juiced up here.  It is impossible with some of these bosses and you have to win just off pure luck.  It's unfortunate because of that but overall it is a very crisp, good looking game that goes into the modern era of video gaming.  I have a lot of respect for how modernized they made the graphics, text and so forth.  However the difficulty, especially with bosses is deeply unforgiving and if you got turned away from this, I can definitely understand this in the fullest. As you can see how the graphics are in the picture here.

Overall Ratings/Rank of SNES:

I'd have to give the DS version a B grade just due to the unrelenting difficulty.  PS1 and GBA versions get solid A grades due to how well they translated the game better than the SNES versions overall.  For the SNES version, the deal with the translation and text if that turns you off I can definitely understand because that is something that honestly is very cringe worthy.  If you are playing the game for literally anything else besides that, then you will enjoy it.  For me as far as a number rating, 8.4 is probably good.  For me, it's not a top 20 SNES game, or even top 30.  I would though put it in the Top 50.  I'd put it probably 41st of the games on the SNES. 

SNES Game Review: Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball

 Game shows, board games and movies weren't the only ones involved in the video game craze that was the 1990's.  Professional athletes donned their names on a lot of video games.  Joe Montana, Sterling Sharpe, Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, and Frank Thomas are among the many, many athletes to be a part of video games in the 1990's.  For Frank Thomas, his game was Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball.  Big Hurt was his nickname as he crushed baseballs for home runs in the 90's and became an icon overall.  This game was made by Akklaim and Iguana Entertainment and had Stats Inc, so there was some major firepower of this game in the day.  What does the game do well? Not do well? All that and more below.

Positives:

1. Motion capture: This is one of the first games to capture motions, more brought to light with EA Sports in 1998 with Madden and other games.  This was a good step in the right direction and really captured, excuse the pun, what the future of video games would be overall.  So you could say this game was ahead of its time.

2. Graphics: I mean it is a good graphic game, and the players look like players and you have the feel of being in a ballpark, but more on this below.

3. MLB and MLBPA license: In a decade that before the PS1 you didn't know if a game would or would not have a sports and players association license, it was a welcome relief that this game has a good set of both licenses with this game overall.

Negatives:

1. Batter/pitcher interfaces: Both are incredibly slow.  The hitting motion is just slow and takes forever for a swing to be done rather than naturally.  The pitcher just pitching the ball takes a while after selecting the pitch so it really drags the game overall. 

2. Slow pace: I'm not a fan of just slow paced games unless they are RPG's.  Sports games shouldn't be slow paced and this game just fails in going a good pace.

3. Unnecessary things: I don't understand why there is a rain delay in the middle of the game, the extra motions of fielders, pitchers, hitters and so forth.  It just feels extra and slows the game down to a point that it just becomes unnecessary.

4. Not an accurate ballpark representation: Yes the graphics are good but the ballparks are so generic of domes and open air stadiums that it just misses the mark entirely and I am not sure how they decided it was a good accord there.

Overall Rating/Rank

To be fair, Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball is a game I can't really recommend.  Reason is too many unrealistic and slow things to the game to make this worse rather than better.  It was a nostalgia game since Frank Thomas was one of my favorite players but I felt they could have done a lot better than they did and the finished product just wasn't very good.  4 out of 10 is the rating, but an overall rank that of 490th is reasonable.

SNES Game Review: Monopoly

 I have mentioned in the recent past about different games resembling their IRL (in real life) counterparts.  Another such game is Monopoly.  Yes this is kind of the slimmed-down, not time consuming, whatever you want to call it counterpart to the board game in real life.  That can make good and bad things with this game honestly a decent game overall.

Positives:

1. Pacing- Yes the pacing here is brilliant.  I actually like what Parker Brothers did on the SNES with the pacing.  They knew as well the players would like it.  So they did well with pacing here. Also you can adjust the game pace if you want to go even faster, slower and so forth.

2. Graphics- I actually found the graphics to be done well with the game.  It's a board game so you have to be imaginative in graphics which they did. Kudos to Parker Brothers for that. 

3. Plays like Monopoly, but faster- This will not be hours upon hours on this game.  This will be done pretty quickly for a game.  Typically 30-45 minutes at most.  Most families would love for this to be like actual Monopoly as well. But I think the quick start-to-finish is important here for the Super Nintendo.  

4. Realism of Monopoly- You have all the icons you played with in the original monopoly, all the railroads, utilities, places and yes everyone's desperately searched for place, boardwalk.  Like I said above, the game has a lot of sped up feelings so multi-player will be good for the player and/or players.

