The Rocketeer (SNES)
| The Rocketeer | ||||||
 |
||||||
| ||||||
- For other games in the series, see The Rocketeer.
The Rocketeer is an action game developed by NovaLogic and published by IGS. The game is a port of the DOS version, and is based on both the film and comic book series of the same name.
In the game, the player takes the role of the main protagonist, Cliff Secord. He and his friend Peavy are experimenting with a mysterious jetpack they found. Suddenly, they are attacked by a group of thugs led by Neville Sinclair. It should be noted the SNES version removed the Nazi references. Sinclair also ends up kidnapping Cliff's girlfriend, Jenny. Cliff must stop Sinclair and his thugs and save his girlfriend.
The game consists of only a few stages; each of which are of different genres. The game starts out with Cliff racing his plane against two other opponents and must finish first to proceed. Next, the game takes place in the hangar, in which Cliff must dispatch a number of enemies to proceed. This level plays similar to Cabal. Then, the player goes to the skies in a horizontal shooter similar to Gradius. The game ends with a fight on the Zeppelin, in which Cliff must stop Sinclair and rescue Jenny.
The game received negative reviews from critics. The first level in particular is notorious for being very unintuitive and hard to understand how to play. The rest of the levels don't fare much better, as they are too difficult and clunky to control. There are also no continues, so no matter how far you get, if you lose all your lives, it's back to the start. However, critics praised the game for its beautiful comic book-style graphics during the cutscenes, as well as the digitized in-game graphics. The only thing the SNES version really misses from the DOS version is the voice acting, due to the limited capacity on the cartridge.
Screenshots
Music
The Rocketeer has little to offer in its selection of music. There are only six songs total in the game, each one corresponding to a major section in the game.
Rather than port over the DOS soundtrack by Doug Brandon, NovaLogic made the decision to hire George Sanger to do the music. Sanger had previously composed the NES version which had twice the amount of songs.
The game leaves behind the rock-based tracks from the NES version and instead focuses on somber orchestral musical numbers. However, a couple songs share motifs from the ending music in the NES version. In particular, Title Screen and Clear Level. The song names are taken from the SPC rip.
George Sanger wrote his music in Performer on his Roland MT-32, and his MIDI files were converted to the SNES. The game uses a custom sound driver not used in any other game, so it's unknown who wrote the game's sound driver. It may have been written by Steven Bjork, the game's programmer, or perhaps John Brooks, who is credited for sound. The instrument samples in this game sound like they were taken from the MT-32.
Recording
| # | Title | Composer | Length | Listen | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Title Screen | George Sanger | 2:27 | Download | |
| 02 | Racing Airplanes | George Sanger | 2:29 | Download | |
| 03 | Clear Level | George Sanger | 0:40 | Download | |
| 04 | Incoming Enemies | George Sanger | 4:13 | Download | |
| 05 | Flying Across the Dangerous Skies | George Sanger | 1:46 | Download | |
| 06 | Final Battle | George Sanger | 2:16 | Download |
Credits
- Rippers: KungFuFurby
- Recorder: Doommaster1994
- Game Credits:
- Music: George Sanger credited as The Fat Man
- Sound: John Brooks
(Source)
The game's credits are displayed upon completion. Both the North American and Japanese release share the same credits screen. Sanger is credited by his known pseudonym, "The Fat Man". This game also appears to be John Brooks only audio credit, as he was usually credited for programming.
Game Rip
|
Format |
Download |
|
|
SPC dumps are recorded during actual game play.
Releases
| ||||||||||||
Links
- mobygames.com/game/527/the-rocketeer/ - MobyGames.
- gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/588624-the-rocketeer - GameFAQs.
