Game Review: Super Star Wars

Super Star Wars

• Publisher: JVC / Lucasarts 
• Developer: Sculptured Software 
• Release: 
• Super Nintendo, November 1992 
• PlayStation 4 / PS Vita, 17 November 2015 
• Genre: 2D Action (Platformer, Run & Gun)
• Players: 1 
• Save: None (SNES) 

America has come down once again with a case of Star Wars fever this year, owing no doubt to the upcoming release of the new movie, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Therefore, in terms of video games, the talk of the town is on the new Star Wars Battlefront for the PlayStation 2 and XBox... sorry, I meant the other Star Wars Battlefront for the PlayStation 4 and XBox One. DO YOU SEE HOW ANNOYING THIS GETS!? Title aside, Star Wars Battlefront (the new one, that is) is yet another of those multiplayer-only shooters in the vein of Titanfall and Evolve, which thought they could get away without any single-player story content but still sell at full price. On its own, it's simply bound to get old fast. In comparison to the old Battlefront duology, each of those games being stuffed with enough features to choke a Sarlacc, it is unforgivable. I haven't played EA's Battlefront yet, nor do I ever plan to, but I'll end this rant by saying the game can go take a proton torpedo up its exhaust port, if you see what I mean.

Fortunately, I have something else to fall back on, as the powers that be saw fit to release ports of Super Star Wars for the PS4 and PS Vita. I'm a bit curious as to this decision, as the original game came out in 1992 for the Super NES, a non-Sony console. Indeed, it used to be available on the Wii's Virtual Console shop, along with its sequels based on The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but those have since been taken down due to an expired licence or something. Well, whatever you're playing it on, you're getting more or less a straight adaptation of the original Star Wars film. A young man, Luke Skywalker, comes across a pair of droids carrying plans for the Death Star, a planet-destroying space station built by the Galactic Empire, and he must bring them safely to the Rebel Alliance. But you already knew that.

Much of the game is played as a jump-and-shoot platformer, similar to the Contra series. Super Star Wars makes some welcome evolutions to Contra's formula, however. Your blaster fires automatically when you hold down the fire button, and while doing so, you stay locked in place so you can aim in multiple directions without also moving around. And perhaps most importantly, you can take more than one hit per life! Yes, you have a health meter in this game, and not only are health pickups plentiful, with little ones coming out of nearly every enemy you kill, but you can extend it with "Health Sword" powerups (because the health meter is drawn like a lightsaber, I guess...). Other pickups include blaster upgrades, invincibility shields, thermal detonator bombs, and Darth Vader heads which doubles the points you earn for a limited time. Over the course of the game, Luke gains a lightsaber in addition to his blaster, and later on you can choose to play as Han Solo or Chewbacca instead of Luke, who lack the lightsaber (and the awesome, almost overpowered spinny-jump slice that comes with it), but start off with a blaster upgrade and/or a longer health bar.

By holding the fire button, you can aim in multiple directions.

But don't think for a second that this is an easy game. It may look like you have a long health bar even without upgrades, and enemies don't seem to do much damage, but there are a lot of enemies. And if you do lose all your health, all your upgrades go along with it. I do hate when games do this, because it makes it that much harder to get back on track. Furthermore, enemies can push you around easily, which makes what few spots of precision platforming all the more treacherous and unfair. Not helping is the semi-isometric perspective the walls and floors are drawn in, making it a bit tough to determine where each platform begins and ends. Oh yeah, and there's no mercy invincibility, either. That seems to be a running theme with 2D platformer games I've chosen to review. Also, there's a timer counting down as you play each level, but before you start panicking, you don't die when it expires (cf. Mario and Sonic), you just don't get a time bonus at the end. Granted, points are important in this game, as you're given extra lives at certain milestones (cf. Sonic again), and trust me, you'll need them.

And then the levels themselves offer their own flavours of unnecessary challenge. The first major wall of difficulty comes in the form of the fourth level, where you're inside the Sandcrawler searching for R2-D2. About half-way through, just after the only checkpoint in the level, you have to get past these laser grids which block you when you get close. You're supposed to get past these by sliding (hold Down and press the jump button), but it's more of an art than a science, and you're liable to get hurt by at least one, if not all of them. And then there's a surprise waiting for you when you get down to the final floor: instant-kill lava, or sand, or something. Normally you can make longer and higher jumps by holding Up and pressing the jump button, but don't do it here or you'll just hit the ceiling and lose distance instead of gaining it. And you're expected to fight a boss over the stuff. And if you do die here, you go all the way back to the middle of the level, just before the aforementioned laser gates. The Sandcrawler scene is not the only tough level in the game -- the one right afterwards has some precision platforming which has claimed many of my lives -- but it does set the tone for the rest of the game.

Vehicle sections punctuate the gameplay experience.

That's not exactly true, however, as some levels break up the side-scrolling action by way of 3D vehicle sections. In these levels, you pilot a landspeeder or X-Wing fighter and gun down a specific number of targets before you're allowed to move on. They use the same perspective-scrolling technology (a.k.a. Mode 7) seen in games like Pilotwings, F-Zero, and Super Mario Kart. It shows effort, which I like, and if I'm in a good mood I would call it fun. But the vehicle controls are a bit too floaty for me to really get into it. It's almost as if these things ride on air or something! (It's funny because that's exactly the case.) And riddle me this: how come we can only change direction by spending jet fuel? The L and R buttons go unused during these levels; if you felt you had no other options, surely they could've been used to turn or strafe, right? Super Star Wars only offers three of these levels, but it's nice to have that variety. I'd say you'll never get bored playing this game, but then I reflect upon how long and monotonous the other levels are and I'm forced to retract that statement.

The soundtrack is appropriately John Williams-y, and the opening cutscene recreates the movie's famous text-scroll admirably. Unfortunately, all the other cutscenes are just scrolling pictures and text; given what the Super Nintendo can do with manipulating images, I felt that more could've been done in this regard. As for in-game storytelling, the levels are all based on events from the movie, albeit expanded for action's sake. As I said with GoldenEye 007, it's always nice to add content to a story you're adapting. So for simply being an adaptation of the source material, Super Star Wars does its job well, and for being a jump-and-shoot platformer, it also does its job well. I can understand if its tough, but mostly fair, difficulty gets to you and prevents you from enjoying it in full. In the end, it's a pretty good game, but play through it again? I'd rather kiss a wookie!

