Is Flashback: The Quest for Identity [SNES] Worth Playing Today? - SNESdrunk
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
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I still remember the first time I booted up Flashback, the opening cinema blew my mind. Games like that and Starfox literally made me go "HOW THE EFF ARE THEY DOING THIS?!?!" It was a good time to be a gamer.
Genesis version FTW!.
My favorite game ever, I played it on Sega Channel when I was like 10 or 11, brings back so many childhood gaming memories
This game was later reimagined in 2013 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC by Vector Cell (composed of the original dev team from Delphine), and the original game is unlockable as well.
the original game is the only good part of that version tho
@@BADC0FFEE not even. The original you unlock has no music.
The original stands head-and-shoulders above the re-imagined version. It's a real shame the unlockable original has no music. The whole release was a facepalm we'd all rather forget.
yeah, was going to post it too!
its so grreat when youtubers decide to NOT tell spoilers, those arent necessary todo a review or a video like this, more reasons to like your content!
Finished this back in the day, thoroughly enjoyed it.
I finished Fade to Black on the PS as well. One thing I discovered with Fade to Black that I never mentioned, as it was before the internet is this: The game seems to fix broken save game cards. (I think this was what it was). Fade to black had a magical ability to fix my save game cards when they had issues. I forget how or why but I recovered many a save game by using the fade to black disc. There Ive said it, not that it helps anyone 20 years later.
I upgraded my PC to play Fade to Black back in the day, spent like $200 to upgrade to 8MB of RAM or something. Totally worth it.
That's really weird, never heard about that. Interesting!
Damn i wish i knew that about 20 years ago!
I haven't thought about fade to black since I was a kid. Totally forgot about this game, and totally forgot I played it. Can't remember if it was only a demo, I definitely played it.
Yes
Definitely
Agreed. This is brilliant
Yep. It has a lot of depth to it.
Yes, there is no doubt 👍
I dunno... the controls were horribly stiff and frustrating even for the time. I can only imagine how bad they feel today.
Flashback is likely my favorite of the cinematic adventure games, but I love all of them almost equally. Prince of Persia got me curious about the game style, then Out of This World and, later, Flashback and Blackthorne solidified my fandom. However, while Out of This World fed my love of exploration of the unknown, Flashback held me with its story and amazing (for the time) world building. I mean, Stage 2 completely floored me with the train system, having to take on employment to earn credits to buy some necessary items, and then eventually using some of those items to sign up for the game show (Stage 3) in order to make enough money to buy a ticket off the planet. Just a great game experience overall. :)
Hell, I loved it so much I even bought and played through (some of) the remake that was released years ago on Xbox Live. Not that it was a bad game or anything, but I normally avoid them unless I want to show my support for the project.
The game really was cutting edge for it's time. You got a little comic in the manual telling what happens first before you play the game. Very few games at that time had a story let alone be a story driven game.
Flashback has the notoriety of being the only game I ever called one of those hint lines for... Great game though. Especially the Genesis version.
It's the only game I called one of those hint lines about too!!!! Dude! I felt so dumb at the time, my question was how to make the elevators work. The guy on the phone said you hold Y and press up or down. I felt so short bus lol
I did that for Jurassic park on the genesis for the final battle against the raptors.
I absolutely LOVE Flashback; it' s one of my all-time favorites. Finished it on highschool, one summer (1994 or 1995 I guess), and enjoyed like a child. Tried it two years ago and I found it wonderful again.
At that time I was a SNintender, and a Genesister friend used to tell me Flashback was way better on Sega. Still got to try the Genesis version.
This game is myth for me, the kind of game I love by its intelligence, ambient, graphs, plot, music...
Games that don' t call you stupid and give you a monent to breath & think, or even relax. Ol' time games.
I'm a Amiga kid and this game shaped me in so many ways. Today I play it on the Megadrive and it's still awesome.
This is one of those games, where we got to build so much around it's
atmosphere, or lack thereof. Flashback for both the Genesis and the
SNES, were in all honesty, not exactly the most exciting titles on the
market. But they were intriguing.
