J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 (SNES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Interplay's 1994 license-based action-RPG for the Super Nintendo, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1.
JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1 was Interplay's attempt to adapt The Fellowship of the Ring as an RPG for the SNES.
It's an action-RPG that takes the same multiplayer approach as The Secret of Mana did. You end up with the majority of the fellowship in your party over the course of the game, and you can assign control of your characters to up to five different players with a multitap. I've never played this as a multiplayer title, but the AI for the NPC-party members can be a real headache. They love to go exactly the way that you aren't, and while you can sometimes wrangle them (tapping R will call them to you, and holding R gives you control of the whole mob), they'll usually just ignore you and instead make a beeline for some shiny thing that has commanded their attention off-screen.
For those who would prefer a more traditional PC-style experience, the game features support for the SNES Mouse, but unless you love struggling to do even the simplest of things, I would recommend against using one.
The graphics can be charming. The small characters lack detail, but they're well animated, and the pastoral backdrops paint a pretty picture, though the game recycles its assets to a ridiculous degree. The same tilesets are used again and again, so nowhere feels unique.
What's worse is that this repetition isn't limited to the visuals. Many of the larger areas are made up of a handful of maps that are repeated again and again with nothing to differentiate them but the placement of items, and progress requires meticulous mapping of these copy/pasted layouts. The manual provides basic maps of several areas, but without any meaningful landmarks to navigate by, it's way too easy to become hopelessly lost, and since the game is essentially one giant string of fetch quests, you'll be backtracking constantly. The lengthy load times don't help matters much, either.
But the game's worst sin is how it squanders its license. It's easy to get excited at the thought of an RPG based on LotR, but the game doesn't make use of the material, nor does it make any attempt to channel the spirit of the story. The main characters are flavorless, nigh mute caricatures of their former selves, and the tasks they hand you feel like pointless filler. With the fate of Middle Earth hanging in the balance, why does Sam refuse to join up until we find him a pair of glasses? Or Aragorn, a plant? Or Legolas, his bow? It's absurd, and it feels incredibly lazy given how short the game is.
There are also the bugs to contend with - Legolas can't attack and merely stands around absorbing hits, and equipping the best weapons on your characters will glitch their strength stat, rendering them utterly useless in battle - and the save system is awful. The game gives you two passwords to record your progress (one for your inventory, and one for your characters and story progress), which together amount to a string of 48 characters. Seriously.
The soundtrack is the lone highlight. The music is beautiful, and the sound quality is extraordinary for an SNES game. It would've been nice to have a few more tunes, though, as the ones that are here are reused even more often than the map layouts.
I loved the books, but I can't help but think that Tolkien would roll over in his grave if he could see his work being parodied in such a banal and soulless game.
_________________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocom...) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@Yahtzee_09]

I owned this game growing up (I'm 45) and it was the bane of my existence. I read the books so many times and was excited when my dad bought this for me. And then I played it... I probably started and stopped this game more than any other one of my video game life. I just could never progress through it, so I'm enjoying seeing what I missed out on!

[@thirdeyewide562]

Yeah thanks for the life story pal. .

[@furrymessiah]

This game is bloody abysmal. My most hated SNES game purchase.

[@jasonleveck8546]

@@furrymessiah I never knew this game existed!

[@JuanMendoza-qd5lm]

​@@thirdeyewide562 At least he has a life...

[@bilbo1778]

Fantastic music goes a long way to making unplayable games nearly bearable....same thing applies to that awful Waterworld game

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

Great memories of me screaming "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!!" to the game until I gave up 😂...!

[@nathanbabiuk6286]

U have to destroy the 1 ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

[@robertcalder8151]

My friend and I beat this game in jr high... Twice. We had to play so carefully because of the character permadeath, and multiplayer tap is a must to disable the wretched party AI getting our characters killed. We made many hand drawn maps of the barrow downs in our school notebooks. The first playthrough we forgot to talk to Aragorn at the correct time and missed the trigger to get him for the rest of the game. At the end scene, aragorn is supposed to say something, but because he was not in the party the game just loops with the party walking in silence, endlessly. So symbolic of a game that was pure repititous hell. We played through a second time from an earlier password, got him and all the characters through. No idea how many hours we wasted on this game. Many fond memories of my friend and I deriding this game.

