Game Info --------------------------------------------------- Developer: Sculptured Software Publisher: raya Systems Year of Release: 1992 Game Review & Impressions --------------------------------------------------- Aliens disguised as sugary foods have captured the mayor of Pineville, and it's up to Captain Novolin to rescue him! Leaping maniac donuts and dodging ice cream blobs, Captain Novolin must save Mayor Gooden while managing his diabetes with a good diet, insulin, and exercise. It's an action-packed adventure that teaches you about diabetes management! Or at least that's how the blurb on the back of the box describes this really weird entry in the back-catalogue of Super NES games. Captain Novolin is an "edutainment" product, designed as an informational resource to help youngsters with diabetes manage their condition. It's very much centred on the importance on maintaining a healthy diet, insulin management and other diabetes-related information, wrapped up in a basic side-scrolling game. It stars Captain Novolin -- "Crusader for Juvenile Diabetes" --, who must keep a close on his blood sugar levels whilst saving the mayor of Pineville from a bunch of aliens masquerading as sugary junk food. Novolin is actually the brand name for insulin, produced by Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, so I'm guessing some form of sponsorship and cash changed hands as part of the development. A number of sites and articles take a fairly snarky attitude to the game: while Superman can shoot lasers from his eyes and the Phantom has the power of 10 tigers, Captain Novolin has no discernible powers, only diabetes. The fact the first words out of Novolin's mouth to practically everyone he meets in the game is "I have diabetes" also comes across as rather ridiculous, but to give the game credit, it actually does a good job at highlighting key points about living with -- and managing -- diabetes. Managing sugar intake, avoiding hypo and hyperglycaemic attacks, testing your sugar levels, the game covers it all. I'm sure experts in the medical field can find all manner of issues, and it's value as an actual game is questionable, especially when considering the cost of your typical cartridge-based SNES game, but at a time when games were cosying up to Chupa Chups and McDonalds, I can't help but admire Captain Novolin's intent, even if it is a bit naff. Chapters --------------------------------------------------- TBC