Positives:
+ Subtle improvements to the jump-and-shoot formula.
+ A faithful adaptation of the source material.
+ Occasional vehicle stages.

Negatives:
- Generally intense difficulty.
- Overly long and repetitive levels.
- Floaty controls in the occasional vehicle stages.

Controls: 3 Health Swords out of 5
Design: 3 Health Swords out of 5
Graphics: 4 Health Swords out of 5
Sound: 4 Health Swords out of 5
Value: 3 Health Swords out of 5
The Call: 70% (C+)

You might also like: Contra 3: The Alien Wars, Mega Man X, Super Metroid

Super Star Wars was followed by two sequels: Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in 1993, and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in 1994, both based on the films they were named after, obviously. There aren't enough differences in those games to warrant their own reviews, but I would like to say a few words on them now while I have the opportunity. All those sequels are equally as hard as the original Super Star Wars, but add a password system for saving progress, which is good, and ditch the timer system, which doesn't really matter. Also, Super Empire Strikes Back introduces Force powers, but they're integrated in a pretty stupid way. You can only get them in one level, during the Dagobah swamp scene, and you can only find them by using the "flying" Force power, which you have to pick up in the previous stage! At least you start out with the lot in Super Return of the Jedi, but why bother when you can play as Chewie, who has a spin attack which refuels automatically and keeps you invincible while it's active?  Remember: let the wookie win.  Either way, if you got through the first Super Star Wars intact and found it fun, try these games out as well. But not Battlefront; that game can go deep-throat a lightsaber for all I care.

Shooter Month: Star Fox

Star Fox*

• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Argonaut Games
• Release: Super NES, March 1993
• Genre: 3D Action (Flight simulator)
• Players: 1
• Save: N/A
• Rarity/Cost: Common, US$10-20

*Sold as Star Wing in Europe.

Thus far in Shooter Month, I've focused on the top-down, 2D variety of shoot-em-ups. But in an effort to spice things up, I'm taking this special feature in a new direction -- and an extra dimension. And it's not just any 3D shooter I'm showcasing this time around. Flight simulators have employed simulated 3D graphics for a long time now, but 1993 proved to be a banner year in this field. It was the year in which Nintendo, courtesy of third-party developer Argonaut, brought polygons to one of their home consoles in the form of Star Fox for the Super Nintendo. We all know that the Super NES can do some amazing things with 2D graphics, thanks to techniques involving "Mode 7", but certainly the calculations needed to handle polygons in three-dimensional space would be out of its reach, right? Well, that's why Nintendo and Argonaut developed an additional sub-processor called the Super FX chip, which was built into every copy of the Star Fox Game Pak. It did bump up the sale price of the Game Pak itself, but I suppose we should be thankful that they went down this route, as opposed to developing an expansion console, like the Sega CD or 32X.

In a world -- a solar system, rather -- populated by human-like animals, an army led by Andross, the emperor of the planet Venom, is extending its reach across the rest of the system -- the hard way. The only force who can stop him is Star Fox, a motley, elite fighter-pilot team consisting of four members and their space-capable ships, the Arwings. And that's where you come in. Before starting a new game, you get to set up your control scheme, which includes the option to switch the Up/Down controls. I guess it was pretty neat for them to have thrown that in as an option; perhaps fewer Super NES owners were familiar with flight simulators at the time. After that menu, you choose which of three paths to take in your game, which also serves as a difficulty setting. Each path contains five or six levels, and lasts an hour or less. It's a more linear version of the branching-path system later employed in Star Fox 64, but I like it here. There's more to each of the difficulties than the quantity of enemies and how much damage they take or dish out; but rather, each difficulty is a separate experience. And since there's no medal system, you don't have to play through 6 other levels you've already got medals on just to replay that one level you need.

This screenshot will not prepare you for how poorly Star Fox runs in motion.

But then the game proper starts, and all your expectations are shattered by the first frames of animation. Look, Mr. Super FX chip, if the best you can render in real-time is twenty or so flat-shaded, non-patterned polygons per object, I'm okay with that. But if it takes so much effort that you can only manage that at ten to twenty frames per second, then why even bother? What I'm saying to the rest of you is that the choppy frame rate makes Star Fox painful to look at in motion. And painful to play, too: for some reason, the frame rate makes the movement controls feel a little sluggish and imprecise. Just be thankful they weren't able to fit more obstacles on-screen, or getting through unscathed would be akin to threading the eye of a needle with a car driving on ice. That said, I am genuinely impressed by what they did manage to throw in. For example, one of the bosses can make duplicates of itself and leave after-images of itself in its wake, and one of the later stages forces you to dodge blocks falling from the sky or even forming in mid-air.

The Arwing spacecraft utilises two weapons: a blaster and a limited supply of smart-bombs. The blaster can be upgraded with certain items, adding a much-needed boost to the spaces covered by your shots. Trust me, you'll appreciate the extra coverage, because aiming is a chore. Since most levels lack a targeting reticule, the only way to aim your shots is to adjust based on the last shot you fired. Some levels take place in outer space instead; and in these levels you can press the Select to switch the camera angle in and out of your Arwing's cockpit. Enabling this first-person view displays an aiming cursor, which is a big help for aiming. Except you can only do this in the space stages, not on the planets. Riddle me this, Star Fox: why would you add a convenience which addresses what I'd dare say is a major flaw in the game experience, but only apply it to a select few portions of yourself!? Oh yeah, and it's also possible to break one or both of your Arwing's wings, in which case your blaster goes back down to the base level, and all upgrade items get replaced with wing-repair items until you finally fix the damage. It's bad enough that these upgrades are rare enough as it is, but having to take another step before I can even re-start the process sucks even more.

Helpful target cursors are available... but only on some levels.

I do take other, smaller issues with Star Fox, ones that not even the best of graphical upgrades could address. For example, you share the skies with your wingmen, or rather wing-critters: Peppy the rabbit, Slippy the frog, and Falco the bird. Their radio dialogue isn't accompanied by true voice acting, but looped chattering sound effects which, combined with their relatively uncommon rate of occurrence, aren't nearly as annoying as they could be. But all the same, what little interaction they have with the player doesn't offer them a lot of characterisation. Occasionally they will find themselves chased by a bogey, which you must knock out at your leisure. But my problem with that is: what's my motivation?  They don't do anything for me, and there isn't much penalty if they do get shot down.  And then there's the scoring system: when your points are tallied at the end of each level, you can earn extra lives at certain milestones. But instead of absolute point values for shooting different kinds of enemies, your scores are represented by a percentage of enemies shot down. And I'm pretty sure I've gotten 100%, or an otherwise high percentage, even after having missed a fair number of targets. Are there certain things you're not counting and not telling me, Star Fox? Work with me, please! (Apologies for attempting to reason with an inanimate video game.)

