Genre: Isometric
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1990
Basic Idea: Eat uh…balls until your snake is long enough and heavy enough to ring the bell on the high striker. Or, alternatively, die a lot.
Review: As usual with games by Rare, the presentation is stunning. The isometric graphics are a treat to look at even today. The music is catchy. Enemies are entertaining, ranging from giant feet to giant teeth. And the color scheme is gorgeous. Also, as usual with games by Rare, the gameplay is quite maddening. Not only are the graphics isometric, but the controls are as well (i.e. the four cardinal directions always move you diagonally). The controls are also slippery, making falling off ledges as easy as falling off logs.
I imagine if I had owned this game as a kid, I would have played the hell out of it and gotten used to the controls. What would have frustrated me, even then, was the fact each level has a time limit. Seriously? This game is hard enough as it is. The time limit just takes the game from difficult to cruel.
Death By Troggles 
Time limits are so asinine (again, a holdover from the arcade that should have been left there). Why not just remove the time limit, but have a “ten best times” list to separate the best?
I never played this, but I vividly remember hating the title.
I think time limit would make more sense if there was logical reason within the game for there to be a time limit. Like, the princess will die if you don’t get there fast enough. At least then I have motivation other than “the game says so.”
I probably ranked this too high, but I have trouble ranking Rare’s games because usually there is so much I love and hate about them simultaneously.
Yeah, it always bugged me if I had a time limit death on SMB. “What happened? Did Mario get hungry? WHY AM I DEAD?!”
with the exception of the three castles that have mazes, you should never be running out of time in SMB.