The Super Play Top 100 was the 1990’s SNES culture magazine’s final ranking of the platform’s catalogue, mere months before the publication ended. This regular monthly feature takes a look back at each title, how it fared back then and how it fares now. This month, its time for something rather different.
You ever play a game and think, “I have no idea what’s going on, but I’m absolutely vibing with it”? That was me with The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang—a 1994 action-RPG where your main weapons are your cape, spinning top hat and your backup weapon is playing cards. Yes. Playing cards. Like Gambit, but if he was twelve and his dad was a cartoon Dracula. So let's talk about this oddball little gem—why it’s weird, why it works, and why I can’t stop thinking about it thirty years later.
You play as Spike McFang, the son of a vampire noble whose kingdom gets absolutely wrecked by a zombie general named Von Hesler. Spike, being about as threatening as a plush bat at a Build-A-Bear Workshop, sets off to save his homeland with the power of: Hat-based melee attacks (don’t question it), magic cards (one casts fireballs, one gives you salad—you’ll figure it out) and unrelenting main-character energy. Along the way, you make friends, solve puzzles, fight off sentient vegetables, and help various confused townsfolk with problems that feel suspiciously like unpaid internships. Think Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it snuck into your kid cousin’s backpack full of candy and anime.
Combat is simple but satisfying. You spin with your cape for close combat, or fling your hat to slap enemies into next week, use magic cards for effects like healing or explosions, and occasionally summon your friends to do cooler things than you can. The RPG elements are light—just enough to justify levelling up without requiring a dissertation in spreadsheet math. It’s approachable. It’s weirdly fun. It’s... kind of relaxing?
Visually, it’s adorable. Like if someone rebooted Castlevania for the Disney Afternoon line-up. The enemies are goofy, the towns are cheerful, and the whole world has that off-brand Halloween cereal box energy. The music? Solid SNES bops with the occasional “is this a haunted calliope?” moment. No complaints. The dialogue? Unhinged. A parade of NPCs who are either lying to you, breaking the fourth wall, or confused about what game they’re in.
The question remains of course, “Is this game good?” Yes. sort of. Maybe? Let’s be clear: This isn’t some lost Final Fantasy VI. It’s a short, silly, Saturday-morning cartoon of a game. It doesn’t overstay its welcome. It doesn’t try to be deep. And somehow, that makes it feel refreshing—even now. It’s the kind of game that feels like it was made by a small team who genuinely wanted to do something weird and fun, and then somehow got Natsume to publish it during the RPG arms race of the mid-90s. But what did Super Play have to say, to ensure its inclusion in the top 100 games of the Super Nintendo?
“Originally released in Japan as Dracula Kid, The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang is cuteness incarnate. It qualifies more as an arcade adventure rather than an ARPG, and its action-led style allows it to be a diverse little package, one moment seeing you white-water rafting, later seeing you walking rafters battling spiders. The magical attacks, based around a playing card theme, are novel, and it all adds up to a very original title.”
Despite its charm, Spike McFang bombed harder than a garlic factory in Transylvania. It didn’t get a sequel. It didn’t get a European release. It just... vanished. And yet, those of us who played it still remember it. Because how can you not remember a vampire child yeeting magic cards at skeletons while wearing a fedora? It has since become a cult collectible. A retro footnote. A “wait, that was a real game?” moment at every garage sale with a stack of SNES cartridges.
If you love weird, overlooked gems, if you want a low-stress RPG that makes you smile, if you ever wondered what EarthBound and Zelda’s awkward cousin might look like. Expect to be disappointed if you’re expecting depth, length, or serious storytelling. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang is what happens when someone tries to make Castlevania and accidentally builds a haunted Hollywood Bowl. And honestly? I love it for that. Spin your hat, sling some cards, and embrace the weird.
