WildSnake (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
161A playthrough of Spectrum Holobyte's 1994 puzzle game for Super Nintendo, WildSnake.
I played two games in this video. I start with a round on normal mode, and at 8:40 I switch over to the King Cobra mode.
WildSnake, or Super Snakey (スーパー・スネーキー) as it was called in Japan, was one of the several puzzle games put out by Spectrum Holobyte in the early/mid 90s. It was also one of several that bore the stamp of Alexei Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, though Pajitnov himself didn't design it.
WildSnake's gameplay is derived from the basic Tetris template, but there are a few major differences. Instead of arranging blocks to form lines, you now are dropping snakes into a tank and trying to match them up by color.
However, what sets WildSnake apart from the crowd is that the game pieces are alive. The snakes can freely move about the playfield, and they will slither forward whenever their heads face an open path. Once a snake runs out of road its body will freeze in place, but it will move again if a path is cleared in front of it, making for plenty of opportunities to create chain reactions. The game eases you into things with just four snake colors at the beginning, but that number quickly grows as you work your way through more and more stages.
There are two play modes on offer. Normal mode is the classic Tetris-style endless score attack game, while the King Cobra mode provides a set of stages that feature objective-based challenges.
King Cobra features the real meat of the game. There are nine levels, each broken down into two stages. The first stage asks you to eliminate a given number of snakes of a specific type. The second, a challenge stage, will provide multiple goals that must be cleared within a strict time limit.
It's not quite as addictive nor as immediately intuitive as Tetris, but WildSnake is a fun and likeable take on the falling block puzzler formula. Luck plays a larger role than I'd have liked - success in the later King Cobra stages relies a bit too much of how generous the game feels like being with its drops - but it does pose a good challenge that'll keep you coming back until you've finished it.
The coolest part is the slick, almost-but-not-quite FMV cutscene you see at the end of each King Cobra level featuring a fight between a mongoose and a cobra. Each time you complete a level the game reveals a bit more of the clip, and if you beat the game, you can see the fight in its entirety.
WildSnake isn't as compelling as the games that inspired it and the experience is a disappointingly short-lived one, but it is an entertaining way to spend a few hours. If you're a fan of puzzlers and are looking for something a bit off the beaten path, you could do far worse.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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