I love jumping into these SNES games with absolutely no idea what to expect. Dream TV comes from Triffix, a company I recognize immediately for a curious NES title called Castelian, a.k.a. Tower Toppler. Dream TV is apparently a split-screen 2-player adventure action game. But with no second player, it becomes a tad annoying that the lower half of the screen is occupied with the visage of your adversary who has put you up to the challenge at hand.
![Dream TV — Split screen](http://games.multimedia.cx/wp-content/uploads/dream-tv-split-screen.png)
The TV seen in the lower half — ostensibly the eponymous Dream TV — sends you on a mission through different worlds starting with Medieval World to recover puzzle pieces. It’s nice to have a goal. But it’s frustrating to only deal with half the screen. Fortunately, I accidentally discovered that ‘select’ offers the single player the full screen real estate.
![Dream TV — Full screen](http://games.multimedia.cx/wp-content/uploads/dream-tv-full-screen.png)
But then I get to the section above; what gives? I can’t jump up to that platform. Below is some sort of see-saw but I have no counterweight. Just when it looks like I might be stuck, I start mashing the other heretofore-unused controller buttons. Turns out that the L and R buttons switch to the other character. That means teamwork:
![Dream TV — Teamwork](http://games.multimedia.cx/wp-content/uploads/dream-tv-teamwork.png)
How tough is the game? Tough enough that it starts you off with 10 lives but with no continues. I managed to find the first 6 of 9 puzzle pieces in the medieval world but could go no further. Or perhaps I just didn’t want to. The castle has a lot of doors and there are a lot of keys laying around. However, a character can only hold one key at a time; if he picks up one key he leaves any existing key in the same place. There is a place that I called the key forest:
![Dream TV — Key Forest](http://games.multimedia.cx/wp-content/uploads/dream-tv-key-forest.png)
There were at least 4 different types of keys. If I wanted to open a door, I had to try the key I was already holding. If the key didn’t take, go through that see-saw rigmarole to get back to the dangerous key forest to get another type of key, and try to remember which keys I had already tried.
Still, I gave it a good shot because I was eager to see what else I could possibly figure out about the game. Some brief Googling indicates that no one has any more clue about this game than I do. No matter what obscure game I can find for the NES or SNES, it seems there are some videos for it on YouTube, often with some very unfunny commentary. This game is no exception, with 2 such videos. I had the persistence to figure out more about this game than either of those 2 players. Don’t think that I’m bragging; on the contrary, this might be a good way to simplify future obscure SNES game entries.
At MobyGames:
BRob183 says:
Hey I know this post is kinda old but this was an interesting read but not much of a review but I liked reading this regardless. I also found nothing on this game besides a few videos that helped slightly. I can’t seem to figure out the teleport function or the X button that seems to do nothing for me. Anyway nice write up on a weird game lol.
Multimedia Mike says:
Thanks! That’s why I keep these comments open 10 years later. :-)