Welcome back to part two of the December 91 Playing with Power episode and it seems this is an issue featuring many returns. Last time we talked about the Return of the Joker, this time we’re talking about Return of Samus, aka Metroid II for Game Boy which features some really gross art (which we mean as a compliment.)Later we talk about Adventure …

Another month, another two-part episode of Playing with Power. As we look at the December 1991 issue of NP, we couldn’t help but be kinda impressed with the various Nintendo-related works that some readers had made in their spare time. We also get a look at Batman: Return of the Joker, which is an interesting game since it’s a sequel to the first N…

We were going to do another episode here, but the games ended up being so bad that we just put them into the wrap and decided to put February 1994 out of its misery. Today, we are going to have to briefly talk about a lot of sports games and a very bad arcade port-turned Super Scope game. We also have the (quite aptly named in Emmy’s case) Turn and…

Things weren’t going swimmingly last time as far as February 1994 goes for the SNES. Sadly, this week isn’t going to be much better. We have to talk about a very strange “edutainment” game called Mickey’s Ultimate Challenge. While this is a game for young children, will Emmy or Chase find any merit in it as a teaching tool? Or will they conclude th…

Hey everyone! We're back and we're talking about some games that came out in February of 1994 on the SNES. Things aren't amazing this month, gonna put that out there right now. After playing Bugs Bunny's Rabbit Rampage, Chase and Emmy are even more shocked that Nintendo Power snubbed SkyBlazer for the February 94 Nintendo Power cover in favor of th…

We’re back again and we’re finally finishing up our commentary on the February 1994 issue of Nintendo Power. We start off talking about an interesting device that put Nintendo games in airplanes and maybe inspired the Wii, kinda? Who knows? Also, quick behind-the-scenes note; the first musical break is from a game called Noughts and Crosses which w…

Hey everyone! Sorry we've been gone for so long. It's been a hot summer and Chase doesn't have AC in his office. Also, stuff just kept happening so we decided to take a bit of a hiatus over the summer. We should be back to getting things out weekly for the foreseeable future (hopefully). In any case, the next few episodes were recorded well before …

We've come to the end of November 1991 again and we're looking at the remainders. They're... not much to write home about. We have a lot of sports, which we don't really do much of any more (though one of them, we still enjoyed.) There's also RPM Racing and Paperboy 2.Like I said, not much to talk about this week.…

Hey everyone! We're revisiting two games today. One we really liked the first time we reviewed, and another that we didn't like much at all from the outset, then maybe, kinda softened on it a bit? It's complicated. Actraiser is one of the few games Chase finished for the first time while playing it for the show. Do he and Emmy still like it as much…

We decided that there were four games worth talking about from November of 1991, so we've broken them down into two pairs. Today we're talking about Darius Twin and Final Fantasy II. Darius Twin is a pretty solid shooter that lets you play co-op. We really liked it the first time around. Are we going to be as generous to it this time? Okay, but ser…

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have Stopless Power?* Well imagine no more, cuz we're diving into the pages of yet another issue of Nintendo Power to tell you what all that power felt like back in the early 90s. We've got a lot to discuss here, like Final Fantasy II (and the somewhat dubious art NP made for it), Tom and Jerry (and t…

It's time for another edition of Playing with Power. We've covered a lot of really exciting magazines with interesting features. This isn't exactly one of the more exciting magazines we've covered. The most interesting part of this magazine is a cool feature on Metroid (which was a pretty old game by that point) and a celebrity profile for a cast m…

It’s perhaps never been more dire than it is today folks. January 1994 was a pretty light month to kick off what will end up being the most packed year of the SNES’s lifespan. And while we had two absolute bangers to talk about this month, we’ve reached the end and it’s time to talk about everything else that released, and sadly, it’s a lot of spor…

The hits keep on coming as we venture further into January 1994. But first, we gotta talk a little bit about British Candy. On this week’s episode of SNEScapdes, we’re talking about quirky British platformer Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension. It’s about a ninja, it had Chupa Chup branding in the UK, that’s pretty much all you need to know. We’re als…

Hey everyone! This is a big episode for a lot of reasons. First of all, we’re finally in 1994 (the biggest year for the SNES in terms of quantity of games released). Second, we’re talking about one of our favorite games ever made. Third, this is our first “SNEScapades Special” of season two. Finally, and most importantly, we’re talking with our goo…

It’s part 2 of Playing with Power for January 1994. We’re getting the this one started with a bang as we discuss… AN INDEX! Thrilling stuff. But don’t worry, we’ve also 1993 Game of the Year (according to Nintendo Power), some Magic Eye pictures, Batman, more Ninja Turtles, an article all about music on the SNES, and plenty of Dog Action! We also g…

Hey everyone! It’s a new Playing With Power episode. This one is very special, not just because we’re finally in 1994, not just because Megaman X is on the cover, but because this is a big ol’ bonus issue. Which means Chase and Emmy have a LOT to talk about. Megaman X is a huge game for the duo and is going to give them plenty to talk about by itse…

