A fun game that makes great use of the Animaniacs license.
Well folks, what can be said? It was a great show, and it was quite popular. And of course, what kind of popular show would it be without a couple of licensed games? I grew up playing the Genesis version. It was a great use of the license. It had all the characters, fun gameplay, and it looked and sounded like the cartoon. I whipped it out a few days ago for old times sake, but it wasn't quite how I remembered it. Seriously, I don't remember it having so much box pushing and frustrations. So anyways, it was good, but not the masterpiece I remember it being. I was just about to put the game in the "nostalgic corner" of my mind when I found out the SNES version was entirely different. Now what kind of fanboy would I be if I didn't take a look at it?
You might be wondering about the plot. Pinky (Narf!) and The Brain have stolen the new script from Warner Bros. so that they can make the film and get all the profits and use the money to take over the world. It sounds like a dumb plan at first, but then you realize this is pretty much how all their plans are. Anyways, the CEO of WB, Thaddeus Plotz, needs someone to get the script back from those laboratory mice whose genes have been spliced(Sorry, it just slipped out XD). Someone brave...crafty....cunning. Someone like the Warner Brothers. Yakko, Wakko, and the Warner Sister: Dot! So after they get appointed this task they set out to retrieve the stolen 24 scenes from the script which those silly mice decided to randomly scatter throughout the WB studio lot. Hey, I'm not complaining.
When I started playing the SNES version, I was quite surprised. It is NOTHING like the Genesis version. It does an even better job of looking and sounding like the cartoon, and somehow manages to even make better use of the license. While the Genesis version is a platformer with some simple puzzles strewn about here and there, the SNES version is a strange cross between a platformer and a side-scrolling beat-em up. The weird thing though is that isn't a beat em-up at all, it's just the camera is fixed in the same perspective as something like TMNT IV.(And surprise, both games are handled by Konami. They even have the same pause sound)
But even more odd is the control scheme. It's kind of like the Warners are cars and they're on a highway. Instead of being able to move about freely, they have to change lanes to line themselves up with the enemy/item/or platform that they need to get to. It's hard to explain, you kind of have to try it for yourself to see what I mean. But anyways, it makes the platforming segments (which is really what the game is, a platformer) akward....at first.
As soon as I started playing, I got my ass whooped. The controls were akward, and I had so many questions. How does the roulette in the hud work? Where's the health bar? What about the word "Hold" in the hub? WTF is that? But it all became apparent eventually, and once I got the control scheme down I had a lot of fun.
In the Genesis version, Yakko could push crates and do a basic attack with his paddle-ball. Wakko had his mallet, and Dot could blow a kiss to get past a stubborn person blocking the way and was immune to the charms of The Nurse. In the SNES version, there is nothing that sets them apart. Instead what they can do is pick up and throw items, do a dash, and jump. How many Warners are on-screen at once is also an indication of your health. Each Warner can only take one hit or fall once. When that happens, they get captured and are locked up in the Water Tower by the security guard Ralph. (Even though the CEO himself gave the Warners permission to run around the studio. However, I think it says in the instructions that Ralph knows this, he's just hell-bent on capturing them anyways. I could be wrong though) When one Warner goes down, you respawn not too far from where you died, and you keep controlling the other two Warners. If all three sibling are taken out, it's game over.
This leads to by far the biggest frustration in this game. When you continue after a game over, the game only lets you have one sibling. Meaning your health bar isn't replenished, it's at the same critically low point that it was before you got the game over. To add insult to injury, it respawns you much further back then usual. This is cheap beyond cheap. There are two ways you can get the other sibling back. One is by visiting the water tower between levels and riding a little platform to the top while avoiding vultures and the occasional balloon-riding Ralph. You can pick up a boomerang at the base of the tower to make the job easier. Thankfully, if you get knocked off the platform you don't lose whatever sibling you were controlling. You can keep trying until you free the others. The other way to rescue them is by collecting five silver coins (or one gold coin), which activates the roulette. You can press L to stop a slot pre-maturely. If you get Yakko, Wakko, and Dot in that order, you get everyone back. It's tricky at first, but the game seems to know when you need it. If you let the first two slots stop on their own, it's actually pretty common to get Yakko and Wakko. But you'll probably need to press L to get Dot.
The roulette is a clever addition to the game. Getting three of the same character adds to your coin collection, and every one hundred coins gives you a continue. I got pretty good at it. By the end of my playthrough, I had over 60 continues.
Don't let the kids-license fool you, this game is actually quite hard during the first play-through. It takes a while to get used to the controls, and each stage (only about four or five, but you'll have to replay them to get all 24 scenes. However, you only need to collect around 15 to unlock the final level and beat the game) has at least a couple sections that will make you want to tear your hair out. It's all old school trial and error though. The second time you play it, it'll all seem pretty easy.
Despite these flaws however, the game still manages to be really fun. Each section of each stage tosses something new at you, and once you know what to do it's a complete blast. There is still a couple things I haven't really mentioned though.
The graphics and sound. It looks exactly like the cartoon, and the music sounds exactly like the late-Richard Stone's fantastic musical scores in the show. Though at times, lining up your jump can be a pain with that weird lane-system I mentioned earlier. There will be times where you think you think you're lined up perfectly with the platform, only to make the jump and fall because you weren't in the right "lane".
Another good thing about the game is the writing. While the only dialouge is at the beginning and end (as opposed to the Genesis version which has dialouge before every level), each line fits each character very well and completely captures the humor of the show. And the antics happening onscreen are reminiscent of the show. There are times, for example, where you're walking along and Rita and Runt will randomly run by being chased by a love-crazed gorilla with a hair-ribbon. If you happen to see The Nurse, any character you're not controlling will get hearts in their eyes (Or tap their foot impatiently, in Dot's case). There also tons of cameos by minor characters that only the most hard-core fans will recognize.
So all in all, the game holds up well since its release 14 years ago. Really well, in fact. While it takes time to get used to, it is well worth taking the time to do it. It's insanely fun. Even if you never saw a single episode of the show, it still remains to be a pretty decent plat-former, even if there are times where the akwardness of the control scheme shines through. Though it won't have the same charm to you as it does for us who grew up idolizing the Animaniacs and to this day still say "Hellooooooo Nurse!" "Narf!" and "Boingy Boingy Boingy Boingy!" This is well worth hunting down for any Animaniacs fan and old-school gamer.