Super Battleship Review

Judging from the title, one could be forgiven thinking this is a cheap board game knockoff. However, this gem features 16 missions with turn based maneuvers, and real time combat.

Let's look at the mission called Mosquito Boat Attack as an example. Mission objectives are stated at the beginning, and you only have so many rounds to complete them. Each round is divided into turns- yours, and the enemies. For this mission the objective is to sink the enemy fleet. This fleet consists of the patrol boats Perth and Ganges, as well as the Battleship Eagle. Charging the Eagle with your little patrol boats can seem daunting. Without good planning your ships will collide and sink. And if one of them gets too far ahead it can find itself on its own.

During your turn you have the option to fire upon your opponent. Accuracy affects whether you will hit. If you do, battle begins and the game switches to surface combat mode.

Eagle has your puny boats severely outgunned and outclassed. Just 2 hits from her mighty guns are enough to send you to Davy Jones Locker.

I quickly fire several shots around the base of her flag mast. This is usually enough to knock out her fire control. Then I blast her bow and stern guns for good measure, and finally immobilize her with a shot to her boiler. Time to switch to torpedoes, full spread. 4 fish go screaming toward her. Once they impact I switch to deck guns. Pepper her systems so she's a charred wreck, remembering to save some ammo if we need to defend ourselves from Perth and Ganges. Press Start, then select to exit combat mode. Choose another patrol boat, engage the Eagle. Loose 4 more fish into her belly. Finish her off with the deck guns. She goes down to Davy Jones Locker, taking a lot of good men with her. We are back in maneuver mode, and the game plays taps for the valiant crew of the B.B. Eagle...

All of this and more is packed into a 16 bit cartridge from the 1990's. I'd get into Minefields, Submarine hunts, cruise missiles, shore batteries, island control, and in-mission resupply but this review is already long enough.

I believe Super Battleship is a turn based masterpiece that graced the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. We were fortunate to have gotten such an immersive naval combat game that bordered on being a simulator, complete with damage effects that in my opinion rival Metal Warriors. If you've never played it, I highly recommend giving Super Battleship a try.