[@ash36230]

Lovely soundtrack, Hobbiton looks pretty... and then it turns into exact same thing for 3 hours. Amazing how they managed to make such little game by 1994 RPG standards

[@billbadson7598]

Had this game as a kid. Got as far as collecting all the hobbits, but never picked up Aragorn, Legolas or Gimli. Always ran out of steam waaaay before then. There were so many great games on the SNES that I was never desperate enough to have to go back to this.

[@cedjogos]

This game reminds me of a cold Saturday afternoon, throwing him on the couch wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot chocolate. The funny thing is that I only played it once and I still remember it to this day. Maybe I should try to finish

[@DarkBlissful]

You can say that again.

[@rideroundandstuff]

The funny thing is that you threw him on the couch wrapped in a blanket drinking hot chocolate.

[@My.Dear.Journal]

I remember playing this game as a kid! I LOVED the music!! But hated how difficult it was! Eventually I gave up on the Game 😂

[@ClockworkMan13]

Back in the 90s, my brother and I took turns trying to power through this game. No walkthroughs or anything. Eventually we finally beat the Belrog and won, but then the ending cutscene glitched out and we didn't get to see the official ending. After that, we were done.

[@fahriakalin5936]

let this be the hour we draw swords together

[@TheMoon12390]

Bilbo: unzipps pants Frodo: 😐

[@Healthy_Toki]

Gandalf: "wow you played up to this point, sorry you have more to go."

[@concreteandwall]

Something about this game… I just love it. It needs desperately SRAM saving, preferably the ability to save anywhere.

[@NintendoComplete]

Lord of the Rings is an aimless, meandering, endlessly padded mess of an RPG that fails to show any respect for Tolkien's work. Yuck.

[@JoaoDis]

Hey NintendoComplete, would you play Out To Lunch?

[@jeffreyrozas4148]

Can you do siesta fiesta on 3ds?

[@godagon97]

Hate-watching right now. 🤣🍻

[@NintendoComplete]

​@@godagon97Hahaha! 🍻

[@jeffreyrozas4148]

@@NintendoComplete does that mean no?

[@tr3vk4m]

Hits play, skips through video, sees endless walking. Looks legit.

[@MrPati0]

The character portrait are from the Ralph bakshi lotr movie.

[@i_DONT_get_IT]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a counsel of Elrond level where they force you to read the entire chapter 😂🎉

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

This is another example where a game's soundtrack is a lot better than the game itself. Fortunately, the games based on the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings from the 2000s were actually good and worth playing: partially because they used a lot of the same big-name voice actors from the films. At least, that was what happened with The Return of the King.

[@MrPati0]

Isnt it based of the movie from 1978, the one Balph B made.

[@perochialjoe]

I don't think I had a single playthrough of this game last 30 minutes when I was a kid. Glad to know the experience is pretty much universal for everyone who's played it

[@zleepydude224]

I could never figure this game out as a kid 😂

[@SurelyYewJest]

5:34 This tune reminds me of one from the NES Rambo game, when you walk into a village. I gotta say, even though this would probably not have been my kind of game back then, the music and sound profile of this game is probably one of the best ever on the SNES. Very crisp, clear, and pushes the hardware's capabilities.

[@bongobeans8401]

Finally a game that features my favourite Hobbits, Weez and Milo.

[@LuigianoMariano]

"Thank goodness I watched the movie before playing this!" That sums up how good it is to live under a rock when you were still young at the time this game came out.

[@Aliksander54]

1:43:32 - John Galt.... 👀 Also, over half the game to just get out of the Shire - Book Accurate.

[@Brahaja]

Watching this in 2x and I’m bored to tears

[@Snake3yesEddie]

LMAO at the very end saying “THE END NOW GO READ THE BOOKS”, The assumption that anyone played this game before reading the books is hilarious.

[@ekahnoman7331]

I'm impressed by the music. The opening song is fantastic. No one ever mentions that being a great thing about the game. All I've ever heard was how boring it was.

