Since the game has now started shipping to Kickstarter backers and is also available on the Bitmap Bureau online store too, I figured I’d share my thoughts.
Now, I don’t have an original SNES console anymore, which is currently the only way to play the game for this particular system (no digital version), so I can’t play it directly myself, but it certainly looks and sounds great from everything I’ve seen and heard with my own eyes and ears. And the controls in particular seem to be a real highlight in this version too according to all the previews/reviews thus far from people who actually own it, which makes sense, as the SNES’ controller is particularly well-suited to this type of dual 8-way moving and 8-way shooting gameplay.
I think it’s worth mentioning that this is ultimately a port of a game specifically designed for Genesis that’s been adapted to SNES, not a game specifically designed and made for SNES in the first place. This means a few things have inevitably had to be adapted for the SNES port, such as the width of the levels for example. Whereas a version designed specifically for SNES could have way more colours, even more cool transparency effects than are already there, more background layers, Dolby Surround sound audio, additional design tweaks to fully take into account and perfectly play to the SNES’ resolution, etc.
But what we have is still a very solid port by a modern indie/homebrew dev with some concessions because it wasn’t originally made for SNES or even really with SNES in mind initially at all, and actually some notable improvements too: Proper transparency effects, added environmental effects like fog and rain, lots more voices at higher audio quality, slightly faster loading times getting into levels, and much the better suited default control setup with dual 8-way movement and 8-way shooting plus easy access to both rolls and grenades on the standard controller that every single SNES owner has access to out the box without having to purchase anything extra.
I think it’s also worth pointing out here that quite a few trolls have proclaimed modern indie/homebrew games like this couldn’t even be done on SNES because it doesn’t have “Blast Processing” and no one wants to code new games for the “obsolete” SNES as it doesn’t support modern development tools and scripting languages like C (it does), etc. And they’ve tried very hard to convince everyone else to buy into these same false narratives too, which is something I’ve come across a lot in recent times. I’m sure they have their own personal reasons for that. But here we are. I guess the SNES’ Colour Blasting is more capable than some people want to admit.
Here’s the similar twin-stick shooter Super Smash TV running in SlowROM at 2.68 MHz on the stock SNES [no enhancement chip required], which is a standard game released for it back in the ’90s:
Now, could the SNES version of Xeno Crisis be even better than it is–sure. Could they have added a few bonus extras given that this is a port coming years down the line–yes. Would it be great to finally start seeing new indie/homebrew games actually made specifically for SNES and see what can really be done on the system when pushed fully to its limits–of course. Is this still probably the best port to SNES from Genesis in modern times regardless–absolutely.
Kudos to the developer for even bothering to do a SNES port, and a mostly very high quality one at that. I hope more developers bother to work on SNES going forward too.
iNCEPTIONAL 