Nerdicus SNES Review #56: Casper

Title : Casper

Publisher : Natsume

Developer : Absolute Entertainment

Genre : Action Adventure

Players : 1 Player

Release Date : 1996

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $40-$50

Happy Friday, everyone! We wrap things up this week with something I really have no interest in playing, but hey, what are you going to do? I'm stuck reviewing most of all these games thanks to my ever-growing dedication of playing the entire NES / SNES and SEGA libraries. Seriously, what have I gotten myself into? I was truly never a fan of Casper, the Friendly Ghost. I'm sorry, but ghosts aren't supposed to be friendly. They're supposed to haunt you, and scare the beejeezus out of you.

And what's up with Casper and his friends anyway? They all look like marshmallows. Oh, and to make things even more intriguing with this game, it's based on one of the worst movies of the 90's. Basically, we're asking for double trouble here. A game based on a character I despise, and a game based on a movie, which are 99% of the time absolutely awful.

Ugh, whatever. Let's just make this quick. I'm tired, and lacking coffee.

You've got your fine selection of two game modes: Easy and Hard. I'd like to call either game mode boring as hell, because that's what they both are. Casper plays A LOT like A Boy and His Blob, but where a Boy and His Blob was incredible and innovative, Casper creeps along until you just fall asleep at the controller. And the mindless, droning music doesn't help either. I'm literally falling asleep as I type this review up.

Casper is followed by Kat Harvey, aka Cristina Ricci, but it doesn't even look like Cristina Ricci. Hell, Casper doesn't even look like Casper. It's a bit of the opposite from A Boy and His Blob in this sense as you just have to fly Casper around the room, and prevent Kat from getting herself killed, because you know she is just some dumb teenager with no brains.

And what's the story you ask? Bah, who knows. Go watch the movie...you gotta stop from evil woman from finding some treasure in the mansion while at the same time preventing Kat from being kidnapped from some evil ghost. Yawn.

Most of the game is spent just moving from one room to another, collecting crap, and unlocking doors to new areas as well as fighting bosses. You'll also have to collect items that will allow Casper to transform into various objects like a net, or a bottle, or a giant machine gun (I wish). Casper's ability to transform is the only way you're going to get certain rooms....which by the way look exactly the same.

Okay, I have to stress again how dull this game is. If I wanted to I can put a bunch of different screen shots down, but it would literally look like I'm just posting the same thing over and over and over again. Occasionally, you'll run into a mirror that will basically teleport you to other areas of the mansion, but you wouldn't know any better. It is quite literally one of the most monotonous games I have played on the SNES since I started doing these reviews, and quite frankly the thing I even remotely liked about it was the ability to have Casper transform into things like A Boy and His Blob, but even that gets old fast.

Let's wrap things up quick and painless, shall we?

Graphics - nothing spectacular, and the level design is pitiful at best. Characters are even worst, and while the best designs are the trio of foolish ghosts, Casper looks like a joke, and Kat is even worse. Reminds me of a bad CDI game.

Audio? Garbage - the music is repetitive and the sound effects are basically non existent. Their audio files must consist of maybe 6 or 7 tracks and that's it.

Conclusion? The only thing this is good for is that the game is worth quite a bit of money for some bizarre reason, and as a collector it's good to have. I was luck enough to get a hold of this game loose when I first started collecting from some woman who sold me her entire SNES collection. No good games, except this was in there...so basically it's like a $50 bill sitting on my shelf....fun to look at, but hate to play it.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time, keep on gaming!