Every once in a while you will run across a game that tries to straddle two genres. If done right, this can make for a slightly more interesting experience. Actraiser combines city building and side-scrolling action into a game that manages to do both passably.
The game is about a god who has to help his followers. I don’t really remember why, and I’m not going to bother looking it up, but I do remember that it has something to do with smiting evil. Such is the way of gods, I suppose.
Half the time you’ll be directing the development of your civilization, telling them where to build things, and taking whatever treasures they can find (powerups, natch). Occasionally you have to go down and take matters in your own hands. This involves sending your spirit down to inhabit one of the statues representing you and using it to vanquish the Threat of the Day. You alternate between the two styles until you’ve smited everything.
I guess the neatest thing I remember about this game is that when you go down to the statues, the game uses the Super Nintendo’s zoom to kind of fly down to the surface. I always thought that was neat. Other than that, the game was dead easy, up until the last couple of bosses, which you get to fight in a row, and where I gave up in frustration.
I should probably feel worse about that.