| Super 3D Noah's Ark | |
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Title screen |
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| Developer(s) | Wisdom Tree |
| Publisher(s) | Wisdom Tree |
| Designer(s) | Engine programmer: John Carmack |
| Engine | Wolfenstein 3D |
| Platform(s) | SNES / DOS |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media/distribution | Dongle cartridge |
Super Noah's Ark 3D (also sometimes called Super 3D Noah's Ark) is an unlicensed video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and for DOS. It was released by the biblical video game producer Wisdom Tree in 1994, and was the only commercial SNES game that was not officially sanctioned by Nintendo. In order to bypass the Super Nintendo's lockout chip, Wisdom Tree devised a system whereby the player had to insert an officially licensed SNES game into a cartridge slot in the top of Super Noah's Ark 3D. The cartridge thus resembled a Game Genie.
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The game itself is a straightforward modification of Wolfenstein 3D, with altered graphics and sounds; furthermore, Wolfenstein's subliminal morse code tappings permeate the game. The level layouts, weapons, and enemy behaviors in the SNES version are identical to Wolfenstein 3D, but the graphics were changed to reflect a non-violent theme. Instead of killing Nazi soldiers in a castle, the player takes the part of Noah, wandering the ark, using a slingshot to shoot feed at angry animals who want Noah dead, mostly goats, in order to knock them unconscious. The animals behave differently: goats, the most common enemy, will only kick Noah, while the other animals such as sheep, ostriches, antelopes and oxen will shoot food at him from a distance. Goats are also unable to open doors, which the other animals can do.
The gameplay is aimed at younger children. Noah's Ark includes secret passages, food, weapons, and extra lives. There are secret levels, and shortcut levels as well. The player eventually comes across a slingshot, and flings coconuts and watermelon at the larger bosslike animals, such as Ernie the Elephant and Carl the Camel.
There is an urban legend that id Software, angered with Nintendo of America's censorship in the SNES version of Wolfenstein 3D, gave the source code for that game to Wisdom Tree as part of a kind of "revenge" for them to make an unofficial clone to mock them.[1] However, the legend is not true: Wisdom Tree was an ordinary technology licensee, though id Software knew that this game would be an independent "rogue title" and not officially licensed by Nintendo.[2] The game was not a commercial success, suffering from the lack of major marketing common to other Wisdom Tree titles. It was most commonly found in Christian bookstores.
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