I can describe Flashback as being
a cool sketch, vs a finished painting. As a cool sketch, all the
scribbly unfinished lines, allow your mind to freely dictate (or
determine) the best from the worst and therefor, get carried away into
thinking that it's a MAGNIFICENT development! But most of that
"maginificent" is actually coming from you and your expansive
imagination. I mean really think about it.
Flashback is rudimentary
and allows for you to create on top of a basic idea of an identity
quest. If you lacked the imagination to allow yourself to build on
Flashback's sprawled blank pages throughout the game, it would probably
seem rather stale, unfinished and well.. boring as F---.
So,
that's why I love the game. Because I was able to build so much on it.
Even the cover art is intriguing. The actual story line, imho, doesn't
really carry much of a tune on it's own without my help. I think that's
why they made sure to leave out the bgm, only until you've reached
certain points in each map. Definitely a title to check out and I'd
recommend playing them on the actual console, vs an emulator.
Weirdly enough, Schwarzenegger is dressed exactly like this guy on "Last action hero". It is a prototypical action hero.
That's some dazzling pants rendering.
The Mega Drive version is better, better music and better graphics, less loading times. Trust me, I am a SNES fan, but there are games out which have better Mega Drive versions. This is one of them.
Agreed completely. I had both consoles, and played both versions, and the genesis version was the best of the 2. The Sega CD version was good as well
Yeah, a lot of games on the genesis seem to have significantly quicker loading times than the SNES versions, it's sometimes because they started on the Amiga which is very similar in hardware to the genesis, so the SNES ones were like bad ports more than anything, like James Pond II. But it's true of other games too that didn't start in the amiga, like Mickey Mania, and Earthworm Jim.
@@duffman18 This is because the core cpu is faster on MD and the games was primarily made or optimized for MD, like Earthworm Jim and ported over to SNES.
@@jmarx3943 I never played the MD version on console, as I did not know it was better back in the days. And the SNES version even misses a whole level! Off course the Sega CD version have the best in sound in graphics, but the loading times are even worse than SNES, naturally.
@@thingsiplay fair enough
Love Flashback. It has this mix from other cinemas such as the OG Total recall, Running Man and Blade Runner. Still have my PC copy till this very day.
Its funny he looks like Arnold from Last Action Hero.
I loved the Genesis version BITD. I'm currently replaying it on Sega CD which has atmospheric music added and FMV sequences which load surprisingly fast.
One of the most unique gaming experiences I had on the snes.
That Total Recall reference though
O-M-G i was just sorting out some of my snes roms and trying to figure out which games worth it and your channel was just what i was looking for! love yout editing and style of narrative, keep it up!
SNES DRUNK. Keep it up, brother. Your content is great. I love Flashback. I own 5 different versions of this game & MANY more that I need I’m sure. You are right though. The Genesis version is the way to go.
The character animations look more natural than a lot of games today.
imagine seeing it for the first time 30 years ago.
@@duke3250 I agree because I did and was like "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?" keep In mind that was also the first day I experienced F-Zero among others
Blast from the past for real
Because just like Prince of Persia the creators filmed somebody do all the motions, then transfered it via rotoscoping. This will always look realistic and more fluid than hand drawn animations.
:) Good review SNESdrunk. I agree that this game is better experienced on the Genesis due to the slowdown and lower quality sound. In fact, Flashback on the Genesis is one of my favorite games of all time!
There was a brief period of time in the late 80s and early 90s where games were using more rotoscoping effects to show off more animation in the characters. Games like Flashback, Another World, and Prince of Persia are good examples of that. Although the controls can take some getting used to, I always liked the more methodological approach to controlling your character. Once the limitations are understood, it's not so bad. In fact, Conrad in Flashback can pull off some pretty cool moves to get the drop on enemies that make you feel like a bad-ass!
That would be a good idea for another video if you are interested; games that used rotoscoping. Specifically Prince of Persia on the SNES that was ported by Konami. They did a fantastic job of porting and added so much more to the game!
I want to thank you for reading this comment, and I hope you have an excellent rest of your week! :)
Prince of Persia for the SNES was amazing! Konami really did improve the game 10 fold. Twice as many levels, better graphics and varied environments etc. Hard as nails, but a great game!
I would love to see his opinion and review of Prince of Persia for SNES too! I played it again this year, still amazing and satisfying despite the difficulty. Also, there are people making mods of it and other versions like DOS! So there is still quite a fanbase for this almost 30-year-old game.
