More Arcade Games That Never Got Super Nintendo Ports, Part 11 - SNESdrunk

Cinemastruck >> Hello, thanks for taking the time to watch part 11 of another fun series I like to do where I just wander around the arcade landscape and find some weird, fun, and/or interesting games that I can talk about. Starting with Godzilla, made by Banpresto back in 1993, and it's considered the first officially licensed fighting game based on the Godzilla franchise. So, you've got all the characters here, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Gigan, even Biollante, that weird genetically engineered plant monster thing. Unfortunately, not only did this arcade cabinet stay in Japan, but not many cabinets were made at all with arcade museum.com only having 30 of these machines in their database, and it was never released on any other platform. So, you got to play this one any way you can, and as you might expect, the Godzilla universe lends itself really well to a one-on-one fighting game format, especially since between fights you get to smash as much stuff as you can in these bonus levels. This is way better than the tired and slow Godzilla games on Super Nintendo, and while I should mention that it's really not that much of a fighting game, who cares? You get to play as Godzilla and fight everyone and smash everything in sight. It's not complicated, and it doesn't need to be. Let's move on to some weirder stuff like Liquid Kids, released by Taito in 1990, and it's the only game I can remember where you play as a young platypus, and he defends his tribe against the evil fire demon, and you do that by throwing water bubbles at everything. The Japanese title is Mizubaku Daiboken, which basically translates to water bomb big adventure, and yeah, that basically sums up the entire game. A water bomb will stop an enemy in its place, giving you the option to roll it into other enemies, or just to kill it and take it out of its misery. You can also make plants grow to help you access other areas, and you also use it to propel whatever this thing is. I really like finding games like this, only because arcades at the time were dominated by beat-'em-ups, light gun games, and fighting games, so it's nice to find a good old-fashioned platformer with lots of levels, environments, and boss fights. There's even branching paths here, so you can come back to this one lots of times. Liquid Kids did get ports to everything from the Saturn, Amiga, PS2, Xbox, and PC Engine. You might know it from the title Legends 2 Collection, and it's available now on the Nintendo eShop as part of their Arcade Archives Collection. Here's another one that's getting some attention in recent days. Bonanza Brothers was originally made for arcades by Sega back in June of 1990, and yeah, I'm cheating a bit here because this game did get a North American port for the Sega Genesis about a year later, as well as a Sega Master System port in PAL regions, but I'm talking about the arcade game here for two reasons. One, this is a classic case of an arcade game that's way better than the home console port, since it has lots of extra stuff, including two additional levels, making for 12 total. And the second reason is that Sega just filed a new trademark for Bonanza Brothers Golden Heist late last month, so there's a good chance we're going to be seeing a bit more of this game in the future. And that's a great thing, because this game is a fun two-player co-op side-scroller, with the idea being to break into a building, find all the treasure, avoid detection by any of the guards, and then you get the heck out of there, all under 3 minutes. You're stealing stuff from antique shops, museums, department stores, cruise ships. It's a really good time, and it's even better with a second player. Any way you play this one today is a good time in general, but I recommend the original arcade game, since it's the best version by a good amount. Well, we mentioned Liquid Kids a minute ago, so how about some Escape Kids, made by Konami in 1991? And despite the name and appearance, this is actually a racing game, but instead of cars, you race as a bunch of dudes in full body spandex suits, where you press one button to sprint and one to jump and that's it. And sometimes that's all you need. This is pretty much like Super Off Road, a single screen racing game where the controls are all about feel. To progress with the game, you only need to beat the dude wearing black spandex and if he completes three laps faster than you, it's game over. If you manage to beat him three times, then you get this totally righteous radical bonus level where you ramp and jump and pop and wheelie with this dude's blonde hair floating in the wind like that. It lets me imagine that I'm playing this game as Kip Winger. Who wouldn't love that? Anyway, since it's 90's Konami, Escape Kids is well made and it's well worth checking out, especially with a second player. I got to throw in an arcade hidden gem. So, let's roll with a game that's actually hidden. This is called Recalhorn or Recalhorn, I don't know. But, it's made by Taito in 1993 and it went unreleased entirely despite being about 75% finished. And as you can see, this is another Taito arcade platformer, so the music and graphics are fantastic. But, apparently this game didn't test well with audiences in the early 90's and all right, I'll say it. Those people suck because I love a good arcade platformer and it's a shame this one wasn't finished. But, as it is, it's