 That's drugs. Way back in the Super Nintendo's prime, if you went to rent this game, you didn't have nearly as much information as you have access to now. There were three main factors I went by. First was word of mouth for my friends. Second was what Nintendo Power, GamePro, and EGM had to say. And third was the game's cover art. And man, oh man, there are some strange, funny, misleading, and just plain bad box covers out there for some Super Nintendo games. And there were quite a few that could of potentially kept you away from the game way back when, or even now. The most famous example of this, of course, is Phalanx. You could ask 10 different people what they thought this game would be about, and I bet you'd get 10 different answers. Is it a hop and bop platformer starring this old dude? Is it a surrealist top-down adventure game? Is it a generic beat-em-up or fighting game? Nope, it's a space shoot-em-up, and a halfway decent one, too. There's eight long levels to complete, and you can hold up to three weapons at a time, like laser homing, energy, and ricochet, as well as three different kinds of missiles, the usual stuff. The one big positive this game offers is that it's at least a little more forgiving than most shoot-em-ups of the era, because you can actually take damage in this game and keep going. Plus, there's checkpoints here and there. Otherwise, Phalanx is a case where they went with a weird cover for a reason, because this game doesn't stand out too well on its own merits. Prince of Persia was one of those ubiquitous games that got ports on just about any console or home computer you can think of. I think you could even play this on your microwave at one point. This was the first cinematic platformer, and it offered a completely different approach to the genre. However, the cover the SNES port got looked like this. I mean, this is just flat-out ugly-looking, and what is with the background? It looks like somebody's kitchen backsplash tile from 1971. Even the back cover doesn't really do this game justice. This is one you have to see actual footage of to get what this game is all about. I understand that not many people like the slow, deliberate pace these games kind of force you to play by, but if you liked stuff like Flashback or Out of This World or Blackthorne, the SNES port of Prince of Persia is right up there with those games if it doesn't surpass them entirely. Next, we'll move to a cover I've referenced before. It's for the Quintet Developed and Enix published RPG titled Robotrek. In Japan, this game was released as Slapstick and had a colorful cover featuring the oddball characters from the game. In North America, we get something completely different. I'm assuming this is the spaceship depicted at the end of the game? But yeah, this does not convey the vibe of the game at all, not even close. Robotrek isn't perfect. It's pretty rough around the edges and could have used a better translation. But it's a light-hearted turn-based RPG that doesn't take itself seriously. It's a good playthrough if you've played all the other pertinent SNES role-playing games to death. Super Buster Brothers was developed by Mitchell Corporation for the arcades, but it was ported to the SNES by Capcom. And it's a pretty good single-screen action puzzle style game where you shoot bubbles. They split in two and you have to clear the screen, reminiscent of stuff like asteroids. Unfortunately, this was the cover the SNES game received. I don't know about you, but this makes me cringe like crazy. It's almost like Capcom just had to compete with Sega's Kid Chameleon to come up with the most early 90s video game box art possible. It just looks really, really lame. And there's a 0% chance I would have tried this game as a kid. But now, it's a halfway-decent game if you're looking for challenging arcade-style puzzle shooters. Next is a game I made a video for a few weeks ago. It's for a game called Metal Marines. And what in the hell is even happening here? We have a giant face lording over a cartoonish battlefield. His left shoulder is firing missiles. He has two right arms, one of which appears to be some kind of baby arm. And who is this guy anyway? He looks like a cross between Malcolm McDowell and the guy from The Wallflowers. It also doesn't help that the gameplay in Metal Marines isn't exactly all that welcoming or intuitive. This is one you need the manual for, but I'll sum up quickly. It's a real-time strategy game where you need to farm energy and money to create missiles and max to launch at your opponent. The more successful attacks, the more information on your enemy that gets sent back to you so you can better plan your strategy. So it's structured a bit like battleship. Don't let the weird-ass cover sway you. This game is well worth checking out today. Then there's stuff like Excalibur 2097, which has a cover that looks like this. I mean, can you possibly get any more vague here? This is another case where this game could be absolutely anything. Hell, if anything, this cover would probably better fit a game like Metal Marines. If