Played and completed on Amiga 500 back when it was originally released in the UK. I remember having an absolute blast with it.
Completed this in two days, no sleep when I was either 13 or 14 years old. Greatest achievement ever.
This was one of those games I always saw at the video rental place but I could never bring myself to rent it.
There's a guy called Johan Vinet whose working on game called Lunark which is heavily inspired by Flashback, still in early days but he's worth looking up on Twitter since it's really cool seeing it coming together piece by piece.
Sadly there is actually very little overlap between Another World (aka Out of this World) and Flashback. Eric Chahi, who created the original as a one-man team, was not involved but Delphine Software figured they could make a game just as good without him. It _kind_ of worked, though Flashback is a bit of a mess to play. Then they tried it again with Heart of the Alien on Sega CD, and that was a slow-motion trainwreck if ever I saw one.
Then they made Fade to Black, and the less said about that the better, I think. Finally ubisoft published a remake in 2013, which was just awful.
Jesus that GBA port... thing... is a total nightmare
The 25th Anniversary Edition on Switch also contains features like a "Rewind" mechanic and tutorials to make the game a little easier. Plus, it was also released in limited quantities for the Sega Dreamcast as well (at least in Europe) and was made available too for PS4 & Xbox One.
Flash back is one of my favorites. They rereleased it on 360 later.
I was excited to see this in the feed. Flashback is my favorite game. I know it's not the best, but holds a special place for me. I know the Genesis version is better, but I prefer the SNES version because that is what I grew up with. That Switch version is neat, but the controls are backwards and it really throws me off. Thanks for the great video!
"old sci-fi movies like Total Recall"... damn that hurts :(
It was on sale during black Friday/Cyber Monday. Less than 10$. I jumped on the deal right away. I used to LOVE that game on the PC. Now I can take it on the go!
I did notice however that in the switch version, the enemies in the last level behave differently and are hard as hell to fight. This makes the level incredibly hard to beat.
This game is from hall of fame, masterpiece.
I played this on DOS back in the day, no performance issues whatsoever. Pretty good.
My neighbor rented this game once and his little bother, who was 12 at the time we were 15, was playing and my friend would constantly yell , get the HEY (meaning key because the K looked similar to an H) it went on and on until an all out brawl happened between them, ahhh memories.
I had this n played it when I was young. Never got passed that second screen. Spent hours there
I didn’t have the patience for this or “Blackthorne” when I was a teenager, but I just recently went back and replayed them and had a lot of fun. Both can be frustrating at times, but I’m still impressed with what they did at that time.
I always remembered my neighbor having this game on SNES and always being obsessed with the art style and the box art, although never actually playing it. (Never saw anything past the jungle level) So many years later I managed to get the remaster on sale and got stuck .. immediately. I was so lost and getting frustrated with the controls and gave up for about a year. About a week ago i finally gave the game another try and realized it wasn't an action platformer, but more of an adventure puzzle game. Upon that realization (and figuring out how the jumping works) I have made more progress in two days than in 20+ years. 😂😂
I still love it and would like to play something like it, but less janky in the control side. The controls are terrible and not very intuitive.
With the Switch I'm starting to encounter a lot more controller problems too, like input not getting received or too much input where the game thinks I'm holding down a button I'm not even touching. That's on Nintendo though.
I really agree that the Genesis version is much better
This one holds a special place in my heart. And let me just say, the opening cinematic theme, the "memory chair" theme, is one of the greatest damn compositions in all of gaming. It nearly redeems every flaw in the game on its own lol. But yes you're correct, the frame rate slow downs can be annoying, and the controls take getting used to. It's bc of like you said, how this game may make you think it's a run and gun, but it is really a strategy platformer with action and shooting. I do find it's a great story. The whole game has a memorable feel, i can remember each stage distinctly. "I scratch your back, you scratch mine. 1500 Credits and the papers are yours. " hahaha oh man good stuff. This one isn't for everybody, but if you can at all tolerate a SNES platformer today, give this one a try, it'll be worth your time.
I love all those games you mentioned at the beginning of the video
This was an amazing game I remember this was ported too many consoles and I like playing it on the 3DO the best.
