The Blues Brothers (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
474A playthrough of Titus's 1993 license-based platformer for the Super Nintendo, The Blues Brothers.
For a movie as highly celebrated as Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's 1980 music comedy is, one might hope that the games (or any other third-party content) based on it would at least be - to say nothing of quality - faithful to the license.
But strangely enough, for as many scenes in the movie that would readily lend themselves to some memorable gaming moments, the games rarely use their source material in any sort of meaningful way.
The NES version of the game (https://youtu.be/ETFOU_NoEhU ) was guilty of this, and the SNES game is equally so. That's not to say that they are bad games - they're just lacking a bit of that Jake and Elwood soul.
This Blues Brothers comes across a lot like an Amiga-style platformer, featuring plenty of bright colors, random voice samples, and enemies that endlessly walk-and-forth. There are nearly three dozen stages, but they're mostly very short (Remember Ocean's Darkman game? Like that), with several of them taking well under a minute to finish.
The goal in each stage is simple - you need to find the jukebox to escape and go to the next area. There are a few "puzzles" of the brick-breaking variety, but the stages are generally very straightforward affairs that require you to avoid traps, shoot enemies, and jump between small floating platforms.
Unfortunately, for much of the time, you will find yourself fighting the controls more than the enemies. It goes for a simple Mario-style feel, and it almost succeeds... almost. The jumping feels good and the collision detection is fine, but the overexaggerated sense of momentum make the guys feel like they've coated the soles of their shoes in Pledge, and the slipperiness can make some of the jumps in later levels thoroughly frustrating.
The graphics are nice - they aren't what I would've expected, but the small sprites move smoothly about the screen, and the use of color makes for some unexpectedly attractive outdoor levels. The music is also pretty good for what it is - as long as you don't mind electric organs, these SNES cover songs do a good job of providing catchy, energetic background music. Those voice samples do get old quickly, though. Is it really necessary to say something *every single time* you pick up a record?
There's nothing innovative about The Blues Brothers, but the simultaneous 2-player mode can be a lot of fun, and the manages to stay entertaining while it lasts.
If you don't throw the controller after sliding to your death for the umpteenth time, that is.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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