Retro Game Review: Silver Surfer (NES) - Does it live up to its reputation?

Some games are remembered for their classic gameplay, others for their great graphics. Silver Surfer is largely remembered for two primary things — its amazing soundtrack and the absurd difficulty. While games like Contra and Ninja Gaiden are often the first games someone brings up when they’re talking about “NES hard”, Silver Surfer definitely needs a seat at the bar.

_{^{Image source: original photo by Retro Room}}

I’ve been putting it off, but its time. Let’s take a look at Silver Surfer on the NES.

_{^{Image source: User CB Network on YouTube}}

The game quickly throws you into the action with no story elements after you hit start on the title screen. I’m sure there’s a story in there somewhere, but let’s be honest — who gives a crap about the story in this game. Its about desperately trying to stay alive.

You take control of the titular character as he flies through a side-scrolling landscape filled with deadly fish, frogs and lizards. The first stage is split into two “paths” on the same screen — the top features flying enemies and turrets while in the bottom you must contend with fast and deadly fish.

Silver Surfer begins the game with a single shot that can later be upgraded with satellites that behave sort of like the options from the Gradius series. By default, it fires forwards to give you a double shot, but it can be oriented to fire down or in reverse to defend against jumping enemies from below and those who might rush you from the rear. Additional powerups can be picked up to increase the power of your shots, but there’s nothing in the way of creative weapon types. Its all just standard bullets.

_{^{Image source: User CB Network on YouTube}}

For one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe, the video game version of Silver Surfer is absurdly weak. A cream puff. Not only is this Godlike entity easily taken down by colliding with a frog, but touching anything will kill him. Bump into a rock…DEAD. Bump into a building…DEAD. Bump into the ground…DEAD. Bump into a freaking rubber duck...DEAD. Yes, a freaking rubber duck.

To make matters worse, his hit box is very large, so you need to stay far away from any hazards.

If you manage to complete the first stage, you’re then taken to the second level which switches to an overhead perspective. While I appreciate the change to break up the gameplay, this introduces even more difficulty. The problem with his hit box was bad in the side scrolling levels, but his sprite is larger here, which makes him an even bigger target. Thankfully, your extra turrets spread your firepower out in a spread formation in these levels, giving you a wide swath of destruction out in front of you.

_{^{Image source: User CB Network on YouTube}}

The game does feature a nice variety of stages, from Earth-like environments to stages that look like Roman ruins. There’s also a lot of variety in the enemies, but what they do is often not that interesting. After you complete the first level, which is broken down into three individual stages, you can pick the next level you want to attempt, Mega Man-style.

The controls are adequate and never hindered the experience, but the amount of enemies they throw at you combined with the fragile Silver Surfer and his big hit box make this game more frustrating than fun.

_{^{Image source: User CB Network on YouTube}}

The visuals in Silver Surfer are fairly average, with a lot of variety in enemies and stages, but all the sprites seem to be awkwardly drawn. Everything just looks off and gives it a low-budget or amateur feeling. There’s some nice animated backgrounds in some places, while others have a boring, solid black void. It works well on some levels and underperforms in others.

The real star of this game though is the music. Composer Tim Follin has squeezed an amazing, high energy soundtrack out of the NES that seems like it shouldn’t be possible. Compared to other games of the era, this is truly on a different level. He has a very unique style that you can hear in some of the other games of the era that he composed, but he was at his best here. Its a shame that this amazing soundtrack is saddled with such a mediocre game. As for sound effects, I honestly don’t know if there is any. All I hear is the music, so if there are sounds in this game they’re very minimal. To be fair, I think Follin probably tied up every available sound channel for his soundtrack.

_{^{Image source: User CB Network on YouTube}}

Silver Surfer is a frustrating game on several levels. It could have been an above average game with some minor tweaks to the gameplay, more weapon variety, a health bar instead of one-hit kills and improved graphics. Its also sad to see what I consider to be the greatest soundtrack on the NES attached to such a disappointing game. I’ll suggest this game to anyone who wants to experience the soundtrack and wants a serious challenge, but for most gamers I think that looking up the OST on YouTube is probably preferable to playing the game itself. The relatively high price tag is another deterrent from actually owning this game, unless you really just want it for your collection.

Current value:

Loose: $20.00 | Complete: $52.00

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!

^{Cover Image Source: MobyGames}