In celebration of the 250th birthday of the United States, it seemed like a fitting time for a GIANT LIST.
This will be the last of these wacky, overlong, Jason Graves style lists. I was going to try to do N64 as well, but the earlier lists didn't get enough views/comments to justify the work. SNES I was doing regardless just for the fun of it. The SNES is what I consider the last true "classical era" system, the height of 2D's artistic development before 3D came rolling in looking terrible and dominating everything. It took until 2020 with Demon's Souls on the PS5 for me to finally feel like 3D had reached the level of artistic merit that 2D had by 1996.
Way more games on this list, so I'm going to be keeping the blurbs for each game very short, in the interest of getting through all 160 (Jesus...) in a timely manner.
Don't take the placement TOO seriously on here. Any given group of ten could basically all be in a statistical tie with each other. Ranking these based on how well they hold up now.
Honorable Mentions that I haven't played, that would probably be high up if I had: Breath of Fire 2, Tales of Phantasia, Bahamut Lagoon, Rudra no Hihou, Treasure Hunter G, Star Ocean, Fire Emblem 3/4/5, Uncharted Waters: New Horizons
Honorable Mention because I can't finish the damn thing, but if I could it'd be pretty high on the list: Super Punch-Out
Remakes of older games and compilations won't be on here. No Mario All-Stars, no Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, no Dragon Quest 1-3 remakes. All of the above would score pretty high if they could get on here, especially the first. It'd be kind of unfair to let Mario All-Stars compete, like a fusion fighting a non-fused character in DBZ.
#160. Bebe's Kids - Hands-down, there is no question as to the winner here. A beat 'em up where your basic attacks are useless and your movement speed is laconic and sloth-like. Holding R for the entire game turns the basic attacks into special attacks that actually do damage. That's just the beginning of the inexplicable design choices. This is the worst video game I've ever played all the way through and literally nothing about it is a net positive or even makes sense. There isn't a single quality element to be found all the way through the final boss, who takes about two hundred hits and your only weapon is a thrown stone that looks more like a turd. At least the game starts up at all, which is kind of surprising in retrospect.
#159. Lord of the Rings: Vol 1 - Pains me to say it, because I've always wanted to like this game, but it really has nothing going for it. It's full of glitches, plays badly, and there's no real rhyme or reason to it. The permadeath doesn't help either, and most of your Fellowship is going to get knocked off by random rats and snakes after they randomly wander off. By the end all I had was Frodo and Aragorn (since losing either is a game over). I really, really want to like this game, but it was made by complete dipshits.
#158. Shaq-Fu - Not as abysmal as people say it is, and has some comic chops to it. But yeah, it's quite low on the fighting game totem pole.
#156. Prehistorik Man - A game I heard good things about in the past, but had absolutely no fun playing. Was hoping for a basic Joe and Mac style platformer, but instead it's more of a maze where you spend 90% of the time wondering where to go. Every level, no matter how basic the environment, just had to be some sort of convoluted maze. At least I got a post out of it. That was the only redeeming thing about the couple hours I spent on this debacle.
#151. Alien vs Predator - Man, this was a game that I WANTED to be great so badly. It's a cool idea, and playing as the Predator is fun, but it's a basic beat 'em up. The AVP arcade game would have been a better thing to bring over to consoles; never got to play that one.
#150. Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls - Another subpar fighting game. Most of the characters have very little to do with the Double Dragon series itself, and I'm not sure why this earned the "5" number when it's so different from the rest of the series. The arcade fighting game Double Dragon is a way, way better fighting game than this - with actual characters from the series! - and it's a wonder that it didn't get a port to consoles instead. Note: Apparently this game has characters from the short-lived Double Dragon Animated Series, which is why I don't know them.
#149. Dragonball Z: Chou Saiya Densetsu - A slapdash SNES DBZ RPG that covers the Saiyan and Freeza sagas. Better than the Saiyan saga RPG on the NES, worse than the Freeza saga RPG on the NES. Hard to take seriously when everyone has wide-angle stances and the same happy battle theme plays for every fight in the game. There are much better DBZ RPGs out there. For the Saiyan Saga, play the DS RPG instead, and for the Freeza Saga, play the NES one.
#144. Spider Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety - A beat 'em up that's long and tedious, with a bunch of bosses that repeat over and over. There's a reason everyone remembers Maximum Carnage and no one remembers this one.
#143. Parodius - A shooter with all kinds of WACKY STUFF like flying penguins. It's fine.
#142. Justice League Task Force - Fighting game with a bunch of DC characters. It's another barebones, limited SNES fighting game that couldn't measure up in the era of Street Fighter 2. It ain't bad though.
#139, 140, 141. Super Nova, Super Earth Defense Force, Bio Metal - All of these are pretty standard space shooters that I can't really tell apart from each other.
#135. Magic Knight Rayearth - Liked this, was a fun little jaunt. Again, tough time remembering it.
#134. Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 3 - DBZ fighting game that plays decently well and has Buu-era characters to choose from. However, there's no story mode. It's literally just a game where you can either play exhibition matches against the computer or another person. Just insanely barebones. It plays better than the first two, but they actually had story modes! I beat up all the other characters in exhibition matches and called it a day.
#133. Super Smash T.V. - Super-hard game (that gets a lot easier...playable even...if you use codes like extra continues and level select) but it's a lot of fun, and there isn't much else like it on the SNES. You can move in any direction while simultaneously firing in any direction, and have to fend off increasingly obnoxiously-huge hordes of enemies.