This game was a gateway to an even better side-scrolling action Puzzler, Blackthorn (one of Blizzard Entertainment first games after they changed their name).
That's so bizarre, that the GBA version would have replaced the polygons with pixel art, considering that the GBA was significantly more powerful than any of the systems Flashback originally released for.
Whilst it's of course true that the GBA is a lot more powerful than the SNES, I expect that the graphics were changed because people's expectations of polygonal graphics would have changed from when _Flashback_ was originally released
Not to mention the SNES version is oddly censored at times, such as changing the name of the TV show from 'Death Tower' to 'Cyber Tower'. Flashback was my favorite of all the cinematic platformers, glad to see it covered here! Even after playing the SNES, 3DO, cdi, and Sega CD versions, I feel the Genesis version is the best.
One thing totally killed this game for me: the checkpoints not restoring your shields. You could get through an area, have no shields left, then hit a checkpoint without knowing it. You were then FUCKED because you were one hit from death, it was almost impossible to make it to the next checkpoint in that state, and you couldn't restart the whole level over to try again from full shields. Your ONLY option was starting at that checkpoint with no health left. Made me throw the controller and take it back to the video store, remembering how much less frustrating Out of this World was.
Blackthorne is a badass game.
One of my favorite games EVER...love the story and the way it is told
I probably still have the original box for SNES Flashback, but your character invents or tests a prototype eyeglass piece that visually displays molecular density. He discovers that several people around him, including a prominent politician giving a speech, register as being significantly more dense than other humans. Your character's odd-stares are noticed, and you're chased by the politician's bodyguards. -Queue into scene. This is all in print in a short comic in the manual. You later understand they're aliens trying to take over our planet through infiltration.
This has awesome scenery for 16 bit
So glad to here the way you say polygonal because thats how I say it.
Amiga version ftw... especially sound-wise and before you all starting yelling about the controls, try playing your amiga games with a joystick as they were meant to be played, instead of a joypad
You speak the truth, my friend.
Yeah - this being a European title, amiga would likely be the original, and the best console port being ... uhhhh ... 3DO?
@Lassi Kinnunen it's not a zx spectrum, most games work with joysticks (or any kind of controller) only and no keyboard support, plus I ain't complaining, I loved the amiga control system with "up" to jump, as long as you had a joystick to control your games. Going the joypad way sucked though
Screw Amiga
@@subzero8679 yeah screw it... how dare it be so much better that that snes P.O.S. Oh wait... almost anything that era was better than snes...
I love the looks of spritework here, reminds me of spritework in isometric PC games for some reason.
2:16 that sounds so familiar but I can’t totally recall...
I think it's from a movie. I wonder what the movie was called. 🤔
@@Simon0 TWINS, you fools! It's TWINS!
I absolutely LOVED this game!!
Loved this game.
This is my favourite game of all time so even before hearing your video i'm going to say YES xD
This game is incredibly atmospheric and fun, years ahead his time(even from out of thiss world).
It was my top 10 favorite games on the genesis back in the early 90s
Really loved this game when it first came out on the genesis. Still have the game an play it was in awhile.
Got the switch version when on sale (it was 10 bucks) and I am pretty happy with it.
Just got it on sale for the switch for like 4$ (5frs) thanks the new option to come back in time when you screw up I'm able to enjoy this game.
I remember trying it as a kid and understanding absolutely nothin on how to play. It's way more comfortable on the switch, but if you buy it there make sure it is during a sale.
This game blew me away on Genesis. It was too tricky to finish, but came back and beat it years later. Still needed a guide though.
The Switch version was on sale for $1.99 not too long ago. Decided to snag it at the time.
Ok, Ok...
Thumbs up if you have a HUGE 16-BITS GAME LIST ON YOUR CELL PHONE because of SNESDrunk magnificent videos!
I must have noted dozens of them thinking "I need to try, I need it!!!".
I love this channel.
❤🎮📺😊
The unfinished GBA game, your character was just a placeholder until they finished the actual new sprite for the game, which was far more in-line with the game.
Dude continues to be everywhere with his creepy ass display picture
never played the genesis, but played it on the SNES. I think I was around 12 when I played it. It took about a week before I really got into it though, as back then there was no easy sources to explain games back then (i did have Nintendo power though) but after that I liked it a lot.
