The Wizard of Oz (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Seta's 1993 license-based platformer for the Super Nintendo, The Wizard of Oz.

Awhile back, someone suggested (in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek way) that I play The Wizard of Oz. I knew virtually nothing of the game, but I was down to try it. I abstained from looking at the videos that people seem to love referencing when talking about it until after I had finished it. I wanted to form my own opinion before I took everyone else's on-board.

And you know what? I'm glad that I did. Because really, it's not that bad of a game. Plenty of games out there better deserve being glued to the ceiling with a well-aimed parvo jet than The Wizard of Oz.

It's a simple platformer with a plot and a presentation that vaguely resembles the movie and cartoon it was based on. Dorothy travels through different countries collecting ticket pieces so that she can gain access to the Emerald City (wasn't this the same basic plot setup that we saw in the Genesis version of Beavis & Butthead?), and along the way assembles a motley crew of lifebars that can be swapped at anytime with her own: these damage sponges take the form the scarecrow, the lion, and the tin man. They each have different abilities, but you'll rarely need them. Dorothy is easily the most capable of the group.

The gameplay is generally fine. The platforming is a bit uninspired and is driven entirely by collecting items, but the controls are generally solid and the game isn't very hard at all, though unavoidable, cheap hits can get annoying. The enemy designs are certainly strange, though - most buildings are filled with psychotic La-z-boy chairs, while the outdoors tends to be home to violent topiary, giant birds, wind-up teeth, and other such fondly remembered Wizard of Oz icons. The level designs are simple and generally straightforward, so once you get a feel for the floaty jumping mechanics and figure out the ticket piece locations, you won't have too much difficulty getting through the game.

The graphics are a bit odd - The Wizard of Oz can paint some surprisingly picturesque scenes, but it has a number of ugly moments, too. The Emerald City stands out to me as what has to be one of the least attractive stage designs that I've seen in an SNES game and the intro is hideous, but the farm stages look pretty nice, and some of the weird enemy sprites are worth a chuckle or two. The same can't really be said for the sound, though. It features low-tech renditions of some popular tracks from the movie but they all suffer from gratingly harsh instrument samples, and the annoying sound effects quickly become tiresome.

The Wizard of Oz isn't a great, nor even a particularly good, game, but it's not terrible either. The cutesy graphics would probably appeal to little kids, and the simplistic action makes for a pleasant distraction if you're looking for something that goes light on the challenge. It's completely mediocre, but fans of the movie or of "girl games" that don't star Barbie will probably find The Wizard of Oz to be a solid choice.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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