Out of all the sparse entries in the Star Fox series, the majority of the fans' attention seems focused on the follow-up Star Fox 64, and with good reason. I mean, the series' last activity to date was a remake of SF64 on the 3DS. And I cry foul on that account: if any entry deserved a remake on some halfway decent technology, it would be the original. Star Fox 2, its would-be sequel, may have been the most high-profile cancelled video game until Mega Man Legends 3 came along -- or rather, didn't come along. But let's face it -- Nintendo was right to focus on the Nintendo 64. Star Fox may have served as valuable experience for Nintendo in working with 3D graphics, but the finished product just wasn't ready for prime time. Let me put it this way: I'd give it an A for effort, but a D for execution.

Positives:
+ Ambitious 3D graphics for its time.
+ Creative boss battles.
+ Some of the songs get me pumped.

Negatives:
- Poor frame rate, even with a lack of graphical detail.
- As a result, the game doesn't control well, either.
- Non-intuitive scoring system.

Control: 2 Arwings out of 5
Design: 3 Arwings out of 5
Graphics: 2 Arwings out of 5
Audio: 4 Arwings out of 5
The Call: 55% (D+)

Shooter Month: Space Invaders

Space Invaders

• Publisher: Taito, Atari (Atari 2600) 
• Developer: Taito, TOSE (NES) 
• Release: 
• Arcade, July 1978 (JP) / 31 December 1978 (NA) 
• Atari 2600, 1980 
• NES, 1985 (JP) 
• Game Boy, October 1994 
• Super NES, November 1997 
• iPhone, 15 July 2010 
• Genre: 2D Action (Shoot-em-up)
• Players: 1-2 Alternating 
• Save: N/A 

In honour of my recent trip to Japan, I'm dedicating an entire month of reviews to that very Japanese of gaming genres... No, not visual novels; I'm talking shoot-em-ups! Yes, the Land of the Rising Sun has been a specialist in this genre, producing shooters of multiple settings (with airplanes, spacecraft, and even witches as characters) across a wide spectrum (okay, primarily on the hard side) of difficulty levels, from the simple yet skill-testing affairs of yesteryear to the "bullet-hells" of today. Yes, the field of shoot-em-ups is a crowded one, but if you keep your core interests in mind, some of them are bound to stick out. And enough titles have done so for me to kick off... Shooter Month! First on the menu is the one which kicked off the whole craze, not only the grand-daddy of shooter games, but the first great Japanese video game...* Space Invaders.

*Not the first Japanese video game, mind you. Tomohiro Nishikado, the designer of Space Invaders, had worked on several games before, including the Pong-like Davis Cup and Soccer, which he claims are the "Japan's first video game[s]".

Now, I know what you're thinking: "I know Space Invaders, everyone knows about Space Invaders! Its alien characters have become mascots for not only its studio Taito, but for gaming as a whole! Why bother reviewing it at all? And you call yourself alternative..." First of all, don't be so quick to hypothetically judge me, man. Second, you're right. We all know Space Invaders works. But... why? What makes it tick? And why did it catch on as well as it did? I started thinking thoughts like these whilst playing the Famicom port of SI, which I picked up over in Tokyo. And so, in a transparent attempt to fill up space, I shall endeavour to answer these very questions.

We'll start with a basic treatment of the gameplay. You control a moving gun turret shaped like the US Capitol building (huh). And in front of you is a phalanx of alien creatures, who will advance on your position and occasionally shoot laser bolts at you. Your objective is to shoot all of the on-screen beasties out of existence. Shooting the aliens scores you points, and you're awarded with extra lives at certain score milestones. Gotta love having an excuse for scoring points. When they're all gone, do it again, only a little bit faster, and so on. That's it. There's no backstory given to where these aliens come from and why they're invading... whichever territory your avatar represents. But, if you've been spoiled to need more incentive than that, then you're beyond my help Space Invaders is one of those games you play for the simple experience of playing it. It's a little hard to explain myself on that one, but sometimes you don't need an explanation.

Barriers don't offer much piece of mind when they can be broken so easily. (Arcade version.)

I'll be honest, whatever memories I have of playing Space Invaders when I was a wee little gamer were not entirely pleasant. I remember thinking the game to be hard, and even scary a little. See, as the aliens move side-to-side across the screen, when one of them hits the edge, they reverse course, and move a step down towards your position. This means that if given the chance, they will eventually collide with you. To make matters worse, the more aliens you take off the screen, the faster the rest of them move. Furthermore, the background music loop is a descending scale of four notes, which increases in tempo as more enemies are eliminated. (Fun fact: This was because the game's hardware could only run faster when fewer elements were drawn on-screen, but when Nishikado-san noticed it, he kept it in for the challenge.) Way to use multiple senses to put the player on edge, game. But far be it from me to condemn the game entirely based on those qualities. In fact, I have to give it credit for its ability to instill such strong emotions in the player with the bare minimum of artistic elements, and even a virtual absence of storytelling.

You may also notice that when you start out, there are four barriers between you and the aliens. Both your and their shots can damage these barriers, until eventually a hole or two gets cut through them. Admittedly, they're not much for protection. So, why even have them there in the first place? But tactics aside, their mere presence brings a very peculiar allegory to mind, at least my mind. Think about it: your avatar has the ability to move freely, at least along a one-dimensional line, and can dodge attacks or even hide behind objects for protection. Meanwhile, your opponents march lock-step in a fixed, gridlike pattern, never breaking ranks even as their peers are knocked out beside them. Sound familiar? If not, then you're not thinking of the American Revolutionary War, wherein the Native Americans and anti-British rebels came up with the genius idea of eschewing "conventional" warfare in favour of utilising the cover of their environment. To be fair, I'm not sure that's what Nishikado-san had in mind whilst designing Space Invaders, but it's a nice bonus thought to keep in mind and enhance the experience. Regardless, I guess it's true what they say: war never changes.

Later ports offer various colour and background options. (Super NES version shown.)

