 A while back I was planning on doing a big Super Nintendo and Super Famicom Casino games video but it never got off the ground for a couple of reasons. 1. There were only two Casino video games released in North America for Super Nintendo, Super Caesar's Palace and Vegas Stakes. And 2. There are at least a dozen Casino games released for Super Famicom that stayed in Japan that are simply, you know, casino games, you're in a casino, you play poker or blackjack or whatever, and that's the extent of the game. The only differences between any of the games is the user interface, and some games is just a menu, and some you're a person walking around from table to table, and ultimately it made no difference whatsoever which game you played because they were all the freaking same. Take Super Caesar's Palace for instance, this is a pretty dry game featuring the usual casino stuff like video poker, blackjack, and slot machines with some crappy screen stills of people giving you tips about how to play. It existed for people that wanted casino games on a home console, that's it. There's not even any music during the actual casino games. The stakes on the other hand at least tried to do something a little different. This is the sequel to Vegas Dream for NES, and the game offers a tiny bit more than what you'd expect from a casino game, and that's because it's a little more character centric. The game starts you out in a car with four of your friends talking about your hopes and dreams or whatever, complete with a headshot of each character, making them look like they're from a front mission game or something. Man, a front mission Vegas Stakes strategy RPG would be pretty damn sweet. Anyway, you make it to your hotel, you sit in your room by yourself, calling one of your friends to see if they'll go gamble with you. What's kind of weird is that it does not matter at all whatsoever which person you pick here, neither the game or the manual say there's any kind of advantage if you pick to go with one person and then go play poker with them or go play blackjack with somebody else or whatever. So yeah, they're only here for cosmetic purposes. If I had to guess as to why they felt the need to include this seemingly needless window dressing, it's because of what I talked about earlier, casino games were so freaking dry and lifeless. So Vegas Stakes made a deliberate attempt to add something more to the casino experience and hey, I appreciate the attempt, I wouldn't be doing a video on this game otherwise. Anyway, Vegas Stakes has blackjack, poker, craps, roulette and slot machines. You start out with $1,000 with the goal being to win $10 million and you can jump between four different casinos from the get-go and they serve as makeshift difficulty settings. The first casino, Golden Paradise, has low stakes and better luck so to speak but move on to the other casinos and things get much tougher including the crowds you're hanging out with. You run into random people here and there and some people will actually pick your pocket. What the hell? Some people are nice and will give you money just because they're having a good night and consider you to be good luck or something like that. But yeah, this game could be a total prick out of nowhere to you just because, I guess. But yeah, once you rack up $100,000, a fifth casino is unlocked. But if you go below that $100,000 amount while you're there, they boot your ass out of there and they won't let you back in until you win $1 million. Yeah, this game could be ruthless. And of course, if you run out of money entirely, it's game over. But there's at least a battery save here. I should also mention that this game is compatible with the SNES mouse, which makes the interface a bit easier to deal with. But what really makes Vegas Stakes hold up well today is that it's four player compatible. Well, all of the games except poker anyway, since, you know, you'd be able to see each other's cards. So that'd be pretty pointless. I should also point out quickly that the poker in this game is seven card stud, not the usual Texas Hold'em format. Everyone's gotten accustomed to these days. Anyway, I appreciate what Vegas Stakes tried to do, which has gussied up the usual boring casino game experience with lots of music, some unique pixel art, and a little bit of atmosphere. Unfortunately, they didn't really go far enough with it, and the inclusion of your four friends is more confusing than anything else. They offer tips once in a while, but they could have done a lot more. Like they could have Richard here fall in love with a stripper and have her run off with his money, or maybe you'd have to bail Maria out of jail after she punched a blackjack dealer in the face. I don't know. So yeah, Super Caesars Palace may have a couple extra games that this game doesn't have, like horse racing and scratch off tickets, but Vegas Stakes is just a more pleasant and palatable experience overall. I don't know how much mileage you can actually get out of a 25 year old casino game on a home console these days, but if that's what you're looking for, for whatever reason, then Vegas Stakes is the way to go.