1996 - Tintin in Tibet (SNES)
Had the displeasure of trying to play Tintin in Tibet for SNES, with @fourthdslip present to watch the agony. An absolutely brutal game that, after watching a longplay, had me determine that I would never beat this thing, and I gave up pretty quickly.
Anything and everything makes Tintin take damage: packages, kids running into him, leaves, even praying monks in a monastery. Everything and everyone is out to kill Tintin in this game, and he can only take four hits. Golden apples are sparse; they only heal a single life point and are often so out of the way that you'll probably lose a life point, either on the way or returning from the apple fetch. It's pure reflex and memory, with no save states in the middle of the level, should you fail. Instead, you are given a password every few levels to save your progress.
As if this weren't stressful enough, every level has a timer. It doesn't matter how long or taxing the level is. Every level has a timer. Failure to complete the level within the amount of time set is an instant game over, and you lose a life. Speaking of lives, 1-UPs are rare to come by, with the first not even coming in until several levels into the game. Same with the golden timer, an item which restores less than a fourth of your clock's time (and is sometimes just as much of a hassle to retrieve as the golden apple). Some levels are very big, but you have little time to explore, requiring you to optimize your travel as much as possible to proceed to the next level.
You must run, dodge, puzzle, spelunk, slide, and swim your way to finding Chang, with every single level presenting unique challenges. While you mostly play as Tintin, there are a few mountain climbing sections where you will also play as Captain Haddock.
Here are the game over screens, which most players will very quickly become acquainted with:
Professor Calculus looks a little uncanny, but the full on game over screen is just brutal. You failed... Chang is frozen out there because you let some jar at the market give you a concussion.
I did get this perfect GIF out of the experience, though. He can run to the foreground. That's fun.
The soundtrack is also great, I recommend listening to it! Big fan of The Wreck.
As for the visuals of the game, the graphics are actually pretty neat! it's just a shame that the game itself is so punishing. Here is the longplay I watched since I still wanted to see what it had in store. Thanks user orugari for toughing it out.
origamiaround
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