When you think of unlicensed Super Nintendo games, a few things might come to mind, shady cartridges, bootleg Mario clones, or maybe a dodgy Street Fighter II knockoff. But what if I told you the SNES had a fully 3D first-person shooter where you play as Noah, yes, that Noah, pacifying unruly animals aboard the Ark with a fruit-firing weapon?
Welcome to the surreal world of Super 3D Noah’s Ark, a game so unusual, it’s hard to believe it exists. But it does, and it might just be one of the strangest artefacts from the 16-bit era.
A Wolf in Biblical Clothing
Super 3D Noah’s Ark, released in 1994 by Christian game developer Wisdom Tree, isn’t just an oddity because of its religious theme. It’s a technical anomaly, a cultural curio, and the only unlicensed game released commercially for the SNES in North America (I don’t think we got it in Australia).
Built on a modified version of id Software’s Wolfenstein 3D engine (not DOOM, though often mistakenly grouped with DOOM clones), the game’s origins are almost as strange as its gameplay. Legend has it that Wisdom Tree obtained the engine through a licensing agreement with id Software, who were allegedly unhappy with Nintendo’s censorship policies and saw an opportunity for some quiet revenge. Whether that’s myth or marketing spin is still debated, but it makes for a great story.
The Premise: Noah with a Slingshot
Forget gathering animals two-by-two. In Super 3D Noah’s Ark, the animals are already on board, and they’re mad. You, as Noah, must navigate maze-like corridors inside the Ark, feeding grumpy goats, sheep, oxen, and camels to calm them down. Instead of a shotgun or chain gun, your arsenal includes fruit-launching devices like the “blessing bazooka” or “spiritual slingshot,” which lob food pellets at the aggressive animals until they fall asleep.
The game features six episodes with multiple levels each, all set in brown, wood-textured environments that scream “low-budget ark interior.” You collect fruit, keys, and health potions (in the form of feed bags), all while dodging spitting llamas and ramming goats. It plays exactly like Wolfenstein 3D, just with a Sunday school filter.
Technically Impressive, Theologically Unhinged
Despite its hokey premise, Super 3D Noah’s Ark is technically competent. It ran surprisingly well on the SNES, using an unusual passthrough cartridge system to bypass Nintendo’s lockout chip. Players had to insert a licensed SNES game (usually Super Mario World) on top of the Noah’s Ark cartridge, similar to how the Game Genie operated.
The visuals, while repetitive, are decent for the SNES. Sprites are large and detailed, enemy animations are functional, and the music, though generic, keeps the action moving. There are even bosses, including one memorably grumpy camel. For a game released without Nintendo’s blessing, it holds together better than you’d expect.
Cult Classic or Holy Joke?
Super 3D Noah’s Ark didn’t exactly light up the sales charts when it launched. In fact, it quietly faded into obscurity by the mid-‘90s, sold mostly through Christian bookstores and mail order. But in the years since, it’s earned cult status among retro collectors and fans of weird gaming history. The absurdity of combining Old Testament themes with FPS gameplay has made it a fixture on YouTube retrospectives and “weirdest games of all time” lists.
Wisdom Tree even re-released the game for PC decades later, including a Steam version and reproduction SNES cartridges. What was once a punchline has become a collector’s gem, and a legitimate curiosity in the timeline of 1990s shooters.
A Strange Slice of Gaming History
In the end, Super 3D Noah’s Ark is a fascinating relic, not because it was good (it’s not bad, either), but because it dared to exist at all. In a time when Nintendo tightly controlled its library and FPS games were considered adult-only fare, here was a Christian game company slipping a weaponised Sunday school lesson through the back door.
It’s a reminder of how strange and scrappy the game industry used to be, and how sometimes, the most memorable games are the ones nobody asked for.
Sidebar: The Wisdom Tree Connection
Wisdom Tree, formerly Color Dreams, was one of the most prolific producers of unlicensed NES and SNES games in the ’80s and ’90s. Other titles in their catalogue included Bible Adventures, Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land, and Spiritual Warfare, all platformers and puzzle games with overtly religious themes. Super 3D Noah’s Ark remains their most ambitious project, and the only FPS in their collection.
Would you play it today? You can. It’s still floating around online (legally), and there’s even an active modding community turning it into everything from a DOOM total conversion to a meme-filled reimagining. In the world of retro gaming, that’s about as close to a miracle as you can get.
