Serpent (video game)

In the future, there is a sport called Serpent. Two fighters in serpentine robotic machines try to box each other in to win the fight. The serpents are detailed in the fact that they aren't just a line, giving a greater sense of realism to the game. Each snake has a fixed number of lives; with losing a life being a representation of "losing the war." The "game over" message is a simple message saying "the bitter taste of defeat" with an animated picture of a snake crying and accompanied by a melancholic music in a waltz rhythm.

There are two modes with four difficulty levels; level 1 is considered to be the easiest (normal speed and enemy performance) while level 4 is the hardest (fast speed and enemies are likely to cheat death). The first mode allows players to simply compete against an opponent while the second mode brings in a series of small snakes that emerge when players take too long conquering a level.^[2] Missiles can be launched when the player collects them on the field. White numbers help the player develop a longer body while black numbers make the body shorter.^[3]

Missiles can either make the enemy faster (black missiles) or slower (white missiles). Winning 7 of the 13 possible matches automatically makes the player into the "champion of serpents.^[2]"

Serpent was developed by Dual and published by Taxan in the United States.^[4] It was released for the Game Boy in Japan on April 6, 1990.^[5] It was released for the American market in November 1990.^[6]

In Famicom Tsūshin, the four reviewers commented on the game. Two found it similar to earlier title such as Snake Byte (1982) and Taito's Replicart  [jp] (1987).^[5] Martin Gaksch of Power Play  [de] also commented on its similarity to earlier titles, summarizing that "No idea is too old for a Game Boy port."^[9] The reviewers in Famicom Tsūshin 'generally found the game not very exciting as a single-player game, but grew more fun when played in the two-player mode.^[5] Sandra Alter of Aktueller Software Markt made similar comments that the game quickly grew dull as a single player game and only maintained interest as a two-player title.^[7]

A number of reviewers reviewers found the controls clunky or hard to get a hold of.^{[5][9][8][10]} Alter found the graphics lacking innovation and that the gameplay changes as the game went on were too minute.^[7] Gaksch echoed that the items somewhat liven up the gameplay, summarizing that it was not a bad game, just far too expensive for what it offered players.^[9]

• List of Game Boy games