Super Turrican 2 (1995)

Pulling out all the stops, Super Turrican 2 not only trumps its predecessor on the SNES with a far better game in every respect, but even lives up to the rest of the series in packing the tried and true Mega Turrican style with fantastic set pieces.

Shipwrecked in a realm devastated by the Machine, the player in their Turrican assault suit must once again reboot themselves into another battle against evil. All the aspects of Mega Turrican are here, with the grappling hook more snappy and easy to use and the freeze beam returning from Super Turrican, allowing for some versatile use instead of simply running and gunning. There are four shots (spread, laser, cling, flamethrower) and the wheel mode also returns. Also present are vehicle and shooting segments, which blow even the Turrican II segments out of the water with fast cycling, gorgeous Mode 7 scrolling, and a shootout on the surface of the sun.

Speaking of gorgeous, this game looks AMAZING. Inside the maw of a giant worm, back on the surface of that sun, and under the depths of the ocean all look great. The music is also fantastic, with some triumphant themes on the sand worms and some good ambiance underwater.

As for those set pieces, Super Turrican 2 has some of the most engaging action sequences and bosses, from a shootout on top of giant worms into the maw of a giant worm to a maze of airlocks and swirling down a whirlpool into a fight with a giant manta ray, to the showdown with The Machine himself. All of it is tough but controls great, which is all we need for the Turrican series to be.

Super Turrican 2 is a last hurrah of sorts as we haven't seen another official Turrican game since, but it certainly went out with a bang, evolving from janky to jewel over the course of the series.

Super Turrican 2, for SNES

Rating: 7.8/10; Good

In this sequel it is not clear if you play as the protagonist from the first game, though the power armor suit you wear looks quite different. The game is a 2D side view shooter/platformer just like the first game, though there are a number of changes. The aimable freeze ray has been replaced by a grappling hook, which can be used to grab power ups and attach to walls and ceilings. As a consequence, most of the platforming involves using that hook to get around, rather than the annoying pixel perfect far jumps of the first game. You are still able to morph into a ball like in Metroid, though it is limited by an energy resource and is best used to avoid damage. There is now a fourth type of weapon (a flamethrower), which is interesting, though there is also a missile powerup which shoots missiles when you shoot your normal gun and seems ripped straight from other sidescroller flying shooters.

There are a few new styles of levels. 3D autoscrolling sequences where you are driving a hover bike, which were well done. One level is a topdown autoscrolling bike level that I did not like because of the autoscrolling, which makes it hard to properly deal with the level’s enemies and hazards. The worst part of the game is by far the 2D underwater bike level. It plays more like the standard game, except you are on a bike and have full vertical movement. The problem with that level is that it is a large area with multiple objectives and the entire level looks the same and is thus difficult to navigate due to lack of a map. This is one level where the time limit might come into play. Even worse, I missed one of the objectives and went to the entrance to the next area, only to find that my bike disappeared and I was unable to go back. That is game breaking.

The game has a fairly good story with text between most levels, and even some animated cutscenes. It also has highly unique and epic (though still highly scripted) boss fights, especially the ones that make use of the grappling hook.

It is overall a little better and longer than the original game, though that underwater level is a blemish.