Talk:Snake Rattle 'n' Roll

Release date

Does anyone know the official release date of this game?

According to Rareware's website it was 1990, but various other websites and this original article say it was 1991. The game itself is copyright 1989. th1rt3en 02:03, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Well the game says 1993 --201.241.39.165 (talk) 01:49, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

No, that's the Mega Drive version. If Rare's website says 1990, we should go with that. Unless someone can find concrete proof that it was released in 1989. --Mika1h (talk) 17:22, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

This has to be one of the best games I've ever played. - Fan

Questions

A couple of quick comments/questions about the article. There is a lot of interesting information, but there isn't a ton of context. The soundtrack is mentioned (the same comment twice), but not truly discussed (aren't most oldies not on the radio?). The picture says Mattel but the article doesn't mention the company. The sequel was released by Tradewest, was it developed by them or Rare? Why was he trying to make the game as small as possible? Why does it say NINTENDO GAMEBOY? Does the Sega version that mention Snakes in Space? "Gregg Mayles, in his first job with Rare" who is this, and does this mean that he has worked for them again, or is this his first job ever? I think the article is off to a good start, and I especially like that there are several reviews (which aren't common on NES articles). I just think some of the info needs context, and more soundtrack info would be nice. ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 08:13, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Let me try to address the questions one at a time here:

• There are oldies stations on the radio, still. Back in the 80s/90s this consisted mostly of music from the 50s and 60s (whereas today many are beginning to consider music from the 70s and 80s as "oldies"). However, as time progressed, the old music starts to get played less and less frequently to the point where they are no longer played; such is the case with music from the early 50s (such as "Shake Rattle and Roll". That was what the source was implying there.
• I know Mattel assisted in the release of some games for the NES, especially outside the U.S. However, despite what it says on the box itself, I am not seeing that Mattel published the game anywhere, and Nintendo's official list has Nintendo down as the game's publisher.
• If I recall correctly (and also by cheating by looking at the Tradewest article), Tradewest was more or less Rare's "publishing arm", as they published several games throughout the 90s. This also happened with Battletoads.
• Here's the quote directly from the Retro Gamer interview, in which I think Rare wanted to see how little space they can put into a substantive 8-bit NES game:

"Actually, I think where the IP came from was Mark's idea of how we could get a game onto the smallest capacity cartridge possible, and he came up with this idea of how to do the backgrounds very cheaply, with limited storage. Then, having done this simplistic background style, he thought about how we could get something to move around on it, and it just evolved into a snake."

• I don't know why the developer/programmer made the one level spell out "NINTENDO GAMEBOY", and I couldn't find anything that explains why they did. All I could find right now is that is what it says, according to level layout maps. That being said, I won't lose that much sleep if that small blurb gets removed (just figured it was a neat little "easter egg" to include in there).
• The Mega Drive version does not mention the "Snakes in Space" quip at the end or while going to the final level. Keep in mind that this version was released in 1993 – three years after the NES version and two years after the Game Boy version; hence, it's possible that this was Rare's intent. However, we cannot make such a conclusion that the last level of the Mega Drive version was due to the "Snakes in Space" motif without a reliable source to back that up. (And we cannot make that conclusion ourselves, as that is original research.)
• The source says that Snake Rattle 'n' Roll was the first game Mayles tested at Rare. This would be consistent with what we have in our article on him (which I just found that we had), which said he started working at Rare in 1990. He eventually became the company's Creative Director and also was one of the main designers of the Donkey Kong Country games.

That's about all I can address right now, given the sources that I have. It's a little more difficult to provide more context than what we currently have, but I think there is some structure and substance now that was previously missing. –MuZemike 06:42, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

Hey thanks, this article is really good considering the age of the game and lack of resources. I'm really tempted to either mention that it was published by Mattel in PAL regions (as is clearly implied by the box), or replace the box art with the NA version. ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 22:12, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

It seems certain that the game was published in Oceania by Mattel. I can't find an actual ref for it other than the box, and the fact the many/most NES games were published by Mattel in the area during that time (that business was eventually taken over by Nintendo Australia). Hmm... ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 22:10, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps the cover is an Australian cover and not necessary European; here is a European picture of the cartridge without the Mattel logo, and I'm sure this cover is also PAL but not by Mattel (as the U.S. boxart has the red trim on top with "Nintendo Entertainment System" in black letters). If that's the case, then that makes sense, as Mattel assisted in the production and marketing of Nintendo products in Australia; IIRC they also did in Europe for a while, but then Nintendo took over. –MuZemike 22:50, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

I took a screenshot of Sneaky Snakes and placed it on the page. I tried to get as much into one shot as I could; it's pretty hard to avoid an axe and stay near the scale while switching back-and-forth to the menu to hit "screenshot". Let me know if there is any issue with it. ▫ JohnnyMrNinja 06:06, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Hmm, I'm not sure that image is necessary; if anything, we could probably use a better screenshot of the NES game that shows more stuff to replace the current one, but I think an additional Game Boy image is not telling readers much anything else than what is already explained in the prose (i.e. that the game is 2D and not isometric, and that it's for the Game Boy) which would end up consequently failing WP:NFCC. –MuZemike 23:01, 8 February 2011 (UTC)