Top 10 Video Games for the Super Nintendo

These days Nintendo has gamers flailing their arms around to the amusement of onlookers with the runaway success of the Wii. However before that Nintendo had it rough for a while. The Gamecube was completely leveled by the PS2 and original XBox and before the N64 backed the wrong horse by opting for cartridge games over the PS1 and its CD-ROM style games (which could hold much more information.) However before their downturn Nintendo ruled the landscape with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES.) Many still consider this the heyday of Nintendo games. With that in mind here's a look at the best this now retro system had to offer. This list isn't ranked due to its genre spanning nature.

Tetris Attack
So you like playing Bejeweled on your iPhone? Meet its big daddy. Before matching up those colorful jewels took over the world this game did it first, did it bigger, and did it better. Admittedly this game is a bit of an odd mix, the title says Tetris but it features supporting characters from the Mario games (primarily the green dinosaur Yoshi.) Why Nintendo felt like mashing these two things together in a game that had no reason to be directly linked to either of them is anybody's guess, but bless them for doing it. Players move colored blocks around to make matches of three or more of the same color to clear out the game screen. Sounds simple until you realize the impressive variety within this basic premise. There's the puzzle mode where players must clear the board in a set number of moves, an endless mode in the style of classic Tetris where you just play for the best score, and best of all the story mode and two player versus. In these modes you're not just trying to clear the board, you're trying to make your opponent (either computer or live person) fill their board up and lose the game. Certain matches and combos cause extra blocks to fall on your opponent and fill up their screen, and they can do the same to you. This is where the game truly shines, as the action becomes fast and furious to not only keep your own screen down but also find ways to hammering the enemy at the same time. Until you've played this game it's impossible to appreciate just how addictive it is.

Super Mario World
Launch games that come out right at the start of a new system tend to age very poorly, they show off the new capabilities of any given system but are soon overshadowed by later games. That is not at all the case with the 16-bit debut of Nintendo's mustachioed mascot. Super Mario World introduced the lovable Yoshi to the franchise, it brought smoother controls that had been seen in a Mario game before, and did it all in a world so bright and lively that players just never wanted to leave it. Even the returning elements received both a graphical and conceptual upgrade. Ghosts had been an occasional nuisance in Super Mario Bros. 3, but here there were entire haunted house levels making the best possible use of this unique enemy. Bowser's pesky offspring, the Koopalings, return as bosses but they manage to be more diverse in how they challenge the player in this game. The whole game is rounded off with a delightful sense of humor (best represented by the various ways Mario destroys enemy castles at the end of each level) that gives the entire game the perfect tone of light fun even while being savagely addictive. "Just one more stage and then I'll stop." Oh the lies we told ourselves.

Final Fantasy III
Still regarded by many as not only the best game in the Final Fantasy series but possibly the best Role Playing Game (RPG) of any kind. This entry in the juggernaught series featured a huge cast of characters, an epic story, sweeping music and possibly the most despicable villain in all of video game history. The stories of Final Fantasy games have always been epic but this entry brought it to a whole new level with a diverse cast of 14 playable characters and having the world actually end halfway through. In a confusing bit of numerology this is actually the sixth game in the Final Fantasy series. However since it was only the third to be released in the US (Final Fantasy IV had already been released as Final Fantasy II) it wasn't given its true number. This would be corrected after Final Fantasy VII was released with the right number and all re-releases of the game now properly label it as VI.

Chrono Trigger
A time hopping adventure with powerful attack combos, an engaging cast and story, and multiple endings. Made by a true dream team of artists, directors and composers, all involved brought their A-game to this one of a kind game. Starting out as so many RPGS with the need to rescue a princess the scope of the game grows ever larger as the characters are thrusts into the past and future and find themselves pitted against forces that threaten to destroy all everything. A varied cast of balanced characters all had their unique strengths, but their true power was unleashed in their combo attacks. For example Lucca could lend her fire magic to one of Crono's sword techniques for a flaming attack more powerful than either could do on their own. These combo attacks force players to carefully consider who they want in their party for any given section of the game. The top notch story and well written characters make this classic all the more easy to get fully wrapped up in. This game also introduced the notion of a "+" game. After completing the game once players could play from the beginning but this time with the leveled up characters they'd just beaten the game with. Also in "+" mode players could confront the final boss at almost any time and when they chose to do so would give them one of 12 new endings. Some of the endings were tragic, some were hilarious, but all were worth seeing.

