Forums > Submission Feedback > dementedhut's Super Chase H.Q. review

Yesterday, while ringing up groceries at work, I was thinking about how Marble Madness is a really fun game. I saved up my money as a kid and finally managed to buy it, and I liked what was there. But you can get through the whole thing in 5 minutes. If you take longer, you'll probably just have to try again. A perfect arcade experience, really, but not so ideal when you buy a pricey cartridge that will have the job of entertaining you for months. It reminds me why I fell in love with RPGs. There were many other reasons too, but length was definitely a factor. As for Super Chase H.Q., I wouldn't mind its brevity now. Sometimes, I like to go back to old retro games and play around with them for a bit before moving onto something else. The brevity might in that case be a mark in its favor. It sounds like it would have been a bummer of a game to receive as my annual Christmas gift game, though!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Oh believe me, I love brevity in my games when they're done right, but sadly this wasn't one of them for me.

Picking up on the discussion we had in the Chase H.Q. II review, there really is an art in trying to make an arcade-style game for a home release, and again it feels like Taito fumbled the attempt here. There's just something about arcade ports during the early to mid 1990s where it feels like some developers either didn't "get" that they needed to add more variety or replay value to these games or they simply didn't care; or they had really, REALLY short development periods before release.

I think that's why companies like Namco hit a stride during the mid to late 90s with some of their home conversions like Soul Blade and Tekken 3, because not only did they bring the arcade experience home, but they went beyond that and delivered some unique extra content.

This is also why I'll always mock the Dreamcast port of 18-Wheeler whenever the opportunity presents itself (i.e. my "recent" DC reviews), because that game is an absolute trash port that doesn't work as a home game.

I head spaceshit noises.

You're right, I think, but it's weird. The NES era had some amazing ports, made by developers who clearly understood how to modify their games to take advantage of the console. It's sad those same developers apparently forgot the art when the SNES rolled around. I suspect it was because they had so much more power, they thought, "Hey, a perfect port is almost within reach!" They chased after horsepower without getting their ducks in a row first. Kind of like how modern developers go after the latest tech bells and whistles, but the game hiding behind all that flash might not be super worthwhile.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Nice review, DH.

The game being crap aside, the inside-the-car viewpoint is pretty novel, no? I can't recall seeing too many 16 bit games that did this--they always have the little car on the screen. Looks kind of impressive.

What did you guys think of the Top Gear series for the SNES? I recall really liking those games.

I don't have to prove I'm refined - that's what makes me refined!

I liked the Top Gear games pretty well. They recently released a compilation of them for Switch, but due to clashing trademarks (probably the more recent television show with that name), they changed the title. It's called Top Racer Collection and features the three SNES entries.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

Interesting you bring up the viewpoint being novel, because prior to submitting that review I played some Hard Drivin' for the Sega Genesis and I played Test Drive II for the SNES after that review. Both weren't what I was expecting them to be: the former being very short (fair for the ARCADE version I guess, considering the game itself was novel when it first came out) and the latter being much more of a challenge than I expected.

I actually got the first Top Gear about a month or so ago for the SNES (even after knowing about the recent collection). I played it for a little bit, seemed fun, but haven't returned to it since I was occupied with other stuff. Also, I was a little burned out from playing another game the devs made prior to Top Gear called Lotus Turbo Challenge for the Genesis; a checkpoint racer similar to OutRun, I tried beating all its courses, but the final two courses were sadistic.

I head spaceshit noises.