Home ports of Space Invaders are ubiquitous, given its early release and later influence, and are virtually too numerous to count. There's the Atari 2600 version (1980) which, despite its different looks, is credited as the first home port of an arcade game. There's the Famicom/NES version (1985) which was never released outside of Japan, likely due to Nintendo of America's restrictions which I may have discussed before. There's the Game Boy version (1994) which offers multiple background colour options when run in a Super Game Boy, and the Super NES version (1997) which has all that without the added fuss. And there's the iPhone version (2009) which is essentially arcade-perfect minus the control interface, but I find a tad overpriced at US$5. (Then again, I spent almost 800 yen for my copy of the Famicom version, so what should I care.) But really, you can't go wrong with any of them. Space Invaders is a shining example of how even the simplest of concepts can create the deepest of experiences.

Positives:

+ Simple but straightforward shooter gameplay.

+ An effective increase of challenge.

Negatives:

- Bare-bones aesthetics.

- The stress of increasingly-speedy targets.

Control: 5 barriers out of 5
Design: 4 barriers out of 5
Graphics & Sound: 5 barriers out of 5
The Call: 95% (A)

Game Review: Winter Olympic Games

Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer '94

• Publisher: US Gold 
• Developer: Tiertex 
• Release: Super NES/Sega Genesis/Sega Game Gear, 1994 
• Genre: Sports 
• Players: 1-4 Alternating 
• Save: N/A 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Super NES/Genesis: Common, US$5-10 
• Game Gear: Moderate, US $5-10 

The XVII Winter Olympic Games, held at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994, were a time of change for the festival's history. It was the first time that the Winter Olympics were staggered by 2 years to take place in between the Summer games, and the first time that the former Soviet republics competed as independent nations [1]. To date, Lillehammer was the northernmost site ever to hold a Winter Olympics, and these were the last Winter Olympics to date that were held in a "small town" of less than 50,000 people. Oh yeah, and Lillehammer will also host the 2016 Youth Winter Olympics, so look out for that. So what's the point of all that trivia? Because it also gave us the officially-licenced, multi-platform, aptly-titled video game Winter Olympic Games. Now, I've covered the Game Gear version of this multi-platform release before, in a Sticking Points special, and I've managed to take some of the other versions for a spin since. For the sake of officiality, this review will cover the versions for the Game Gear, Genesis, and Super NES. This review does not cover the version for the Sega Master System, but that wasn't sold outside of Europe, nor the Game Boy, whose events are substantially different to require a separate review.

Some of you readers, especially American readers, may remember the '94 Winter Olympics for the rivalry between American figure-skaters Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, where the former had the latter knee-capped only for the gold medal to go to Ukraine's Oksana Baiul. The video game doesn't give you a chance to re-create this little event, however; it boasts 10 events across 6 sports, none of them figure-skating. There are 4 skiing events (Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom), 2 sledding events (Luge and Bobsleigh), plus Freestyle Skiing, Ski Jump, Biathalon, and Short Track Speed Skating. They are presented in three different modes: Full Olympics, where all 10 events are played in a set order; Mini Olympics, where you select which event(s) you wish to play; and Training, where you can practice an event as often as you need.

The way the skiing events are designed, it's too hard to react to the gates in time,
and the penalty is too steep if you miss one. (Genesis version shown.) [2]

It's unfortunate that there are so many skiing events, because they're a major headache. The trouble is the isometric perspective in which these events are displayed, which give you precious little time to react to upcoming gates. Holding a button to tuck for speed only gives you less reaction time, but unfortunately you have to do this to finish fast enough for a medal. The only guideline you have to go by are the contours of the snow, but these lines show up faintly against the snow itself, and don't indicate if a gate is centred or aligned to one side. If you miss even one gate, you'll be disqualified from the event, and yet you still get to keep going. Pray tell, game, if you're going to invalidate my results in medias res, what incentive do I have to waste time finishing the course? I might as well just crash into one of the many tree banks and end my run then and there. Oddly, I had an easier time of it on the Game Gear than on either of the console ports. Maybe it's just me, but your skiier and the flags are smaller in proportion to the screen size on the Game Gear unit, so you have more room to look ahead, but still, that's not much room for error.

The Moguls event is equally punishing in that it requires the most precise timing to land your jumps safely, but at least the round ends immediately if you do crash. It wouldn't be so bad, except there's very little indication of what will constitute a successful jump until it's too late. That's the same problem I had with the Ski Jump; of the many actions you must take in order to perform a high-scoring jump, there's little to no indication of what commands you have to input and when you have to do them. But not all the events are downers. My personal favourite might be the Biathalon, possibly because you're actually given a timing meter for you to gauge your strokes against. Plus you get to shoot targets! Okay, so they throw off your aim by simulating muscle fatigue, but at least the penalty for missing a target is relatively light -- just an extra 10 seconds added to your time. Now why couldn't they have just done something like that for the skiing!? The Luge and Bobsleigh events are also considerably more playable, since there's no opportunity to crash, but the track is so narrow and the turning controls so slippery that scraping along the walls and haemmoraghing speed is an inevitability at some point. And finally, there's Short-Track Speed Skating, which boils down to a functional but tiring button-mashing contest.

As with that other Olympic-like game I reviewed a long time ago, Winter Olympic Games is unforgiving in its difficulty. But it's not hard in all the same ways; there are no qualifying barriers you have to pass before you can continue. On the contrary: even if you do get disqualified from an event, the game just moves you on to the next event. Well, what if I want to try it again? Granted, that's how it works in the real-life Olympics; if you don't win, you just move on with the program and your life. But maybe I'm feeling a little ashamed of my performance and would like to save face. Why won't you give me that little quantum of solace, game?

For some reason, the Game Gear version (shown) is easier. [2]

I'll admit, once you get the hang of playing the events, there is more than just a quantum of fun to be had. Up to four players can take turns competing in the Full or Mini Olympics modes -- yes, even on the Game Gear; no additional controllers or consoles needed. But if you insist, the console versions also let you play some of the events head-to-head, but unfortunately it's limited to the dull stuff like Moguls and Speed Skating. You get to name your athletes as well as choose their nations, each with their own uniform colour scheme -- again, only in Full and Mini Olympics. The soundtrack is pretty rockin' too -- although the Game Gear's music is more tuneful than on the other games. And it supports eight languages for the in-game text -- I reckon that was unheard of for the time. But I'm pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point in my efforts to justify this game's existence. If you desperately want to play Winter Olympic Games, be sure to A) stick to the Game Gear version, and B) ask yourself if you're a big enough Olympics nut for this game to be of any value to you.

