Nostalgia is a powerful motivator for most people, and while I wasn’t able to fully experience the SNES era. I can admit that seeing some classic titles makes me yearn for that time period. So, I enjoy being able to retread the past and gain experiences that I previously missed out on. This made Super Technos World: River City and Technos Arcade Classics a no-brainer, because it contained classics never released in the west.
This collection of classic games, actually contains a mixture of arcade and Super Famicom—classics for a resounding total of eleven games. This is a huge amount of value, especially as a large portion of these titles have never been translated before. Specifically, the collection includes side games from the River City series. These titles include sports like dodgeball, baseball, and even a puzzle title.
How Does It All Look?
One of the first things I personally always check for is the visual options that these remasters can give. They are simple but many either don’t allow different resolutions or the choices are so slim that it doesn’t matter. This simple option can make or break a remaster, because if a game doesn’t look good it becomes a chore to play. So, I can happily report that there are so many options, and I was spoiled for choice.
My biggest complaint has always been the stretching of the image to fit a more modern screen. While this is important to have for most people, I always found that only allowing a stretched or faithful picture was constricting. There are five specific ways to configure the screen for Super Technos World, ranging from full screen, that stretched out for modern screens mode, to a classic square in the middle of the screen.
These in-between options can let you experience the games in a new way, and while the stretched screen looks bad it’s at least easier for me to see. Instead, I found that the 4:3 mode suited a modern screen the best. The fact that this release gives you more of that options makes the entire collection feel new. I love this entire way to view the games and at times I would switch the resolution depending on what I needed to see at the time.
I even felt the need to toggle scan lines and enjoyed refining the look of the games. This alone was fun for me to adjust as I would look at a game and decide how many I would like. For a minute, I was a kid back in the early 2000’s again playing games on an old CRT. This is what takes the simple emulation of a title to something beyond, letting to take control of the experience and turn it to something more.
Super Technos World is a New Release in a New Language
As I stated previously, most of the games in this collection have never been released in the West, meaning they would need translations for the first time. On this front, Super Technos World shines, at any point on the main menu you can switch between Japanese and English. The language in the game selection menu will not change, instead it loads a different version of the game.
This is a huge boon for those who are looking to practice their Japanese. However, these are older games, so reading the kanji can be difficult. For instance, many of the kanji will look squished, making the initial reading take longer. Although, once I got used to how they looked, I noticed that I was able to easily pick out the sentences.
The real issue that happens is with two games, SugoroQuest++ and DunQuest, which have no localization at all. This normally wouldn’t be a problem except that DunQuest is a dungeon crawling RPG with heavy story elements and SugoroQuest is similar to Dokapon Kingdom. The issue is that unless you have any ability to read and understand Japanese, these two would require you to fumble around to figure them out.
SugoroQuest is easier to play once you have set up an entire game. The issue is that there are so many options that it can get confusing at first. DunQuest is story heavy, and you will be stopped constantly for more text that you can’t understand. This is disappointing as Kunio’s Oden, a simpler title, has a full localization. While the title is easier to translate, there isn’t a reason to bring over a full RPG without a translation. Yes the title is playable, but will you be able to enjoy it without understanding it?
Play Alone or Together
The question remains: how does the game actually play? Well, the answer is more mixed than you would think with some games standing out in a bad way. You will be able to play together with a friend, either offline or online. This selection will be made before you jump into a game and will need to back out completely to switch modes.
This ability to play online is a huge boon for retro game enthusiasts, especially in a time where getting physically together is harder due to time constraints and other responsibilities. Even us lonely players can still play with others, and simply selecting quick play will throw you into a match with a stranger. This actually feels almost like an arcade in your home, where you can jump into a game with a stranger.
The games themselves play fine, although a few feel very slow to play. River City Renegade for example, feels like I am attempting to control Kunio, the main character, underwater. It felt sluggish to me, but I am unsure if it was just how the game plays or if it was the emulation quality. Kunio’s Dodgeball Time looks weird, but this could be due to some of my settings since the game appears to be choppy. Frequently, the game feels like it’s fighting against me.
On the other hand, Shadow Force felt great to play and was the first title that I thoroughly enjoyed. The controls are simple for a beat-em-up, but it felt fluid to play. It was actually the first game I played to completion. Ironically, the second best game was Super Dodgeball, since this title felt the closest to an arcade dodgeball game. It has special throws and abilities based on passing between your teammates. These are the stand out titles to me, as the others are fun but don’t stick out enough.
Looking Through Rose Tinted Glasses
Super Technos World is a mixed bag as a classic collection for older retro titles. There are plenty of settings to make sure that the game looks exactly as you want it to. However, that doesn’t mean this is perfect, as some games can still look weird or distorted. Inconsistent localization creates a problem for us as certain games become unplayable if you can’t read Japanese.
On paper this re-release is one of the best and should be an easy slam dunk. Many of the games haven’t released in English before, as well as being the first re-release in a long time. In practice? I feel like there are so many caveats that are almost too big to gap.
Two games are the same game except being the arcade version vs the console release and two dodgeball games. One of which isn’t very fun while the other is one of the best games in this collection. There is too many negatives to make this an instant buy, but there are also good here. This release is a win for preservation and translation, but it should have just collected a better selection of games.
Disclaimer: Arc System Works provided a PlayStation 5 copy of Super Technos World: River City and Technos Arcade Classics to Final Weapon for review purposes.
