This action game features a fixed perspective as well as cute characters and easily understood rules. The exhilaration that players feel as they hone their technique and then wipe out all of the enemies on screen at once is a gameplay system that Toaplan, known for its shooters, is famous for.
SNOW BROS.
Japanese title: SNOW BROS.
| Release | 1990 |
| Genre | Horizontally fixed-screen action |
| Platforms | Arcade iOS/Android Nintendo Switch Mega Drive Mini Others |
Story
King Atchich of the Hotda Kingdom has overrun the peaceful Snowland and kidnapped the twin princesses Puri and Puchi! If the evil king is left unchecked, Snowland will melt away into nothingness... Therefore, the Snow Brothers take action in order to restore peace to their beloved homeland!
Controls & How to Play
The game is played with an 8-way joystick, a Shot & Kick button, and a Jump button.
You can press the Shot button to fire a Snowball shot.
The Jump button can be used to climb the terrain.
The Snowball shot will fall to the ground after traveling a certain distance.
If you hit an enemy with enough Snowball shots, they will be covered in snow and become a snowball themselves.
You will not lose a life for colliding with an enemy covered in snow.
Approach enemies that are covered in snow and press the Shot button to kick them.
The snowballs that you kick will begin rolling across the stage at high speed.
Any enemies hit by the snowball will be taken out and may drop items for you to pick up.
Also, if you touch the snowball while it is rolling, you will be caught up with it.
You will not lose a life for colliding with a snowball, however.
Press the Jump button while rolling with the snowball to escape.
You clear stages by turning enemies into snowballs and defeating all of them.
However, if you don't defeat the enemies quickly enough, an invincible pumpkin-headed enemy will appear.
You will lose a life if you are hit by an enemy attack or an enemy that is not trapped in a snowball.
When you restart after losing a life, all of your power-ups will be reset.
The game is over if you lose all of your lives.
There are a total of 50 stages, and the game ends when you clear all of them.
【Items】
Red bottle
Increases your character's speed.
If you pick one up when you are already sped up, you will receive 1,000 points instead.
Blue bottle
Powers up your shots and makes it easier to turn enemies into snowballs.
If you pick one up when you are already powered up, you will receive 1,000 points instead.
Yellow bottle
Increases the range of your shots.
If you pick one up when you are already powered up, you will receive 1,000 points instead.
Green bottle
Increases the size of your character and also allows you to defeat enemies for a limited time simply by running into them.
You can use the joystick to freely move your character.
Sushi
There are several types of sushi that earn you points when picked up.
The number of points you can earn varies according to the type.
Hero icon
This item is an image of your face, and four special blue enemies will appear when you pick it up.
If you turn these blue enemies into snowballs, the letters S, N, O, and W will appear and you can acquire the letters by rolling a snowball over them.
You will not acquire the letter if you defeat blue enemies that have not been turned into a snowball.
The letters you acquire are displayed at the bottom of the screen, and once you spell SNOW, you will be given an extra life.
Impressions
This fixed-screen, stage-clearing action game was popular with both men and women of all ages, and many people praised its cute characters and hot gameplay combined with the cool setting. The simple controls and thrilling action were also a big hit with gamers. At the time, it was ported to various home consoles, where it received acclaim both in Japan and overseas, and it was also recently remade for the Nintendo Switch. There was a special promotional video made for the game when the Famicom version was released, and there were even rumors that Nick and Tom from the video were spotted in Shinjuku.