Flashback: The Quest for Identity (SNES) Playthrough

A playthrough of U.S. Gold's 1994 cinematic action-platformer for the Super Nintendo, Flashback: The Quest for Identity.

Played on the normal difficulty level.

Conrad Hart, a secret agent who has lost his memory, has just awoken to find himself being hunted by the police on a foreign world. Following the trail of clues, Hart discovers that he has stumbled into the crosshairs of the "Morphs," a shape-shifting race of beings who plan to infiltrate and ultimately take over human society. As Hart, it's your job to find out what's going on and to make it back to Earth to warn everyone before it's too late.

The games are not related, however, and they're not nearly as similar as they first appear to be. Out of this World is a character-centered adventure that's shaped by its evocative set-pieces, a grounded sense of place, and its otherworldly vibes.

Flashback, on the other hand, feels more like an action film moonlighting as a video game. It's not interested in subtlety, nuance, or character arcs. Like the movies it draws upon for inspiration - namely Schwarzenegger classics like Total Recall and The Running Man - Flashback is all about high energy violence. The North American release's manual even went so far as to include a fourteen-page Marvel mini-comic to set the stage.

Hart has a full stuntman's complement of moves at his disposal. He leaps, rolls, climbs, and shoots like a pro, and much of Flashback's fun comes from learning how to choreograph his moves fluidly and effectively in combat. The controls pose a steep learning curve, and the game is overall quite difficult, but if you have the requisite patience, it's a satisfying challenge to overcome.

I can't say as I'm a fan of the presentation - the art style doesn't appeal to me at all - but I can certainly understand why people heap praise on it. It's a handsome game.

It took me a long time to warm up to Flashback, but I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

[NintendoComplete]

These guys must've really loved Schwarzenegger movies, huh?

[thecunninlynguist]

rented this a good amount. i was blown away by how "advanced" it looked, lol.

[Steelflight]

I loved this game and others that shared the style like Blackthorne.

[AzurGamer]

I can see a lot of Total Recall, The Running Man and a hint of Blade Runner in this game.

[Baximus]

When it came to these kind of games, I always loved this one the most.

[Juan_Pablo_]

01:42:42
I remember coming to this site several times and losing many times because I didn't know what to do... it was frustrating, as well as being difficult. suddenly and out of nowhere I activated 'up together with the button', haha ​​it was an elevator and I hadn't realized. I will never forget that moment in my video game life.

[indrachaudhari]

I still remember its ad on comic books pages, "First CD-ROM game in a cartridge."

[lonewanderer]

Amazing to think that back in the 90's we thought this cutscene animation style was so advanced and realistic. Though, I will admit, it does still look pretty cool even by today's standards.

[jessebrown]

I loved Delphine Software's 2 major releases! I rented Flashback many times and only ever got to the gameshow.

[alexh]

This is definitely a case where the Genesis version is superior. The cinematics are very choppy on the SNES compared to the Genny.

[bigduke]

Of all the games that fit this particular bill, Flashback was THE game I knew I could never, ever hope to convince a single person I knew was good.

[christopherthibeault]

For a game called "The Quest For Identity", Conrad spends about one and one-eighth of the next level on said quest. If they remade this game all "modern audience" style, they would be good sports by interspersing cinematic flashbacks that provide contextual hints and inspiration to the player when Conrad trips over portions of the environment or examine key spots in the environment or objects, like a literal mystery whose fog must be pierced.

This game would also use every last bit of peripheral material such as that Marvel comic (I sort of wish that was made into a series because I would actually hunt that shit down--I was into the Nintendo Power magazine comics just the same) to flesh out the world as best they could beyond the bizarre visual panache of the original game. Well, it would if I were a member of the core development team.

[toriel._comentarista]

The gameplay and scenes of this game really make you play a classic science fiction movie
✨

[spoonshiro]

Never did get very far in this one. It looks cool though

[ChadLPN]

Seven minutes in and this man hasn't wasted a single step. WTH

[JuraIbis]

I would just like to say that my friends and I in college pirated the CD Darkstone for PC so much that we single handedly destroyed Delphine Software and I'm deeply sorry.

[SandroWalach]

The sound design at 04:25 is a chef kiss, if the chef has been dug up.

[Dorian_Scott]

I'll preface this by saying that I absolutely *LOVE* this game. It was ahead of its time due to its cinematic storytelling on a *CARTIDGE BASED SYSTEM, * the stealth point & click style gameplay, the rotoscoped character animation and its sporadic music placement that really added to the game's overall atmosphere.... But this particular version of the game feels incomplete. It's missing some songs, SFX, and is plagued with slowdown. Would strongly recommend the Sega Genesis version over this SNES port.

[mnemonichotpocket]

Like that c64 "impossible mission" or whatever

[solarflare]

Better than your usual Tiertex offerings, but not good enough to stand up to other ports.

In fact, have you noticed every port of this game that was made by Tiertex has Conrad in a red shirt as opposed to a white one?