Super Nintendo

I got my SNES when I was 12. It was my first "home console", having owned only a Game Boy before that. I bought it with Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Starwing (that's Starfox for my US friends). Videogames were super expensive back then, new SNES releases were about €75 (converted to modern currency!) so I never got a lot of games in that period, mostly games that were on sale. I think I ended up with about 15 games in total, of course renting some games as well.

At some point I stupidly sold my SNES and all my games (which included a special edition Super Metroid - that I later found out was worth quite a bit!) in order to get a Nintendo 64. Which was a bit of a mistake. And then 4 years later I sold that Nintendo 64 to buy a Gamecube. Also a bit of a mistake (not buying the Gamecube, but selling my N64). Seriously kids, never sell your consoles! You'll regret it later.

Anyway, a few years back I was very much in a retro mood and started buying SNES games again, and obviously a console as well. AND a switch thingy that let me play US games on a European SNES, mostly because I wanted to own Chrono Trigger, which was only available in the US. I managed to buy that - a few weeks before a Nintendo DS version of that game was announced. Yes.
Well at least I had a second chance to play some more SNES games, and I also got a few on the Virtual Console, so I was happy.

I am probably a bit biased, but the SNES really is one of my favourite consoles ever, maybe THE best ever, because it has such a high quantity/quality ratio in a lot of genres I like. Take fighting games for example; it had great versions of the Street Fighter 2 games, and Mortal Kombat 2 was easily the best 16-bit version. The RPGs on the system were also outstanding: Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy IV to VI, Secret of Mana... yeah this was back when Square could do nothing wrong. I could give more examples in more genres, but I suppose I should get on with my top 10...

1) Super Metroid

This game is probably the reason why I love games with a strong, unique atmosphere. I mean, the intro alone...wow. The music is great, graphics are great, gameplay is great, boss battles are great... there really isn't a single thing this game does wrong. Well, there are some less fun sections later in this game, but no game can be perfect right? Overall, it really is one of the best games ever made.
Funny thing is, I only completed it a year or two ago, until then I never got to the end, despite really loving the game. It just confirmed my opinion that it's one of the greatest game ever.

2) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

My first Zelda game, and still my favourite non-Ocarina Zelda. I still think it's a very pretty game with a lot of charm and personality. Just like with pretty much every game on this list, the music in this game was the soundtrack of my (misspent?) youth and some pieces have been permanently burnt into my brain. I should really do a replay of this some time soon...

3) Chrono Trigger

This quickly became one of my favourite RPGs, and get this - it's a game I haven't even finished yet!! Actually I can count the jRPGs I finished on one hand, but that's a discussion for another time. There isn't a single negative thing I can say about this game; not that it's perfect, but I feel this one should definitely be in the top 5 RPGs ever.


4) F-Zero

A SNES launch game, this showed off the console's "mode 7" way of achieving a 3D effect. I played this again last week, and while it's obviously very basic compared to its sequels and modern racing games, it's still very playable. It has some memorable sound effects and music as well. I'm a big fan of the F-Zero games, and between this, F-Zero X (N64) and F-Zero GX (Gamecube), it's hard to pick a favourite. So I won't :)

5) Street Fighter II Turbo

This was the game I bought together with my SNES. It really wouldn't surprise me if I spent about a hundred hours or more on this. Trying to discover new moves with every character, trying to beat the game on a higher difficulty level, trying to beat the game with as many 'perfect's as possible... I could always find a new challenge. I still play this from time to time on Virtual Console.

6) Starwing
The second game I bought! Obviously the 3D graphics were impressive at that time, but it was a really good game as well, a lot more than a "tech demo" as you would expect a game like this to be. It had great music as well.

7) Sim City
Even though I already had a version of the original Sim City on my dad's PC (a 386!!), I still wanted to experience this on the SNES. It adds a lot of charm to the game I think, with the music and changing of seasons and a few other additions. It's quite playable on a SNES controller really, even though I did sometimes misplaced certain things...

8) Donkey Kong Country
Those graphics, man!! Talk of the town when this game was released. If I get my facts right, the graphics were 3D but were turned to 2D, thanks to...magic or something.  In any case, it looked spectacular at the time. Oh and the gameplay wasn't too bad either really. And, as seems to be the norm for a high quality SNES release, the music was great as well.

9) Pilotwings
Another one of those games I pick up every now and then. My skills have definitely decreased over time :( Tried it again last week, gave up on the third level after 3 tries or so. Well, I was going for a perfect score in everything heh. But really, it's a good game to pick up and play for half an hour or so.

10) Mortal Kombat 2
Excellent port of the arcade game. Again a game I spent probably over a 100 hours on. I still remember most of the special moves and fatalities!! As far as gameplay is concerned it's obviously inferior to SFII, but I  had - and still have - lots of fun with this.


Also some honorable mentions:
xx) Samurai Shodown
I'm a HUGE fan of this series, and the love started here. Comparing it to the actual Neo Geo release, the characters are way smaller on the SNES, and some effects were toned down as well, but the music is far superior. The atmosphere, of which the music is an important part, is the reason why I love this game (and the entire series) so much, so looking back at it, it really wasn't a bad port at all.

xx) Batman Returns
This is one of those games that are probably unplayable in modern times, but I remember having quite some fun with this. I liked that the game was quite close to the film when it came to atmosphere.

xx) Dirt Trax FX
Another Super FX game, this was actually a really fun racer. Even my sister liked it! I liked how the cars handled quite differently from each other, and the track design was really good.

xx) International Superstar Soccer Deluxe
I don't even like football games in general, but I played it at a friend's and I really liked it. One of the games I bought when I started collecting again.

xx) Killer Instinct
I was quite surprised when they announced a SNES port of this game - I was (very!) familiar with the original arcade version, and that game just blew away everything else when it came to graphics. It was supposed to be a launch game for the next Nintendo console - the arcade cabinet said "coming soon to Nintendo Ultra 64!!" LIES!!!! But that was Nintendo's fault really. Anyway, they obviously had to downscale the graphics and sound quite a bit, but the gameplay was mostly intact. It also came with a "Killer Cuts" music CD, which was a pretty good bonus.

Lastly, let me show of my very small collection:

Most of those are in great condition - F-Zero and Killer Instinct (both US carts) were even brand new!! Also, while the Zelda box was a little damaged, it was actually brand new and came with all the extras, as you'll see on the picture below:

Yes, complete with the map and that little, still sealed "top secrets" booklet. And a promo poster. I didn't pay much for it, and it's one of the items in my videogame collection I'm very proud of owning.

Righto, that's it! Feel free to comment with your own SNES-relates stories, or tell me I have bad taste in games, or whatever :)