We have come to the end of September 1991 once again. Chase and Emmy played these games so long ago, how have they held up? For the most part, not great. In this episode, we talk about Hal’s Hole-in-One, Super Bases Loaded (featuring Ryne Sandburg… kinda), The Chessmaster, HyperZone, Populous, Final Fight, and a special guest appearance by Ultraman…

Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of SNEScapades. We’re talking shooters today. Oh, and I guess Drakkhen’s here too. The early days of the SNES had plenty of shm’ups to play. Chase and Emmy were a little less kind to Gradius III than they were the first time they encountered it due to all of its slowdown. Today they’re talking about Super R-…

Hey everyone. Welcome back! It's time for the second part of Playing with Power for September 1991's issue of Nintendo Power. We talked about a lot of Mario World last week. This week we're talking about a whole lot of stuff. We've got Game Boy stuff (like Final Fantasy Adventure), NES stuff (like Kick Master), and more SNES stuff (like Castlevania…

Here we go again! It's time to discuss another issue of Nintendo Power. If you want to follow along, you can do that by checking out the Internet Archive's copy of the issue here! And we have a LOT to talk about in this issue. This is the issue that properly introduced its readers to Super Mario World. That alone makes this a very special issue for…

We've reached the end of another month. And that means it's time to wrap things up with another edition of The Wrap. But before we get to that, we just want to let you all know that we'd love to have folks come on our show to discuss thier favorite SNES games. If you're a fellow content creator, feel free to reach out on Instagram, Youtube, or even…

It's a little bit of a mixed bag today as we reach the final proper episode for the games released on the SNES in 1993. We start with the top-down, Gauntlet-like shooter Soldiers of Fortune (aka Chaos Engine). Not much to say about that one here. There's mutants in it. That's neat. Is that a Gundam? Yes! But they aren't allowed to call them that, s…

Put on your gi, sharpen those sai, and do whatever the heck you were supposed to do in Battle Blaze because it's time to get into the ring! We've got three fighting games to talk about today. And this just might be the batch of games that redeem this less-than-stellar month in SNES games. We're talking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament…

Hey folks. We're gonna tell you about a trio of 2D platform games on today's show. We're not going to lie to you. Things start out a little bit dire on today's episode. The first two games feature franchises that didn't last very long.Dr. Franken is a game that answers the question "What if a bunch of boring people tried to make Frankenstein's mons…

Buckle up, because we've got a need to go really fast in various vehicles. Spiky car? Sounds like fun. Space ship that shoots lasers? Sign me up. Cool cop car? Eh... maybe not that one. We're starting the show talking about Battle Cars which is another Mode 7 racing game where you drive around and try to use weapons to knock the other cars off the …

It's time for another Playing with Power episode where we crack open the very last Nintendo Power issue for the year 1993. Aladdin is on the cover, so that's pretty cool. In this episode, we tackle all the hard-hitting questions: What is the political leader of Ireland called? Why don't my special moves work in Street Fighter II? Did the idea for t…

We're finishing up August 1991 again, and we're really excited because we get to talk about SimCity again, and we're pretty big fans of SimCity. But first we need to discuss Gradius III and Pilotwings, and we end up making our first shifts in the list. But what where will they end up? Do you think their re-evaluations are fair? Then we get to talk …

Here we are, back where we started. We're talking about two of the most prominent launch titles for the Super NES. Also, our website is back up at snescapades.show. Check it out for show notes, references, and more! First up is F-Zero, which was an amazing showcase of what the SNES's Mode 7 graphics were capable of. We placed it in the A tier when …

Hey everyone. We're going back to the start of this whole crazy thing and talking about the issue of Nintendo Power that came out the same month the SNES hit the market. And it may surprise you to learn that there actually wasn't a lot about the SNES in that issue, but a whole lot about the Game Boy.We're talking about great Ninja Gaiden art, a bet…

Welcome, one and all, to the very first edition of The Wrap. This is an episode of SNEScapades where we look at all of the leftover games from a particular month that we didn’t feel was worth one-third of an entire featured episode. Why did we decide to start doing this? Well the first two games on the docket have a lot to do with that. Actraiser 2…

Happy new year, everyone. Sorry our release schedule was so spotty last year. We're hoping to make up for it by starting to go weekly again. Expect these episodes to be recorded FAR in advance, so apologies if we make references that are far out of date. Case in point, this was recorded in October of last year. We know we're making these for at lea…

It's Thanksgiving weekend and you know what that means? It's time for our yearly (usually yearly) movie review podcast. We decided to watch Five Nights at Freddy's in the hope that we could spare any of you having to watch this boring, nothing-burger of a movie. So consider this your warning because we're spoiling everything about this movie. Are y…

