
The Great Giana Sisters [Amiga]


Wow, just get a load of of that cover art. It's almost as if the box art for Mega Man had a sister ... and she didn't care too much for wearing bras. This game is a bit notorious as being a straight rip-off of Super Mario Bros., but that's plainly ridiculous. You see these sisters aren't super; they're great. They're not brothers with vaguely Italian sounding names, they're sisters ... with vaguely Italian sounding names. No but in all actuality, this game really does steal most of it's mechanics from Super Mario Bros. So much so in fact that Nintendo pressured the publisher into pulling it from European store shelves in 1987. This of course has added to the game's mystique as a sought after collectible in subsequent years.
Although The Great Giana Sisters copies a lot of SMB mechanics in terms of power-ups, smashable bricks, and hop & bop elements; in terms of game feel it seems weirdly reminiscent of early Alex Kidd. Drifty jumps and rather sluggish movement rule the day here. I do need to make mention of the music which is fantastic. There are only two songs, but they're both great. Full disclaimer: I'm a bit of a sucker for the weird jingly-jangly space-disco synthesizer found in a lot of Amiga games. Your mileage may vary I suppose.



I'll have a full Games Beaten review forthcoming, but so as not to keep y'all in suspense, this game is ... okay. It's good, plain, unremarkable fun. Other than one particular late game spike in difficulty, this is entry level platformer material. Literally if you've beaten almost any other side-scroller from this era, The Great Giana Sisters should give you no trouble.