you switch the covers of those two games and replace the titles, would anyone even notice or care? Anyway, it turns out Excalibur 2097 is an action platformer. This is a great-looking game where you're slicing up anything that moves with a variety of abilities centered around your sword. But it's a pretty short game with only six levels, and the boss fights turn the game into a one-on-one fighting mode, which really makes the game difficult. This game isn't the greatest, but all I'm saying is that it's better than the utterly generic cover and title might have you thinking. Aerobiz Supersonic is one of those weird games that sounds incredibly dull on the surface, but once you get into it, it can be hard to put down. It's one of those CoA strategy games, only this time around you play as the CEO of a startup airline company. And you have to compete with other airlines for customers by politicking with other countries, creating routes, controlling prices, and deciding which planes go where. See, that sounds kinda dumb. I mean, look at the cover here. This picture looks like it was ripped from the 8th grade Social Studies textbook. What is that guy doing back there? Is that John Stossel? Anyway, this game is actually a sequel to Aerobiz, but it's much more interesting and in-depth. What I like about this one in particular is that you have to manage your business around real-world events as they happen in your timeline, like the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Vietnam War, and the Olympics. So you have to adjust what you're doing on the fly. Based on the cover, the title, and the subject matter, I never would have guessed Aerobiz Super Sonic would be worth playing, but it's actually kinda interesting. Next is Kendo Rage, and I don't know what the heck to think here. We've got two women fighting. One has some kind of tennis racket, and the other with some kind of hilted baseball bat? Yeah, I'm gonna stick with baseball bat. Plus, you have all these other weird characters floating around. One on Earth is going on here. Kendo Rage is a bizarre mix of Western localization and staying true to the way the game was intended. The game itself is an action-platformer with some great-looking pixel art, and a story that's played up for comedy, but you'd have no way of knowing that from the cover. Kendo Rage isn't a hidden classic or anything. There's only seven levels, and it's pretty standard stuff as far as action-platformers go, but it's a decent enough game with some fantastic visual design. One game that's kinda snuck up on me over the years is Super Soccer. I'm not a big soccer guy by any stretch, but this game is actually pretty fun, but you'd never know it from the utterly generic title, and this cover, featuring... Is that Donald Trump? I mean, it's uncanny. They got the hair and everything. No, this isn't a bad cover because it looks like Trump. It's a bad cover because the guy looks every bit as weird and awkward as the Mega Man guy. Like, he's forced to play goalie, but all he's really thinking about is if he remembered to shut the garage door on the way to the game. But yeah, Super Soccer hits a good balance of speed, and is a pretty good pick-up-and-play style soccer game. Let's go to the Super Famicom a bit. The Fire Pro Wrestling series features some of the very best wrestling games ever made that hold up extremely well today. This series got off to a bit of an auspicious start on the Super Famicom, though, with Super Fire Pro Wrestling, and this cover. I know a tiny bit about Japanese wrestling, and I know this dude isn't Misawa Kobashi, or Jumbo, or Fujinami, or any of those guys. The only Japanese face-painted guy I remember from back then is the great Muda, and this isn't him. Either way, it looks like he's belting out a rendition of Ave Maria. But yeah, Super Fire Pro Wrestling is a great game that you can still play, even though it's in Japanese. It features certain WWF wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and the Road Warriors. There's even blood here, how cool is that? This game is well worth checking out today. Last we have possibly the most 90s and most unintentionally funny Super Nintendo box art ever. Rival Turf. I mean, just look at these guys. What is this, from a failed audition to join new kids on the block? A magazine ad for Bugle Boy Jeans? These guys are straight out of central casting for salute your shorts. And here they are promoting a beat-em-up game, and it's actually a pretty decent one as far as Final Fight and Streets of Rage rip-offs go. This was actually called Rushing Beat over in Japan, and the major thing it has going for it is that it's two-player co-op. And if I've learned anything over the years of doing this channel, it's that people are always, always on the lookout for co-op beat-em-ups, to the point that the prices for games like Super Double Dragon and Battletoads and Battle Maniacs have gone way up recently. So yeah, despite the lame-ass cover, Rival Turf is actually pretty decent for what it is. Alright, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.