Negatives:

1. Limited in scope- There isn't much that this game offers other than it is Monopoly and they have a limited scope after that.  I felt the game if on a different platform or at a later time would have a lot more personality, better sound, lot more interaction overall would have made this game even better.  I think just the fault of it was the limited scope of the SNES made it impossible to incorporate all of this.  However you can see essentially sort of a modern Monopoly with Fortune Street on different consoles now.

Overall Rating/Rank:

There are a lot of positives that Monopoly had which I personally was quite pleased with.  The main ones were the pacing and the speed of the game.  It won't take hours like IRL Monopoly to get done with and that is a pleasure to have.  The realism is also really good.  What it limits in scope though does bring it down several notches.  It's still a good, chill game to play through with family or a friend.  Overall, have to give this game a 7 out of 10 and let's go 217th on the list of SNES games.  Would recommend this game however and that is a good thing

SNES Game Review: Sports Illustrated Championship Football and Baseball

 Sports Illustrated is one of the most, if not the most, recognizable magazines to grace a stand in printing history.  It's covers of championship teams, cursing teams that should win it all, and much more.  They also attempted to get into the video game sports industry in the 1990's with Malibu Gaming with Sports Illustrated Championship Football and Baseball.  To put it nicely, they probably shouldn't have had Malibu make this game or just should have foregone the whole video game concept altogether.

Positives:

1. Graphics: Yeah there aren't many but the graphics are good overall for this game and I feel that this is the one main positive about this game because like I said.. there aren't many.

2. Frame Rate: This is actually quite alright as well.  Not a bad thing at all, and I feel it is quite okay for all reasonable ideas.

Negatives:

1. Cameras: Yeah like I said there were not many highlights to this.  The cameras in both the football and baseball are just bad.  I don't know why the football one is just diagonal.  It just doesn't make sense.  The baseball one with the batters eye is fine, but after the field in play is just awkward as well. 

2. Not a single license: Imagine having no license for the NFL, MLB, MLBPA or NFLPA and you have to be so generic on a game.  Yep that's this game actually.  I can't find a single excuse as to how that happens and it really brings the game down a lot.

3. Speed: Yeah this is spotty at best, slow at worst.  The bat swing for hitting on the baseball game is just so awkward in speed, the plays in football take forever to develop and it is just not a good mix at all.  

4. Passing windows: They are on the side rather than the top for the passing part of the football side of things.  I don't know why they are so clunky, take up so much room and make it so bad.  But they managed to not do what Madden did and screwed it up.

Overall Rating/Rank

As you can tell, this game just isn't good at all.  I wish they wouldn't have tried it and/or if they did re-try it then get the licenses at least? You can work on legitimately everything else in development, but no licenses really destroyed this game as did the production minus the graphics/speed of the game.  You can deal with the awkward passing windows if everything else is good.  But it isn't. Overall rating, 3 out of 10, and 560th on the overall rank.

SNES Game Review: Jeopardy: Sports Edition

 In my previous evening blog edition I talked about how movies were made into video games like Aladdin, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, and so forth.  That same can be said about tv/game shows as well.  Things like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy were/are game shows that turned into video games on the Super Nintendo.  GameTek made the game for this and here is what they do well, and what they should have improved on.

Positives:

1. Variety: Over 1700 questions provide you the opportunity to flex and work your brain to do what you need to do to win the game.  So this is something they did well.

2. The likeness of Alex Trebek: Yep our favorite host of Jeopardy at least had his likeness in the game.  The voice seemed off for him so it may not have been his voice (or if it was, you can tell just how 90's the equipment was) but his likeness is in it, even if again it was 90's video game likeness. 

3. Quick pace: Yes despite the puzzles, if you wanted to not do that and just wanted to beat the game once, it is a quick playthrough.  Typically 30 minutes or less if you wanted to just play it without the massive amount of questions/puzzles to this game.

Negatives:

1. Bland: There isn't any natural sound to base the game off of.  It's rather bland and just makes you think you are in an elevator or something like that.  Kind of a downfall due to that because the game has to have more than just that.

2. Limitations: This is probably more on GameTek doing this but the game has a lot of limitations and does not provide a lot of ability to have more than just a regular game should.  I felt they could have opened it up with more animations at least to make the game more lively.

3. Tendencies: I played this game a few times but even though there were over 1700 questions it seemed some tended to be repeated.  I wasn't sure what to make of it but I didn't understand it a lot anyway.

Overall Rating/Rank:

This is just a merely average game, much like Monopoly, Wheel of Fortune and so on.  Don't be surprised if you get bored of it quickly because it is a limited game in scope.  I'd rate it a 5 out of 10 but rank it like 419th or so on the SNES radar.

