Super 3D Noah's Ark

Super 3D Noah's Ark

If you thought that the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D was bad, think again!

Genre:	First-person shooter
Platforms:	Super Nintendo Entertainment System MS-DOS Steam
Release Date:	1994
Developer:	Wisdom Tree
Publisher:	Wisdom Tree

Super 3D Noah's Ark (or sometimes Super Noah's Ark 3D) is an MS-DOS game and unlicensed Super Nintendo game. It was developed by Wisdom Tree using the source code for Wolfenstein 3D, licensed from Id Software.

Development

It was rumored that Id Software gave Wisdom Tree a discount on the engine license because Id was angered that Nintendo required the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D to be censored (though in actuality, Wisdom Tree legally licensed the game engine). Like most of Wisdom Tree's unlicensed games, Super Noah's Ark 3D was sold mainly in Christian bookstores.

Due to the advanced copy-protection of the Super Nintendo, Super Noah's Ark 3D used a bypass method similar to a Game Genie. In order to play the game, gamers would have to insert an officially licensed game on top of Super Noah's Ark 3D in order to bypass the lockout code and play the game. When the game was re-released by Piko interactive, it didn't need a lockon system in order to play the game.

Bad Qualities

Instead of engaging Nazis and other villains in combat, you play as the biblical character Noah who must use sleep-inducing food on angry animals, and despite being aimed for children, the game's plot still sounds ridiculous even by kids' standards.
A large number of enemies in the game are goats, but according to the Bible, Noah only puts two of every animal on the Ark. This is attributed to the fact that the most common enemies in Wolfenstein 3D are the guards and SS troopers, which were changed to goats and sheep in this game.
While the Nazi enemies shoot at the player, Wisdom Tree only swapped the graphics of the enemies without making any programming changes, having to explain the animals shooting at Noah by saying they actually "spit" on him instead.
The console port suffers from the same limitations the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D has, thus many of the issues from that port, most notably the blocky graphics, are also present.

Good Qualities

Additional changes to the DOS version include textured floors and ceiling to the environment, which does make the game feel appealing.
Super 3D Noah's Ark is classified as a "TC" (Total Conversion), therefore, it completely replaces all of Id Software's assets like graphics and music. That, by itself, is a huge accomplishment. In addition, all Noah's levels are redesigned and offer entire new environments for players to explore, only having the plot as a lame excuse to set the story in biblical settings.
Very nice level design, much on pair with Wolf 3-D's levels along with decent graphics to a certain extent, making use of the full feature set the Wolfenstein 3D engine is capable of.
There are more weapons which offers some variety instead of just bullets.

Trivia

The game was originally going to be an NES game based on the movie Hellraiser and would use extra hardware. Because of this, however, the cartridges would be more expensive to ship, and would possibly hurt their Christian company image status, thus the game was scrapped and turned to Super Noah's Ark 3D.
The game has gained a cult following in recent years and in June 2015, the game was released on Steam, even becoming playable in the source port ECWolf.