Sub-Terrania

[Melf]

Some games are hard. Not enough to frustrate, but just enough to pose a serious challenge. Other games seek to dominate you completely, and you're feeble skills are no match for their relentless and never-ending onslaught. Sub-Terrania is one such title, and it's a game where there's really no middle ground. You either like it or hate it. Read our full review (http://www.sega-16.com/2006/01/sub-terrania/) to see where we stand.

[Johnny Bukkake]

I bought this one year while on vacation with parents. Was super hard for me at the time. Repurchased it when I decided to start collecting retro games and have enjoyed it alot. I understand it more now.

Excellent game.

[Anathema]

I've never heard of this game but it looks and sounds like a lot of fun! I'm gonna have to get it.

[j_factor]

I hate this game with a seething passion.

[lordofduct]

I heard of this game when it came out... but due to money issues never really played it.

I forgot all about it for years until I moved to FL and meet my friend Brian. He noticed I loved my genesis despite the year being 2000 and started raving about his favorite genny game "sub-terrania".

We checked out all the local game shops and finally got our hands on a copy and I fell in love with the HIGH difficulty... difficulty so freaking high it can drive a man insane with hatred... (j_factor... hehe... j/k)

I have to say for a game that actually created by homebrewers... yes this was actually an independant project that was later picked up by the company who published it. If I recall correctly they actually developed it on illegal dev kits... but they made it legal by hooking up with the publishing company.

I may be wrong about the illegal dev system thing though... but I really do remember something about that being stated in a magazine article I read.

[j_factor]

difficulty so freaking high it can drive a man insane with hatred... (j_factor... hehe... j/k)

:P

I actually like hard games in general -- I used to one-credit Battletoads. This game just... pissed me off.

[Obviously]

I may be wrong about the illegal dev system thing though... but I really do remember something about that being stated in a magazine article I read.

It might very well be a homebrew but I've never heard anything about this personally. I doubt the illegal dev-kit thing is true though because this game was published by Sega itself.

[TwistedReality]

This game is challenging, but not in an unfair manner. The music is excellent, and the graphics are simple but pleasing to the eye. And that boss on level 2 is just cool looking. :)

[vintagegamecrazy]

I just tried this game for the first time today, I really liked what I saw. I only made it to stage 3 but had fun doing so, game play wasn't so hard as figuring out what to do for each objective. This game reminds me of Lunar Lander, Gravitar and Solar Jetman but not nearly as hard as those. I want to post a comment in the review but I want to progress a bit further though. Either way, my review comment will be positive.

[Jesse813]

Good SHMUP, though the controls are kinda lose and it took me a little bit of time to get use to them.

[jerry coeurl]

I hate this game with a seething passion.

I feel ya there, brother. I can't stand this game.

[djshok]

I always used to hate this game back in the 90s. Recently though I started playing it for some odd reason and I like it a lot now. The music is bad ass, sounds like Skinny Puppy. Overall I've been enjoying this game and spent about 3 hours the other playing it, managed to get to like level 3 lol.

[StarMist]

Very, but not exceedingly difficult. I suspect many gamers don't recognize how much the controls may be altered: the d-pad functions may be moved to the buttons; though it unfortunately doesn't support 6 button play. Doing so means, for example, 'thrust' and 'reverse' may be played as 'a' and 'b' rather than 'up' and 'down'. If not for that I wouldn't play it. Actually reminiscent of the bathysphere parts in EWJ, set to 'hard' and with a little grease on the controller.

[sheath]

Sub Terrania was something special to me at the time. I had only ever played one other game like it on a Linux LAN at my High School. That game was made up of Ascii characters, but allowed for at least a dozen players to fly around in the caverns and blast each other. Sub Terrania's missions, bosses, level design, graphics, and especially the physics, really kept me playing. I couldn't muscle through Kid Chameleon all the way, but I could beat Sub Terrania. That pre-rendered ship in the ending sequence was worth every minute, even if I hadn't loved every minute of it.

[Loggo]

I suspect many gamers don't recognize how much the controls may be altered: the d-pad functions may be moved to the buttons; though it unfortunately doesn't support 6 button play. Doing so means, for example, 'thrust' and 'reverse' may be played as 'a' and 'b' rather than 'up' and 'down'. If not for that I wouldn't play it. Actually reminiscent of the bathysphere parts in EWJ, set to 'hard' and with a little grease on the controller.

Yes, that’s the ideal way to play Sub-Terrania, I always change the controls before I start the game.

Sub-Terrania is an excellent title, most people bash it without even getting past its, steep to say the truth, learning curve. The game seems impossible as long as you haven’t mastered it, when you get passed its learning curve what you have is actually an easy to normal difficulty game, but with a hard final world due to the limitations of the 3 button controller .

The controls are absolutely fine, especially if you customize them through the options. The only really hard part of the game is the last world where you have to deal with a very strong gravity and the in water pressure. Personally, whenever I attempt a playthrough I lose 1 or 2 (rarely) times at max. Sometimes I even manage to finish the game without losing at all. I think there are a lot of harder games on the Mega Drive.

The only negative thing about Sub-Terrania is that it doesn't support the 6 button controller. Doing so, would make things a lot easier as the 3 button pad can really make things in the last world a lot harder than they’re supposed to be. Trying to use an item, while dealing with such a strong gravity and water pressure, can make things a nightmare. It’s simply wrong that you have to search through your items, one by one, before you find the one that you’re supposed to use, especially since there are times that you need it at an exact moment.

If they had used the 6 button controller everything would be much easier in the last world. Still, Sub-Terrania is an excellent game. I have also uploaded a playthrough if anyone wants to check it out:

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