Super Aquatic Games Starring the Aquabats, The

Super Nintendo · 1993 · US

Also known as: James Pond's Crazy Sports · The Super Aquatic Games Starring the Aquabats (US)

Publisher: Sales Curve · Developer: Millennium Interactive · Genre: Sports

Conceived partly as an Olympics tie-in, and partly as a stop-gap for James Pond fans (the third platform title in the series (Operation Starfish) was in the process of being heavily delayed, eventually being released in 1994), this game saw Pond and friends competing in the underwater Olympics. Most events had some sort of twist to them, to make them fit the underwater theme, or the style of humour seen in the James Pond series. The 100-metre-splash is similar to joystick-waggling games of the 80s but also involves making timed jumps to hit seagulls. More unusual is Kipper Watching, which involves 'heading' incoming beach balls away from a troop of sleeping seals. There's also gymnastics, unicycle-riding, and a hurdles race of sorts. The events can be played by up to 4 players.