SNES Game Review: NBA Jam and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition

 That's right I am going to post about 2 games at one time here.  The reason? NBA Jam Tournament Edition has a lot of the same features, just more players and a tournament style.  This was a dual of games that made it a cult following even today and a top basketball game at its time and one that people still play on retro games today.  What does this game do well? Is there anything it doesn't do well? ALl that and more (and an extension as to what NBA Jam: Tournament Edition does) coming up below!

Positives:

1. NBA and NBPA licenses: Yep, essentially what Madden couldn't do for years NBA Jam did instantly with having the NBA license and the NBPA license.  Meaning real teams, real players and their likeness and names.  It was fantastic to see overall that this game started with all the realism in teams and players.

2. Arcade style works: A lot of people might scoff at arcade-style games being on different platforms but this game works immensely for being arcade-style and fun.  The arcade style makes it fun overall to play and it makes it also chill but also competitive.  

3. Trolling: This is a great game to troll your friend with but also the game itself has a history of trolling a team.  That is because the producer of the game was/is a Pistons fan, and the 90's were peak rivalry of Bulls/Pistons.  The producer then decided to put something in the game code that if you are the Bulls you will miss every shot at the end of the games against the Pistons.  15/10 for the trolling indeed.

4. The announcer: I just love this guy, just saying stuff like "Heating up! He's on Fire!" and just having a lot of fun with it.  This is something that may seem minor but it is a plus that the announcer is minimal but also really good with the game.

5. Graphics: Graphics in both games are just really, really good and the sprites are great.  The movements of the players are just fantastic as well so all in all a really good game. 

NBA Jam: Tournament Edition

The only main differences on this is just the tournament style, some new players and just different screen graphics overall on the main menus.  This was something that isn't made major important but it is still good fun overall because the game is so well made by Midway and most fans of NBA Jam will love NBA Jam: Tournament edition.  The announcer is still amazing, still arcade style and has the NBA and NBPA licenses so you are great overall with it.

Negatives:

To me, there are none.  I could be wrong but I really couldn't find one negative with this game at all and that is something I enjoyed overall.  This was just a well made game.

Overall rating/Rank

This game is very well made by Midway and NBA Jam: Tournament Edition is well made as well.  Neither game has any major flaws and with all the positives, both games rate very highly.  It's no surprise they are right next to each other in the all-time rankings.  Both games are 10/10 in my opinion, and both are highly ranked the order, in 22nd and 23rd overall on the SNES rankings list I have done.

SNES Game Review: Aladdin

 There were a lot of movie titles that became games in the 1990's.  The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Aladdin are among those.  Aladdin is a movie in the 90's but also a game from Capcom, who seemed to hit on every game they touched for the SNES for the most part.  A lot of this game will be kind of a comparison to The Lion King, which I reviewed a long time ago on this blog (Link is below.)  What do I think Aladdin did well? What did I think it needed more of? All that and more below!

Positives:

1. Graphics: Capcom with Disney hit it out of the park with this and they had to be proud of themselves for this.  A game with the caliber of the SNES to look so good graphically was a major step for them and it was a really cool thing to see the levels so vivid, so good overall.

2. Music: Capcom, Disney, Nintendo.  Music is always the best.  I don't think I need to go further.  But I will anyway :) The music is fantastic in this game, and all the Aladdin music that you love from the movie is brilliant in the game.

3. Not as difficult as The Lion King: Yes this is better in difficulty than the Lion King.  It is more manageable and a lot easier to deal with overall.  The levels themselves I am about to elude on are a major reason for this not being as difficult.

4. The Levels: Absolutely splendid and not as death riddled as The Lion King.  That is a major step better.  The levels themselves are exquisite but they are still somewhat challenging without breaking a controller to have to do everything and dying every single second.  They also are more forgiving in you don't have to be absolutely perfect to do everything on a level.

5. Password system: For the SNES a ton of games that don't have save batteries with them are put well with a password system.  For Aladdin it is pretty simple with some icons rather than a long password you have to put on a pad to remember.  

Negatives:

1. Jewels: Yeah this is the major negative here.  I don't really know the purpose of them but also I don't quite know the reason for them in this game? Also some seem very much too difficult to get so I don't understand quite why the jewels are in the game anyway.  

Overall Rating/Rank:

I thought Aladdin was done very well for the Super Nintendo and that Capcom can be very proud of themselves.  Overall I thought the levels were done very well, obviously the music is fantastic.  The levels themselves are very well done and not as difficult as The Lion King.  Overall I think this game is an 8.7 out of 10.  I would rate it probably 44th on the SNES all-time ranking. 

https://mywideworldofblogging.blogspot.com/2019/06/snes-game-review-lion-king.html 

SNES Game Review: John Madden Football

 John Madden Football, that name is noted to history.  His time coaching, the great players, quarterbacks, games, and.. a video game? Yep at the time, he self-admitted he didn't know what a video game was but little did he know how strong that brand was going to be.. on other systems besides the Super Nintendo.  Yeah this game kicked off the Madden franchise on Super Nintendo as well, and went through until Madden NFL 98.  What did John Madden Football do well? What doesn't it do well? All that and more below.

