Speedy Gonzales in Los Gatos Bandidos
Platform: Super NES
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Gamepad
Genre: Platformer
Release Year: 1995
Developer: Sunsoft
Publisher: Sunsoft
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"Caramba!"

Most Looney Tunes afuciandos agree that Speedy Gonzales is one of the worst Looney Tunes characters of all time. Why Nintendo decided to make a game starring the miserable little rodent is beyond me. I would rather play a game starring Pepe Le Pew.

The story is that a bunch of peasant mice have been kidapped by Sylvester and some of his feline henchmen, and placed them in cages scattered all over the countryside (and beyond). Why they just didn't lock them all away in one spot is beyond me. You, as Speedy, must race through the levels, dodging enemies and jumping ledges, saving as many mice as you can.

Speedy runs as fast as he can, jumping over pits, collecting pieces of cheese, finding the occasional mouse and bouncing off of springs. Sound familiar? You bet it is! It is a direct steal of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and while it looks much prettier, the flavour that made it a success is missing. The level are large mazes, in which you'll either get lost immidiately or finish before you know where you are. Speedy must also fight the occasional boss, which ranges from an-orangutan-could-do-this to what-happened-to-all-my-hair.

GRAPHICS: At least it looks nice. Speedy is nice and large, and he makes some cute expressions, like when he drinks hot sauce and breathes fire, and humourous animations, like when he gets squashed flat, frozen solid, or electrocuted. The enemies look good, even though they don't always make sense. (What ARE those orange heads?)

CONTROL: Speedy's only weapon is a kick, which takes a second to wind up and has almost no range. You'll find yourself crashing into enemies a lot. Speedy takes quite a while to get up to speed, and jumping is tiresome, as you'll overshoot or come up short of your destination.

SOUND: Speedy says ''Arriba! Arriba!'' in a scratchy voice that sounds nothing like him. There is annoying MIDI music, and when your (pointless) score is tallied, it plays an annoying tone that is 3 times louder than it should be. The only sound effect that sticks in my mind is the sound of polar bears belching when you bounce on their bellies.

There is one more annoyance that I feel deserves its own mention. Load time. In a SNES game? I'm not kidding. You start a level and are informed how many mice there are to find in the level. The screen goes black. Hmm... nothing's happening. Ah! The music is starting! Hmm... it's still a black screen. Ah! Here we are! THIS IS NOT A PC GAME and there is not enough in this game to justify slow load time.

This game is for pre-schoolers and die-hard Speedy fans only.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/00, Updated 11/07/00

Tips:

Extra Continues
When the Sunsoft logo appears, press A, L, R, B, A, L, R, B. If it worked, you should see a blue screen with text.

Reviewer: RClock
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/review/R12668.html
