Topic: The SNES 20

[NWR_Neal]

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Super Nintendo, we look at 20 awesome games for the system.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/27349

20 years ago, we were all a lot younger, some more than others. Truthfully, I don't remember a time without the Super Nintendo (I was 3 years old when it came out), but I know a lot of our staff and a lot of you remember such a time. I'm sure the hype was off the charts, but 20 years ago, we were a mere 19 days away from the system's North American debut.

We collectively duked it out to figure out a list of our favorite Super Nintendo games. Arguments were had, and friendships were lost (mainly everyone hates J.P. now because he likes neither Link to the Past nor Super Mario World), but eventually, we settled on a 20-game list. Enjoy the list, presented in approximate chronological order. Naturally, we begin with a launch title...

For some discussion on the SNES 20, check out Episode 255 of Radio Free Nintendo!

[Morari]

I think you forgot Super Bomberman 8...

[BeautifulShy]

Hmm 20 years ago I was 11 years old. For the first title on the list I actually never played any F-Zero title until GX on the Cube. I actually discovered the original on the virtual console. A  year and a half or so ago. Its actually a pretty fun racer. It has the memorable music and the track designs while somewhat complex are very nice to race on and give me a nice burst of adrenaline while playing.  While not as challenging as GX(but which game is) If I did play it back when it originally came out It would provide a good enough challenge for me.

The SNES I will admit I didn't have many games for it but I had some pretty good ones. NBA Jam TE, Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country 2, Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, Super Metroid,Sim City was some of my most played games. I didn't really play any of the touted RPG's for the system back then but thanks to the DS and virtual console on the Wii I have gotten some of the good ones like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG.

[KITT 10K]

I got the SNES on Christmas Day, (it had been out for about a year when I got it I think). My parents said I did well is school, (like no less than a C+ on my report card), that they'd get me one. On my first report card my lowest grade was a B-. So Christmas Day that year was the best one I ever had till then. My parents were so pleased with my grades they got me 2 other games too. So my first 3 games were Super Mario World, (which as you know came with it), Mortal Kombat, and Robocop vs the Terminator. And I sent away for Mario All Star and got that one a few weeks later.
    I tried F-Zero but just couldn't get into it. Super Mario Kart was, (and still is), one of my favorites of all time as is Donkey Kong Country, (the first one was the best, 2 was good but 1 was better). I had a decent size game selection, but needless to say my first three were my favorites. Believe it or not I STILL have all the games AND the system itself, (and they all STILL work too). But I'm glad I can download the SNES game onto my Wii. I just hope the 3DS will get them too, (I know it can support those games so I hope to see NES and SNES games in the VC in the future).

[Ian Sane]

As impressive as F-Zero was when it was released it was dated before the N64 came out.  The second Super Mario Kart introduced multiplayer split-screen the single player only F-Zero looked like a relic.  As kids we were not the best judge of something being old (kids often will call something from six months ago old) but F-Zero was undoubtably an old SNES game by 1994 or so.  It really needed a sequel with multiplayer.

But F-Zero is still a very enjoyable game to play today.  It's funny that the SNES was so associated with slow down and yet one of its launch titles was promoted largely on its speed.  NWR is right in saying that this was a game the NES could never do and that's an important way to sell a new videogame system (something the 3DS still needs to do).

I have a feeling that the only game in this list I won't own a SNES cart of will be Chrono Trigger unless they're shmup savy and include R-Type III.
 
While today I own lots of SNES games, as kids we had a small group of games which we played the **** out of: Super Mario World, Mega Man X, NBA Jam, Saturday Night Slam Masters and.... Bubsy.  Yeah my youngest brother was a fucking tool for getting that game.  Took until we were adults for me to prove to both of my brothers that the game sucked.  The trick was having them PLAY IT as adults.  Took like five minutes.

[Shaymin]

I never expected to get my Super Nintendo when I did - I got it at Christmas 1992, when I only got an NES 3 years earlier from the same aunt (and got my Game Boy on New Year's Day that year). We got Mario World, Turtles in Time and Mario Paint to start, and I never went back to the NES.

It introduced me to RPGs (thank you FFIII) and I think I put more time into Street Fighter games on it than should be allowed by law. Mine still works, although it's a bit yellowed, and I still boot it up from time to time. I actually bought my last game for it a couple of years ago (Tetris Attack).