[@spoonshiro]

One of those games that looks and sounds really good but isn't much fun to actually play.

[@dukejason]

holy shit this brings back old memories.

[@humantacos9800]

It's very accurate to the book. No matter what part you skip to, they're walking.

[@donskiver]

I remember seeing this in nintendo power as a kid, and since i was a huge tolkien fan, i had to rent it. Boy was i disappointed.

[@jasonleveck8546]

I'm really surprised that Interplay put out such a horrible product.

[@POLE7645]

The Lord of the Rings game on PC (by Interplay) is so much better. It’s an actual RPG for starters. And it allows you to explore the entirety of Middle-Earth, something no other LoTR games allows you to do.

[@Healthy_Toki]

That dos lotr game is underrated

[@leonardogsperin]

Best Hobbit song, better then in the forest

[@ibrokemykeyboard]

Why does the barrow wight death howl sound like the watcher in Jackson’s movie adaptation? 🤔

[@tafkaga474]

I had this game on PC and absolutely loved it

[@mr.voidout4739]

The fact that this game has no HUD; life bar, minimap etc gives a pretty immersive sense of actual questing. No guidance whatsoever, just you, your fellows, and the damp, dark, echoey trek through dungeons with danger lurking at every literal corner. Pretty gripping compared to things like that in modern gaming. For all its shortcomings, at least this game was made with love and respect for Token.

[@armpitpuncher]

What on Earth are you talking about? There is no love and respect for Tolkien in this game. It is complete and utter trash. Lazy in game design, programming, writing and art.

[@supmattboy]

​@@armpitpuncher You can hate whatever you want, but don't diss what someone else likes.

[@benbendingrodriguez5572]

​@@supmattboy... I like your mom.

[@jeff-ds2pr]

This game looks about as much fun as watching paint dry.

[@wd6358]

I've tried to play this so many times but just can't..

[@DonCarlos590]

For a second I thought I was watching the film. Look at those pixels ! Wowie !

[@JoaoDis]

Just yesterday I was searching for this game

[@citizenofcorona8783]

3:28:40 Gandalf: You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@mikeg2491]

/gets turned to bones

[@BEHEMONAUT]

It is amazing how many views this has. People livestream games all the time and get less than 100 views. So many people were traumatized by this game though. That's what I like to think. Maybe you're just popular. I'm going to watch because I couldn't figure this game out. Edit: I see now. I remember the fern, but I dont remember getting the gem for it, and I never even got that first gem or any of the gear. I think ultimately I was missing two gems and that's why I couldnt proceed. I can totally believe I was that impatient back then

[@respobabs]

Wow, never heard of this!

[@bnelson383]

Rented a couple times as a kid but never figured out how to get them out of old man willow

[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

Seriously. When I got this I literally thought I was playing the then forgotten Bakshi adaptation.

[@MSR-1701]

Nay, not forgotten...😅 Least not by me, I have a nostalgic soft spot for the 3 cartoons

[@donskiver]

I unironically love the rankin bass adaptations, but the bakshi adaptation does have its moments. Not as charming as hobbit and rotk, but it's still enjoyable.

[@MSR-1701]

@@donskiver agreed!

[@ElZorroHonesto]

The characters' faces in the status screen are taken from the Bakshi adaptation, so, in a way, you weren't wrong.

[@WilliamScavengerFish]

Tried this once upon a time.

[@LambyMcChop]

This game just made me feel inadequate.

[@josephlytle1436]

“Hullo Fellas!”

[@spiritchild9101]

SNES and SEGA CD are my two favorite systems of all time. The games were just so chill, and were a perfect example of what video games should be. Video games should have grainy bits. Smooth graphics suck.

[@MSR-1701]

Ah, memories of renting this...gem. An amazing soundtrack it has, and decades later, I realize it is as dense with the manual as without...😂😂😂 Thank you for posting this!😅

[@DKarkarov]

I played this on PC not nintendo and I remember it being WAY more rpg and not action RPG. Maybe my memory is off though I am old lol.

