A playthrough of Electro Brain's 1993 action game for the Super NES, Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D. Played through on the default difficulty level. Jim Power is a real throwback to the computer platformers of the late 1980s, and it's an utterly fantastic game. There are definitely some aspects of it that limit its appeal, but if you cut your teeth on this style of game, playing Jim Power will really feel like a huge, warm, nostalgic hug. It was developed by Loricel, a company that was virtually unknown in the US, but produced many games for European computer platforms. The game shares many elements with Contra III, especially in switching between run-and-jump and top-down shooter stage styles, but its pacing is so different that they feel competely different from one another. Jim Power is often savaged by critics for its difficulty level, and the difficulty is probably its single biggest initial barrier to anyone looking to play. While it's by no means impossible to finish, I guarantee you won't best it your first, fifth, and probably even the tenth time playing. One hit kills, limited continues, and a huge reliance on memorizing enemy locations demands that your playing nears perfection. It's not forgiving in the slightest, and it makes no apologies, but with dedicated practice, you will makr progress. I love fair, challenging games, and Jim Power refuses to lie down for anyone, but never cheats you - when you die, it's your fault. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say it realisitically lies somewherr between Battletoads and Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (even "borrowing certain elements from the latter - note the stage 1 mini-boss, the map screen, and the last boss!). Be warned! The presentation is the real attention-grabber, and seems to really divide opinions. The game's 3D graphics, like those of Orb 3D on the NES, rely on a phenomenon called the Pulfrich effect: if you lessen the light one eye receives but not the other, it creates a slight delay in your brain's ability to process what the darkened eye is seeing. This delay can be exploited to produce an effective illusion of 3D, with the caveat that it works solely with horizontal motion. The background uses several layers of parallax scrolling to create a contrast in movement to define the 3D - the need to provide this contrast is the reason for the backgrounds often scrolling in the opposite direction from what you'd expect. It's a bit disorienting at first, but you won't notice it after awhile without the glasses - with the glasses, it creates a pretty awesome, dramatic effect - but it will strain your eyes before too long. If you want to see the game in 3D, just take an old pair of sunglasses and punch out one of the lenses - it'll look just like it's supposed to. Beyond the 3D gimmick, I thought the graphics were excellent. It looks just like the high-end Amiga title its based on but with more color. It's incredibly smooth, detailed, and many effects like scaling and rotation really impress here. The soundtrack is probably my favorite aspect of the entire experience: Chris Hülsbeck (best known for Turrican) really impresses with his compositions (even if the first stage sounds just like Wanderers from Ys), and the samples come pretty close to Amiga quality - an amazing feat given the SPU's memory limitations. Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D is very much an acquired taste, but anyone that can get into it is sure to love it. ____ No cheats were used during the recording of this video. NintendoComplete (
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