SNES Recommendations

[Spritenaut 32]

I've had a refurbished Super Nintendo for several months now, but never played it,  Had a refurbished N64 hooked up, but I'm not a hardcore gamer, and I realized this week I hadn't booted the N64 up in several months (lost interest after I played through most of Donkey Kong64 and Mario 64).  Honestly, the open world 3-D DK and Mario games weren't quite what I was after.  I'm a big fan of the 2D games I played when I was younger.

 

So.... sold the N64 and hooked up the Super NES.  Yessss.... Much more what i was after.  So far, I only have two games: Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World.  I keep hearing that the SNES was a great system due to the third party software support, so what other games should I be playing?

 

Besides the two games I have, the only other things jumping out at me are the DKC sequels and Final Fantasy.  Recommend me some of the better old-school titles.

 

Thanks.

[Newb82]

Link to the Past.

[J.H.]

Chrono Trigger is a must. It remains my favorite video game of all time (ok its tied with Discs of Tron)

 

James

[ChuckScumm]

Megaman X.

[ChuckScumm]

Joe & Mac, Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Actraiser, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super R-Type, Wild Guns, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter & Turtles in Time, Rival Turf, Earthbound, Illusion of Gaia, Harvest Moon, Captain Novolin, & Super 3D Noah's Ark.

[Tabe]

OK, you wanna play:

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

Axelay

Actraiser

Contra III

Super Castlevania IV

Street Fighter 2

TMNT IV

Those will get you started.

[Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie]

Pretty much all of Tabe's list, plus Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, and Earthbound. I also really like Kirby Superstar but I know people that didn't enjoy it all that much.

[Death From Above]

Two non obvious things you must not miss.

 

Ogre Battle. I voted this #1 game of the 16-bit era when we did listmania so there is that.

 

Prince of Persia, as the SNES version is frankly by far the best version of the "original" game due to better controls, but it's widely overlooked.

 

More obvious but must have: NBA Jam Tournament Edition.

 

But seriously you can throw darts at a board and hit fun SNES games. Shit is ridiculous.

[CastleVania Rey]

The SNES is simply the best video game console ever made. It's hard to pick just a handful of games. The two you have are a great start, though.

 

My pick for the three greatest games ever (for any system) are probably these SNES games:

 

EarthBound

Final Fantasy III (actually VI in Japan)

ActRaiser

 

Other favorites:

 

Chrono Trigger

Demon's Crest

Donkey Kong Country 2 - Diddy's Kong Quest

Kirby Super Star

Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past

Mega Man X

Mega Man X2

Mega Man X3

Secret of Mana

Shadowrun

Soul Blazer

Super Adventure Island II

Super Castlevania IV

Super Mario RPG - Legend of the Seven Stars

Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island

Super Metroid

Young Merlin

 

Other great games that someone might overlook:

 

E.V.O. - Search for Eden

Goof Troop

Illusion of Gaia

Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse

Secret of Evermore

Seiken Densetsu 3 (may want a flash cart and a translation patch for this one)

Super Bomber Man 5

Super Bomberman

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time

[Skelemania]

Super Metroid might be the best video game ever made. I recommend it above all else. It still sees a lot of play, even from streamers on Twitch.TV as it's a highly competitive speed run game.

 

Final Fantasy 2 & 3, Breath of Fire 2, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger for RPG games. Mario RPG is OK too but I find the timing system kinda wonky.

 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Great title. Goof Troop & Aladdin are both pretty fun. If you like the game play of Aladdin, Maui Mallad in Cold Shadow is similar. Actraiser owns but the building portion can drag.

 

Demon's Crest & The Adventures of Batman & Robin are two great, underrated (and somewhat unknown) titles.

[CastleVania Rey]

I'll disagree on the idea of the village building portion of ActRaiser dragging. That stuff is so much fun! Relaxing, too. It's great to be able to have a break from the combat for a bit.