Positive:

1. Graphics: The field and the jersey colors are actually quite good overall.  EA did well with this aspect of the game to make those actually good.

2. You get the sense of the game: Yes I am again grasping at straws when I say this and luckily I don't have to for the Madden on SNES series anymore.  Yes you get a grasp of the game early on at least what it will be like for the SNES.

Negatives:

1. Choppy frame rate: This game is so choppy and it shows badly right away.  Every play is choppy and it is such a struggle overall to deal with. 

2. Slow: Yep this game is slow and choppy, and yes that is easily not a good combo for any game but definitely not a good combo for a Super Nintendo game.

3. No NFL/NFLPA license: Yeah this doesn't help the cause to the just lackluster game.  No NFL or NFLPA license mean no players, no official names, no anything really that resembles having a good quality game here. If you want quality even without both, look at the Genesis version of this game and it will be noted why that game sold so well.

Overall rating/Rank:

I can't give the SNES version of John Madden Football higher than a 4 out of 10.  The slow, choppy frame rate and speed to the game make it just bad.  Yes they did okay with the graphics but you got a sense early on this was what Madden on SNES was going to be, just a mess.  Look to the Genesis for these games and that is what I will say about it.  Overall, 490th is what I will rate John Madden Football

SNES Game Review: Sim City

 Sim City is a Super Nintendo game that came out in 1991 (or 1992 if you were in Europe) that kind of makes it as it sounds, about a city, simulation and building.  That may sound boring to some but it did do well with the public overall.  What do I think of this game? How did it fare overall? All that and more below.

Positives:

1. Music: If you wanted a simulation city building game, the music itself is very calming and very chill, making it a chill atmosphere and a chill game overall which is really nice.

2. A good simulation: Overall, all the things you want to use in a city simulation/building is there.  Buildings, resources like fire/police departments, taxes, residential areas, and for a larger city things like airports and stadiums are also incorporated.  It is a good thing to have the basics and know-how to manage it.

3. Appropriate city structure: I think the way Sim City went about with city building was in-depth and good.  The tax system, anything happening with it (IE: disasters, regular maintenance, etc) and building power, transit roads and railroads are all important city functions so that is all incorporated here.  Running ports as well if you are in a coastline or lakeside town/city.  So therefore it is major for them to have. This game does that and does it well I think.

4. Extras: I love that you are given a Mario Statue at a certain point, that Bowser can rampage the city and you can just destroy the city after all the work of building it.  It's a game that doesn't need to end if you don't want and I like that.

5. Scenarios: This is a cool one.  You can go in with different scenarios of the past and try to work on the city and bringing them back up (I believe one notable one was in 1906 and building back a city.) And for a city building game, cool scenario factors like this are a good add on.

Negatives:

1. Limitation: Due to what the game is about, there isn't much besides that with exploration of what to do with the city building.  Yes you can acquire as much needs as possible to do well with the city building but there just is limitations to what you can do to make this more fun (IE: See Roller coaster Tycoon and the vast amount you can do there compared to this.) 

2. Not a great representation of city building: Yeah this widespread massive city only seems to happy in coastal areas or if you live in Texas these days in the USA.  It is probably more suited as a European game to city build in different locales but overall, it's not very accurate that anyplace just builds to 500k citizens in a matter of years.  

Overall Rating/Rank

With the positives and Negatives, I would rate Sim City a 8 out of 10. It's negatives are just a result of the game they were going for, but I think the city building/progression is the major one downside.  I do think they provide an accurate representation of the city layout/structure with tax code, referencing to services and more over the course of time. In terms of an overall rank, I'd have to still give this a top 50 rank because the game was so note-worthy for so long.  I'd say among SNES games, I'd rank it 47th.

SNES Game Review: John Madden Football 93

 John Madden Football 93 is the second game of the Madden legacy to hit the shelves on the SNES.  Side note to all of this, if you play these games on the Genesis, they look a lot better than those on the Super Nintendo.  I think if EA went with Blue Sky for the SNES as they did for the Genesis, it would be a lot better done. Anyway, what does EA do well here for the SNES version of the game? What does it lack? Also note, this will be mainly in comparison to John Madden Football, a game I will review tomorrow.

Positives:

1. Improved graphics: You can tell I am going to be searching a bit but the graphics are improved from John Madden Football.  Overall the graphics department did a much better job than the original game and if only they could have set the standard going forward, this might have been a good SNES series.

