Snow Brothers
System: NES
Release Date: November 1991
Developer: Soft House
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
It’s cold outside, but you can deal with it because you’re the Snow Brothers! King Scorch has been plotting to take over the world for many years. However, he knew he could never defeat the princes of Whiteland. This was until he used his magic to summon the winter winds to transform them into snowmen. Without the princes’ protection, Whiteland was quickly conquered and the princesses of neighboring Snowland were abducted. Now you must take control of the snowy princes and restore peace to the world. Can you stand the cold?
Upon landing on the first level, I am struck with the similarity to Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands. There are a number of enemies on screen moving around and you need to freeze them and push them to their doom. You shoot snowballs with button B and have to hit an enemy multiple times to encase them in snow. Afterward, you walk up to the ball and press button B again to roll the ball. It continues to move and bounce off walls until it hits the ground floor. Any enemies in the path of the ball are taken out and turned into a foodstuff you can collect for points.
Some enemies turn into useful hot sauces. The red hot sauce increases your speed to something that is actually useful. The blue hot sauce increases the power of your snowballs, encasing enemies more quickly. The green hot sauce allows you to throw greater distances, neutralizing your enemies with a bit more safety. There are also rare powerups that start quick bonus games. Of course, if you die, you lose these abilities and any enjoyment they bring.
The Snow Brothers have very poor jumping abilities and I found myself stuck many times. This is a problem, because if you spend too much time on any given level, an indestructible enemy will spawn to kill you. He can be kicked away, but not always easily. An augmented jump would have been greatly appreciated.
There are 50 levels you need to go through to win. Enemies on stages become more difficult and cheap as you progress. Every 10 levels there is a boss that you have to defeat. You may not always know when you’re injuring a boss, but after a while it will take enough damage and die. This takes you to a slot machine where you can gain extra lives. The final boss took me quite some time to finally defeat, but doing so saved the princesses and the day.
Graphics: 2.5
Sprites aren’t amazing or anything, and there’s a decent amount of flickering, but it doesn’t look bad.
Sound: 2.5
Music and sounds are decent, but I expect better from a Capcom published game.
Gameplay: 2.5
Outside of the weak jumping, the controls deliver.
Difficulty: 2.5
Once you get a hang of the gameplay loop, you should be able to get through with the lives you’re given.
Fun Factor: 2.0
This isn’t as fun as similar genre games, though it’s alright.
Overall Rating: 2.4
Snow Brothers earns a C+. This is likely another example of a game that would be more fun with a second player, but isn’t great on its own.