Control: 2 medals out of 5
Design: 3 medals out of 5
Graphics: 3 medals out of 5
Audio: 3 medals out of 5 (SNES/Gen) / 5 medals out of 5 (GG)
The Call: 55% (D+) (SNES/Gen) / 60% (C-) (GG)

---

[1] The Soviet Union dissolved before the Winter (Albertville) and Summer Olympics (Barcelona) of 1992, but as the Soviet republics had already been training together, they competed as the Unified Team.

[2] "Winter Olympics: Lillehammer '94 (1994) screenshots". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/winter-olympics-lillehammer-94/screenshots.

Second Opinion: F-Zero vs. Mario Kart

It seems the Video Game Critic site is up to its usual tricks. You may recall I blasted the site before, or specifically its review of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I. While I still stand by my opinion without regret, for once, that's not why I'm here. I'm actually bringing them up as a makeshift celebration for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System's 20th anniversary. (A full month-long celebration is out of the question, since I don't know quite as many SNES titles enough to be nostalgic about them.) If you would kindly take the time to dig around their Super NES section, compare their reviews for F-Zero (D) and Super Mario Kart (A+). You'll notice the former got a near-failing grade whereas the latter got the highest mark possible. And what do I think? While I'm nowhere near as bitter as with the whole Sonic 4 debacle, I still have some counter-points to make.

F-Zero Publisher: Nintendo  Developer: Nintendo EAD  Release: Super NES, 23 August 1991  Genre: Racing  Players: 1

Super Mario Kart Publisher: Nintendo  Developer: Nintendo EAD  Releases: Super NES, 1 September 1992  Genre: Racing  Players: 1-2

First, let's take an objective glance at the games themselves. Both are racing games which simulate 3-D graphics by scaling and rotating a flat 2-D map in real time. This ability was courtesy of the much-touted Mode 7 graphics mode of the Super NES. But both games take vastly different approaches to the same idea. F-Zero takes place in a futuristic setting and uses sleek hover-cars, whereas Super Mario Kart puts the familiar faces of the Super Mario series onto small-engine go-carts. As you can guess, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison: both are racing video games, but they taste - err, play differently.

First off is F-Zero. Having been released first - along with the console's launch, as a matter of fact - I would imagine much of its nostalgia value came from the novelty. This happens to be a point the Video Game Critic and I agree on. Unlike most other racing games, in F-Zero you are eliminated if you fall below a certain rank. You also have a power meter which depletes from crashes; your ship blows up when this gauge empties. Should either happen, you can try again at the cost of one life. You get one single-use speed boost each lap (starting with the second), and you can recharge your power by driving over repair strips, like a pit-stop.

Second is Super Mario Kart. As per the name, SMK features the likes of Mario, Luigi, Bowser, the Princess who was still named Toadstool at the time, and four others racing on go-carts. After each race, the top four-ranking racers get points based on their position, and the winner of the cup is whoever has the most points after the last race. Come in at fifth place or below, and you'll have to pay a life and try again. SMK's other big innovation is the use of power-ups which can be collected by driving over "?-block" markers. Some help you, like the speed-boost Super Mushroom or invincibility Starman, and others attack opponents, like the green and red Koopa Shells or Banana Peels. Unlike when you take damage in F-Zero, getting hit with one of these items only stops you for a couple of crucial seconds.

With the objective stuff out of the way, let's look at what the Video Game Critic had to say about the two games:

F-Zero: "[...W]hile the illusion of movement is smooth, the surface is noticeably flat and quite pixelated."

Need I remind you that this was early technology. In still pictures, I'll admit the rotating effects make the track look unimpressively jagged, but bear in mind you'll spend most of your time in motion - sometimes over 500 kilometers per hour (310 mph), as a matter of fact. Compare that to the carts in SMK, which doesn't even show your speed. Whatever they're doing, it's probably not enough to break the speed limits on most major highways.

F-Zero: "To compensate, Nintendo made the tracks as flashy as possible, but they tend to look gaudy."

Well, that's just a matter of opinion, now isn't it?

In a related story, let's consider the soundtracks of the two games. Both have their ups and downs, with F-Zero's music lying mostly in the synth-rock area and SMK taking a more mellow slant with its tracks. Taking both at their best, I'd give the edge to F-Zero's score, some songs from which I found more exciting and even memorable. Having been composed by Koji Kondo -- only the guy who did the music for Super Mario Bros. -- helps.

F-Zero: "There are a lot of CPU-controlled racers, and slowpokes you lap present serious hazards, thanks to F-Zero's 'pinball physics'. [...] It stinks, man."

I'll admit, the physics really bummed me out, too. The (un)funny thing is, a lot of those "slowpokes" you mentioned don't even count for/against your rank, and only serve to populate the track. I suppose if you look at that against races in other games, where there are only six or four vehicles on the track at a time, then this might be a good thing. But when these extra cars only serve to demonstrate the annoying physics model, then it's hard to admit that.

Super Mario Kart: "Thanks to some marvelous SNES 'Mode 7' effects, the ground moves and rotates smoothly below your kart, conveying a sense of speed. [...T]heir textures range from smooth, to wood, to gravel."

And how is this different from when they did the exact same thing in F-Zero? Both games also have different surfaces here and there; advanced tracks in F-Zero feature low-speed rough, low-traction ice, and other gimmicks. That said, I can attest that F-Zero has a far better sense of speed than SMK, something I previously alluded to.

This brings up my major issue with Super Mario Kart, especially when compared to F-Zero: the vehicle physics. Unless you're puttering at a snail's pace, a long-enough turn in SMK will inevitably result in a drift that makes you overshoot your target and slide off the road. (Among all the game's characters, Toad gets hit with this problem the least.) The manual drifting, which is a crucial feature in future Mario Kart games, only makes it worse in SMK. In contrast, the vehicles in F-Zero handle remarkably more car-like. You still have to slow down and brake for most curves, but you never run the risk of sliding out of control. Being able to "strafe" with the L and R buttons is also a nice touch which could give you a much-needed edge to your turning radius.

Super Mario Kart: "[...T]he two-player split-screen mode is even better. The outcome of each race is usually in doubt, but never feels unfair or cheap."

I assume you're talking specifically about the multiplayer races in SMK. The AI in single-player tournaments isn't exactly what I'd call fair; take a tumble on the 1500cc (hard) difficulty, and you may never get (back) up to first. Certainly, though, having a human opponent should level the playing field somewhat, so I'll give you that. Also, whereas F-Zero lacks any sort of multiplayer mode, SMK supports two-player races and the genre-defining battle mode. It makes me wonder why they couldn't have put multiplayer support in F-Zero. Maybe a little more time in the oven would've helped...?

