When the bottles are empty and the females are sparse, desperate measures must be taken. In the hungover haze that was my Saturday afternoon, I found myself dusting off my Super Nintendo. This little box has never failed in delivering the 16 bit bliss that dreams are made of. Gamers usually find comfort in returning to the usual mainstream games like Mario or Paperboy that tickle their nostalgic loins. For me, however, the game is Taz-Mania.
In the fictional land of Tazmania, based on Tasmania, Taz’s life is in danger. We do not know why, but he must beat the clock and attain the allotted number of kiwi birds. But the heartrending risks don’t stop there. Two hunters want to put Taz in their zoo, and their names are Bull Gator and Axl. Their state-of-the-art glue traps, bear traps, black holes and oil slicks will give Taz quite the run for his money. Not only that, but cars, dinosaurs and a guy named Bushlad will stop at nothing to run Taz off the road.
Like obscure foreign films, you cannot take games like Taz-Mania at face value. While it may seem to lack in normal gameplay value, it makes up in other areas. The absence of any “Start” screen plunges gamers right into the action. Adding to the game’s simplicity is a limited range of controls: go, stop, jump and whirl, baby. Every level basically looks the same, with varying music and colors of grass. Eat your heart out, Cruis’n USA.
Staying Productive: Volume I
Linear Mode
