The
Back to the Future Trilogy has spawned a number of video games over the years, and most of them have been rather poor in quality. However, in 1993
Toshiba EMI acquired the license to
Back to the Future II and created a
Super Famicom video game based on the movie. Released only in
Japan,
Super Back to the Future II follows
Marty McFly as he
hoverboards his way through a series of side-scrolling platformer levels in his quest to stop the Tannen family, including
1985-A's
Biff Tannen,
1955's
Biff Tannen, and
2015's
Griff Tannen. The B and X buttons allow
Marty to speed up his
hoverboard, while the A and Y buttons cause him to jump and perform a series of flips through the air. Stomping on an enemy while in mid-flip will cause the target to take damage. Any other contact with a hazard costs
Marty one unit of health off of his three-unit-sized life meter. The plot of the film is played out over the course of
cinema scenes between key levels with cutely animated sprites of
Marty,
Doc Brown,
Jennifer Parker, and
Biff himself. Of course, being a Japanese release all the game's text is in Japanese. The
Back to the Future overture plays throughout the entire game.
The game is divided into six worlds with each world being divided into up to 5 levels. The game opens in Hill Valley, California in the year 2015 as Marty must ride his hoverboard to the end of the level, jumping over gaps and riding platforms. Coins are scattered along the way that can be spent at vending machines that supply health, shields, and invincibility. At the end of the each level Marty faces off against a boss who can either be attacked directly or with the aid of the items that are scattered around the single-screen level. For example, the first boss fight against Griff Tannen takes place in the Cafe 80s. Marty can either stomp him or press the switch that causes a television to pop out of the wall and bash the boss in the head. Passwords are awarded at the start of each level.
What really makes this game shine are its bright and colorful graphics. Marty and friends are depicted as large, detailed sprites in a slightly super deformed style (their heads are all quite large compared to their bodies). Marty's sprite, curiously, is always looking out towards you, the player, instead of towards the direction he is moving. It's a fun game to play around with, although the one drawback seems to be that the levels are overly large and sometimes involve making some rather difficult jumps. With some patience, however Super Back to the Future II is a fun romp through Hill Valley past, present, and future.
References:
http://www.GameFAQs.com