#132. Total Carnage - Sort of a sister game to the above, this one has similar controls and a similar vibe. Only now, there's more of a story, as you battle the sinister forces of General Akhboob and his WMD program. The main thing I remember this game for is that ridiculous story from when I was a kid. I was telling other kids how good Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage was, and a teacher overheard this. Next thing I know I'm being hauled into the school psychologist's room (which is basically HR for kids) and my mom is called because I was "telling other kids about a violent game called "Total Carnage". Yeah, it was pretty goddamn stupid, and they didn't even get the name right. I didn't even know there was actually a Total Carnage for the Super NES until many years later.
#131. Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden - A significantly worse fighting game than Three, but considering it actually gives you story, it wins. Covers from the end of OG Dragonball to the end of the Cell Saga, with Perfect Cell as the final boss. The music in this game is awesome, and elevates it quite a bit. Probably my favorite soundtrack of any DBZ game.
#129. Legend of the Mystical Ninja - This was a weird game that I mainly played just to cover it on here. It's definitely...different. Goemon games have their fans, and I found enough to like here. However, when the main thing I liked was the playable Gradius level in the in-game arcade... Well, it's like getting a Yakuza game and having the best part be the Virtua Fighter machine.
#128. True Lies - Movie-licensed game that is too chaotic and difficult to be much fun. The later levels are practically bullet hell and your weapons are limited. It starts out really well, at least, and the gunplay is decent. I just wish it were a little more accessible rather than becoming a brick wall as it progresses. All of that said, I loved this game as a kid, even though I really just played the first few levels over and over again. I talked my mom into getting it for me. We liked Arnold and we liked the game. It'd be much higher if it wasn't practically impossible after the first 30% of the game. Most people probably remember the ski lodge and mall levels and that's about it...because that's all they could get through.
#127. Fatal Fury - The beginning of SNK's era of awesomeness. Yeah, I think the Art of Fighting series was before this, but this is where they finally landed a game on the map with compelling characters, moves, art, and play style. This SNES offering isn't the kind of SNK magic that one would find in the arcade or on a Neo-Geo or anything like that but it's good.
#124, 125, 126. Rival Turf, Brawl Brothers, The Peace Keepers - A trilogy of brawlers that are all reasonably solid games. None of them are gonna revolutionize the genre or anything but they ain't bad.
#123. Stargate - Movie-licensed game that's rough around the edges to say the least, with loose gameplay and unclear objectives. The setting carries this one, and they nailed the desert planet's look. If you like the movie, it's worth playing. Fun Fact: This is the first game on the list to land the cover of a Nintendo Power.
#122. Shien's Revenge - A first-person autoscrolling game that uses the SNES Mouse to great effect. Probably the best thing you can use it for outside of Mario Paint. The bosses in particular are big, appealing foes, and sliding the mouse to deflect enemy shots with Shien's knife handles quite well. It's an impressive game, even if there isn't much to it.
#121. X-Kaliber 2097 - Fairly standard action game with sword swings and the occasional energy attack. Main thing this has going for it is the futuristic, cyberpunk aesthetic and the Billy Idol looking main character. Would love to do a post on this game, but it's pretty low on the totem pole.
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#120. Castlevania: Dracula X - The poor man's version of Rondo of Blood and not something I have any desire to play again, mainly due to the almost-impossible final boss (which is not in Rondo). It's still a 'Vania game so I rate it decently well, even if it's among the low rung of 'Vanias.
#119. Batman Returns - A digitized beat 'em up that captures the dark vibe of Keaton Batman* really well. It's fun to play as Batman and brawl through the streets, what can I say. * - Michael Keaton, not Diane Keaton. Can you imagine? Diane Keaton as The Batman?
#118. Super Double Dragon - The game that time forgot, seems like hardly anyone remembers this one. Technically this was "Double Dragon 4", but later we got an actual game called Double Dragon 4 so I don't know. It's fine, and more polished than the NES entries. At least it isn't a bad fighting game like the next one was.
#117. EVO: Search for Eden - I love this game, though it's objectively not great. You go through eras of history, evolving your creature to adapt to sea, land, and air, eventually becoming a human. It's an action-RPG with a lot of heart and a few moments that actually make you feel. I also like that it embraces the idea that numerous civilizations rose and fell throughout the Earth's turbulent history. That sort of thing is fascinating.
#116. Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse - The second game on the list to grace a Nintendo Power cover, this is a short action-platformer where Mickey gets different powers in each level. This gives the game a lot of variety, I just wish there were more of it to actually use these different powers in.
#115. Mystic Ark - The "sequel" to 7th Saga, this has nothing to do with that game, and I found it to be much more tedious. Rather than revolve around level-building like the previous game, this one revolves more around finding an endless list of macguffins that let you move the plot forward. Had a tough time staying engaged with this one, but it does have high-quality visuals and sound.
#114. Brain Lord - Another semi-sequel to 7th Saga, this game had all the tools it needed to be a great game. It's too short and simple on a technical level (no level-ups, no real character building mechanics). And yet, the dungeon design is overcomplicated, to the point of the game being incredibly tedious to get to the end of. The bosses look great, at least. It has a giant roach.
#113. TMNT Tournament Fighters - A fighting game that has a bit more meat on it than the other fighting games up to this point. Some very appealing characters in this one and everyone has a solid set of special moves. Liked playing as Shredder a lot. Waaay better than the NES version.