In conclusion, while I believe the Video Game Critic's opinions of these two games was too extreme, he did bring up some valid points. F-Zero's fame to this day survives mostly on nostalgia, given that it was among the very first games powered by Mode-7 graphics, but it has a crucial advantage over Super Mario Kart in that it plays better. On the other hand, SMK wins points for innovation, from the use of in-race items, to the two multiplayer modes. Still, neither franchise would become what I'd call "great" until their second entries (Mario Kart 64 and F-Zero X), both on the Nintendo 64.

F-Zero Control: 4 out of 5 Design: 4 out of 5 Graphics: 4 out of 5 Sound: 5 out of 5 The Call: B (80%)

Super Mario Kart Control: 3 out of 5 Design: 5 out of 5 Graphics: 3 out of 5 Sound: 4 out of 5 The Call: B- (75%)

Next Episode: It's funny I should mention the Nintendo 64...

Game Review: Doom (SNES)

Doom

• Publisher: id Software (PC) / Williams Electronics (SNES)
• Developer: id Software (PC) / Structured Software (SNES)
• Release: Super NES, 1995
• Genre: First-Person Shooter
• Players: 1
• Rarity/Cost: Moderate (US$5-15)

How can you not love Doom.  Despite the fact that Doom was not the first in its genre, it's added so much to the video game industry as we know it today.  It introduced concepts like arbitrary room shapes, elevation changes, floor and ceiling textures, and the ever-popular "deathmatch" multiplayer.  Though intentional, its existence also helped give birth to the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, keeping our beloved industry out of the hands of a government which doesn't know the first thing about games.  Doom is one of those rare games that stands the test of time, despite rapidly approaching the big two-oh anniversary.  After its initial launch as a shareware PC game, it received a slew of ports across many, many other consoles, some of them only a couple of years old.  For this review, I'll be focusing on the port made for the Super NES.

Compared to the first wave of Doom console ports, which included the Atari Jaguar and Sega Genesis 32X, the SNES version looks like it has a lot going for it.  The controller, with its L and R buttons, is ideal for strafing techniques.  A handful of the levels are missing, but unlike in some of the other early ports, the map layouts are (nearly) identical to the PC version's.  The music in this version is the most similar to the PC version's soundtrack, whereas the Jaguar version has no music (!) and the 32X's soundtrack sounds awful.  It comes in a red-coloured cartridge.  And to top it all off, it's powered by the on-cartridge Super FX chip, a.k.a. the thing that made Star Fox run.  But here's the thing: if you'd be so kind to take off your nostalgia filter for a moment, you'll notice that Star Fox did not run smoothly at all.  Astoundingly, Doom has it worse.

You can't see well into the distance.

Straight to the point: the problem with porting Doom to the Super NES is that, even with the Super FX chip making it possible in the first place, it runs choppy and slowly almost to the point of, depending on your patience, being unplayable.  This is bound to be a disappointment for anyone who's played it on a PC, and just about any box available right now will run it silky smooth and lightning fast, so there's really no excuse at this point.  And sacrifices still had to be made: the gameplay window doesn't fill up the whole screen, the floor and ceiling patterns were removed, and all the monsters can't face in any direction other than towards you.  The poor graphics somehow spill out and affect the controls, which feel mushy and imprecise.  This game also has extraordinary difficulty rendering monsters in the difference.  While you can shoot and hurt them from long range, good luck telling if you're actually doing anything.  And perhaps the worst part in the long run is two-fold.  The game lacks a save function, and while you can start a game on any one of the three episodes, the later chapters can only be accessed on higher difficulty levels.  This means that you have to start Episode 3 on the hard level or higher, with only the default pistol (unless you took the time to go through the previous chapter) - getting through the first few rooms using this setup is a daunting - if not impossible - task.  Buyer beware.

So this game is garbage when running on the SNES, but at least it was a great game to begin with.  The famously minimalist story has the player character trying to survive a demonic invasion on a research base on Mars's moon Phobos.  Across the 22 levels (5 were cut from the original release), your only goal is to reach the end-level switch; the many zombied soldiers and demons in your way can be eliminated at your discretion.  With the ESRB ratings replacing Nintendo's self-censorship policies that affected their system's ports of Mortal Kombat and id's own Wolfenstein 3D, much of the famous gore has been left intact (some blood effects were removed for technical reasons).  In some ways, this is more of a survival-horror game, with an emphasis on exploration, as the maps are huge and often require you to find colour-coded keys.  And then there are the Secrets, walls that open up in certain places to reward intrepid players with treasure troves of supplies.

You can only play later episodes on hard difficulties. 

As of when I wrote this review, it's been almost eighteen years since the original release of Doom launched.  Obviously, the first-person shooter genre has made leaps and bounds in not only how the games look, but how they play.  If you can get over the lack of modern FPS conventions, I strongly urge you to check out this piece of history, but not on the SNES.  ...But where to start?  It seems like there were so many re-releases of the game, like The Ultimate Doom and Final Doom, and many other user-created map packs (perhaps the first Web 2.0 activity!), plus the two sequels (to date).  Since the original game was sold as shareware so long ago, save yourself the trouble of ordering the rest of the game and start with The Ultimate Doom.  It contains all three episodes of the original game, plus a fourth chapter, and is available on the Steam download store for US$10.  Truly it is the path of least resistance.

Control: 1 BFG out of 5

Design: 4 BFGs out of 5

Graphics: 1 BFG out of 5

Audio: 2 BFGs out of 5

The Call: 40% (F)

Game Review: Sailor Moon S

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Juugai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsusen

• Publisher: Angel
• Developer: Angel
• Release: December 1994 (Japan)
• Genre: Versus Fighter
• Players: 1-2 simultaneous, 1-8 alternating
• Rarity/Cost: Uncommon (US$15-30)

Have you ever watched the Sailor Moon anime and found yourself wondering why the heroes don't use more unarmed martial arts fighting?  It seems they're way more dependent on their magical finishers, amirite?  Well, as if to rectify this issue, they made a versus fighter using the Sailor Moon licence; two, in fact.  And these are only some of the Sailor Moon-licenced games to hit the Super Famicom across multiple genres.  But if you haven't guessed by the way I referred to their console, they were only sold in Japan.  If you've ever felt despair about how America hasn't shown quite enough interest to get all the Moonie goodies...  Yeah, I'm just gonna stop right there before I dig myself any deeper and start sounding like an actual fan, and instead spend my time discussing the fighting game based on Sailor Moon S.