 

I'll second Aladdin being fun, if a bit too easy (but Kirby Super Star and Super Mario RPG are too easy, too).

 

If one wants a super challenge, then I recommend Super Ghouls'n Ghosts. I've beaten it (on easy mode, anyway), but a lot of people can't seem to make it past the first or second levels.

[Salads]

Could've sworn we had this thread not so long ago because I remember posting this link - Super Play magazines' top 100 SNES games. There were a couple of odd missing titles (Donkey Kong Country 2 was one of them, forget the other) but otherwise a fantastic list.

 

Personally, I've played sixteen games that I've awarded a 10/10 to in my head, and Super Bomberman, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past make up five of them.

[CastleVania Rey]

I also really like Kirby Superstar but I know people that didn't enjoy it all that much.

 

Who are those people I didn't know existed? I've beaten that game literally several dozen times. It's too easy, sure, but difficulty doesn't always rule. Even game masters like me like to unwind with a simple game sometimes, and Kirby Super Star might be the all-time best game for such a thing. Great two-player mode, too.

[CastleVania Rey]

Could've sworn we had this thread not so long ago because I remember posting this link - Super Play magazines' top 100 SNES games. There were a couple of odd missing titles (Donkey Kong Country 2 was one of them, forget the other) but otherwise a fantastic list.

 

DKC2 IS on the list at #68.

 

I forgot about Lost Vikings! That's a great game, too.

 

That list includes Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt, though. As someone who has beaten that horror, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but for a masochistic challenge. It's pretty bad.

 

This all makes me so excited for the SNES! I need to go back to my file in Robotrek. That seems like a fun one, too, but I need to put more time in. Quintet were awesome.

[Guest The Magnificent 7]

Super Tennis is in the pantheon of all-time great sports games. 

[Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie]

 

I also really like Kirby Superstar but I know people that didn't enjoy it all that much.

 

Who are those people I didn't know existed? I've beaten that game literally several dozen times. It's too easy, sure, but difficulty doesn't always rule. Even game masters like me like to unwind with a simple game sometimes, and Kirby Super Star might be the all-time best game for such a thing. Great two-player mode, too.

 

The people I know that didn't enjoy it pretty much felt it was a collection of mini-games. Personally, I think they are crazy.

 

Seconding the recommendation for Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow. One of my most underrated games.

 

I do like the Super Star Wars series. I don't know how well Earthworm Jim holds up, but I do remember heavily enjoying it.

[Spritenaut 32]

Could've sworn we had this thread not so long ago because I remember posting this link - Super Play magazines' top 100 SNES games. There were a couple of odd missing titles (Donkey Kong Country 2 was one of them, forget the other) but otherwise a fantastic list.

 

There was a thread for N64 recommendations that got into some discussion of SNES.

[twiztor]

i love the NES and N64 more than the Super, but my favorite games for it (i'm sure all have been mentioned already, but what the hell?) are, in no particular order:

Super Mario World

Donkey Kong Country

Super Metroid

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Mario RPG
TMNT 4: Turtles in Time (still waiting on this to be released on the Virtual Console!)

Mega Man X

 

edited to add:

Mortal Kombat II

[Eivion]

Breath of Fire

Lufia II

[Tabe]

Pretty much all of Tabe's list, plus Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, and Earthbound. I also really like Kirby Superstar but I know people that didn't enjoy it all that much.

Can't believe I forgot Super Metroid. Incredible game.

[CastleVania Rey]

A few other recommendations:

 

Kirby's Dream Course is a great and quirky pseudo golf game.

 

Super Mario All-Stars is the first four Mario games on NES and FDS rebuilt for the SNES (and Super Mario Bros. 3 is still one of history's greatest games).

 

ActRaiser 2 is the sequel to ActRaiser. Hard to go wrong with Quintet, but it does have a reputation for being difficult and awkward to play compared to the first ActRaiser, plus it's missing the simulation stuff. Still good to go with if you like your action rough.

