Monday, December 08, 2014

'Tis the season for Snow Bros. Jr. (GameBoy)

There was a time--not too long ago, in fact--when I wasn't all that interested in Toaplan's painfully short-lived Snow Bros. series.

Its garish use of color and its nightmarish cast of characters--including the titular Nick and Tom--just didn't sit well with me, I guess.

At any rate, I pretty much ignored the handful of Snow Bros. ports and sequels that were released over the years until I came across the cover art showcased in the photos below. (Check out my Flickr photostream if you'd like to see a few more.)


The game in question is 1991's Snow Bros. Jr., by the way, which was published in Japan by Naxat Soft. (Capcom brought it to North America the following year as Snow Brothers.)



Admittedly, this version of the game lacks the color that abounds in pretty much all of its counterparts, but that doesn't impact the experience as negatively as you might think.



It helps, of course, that the gameplay found in the arcade original seems to have survived the transition from big screen--or at least bigger screen--to small mostly intact. Also, the portable port's soundtrack is just as zippy and energetic as it is in any other Snow Bros. release.



Let's be honest, though: even if I considered every other aspect of this GameBoy title to be a bit crappy, I'd probably still have searched far and wide for a complete-in-box copy.



After all, just look at its box art--and the contents of its instruction manual, too. I mean, it even includes a little comic strip. What's not to like about that? (Sadly, I don't understand a lick of its story.)


Sure, the back of Snow Bros. Jr.'s box is by far the least enticing aspect of this otherwise-precious package, but you can't always have everything, can you?

Have any of you played this portable take on Toaplan's somewhat-sinister, single-screen platformer? If so, what do you think of it?

See also: previous 'Year of the GameBoy' posts

16 comments:

DeKoXIII said...

This is so cute... The Manga reads something like this:
Go Go Snowbrothers
"Hello dear Users"
"We are the Snowbrothers"
(the scribbles on the bottom of the first panel read "Thanks for the purchase")
"Our weapons are the snowball shot and"
"The snowball kick!"


^^

thegaygamer.com said...

Thank you for the translation, DeKoXIII! I'll be sure to scan and publish the entire instruction manual sooner rather than later so you and everyone else have access to all of it :)

DeKoXIII said...

No Problem, thank you for sharing! ^^

thegaygamer.com said...

You're very welcome! :3

Marco Grande Arbitro said...

I love this game!

thegaygamer.com said...

That's great to hear, Marco! Do you specifically love the GB version of Snow Bros., or do you love the arcade version (or Mega Drive version, etc.)?

apricotsushi said...

How adorable! I was just thinking about what kind of games I could play to get in the holiday spirit, and I'm finding it hard to come up with anything... But something like this with of a bit of a wintry theme would be cute!

thegaygamer.com said...

Thanks, Anne :) I've got to warn you, though--I'm not sure this game will help put you in the holiday spirit. I mean, sure, the protagonists are snowmen, but even then the game doesn't give off the strongest of "wintry" vibes, if you ask me. You know which games put me in a holiday/wintry mood? The snow levels in Kirby's Epic Yarn, or even New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Or Super Mario 64!

TheGameroomBlitz said...

Oh, you know how I feel about this one! I'm a sucker for a good Bubble Bobble clone, and this one is better than most. It's tough to come up with a chaining play mechanic that's easy to learn but challenging to fully exploit, but the one in Snow Bros. works marvelously; I dare say better than in a few of the official Bubble Bobble games.


Toaplan's artwork has always been hard to swallow... their shooters don't look aerodynamic enough and their cartoon games are often unsettlingly weird. Nevertheless, I miss the company. I was a fan way before that dumb "all your base" meme on the internet and remain so even after the company exploded into a million pieces.


(Did you see VGJunk's review of Toaplan's incredibly weird beat 'em up Knuckle Bash? Oh man.)


By the way, uh... what the hell is Naxat Soft? Anybody ever figure that out?

thegaygamer.com said...

I definitely agree that the play mechanic here is better than in most Bubble Bobble clones, Jess. And not only that, but it has that addictive/enjoyable quality to it that only the best BB clones display.

I haven't seen VGJunk's review of Knuckle Bash, by the way, so I guess I'll be heading over there once I've finished typing up this comment.

Oh, and I definitely can't help you with Naxat Soft. Were you being facetious here, by the way, or serious? If you were being serious, were you wondering if they were more of a developer or publisher or ...?

TheGameroomBlitz said...

Not facetious at all, actually. I did the research (like I should have done before asking!) and it turns out both Naxat Soft and Taxan are branches of a company called Kaga Create. Figures, since one brand is an obvious anagram of the other.

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, sorry about that :( I actually thought you were being facetious! Anyway, your research prompts the question: what is Kaga Create, and why did they decide to branch off into Naxat and Taxan? I mean, did they have their own developers and everything, or did they outsource the production of their games?

apricotsushi said...

Ah, snow levels are always the best! Too bad I haven't actually played through any of the games you mentioned, aside from a bit of Super Mario Bros. Wii. I really need to get Epic Yarn!

thegaygamer.com said...

You definitely should get Epic Yarn at some point. I think you'd really like it. As many others have said before me, it's not the most challenging platformer around (far from it!), but it can be challenging to 100% each stage, plus it's all so damn charming that you probably won't care much about its overall lack of challenge.

Matt S said...

What I wouldnt' give to see Snow Bros. added to the Virtual Console.... I literally killed my Game Boy copy of it from overplay. :-(

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, that's too bad, Matt! I'd love to see it on the VC, too. Fingers crossed...