The SNES Classic Mk. II: Episode XV: SinCity

The SNES Classic had a sterling assortment of games from Nintendo's 16-bit star console, but it's hardly all that system has to offer a modern audience. In each installment of this fortnightly feature, I judge two games for their suitability for a Classic successor based on four criteria, with the ultimate goal of assembling another collection of 25 SNES games that not only shine as brightly as those in the first SNES Classic, but have equally stood the test of time. The rules, list of games considered so far, and links to previous episodes can all be found at The SNES Classic Mk II Intro and Contents.

Episode XV: SinCity

The Candidate: KSS's Majyuuou

Majyuuou, or King of Demons, is a badass game I've been wanting to check out for years. Similar to Konami's Castlevania series, it sees a single human being take on the demonic underworld single-handedly. Unfortunately, the Abel of this game is wholly unsuited for the terrors that await him: he gets destroyed almost immediately by his old friend Bayer, who sold his soul to the King of Demons and sacrificed Abel's wife and daughter as tribute. Eventually, Abel has to transform into a demon himself to avenge his family, and a through line of the game involves him trying to hold onto the last vestiges of humanity until his vengeance is complete.

Mechanically, the game is a side-scrolling run-and-gun type where you initially start with a single weapon - the Beretta M9 pistol you brought with you - as well as a charge attack and a divekick move. As you change bodies, these three attacks morph to an extent: the normal attack is still a ranged attack that crosses the screen, but it can switch from a wave attack pattern to a laser with limited vertical range depending on the current form. The charge attack is invariably a shotgun-like blast that causes high damage at reduced range. I never really got the hang of the divekick, but some forms have better versions of it than others. Beyond the demonic morphing, it's a challenging action-platformer game with an emphasis on boss battles: you'll likely face two or three bosses per stage, each with their own patterns and environmental obstacles to watch out for.

Aesthetically, it's a grim game. As well as some great gory visuals, which looks to borrow from Contra's "Red Falcon" viscera and body horror as much as Castlevania's inventive horde of monsters, you get a sense of just how catastrophic the resurrection of the King of Demons has been from the destroyed and twisted urban landscapes, and the game tells you in no uncertain terms that while your daughter is potentially still alive your wife is long gone. She appears as a fairy familiar throughout the game, who can add to your damage output but will also sacrifice herself for a final time to get you back to the fight (which is like a really downbeat take on the Zelda fairies). One memorable incident involves walking in on two horse-head demons beating the hell out of a captive woman you can't save, which then leads to a fight with the two demons. Also kind of messed up? Certain enemies won't vanish right away, and you can eat those for a small health boost. When in Demon Rome, right?

It's a relatively simple no-frills action game but it does what it sets out to do with aplomb, and I can't fault it for that. I say that, but this stack of P.O.G.S. over here refuses to let me leave until judgement has been administered:

• Preservation: I think there's a lot to be said for the game's straightforward level design and focus on action and bosses that still resonates today - I kept thinking about the game Oniken while playing it, and how that sort of NES-style challenging action-platformer frequently sees new life injected into it by the Indie development community. That said, it has some pretty harsh penalties for death similar to a shoot 'em up (chiefly, you get health bar boosts every so many points that sticks around after losing a life, but if you game over you lose all those boosts which makes you very vulnerable when starting over in the late-game) and a somewhat obfuscated "best ending" state that requires you dip into each demonic form type instead of sticking with the one you prefer most. Little aggravations like those are the type of game design decision that have become obsolete with good reason. 3.
• Originality: In many respects the game is aping a few industry leaders, most notably Konami's Castlevania. It's a 1995 release, so while it's a polished game it came at a time where everyone would be familiar with what it had going on. However, I would award it points in this category for being as grimdark as it was - not very common at the time, especially on the family-friendly SNES - and for the excellent creepy monster designs. 3.
• Gameplay: The game's still fantastic to play, even today. I won't argue that it's some perfect underlooked gem of the Super Famicom, but it's responsive, there's dodges and double-jumps for extra mobility, the action is zoomed out to a degree that allows for huge bosses and plenty of forewarning for monsters flying in from the edges of the screen, and messing around with the transformations adds longevity to the game as you determine which forms are best suited for which levels. The boss fights are really fun too, for the most part (a certain tenacious eyeball really gave me some trouble). 4.
• Style: I don't think I've seen a weirder, grosser Nintendo game since Monster Party. There's body horror for days, weird creepy shit everywhere, little details like eating certain enemies or shooting the heads off zombies without killing them, the aforementioned boss designs, and the way the story begins and ends on a sinister note. Graphically, the decision to keep the protagonist small and the monsters various magnitudes larger was a good idea, and I love the detailed backgrounds and the diverse designs for the protagonist's demon transformations. They remind me a lot of Vincent Valentine's demonic forms from Final Fantasy VII, or Yuri Hyuga's fusions from Shadow Hearts. 4.

