Dear io9: We are throwing down on this one. In your otherwise painfully accurate discussion of the worst licensed games of all time, you dismiss The Lawnmower Man for the SNES and Genesis as just another knock-off shooter.

But, as somebody who obsessively played that game back in 1992 and who occasionally still plays it, I can testify it was a solid, sometimes great, entry in the 16-bit library. In fact, this tie-in game to a movie that even Jeff Fahey wants to forget is better than the movie it’s based on. Here’s why.

#1) Gameplay Variety

It must be said that there’s nothing original in this game in terms of mechanics. It’s a bizarre mix of genres and ideas from games ranging from Contra to Sonic The Hedgehog to StarFox to Wolfenstein 3D. But it mixes all of these into a game that actually has a satisfying variety of gameplay.

The game itself wasn’t anything revolutionary, per se, but it did make an effort to at least do a good job with every genre it explored. For example, the side-scrolling sections had hidden areas and other aspects that you needed to explore. It was required, actually: If you didn’t find all the terminals in the game, you got the crappy ending.

Yes, this is a game for the SNES in 1992 that had alternate endings.

It was also well paced: No section of the game goes on long enough to wear out its welcome, making it entertainingly bite-sized while also possessed of an unforgiving difficulty.

#2) The Excuse Plot And Overall Weirdness

Look, let’s just face it: The Lawnmower Man is a terrible movie. It’s an endearingly cheesy one, but this is a movie about going on the Internet with gyroscopes and virtual reality goggles. About half-way through, the game gets to the end of the actual movie… and goes utterly bonkers.