NB: Since this is an import-only game, I suppose I should take a moment to describe how to play it on other region consoles.  The Super NES does use a software-based region lockout, but Japan and North America share the same region, so for you Western-hemisphere readers out there, this is a non-issue.  There's also a physical lockout issue, although nowhere near as debilitating as with the Famicom/NES.  American Super NES Game Paks are wider than Super Famicom Cassettes, and have two grooves cut into the back corners of the case.  These grooves fit in with two tabs built into the Super NES's cartridge bay.  Try to plug in a Super Famicom here, and the tabs will block it.  So what you can do is pull out these tabs, with a pair of pliers and/or other tools, BEING VERY CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE THE CARTRIDGE INPUT SLOT.  You can also get purpose-built adapters like the Honeybee, or certain after-market consoles like the Retro Duo, which come with the tabs missing and are thus ready to run import games out of the box.

Back to the game at hand.  Now, its full title is the blisteringly long Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Juugai Rantou!? Shuyaku Soudatsusen, roughly translated to English as "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S: Street Fight!? Battle for a New Leader", so yeah, I'm just gonna stick to Sailor Moon S for short.  Be careful not to confuse it with two different block-puzzle games based on that season alone.  (NB: The cartridge label for this game is orange.)  Since it's based on the third season, where the Outer Scouts were introduced, they're playable in this game as well, except for Sailor Saturn.  She couldn't make it because... she had a little run-in with the plot.  I don't know the details.  The modes available are Story, Versus (against a human or computer opponent), Tournament (up to 8 players in a knockout ladder), and Training.  As per the title, the Story mode depicts the Scouts fighting amongst themselves to determine who should be their new leader.  ...That's it?  No monsters or anything?  You're not even gonna re-hash the show's storyline?  ...Well, that's one thing the Power Rangers game I reviewed has over this.  (A neat little Easter Egg awaits you at the title screen if you should finish the story mode with someone other than Moon.)

Not knowing Japanese, I expected more from the story.

But this game here triumphs over the Genesis MMPR fighter in many other ways.  One big example of this is the Attribute Customize System (ACS), wherein you can improve your fighter's stats before starting a game.  Since the computer uses the ACS whether or not you do, neglecting to do so can be a major handicap.  But since the whole thing's in Japanese, I'll describe the categories for you (listed clockwise from the top):

1. Elemental Strength: Increases the damage of most special attacks.
2. ?: Increases the damage of the Desperation Attack, a super-move available when you're at low health or the timer reads under 10 seconds.
3. Defense: Reduces the damage you take.
4. Playfulness: Increases the chance that your moves will fail.  Unlike the other attributes, increasing this is a handicap against you.
5. Physical Strength: Increases the damage of basic and some special attacks.
6. Life: Increases your starting health bar past 100%.

In addition, the control scheme has two settings: Manual, where you trigger special attacks with Street Fighter-style input combos, or Auto, where you hold L/R and press a face button to do so.  It feels incredibly cheap to pull off specials without having memorised the inputs, especially since there's no limit to how much you can used them.  Ever heard of the Neo-Geo series Art of Fighting?  Well, it had a cooldown meter which weakened special attacks the more they were used.  At the risk of ruining it for everyone else, I wish more fighting games implemented limits like that.

Also, whereas the Genesis MMPR game lacked character specialisation, the Sailor Scouts in this game are pleasantly distinct.  You've got balanced types like Sailors Moon and Venus, the faster/weaker Mercury, and the slower/stronger Jupiter and Uranus.  Even some of the moves are ripped straight out of Street Fighter II; apart from the clasic Hadoken input shared amongst many of the characters, Sailor Mercury also has a version of Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick.  And then there's Sailor Mini-Moon, who at half the height of the other characters, can dodge some attacks without even trying.  Oddjob says hi.

Some character differentiation is better than none.

The art style used in this game looks fairly true to its origins, as were many other anime-licenced or themed games from the 16-bit era.  But on a technical level, there's nothing much to get excited over; the only use of Mode 7 that I can think of off the top of my head is in the background of Sailor Pluto's stage.  The music is really sparse, light-hearted fare that I'm glad didn't get stuck in my head.  Voice clips recorded by the show's cast are also present; forgive me if I'm not well-versed enough to tell the actresses apart, but I do appreciate them going the extra mile in this regard.  I do have to give a wag of the finger to the clip Sailor Mercury says when she launches her bubble attack, made even worse since the computer has a tendency to spam that attack when playing as her.

For a versus fighter from the mid-1990s, Sailor Moon S is a pretty well-featured package.  Things like the ACS and the Auto control scheme make this accessible to any novice gamers you might be able to rope into playing with you while still adding some much-appreciated depth.  (So what if it's no good for the hardcore tournament set?)  Now, they also made a sequel to this particular game, based on the fourth season "Super S", but it's a good deal rarer and more expensive to find online, and the feature set is pretty much the same (apart from the inclusion of Sailor Saturn) besides.  If you're ready to strike out into inport gaming and have an interest in the source material, either one of the Sailor Moon versus fighters would be a good game to whet your interest with.

Japanese: 3 kanji out of 5
Graphics: 4 StarS out of 5
Audio: 3 StarS out of 5
Control: 4 StarS out of 5
Design: 3 StarS out of 5
The Call: 75% (C-)

Next Episode: Wait a minute, I've done two Sailor Moon-related entries in a row now?  Man, I need to write up some new man cards...  Let's play some Doom!

Sticking Points: Winter Olympic Games '94

The reason LordKaT started "Until We Win", his video series of walkthroughs for the most famously hard games of old, was to exorcise the demons of his childhood.  Now that he announced he was ending UWW (with a bang, if I say so myself: Comix Zone), my timing couldn't be better for launching my own series of text walkthroughs, dubbed "Sticking Points.  The first installment of Sticking Points is indeed something which gave me no end of trouble when I played it as a lad.  I'm talking about Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer '94 for the Game Gear.  I have more to say about this game, like how I came across it in the first place, but that might be better suited for a traditional review.  Look for it soon.