2. Started to get the feel of it: You started to gain some picture to what Madden was going to be on SNES, which helped paint a picture more than anything.  Like I said they were much better on the Genesis but since this is a SNES review, oofda. 

Negatives:

1. Frame rate: Yeah this is so choppy on the SNES version of this game. You almost immediately as you play get the feeling of a choppy game and it doesn't help at all going forward with anything.  The Genesis version is so much more smooth than the Super Nintendo.

2. No NFL or NFLPA licenses: Yep, you read that right.  Neither the NFL nor NFLPA had the licenses for this game, and you are just stuck with generic, albeit very much the same, looks for teams like Dallas, Buffalo, etc.  I believe they named New York teams as New Jersey if I recall right but I would have to double check that.  

3. Punting/Kicking camera: It is a sudden movement and almost seemingly glitchy movement from punting side to receiving side.  No transition, no anything so it makes it really really rough to stomach why EA was not very good with this. 

4. They badly needed a new developer: Make it like Blue Sky for the Genesis, who actually made this version honestly very much decent and if I rated the Genesis version it would rate highly for this game.  However, EA went it alone on the SNES version and it.. really doesn't work here at all.

5. Slow: That's right the game on the SNES is slow.  Just painfully slow.  Again in comparison to the Genesis version of this game, it is just massively slow and a massive letdown to be honest.  I wish that wasn't the case and I wish EA had the foresight of putting Blue Sky on for the SNES version of this game as well.

Overall Rating/Rank

Yes I have been critical of this game for the SNES, but I have been critical of Madden on the SNES.  That is because EA had so much at their disposal to make a game good for themselves but didn't.  Really their best series was the NHL series,  and it shows badly.  However for the SNES with Madden I can't get it more than 4 out of 10 and an overall rank of 430th out of the SNES games.

SNES Game Review: Madden NFL 94

 Madden NFL 94 is another Madden game that was on the Super Nintendo for the 1993 season.  However much like John Madden Football 93 and that games predecessor, John Madden Football, it has a lot of flaws.  As you can already tell I have gone through most of the sports gaming library on the SNES by now so I can tell you a lot of the in's and outs of these games, but nearly all the SNES games on Madden I cannot recommend.  Alas, here si what they did well and not well.

Positive:

1. More fluid gameplay: The gameplay is more fluid than its predecessors and less choppy which are good things for the franchise as it moved forward in the Super Nintendo era.  

2. Music: Honestly pretty good pre-FOX days of having that music instituted in the gameplay as well.  I quite enjoyed the menu music and the presenting music for the game. 

3. NFL License: So all the teams are represented and not just random names without the Bills, Cowboys, 49ers, Packers, etc.  So they did well to advance from generic terms to actual names.

Negatives:

1. NFLPA License: Unless you are an arcade game tbh you will not be given this reprieve of not having the NFL license on the game.  This si something Madden sorely lacked and thankfully got good with Madden NFL 95.  Had it gone on longer, this franchise might have been history.

2. Graphics: Yeah they are honestly choppy.  Blurry is a good word too but they just in all honesty are not very good overall.

3. Season: It is just a hodgepodge.  It isn't accurate to the 1993 season (See what Tecmo Super Bowl was) and overall just makes it a lousy way of going about with the game. 

Overall Rating/Rank:

This game is not a real good rendition of what Madden should have been and really just only modestly improved from the first two versions of this game.  I felt really let down playing Madden NFL 94 and thankfully Madden 95 was better.  As a rating, 5 out of 10 works, around 390th for a rank overall. 

SNES/PS1 Game Review: Madden NFL 97

 Madden NFL 97 was the first of the Madden games to make the switch from SNES to PS1 but also had a game for the SNES, with Madden 98 following in its footsteps.  They had planned to make a Madden NFL 96 PS1 game, however that was scrubbed as it was really bad in testing.  This was the first full game on the PS1 for the Madden series, and I will talk about the SNES version and the PS1 version but also rate them both at the end!

SNES Version

Positives:

1. Transactions: Finally this comes for the forefront.  This took way too late to be honest in the SNES era but better late than never I guess.  Now you can sign, trade, release players all you want there and it is something that was needed before this but glad to have seen it towards the end of the SNES era.

2. Improved offense: No longer is the line of scrimmage just a quagmire and full of people every time you throw the ball.  The improved engine in the game by Tiburon makes for offense to be better and overall just more realistic.

3. Better graphics: Yes this is thanks to Tiburon as well but the graphics are better and overall with better fluidity through the game process.

Negatives:

1. Easy AI: Yeah this is a running joke tbh.  It is way too easy to win on this game even on high difficulty.  It's unbelievably easy and that is something that I find a bit baffling for a game of Madden's stature.