#112. Robocop Vs Terminator - Different game from the Genesis version, which is surprising. Not sure which of the two is better, but they have different levels and stuff. Both of them have Robocop slaying numerous Terminators, though, and it's still wildly unrealistic. I don't buy that he could take down one T-800.
#111. Goof Troop - A Zelda clone where you push a lot of blocks and solve a lot of dungeon-style puzzles. It's a good game, and it was probably sold a bit short by being called Goof Troop.
#110. Super R-Type - One of the better versions of R-Type, this looks and plays spot-on. I spent a lot of time playing this one as a kid. Only downside is there isn't much variety, with only one pod and three weapons.
#109. Twisted Tales of Spike McFang - "Unique" is the word for this one. You play as a short, stubby vampire who throws his hat and casts spells with cards. It's a really fun and likeable game. Somehow ended up being in the first round of SNES games I emulated back in Winter 98/99. Deserved that first round pick. I associate this game with being snowed-in and having no worries in the world.
#108. Arcana - Another card-heavy game where half your party consists of elemental spirits. It's an interesting game and has a cult audience.
#107. Spiderman and Venom: Maximum Carnage - Another one with a legacy and a cult fanbase, this is a bad-ass beat 'em up with a red cartridge and lots of rockin' tunes. It's a tough game that I was never able to beat as a kid, until the advent of emulation. Save states help, but mostly, knowing the importance of saving up all your superhero summon-attacks to unleash them all in the late game during the various boss rushes.
#105. Soul Blazer - The predecessor to Illusion of Gaia. Nowhere near as good, and you have an annoying orb rotating around you for the entire game, but I found it to be a decent playthrough with some interesting secrets to find.
#104. Lagoon - A game mostly known for the tiny, miniscule attack range, this was a knockoff of the Ys series. It did its best. The soundtrack is, no joke, one of the best soundtracks on the entire Super NES. I liked this a lot more than it probably deserved, and the music elevated it.
#103. Ys V - Sand City of Kefin - Yesterday's Enter-Ys, this is a lost generation of the series. It's a solid game with good Zelda-like combat instead of the "bump combat" of old. It's also pretty mediocre, transpiring over a lot of forgettable areas and not really telling an engaging tale. The games before and after this both did it better in completely different ways.
#102. Wolfenstein 3D - The predecessor of DOOM, and the FPS that started it all. While the SNES version is missing a lot of levels/content from the PC version, it was still pretty incredible at the time to see this running on the system. First 3D FPS I ever played.
#101. Final Fight 2 - An odd game that mixes up the series a little more than I wanted it to. None of the characters were super appealing to me in this one either, which is an issue. Still, it's a solid brawler, does what it needs to do.
#100. Run Saber - Action game. You run, you swing a saber. It's aight.
#99. Plok - A game with an insane soundtrack that punches it up a few notches, and unique gameplay in a super unique setting. There's no other game like this. It's just unique. It's also incredibly hard, which makes it difficult to recommend it or go back to it. Yeah, another of those. A lot of games went the route of being incredibly hard back then because it was the best way to give the game more longevity with players, but it ends up getting them docked points in the modern era.
#98. Final Fight 3 - Decent brawler that advances the formula a bit more than FF2 did. Has some really good new characters that ended up defining it. Lucia was my favorite for obvious reasons. Soundtrack was also great, and suitably serious for what was essentially a city at war with a gang.
#97. Pocky and Rocky - This game definitely has its fans. It's a top-down action game with fun shooter-style gameplay and a cool Yokai aesthetic. Unfortunately it's also incredibly hard, and that hurts a lot of the fun factor. I think the sequel was a lot better.
#96. Gundam Wing: Endless Duel - Fighting game with Gundam characters. It's better than the average non-Capcom fighting game on the system, especially if you are familiar with the source material.
#95. Fire Striker - Another thing that I've been mulling over covering on here for a while but it's just outside of the "likely" tier. Sort of a combination RPG and sports/puzzle deal, this game involves knocking a fireball around a battlefield to try and take out enemies and bosses. It's worth looking at.
#94. Sailor Moon: Another Story - A Sailor Moon RPG. It's better than the Dragonball Z RPG, at least, and has some impressive sprites for characters and bosses. Had fun dishing out the signature moves of characters in a turn-based setting.
#93. Donkey Kong Country 3 - One of the last major games for the Super NES (maybe THE last). Have always said this is my least-favorite of the trilogy by a mile, and it still is. Kiddy Kong was a terrible idea. The worlds/levels are boring as sin a lot of the time, and the whole thing feels like a trip through a ski resort rather than having the wondrous worlds of the first two. All of that said, even a bad DKC game is still pretty damn good in action.
#92. Gradius III - One of the SNES launch games, and a technical showcase/masterpiece. This game is gorgeous, and has the normal gameplay one expects from this series. Has minimal lategame cheapness, compared to other Gradii. Probably the high point of the series for me.
#91. Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Fighting game where you play as Bruce Lee and fight through ten battles from his life. Some are fights from the movie of the same name, some are characters from movies he made, and some are just made-up. With multiple fighting styles and a high "cool factor", this is a fun game that I really liked playing through many times over as a kid. Loses a lot of ground from only having one playable character, and there's one extremely cheap fight halfway through (the two women with staffs) that always had a good chance of ruining my playthroughs. The rest of the game Is dwarfed by that one random midway fight.