It's odd that I'll have to start off with the first menu in the game, but there's no in-game indication as to what it does.  This is the language selection screen; the eight flags here represent eight possible languages you can set the menu text to.  By default, the cursor will hover on the United Kingdom flag; this refers to English.  Just press 1 or 2 and advance to the main menu.  From here you can select one of three modes, plus options.  Full Olympics takes you through all 10 of the game's events in a row, Mini Olympics lets you run a program of only the events you want, and Training is just that: practice an event as long as you wish.  Before starting either Olympics mode, you can set your name (press 1), gender (2), and nation (Left/Right).  Press Start once you're done making these changes.


This game has ten events across six different sports, which are listed below in the order they appear in Full Olympic mode:

1. Downhill (Alpine Skiing)
2. Luge (Sled)
3. Moguls (Freestyle Skiing)
4. Super-Giant Slalom (Alpine Skiing)
5. Ski Jump
6. Biathalon
7. Giant Slalom (Alpine Skiing)
8. Short Track (Speed Skating)
9. Bobsled (Sled)
10. Slalom (Alpine Skiing)

Since some of the events are so similar, I'll cover them grouped by sport instead of individual events.  The tips I present will cover all the events in a sport, but I will point out differences when they pop up.  While I'm at it, this game was ported to other consoles, including the Genesis and Super NES (hence my use of the Genesis box art at the top of this entry), but the content within all the ports are identical.  Button names refer to the Game Gear and (Europe-exclusive) Master System versions; I am not sure what their counterparts are on the other consoles.

Alpine Skiing
At the beginning of each skiing event, before starting down the slope you get to choose from one of three steering control setups.  The first two turn your skier clockwise or counterclockwise when you hold Left/Right, and the third aims him in whatever direction you press the D-Pad.  I prefer the first option, but try them all out for yourself, preferably in Training, until you find one you can get used to.  Holding the 1 Button makes your skier crouch for more speed, but you may have to let go if you can't react fast enough.  The 2 Button makes your skier hop, which is useful if you need to continue from an emergency stop and nothing else.  Regarding the actual skiing, the top-down, isometric perspective doesn't give you much time to react to the next gate you must pass through.  As a general rule, follow the contours of the snow, and don't be afraid to turn to a near-horizontal angle even if it will cut your speed.  Hitting a gate counts, but if you miss one gate, you'll be disqualified once you finish the run.  Should this happen, save yourself some time by crashing into a bank of trees and ending the run prematurely.


Out of the four events in alpine skiing, Downhill is the longest yet easiest, with the gates farthest apart compared to the Super G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom.  Regardless of your skills in the other courses, it would be worth slowing down part of the way in the Slalom (release the crouch button, or do a sharp turn) - the track is that tough.  In addition, the Giant Slalom and Slalom courses have to be raced twice in a row; skiers are based on the sum of their two run times.  Failing either run, whether by missing a gate or crashing, ends the event prematurely.  I'm not a fan of this setup, but we'll get into it more in the review.  Note that the Luge, Moguls, Ski Jump, and Bobsled also follow this setup.

Sledding
The two sledding events, Luge and Bobsled, use the same track.  The biggest difference lies in how fast they go.  To start up in both events, you have to mash buttons 1 and 2 until gravity starts pulling your craft.  Strangely, I couldn't get past this simple step in the Luge event - the second event in the Full Olympics.   Sounds like a silly thing to mess up, right?  Not if you're like me and didn't have the instructions.  See, whereas the Bobsled gets started with just one push of either button, the Luge does not.  So I would press the button once and get nowhere fast, thus rendering this event and the Full Olympics mode unplayable.  ...Yeah, I got better.  Once you get started, your only controls are Left and Right which steer your craft.  Keeping your speed up is everything in these events; in order to do that, you have to stay in the center of the track as long as possible.  In turns, this means hovering over the border of light and shadow whenever possible.

Moguls
This is a freestyle skiing event where you zigzag down a series of small hills, the titular "moguls".  During the run you are expected to not only make it to the bottom as quickly as possible, but jump off the bumps and perform tricks.  You ski down automatically, but have to press Left and Right in time with each turn point to move faster.  To jump, press 1 or 2 with any direction on the D-Pad whenever you're above any of the right-hand moguls.  You have to be exact with this timing, because if you're too late or early, your skier will take a smaller jump, crash, and be disqualified.  The contestant with the best total of speed, turn, and air points wins, so for best results, take a jump at every fifth or sixth jump point.  Playing this event in Training mode adds beeps whenever you hit a jump point so you can practice your timing.

Ski Jump
This is a complicated event, and I had to do a whole mess of experimenting in Training mode to find the winning formula.  First, you have to push yourself down the ramp manually (press 1 or 2).  The torch on-screen indicates wind speed, but since there's no direction indicator, start when the flame is at its shortest.  Second, press 1 or 2 again just before you take off from the ramp; and I do mean as late as possible before going airborne.  Third, while you're airborne, your skier will lose balance and shift left or right.  Press Left/Right to correct this and stay as balanced as possible.  This will build up your style points.  Fourth, about a second before landing, press 1 or 2 one more time to land safely.  Fail to do so and you'll crash; it's not an instant disqualification like in the other events, but you'll take a severe cut to your style points.

Biathalon
If you don't know, the Biathalon combines cross-country skiing and target shooting events.  In this game's interpretation of the sport, there are five skiing and four shooting segments, with the types alternating between the two.  In the skiing sections, you'll see a bar on-screen with a slider moving back and forth between both ends.  To make your skier go faster, you have to manipulate the slider with Left/Right or 1/2.  If you can, get the slider to stop in the colored edges of the bar without hitting the end for best results.  In the shooting segments, you simply move the cursor with the D-Pad and press 1 to fire.  You have to hit all five targets, and you have only five shots to do so, but missing a target only adds one second onto your time.  The challenge lies in how the cursor moves slightly on its own, as if to simulate muscle fatigue.  It may seem unfair, but honestly without it, the shooting parts would be way too easy.  Note that in the final skiing segment, you have to mash 1/2 in order to move instead of using the other control scheme.

Speed Skating
The final sport, and second-to-final event, puts you on an ice rink against three other skaters with the goal of completing four and a half laps before everyone else.  Mashing 1/2 moves you forward , and since you'll spend a good 45 seconds straight doing this, find the best way to hold your Game Gear or controller and prepare for a little fatigue.  While turning corners, you'll drift to the outside, so you need to steer with Left/Right.  The trick is to avoid hitting other skaters and the inside wall, which will slow you down considerably.  It might even be worth letting yourself drift outside to avoid getting boxed in by other skaters.


And that's it for the events.  See you in four years!