2. Running Game: It's still wonky but something that is baffling after doing well for a couple games with the running game.  It's a bit wonky in this one but something that makes it a downgrade from the previous games.

PS1 Version

Positives: 

1. Smooth transition: The introduction into the 32-bit reality world of the PS1 actually did well after the massively failed near release of Madden 96 on PS1.  That led to the Madden 97 Game being the top selling game of 1996 on the PS1.  Easily put, if they put Madden 96 out there with how bad it was in testing, then this game and series is easily not good going forward. 

2. Defense: I felt finally in control of a defensive strategy for once.  Madden's NFL Series on SNES were good for defense but it really wasn't hard due to the difficulty being easy even on the hardest modes.  With this I felt I had to adjust when the other offense was doing well.

3. Realism: It felt more real.  The stadiums were mostly accurate for the time, the stats are really good, good transactions menu as well.  That includes the presentation of James Brown in a pre-game sort of booth previewing the week and John Madden and Pat Summerall previewing something about the game.  Everything was really good overall in terms of realism from just the next gen style.

Negatives:

1. Player sprites: This annoys me even with Madden NFL 98, and that is that EA Sports didn't go with 3D football player models until the Madden 99 game.  It still almost is just a better SNES version of these players.  I was more or less annoyed because a LOT of other games, whether sports or RPG's had 3D models of characters even when they started so it wouldn't have been hard.

2. Offense: Yeah it is a major struggle to pass the ball and there are a few plays that works but overall you learn really quick the plays for passing that work and have to essentially cheese those.  For running it is the same way, only really a few plays will work and you know those as well to cheese it.

3. Difficulty: Again, even on the highest difficulty it is still super easy to win games.  It's honestly a joke that the SNES and PS1 games are easy to win.

Overall Rating/Rank:

For the PS1, you got some of the ways forward with this game that they were trying to accomplish and it is not hard to state the impact the game being so well selling did for the franchises future, even when lined up against NFL Gameday and later on the ESPN 2K series.  However, this honestly is just an above average game with some good qualities on the PS1, for a rating of 6.5 out of 10.

For the SNES, it's probably the 2nd best of the Madden games (Madden 98 on the SNES was essentially the same game and if I rate it/play it on SNES, it would be one below Madden 97 to be honest) but it still has a lot of flaws overall for this series.  I can't rate it higher than Madden NFL 95, and I would say it's probably around 260th of the games on the SNES. 

SNES Game Review: Troy Aikman NFL Football

 Troy Aikman was an NFL QB for the Dallas Cowboys from 1989 until 2000.  He was a superstar with the Dallas Cowboys and noted to being a star in a city at the time filled with stars and Super Bowl rings.  He also had a video game that featured him and the NFL license but seemingly not the NFLPA license but more on that in a bit.  What does this game do well? What wasn't done well? All that and more below!

Positives:

1. NFL License- So all 28 (at the time) regular season teams were in here as they were.  So Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, etc. They are all in there so you are good to go.

2. Offense: This is done well.  They offer a lot of good plays and you can tell what will be successful vs. what won't be.

Negatives:

1. Realism: Yeah the teams are not realistic and it makes the Cowboys easily the best team by far.  You cannot honestly make the game that way and they did.

2. No NFLPA and Super Bowl License: Yeah these are major struggles, you know who Troy Aikman is and for lack of better words who the players are but a major detriment is they don't have names.  They only refer to the Super Bowl as the Championship game and the winning sequence is literally lackluster as can be.  

3. Defense: Yeah this is just downright atrocious.  Most times the only way you win defensively is an interception, otherwise it is touchdown after touchdown either you score or the opposition scores.

4. Graphics/Frame rate: The graphics are choppy, the players look small and the frame rate is slow and choppy as well.  Not a good thing for a game with a superstar on the cover to be honest.

Overall Rating/Rank:

This is not a good football game or even a good game in general on the Super Nintendo.  The Jaguar version of this game gets better ratings mainly but this game is woeful on the SNES.  For me, a rating of 4 out of 10 seems fair.  Overall rating is..let's go 525th out of the SNES games.  Needless to say, Aikman the QB was better than Aikman the game. 

SNES Game Review: NHL 95

 NHL 95 was the third installment of EA Sports NHL gaming franchise on the SNES, the second with the NHL only name before the year (The first installment again was NHLPA Hockey 93.)  NHL 95 mainly just builds off what NHL 94 makes and paves the way for NHL 96 to be the top game that it was.  You could argue from NHL 94-98 on the SNES was one of the best group of video games you could have ever.  What does NHL 95 do well? Let's look below!

Positives:

1. Fast paced: This continues to get better from NHL 94 to 95 and 96 improves on it from 95 as well.  This game is fast paced but controlled and something that the casual gamer will enjoy and make them feel good about playing with this game. 