#90. Magic Sword - An arcade-style beat 'em up with swords, sorcery, treasure chests, and so forth. This game is known for having a ton of levels/floors. It was good in the arcade and it's good here.
#89. Joe and Mac - Fun Adventure Island clone where you run and jump and throw axes at dinosaurs. Really liked the boss fights in this game and it's one of those short, simple, yet memorable platformers from that era.
#88. Mega Man 7 - Not one of my favorite Mega Man games, this one felt pretty outdated on the SNES compared to the X-series games. I'd say I prefer most of the NES six over this. It does have its moments, but overall there's a reason why this was the only classic Mega Man game that the SNES got (at least in North America). Shoutout to the blisteringly difficult final boss. This is the toughest Wily Capsule in the entire series, IMO.
#87. Dragon Quest VI - Not a huge fan of this game when it comes to playing through the whole thing, as it is an overlong, laborious struggle to get through. It's got two worlds and they're so similar to one another that I spent half my time lost. However, on a surface level (i.e. just playing the game for fun, not trying to reach the end), it's a really nice SNES RPG, with gorgeous visuals, a solid class system, and some character designs that rival Chrono Trigger in appeal.
#86. Live a Live - A SaGa-style game where you pick from a bunch of characters and play through their individual scenarios before they all get together for a grand finale chapter. I really like that sort of RPG and this is no exception. The huge twist with the canonical hero archetype is a memorable one.
#85. Mega Man X3 - While a lot of people put this on the same level as the first two X-series games, I most definitely don't. Everything takes a nosedive for this one compared to the previous games, as if a B-Team took over for it or something. The soundtrack, while it has a couple of bangers, is mostly generic rock music. Most of the bosses just dash back and forth for the entire fight, like their AI is broken. The previously-optional X-Hunter style fights are now mandatory fights that warp in and ruin your run at levels randomly. The special item "circle of life" is now more like a straight line, and you can't get item C without item B, and can't get that without item R, and can't get that without item G. This ends up locking off a lot of stuff and getting frustrating quickly. Better bring a guide so you don't waste too much time trying to get items that you're blocked off from. All of that said, even though it's the worst of the first five X-series games, it's still a banger of an action game. What single-handedly saves it from a lower spot is the Gold Chip, which if acquired correctly (you can be locked out of it if you collect the wrong items...cause of course you can) will make X the most powerful he ever gets in the first three X games. Playing the last few levels with the Gold Chip is a BLAST. I especially like the double dash in midair.
#84. Faceball 2000 - A 3D maze shooter that felt like something from a decade in the future. This was a TON of fun back in the day, and had like a hundred levels of foes to run and shoot your way through. The game gets very tough as it goes on, and later on you're dealing with a withering assault from laser-shooting happy faces as you try to escape the maze.
#83. Actraiser 2 - Super difficult game, a blistering challenge that will put the player through rigors and trials. It's a game I really want to like and appreciate, but they went a bit over the top with it and it stops being fun. If the difficulty is through the roof and your character is always being overwhelmed, the least they could do is make said character a bit more agile and manueverable.
#82. Terranigma - Technically the third game in the Soul Blazer / Illusion of Gaia trilogy. This one didn't light my world on fire the way it did with other people back in the day. At least it had that extra layer of appeal due to being Japan-only. It's a high-quality game, don't get me wrong, it just didn't really do a whole lot for me.
#81. Wild Guns - Annie running around in her frilly pink dress, blasting everything in sight like Yosemite Sam. Nothing more needs to be said.
#80. Rockman & Forte - A solid Mega Man game that is the SNES' answer to Mega Man 8 (and in some ways, I prefer it over that game). The soundtrack of this game is amazing, both playable characters are fun in different ways, and the levels pose a tough but fair challenge. And we're now halfway through this damn list! Should I do a Part 2 later, or just finish the rest now? Ehhh, I'm going for it.
#79. R-Type III - Great space shooter here with three types of Force Pod, giving it a lot of replay value. They're all completely different in playstyle, and make this game significantly more interesting than Super R-Type which only had the classic pod. However, the game is also insanely difficult, and it could take someone a multitude of attempts to try and get through this game. There are six levels, but it might as well be 60. At least you can continue from the latest checkpoint infinitely, and there are abundant checkpoints. The final boss in particular is absurd and refuses to die, one of the most nightmare-inducing final bosses I've ever seen.
#78. Dragon Ball Z: Super Butoden 2 - A large improvement over the first, this game heavily focuses on the Cell Saga and SSJ2 Gohan. Combines the best things about Butoden 1 (a good story mode, attention to detail, music) and Butoden 3 (smooth, fast-moving gameplay). Not super worth playing in a world where we have DBZ Hyper Dimension for the same system, but it might be worthwhile for the Teen Gohan focus.
#75. Super Adventure Island - A short, but extremely colorful and appealing game. This is five levels of jumping and throwing axes, collecting powerups, and marveling at all the bright pastel colors. Basically the SNES equivalent of Kirby's Dream Land, it isn't difficult at all and would be a great game for a kid. However, the final level and the last few fights do pose a significant enough challenge for it to still be an achievement to topple this one the first time.
#74. Star Fox - Super FX Chip space combat. There's a certain mystique to this one, due to being 3D and having a lot of secrets to it. I only recently played the third path, which has some of the best levels, and really liked what they were going for here. That said, it's a game that has very much had diminishing returns as time goes by and it looks more and more rudimentary and outdated.