[@furrymessiah]

No, you're correct. They utterly butchered the game when they ported it to the SNES. Including removing the bloody save system for A FUCKING PASSWORD

[@DKarkarov]

@@furrymessiah that sucks hard, it was actually not a bad game on pc at all.

[@Healthy_Toki]

the PC game is not a port, it's a different game entirely.

[@jdsaw100]

Thank you very much 😊.

[@Borna909]

The graphics were good and the soundtrack was great but you simply didn´t know what to do. I started it once then never played it again. Gameplay was very repetitive.

[@AndyGoth111]

1:43:32 What is John Galt doing here?

[@hoborg98]

As if this game isn't cursed enough, I just noticed that they lifted the character portraits straight out of the animated LOTR movie by Ralph Bakshi.

[@OnlyInhuman90]

Wtf is that as a big lotr fan I have never heard of this game before

[@MSR-1701]

I have (fond?) Memories of renting this as a kid, and maybe once getting out of the Shire without using a magazine password

[@Dorian_Scott]

The only reason I know about this game is from PeanutButterGamer's video on it. To this day, I have never seen Lord of the Rings. Nor have I read any of the books.

[@halierlockehart]

You're missing out big time. Don't base your views on this pretender, seek the greater knowlege.

[@Dorian_Scott]

@@halierlockehart So... Should I read the books first or should I watch the movies?

[@halierlockehart]

@@Dorian_Scott I recommend the books, they're vast and Tolkien's writing style is quite good and well detailed on its descriptions. The movies are good if you want a cinematic experience, as they're greatly acted and filled with visual spectacles.

[@NintendoComplete]

​​​@@halierlockehartTotally agree. The books are excellent. I've read the trilogy several times and count all 3 among my favorite books. The movies are great, too, but I prefer the full-fat experience of the novels.

[@Kuljin20]

If anyone likes the lord of the rings books, you should read the Shannara series. Don’t watch the tv show from mtv. It ruins one of the better stories in the series.

[@dannysummers4591]

The game seems like it was trying too hard to be a faithful adaption of the source material. It would have been better if it was just something more simple like Willow on the NES, just have Frodo with a sword hacking and slashing his way to Mt. Doom.

[@BlackAdder1970]

I really really wanted to like this game. I spent $42 on it. It was horrible. The music was quite good. That's about it. I did make it to meet with Aragorn. It was quite uneventful

[@crosswalkX]