Super Metroid
Samus Aran is back and the world has gotten bigger and meaner in her absence. Taking the original Metroid concept and blowing it up to enormous proportions doesn't seem like much of a leap. But any player who's taken the time to fully explore the planet of Zebes can tell you just how expansive this game is. With new weapons constantly opening up new areas, or allowing access to hidden sections of older areas, the planet and the game just seems to go on forever. The power players feel as they upgrade Samus and her weapons is a fantastic rush. In many ways Super Metroid heralded the direction of Nintendo that would lead it to triumph over Sega in the console wars of the time. This was the game that broke the memory barrier. While Sega was busy coming out with a new (and often pricey) system add-on every 6 months the minds at Nintendo figured out how to get 24-bit (and later 32-bit) games to run on a 16-bit system, no adapter required.

The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Some now criticize it as little more than a remake of the NES classic (though to be fair nearly EVERY game in this venerable series is basically a remake of that first game) but this entry was much more than just the same game with prettier graphics. By making the hero Link have to travel between parallel dark and light worlds the game doubled its playtime and interest level. The weapons were more inventive than ever and nearly all of them have since become staples of the series. The graphics still stand as some of the best of the 16-Bit era and the whole game simply immerses players into a world of magic that is difficult to pull away from. This may be the perfect version of this game, before certain annoying elements such as overly talkative sidekicks started to take over the series in later entries. The thrill of pulling the Master Sword from its resting place was probably best captured in this entry in the series.

Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter II had already come out on the SNES but with the ability to play as the four boss characters and increased moves this felt like a whole new game. With a full line up of varied fighters, faster speeds than the first version, and more moves this was the version to own. This was really the game that brought the arcade experience into the living room. The thrill of knowing how to counter and avoid a special move before unleashing your own was perfectly captured by this game. So many a friendship would break down into a bitter rivalry as players pitted their favorite fighters against each other. There was a tournament mode for single player but in truth it was just practice so players could master the moves they needed to completely trounce their friends in the two player versus mode. Capcom would redo the game one more time but by then the thrill had started to wane; this was truly the game that captured the lightning in the bottle. HODUKEN!

Star Fox
Up until this game space shooters were always side scrolling games such as Gradius or the R-Type series. 2-D sprites traveling horizontally across the screen creating small explosions. But this game, with its advanced 3-D graphics brought the shooter genre into a whole new world. A team of four animal-like pilots (a rabbit, a toad, a falcon and gamers controlling the titular fox) use advanced fighter ships to fight back against an oppressive empire and it's mad leader. Not only did players get to pilot their ships through some of the most revolutionary visuals of the day but they did so with wingmen at their side and multiple paths through the different planets. Admittedly the "cutting edge" graphics haven't aged very well at all but the play is still strong. This game simply took the classic notion of blowing stuff up in space and did it in a way that gamers hadn't gotten to experience before. It stands as a milestone as well as a huge leap forward and remains fun even to this day.

Super Mario Cart
After this playful twist on the genre racing games would never be the same again. There was a time that every game mascot had a cart racer out (Donkey Kong, Crash Bandicoot and Sonic the Hedgehog all had them.) However most of those have faded away while Mario Cart remains and keeps leading the genre. A mix of racers who control differently gave gamers the chance to find the ideal driver for their style. The true joy of this game though was the addition of weapons (such as turtle shells, invincibility stars and boost giving mushrooms) acquired during the race. With the luck of the draw from weapons and items that racers can get the leaders can change at any point and an underdog can come up from the back of the pack. A variety of modes from traditional racing to time trials to versus battle modes gave gamers a reason to keep coming back. This still stands as one of the best two player games of the 16-bit generation.

Super Punch Out!!
Gamers may remember the original NES game where Mike Tyson awaited them in the final bought. This SNES sequel may not have carried over any real world fighters but it upped the ante across the board. New and even more outlandish fighters (including an elderly Japanese man with a walking stick, an overweight clown and some muscle bound twins) paired with tweaked gameplay made this goofy game an instant classic. While it may be billed as a boxing game it actually bares more in common with modern music and rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. It's not a boxing simulation by any stretch, it's all about rhythm and timing. A player must recognize the moves of their opponent, know the timing of dodges and exactly when to counter-punch if they wish to have any hope of victory. Boxing games may have gotten more realistic but the timing based game play of this gem is just as fun today as it was when the game was released.