#73. Mortal Kombat 3 - Never really took to this game. The run button and combos didn't do much for me, returning to Earth felt like a step back after MK2's Outworld, and I wasn't crazy about some of the character changes. And where was Scorpion? It's still a solid game, and everyone's got new moves to try out.
#70. Romancing SaGa 3 - Good RPG with a bunch of potential playable main characters (the right choice is Harid, though, he's the toughest by a mile). I spent a lot of time lost in this game and I can't really put it in the top echelon of RPGs on the system. Probably a reason it didn't get a U.S. release, it isn't exactly an intuitive game.
#69. Street Fighter Alpha 2 - Surprised that this game even landed on the SNES. This was definitely more in the realm of the 32-bit systems. The SNES didn't get the first game either, they just jumped to this one and squeezed it onto the SNES. Always found this to play well and liked the characters. It being a prequel helps too. Maybe the Alpha series was intended to kinda replace Street Fighter 1, since SF1 was somewhat of a lost relic that never got to have much significance.
#68. Super Return of the Jedi - The least of the Super Star Wars trilogy, this final game was kinda running on fumes by that point. It's still good regardless, covering all the key points of Return of the Jedi. Lots of characters to play as (including multiple versions of characters like Leia), fun gameplay, and a solid challenge. It gets docked quite a bit for the first level, though. For some reason they made the mistake of having the first level be a 3D land-speeder level. It controls totally differently from the rest of the game, it's frustrating, and it's just a crappy way to start the game. Not sure what they were thinking. One of the worst intro levels out there, at the opposite end of the spectrum from something like the amazing Hoth level at the beginning of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
#67. Killer Instinct - A game that Nintendo was heavily reliant on to compete with the Playstation and Saturn. I never really took to the combo-based gameplay, liked the characters and visuals though.
#66. F-Zero - Too difficult to be as fun as, say, Mario Kart. It's got charm of its own though. A cool roster of characters/vehicles and some sweet levels (with great music) characterize this one.
#65. Kirby's Dream Land 3 - Neat Kirby game with a hand-drawn visual style that really works. A lot of people would rank this above Kirby Super Star, but I wouldn't personally. It's got a lot of "been there done that" vibe after Kirby's Adventure and Kirby's Dream Land 2 did so much of the same stuff.
#64. Lufia and the Fortress of Doom - A pretty standard/basic RPG, but it does a lot right. The soundtrack boosts this one up, and it's got one of the best final boss themes on the system.
#60. T2: The Arcade Game - Another Super Scope cart, this is a bad-ass game. While the arcade version is a lot better, they did a good enough job scaling it down for the SNES without losing too much. Blasting endos with a light gun is an exciting time for anyone who liked the future scenes in T2.
#59. Actraiser - Terrific game that combines side-scrolling action sequences with overhead sim elements. You clear the demons out of an area, then you help the people rebuild it, then go to the next land and repeat. The lands are actually different from one another, too. You can even cause rainstorms. Basically, you're a deity. While the side-scrolling action stages are stiff and awkward at times, the game is the sum of its parts. Very much one of the SNES's bright spots.
#58. Mortal Kombat - The OG...and it's still a great time. The special moves are simple to pull off, there isn't a whole lot to think about, and it's just a fun fighting game. The lore, based on cult movies like Enter the Dragon, was good enough to spawn an entire series and a rabid fanbase. This game is as fun to load up and play a few rounds in as it was in 1993. Those endurance matches can die, though, and really chop up the momentum of your playthrough.
#57. Front Mission - An early Tactics-style game. Moody and atmospheric, with a future war scenario that felt ahead of its time. A lot of that is how subdued and understated all of it is. Reminds me a bit of Armored Core in that regard. It's a very worthwhile game that we should have gotten in North America.
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#56. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure - Great game that transports you to the jungles of Central America to battle various jaguars, warrior gods, and...bats. Few SNES games can take you somewhere else like this one. The Sega CD version is way better, though. Prettier, has like 15 levels instead of 10. The SNES version is heavily pared-down. It's what I grew up with though. If it were the complete version we got on CD, it would have been much higher on this list. It's pretty awesome either way.
#51, 52, 53, 54, 55. Super Bomberman 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - All of these are pretty much the same thing, with different bosses and sometimes slightly different powerups. You can't go wrong with Bomberman games (...usually) and all five of these are extremely fun.
#50. Aladdin - While it isn't as good as the Genesis version, this is still a great game that flies by. Really liked the pyramid level and the flying carpet level.
#49. Super Star Wars - Thrilling action platformer that covers all the set pieces from the movie (and then some). I love how it used every possible part of the movie, like how the hologram monster from the Cantina in the movie ended up being the boss of that level in this game. It's a really hard game, but it's worth playing. This and the two sequels are some of the best movie licensed games on the system.
#48. Illusion of Gaia - Main word that comes to mind with this game is "respectable". It's got a lot of heart, and tackles real-world issues in real-world locations. Not really something I'll ever play again, but it was a great time when the system was current and is fondly-remembered now by the people who knew about it.
#47. Final Fantasy V - A complex RPG with myriad classes and abilities to mix together. The story is very secondary to the gameplay and the character-building. Probably the meatiest of the first six FFs in that sense, and every playthrough can be different. All of that said, I could never get into this game as much as I wanted to, and was never particularly into the world or the people within it. There's no doubt that it's great, though.
