Alright, SNES Clue. The Story, in case you haven't played the board game: Mr. John Q. Boddy was murdered in his mansion during a party between his five friends and his maid, and it's your job to back one of the six and find who killed him, with which of six weapons, and where in the nine rooms of the first floor of the mansion it happened.

First off, this isn't the same type of Clue as the board game it's based off of. Most of this comes from the way the game handles your Suggestions- When you start up a new game, the system draws several scenarios to account for all the Weapons and suspects, and which room each was in during the time of Boddy's murder, such as:

Mrs. White was in the Kitchen with the Rope
Colonel Mustard was in the Ballroom with the Knife
Mrs. Peacock was in the Conservatory with the Wrench
Professor Plum was in the Study with the Candlestick
Mr. Green was in the Library with the Revolver
Miss Scarlet was in the Hall
The Lead Pipe was in the Dining Room

From these scenarios, the game picks one Suspect/Room/Weapon combination as the solution.


When you suggest in a room, (Mrs. Peacock with the Knife in the Library, for instance) the game refers to the scenarios, and, depending on the in-game difficulty, gives either a definitive answer(Mrs. Peacock was in the Conservatory) or a vague one. (Mrs. Peacock did NOT have the Knife.) These clues are public; Everyone (including the AIs) gets this information. If you've found a Suspect/Weapon/Room Connection, and you don't have any of the cards for that combination, you should make an interrogation on your next turn to see if it's the solution, (Interrogations work just like suggestions in the normal board game, though they're a bit more cinematic) but be careful; You're only allowed 2 interrogations in the entire game, and again, the information gleaned from an interrogation is public, so everyone will know if that connection is not the solution.

Because of the clues being public every time, the AI players can very much beat you to the answer, and most likely will at easier difficulties, where more definitive clues are given. The one saving grace seems to be that the AI players do not seem to know how to deduce, and you must take advantage of this fact to get a leg up.

The game is actually really fun despite how the deck seems stacked against you... so do what I do; pick the hardest difficulty, and play with all 6 characters. This limits the information the AIs have greatly, and isn't actually very hard at all. Also, a little hint behind the spoiler: Another good thing to remember: If a suspect was in a room that a weapon was in, they ALWAYS had that weapon. This doesn't necessarily mean they used it, though...

Either way, since not only the solution is randomized, but also the scenarios, it can be fun to figure those out, too. As such, replay value is very high... at least for me.



Graphics: 9 (Rather good for Super Nintendo. The board isn't too detailed, but the focus is clearly on the character sprites and cinematics, and the close up shots look phenominal.)

Sound: 8 (Nothing too Ear-bleeding, but the music could use some spreading out a bit. Also, I like that all Characters have their own distinct themes and every weapon has a unique orchestral sting.)

Addictive(ness): 10 (With the infinite amount of solutions and scenarios, this one definitely keeps me coming back for more.)

Story: 3 (If you know the board game's story, you'll know the story here. Gameplay doesn't really develop it...)

Depth: 6 (Meh. At least they have everything that should be there and a bit more.)

Difficulty: 6 (The AI's don't seem to like to go around the board too much; they usually spend most of the game going back and forth between the Dining Room, Lounge, Conservatory, and Ballroom; regardless of the in-game difficulty. As for the in-game difficulty itself, all that does is change the strength of the clues given. Would've gotten a lower difficulty score if the AI's weren't able to still snipe the solution despite not exploring much.)

Overall: 8 (Not too bad, but not exactly perfect, either.)