Sin and Punishment (N64) Review

A Testament To Its Time-A Sin and Punishment (N64) Review

With the recent announcement of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion pack, I hovered through all the N64 offerings and noticed one odd game out: the previously Japanese only release Sin and Punishment, which prompted me to give it a look. If Nintendo is truly putting this alongside all time classics like Mario 64 and Star fox 64, how does this title hold up?

In short-absolutely.

*Short disclaimer: All captured footage here is recorded in an Emulator running a specialized graphics plugin to both enhance texture resolution as well as add English to all menus. Any graphical glitches are not found in the actual game. If you'd like to experience this enhanced version, check out the graphics plugin here*

A Sneaky Little Classic 

Sin and Punishment is essentially Star Fox but instead of commanding an Arwing you run through levels on the ground in that similar on rails style. Like those games, Sin and Punishment is able to generate these truly incredible set pieces, even incredible when set expectations to our modern standards, and it makes every area memorable. Christ, who could forget taking down several aircraft carriers by reflecting their missiles back at them with well timed melee attacks, or running through a burning meadow as demons swarm around you. It's insane, yet no matter what crazy thing lies around the corner it all feels fair. 

S&P is an arcade game through and through, with credits and everything. If you run out of continues, you'll start all the way back from the start, yet, while I usually hate this, the game is short enough that every time I fully game overed I felt tangible improvement and drive to give it another go. Arguably, I still find problems with this design (it was rightfully abandoned in the sequel on the Wii many years later) but it is forgivable enough here to not annoy me. 

It's a game with quite simple mechanics, you'll shoot at enemies and use a melee move when they get close, but the level and enemy designs were so varied for a game this old that I had such a diverse experience with this world. Feedback and visuals are top notch and stand on the tier of some of the best looking games this system had to offer. Varied level objects in the background that affect the foreground, destructible environments, and enemies with special weak points litter these stages, encouraging mastery and making that replay through a little more bearable after a game over. S&P games are also absolutely overrun with boss fights, each with their own little quirks and gimmicks-all of which were distinct and enjoyable! I loved all the little cinematic finishes to some battles, where a character will lunge at you and you must time an attack to firmly finish them off. 

Another area of note is the time system, which feels a bit before its time for this type of game. Essentially, you have a 99 second timer each stage which you can refill by beating bosses and picking up timer drops, but it reaching zero doesn't mean you lose a life. Instead, your health will slowly drain when it reaches zero, diminishing that frustration a timer can sometimes bring as well as giving you a chance to still win when that clock strikes zero. Instead of sticking to some of the frustrating norms of the arcade genre, S&P instead subverts those expectations to provide something more fun-a trait absolutely not present in the era of games it was made in. 

In a style I have never heard of before, all characters in S&P speak English with Japanese subtitles, despite this game never reaching the west. It was a stylistic choice from what I can sparse together, but it made the plot still understandable despite the rest of the game, menus included, being in Japanese. With a few tweaks in an emulator I was able to circumvent this and play entirely in English, but be warned for those looking to experience this on the switch which will likely not have these options. 

Speaking of plot, I hardly paid attention to it due to how enthralled I was by the gameplay. Fully voice acted cutscenes are all other S&P, and I'm sure there's enough story for anyone here. To everyone else, all cutscenes are completely skippable and are hardly needed to fully enjoy the game. 

My final point of note is the controls, which are fine on an N64 controller but a bit wonky on modern gamepads. The C buttons are used to move with the analog stick for aiming, which is about the best they could do with that strange and unintuitive N64 controller. You can get used to it on normal pads, but without rebinding it may take a few minutes to adjust. Again, if you plan to play it on switch just be mindful that Nintendo may not allow you to rebind them, but on emulator I was able to fix them and have a great time.

Verdict

Sin and Punishment is a classic much in the same ways Mario 64 is-it revolutionizes the genre it is set in for an unforgettable experience. It may take a little bit of tweaking to get playing in English but in terms of gameplay it is an all time classic, absolutely worth your time. 

9.5/10-A Surprising Gem of its Era