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Volume 1, 3 revision romhack idea I have played this official Lord of the Rings SNES game and I was letdown how much was changed from the original book. Also I didn't like the backtracking to find keys to locked doors at the Barrow downs, and in the Mines of Moria. I want to make a Lord of the Rings SNES romhack and make changes to the game so that it follows the book and is more fun to play here's a list. 1. Change the game script and the words to have it quote from The Fellowship of the Ring, for example have Gandalf say to Bilbo "Two eyes as often I can spare" and "Keep it secret, keep it safe." 2. Fix the North and West areas of Hobbition and expand it so the wolves are removed but you have to fight snakes, and possibly add a corner area for the Gray Havens pathway. Also have hobbit folk live in caves. 3. Have Sam and Pippin join you right away rather than the player being required to find glasses for the Gaffer Gamgee and have it nearby and fight snakes instead of wolves. Also put a shire deed in the Hobbiton caves to find to give to the Sackville Baggins to take Frodo's home. 4. Add an in game map for the cave sections including Hobbition, Barrow Downs, Troll Shaws, and Mines of Moria every time the player pauses so the player no longer has to look up a guide online. 5. Have one of the hobbit sheriffs block the Brandywine bridge path to Bree to prevent the player from running into Ringwraiths. 6. Remove the orcs from Farmer Maggot's home area and add 3 wolf dogs Wolf, Grip Fang but they're fenced in. But for the Scouring of the Shire volume 3 romhack add the orcs and maybe ruffian men in black clothes back in to fight. 7. Remove many tomb keys from the Barrow Downs and Mines of Moria and remove doors from the cave sections. However the player will have to find the 6 gateway gems for the Mines of Moria door and fix the door open glitch. 8. For Bree give the note to the gatekeeper and get a new letter from Gandalf who explains about Strider also show a cutscene with Frodo dancing outside with the men watching him disappear and reappear and show the Ringwraiths cutscene where they look in vain for Frodo and leave. 9. In the weathertop area, have the Ringwraiths stab Frodo and he screams but injured. Aragon be required to fight the ringwraiths and lure them into the fire pit to defeat them and follow it up with a cutscene of Frodo crossing the river and being rescued and go right to Rivendell. 10. Add a lengthy cutscene to the Council of Elrond to explain that the one ring has to be taken through Mines of Moria to Lothlórien and beyond. 11. Find Bilbo's Glasses in the Troll Shaws cave to get his Mithril armor and Sting and his diary about the one ring. 12. Have Boromir be a playable character and not have Legolas a playable character at all. 13. Finally fix the Balrog scene and have a cutscene with everybody crossing the narrow bridge and Gandalf challenge the Balrog and say "Fly you Fools" and have Aragorn fighting the Balrog and go the ending of Moria and fix Galadriels dress to white. 14. For the ending, extend the ending beyond the Mirror of Galadriel and show the 3 rafts scenes of the fellowship on the river talking, the Amon Hen cutscenes with Boromir getting into a fight with Frodo and escapes and Frodo and Sam escaping to a journey to Mordor and the death of Boromir shown and then end it on a better cliffhanger. For the Scouring of the Shire Volume 3 romhack game, I would show an opening cutscene of Frodo and Sam destroyed the one ring and a ceremony of Aragon and Arwen's wedding with the white tree, show Isengard area and that Treebeard released Saruman and Wormtongue. Then have the game start at the entrance of the Mines of Moria which is now sealed off by Drexle the Wizard you no longer need gateway gems, and then you'll meet Saruman and Wormtongue. Then go to Rivendell and get Bilbos Diary and tobacco pipe, then go to Bree to learn the bad news that the ruffians and orcs have taken over Hobbtion, then the player has to escort Gandalf to Tom Bombadil to get the shire key and note pass and go through the Barrow Downs then enter Hobbtion to find it in ruins overrun with wolves, orcs and ruffian men. Then the player will have to find Saruman and Wormtongue to fight them and defeat them. Then the ending of the Shire being rebuilt and Sam marrying Rosie and declaring himself Mayor. Then it will go to the Gray Havens area with Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf on a raft about to leave for the Grey Havens. And Sam, Merry, Pippin say goodbye and then it ends with Sam at the Shire saying "Well, I'm back." Then the credits will roll. That's the 2 Lord of the Rings SNES romhack games I want to make someday, I'm not sure if it'll have a battery save or not since the game takes about 3 hours to complete but if any units gets killed in battle have it an automatic game over and restart at the last area. I hope one day there'll be a more accurate book to video game romhack of this SNES game. Let me know in the reply comments what you think. Would you play my Lord of the Rings Volume 1, 3 revision romhack?

[@sharpester7277]

I first heard about this game from the second Really Bad Games episode of Game Sack.

[@frankielasvegas5756]

Great music, pretty decent look, terrible programing. Also can you imagine how big that book would've been if the writing had been that larger?

[@MyTwoCents2]

Your password is....MAN thooooose were the days... someone get a pen 🖊

[@seightrhor9934]

Why does merrys palette pop so much 😂

[@christopherthibeault7502]

The way they move reminds me of the Star Trek 25th Anniversary NES game. Perhaps both are made by the same developer under a similar engine.

[@NintendoComplete]

Iirc Konami's Star Trek was made by Novotrade, and I think Interplay themselves made this one. There's no connection between them afaik.

[@MSR-1701]

Different devs I think, and the SNES one varies from the DOS game. That said, dang what a soundtrack 😅

[@ElZorroHonesto]

This game was originally planned for the NES, too, if I'm remembering right.

[@MSR-1701]

@@ElZorroHonesto interesting. I know there was a similar DOS/PC release, though I am not familiar with it

[@ElZorroHonesto]

@@MSR-1701 From my understanding, it's more similar to the Ultima series on MS-DOS.

[@michaeloffgrid]

One of my least favorite games I've ever played.