We collectively duked it out to figure out a list of our favorite Super Nintendo games. Arguments were had, and friendships were lost (mainly everyone hates J.P. now because he likes neither Link to the Past nor Super Mario World)

boothisman.gif

[pureval]

I received mine the Christmas it came out and loved it. I still have it and all of my games. I recently booted it up to play WWF Royal Rumble with my son. I did not have any of the big RPGS when they first came out but a few years ago a coworker sold me his copies for $5 each. Chronotrigger, FFII and FFIII, Secret of Mana, Mario RPG, most of them still in the box.

[NWR_insanolord]

The meeting for this was awesome, because over the course of it I got progressively more intentional with my complete trolling of everyone else there.

[Plugabugz]

Every F-Zero up to 64 like the first 3 Star Wars has always suffered from being a product ahead of the technology at the time. Only GX brought to life what that universe was capable of.

[Ceric]

Every F-Zero up to 64 like the first 3 Star Wars has always suffered from being a product ahead of the technology at the time. Only GX brought to life what that universe was capable of.

...and Hard locked/reset my GCN every time I tried to play it at around the last race in a set.  I would argue we have yet to see an F-Zero that didn't over push its technology, except the arcade one.

[Ceric]

I kept hearing about Actraiser and got it for the VC when it came out.  Loved the game till the end.  I've never beat it because that ending Gauntlet is probably 2-3x the difficulty of the rest of the game and parts of the game aren't easy.

[Ian Sane]

ActRaiser seems like a really cool game but I don't really know because I suck so much at it that I don't really enjoy it.  One problem with the setup is that the two types of gameplay tend to favour certain skills.  If you're good at strategy games, you might not be any good at action/platformers and vice versa.  In fact I find the two game skills are often mutually exclusive.  "Thinking" games tend to attract people with too shitty of reflexes for intense action games.  But thinking games require a certain time investment from the player to understand the nuances of the gameplay so those that are gods of action games tend to not bother with them.  Odds are if you're good at one part of ActRaiser, you will suck at the other.

[LJKKJLCM9]

ActRaiser seems like a really cool game but I don't really know because I suck so much at it that I don't really enjoy it.  One problem with the setup is that the two types of gameplay tend to favour certain skills.  If you're good at strategy games, you might not be any good at action/platformers and vice versa.  In fact I find the two game skills are often mutually exclusive.  "Thinking" games tend to attract people with too shitty of reflexes for intense action games.  But thinking games require a certain time investment from the player to understand the nuances of the gameplay so those that are gods of action games tend to not bother with them.  Odds are if you're good at one part of ActRaiser, you will suck at the other.

I loved Act Raiser when I finally played it.  Strategy games and Action games are two of my favorite types of games.  So I would have to say not everyone who is good at one sucks at the other, but I can see where you are coming from.  For me I guess there is a connection in that I love strategy RPG's like Fire Emblem, and action RPG's. So a game that blends some of both, and does both well, in a time that it didn't really exist was amazing.


F-Zero was amazingly difficult for me as a kid to beat on Master.  My brothers and I used to trade back and forth, and it was exciting the first time we got to see some of the later stages like Fire Field. I don't enjoy racing games very often, but this is one racing series that I always pick up.


THE JACKEL

[Mop it up]

We didn't own a Super NES until after a Nintendo 64 so I kind of missed out on that whole era. We had a Sega Genesis instead, though never had more than ten games I don't think. One of my friends had a Super NES though and I actually ended up completing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past before I ever owned it. That was about the only Super NES game I played before having one and growing a real interest in games.

The Super NES era is also about when I'd say games got good. The improved technology allowed them to create games without such issues as poor control, cheap difficulty, etc. that plagued the NES.

As far as the two games revealed so far, I've never liked F-Zero but I can see the appeal in it. I've just never liked straight-up racing games that are all about perfection, that's no fun to me. The original F-Zero seems more like a game that was good for its time but not worth playing today, but I'm not the best judge of that in this case since I don't like the modern games either. I've never played ActRaiser but I have heard about it, it's on my list but I haven't actively bought Super NES games in some time.

