 Alright, try and stay with me on this one. The MechWarrior video game series spans across all sorts of platforms. It takes place in the universe of Battletech, which is a pen and paper role-playing game, developed back in the mid-80s. The first MechWarrior game came in 1989 for PC. The first of two Super Nintendo MechWarrior games came four years later, and while it's not a port, it is somewhat based on the first PC game. So in short, MechWarrior for Super Nintendo is based on a PC game which is based on a board game. You got all that? Now, MechWarrior is kind of unusual looking at first glance. It's definitely one of those what the hell do I do kind of games that takes a long time to figure out. Thankfully, the game provides a practice mode where you dick around and try and get the gist of the basic gameplay. You get dropped down, you hang out for a bit, and then you're suddenly under attack. So you flail around until you get killed. You essentially have to do this over and over again until you get at least somewhat comfortable if you want to get into MechWarrior, and if you don't feel like doing that, I don't blame you. The intuition is not MechWarrior's strength. Plus, the first person shooter stuff on the Super Nintendo just doesn't work well. Don't get me wrong, this is a valiant attempt, and it's a very clever use of the mode 7 capability. But movement sucks here, and I'll talk more about that in a moment. But you can't strafe, the framerate is lousy, and the SNES controller just doesn't lend itself well to games like this. So yeah, MechWarrior is a game that you have to learn to play on its terms. And yeah, it's doable after some practice. And again, I don't blame you if you don't want to put the time in. But bear in mind, MechWarrior does have its strengths. A huge component of the story mode part of the game is setting up your mech robot and customizing it for each battle based on what kind of job you take, and what you learn about the battles beforehand. Yeah, that's what this menu screen is here. You're a mercenary for hire hanging out at this club talking to people, and there's a big time shatter-run vibe that I like with talking to shady-looking people, and you have a menu of jobs you can flip through. It's like something out of Cowboy Bebop. The missions vary from typical make-robots-go-boom type stuff to defending a base, and in a nice feature, you can actually negotiate your fee, so that's pretty cool. Don't go too far with it though, because you can piss some people off. The best part of MechWarrior is the strategic slanted offers with how you manage your money after you win your first job. You have to decide if you want to upgrade weaponry, your defenses, or your engine strength. And you have to hit a decent balance with all three, because if you overload your mech with too many weapons and armor, for example, you won't be able to move at all. That's a problem. I mean it's hard enough to move in battle anyway, so I just highly recommend going with homing missiles. Lots and lots of homing missiles. There is a story here I should mention, explaining how and why your character became a mercenary. His name is Harris, and his family was killed by a group of military rogues called the Darkwing Lance. So a lot of intel you get throughout the game is in an effort to track down the leader of that group. It's pretty cool. So yeah, MechWarrior for SNES has a lot of good things going for it, but the basic gameplay just hasn't aged very well. Back in 1993 when this came out, I would have considered this passable, but now it's hard to have the patience for it. Back then it was easy to be apologetic for gameplay like this, because it's like, well, that's the best they can do for the time, but nowadays it's like, well, just move on to something else. Although I want to stress the strategy side of the game that I talked about earlier is pretty fun. So if you can get used to the gameplay as limited as it is, then MechWarrior is definitely worth playing. But otherwise, I think it's just too dated. And besides, if you want a similar game that offers even more strategy and detail with much more functioning gameplay, then you got to check out Front Mission for the Super Famicom. That has the same kind of theme, but with an isometric viewpoint instead of first person, so it's aged much better. And actually, wait a minute here. MechWarrior got an SNES sequel titled MechWarrior 3050, and it does exactly that. How about that? And yeah, this game is just pure straight-ahead ass-kicking carnage. You're using combinations of a ton of weapons to blow up buildings, bad guys, and people who explode when you step on them. Not much in the way of strategy and nuance here, although I will say this game is hard as hell. There's only five levels here, but you'll sure as hell take your share of damage. That's because it's really hard to get the hang of moving around and aiming at everything. But one weird feature of MechWarrior 3050 is that this game is co-op, but not in the way you'd think. One player controls the legs and the other aims your weapons, kind of like driving a tank with two people. I guess that's pretty cool, but that can lead to some arguments that may or may not lead to controllers being spiked atop people's heads. If this game looks appealing to you, then I have to recommend the Genesis game instead. It's called BattleTech, the title being gleaned off of the board game the MechWarrior is based off of. And that game just plays better. It's easier to aim, everything is faster, and it's not nearly as difficult. It's just simpler and more player-friendly, which makes it a lot more fun. So yeah, the MechWarrior games for SNES are hit and miss. The first game has its good points, but the combat is totally outdated. The second game, MechWarrior 3050, is an improvement, but it's brutally difficult. Really, if you're interested in giant mechrobots making stuff go boom, then check out Cybernator or Metal Warriors or Front Mission or Front Mission Gun Hazard. And like I said, the Genesis game BattleTech is a much better player-friendly version of MechWarrior 3050. And hey, if you wanna try out all three 16-bit MechWarrior games on cartridge, they're each around $6 or $7 on eBay. Not a bad deal, but your mileage may vary on the Super Nintendo titles.