8 of the strangest games of the Super Nintendo - Rolling Stone

From shooting a squirrel in the head in 'Noah's Ark' to throwing boogers to farting on bad guys

Some of the best video games in the world were played on the Super NES . Secret of Mana, Mario Kart, Street Fighter II, the list of classics is still long. However, it is not infinite. Yes, you might be shocked to learn that not all console games rank alongside these classics. This console, one of the best-selling in history and whose lifespan reached 13 years (Nintendo did not stop manufacturing it until September 2003), had some "interesting oddities" among the 1 500 games released.

So let's forget the nostalgia for a moment and face the truth. Here are eight of the weirdest games released on this console in the United States.

Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball (Hudson Soft, 1991)

In the 1990s, game developers videos made an important decision about sports simulation games: they weren't violent enough. Hence titles like Mutant League Football and Shaq-Fu which attempted to combine the sport with weapons and/or punch people in the face. Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball was a misguided risk in this subgenre. In a dystopian future, Laimbeer of the Detroit Pistons leads his own violent basketball league of players in armor with mines and swords. A cross between NBA Jam and Super Bomberman, which of course sounds amazing. Unfortunately, the controls, visuals, and sound were even more apocalyptic than the story.

Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (Interplay, 1995)

Developed by Interplay, the creators of Earthworm Jim, this sickening platformer revolves around eccentric millionaire Snotty Ragsdale and his superhero alter-ego, Boogerman. The game had 20 levels during which players had to fight by throwing boogers, farting and burping attacks at their enemies. It was like being trapped in the brain of a 12-year-old child for several hours. In the fall of 2013, the creators launched a crowdfunding campaign to create an HD remake of the game on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, the project fell through. The boogers had dried up.

Unirally (DMA/Nintendo, 1994)

Imagine a meeting between Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Trials, but based on oddly feeling unicycles. That would be crazy, right? Well, the Scottish studio DMA Design (responsible for Grand Theft Auto) made it the pitch of its video game entitled Unirally released in 1994. Players had to navigate through a series of circuits, performing different tricks in order to gain speed. Filled with DMA's design and humor, the game was a cult hit but it ended when Pixar won its case against the studio because its character was a unicycle that looked too much like the vehicle in its short film titled Red's Dream.

Mohawk and Headphone Jack (Solid Software/THQ, 1996)

Clearly frustrated that Sega dominates the genre "buddy adventure set to pop music" with its Toejam and Earl series, Nintendo has upped the ante with this bizarre platformer. Notable for its puke-inducing omni-directional scrolling and stark naked character, Mohawk and Headphone Jack navigates you through a series of levels where you must pick up as many CDs as you can before throwing up on the console and your own hands. . Surprisingly, this was not the start of a beautiful friendship.

Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon (Raya Systems, 1994)

Rex Ronan, one of the games "educational" health videos produced by Raya Systems, features an innovative surgeon who shrinks to microscopicity to explore the body of heavy smoker Jake Westboro, blasting tar and all other tobacco-related grime from his poisoned entrails. Yes, it's a side-scrolling platformer about the dangers of smoking and it's bad enough to make you want to stare at a cigarette. Mission accomplished, we guess...

Jim Power: The Lost Dimension 3D (Loriciels, 1993)

Developed by Loriciels, French studios ambitious in which Out of This World designer Eric Chahi debuted, this sci-fi adventure used the Super Nintendo's famous Mode 7 graphics technology to produce a series of intricate parallax scrolling effects. The goal was to bring 3D depth to the environment, an effect enhanced by the use of Nuoptix stereoscopic 3D glasses. Unfortunately, this resulted in incredibly powerful motion sickness, making the game almost unplayable for many players.

Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! (Absolute Entertainment, 1994)

The History of Video Games is littered with bizarre games but this one is one of the most monstrous crimes ever committed against the concept of cross-promotion. Home Improvement was an enjoyable sitcom about fatherhood and male identity set in 1990s Detroit. Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! was a side-scrolling platform game where you had to shoot dinosaurs with a nail gun in a jungle. Do you see the difference ? Incredibly, the game's lead designer was Activision legend David Crane, whose Little Computer People would certainly have been a far more reasonable and relevant blueprint for a game on Home Improvement. Whoops.

Super 3D Noah's Ark (Wisdom Tree, 1994)

When the creators at Wisdom Tree wanted make a first-person adventure game that takes place aboard Noah's Ark, they drew divine inspiration from the most obvious place: Wolfenstein 3D, the most controversial and graphically bloody game in the world. 'era. The Texas studio has produced a biblical game in which Noah has to cross his giant boat by shooting enemies…no, wait, by throwing food at animals. Recently, Wisdom Tree successfully relaunched a Plug and Play device featuring all the top 8-bit titles. Her name ? The Arkade. God bless them.