Gon for SFC

Image: MobyGames

Gon

Knockback: the game

Genre: action - platform

Publisher: Bandai

Year: 1994

System: SFC

Gameplay Score: 1

Gameplay Notes:

You can run, jump, swing your tail, and headbutt. Maybe it's just the prospective setting but it feels a little like Bonk. Like a cut down, do nothing version of Bonk. Barely anything to do. There are only a couple of enemies per area. They swarm like crazy, take crazy amounts of hits to defeat, and one hit from them sends you flying one or two full screens backwards. It's insane. Oh and they recover so quickly after being hit that they hit you before your attack animation has even completed, so a typical interaction looks like this: Walk to the right Enemy charges Hit enemy Take hit from enemy throwing you a full screen to the left Walk to the right Repeat Oh and there's no HUD so you can't tell how much health you or the enemies have got. At first I thought everything was invincible because of how much damage everyone was absorbing. But then I managed to kill an enemy and then I was killed, so both are possible. There's some platforming but the floaty controls and barely there, sloped, oddly shaped platforms make this a truly awful experience.

Level Design Score: 0

Level Design Notes:

Baffling. The first area requires you to get to the end. Some enemies are there but can be avoided. The second area looks the same but the end is locked. Turns out you have to climb the world's worst platforming section. It reminded me of the mountain level in the unlicensed Bible Adventures game for NES. A monkey at the top of the mountain is throwing rocks which, like everything else, knock you across the screen. Ugh. Finally, I got on top but had to make a long jump made incredibly difficult by the floaty controls and hard-to-discern platforms. After several tries I made the jump only to get smacked by a rhino on the other side who (you guessed it) knocked me far off the mountain. Terrible

Theme Score: 1

Theme Notes:

You're a dinosaur bring harassed by a bunch of mammals. That's a complete rundown of the plot. Not engaging at all

Art Style Score: 1

Art Style Notes:

Very strange. The assets are widely inconsistent. Your character looks like a typical 90s mascot (Radical Rex comes to mind) but the enemy sprites have realistic design, like something from an edutainment game. The backgrounds are flat and lifeless. Terrible visual language makes it difficult to discern platforms, doors, and other interactive elements.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Overall Score: 17

Review ID: 1661