Konami is one of the most legendary game companies on the planet Earth, with games like Contra
and Castlevania among the top in most gamers’ best games list.
They’re well known for their action-platformers and run and gun games, but a little game that
Konami published had been sitting in my plastic SNES bin for years.
I didn’t really know much about it, except that it, like most games that have Konami
on the front, puts a big smile on your face as soon as you start it up.
This game does this through shooting, robot suits, space, and more shooting.
It’s Cybernator for the Super Nintendo.
Cybernator follows Jake, the playable character that is fighting in one of these badass suits.
The levels are a mix of dodging, shooting, and jumping, and combat is varied.
Want to shoot up every enemy you see?
Go ahead.
Want to punch them all to a pulp?
You can do that, too.
The game uses destructible environments to force you to navigate different parts of each
level, and it’s actually the earliest game I’ve seen that does this.
Narrative splits up the action during a level, giving you useful bits of information for
the rest of it.
Now, Cybernator is also one of the smoothest controlling games on the Super Nintendo.
It’s a little bit harder that it sounds to do this well.
All you have for movement and aiming is the D-pad, but it never really feels like a hindrance
in this game.
Shooting also feels excellent, and hit detection is very solid.
I wish I could say the same for jumping and landing, but the game does have a problem
with registering if you’ve landed on a platform, and this can be a big pain when time is ticking
away.
You’ll also have access to jetpack-like booster and a dash move that can help you
move through a level faster or get to safety.
Well…relative safety.
There might be two things shooting at you instead of five, if that makes things any
better.
As with most games that have “Konami” on the label, even when they are just the
publisher, Cybernator is a very hard game.
It’s deceptive, though.
You’ll be able to get pretty far into a level before the game decides that you’ve
made it far enough and starts annihilating your face.
Energy upgrades are scarce, and when you think that there’s no way out of a situation,
there usually isn’t.
You’ll be seeing that opening cinematic a lot.
In addition, there isn’t any Konami code.
Believe me, I’ve tried, although there is apparently a slight upgrade to lives code
by pressing a few buttons at the beginning.
I really wish I could get 30 extra lives
Cybernator is a very strange game in regards to visuals.
Movements and character sprites all look very nice, with tons of color and a nice futuristic
tone.
Environments also look great, especially space and destructible objects.
However, the limitations of the 16-bit technology do appear during big explosions and zooming
sequences, which to be frank, look like someone cut out a few different squares of construction
paper and glued them together.
Sound is another story, with an excellent space-techno style soundtrack that moves at
a pace that feels perfect for the game.
Sound effects are also excellent, thanks in a large part to the great audio that the Super
Nintendo was capable of, which is still quite impressive today.
Cybernator is an excellent run and gun game for a system that produced a ton of games
in the genre.
While it does have a few little flaws in its design, this is an excellent choice for anyone
who wants a challenging and exciting experience.