Approximate Release Date: September 1, 1992
Genre: Board game
Developer: Sculptured Software
Publisher: Parker Brothers
Well, this is Monopoly all right.
Much like with their adaptation of Clue, Sculptured Software did a satisfactory job at bringing the board game to the Super Nintendo. Up to eight people or computer-controlled opponents can play together on one console, and the nature of Monopoly makes it ideal for sharing a screen with a group. You aren’t hiding cards or trying to keep anything a secret like in Clue. There are cute animations for the eight pieces, and the community chest and chance cards are animated in the classic Monopoly style. Everything looks how you would expect.
There are a few features added to make this version of Monopoly a little less bare-bones. There are SimCity-style scenarios to choose from, which modify the game in some way. Usually ,it drops you in the middle or end of a game and makes you try to crawl your way to the lead. It’s a little silly and I don’t know why anyone would want to play it outside of a desert island scenario. The true innovation, however, is the timed mode. You can set a time limit for between five and 90 minutes. This is a godsend because games of Monopoly can charitably be described as glacial.
Without the timer, I definitely would have never finished a game.
Monopoly for the SNES is okay. It’s Monopoly, with all the baggage that entails. It doesn’t do anything wrong and manages not to mess up the board game experience. I’d probably still recommend the actual board game over this, but good luck on getting eight people to sit through an entire interminable game.
Tomorrow: The only RoboCop movie I’ve seen is the 2014 reboot. That means I’m a perfect choice for playing RoboCop 3!
I’ve always had a soft spot for virtual representations of boards games, across any platform. The chance to see something in a new way (like having the timer on Monopoly) gives an old dog new tricks.
But no matter which way I play it, I never seem to get Boardwalk 🙂