still playable. As you can see, you can rescue certain animal friends that can help you out here and there and there's nine total levels here. So, you can get a good half hour out of this one. There is nothing starkly original or unique in this game, but in my opinion, there doesn't really need to be. It's just a good 30-minute play-through. Let's move on to beat 'em ups and here's a good one called B. Rap Boys, made by Kaneko and released for arcades in 1992. It's actually a sequel to the Sega Genesis game DJ Boy, if you're familiar with that. So, it's got the same art style. The thing this game has that its predecessor doesn't, however, is a licensed soundtrack from the group Three Stories High. If you've never heard of them, there's a reason for that. It's because they only released one EP, but that one EP is all over this game. And man, there's just something about beat 'em ups that make developers really lean into a theme. I've talked about games like Violent Storm and Metamorphic Force, titles that just go so far out with the visuals and soundtrack that they end up becoming their own little self-contained worlds, and those little worlds only exist in the year 1992. Sure enough, Burning Rubber Boys is very, very 1992, and I love it. I mean, this is one of those games where you see and hear 5 seconds of footage, and you know what this one is all about. If you're not feeling that 1992, then here's another game from that same year that's got a little more substance to it called Heated Barrel, made by Tad Corporation. This is a top-down shooter that supports up to four players. In fact, it's kind of like a top-down version of Sunset Riders. You've got the guy who shoots revolvers, the guy who uses a shotgun, that sort of thing. You shoot in eight directions across five levels and seven boss fights, so it's not a very long game, but what I like most here is how fast everything is. It reminds me a lot of like a western-themed Smash TV. So, if you're into that, check this one out. Again, this one has no releases outside the arcade, so you'll have to do some digging to find it. If you're into more traditional shooters, then there's Cosmic Cop, otherwise known as Armored Police Unit Gallop in some parts of the world, a horizontal shoot-em-up made by Irem, released in 1991. This one is really interesting because it looks, sounds, and plays like a regular old shoot-em-up, but not only do you have to destroy everything that moves, but also things that don't move, like these annoying walls that pop up in front of you. Each level is structured for you to catch up to and destroy a vehicle. You lean your ship more to the right, the more speed you get, but of course, that's a huge risk, especially in levels like this, which called to mind games like Gradius III. Still, this is from Irem, who knew a thing or two about shoot 'em ups, and this is a really good one that's well worth your time. Would you like your games to be a little more bland? Because here we got Blandia, one of the more unfortunately named titles you'll come across, and this is a one-on-one fighting game. Is it good? Uh, not really. And honestly, when it comes to '90s fighting games, I'm only looking for curiosities. Blandia at least looks nice, and it tries something a little different. There's three buttons for attacking, high, low, and straight, and before you do any damage to your opponent, you have to destroy their armor in those spots. But the thing is, some characters don't even have armor, which makes for kind of a weird dynamic between the different types of fighters here. I just happened to notice this one in the arcade archives on the Nintendo eShop, so I was curious what it was. So, if you were curious, too, then here you go. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but you might like it. This game is more my speed, literally and figuratively. It's Rail Chase 2, made by Sega in 1994, and it's like if Sega sat down and asked, "How can we make rail shooters more exciting?" Well, let's put the player in an actual rail car. Obviously, a game like this is way better in the real cabinet, where you're sitting down being rocked around as you fly down each track, but even playing this one at home is fun. It was made by Sega AM3 on a Sega System 32 board, the same board as another arcade rail shooter, Jurassic Park. If nothing else, it's awesome to see the precursor to the crazy stuff Sega would end up doing with the Model 2 arcade board, with games like Daytona USA and Virtual Fighter 2. Rail Chase 2 wasn't released anywhere else, so this is one you got to play any way you can. Finally, let's end with a multiplayer sports game in Newman Athletics, made by Namco in 1993. It supports up to four players and has eight different events you can play, everything from destroying missiles in the air as they're launched from a battleship a mile away to a javelin toss, where you throw a huge missile as far as you can, scaring the crap out of a herd of zebras. Come on, man. Leave those guys alone. They're just minding their business being zebras and stuff. But yeah, most of these games are pretty simple, which makes it perfect for a party game if you get sick of stuff like Mario Party or Road Rash or whatever. So, I'd imagine it's only a matter of time before we see this in the eShop or on Steam sometime. And that is all for now. I want to thank you for watching and I hope you have a great rest of your day. >> Thank you. Stay with me, okay? >> It's a world record. >> Hurry up.