Game at Your Own Risk #1: Lester the Unlikely (SNES)
Eventually Lester mans up and stops being a little puss after being kissed by Tikka. Too bad that moment comes way too late into the game. He no longer runs away or randomly stops moving, but at that point, you’re no longer playing.
If it would have came at the third or fourth level, maybe. However, it comes a little over halfway through the game. That’s unacceptable. The feature shouldn’t be in the game to begin with, but when it drags on for so long, there’s no excuse for it.
Sadly, I couldn’t force myself to complete Lester the Unlikely. My patience ran out on the 10th level, “River 1” (about halfway through the game). I simply could not make the leaps off the broken rafts to grab a vine. At this point the crappy controls got to me. A level that should’ve taken three minutes turned into an hour-long repetition.
I can’t see how anyone can stomach Lester enough to finish it in one sitting. You die way too often. The controls are awful, and the levels are uninteresting.
For a game like Lester, the fact there’s no save or password system is bizarre and torturous. This isn’t an NES game from 1986. Lester released in 1994. There should be some sort of system in place. It’s unforgivable.
Thankfully, there is a cheat code that can be entered at the title screen for a level select. The code is rapidly pressing X + Y.
Here’s the ending:
So Lester, the nerd of all nerds, somehow uses a surf board to get all the way back home. Why couldn’t he just swim home right at the beginning of the game?
“Watch for Lester. He’ll be back!” He’ll be back? Is that a threat? Should I be worried? Maybe he already came back, but did some kind of Steve Urkel transformation into Marcus Fenix from Gears of War.
I can’t imagine what a true sequel would’ve looked like.
Got Another Quarter?
Lester the Unlikely is a frustrating experience without an ounce of enjoyability. It’s barely playable. There’s nothing of value here. Games like this could never pass today, but back then standards didn’t exist.
If you like cursing repeatedly at your TV and/or harassing nerds like you did back in high school, then Lester the Unlikely might be for you.
It is “Unlikely” that anyone will find the game fun. Har, har, har. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s best that this one has mostly been forgotten. Game at your own risk.
Good
- Some attempt to create a unique main character
- It eventually ends
Bad
- Slow character movement
- Stiff and sensitive controls
- No save system, passwords, etc
- Lester’s movements out of your complete control for half of game
- Unresponsive buttons
- Sensitive damage
- Simple level design
Photos:
Lester box by Quarter Disorder
Visual Concepts logo by Fooziex / Moby Games
Lester running away by Fooziex / Moby Games
Lester game & booklet by Quarter Disorder
Quarter Disorder 
One Response to “Game at Your Own Risk #1: Lester the Unlikely (SNES)”
Note to self; never ebay this game.