Total: 14.

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The Nominee: Maxis/Nintendo's SimCity

One of the more unfortunate repeating patterns in early console game development was the way popular PC/Amiga/Atari ST games would regularly make the jump to other platforms and end up compromised in some manner. That's certainly true for the SNES: Civilization, Theme Park, and Worms all saw middling-to-terrible SNES ports that scrapped content and visual quality to fit within the limitations of the console's hardware. An exception to this was Maxis's SimCity, which was one of the earliest computer converts for the system and benefited infinitely from the intervention of Nintendo themselves.

SimCity is a 1989 metropolis-building simulator in which the player's job as mayor is to expand their city while keeping an eye on budgets and problem areas, like pollution or crime. It's not unlike building a Jenga tower, where you want to keep growing but need a solid foundation with few flaws to do so, else the whole construct will fall down around your ears. Dismissing problems causes them to snowball into disasters which cause destruction on a massive scale (and can just happen anyway, if you're playing one of the scenarios where one or more of them are prone to occurring), and likewise running out of cash can cut a playthrough short no matter how well your city is thriving. SimCity's also one of those simulation games that starts with a moderately big hump, but becomes easier once you've grasped the basics. All buildings require power, which requires a power plant and pylons to connect every district to same, and the citizens need a road or train system to get from place to place. Attention must be given to the balance of residential, industrial and commercial zones, the necessary ratio of which can change dependent on the city's current state. Future SimCity games add even further complications, like having to build an elaborate sewer system or moving forward through time with new constructs like arcologies.

The SNES SimCity not only manages to effectively streamline the classic SimCity experience into a console port without losing anything of value, but adequately covers for the lack of mouse control (the SNES Mouse peripheral would not be backwards compatible for this game, alas) and presents a certain characteristically Nintendo feel to the game, introducing "Dr. Wright" (based on the series creator, Will Wright) as a helpful guide for where the player should be focusing on next in lieu of a bickering and contradictory panel of advisors, and throwing in silly cameos like Bowser as the rampaging, Godzilla-esque monster and a statue of Mario for passing the 500,000 population milestone. However, they would also introduce ideas that would persist in later games of the series, such as dedicating certain residential zones to special buildings like high schools and hospitals, or rewarding the player with "trophy" civic buildings like the mayor's mansion for completing goals. Rather than feeling like a weak console port, SimCity SNES is both a fantastic introduction to the franchise for younger players more at home with a gamepad than a mouse and keyboard (though, as someone who started with the latter, it's not like PC SimCity was insurmountable for a kid) and as a legitimate stepping stone for the series in its own right.

Speaking of building towers to the sky, it's time to consult the P.O.G.S. for their wisdom and guidance:

• Preservation: While there have been more elaborate city-building games since, from the SimCity series itself and imitators like Cities XL, SimCity still works as an adequate introduction to the franchise due to its conservation of moving parts. Though a little intimidating at first, it doesn't take long to get used to its systems and start building settlements like the best of them. The simple gamepad controls and streamlined features of the SNES port in particular are suited for newcomers, and I think there's some enjoyment to be had with genre veterans too, especially if they're looking for something breezier and less time-intensive. 4.
• Originality: In terms of what the SNES library had to offer in 1991, the only other games like SimCity were ActRaiser and Populous, though their town-building gameplay wasn't anywhere near as elaborate. It's difficult to argue for its originality in a modern context given all that followed its example, but at the time it filled an important niche on the SNES platform and proved that the more slow-paced contemplative simulation game could work in that medium. I'd also argue that it's original for being a SNES port of a PC powerhouse that didn't have to go through a series of reductions and compromises to exist, and instead was a significant entry in the series for the unique features it offered. 4.
• Gameplay: I think you need to have a certain mindset to enjoy SimCity given its slower pace and more mundane gameplay goals, but it found an audience that may have been less keen on the busy and reflex-intensive action games inspired by (or directly converted from) the arcade games of the era. The NES, the SNES's older brother, would find its success in part by bridging the gap between the arcades and the home computer gaming market, and early steps like SimCity proved the SNES could be equally versatile. 4.
• Style: SimCity was always a little boring to look at. Nintendo appended that to a degree with Dr. Wright and the Super Mario Bros. visual affectations, but to go too cartoony would distract from the game's appealing realism. SimCity looks like it does because it needs to; it doesn't have time to worry about style and aesthetics when keeping a population happy is more important. That happens the first time you have to abandon a perfect grid structure to account for some wayward geography like a river or mountain. All that said, it's little animated diorama appearance certainly has its own appeal. 3.

Total: 15.

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