[StrawHousePig]

I loved this one [ActRaiser]. When it showed up on the Wii VC I bought and played it through. A couple times even since my Wii failed and had to be exchanged.

Now if only I could get through Super Ghouls And Ghosts...

[TJ Spyke]

I don't remember when I got my SNES (though I remember when I got my NES, N64, GCN, and Wii). I loved it, though years later I looked and realized most of my games were crappy (like Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and George Foreman KO Boxing). I did love the system though, with the two Mario World games probably being my favorites. Years after the system was gone though (like 2002 or 2003), I picked up a copy of Mario is Missing! from a local used game store and was surprised that it was pretty decent for a edutainment game (it was still boring, but I beat it and didn't hate it). I still have my SNES, though it's also pretty yellow and I don't know if it works.

[MagicCow64]

Fingers crossed for Cliffhanger and Spanky's Quest.

I remember reading a list of top ten worst NES games years down the road, and realizing I owned like half of them (The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Friday the 13th, e.g.). I propose a follow-up feature for worst SNES games that we played way too much of because they constituted 4 out of the 10 games we owned.

[Shaymin]

So was it intentional that Zach got to write the article that involves limp whips?

[Bboy]

Castelvania IV is so painful for me because I love what I've played of it, but I've never been able to get past the second half of the third level, partly because it sends you back so far, partly because it's really goddamn hard.

[ThePerm]

I love Actraiser!

[Ian Sane]

I suck at Super Castlevania IV but one good thing about it is that it has passwords, so you can check out later levels.  Overall I prefer saves to passwords but the ability to skip ahead on a tough game is a real nice advantage of passwords.  Renting a game and then using passwords I had in Gamepro or EGM to sample the entire game was a real thrill, as there was no way we would see anything beyond the first two levels in the rental period otherwise.

And "Super Castlavania IV" is one of the stupidest names ever.  Pick either "Castlavania IV" or "Super Castlevania", Konami!  It can't be BOTH!

[Ian Sane]

Wait, are these in order?  Did A Link to the Past, commonly a candicate for best game PERIOD (not SNES only, PERIOD), not even crack the top 15?  Huh?

Probably insanolord's fault.

I've been replaying LttP recently.  The other day I had just entered the dark world.  My brother is telling me about Helmasaur and how he is going to kick my ass and is one of the hardest bosses in the game.  As a kid I never got further than this.  My brother did and I saw the rest of the game watching him.  But I could not get past this guy in a million years.  Going in I lost one of my fairies shortly before the boss on some routine enemy.  I'm shitting bricks, thinking that without that extra fairy I'm probably going to get my ass kicked.

I beat Helmasaur in one try and got hit only TWICE.  Whenver I go back and play an old game I am in shock of how sucky I was at videogames as a kid.  And I would be considered a pretty shitty adult videogame player by most standards.  How interesting that when you use strategy you can beat a boss, while waving your sword as you run in circles like a spaz doesn't work!

[BeautifulShy]

Haven't played Link in the Past in a little while but it is basically my favorite game of all time. There really have to be some standout titles for the rest of the list. I'm gonna guess that RPGs are going to be near the top of the list since that's pretty much what the SNES are know for nowadays. I wonder what this list would look like if we were basing the top 20 on how things were back then and not how we see things today.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Wait, are these in order?  Did A Link to the Past, commonly a candicate for best game PERIOD (not SNES only, PERIOD), not even crack the top 15?  Huh?

Nobody said "top" 20.  Just 20.  Probably an attempt to curtail the whining.  And it still failed. 

This whole feature is making me want to break out the SNES again.  Especially Zelda, but also F-Zero.  I wonder if my times are still saved after so long.  I bought that game in a special deal straight from Nintendo late in the system's life, along with Pilotwings, I think.  I guess they were clearing out the ol' warehouse.  I surprised myself long ago by actually beating F-Zero on Expert.  Me, who sucked at games and was too scared to beat half of them until a friend showed me how (I did beat A Link to the Past, but I'm pretty sure I used a strategy guide).

[MegaByte]

Wait, are these in order?  Did A Link to the Past, commonly a candicate for best game PERIOD (not SNES only, PERIOD), not even crack the top 15?  Huh?

They are in sequential order by release date as the first post said.