Hey everyone, we thought we'd do something a little bit different for Halloween. We wanted to talk about horror games and our experiences with horror media in general. All of this builds up to a discussion of the Super Famicom game Clock Tower. It may not have made it stateside, but we decided we'd give this one the SNEScapades treatment anyway. We…

Oh, why hello there. We've got another episode for you today. We're talking about Robocop vs. Terminator, Total Carnage, and Disney's Aladdin. What do they all have in common? Not really anything. I'm not sure why I asked. Robocop vs Terminator is the best SNES adaptation of either of those properties up to this point, but that's a low bar. Does th…

We're back, everyone. Welcome to season 2 of SNEScapades! Why season 2? Well, we're going to be making a few changes to the way this all works going forward and we felt like this was a good time to do a soft reboot. We're not starting over, we're still talking about games in November 93 and moving forward, but not every game is going to get the kin…

Another month is in the books and that means we're cracking open another issue of Nintendo Power. This time we're taking a look at the November 1993 issue. This issue contains some interesting information about Secret of Mana (which we already played) and a lot of maps of the SNES Jurassic Park game (which we have not yet played.) There's also some…

We made it just under the wire to celebrate Pride and wrap up the month of October 1993 with a nice, rainbow-colored bow. Today we're talking about The Wizard of Oz, True Golf Classics: Wicked 18, and Troddlers. Wicked 18 takes the True Golf Classics series in a new direction with impossible courses. But is it par for the course, or do these course…

Hey everyone! We're still here, I promise. And we're talking about destructible toy lines, awful British fish things, and a really gross duo of cartoon animals. I guess you could say, this episode is about a bunch of dummies. First we're talking about The Incredible Crash Dummies, and how a PSA pleading with stubborn Americans to buckle up in the 8…

We've got cowboys, Jedi, and gambling. What more could you possibly want? Do you like really good arcade ports about colorful gun-slingers shooting capitalists? We got it! Do you like playing casino games but without the money or actual casino? We got that too! Do you like Star Wars? Oh boy, we got it! We've got some history behind the company that…

Hey everyone! Chase and Emmy are back to discuss ants and rpgs. First up is the Maxis game SimAnt, another PC sim port. Emmy has a lot of love for this game, but Chase isn't a huge fan of bugs. Give this one a listen and find out if Emmy's nostalgia will win the day over Chase's entomophobia. Then we have two games all about magic. The first is a t…

Your hosts Chase Keys and Willie Martindale are back to discuss another three strange games in the short library of an equally strange system. First, we're talking about Inca and wondering, is the gameplay any good? Who wrote that amazing theme song? Is this game problematic? These are just a few questions we'll ponder as we discuss this FMV puzzle…

Today we've got three games that are fine. These are fine. They're fine. Well, two of them are fine. Well, Emmy thinks two of them are fine. Chase thought one of these games wasn't worth his time. But they both agree on one thing: one of these games is very bad. The others... they're fine. Emmy was pleasantly surprised by Lock On and found it's gam…

Classic Looney Tunes shorts, American game shows, 90s anime; these are just some of the topics we talk about in this episode. We're talking about Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions, Family Feud, and Kendo Rage. Marvin Missions is based on the classic Duck Dodgers and the 24th 1/2 Century short (that's really funny, you should go watch it.) Is this gam…

Okay, Chase and Emmy were a little cranky on this one. But you would be too if you had to play these three games back-to-back. Cliffhanger is a boring game that plays acceptably, until it doesn't. Battletoads and Double Dragon isn't fit for either of those franchises (and that's saying something because we already kinda don't like Battletoads.) And…

We have made it to another month in our chronology, so it's time to talk about an issue of Nintendo Power. Our guests for this episode are two-thirds of the amazing team from the Gateleapers podcast. Jason and Matt might have been too young to have read this issue when it was new, but they have a ton of hilarious commentary to offer anyway. If you'…

Happy New Year, everyone! We're kicking off 2023 and saying goodbye to September 1993 with a trio of pretty all-right games. We start with Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. It was, perhaps, a bold move to release what was an expansion for the computer versions of this game as a stand-alone game on a system that was already a bit ill-suited to it…

It's a few days before Christmas, and we just have a regular episode that's been in the can for a week. Sorry about that. But the games are pretty interesting. We're talking about Tuff E Nuff and Top Gear 2. Also we briefly mention Utopia: Creation of a Nation. Tuff E Nuff is a goofy fighting game taking place in a dystopia where society has collap…

Well folks, it's finally happening. We've talked about wanting to make some changes to the list for some time and we're finally doing it. We're not just potentially re-ranking, we're changing the way ranking works. Basically, we're changing things to a tier list. We'll explain more in the episode. Is your favorite game getting a more or less favora…

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay. We're back and we're recording again. But before that, we need to get this episode out there that we recorded months ago but never got to actually edit and put up. So here it is! We're talking about two classic children's franchises that were adapted to the Super NES. Actually, that's a lie. One of them is Super W…