#45. Pocky and Rocky 2 - Similar to the first, but I liked this one a lot more. The bosses are huge and appealing, and the gameplay was fairer (less getting swarmed). As a kid I rented this one a number of times and kept trying to get to the end, but I'd always lose to that red lightning-throwing boss late in the game. Or maybe it was a lightning-throwing tiger. I don't know, but it was like the 2nd or 3rd to last level. And yet I kept trying the game from scratch because it's that fun.
#44. DOOM - It's DOOM. A game you don't just gird your loins for, you STEEL your loins. It's missing the fourth and final chapter of the PC version, which is a big downside, and the framerate is abysmal. That was the worst chapter anyway, though, and it's still very playable.
#43, Skyblazer - Splendid action platformer with martial arts, magic spells, flight, and lots of surprises. This is heavily reliant on Far-Eastern mythology and theming, with music and visuals that seem straight out of Hindi and Taoist mythology. It's a crime that more people don't know about this one.
#42. Super Mario Kart - First game in one of the best series of all time. While it's the most barebones of the lot, this first one is still about as fun as racing gets on the SNES.
#41. Knights of the Round - A medieval Capcom beat 'em up, part of a one-two punch with King of Dragons (they inexplicably came out at about the same time). This one has better graphics, but also fewer characters to choose from, and all of your foes are just knights and soldiers. So I'd give the edge to the other game, even though this one is really damn good.
#40. King of the Dragons - More of a mystical tack for this one, it's got monsters and spells. While it doesn't look as good as KOTR, I always enjoyed this one a little more due to the variety of selectable characters and the amount of stages/bosses. You fight a three-headed dragon at the end, that's insane.
#39. Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension - Basically the fourth Super Butoden game, this one annihilates all three of those games and makes them utterly obsolete. Fantastic game here with some in-your-face character designs, tons of aura, and a great soundtrack. Pushes 2D artwork to the limit, instead of going to dull 3D like everything after this did. It doesn't get any better than this for old-school DBZ fighting games.
#38. Final Fantasy IV - One of the best RPGs on the system, with a timeless cast of characters. This solidified what the FF series was going to be going forward, a narrative-driven series that thrives on its characters and their struggles. All of that said, a lot of the mechanics here are kinda rudimentary compared to what followed, and I almost think this game could have been done on the NES instead without much issue. It's also a lot shorter than people remember, and you can easily be in the final dungeon by the end of a single work day worth of playing.
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#35, 36, 37. Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Street Fighter II - None of these are really different enough for me to move their rankings around. Was always a great series that played better than the MK series, even if it didn't have the awesome lore. I think I liked Turbo the most of the three by a good margin.
#34. Battleclash - A Super Scope game where you shoot it out with various mech opponents, each one hailing from a different part of the world. Each foe has their own strengths, weaknesses, and nuances, and the game is all about learning how to overcome each of these duels. It's fun as hell, with some great boss fights.
#33. Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge - The sequel to Battleclash, this is probably the best Super Scope game on the system. You've got a whole new roster of mechs to do battle with, and the designs are even more impressive than the previous game. The villains are legitimately creepy at this point, and your battles against them take you to the ends of the solar system. These two games are an awesome one-two punch of light gun action that hardly anyone seems to remember, and it's too bad.
#32. Super Empire Strikes Back - The best of the trilogy, this game has you mostly playing as Luke Skywalker. His lightsaber looks awesome in action, and you get a whole repertoire of force powers. The other characters are nothing to sneeze at either, and you get all manner of blaster upgrades that make the game a blast to plow through.
#31. Axelay - The second-best space shooter on the system, in my opinion. Has fantastic music, an interesting powerup system that is conducive to replays (you choose your layout and the options expand as the game goes on), and some huge bosses. Graphics are pretty damn awesome for the time too. Only issue with this game is that it isn't long enough. It's like an hour even if you die a few times. An incredible hour.
#30. Secret of Evermore - While this game has a lot of issues (especially compared to Secret of Mana), it's still one of the great RPGs on the system. I love the way the various provinces are based on historical eras, and the alchemy system is appealing. Always carry enough Water and Roots. The soundtrack is amazing, made by a Pre-Morrowind Jeremy Soule.
#29. Mortal Kombat 2 - Another "best of its trilogy", this was Nintendo's answer to everyone who said their SNES version of the first game wasn't up to par. It's got all the blood and fatalities! Are you bloodthirsty bastards happy now?? Regardless, this seems to be most people's favorite MK game even to this day, and while some of that is nostalgia, some of it isn't. Outworld is a great setting, and the roster is superb. They went all in with the secret characters for this one and the whole thing feels bigger than it is, the mark of talented world designers. Kintaro and Shao Kahn are two of the most iconic fighting game final bosses out there.
#28. Front Mission: Gun Hazard - An underrated action spinoff with extremely nice art direction, and graphic stylings that use a lot of gradients. Running through levels blasting foes with your mech never really gets old, and I enjoyed the heck out of this.
#27. Seiken Densetsu 3 - The Japanese sequel to Secret of Mana, this felt like they were able to finally realize a lot of the ideas they had for that notoriously-unfinished game. The changes to the battle system bring it down a lot, though, and I don't really like the slow battle movement. Still, it's a very good game and the class changes later on give it replay value (each character has a tree with four endgame classes they could end up as, depending on your choices). One of those games where planning out your party is half the fun.
