Pirates of Dark Water (Video Game Review)

Pirates of Dark Water
Video Game Review
Super Nintendo
1994
Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft

The Super Nintendo had a couple of genres that were oversaturated. The beat-em-up category was one of them. There isn’t a place for mediocre brawlers on the system. Sunsoft tried to do what other companies had been able to do with licenses like Ninja Turtles and Batman had done and take a television/movie license and turn it into a good side-scrolling beat-em-up. The problem was that Pirates of Dark Water wasn’t all that great a game and it was based on a TV show that didn’t have all that large an audience. It’s one of those forgotten games on the SNES that is probably best left to obscurity.

On his deathbed, King Primus reveals to his son the danger of an ooze-like substance called Dark Water and that he needs to save both his home Octopon and the his planet Mer, from destruction. The only way to prevent the Dark Water from being used for evil is to collect all the Treasures of Rule. However, the evil pirate Bloth wants to use the Dark Water for his own misdeeds and seeks out the Treasures of Rule for himself. With his mates Ioz and Tula, Ren sets out on a search to find the treasures before Bloth does and his home and the planet become no more.

You get to pick from three characters, Ioz (the brute), Tula (the woman), and Ren (the hero). Aside from looking different and having their own special attack, they don’t have much personality unless you’re familiar with the television show. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses but they’re so inconsequential that it doesn’t make much of a difference. There are eight levels which are decently sized. The levels do change environments so the scenery does feel refreshed as one progresses through the level.

The character progresses along a horizontal plane from left-to-right. There are some platforming elements where jumping is required and obstacles need to be avoided but the core of the gameplay is beat-em-up action not unfamiliar to games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. The d-pad controls the movement and also, depending on which directions are pressed, what type of attack will be used when pressing the either one of the two action button. There is also another button used for a special attack that delivers a more crippling blow but also takes away some of the health from the player.

The graphics look fine as the sprites look good and the stages are nicely detailed. There are problems at times when the foreground interferes with the action. There isn’t much slowdown during some of the more intense action scenes; the horsepower under the hood of the SNES handles multiple enemies just fine.

The music and sound effects are quite lame. The music in each level is bland and plays on a constant loop. It adds nothing to the game and, at times, begs the player to turn off the volume from the game and listen to the radio or a stereo. The sound effects aren’t horrible but they don’t do what they’re supposed to do; enhance the game experience. They’re forgettable but thankfully not annoying.

At best it feels like a Final Fight clone. Actually, it’s more adequate to call it a rip-off in that there are many enemy characters that seem to have been directly lifted from the series. Since it copies a lot from one of the best brawlers of the 16-bit era, it has a few things going for it. There are plenty of enemies on screen and there is more than enough different ways you can subdue all your opponents. However, playing this game kind of sours you on the entire genre since it is inferior to most games of this type.

The platforming is the worst part. Trying to make jumps over bottomless pits is unnecessarily difficult and an exercise in futility. The worst is trying to cross a narrow pathway surrounded by pits only for something to knock you in. Anywhere there are pits you’re mostly likely going to suffer at least one cheap death, if not several. The controls feel too stiff for both a platformer and a beat-em-up. At times, it’s just easier to mash the buttons on the control pad rather than try any sort of technique.

Sunsoft’s Pirates of Dark Water is a bad example of a genre that dominated the 16-bit landscape. It plays horribly and doesn’t feel enticing enough for a player to want to play the game any longer than for a few minutes. You’ll get more out of your time reading this review than you will playing the game. It’s an obscure game; let’s keep it that way.

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