2. Everything is improved: This seems to be a common theme up to NHL 97.  NHL 94 does everything better in a large scope than NHLPA Hockey 93, and NHL 95 improves on NHL 94, and so on.  Everything is more crisp, from graphics to gameplay, to shooting and defense as well.  You will notice these differences year over year for the first four games.  Obviously they made more efforts with NHL 97 and 98 going to the PS1 to do much with the Super Nintendo versions.

3. Frame rate: Yes this is improved but good as well as they did very well to get this game up to kind of the typical frame rate for NHL games.  I was impressed with how fluid and crisp the game was for this third year on the NHL franchise but it just proves the lasting power of this franchise on the Super Nintendo really overall.

4. Transactions: This is really important as this wasn't even happening on Madden 95.  The ability to sign, trade and release was important at this time and if you didn't have this you were a middling game at best even with phenomenal gameplay.  NHL 95 has this and overall it makes it very realistic for its time.

5. Presentation: There isn't an NHL on FOX presentation like NHL 96, but the presentation is still really good nonetheless.  It's something that when you see the above camera as you play and go through the game that you do well with overall and it is something that EA continued to do well with later on.

Negatives:

1. There is one negative, and it was the scoring here.  It seemed almost too difficult to score in this game.  A lot of games were 1-0, 2-1 at most times and it only ever got out of hand if there was an empty net goal.  I felt that this was a detriment but again, it's something they improve on for NHL 96 to make it a perfect sports game and game for EA Sports.

Overall rating/Rank:

There is no question that NHL 95 is a great game overall.  People might play this on the Genesis due to the graphics of the system and there is no denying how much better that system is on graphics.  I think the Super Nintendo versions are still great and they do well for graphics as they are.  If I were to rate this game, it gets a solid 9.3 out of 10.  It's overall rank: Yes it's a top 100 game, it's later half but just barely.  I would rate it 54th overall.

SNES Game Review: Top Gear 2

 Top Gear 2 is the sequel to the ultra popular Top Gear on SNES.  A sequel game typically has a lot of things similar to the first game, but also has differences.  The hope is that they can make as good of a game as the original or at the least to not make it horrendous.  Top Gear 2 does have some similarities to its predecessor but also a lot of differences.  Overall, how does it do? Let's look below!

Positives:

1. Variety of courses: Yes the variety is back! not the same courses but a lot of variety is still the name of the game for Top Gear 2 and overall that is a very good thing for the game. 

2. Progression, to an extent: This is something that is different but good to an extent.  You can make your car better over the course of the series of courses you are on by getting top finishes.  You win money and make your car overall better in the long run.

3. Graphics: Graphics on the first game stay together for the sequel as well.  It was a good thing to do and they seem to be on par like the first game so that is always a good thing as well.

4. Password: This is simplistic unlike some Super Nintendo Games. With that said, it's just a one word thing which is good for the amount of courses you have to go through so it's a game that won't typically be a short enough game.

Negatives:

1. The progression has limits: This is the flaw the progression/upgrades, they have a limit.  After a couple to each part, like engine, nitro, tires everything else is gravy.  You don't need the rest and that's pretty much it.  So while it is good, the limitations are evident almost right away.

2. Length of the game: Yeah this one is a detriment, because it takes so long to finish the game.  Personally the races take some time, especially the five lap races.  So be prepared for spending a lot of hours on this which kind of drags it down and apart from its predecessor. 

3. Tires/Fuel/Engine: First the tires squeal insanely loud in this game and it is kind of ridiculous, second the engine sounds about ready to croak most times, and third I think they wanted fuel management to be a part of this game but they fell short on all ends.  Honestly the engine and the tires take away from the background music, which itself was okay in the game.

Overall Rating/Rank

Top Gear 2 is not as good as its predecessor.  I think they tried too hard to make it better but just incorporated a lot of things wrong.  Overall it pales in comparison to the original.  The positives are almost negated by the negatives of the game.  If I were to give an overall rating, 7 out of 10 seems fair.  It's a decent but not great racing game.  Overall rank: Still in the top 200 but I would mark it around 195th.

SNES Game Review: NHL 96

 NHL 96 came up to the SNES following the massive successes of the previous two games and the starting point of NHLPA Hockey 93.  To say the NHL franchise had been booming since the release of NHL 94 (Another game that I will review in time) is an understatement.  This series was more highly acclaimed than Madden at the time (and to be fair, is probably well acclaimed more than Madden at current again) and it was due to the success of NHL 94, 95 and to hit the peak, NHL 96.  This is one of the best, if not the best, sports game on the SNES.  What makes it so good? Come along friends and see why.

