| Snake Rattle n' Roll Written by: Raja Published: 7:00 PM - 29 Sep 04 |  |
| Snake Rattle n’ Roll on the MegaDrive isn’t an easy game to find. After falling in love with the NES version of the game I decided to try and find this version of the game, it took a while but I finally got it (from the UK). So how does this port of the game stack up now that it’s on a 16-bit machine? Read on to find out. Of course the first change you will notice is that the graphics have had a going over. Everything still looks the same, just now with more colours and more detailing. Gone are the bright blue spikes in almost every level, well actually they are still there, they have just been redrawn to fit into each environment a little easier. In the first level for example they are rather sharp looking trees. Most levels do look improved from the NES original, but a couple do look slightly worse such as level 5 which now features gaudy horrible yellow and brown colours. The MegaDrive version of the game doesn’t have the little bit of flickering that sometimes happens on the tops and bottoms of the screen sometimes in the NES version, but it does have some lovely borders. These look a lot bigger in the earlier levels when they are coloured, but are much less noticeable when they are black later on. The sound has also been redone for this game which is a real shame. The NES version had some of the best game music I have ever heard with swinging tunes on the first levels and some deep and dark tunes coming in for level 6. Sure they were repeated a couple of times throughout the game, but they were so good you would hardly complain. Well it’s all been thrown out of the window here as the MegaDrive version of the game has an all new soundtrack. A couple of the tunes sound pretty good, but mostly they are boring and generic which certainly doesn’t fit with the quirky nature of the game. The sound effects for the most part have a lot more depth than the NES version, but one or two of them, such as triggering a warp really hurt my ears! For anyone that hasn’t played the game before, you need to get to the moon. No one knows why, but there’s plenty in your way to stop you (and a friend if you have an extra controller) from achieving your goal. You have to jump on and/or lick with your tongue big feet, nibbly pibblies and even toilet seats to get to the end of the levels. It gets weirder, you can’t exit the level unless you have put on enough weight to trigger the scales and open the door. Controlling your sneaky snakes still takes some getting used to (unless you’re used to the NES version) and you’re sure to fall off a good many cliffs before you get the hang of things. Once you get used to playing in isometric though, you’ll never have to think about what your doing again as the controls are still sharp and responsive. Anyone familiar with the original version will know that it was a bloody tough game even by NES standards. To put this into perspective, myself and many other gamers have been playing the game for years and still haven’t beaten it. This version is easier. It’s not noticeable until things start getting tough (level 7) though as the early stages in the game are virtually unchanged (apart from a missing anti-power-up in level 5). Come the end of level 7 though and one of the toughest jumps in gaming history has been seriously dumbed down. Even after years of practice I still lose a few lives at this point every time on the NES. Anyone that has played the NES game extensively will soon notice a good amount of other differences too, although I won’t spoil your fun and point them all out. The games still wicked fun to play and a decent enough challenge but I can’t figure out if making the game easier is a good thing or not. The difficulty of the NES version is one of the things that made the game stand out. People were on the edge of their seat just watching me whizz through the simply insane levels yet alone dropping the controller in awe of what they need to do when playing themselves. The difficulty is what made the game so addictive to long time players. It took a huge amount of practice to get near the end of the game. Sure it was frustrating at times, but ultimately satisfying. Then again, this version is easier to pick up and play without long term commitment. It’s bittersweet really. I just think I won’t play this version in long doses in fear of a sharp dose of reality when I plug my NES back in.
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