Animaniacs on Sega Genesis Review

Konami back in the day rocked. One case in point was their licensed use of cartoon character such as Tiny Toons or Animaniacs (two popular “new” cartoons form the 1990’s). There was such a time that a company such as Konami would invest money into creating two wholly separate titles for the same license across two platforms. In this case it was the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. Maybe you have heard of them before in gaming history class.

We will be discussing the Super Nintendo version in more detail in a month or so. Right now, it is the Sega Genesis version that has the limelight and rightfully so, it is the better game of the two.

The premise of the Sega Genesis version of Animaniacs is that the troublesome trio – Yakko, Wakko, and Dot have decided to open their own hip pop culture store to meet celebrities. A noble goal for such young characters to pursue, right?

Well, anyone that has seen an episode of Animaniacs knows, this is not going to go as planned and mayhem is going to occur.

It is the way these things went.

How Konami accomplished this feat on Sega Genesis is what sets it apart from the Super Nintendo version – and most games in the 16-Bit era as well.

One key game play element that Konami decided to implement with the Sega Genesis version of Animaniacs was the team effort design. You will have to actively switch between each character and use their special abilities if you expect to get far.

This was a completely distinctive style of game play versus other games that featured three unique characters and would require you to pick one and do your best with them.

With the tap of a button you can swap characters and then make use of their abilities – Dot can blow kisses to attract characters to help while Wakko can use a large sledge hammer to persuade electronics and switches. Yakko has a paddle ball and can push/pull objects.

This teamwork is necessary to complete the five levels of Animaniacs. Unlike other titles that gave you many characters on screen at once, mostly strategy or role-playing titles, here, when you lose a life, you lose ALL the characters. This means there is no way to end up cornered in an impossible situation because you lost the needed character earlier. Wise move, Konami, wise move.

Where the Sega Genesis version of Animaniacs stands out, besides the innovative use of all three characters, is the level design. Considering each character has different abilities, you are going to face different situations. Oftentimes, you will have to use the right character in succession to complete the obstacles you face.

It is quite cool how Konami turned in so much thinking for an action game. The action elements are still there, they are not diminished because you must do some puzzle solving. Jumps can be precarious, enemies wait to pounce, and death is very much around every corner.

While the levels are not quite as large as those in Metroid or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, they are sometimes still huge. With huge levels comes a fair bit of backtracking and replaying certain areas to get access to more areas. That is just part of the design.

The sound department is the only real department that Animaniacs fails on. Konami did not do so well here for some reason. There are no voices for the trio, or any of the characters they face. Though graphically, everyone is recognizable at first glance, it would have been cool to have some voice clips from the show.

Looking back though, maybe not. The Sega Genesis was not known for great digitized speaking so maybe it is for the better they didn’t go that route.

Complaining about the audio in Animaniacs is like complaining about the frame of a great painting. While it is a viable complaint, at the end of the day does it really diminish the final product that much?

Look, if you are one of the newer gamers, or an old school one, that has never played Animaniacs then you owe it to yourself to fix that ASAP.

check eBay or Amazon for a deal on your next copy of Animaniacs. If you prefer the Genesis version on the go, the Game Boy version is quite close in game play (though missing a full level). Still better than the Super Nintendo version.