#26. Romancing SaGa 2 - Better than the third one, this takes the multi-generational concept used by Phantasy Star 3 and actually makes a good game around it. Really liked this game and it was a pleasant surprise to play it considering how hit-or-miss SaGa can be. It can get a little redundant later once you've gotten all the best abilities and just pass them down from generation to generation, but it's still recommended. Another game the North American SNES didn't get.
#25. Demon's Crest - Firebrand gets his own game (again) and this is the best of the lot. Lot of mystery and secrets to this game, and the various alternate gargoyle forms are diverse and fun to play around with. Super underrated game that didn't get much attention back in the day, so it's probably rare too. It's on Switch Online, though, so it's readily available on a modern system.
#24. Super Adventure Island 2 - Speaking of underrated and unsung, this is a fantastic Metroidvania-style action-adventure game. It's a side-scroller that transpires in massive multileveled environments like castles, with lots of weapons, armors, and artifacts to find that beef up your character. The best thing to compare it to would probably be Zelda 2: Adventure of Link, though this is a considerably better game.
#23. Super Mario World - The system's primary launch game, and one of the best system launch games ever. While I'd give Super Mario Bros 3 a definite edge over this, SMW is a pretty killer game too. The cape is a terrific powerup to play around with, and the returning Koopalings were a very welcome addition. I do kinda wish the game had gotten all eight planned worlds. One world got cut, and the World 4 we got is super short as well. Regardless, it's a great game, and its placement all the way down in the 20's on this list is more a sign of how many S-Tier games the system has than any kind of indictment of this game. This would probably be a top 3 on any of the other system lists I've done.
#22. Tetris Attack - The single most fun puzzle game I've ever played. I love the Yoshi's Island isms, the soundtrack, and the gameplay. It's the one thing I'd probably reach for over regular Tetris. Too bad it's kinda stuck on the SNES, and nowhere to be found on Switch Online either.
#21. Super Ghouls & Ghosts - A slow, steady sort of game, where your actions have weight and you gotta commit to them. With a high challenge level and levels that take lots of practice, this is a game that you have to really spend time learning if you're going to go for a win. It's worth it, though. Charmingly spooky, with great music and memorable levels. The ice mountain is a level that'll stick with me for a long time.
#20. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals - One of the stronger RPGs on the system, this game has an epic story, an expansive world, and tons of puzzles. The game also does a great job making you care about the characters and their struggles. Too bad we never got a Lufia 3 in this same vein.
#19. Kirby Super Star - Slightly-overrated in that some of the "nine" games are glorified minigames, this is nonetheless a gorgeous game with fun gameplay. Spring Breeze, Dynablade, and Revenge of the Meta-Knight comprise the three primary arcs of the gameplay, and there's a lot of good stuff in those. I also liked the Great Cave Offensive for its RPG aspects...which makes me wonder why we never got a Kirby RPG along the lines of Mario RPG.
#18. TMNT4: Turtles in Time - The best TMNT game of all time IMO, this is a timeless (heh) brawler that is never not fun to play. As a kid, I wanted this game so badly, and never got it alas. Even as an adult, it holds up. It's got basically all of the worthwhile villains from the TMNT-verse, and best of all, you can hurl Foot Clan members into the screen. Tremendous.
#16. Super Mario RPG - Considering how short this game is and how little there is to it in the grand scheme of things, this is a game that aims high and makes you feel things. An imaginative game that tries all kinds of things and takes risks, this game never ceases to be charming and fun. I really like the endgame areas, like the volcano and the Smithy Factory. That said, pretty much every area of this game is memorable in one way or another. The only thing keeping it from landing higher is that it's so short.
#15. Earthbound - This is a simple RPG with basic gameplay that thrives off of how much heart it has. It'll take you on a journey to the ends of the Earth, making you feel things in emotional muscles you didn't know games could reach. No other game is like it, I just wish it had a quicker running speed and more little optional things to do, like the house you can buy for an exorbitant amount (that turns out to be a complete lemon).
#14. Super Castlevania IV - I think James Rolfe put it best. The controls for this game are the main thing that make it so good. Being able to whip in any direction is awesome, and makes for much more exciting gameplay than the rest of the series. The soundtrack is among the most atmospheric on the system, and goes perfectly with the levels. There's nothing bad about this game and it's probably still the best non-Metroidlike traditional 2D game in the series. It just edges out Castlevania III, which I ranked as one of the top five games on the NES.
#13. Donkey Kong Country - A game that verged on "overrated" in the SNES era, this has nonetheless aged better than it should have, and is still one of the tightest, most playable platformers on the system. The soundtrack is insanely good, contributing to how much fun the game is to play. It's an evolved version of a Mario game, with quicker, more agile characters, compelling worlds, and excellent stage design. It suffers a bit from uneven difficulty, save points often being unavailable, and having to grind extra lives in level 1 to have a smooth run. All things considered, though, it isn't that tough, and the incredible atmosphere of things like the snow levels tends to offset the difficulty spikes that go with those lategame areas. Always felt weird to me that this game ends with six worlds though, like it was unfinished. The sixth world is also pretty bland and uninspired - it doesn't feel like a final world at all - which keeps this game well below its sequel.
#12. Contra 3 - Takes some of the best games on the NES and beefs them up with more QOL, incredible visuals, and a great selection of weapons. This is nonstop action and one of the most fun games on the system. Yeah, it's pretty difficult, but that's a lot of what makes it good. It's about playing through until you master it. Once again, this is a series-best candidate, still, to this day. How did the SNES produce so many series-best games?