Positives

1. Pacing: The games pacing is really, really good.  It is fast paced but the camera stays with the player.  The game is fast paced but it is made to last really well.  In fact, if EA saw how Tecmo Super Bowl did their pacing and decided that is what they needed, I wouldn't be surprised because it is done exactly just like that.

2. Options: Yes you have exhibition and season mode (Sorry guys, dynasty wasn't a thing until games in the last years of the decade and beyond) but you have so many options if you wanted otherwise.  You have shootout mode, playoffs as a regular at the time, playoffs best-of-7 (since the opening round was five games) all just to go through if you didn't want to do just season mode.  The vast array of options were there, but none was more important than..

3. Transactions: Yep you can sign, cut, build a super team, whatever you felt like.  If you wanted to trade three players for three players, sure go ahead.  You can also create players and then assign them to the team you want.  This was ahead of its time and really built NHL into what it was today for the gaming franchise overall.

4. Graphics: I know it is a bit weird but this game actually has good graphics.  The sprites are very good, the feel of hockey is evident in the graphics and it is something that garners a huge plus.

5. Entertainment value: The value of this cannot be denied, from the opening with the crowd essentially doing the stomping to "We Will Rock You" to the NHL on FOX presentation (Yes there was a time the NHL was on FOX) there is significant entertainment value.  Yes there is no game commentator but I feel that is good for this due to the noise of the crowd and the entertainment of playing the game itself.

Negatives

Oh boy, honestly there isn't one to be fair.  If you are really, really nit-picking it okay maybe the no commentator hurts.  Maybe the fact that some games you can score at will and the next you are barely able to score may turn off viewers but that's just realistic hockey in today's age as well so they made it very realistic in that accord.

Overall Rating/Rank

This game is the best sports game on the Super Nintendo.  It's ability to be so good with pacing, it's realism, graphics, and just ability to be so open on its modes are fantastic.  The fact you can create players is great, same with any major transaction.  It really opened the door to the next gen consoles at the time for the NHL franchise (Though NHL 97 and 98 are also pretty good on the SNES.)  Overall if I were to rate it, I'd have to give it a 10/10.  Yes a sports title is perfect, and while it isn't in the top 10 of games, it is in the top 20.  It is one of those sports titles that does everything amazing (Note, when I review NHL 94 and 95 those games will be in the Top 100 as well.)  If I were to rate it, it's 16th in the top 20 of SNES games.

SNES Game Review: Madden NFL 95

  In this edition of SNES game review, we review Madden NFL 95.  This would have taken place during the 1994 season and by now this is the fourth Madden game made under the branch for the SNES (There were other Madden games made for Sega and other consoles.)  This was also the second game with the Madden NFL moniker (the first two being called John Madden Football.)  This rendition did more for the progression of the franchise and honestly in my opinion is the best on the SNES platter of Madden games.  What did they do well? What needed improvement? All that and more below.

Positives:

1. Pacing: This game is pretty fast paced.  It's easy to pick up, play a game in 30 minutes if not less and move on to the next game or what have you.  It's a good pacing that I wish they had for the earlier and later games of this franchise on SNES.

2. NFL/NFLPA license: The first of the games for Madden to get the NFL and NFLPA license makes this major plus as it gives the teams with trademarks and the players.  This was a huge get for the Madden franchise and helped it get better and better as time went along.

3. Graphics: I felt this improved year over year.  And this was no different from the previous games to this one.  The graphics are more crisp and Visual Concepts did a pretty good job with this overall.

4. Playing offense: The playbook is pretty watered down, which is good for young people who grew up with this game.  In today's gaming it would be looked at as a negative, but remember this game and others was wanting to use the kids to play, not necessarily adults.

Negatives:

1. Playing defense: Yes if there was the offense side, defense is lackluster.  There are times where the score will be 42-35 or something of that nature.  If you have any offensive skill players you will win all the time.  Seriously when I ran the table with Green Bay, the Super Bowl was 49-42 to end it.

2. The sprites: Yes this is a negative but not for the reason of what I want to say.  This was the first edition where finally black players were represented.  I am glad but here is why I say it is a negative.  I would love to say it was a graphics issue but Tecmo had these sprites, as did Troy Aikman Football so why didn't Madden?  Obviously this isn't on Madden himself, his name is just on the game.  I don't think it looks favorably so many years later about this but it finally stopped being a detriment here and players sprites/likeness were finally represented in full.

Overall Rating/Rank:

This is probably the best of the Madden games on the SNES.  That isn't saying much by the way.  They are still worse than the Tecmo Games.  This is still best of the Madden games.  If I rated it purely on its genre of games, I have to give it a 7.7.  I think this is a game in the top 250 of SNES games, probably just throwing it around 236 is good.