 Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss it as a CD-ROM game on a cartridge, so this was quite the novelty back in the early 90s. It was originally made for Sega Genesis, but oddly enough it was first released for the Amiga before making its way to Genesis and Super Nintendo in cartridge form, then eventually onto about a dozen other platforms in an actual CD format, ranging from everything to 3DO, CDi, and the FM Towns. Now, Flashback may look and sound a lot like out of this world, but it plays more like Blackthorn, which I looked at a long while back, because there's an equal emphasis here on dodging and shooting enemies. You can take up to four hits before losing a life, but early on in the game you get a shield that you can use to block enemy fire, and you really have to be keen on learning each enemy's patterns if you want to progress through this one. That's what can be frustrating about these games, I mean you have a gun, you have unlimited ammo, so it's tempting to just fly through this one as fast as you can. But if you approach Flashback that way, you're gonna have a bad time. This is a game just like Blackthorn that you have to think your way through. Thankfully the controls are a bit more polished here. For example, if you need to get to a higher ledge, you can just run toward it and you'll automatically jump instead of trying to time it perfectly down to the pixel. It's just a lot less finicky and a tiny bit more streamlined than the usual cinematic platformer, and it corrects a lot of little things that go a long way toward making this game a better experience. But make no mistake, Flashback definitely puts an emphasis on quote unquote realistic physics, so if you fall from too great of a height, which might not seem like much, you will die. So there's still plenty of frustration here. There are seven levels which doesn't seem like a lot, but this game takes several hours to complete, and yeah, some of that is because of the naturally slow pace games like this have. But there's also a lot to digest in this one. There's an up and down story that follows your character named Conrad who's being chased by someone shooting at him, and you gotta figure out what the hell is going on. The only real clue you have is a hologram of yourself saying to get your ass to Moz, I mean to go visit your friend in New Washington, and things take off from there. Spoilers are always damned if you do and damned if you don't with these old games, and I'd rather be damned if I don't in this case because it's a pretty well told story, and it calls to mind old sci-fi movies like Total Recall and They Live. Unfortunately, Flashback is marred with some pretty glaring flaws, especially the Super Nintendo Edition. For one thing, there's quite a bit of lag and slowdown here, which just comes and goes, and that's always frustrating. Also, quite surprisingly, the sound design here is just...bad. The music is pretty good, but the sound effects of things like explosions sound muddled, like they're happening underwater or something. In addition, I found the balance of speed between your character and enemies and enemy fire was pretty warky. There's also some annoyances here and there, like when the game says you've saved at a certain point, just so you know that's only a checkpoint, there's no battery save here, only a password system. To be honest, I had a much better time playing the Genesis version of Flashback, which would only make sense since this game was originally developed with the Genesis in mind, so obviously that's going to be considered the definitive version of this game. The Super Nintendo version, however, is hit or miss. You gotta love the look of this game. All the different settings are awesome, and there's just something about the color palette and these old polygonal vector graphics that make this game look unlike anything I've seen before, and it does look great on the Super Nintendo. The controls for the most part are pretty good as long as you know what you're getting yourself into, but it's just not as good as it could be. Maybe that's just because by comparison the Genesis version just plays better. Flashback did receive a sequel in 1995 titled Fade to Black, released for DOS, PlayStation, and eventually Dreamcast recently this year, which is pretty cool. I haven't been able to play it yet, but I understand it continues the Flashback story, so if you enjoyed that aspect of it, you'll want to check that out. Flashback was also planned for a remake for Game Boy Advance in 2004, but it was cancelled. However, a prototype ROM was leaked a few years later, and the game is mostly playable. The colors here are a bit garish for my liking, and they clash big time with your plain Jane looking main character, and the cutscenes were replaced with comic book style pixel art, so the game loses some of its charm, but it's still an interesting relic if nothing else. So yeah, Flashback on Super Nintendo is okay-ish at best with some unique visuals and interesting gameplay, and I have to say if you like cinematic platformers like this, then you'll enjoy this one. But after playing both console editions, it's pretty clear right away that the way to go here is with the Sega Genesis edition. Weirdly enough, Flashback was made available earlier this year on the Nintendo Switch. It's advertised as the original version with remastered sound and music, but it costs $20. That's a bit much for a game like this in my opinion. I think the best way to go here is to just get the Genesis cartridge for less than $10. I don't want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.