Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
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Snake Rattle 'n' Roll is a video game by Rare for the NES[1] in which you control snakes through geographically diverse levels with the hopes of eating enough balls to open the gate to the next level.
In each level, you have to avoid obstacles, traps, giant feet, fish, anvils, Spikes of Doom, etc. on your quest to eat balls and become fat. Once you're heavy enough (or, in a two-player game, you and your friend are heavy enough combined), you can continue on to the scale, trip it to open the level gate, and go inside, only to repeat the process on the next level. Along the way you can collect power-ups that increase your speed or the length of your tongue.
Tropes used in Snake Rattle 'n' Roll include:
- Bonus Level of Hell: The extra level in the Genesis version, although you don't have to do anything special to get to it (besides beat the game, although some would argue that's pretty damn special by itself).
- Contemptible Cover: This is the boxart for all releases. It's worth noting that that's pretty much exactly what the game looks like in action, however.
- Depth Perplexion: The level design and drop shadows do a pretty good job of making it obvious how enemies relate to one another, but this can still happen, most infamously on level 5 where the balls sprout wings and fly freely around.
- The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: On Level 4, you can lead an anvil onto the switch, allowing you to complete the level without eating a single ball.
- Difficulty Spike: Levels 7 and up make the first half of the game look like cake.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Your snakes go on a rampage through many different lands, killing everything in sight. Why? Ice Foot stole your flag.
- Fake Difficulty: Precision platforming + lack of depth perception = Platform Hell.
- Goomba Stomp: You can do it to some enemies, but more commonly it's being done to you.
- Guide Dang It: About midway through Level 6:
- There is a hole.
- It shoots bells out.
- The bells kill you if they land on you.
- Sometimes, a fish tail will come out.
- The fish tail also kills you if it lands on you.
- But if you touch it after it lands, it disappears and you don't die.
- There is no visible indication of this, but you now have the ability to swim up waterfalls.
- There is a waterfall nearby.
- Swim up it.
- It's worth mentioning at this point that none of this is spelled out in gameplay, and there's a (rather strict) time limit in figuring it out.
- Invincible Minor Minion: The Christmas tree monsters in Level 7 can technically be killed, but they require so many hits it's usually not worth it.
- Isometric Projection
- Nintendo Hard: Just read down the list of attributes on that page. They're all present.
- One-Hit Kill: Being Goomba Stomped.
- Parabolic Power Curve: The wind-up key. In theory: a helpful speed boost. In practice: an amusing way to kill yourself.
- Punny Name: Bigfoot. Not Sasquatch, he's just a big foot.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Levels 9 and 10.
- Spikes of Doom
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: A few minor examples.
- Levels 6 and 7 do not have any balls. Level 6 simply requires you to get to the end gate; level 7 does have a scale, but you don't need any weight to trip it, you just have to get to it.
- Level 8 goes through four underwater pools.
- And level 11 is a straight-up boss battle, something the previous levels had lacked (Bigfoot is more of a miniboss).
- What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Did we mention there's a level where you have to put on a fish tail and swim up a waterfall? Because there's totally a level where you have to put on a fish tail and swim up a waterfall.
