Dennis the Menace

"Purple cats, more purple cats, AHHHHHHHHH more Purple Cats!!!!!!"

Dennis the Menace for the SNES is a very average game that is supposedly based on the hit movie somehow. In it you must collect coins strewn out throughout huge levels. Don’t be fooled this gets very hard very fast. You’ll have to look long and far for each levels coins. Sometimes you’ll even have to hit a switch before you can find some of the coins. But you may not get far in your search for the game coins, thanks to its extremely frustrating enemies, that reappear almost as fast as you kill them. It’s extremely frustrating. Add the time limit factor and you’re in for a lot of playtime, because of so many cheap deaths.

Dennis has very few weapons. His inventory is limited to a slingshot, a peashooter and a useless water gun. You’ll eventually discover the slingshot is just about your only hope, which makes the game less fun. The level designs don’t really help either; they don’t look like anything there supposed to. Why is Dennis in a Boiler Room anyway? Lame. The few boss fights add a little variety to the game and are actually quite fun. But by the time you get fairly far in this game, its game over, or in other words back to level one, thanks to the cheap deaths, from stupid enemies like cats, and footballs.

One of Menaces stronger features is its graphics. The nice backgrounds really add to the game, and the animation is pretty topnotch as well. The graphics were better than most platformers on the SNES. The sound isn’t as good most enemies have the same lame sound effects when you see them and when you kill them. The first few levels spring noises will drive you insane. When Dennis gets hit he lets out an annoying “oof”; squeaks from enemies are also quite common and annoying. The music is quite catchy though. You most likely will be humming these tunes long after you’ve turned your SNES off. There is even some voice on the title screen of Dennis saying “Hey Mr. Wilson!” Funny the first time you hear it but that’s about it.

If you ever beat this game, you will most likely never want to go back to it. There is absolutely no reason to. You beat it and that’s it. No new secrets open up, no new modes open up, and you get nothing except the satisfaction of beating a very hard game. Huge platformer fans should give Dennis a shot, others should rent it and then move on.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/03, Updated 06/05/03