 

Mega Man 7 is one of the weaker Mega Man games on NES or SNES, but I'm a major Mega Man fan and want to give it a nod anyway. It's still fun if you're into Mega Man like me.

 

Rockman & Forte (Mega Man & Bass) is good Mega Man (and Bass) action, but only released in Japan on SNES. You don't necessarily need to be able to read the limited text in this one if you don't want to get a flash cart to play it. However, to play a Japanese cartridge, you'd need to permanently modify the SNES (not a big deal; you only remove some plastic) or use a pass-through like the Game Genie.

 

Donkey Kong Country 3 - Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! is, of course, the third DKC game. It has a reputation for being lesser than the first two, and that is true in a lot of ways, but it is still good fun and I defend it from time to time.

 

Terranigma is another Quintet game and is somewhat similar to Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia. Because it was only released in Japan and Europe, you'd need a flash cart and an NTSC patch to run it on an American SNES (or a flash cart and the Japanese cart, if you don't mind playing it in Japanese). One of the best games to be missed by USA.

 

Out of this World is a great experimental and cinematic game with realistic physics. The SNES port has some speed issues, but I enjoyed it. It can be plenty hard, but it has a lot of checkpoints and unlimited lives to help you with that.

 

Flashback - The Quest for Identity is from the makers of Out of this World and is similar in a lot of ways. It's also fun as long as you don't set the game to hard mode (unless a game with sparse checkpoints and swarms of enemies who can hit you easily is your thing, of course).

 

Super Mario Kart, Biker Mice from Mars, and Rock n' Roll Racing are your best bets for racing games.

 

Final Fantasy II (IV in Japan) is a good Final Fantasy game, but I've always found FFVI far better. If you're into RPGs, this is a good one.

 

Final Fantasy V: Ditto on the above. This one is shallow on story but has an interesting job system. Flash cart with a translation patch for this one, as it's a Japanese only release on the SNES.

 

I'm not much for fighting games, but the SNES has very good adaptations of:

 

Killer Instinct

Mortal Kombat II

Mortal Kombat 3

Street Fighter II/Street Fighter II Turbo/Super Street Fighter II

 

 

My input on Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 is that they're fun games, but very unforgiving due to the hard difficulty combined with a limited supply of lives/continues. I've beaten 400+ games, but the EJ games aren't among them. Your enjoyment might hinge on how you handle games that can and will send you back to the game's beginning for not being awesome enough.

 

I've heard good things about the Lufia games, but I've yet to play them.

 

The SNES really is a gold mine of great games.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Super Bomberman 2 is one of my favourite multiplayer games ever, so frantic. I'm sure the other games in the series are the same, but that was the one my friends and I played the shit out of.

[J.H.]

For a solid beat'em up I recommend The Peacekeepers. Its got a ludicrous story, a boss fight against the Steiner Brothers and fuckton of James Bond references!

It doesn't reinvent the Final Fight style game but its fun as hell

 

James

[Cliff Hanger]

Out of this World is a great experimental and cinematic game with realistic physics. The SNES port has some speed issues, but I enjoyed it. It can be plenty hard, but it has a lot of checkpoints and unlimited lives to help you with that.

 

 

The SNES really is a gold mine of great games.

OoTW/Another World is one that I almost mentioned, but ended up not because, like Wing Commander (which I did mention but kind of disqualified), there are better versions available for modern consoles and PCs that can probably be had for the same price as the cartridge or less. It's an amazing game, but I'd say look up the Anniversary Edition. Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat are different enough from the arcade games in tiny ways that add up, to the point that they're still worth playing on their own (or used to be) because of the differences. OotW doesn't feel like that to me.

[Salads]

 

DKC2 IS on the list at #68.

 

There was a thread for N64 recommendations that got into some discussion of SNES.

 

Thanks. Now I know I wasn't imagining that thread, and also that this is the second time in a row I've published the same libel about my own go-to SNES link.