#11. Dragon Quest V - The highest-rated Super Famicom game on here. This is a top-tier RPG from a narrative perspective and probably in the top three for the Dragon Quest series. It's a story that'll stick with you for a while. The gameplay is very basic, as are the visuals, but all of that is charming and cozy in a weird way. It's a nice, simple game that takes you on a journey. What's truly nuts is that the top 15 games on this list all could have been #1 competition on the Game Boy, NES, or Sega lists I did. This system is just that incredibly good.
#10. Hagane - A dark horse pick that few people remember. This was an action game that was WAY ahead of its time, with spot-on controls and gameplay and an extremely challenging series of levels and bosses. The kind of game that could take you weeks to figure out, requiring the utmost focus. It's a bit like Ninja Gaiden, only way, way, way prettier to look at. If this had been called Super Ninja Gaiden 4 instead it would be far more well-known and remembered. And yes, it would be regarded as another "best in the series to date". The art design is phenomenal in this game and the bosses in particular have fantastic artwork. There's nothing else on the SNES like Hagane.
#9. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Another tight platformer that is incredibly fun to play, this game moves super fast and never stops being exciting. The artwork has aged very well and the egg-throwing gameplay is still fun even today. There's a ton of personality to this one and the level layouts keep it interesting all throughout. However, the crying baby brings it down quite a bit. Still staying in the top ten though.
#8. Space Megaforce - Otherwise known as Super Aleste, this is the best space shooter on the system...or any system, as far as I'm concerned. I've been chasing the Super Aleste dragon ever since with shooter games. A few things have come close, like Blazing Lazers on the Turbografx-16, but nothing can quite get there. It's a vertical shooter with eight weapon types (each upgradable over a bunch of tiers), twelve levels, a tremendous soundtrack, and a perfect difficulty curve on Normal.
#7. Mega Man X2 - The first two X series games are pretty much as good as it gets for the Mega Man series. I've always been back and forth about which I like more. Mega Man X2 starts you with the dash, which creates more possibilities for the boss order. The X-Hunters are fun optional fights that change the ending a bit, and you can also have a bad-ass fight between X and Zero. Oh yeah, and Dr. Wily is in this, in the form of Serges. This is a damn fine game that is incredibly fun to speedrun. I even like the twang-y music style for this one.
#6. Mega Man X - I'll give the slight edge to the original overall. It's a brilliant game that tries a lot of new things, all of which pay off. The level design is a shade better than X2, and the bosses are a little more appealing too. They really put their best foot forward with this one. Even the special weapons are first-round draft picks across the board, with no bad ones.
#5. Donkey Kong Country 2 - A near-perfect assembly of visuals, music, and action that are all top of the line for the system. It doesn't get any better than this for platformers on the SNES. The only maybe downside is that Dixie Kong's glide is overpowered the same way Toadstool's hover is in Super Mario Bros 2, but it's a downside that makes the game easier so it isn't much of a downside. We also get some killer postgame levels with the Lost World. This game basically takes all the potential of DKC1 and meets it with a full seven (plus one) worlds.
#4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Just a brilliant game with so much mood and atmosphere that it feels like stepping into a huge world full of possibilities. Of course the game world is only about the size of a small town, a very small one, more of a village really. What's important is that it fires up your imagination. As a kid I wrote a five-part novella (that unfortunately never got finished) based off of this game. Nintendo Power dedicated a year of comic strips to retelling this game and all of the events within it. It's a game that was limited only by the hardware, not by the talent or imagination of the developers, and it would be awesome later to see how they moved this concept into the 3D space with the N64 Zeldas.
#3. Final Fantasy VI - A contender for "best Final Fantasy game" even NOW, this was so far ahead of its time. This game is probably the most "epic" game on the system, a true odyssey. Seven characters are strong enough in their characterization to have been the main character, which is insane. Speaking of insane, the villain is the best in the series. You've got numerous spells, numerous weapons and armors, and even some degree of "character builds" with Esper bonuses. Mostly though, you have an outstanding story that brings you along through the highs and lows. It's deeper than Chrono Trigger and will give you more replayability over time, but it isn't as... smooth AF as that game. If someone is only going to play each of these once, CT clearly punches at a higher weight class.
#2. Chrono Trigger - The other contender for best RPG on the system*, this game is incredible. It's shorter and simpler than FFVI, but also more polished, with better visuals and music. I can easily clear this game in under ten hours, but it's an amazing ten hours. I particularly like the 12,000 BC section of the game that's loosely based around the real-world Younger Dryas era, the climate catastrophe that ended it, and the legend of Atlantis. Every time period is interesting - though 65M BC could use more content - and every step of the game is memorable.
* - At least in North America. There are several super-good Japan-only RPGs on the system that would no doubt rank pretty highly if I ever got around to them. Rudra no Hihou comes to mind specifically.
#1. Super Metroid - While Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI battled tooth and nail to climb their way here, Super Metroid quietly strolled past them and spin-jumped up to the podium to claim the win. There isn't a single weakness to be found anywhere on this impeccable masterpiece, and it spawned an entire genre of clones. Probably the most influential game this side of Dark Souls, and did for the modern 2D game space what that game did for the modern 3D game space. Both have highly-cohesive world design, too. It doesn't get any more polished than this in the 16-bit era. And like I said at the beginning, it took until 2020 for 3D games and their visuals to reach the level of polish that the top two on this list had already achieved by 1995.
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