It's time for A-ni-ma-iacs! Sorry, I had to. I was really, seriously thinking about doing this review to the tune of the Animaniacs theme song, but I'm not creative enough to do that. So instead, you get another run-of-the-mill review of yet another platformer, this time for the SNES.
Anyone that grew up in the 90's will have some level of familiarity with Animaniacs, an animated children's show that ran in some iteration from 1993-1998. Created and distributed by Warner Bros., the show followed the exploits of the Warner siblings, Yakko, Wakko and Dot, three... somethings? whats-its? Look, I don't know what the Warners are supposed to be, but they live in the WB water tower and get into all sorts of goofy situations and ridiculous trouble. While the trio are the primary focus of the show, it also featured other whacky characters like Ralph the Security Guard, Dr. Scratchansniff, Chicken Boo and the Goodfeathers. Perhaps none of the secondary characters are more iconic than Pinky and the Brain, two laboratory mice hellbent on world domination. The show was sort of a sketch comedy, like an animated SNL for kids. It definitely leans heavily into slapstick humor and its primary audience was probably kids aged 7-12.
The plot (yes, there's a plot) revolves around the aforementioned Pinky and the Brain, who have hatched another nefarious plan to take over the world. They have stolen the scripts from various upcoming Warner Bros. movies in an attempt to make tons of money. Mr. CEO has tasked Yakko, Wakko and Dot with recovering these scripts, which the trio sets out to do immediately. It's completely ridiculous, but so was the show. You have an introductory level that shows you the basics of the game, which we will cover shortly, before things open up with a map screen for selecting your level. You have four to start, each with a movie-based theme. Beating all four of these levels will open up the fifth and final area. Each of the initial levels has six scripts hidden throughout, with varying levels of difficulty to find. There are several different endings, with which one you see dependent on how many scripts you find. The levels are all pretty cool and have some funny references to various films, from Star Wars to Alien to Indiana Jones. You have a sci-fi, adventure, aquatic and fantasy level, none of which are perfect, but all of which are solid and offer fun and unique challenges. There is also a water tower level, which again, we will discuss further when we get more into game mechanics.
I have to give them credit for the graphics, these are some really nice 2D visuals with a lot of great added touches and background detail. The sprite animation, in particular, is excellent. The Warners look exactly like they do on the show, and they are extremely expressive. They have appropriately goofy walk cycles, dance around after a few seconds of standing still and react appropriately to other characters. Every time Hello Nurse shows up, the boys will ogle her while Dot taps her foot annoyedly, just like they do on the show. The secondary characters, enemies and bosses are similarly well animated, and it really goes a long way in establishing the atmosphere. The sound is also pretty good, they have a few tracks that are just remixes of the Animaniacs theme, but even they sound different enough that you won't notice. The stage themes all sound like parody versions of songs in movies from the appropriate genres, which I think was what they were going for. Konami did a really good job making the game feel like the show and the graphics and sound go a long way towards doing that.
As for the gameplay? Eh, it's okay. I have to give them credit for trying to make Animaniacs different, but at the end of the day it just kind of feels like another 2D side scroller. You can attack by jumping on enemies, picking up and throwing objects or dashing, one tap of the A button prepares the dash and a second executes it. Some enemies can only be taken out with one type of attack, which mixes up the challenge a bit. Each Warner can only get hit once and is captured and removed from the group if hit. Lose all three and its game over. You can switch between the three siblings at will, but I couldn't find a noticeable difference between them. The only detriment to losing one (in addition to being one hit closer to a game over, of course) is that you can't use the others to jump higher via their stack up move. There are two ways to get your lost siblings back into the game. The first is via the slots at the bottom of the screen. Collect ten coins and you get to roll the slots, which happens frequently. Lining up the correct combination of characters will give you rewards, usually more coins or continues. But hitting Yakko, Wakko and Dot, in that order, will return any lost Warners to the fray. If you're not feeling lucky, or you manage to beat one of the levels without a sibling in tow, you can rescue them from the water tower (remember, they lock them in the tower, whenever they get caught). This relatively short but very frustrating level sees you climb to the top of the tower in an attempt to spring the others (but they bust loose and then cut loose and now you know the plot) and believe me, you will die here a lot. The good news is that you don't lose lives or continues, so you aren't punished badly for failing. The bad news is that you will still have to play this level over and over again and it gets really old, really fast.
I can't complain too much about the controls, they are generally responsive and the hit detection, while not perfect, is consistent and fair. The movement did feel a little floaty and the jumping was delayed, but the game almost seems designed around this. Most of the areas are side scrolling, but there are a few unique segments to provide variety like the mine cart section in the adventure stage and the flying brooms in the fantasy stage. It can sometimes be difficult to tell where you are going to land, largely because of the faux 3D movement between planes. It's sometimes hard to tell which plane you are on, and this makes it challenging to understand where you are supposed to jump to at times. It really threw me off as a kid, but it became much less of a problem when I understood how it worked. Basically, you just have to realize the game doesn't REALLY have any 3D elements at all, it's just presenting the illusion of doing so. They do a great job of making you feel like you can move freely up and down the screen, but in actuality you are just transitioning between three separate 2D planes. Once you understand that, the game becomes way easier.
The other big issue is that Animaniacs is really short. I guess it was pretty standard for the time, but I was able to beat the game in less than an hour. For an NES game without passwords that would be okay, but even a kid friendly SNES game should have had a little bit more depth too it. That's compounded by the water tower sections feeling like they are there to add artificial length. Of course, it does take a little bit longer if you go out of your way to get all of the scripts. However, they usually aren't that challenging to find and don't require you to go too far out of your way. Besides, once you know where everything is and how to beat each section, it's very easy to just run through the game. It isn't difficult enough to require pinpoint execution to get through the game. It almost didn't make sense to include a password, though I guess I would always rather have the option if it's there.
Animaniacs is an okay licensed platformer for the SNES, nothing more, nothing less. It's fun, enjoyable and really captures the atmosphere of the show. Anyone who loved the show growing up will want to give this game a shot. Honestly, it was a "like it, don't love it show" for me as a kid and I still enjoyed the game. But there just isn't enough here for anyone other than fans to go out of the way to pick it up. It's not a bad game at all, but there are definitely superior platformers out there, even when only considering kid friendly titles. That's really all there is to say about Animaniacs, a solid game based on a popular IP from a company known for producing quality titles. Pick it up if you're a fan or give it a spin if you somehow find it in your collection.
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