[@MSR-1701]

Play Heavy Nova on Genesis, lol😂😂😂

[@LicencetoMeme]

@@MSR-1701 Lol, I played a lot a Heavy Nova (the Sega-CD version) in my teenage years ; and I assure you it's way more enjoyable than this "Lord of the (bo)Rings" !

[@MSR-1701]

@@LicencetoMeme Lol, I can respect that.😅

[@bishopcupoison4550]

Looks better than many pixel art games today

[@cherryhazard8002]

No idea how you managed to not get bored mid-gameplay lol, Jesus.

[@NintendoComplete]

Hahaha, oh man. I was beyond bored pretty much the whole time.

[@h.mmurdock5378]

Thank you so much!!! i share this video on facebook

[@i_DONT_get_IT]

Dang this is more of a book than a game 😂😂😂

[@maximilian3544]

This game was so crap it turned me off lotr big time when I was a kid.

[@Blizzard-kf3qm]

That’s the biggest crime this game could ever commit.

[@razorchance6976]

If I may kindly ask 🙂 it's related to lord of the rings, have you played the movie licensed games? *particularly the two towers and return of the king, the games on console and gba are quite stellar 😍🙂😁*

[@NintendoComplete]

I played the ones on the PS2 way back when they were new. I liked the JRPG one that was basically FFX dressed up as LotR.

[@razorchance6976]

@@NintendoComplete 🙂😁 yes, the console ones I was exposed to them first, I loved them, many years later I played the gba games *they were pretty solid Diablo like games, I just finished beating return of the king with gimli 🙂😁*

[@WickedV3ng3nc3]

Aragorn looks like the bad guy in no country for old men.

[@moreskillsthanzidane3427]

The profile pics of the characters in this game are the same as their representation in the 1970's LOTR cartoon movie, it was released unfinished in terms of the trilogy, amd took you to the battle for Helms Deep

[@MatthewBenson321]

For some reason this game reminds me of Secret of Evermore. Perhaps the color pallet and music?

[@WilliamScavengerFish]

The Lego game definitely more fun.

[@trebleclefjones4899]

Was that final boss supposed to be Sauron??? WTF??? Best thing is the music…kind of. 😂

[@NintendoComplete]

No haha he's not in the first book. That's the Balrog. In the movie, he's the giant thing that gets Gandalf in Moria.

[@doug8171]

nice soundtrack!

[@avalonjustin]

I bought this game as a young teen. Pawned it within a month, it was terrible.

[@Unaliq]

Got this as a birthday gift from my brother-in-law. Immediately lost interest due to no map and awful programming.

[@SlickBlackCadillac]

Wait this is real???

[@RealArtVandelay]

Wow I'm a huge l o t r fan and I didn't even know that this game existed , the story lines are really deep and they really follow the books but the combats seems really clunky and awkward especially if you comparing to similar SNES games like Zelda

[@foxmoulder7724]

I played this among other on a rom. Lasted about an hour. It aint fun 🤣

[@galloe8933]

Is this the game where Aragorn trips over his sword? I'm kidding though, that would have made this game interesting. Oh, but here I am, drawn by the ring like some kind of idiot, thinking I missed something in a Super Nintendo game from 1994 that still uses passwords in an action RPG. My dad rented it, I later would try my own hand at it through emulation, because if I'm honest, I've never seen a copy of this game, and this was well before anybody cared about collecting like they do today. I've owned Earthbound twice, but to this day the only actual copy I can say that I've ever seen was the one my dad rented back in the day. The main problem with this game is that it's a bad game, but if you can get around that, it's really not that bad.

[@hm5y]

this was the lowest rated game i ever saw in a snes game magasine.... and thats saying something

[@borjitasstoi]

god damm gwendolyn vibes here

[@richardpage9474]

I rather play The Faery Tale Adventure for Genesis.

[@ZeroFische]

Bababooey

[@mnemonichotpocket]

Lord of the lame

[@EmilyCook-wx1eq]

Horrible atrocious game

[@robwar1992]

First

[@costadelsoul]

Is there a volume 2 and 3 ?

[@LicencetoMeme]

Thankfully, no...

[@frankielasvegas5756]

No this game was so bad they didn't bother with other volumes.