Sen... That's drunk. Wolverine. I know most people come to this channel to find out about games that are worthwhile play-throughs, but occasionally I do feel it necessary to talk about games that may seem awesome on the surface but sadly end up being complete disappointments. Nothing sums that up better than Wolverine Ademantium Rage for Super Nintendo. I mean, it's Wolverine! Not only is he one of the most badass characters of all time, he's also got a really interesting backstory with a ton of depth and a lot of other interesting characters that tie into it. So how hard could it be to screw up a Wolverine game? Well, according to developer Bit Studios, not that hard at all. I mean, they've had plenty of practice since they developed crap like last action hero, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the terrible arcade port of gun force. So you start the game and you get a story sequence, and yeah, some of the pixel art here looks pretty good, except uh, is Wolverine doing his best Pikachu impression here? And over here on the right, where he's reading a message, is that supposed to be an angry reflection? Because it looks like he's got his own angry face as his desktop wallpaper. Anyway, the gist of the story is that someone has information about Wolverine's past, so you gotta track this person down somehow to find out as much as you can. That's when the game starts, and that's when you get your first taste of the controls. It's a classic case of a game trying to be too cute. For one thing, pressing up on the D-pad is Wolverine doing a diving role. What is that? B jumps, Y kicks, A punches, and X attacks with your claws, with L being a backhand, and R being a Berserker claw attack. You have four different control layouts to choose from in the options menu, but none of them have just B jump and Y be a claw attack. I mean, since when does Wolverine kick? Anyway, it's an absolutely useless attack in this game, and the most effective attack is holding down and pressing A since it has Wolverine do an uppercut. You get one life to slog through 11 levels of this game, and there is a password system here, but apparently you only earn a pass where every two levels are so, what's up with that? Each level places you in a huge area where you have to destroy a certain number of enemies in order to proceed, with the number being listed on the bottom left. What's incredibly frustrating about this is that the game does not tell you which enemies will reduce that number. None of these gun things count, but this big thing in the middle does. Some of these guards count. They respawn like crazy, so if you've already killed that particular guard, he won't count twice, but how in the hell am I supposed to keep track of the ones I've killed? They all look exactly the same. Plus, all these areas that have these blind jumps where you just fall, and you have no way of seeing what's coming your way. The biggest problem overall is that there is a terrible imbalance between Wolverine's range of motion and the enemy patterns that you have to deal with. For instance, when you press left or right to move, you put your head down and charge in that direction. I mean, what the hell? And the jump is just atrocious. You've just floating the air like you're bouncing around on the moon, leaving you totally vulnerable, and the diving role is especially useless. Why would you ever use this when you take damage one way or another every time? It's a classic case of a complete mismatch between a character's abilities and the level in enemy design. What makes this game even worse is that it's such an awful representation of the source material. Wolverine is supposed to be a total badass, but it takes some like 10 or 12 hits to defeat these randos. Come on. The goofy sprite animation doesn't help either. I already pointed out the running animation that makes them look like an idiot, and here he is losing his balance like he's bubsier or lesterly unlikely. That really sums up the entire approach to the dev team took to this game. There's nothing here within the game itself that makes it seem like a Wolverine video game. All the settings, backgrounds, and enemies could have been taken from any generic action platformer. The game tries to be clever in certain spots, like this boss fight here against Lady Death Strike. If you hold down X and A together, Wolverine will hold out his claws like this. You can do this near an electrical current and shock yourself, and in turn, shock anything that touches you. So yeah, you stand over here, then trigger this attack when she's stupid enough to run by you. I'd like to be able to say this is just a matter of timing, but the boss pattern here is just a big mess of whatever, so it's impossible to tell when they're going to attack and when you can trigger your own attack. It's all just dumb luck. Okay, I will say there are some positives in this game, so it's not completely irredeemable. For instance, climbing walls and ceilings with your claws is pretty cool. Also, the percentage you see in the upper left is your health, and it automatically replenishes over time, a good representation of Wolverine's mutant healing ability. So you may just get one life to beat this game, but you can stop for a minute and heal up anytime you want. However, according to the manual, there is an invisible timer that is always ticking down. LCD and Android doll from the Wolverine comics is constantly after you, and when she's nearby, a timer will come up, and you've got to get moving forward, or you're dead. I have to admit, I actually kind of like this, it gives the game a unique sense of urgency, and it'd be pretty cool if the rest of the game weren't such a dumpster fire. I do have to mention the music as a positive as well. Check this out. Yeah, that's right, this game from 1994 has a friggin' grime beat. Super weird, but hey, it sounds pretty dang cool. Wolverine Atomantium Rage also came out for Sega Genesis, and that version is also friggin' terrible. In fact, I think it might be even worse than the Super Nintendo version, but on the plus side, it does have some great sounding music. So yeah, I really wanted to like Wolverine Atomantium Rage. I mean, Wolverine is one of my favorite characters in anything ever, but this game is just awful in so many different ways. From Wolverine's goofy animations, to his floaty jump, to the enemy patterns, to enemies taking like 10 or 12 hits to destroy, it sucks. If there's any positives to glean from playing this, it's that this game is one of the best examples of how graphics, music, and presentation won't amount to anything if the gameplay itself is awful. Avoid this game at all costs. Alright, I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.