Wolverine (NES) Playthrough
296A playthrough of LJN's 1991 license-based action game for the NES, Wolverine.
The adamantium berserker has been trapped on an island by Magneto and Sabretooth, and rather than bide his time waiting for an extradition order, he's made the decision to claw his way to freedom.
Wolverine, a North American NES exclusive developed for LJN by Software Creations, is an action-platformer with large, multi-branched stages, many of which host secret rooms full of power-up items.
Wolverine can punch stuff to death with his fists, and with a push of the Select button, he can unsheath his claws to cut his enemies to ribbons. If he kills enough baddies without taking a lot damage, his berserker mode kicks in, granting him temporary invincibility and increased attacking power. This surge of power costs him his self-control, though, and he'll randomly slash at the space in front of him until he has calmed down.
That was certainly an odd gameplay choice. This is the only time I remember playing a game where invincibility becomes such a liability - if Wolverine decides to not cooperate, his attack will kill any momentum behind a jump and send him plummeting into a pit, fire, or spikes - but that quirk aside, this is an unexpectedly forgiving game. There are a lot of power-ups lying around, and most of the late-game traps (like those gas jets in the last area) are pretty easy to get past once you know they're coming and that you need take your time around them.
Though the sprites are on the small side, the graphics are nicely detailed and colorful, and the music (courtesy Geoff Follin) is top-shelf stuff. Much of the soundtrack sounds like it could've been pulled from the Follin brothers' work on Silver Surfer ( • Silver Surfer (NES) Playthrough ), and if you've ever played that game, you know that's some high praise.
Despite bearing the scars of LJN's rainbow brand of misery, Wolverine turned out to be everything that The Uncanny X-Men ( • The Uncanny X-Men (NES) Playthrough ) was not. It's stylish, competently made, and more often than not, fun.
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