In the middle of an Asterix craze around 1995, we picked this title up from a second hand gaming store on the edge of Bolton. And? Well, the SNES title is okay. Incroyable!
Asterix on the SNES
This is one of those generic SNES platformers (kind of like Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics) that is now rather obscure.
Even up against the likes of classics such as Super Metroid, Asterix seems like a solid idea for a 2D platformer.
Infogrames (these days called Atari SA) in the centre of Paris took hold of the project. And the title launched in 1993 at the peak of the SNES’ popularity.
The developer also shifted the game over to the NES and Game Boy. Good on them. However, some of the games didn’t make it over to North America for wider release. Instead staying rooted in Europe. Hah!
This was the pretty much the first (and more or less last) time we can remember haggling for anything. Ever.
Whilst umming and ahing about the cost (something like £20), the bloke behind the till abruptly spurted out, “Okay, £15 then.” Done deal! Cheers, bloke from that shop in Bolton around 1995!
Anyway, it’s 50 BC and (as with the comic books—such as Asterix in Britain) a tiny French village is defending off the might of the Roman army.
However, they’ve gone and kidnapped that there Obelix. Merde! So, it’s your duty to go out there and save him.
So, it’s a basic platformer. You head to the right. And you biff Roman centurions out of the way in pleasing fashion.
We remember enjoying that bit a great deals as kids. Just smash them one and off they go. It’s visualised surprisingly well.
The soundtrack is pretty decent, too, and the title has a nice and professional sheen to proceedings.
So, we suppose the issue remains with it being merely another 2D platformer on the SNES. And not a particularly dynamic one at that.
Racing through it at speed to complete the game, we did enjoy it. But considering Earthworm Jim and Yoshi’s Island were on the way, developers had a mighty amount they could extract from the SNES.
And that leaves Asterix feeling a little lazy. It’s d’accord. Just not proper belting. Which is a bit of shame. But at least it’s not terrible.