I owned this on my SNES and played through it many times. Great game.
definitely still worth playing today, this one is a gem.
even if you re allergic to retro games and just try one, try this one.
it was great on every aspect, a great story, science fiction theme, various level, the gameplay was clever, a good balance on difficulty too
I've played the genesis version amd i love this game,cinematic platformers are simply fantastic
The PS4/Switch version has some quality of life features like actually having a battery save, and even a rewind feature.
My favorite game back in the day. Genesis does what Ninten don't
I had this game on the Atari Jaguar. It inspires fond memories.
I still play it today ,Fantastic game
I always seen this game in video stores. I never rented it because well, I knew what games I wanted to rent. But this one always had a cover I recognized immediately.
This game was dope back in the day
I now have the Genesis version but I learned how to play this game on the Snes!
I played Flashback years ago and remembered that the animated cut scenes move more smoothly on the Genesis version, while those scenes moved kind of choppy on the Snes. I was wondering if it was an emulation problem since I played both games on an emulator.
I kinda wonder how good this might have been if it had actually been made as a proper SNES game first rather than a Genesis game. I mean, for sure, it could have have more colours across the board. And those cutscenes could have added in some flashy proper transparency on the things that should be semi-transparent like lazer blasts and speed lines and so on. Also, I expect the slower cutscenes could have played a little better if properly optimized for SNES. And, I heard the programmer even had to force all of this to work in just SlowROM, so simply having a FastROM cartridge properly would have helped a lot too (often given SNES up to 30% speed increases). And sound and so on could be even more cinematic and stuff. So, yeah, it just makes you wonder what could have been. . . .
When a French game is good, I need to say it. This game is good, as is Another World. Played it on PC back in the days. Part of my teenage hood memories. And I actually finished it ! (did the teleporter trick at the end).
This game is one of my favorites. Absolutely it's worth it!
Love out of this world. Played both that and this as kid through adulthood. I have this on sega cd too. Should prob fire that up since the xeye is literally hooked up on my floor.
JRPG Lover please put that gem on a shelf, friend.
You have a great rest of your day too
Yeah I tried out the SNES version I liked the Genesis version better for all those reason you mentioned, not the least of which was the controls. 3 button usage on the Genesis vs 4 button usage on the SNES and not recalling what button does what in the heat of the moment with the SNES.
Omg the "Get your ass to mars" had me laughing!!! Love this game so much!!
I loved Flashback. I can't remember if I played through the SNES or Genesis version as a kid, though. Later I played the Sega CD version, and while it plays perfectly fine, it's a shame what they did to the cutscenes. They completely redid them with low-quality videos of CGI.
I actually really enjoyed Fade to Black on PC a few years later. I think it's not really looked upon fondly, though. Since it's a relatively early 3D game, it probably wouldn't stand the test of time for me.
If you are lucky and happen to come across the original sega genesis cartridge with the case and all. There is a comic book included. For collectors out there, this is much so a rarity.
Growing up I owed the snes version which my cousin gave me! I owned a sega genesis so usually I would try both versions but didn't get to play the sega version! But last night playstation is having a retro sale so I picked up the 25th anniversary for 1.25 worth the money for sure! I would of paid the 9.99 retail for this one!
For faster screen transitions and better sound, go with the Sega CD version over the Genesis one.
I have super fond memories of this game...
haha i LOVED out of this world as a kid. Might have to check this out.
I love this game. I don't remember the sega version very well.
Ah I love this game so much.
I remember this game on saga genius I loved it
The cover art, such an iconic look. I never owned this game, but it looks like i should have.
One of my favorite games, I still play today, yes it’s worth it to me👍
Played the Genesis version of this game. Good stuff. Way better than Out of This World.
Did a full LP of the Switch version, on sale for a buck, & it's fantastic!
forget all the comparisons to other versions, be it Genesis, SegaCD, whatever.
its a simple question that holds a simple answer.
"Is Flashback on SNES still worth playing today?"
Answer: All kinds of YES.
I wish I knew about Blackthorne back in the day. I loved Flashback and played through it regularly. Just binging it non-stop in one day until it was done... And I know... I'd have played THE SHIT out of Blackthorne too, if I had it.