The Master System is not a console I usually associate with arcade ports. Wait, let me rephrase that; non-Sega coin op releases I mean. Most developers at the time seemed content with focusing their efforts on the Nintendo Entertainment System because it utterly dominated most markets. Captain Silver is a title that I often hear mentioned when fans list their favorite titles for the forgotten platform. I wanted to try it out but this is one that has not been re-released on modern formats in digital form. I had to seek out the cartridge itself, but figured it would be well worth the price because, hey, it’s a side scrolling platformer focused around nautical themes and pirates. Unfortunately I soon discovered that this is one of those oh so common ‘faux-classics’ that simply don’t hold up at all today. Captain Silver is decent at best, but there are so many better options on the Sega Master System that are more easily acquired in modern times.
In Captain Silver you play as a young man named Jim who has dreams of finding troves of treasure. His target in this game is the bounty of a pirate named Captain Silver, and this journey takes him through towns, underground labyrinths, and even aboard a pirate ship teeming with swashbuckling sailors. There isn’t much story exposition here, but that’s just fine considering the era in which it was released and the limited technology. This is a strict two dimensional side scrolling action title. As Jim you can walk left and right, jump, duck and slash with your sword. Unfortunately your character moves kind of slow. The standard to which I hold all platforming titles is the original Super Mario Bros., and here Jim’s top speed seems even more slow than Mario’s walk. This problem is alleviated by the fact that enemies also move slowly, and the stages are small to compensate as well. It can still be a little frustrating however because you have a time limit to complete each stage, and I found myself losing a life more than once because I had to move even slower through the more intricate platforming sections. Thankfully you’ll find clock power ups to add precious seconds to the limit and this helps keep the frustration down in many of the cases.
Unfortunately the combat isn’t all that interesting. Your sword has a short range, but with certain power-ups you can gain a projectile attack that can be powered up twice. Almost all enemies require only a single hit to be killed, but that rings true for Jim as well. A single touch by a hazard of enemy results in his death. This is where the game gets really frustrating. You start with only three lives, and the game has no continues. Normally something like this would be forgivable except for the aforementioned one-hit standard that leads to your demise. The enemies are easy to avoid and hit, but rather than jump Jim seems to float in the air. There’s a bad sense of momentum here due to his slow movement, and so you’re much better off attacking the foe head on rather than trying to avoid them by jumping. The bad physics are a much more serious issue in the platforming sequences. In just about every stage you’re tasked with jumping to and from moving platforms, and the constantly slow momentum creates some major problems with this. I really don’t understand why the developers had to include the requirements for such intricate jumping here because it does not make for a positive experience. You only have three lives and falling is instant death.
Captain Silver suffers from some major issues in the level design department. The stages are are, for the most part, entirely too boring. You’ll find yourself simply walking from left to right in many cases with enemies to deal with. Other situations are questionable. For example, in the first area you have to jump on floating platforms in a fountain of all things. It’s not made obvious that you can’t simply leap on to and walk across this, because I mean, it’s just a fountain. Touching any pixel of the water here results in death and that makes zero sense to me. The best level is the one that takes place aboard the pirate ship. This is because you’re forced to climb the ship masts, and even go below deck which results in multiple paths. This isn’t handled particularly well because the game’s structure up to this point makes it obvious that you need only take the right most paths. Stages feature shops wherein you can purchase power-ups, but even after playing through the entire adventure I still can’t figure out exactly what the currency is. I just purchased things randomly without knowing I could. You’re also tasked with collecting letters to spell out ‘Captain Silver’ but I still don’t what this does. The whole thing feels a little sloppy, and though there are boss encounters at the end of each stage these are far too easy and I found them a relief from the platforming.
The graphics are pretty decent here. The game makes use of a pretty decent art style that’s sure to tickle the fancy of any eight bit gamer. It’s colorful as most titles are on the Sega Master System, and the sprite work is really well done. The backgrounds feature a ton of detail with forests, towns, caverns etc. It’s definitely better looking than most titles you would find on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unfortunately I just don’t like the character designs. Enemies are too often recycled, and I genuinely had a tough time telling the bosses apart from the standard foes because they look so standard. Even the arcade release was sub par visually, and so I can’t hold it against the developers too much because they just didn’t have a lot to work with. The soundtrack is easily just as bad if not worse. The bleeps and blips are too high pitched here and it makes for an unpleasant experience. There’s no rhyme or reason to these compositions, and at times it just sounds like the composer mashed random keys on a keyboard. To the game’s credit there is a pretty cool scream effect that plays when your character dies, but that’s about the high point as far as the audio is concerned here. Captain Silver is best played while muted.
I almost feel bad about how hard I’ve been on Captain Silver. There are some enjoyable moments here, but these do not outweigh the serious problems with the basic mechanics. Unfortunately from what I hear this North American version is by far the worst released on home consoles. Supposedly several stages are left out here. Maybe those lost levels have something more to offer, but as it stands Captain Silver isn’t really worth playing unless you’re a huge fan of platformers and are looking for something off the beaten path.
