There are not many really underground titles around anymore for older systems like the good old SNES. Even the ones that never hit mainstream, most people have heard about and the game garnered belated praise. One game that I've heard very little praise and talk of is Run Saber. Called "the ultimate Strider clone" by those who have played it, Run Saber is a side-scroller that surprised me with its solid gameplay, creative bosses and level design, and simply overall excellence in quality.
If you're a Strider fan, then you know that the SNES was lacking in a Strider game, and this game essentially solves that problem. The main characters have many similar moves and attacks to the Strider series, along with it's own qualities that set it apart from the norm. To put it simply, this game has stuff that impresses me even today, living in a world of 5000-polygon characters, anti-aliasing, and complex controls that use every single button on your controller. It's rare when playing a game on the SNES for the first time can actually impress you with it's graphics or originality; and even more rare when it's a game you and everyone else you talk to have never heard of.
So now that I'm done waxing poetic on the game, let's dive right into it. Here's the gist of the game's concept: It's the year 2998, and Earth is approaching an ecological collapse. To prevent this, Dr. Bruford comes up with a plan to clean up the Earth's surface and harness fusion, the universal energy source. To convert to fusion energy, the world would have to be exposed to massive amounts of radiation, and mankind would have to leave the planet and essentially put Earth into a one year of cold sleep.
During this, Dr. Bruford's real intentions are revealed: He stays behind and allows himself to be exposed to the radiation, mutating him into a completely different being, leaving behind no trace of humanity. Bruford then begins cloning mutants to build an army to help him fulfill his evil plans.
To combat Bruford and his mutants, the world's greatest scientists created Run Sabers, cyborg warriors with heightened senses, abilities, and weaponry to take back the Earth. Three Sabers were sent to Earth, but one of the Saber's parasite defense system malfunctioned and was captured by Bruford to be used against the remaining two Run Sabers. It's now up to the last two Sabers to cut through Bruford's army and their own comrade and defeat the scientist.
Long-winded, right? Pretty drawn-out for a simple action game that explains nothing, story-wise, in-game. However, underneath its simple "cyborgs fight evil scientist" plot is a sense of originality. Like the storywriters were given the concept and told to make it as complex and deep as they could. And for the time, they succeeded, and the plot doesn't feel worthless.
There are two modes in Rub Saber: One player and co-op Two Player (which is a very cool addition). The differences between the two should be obvious. You can play as either of the two remaining Sabers, Allen (Thunder Saber) or Sheena (Ice Saber). I personally liked playing as Sheena the most, although Allen's special attack is infinitely cooler.
The minimalism in the controls really plays a trick on you. Move with the D-pad, B button jumps, Y button is attack, and the X button is your Special Attack. But hidden inside the simple controls are a variety of moves. Holding Up while jumping surrounds you with the same aura that surrounds your blade, allowing you to damage air-borne enemies easily, and avoid attacks (since you're invincible jumping this way until you begin to descend). Pressing the Jump button while holding Down lets you slide, which doubles as an attack, a way to get through low areas, and a way to get past obstacles quicker. And if you hold down while you're falling you can kick enemies in your path on the way down. Combining this with the ability to climb any wall or ceiling and creative levels and boss battles that make you take advantage of all your abilities is what makes Run Saber such a satisfying game. Naturally, it helps that controlling your character is quite easy with responsive controls and quick attacks, which Run Saber has in spades.
The graphics are beautiful. Sharp colors and large sprites, and taking minimal (yet noticeable) advantages of SNES' capabilities like scaling and psuedo-3D background effects makes Run Saber a real eye-catcher. Run Saber's characters also possess a large amount of animations; two different attack animations, animations for flipping over ledges (either straight up or around a corner) and even little differences like a change in the hand positions for climbing angled walls or around angles is one of this game's BIG pluses. Sometimes game developers just get lazy and think "Heck, we'll just use the same jump animation for this one" can sometimes intrude upon a game's quality, while not defining it. Run Saber's animations help add to this game's quality as being one of those little things that you notice.
The music is pretty much describable with one word: Japanese. Pretty average MIDI "action music" with a digitized voice saying "Aptiva" in the background now and then. While I've heard worse, Rub Saber's high point is definitely not its music, and is easily ignorable and forgettable. Sound effects are to the same degree; nothing really too special here, but sound effects aren't the reason you play a game, are they?
Run Saber's shining point is in its level designs and boss fights, which are very creative in their execution. The second level starts you out in a sort of old, inside-a-pyramid type environment. The area is littered with statues of old warriors holding spears. Now and then, some of the statues will "fall" to the floor as if made of cloth and unveil an actual warrior holding a spear that will attack you. Later on in the level, you climb higher into an area lit in the background with bright neon signs and lights. One of the early boss fights you engage in has your character standing on a jet as it flies through the sky, fighting off enemies that morph out of the jet itself. As you continue to knock pieces of the jet off, it starts to do somersaults, forcing you to cling onto it and climb all over it fighting the final form of the boss as it flies around the jet. Wondering what the next boss will be is half the fun in this game. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot to get out of beating the game, besides the normal satisfaction of beating a game. You get a pretty lackluster ending, watch the credits roll, and feel good about saving the world.
There's plenty of games available for the SNES, and finding one that sucks that you've never heard of isn't very difficult, if at all difficult. However, most of the quality games for the system have been uncovered and raved about all over the internet, so finding a new one is a bit of a challenge. While this game definitely has its fans, there's not a very large number, and I'm guessing that the game didn't sell too well, getting overshadowed by a more popular release of something. If you're a Strider fan in need of a good clone for the SNES, this is definitely what you're looking for. If you're just a fan of good action games, this is a solid buy as well, that is worth your time finding. If you're an emulator user (which, by the way, Netjak doesn't condone because of legality issues) looking for something new, then this is worthy of taking up a space speck of space on your hard drive. There's a lot of fun to be had in Run Saber, and it's definitely one of the most overlooked games I've ever come across.
