The SuperNintendo. Such an incredibly good console with such a legendary output that everyone immediately has images of absolute classic games in mind as soon as the name is mentioned. We think back to Super Mario World, Castlevania 4, Super Metroid or Donkey Kong Country and lose ourselves in pleasant 16-bit nostalgia. But we often forget that there were other really good games on the SNES in addition to all the classics that still appear in pretty much every leaderboard even today. They were only pushed out of our glorified memories by all the mega highlights. Today we would like to introduce you to one of these perhaps not perfect, but still really good gems for the Super Nintendo: The Firemen.
Actually, it’s quite surprising that there are so few firefighter-themed video games when so many kids are said to want to be a firefighter one day, and most of those games aren’t that great either. However, The Firemen, which was released in Japan in 1994 and in Europe and Australia in 1995, took a refreshing approach to the subject. On the one hand, the title from Human Entertainment confronts the players with really tricky situations and puts them under pressure with a time limit. On the other hand, The Firemen is a fun action game with a cute graphic style that doesn’t take itself too seriously. But let’s focus on the story first.
The Firemen in Retro Special (3)
Source: PC Games
The ash snow falls quietly
In 2010, which was still a long way from the game’s release, a fire broke out at the Christmas party of the chemical company Metrotech. As if that weren’t enough, the building also stores a highly explosive chemical called MDL. The fire brigade immediately arrives and sends their most capable firefighters into the burning house. While colleagues Max and Walter are out in another part of the building to put out the fires, we take on the role of operations manager Pete Grey, who, together with his partner Daniel McClean, penetrates into the most dangerous part of Metrotech. There are still sporadic people in the building who need to be extricated and the entire building is at risk of being blown up due to the MDL chemical. Luckily, Frank Weller, the architect of the facility, radios us and guides our protagonists through the flaming hell.
The Firemen in Retro Special (8)
Source: PC Games
But that all sounds a bit more exciting than it actually is. The story is told via radio messages in text form and is just about functional. Nevertheless, the presentation of the adventure is quite successful. There are occasional cutscenes of Pete and Danny narrowly escaping an explosion, and the dialogue is amusing at times. For example, our fireman argues. B. with the architect, how one could design such a house at all, whereupon Frank Weller then got a bit snapped. The threat of fire and explosion is not conveyed in a serious way, but the conversations are at least fun. Finally, the gameplay isn’t exactly realistic either. Even the finale of the game, where Pete and Danny have only one last chance to save the building and numerous lives, is not very exciting.
