Note from racketboy: I’d like to thanks our newest contributor, Zen Albatross, for his personal, yet entertaining look into one of the most influential games in his life, Mario Paint. I’m guessing he is not the only one that was impacted by this gem from the 16-bit era, so I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did.

Long ago, before the thought of becoming a professional artist had ever entered my addled young brain, I drew Mario. I drew Mario a lot. I drew him with crayons. I drew him with colored markers. I drew him at times when I wasn’t allowed to draw him, such as Story Time in my Kindergarten classroom – And even late at night, using the hallway light for illumination, quickly feigning unconsciousness whenever my parents came up the stairs. To me, Mario was an enigma – An endless vortex of creative energy. You see, I never had an NES growing up. Crayons and colored markers were all well and good, but with this burning passion to create, what’s a kid with a hyperactive imagination and an unyielding fascination with video games to do?

Then, on my 8th birthday, I got a Super Nintendo.

It was a gift beyond gifts. It was the highlight of my young life. But accompanying that magical gray box was another gift; A gift that had far more importance than I originally gave it credit for:

MARIO PAINT.

I remember not being too enthused about the game at first. After all, at the time I had the seemingly endless adventures of Super Mario World and Zelda 3 to keep me busy. The gift almost immediately made me think to myself, “Oh. So this is suppose to encourage me to keep drawing, right? I see what you did there, Mom & Dad.” Little did I know that this 5.5” cartridge (and the mouse peripheral that came with it) would essentially be the foundation of my creative career. Before Photoshop, before Paint, before I had ever even used a computer, Mario Paint became the very first time where my creativity and my love for video games came together in sweet, 16-bit harmony.

Right off the bat, let’s kick it off with one of my favorite features: The Music Composer.

I grew up in a musical family. My mother has a degree in Music Ed, my father is a professional Trumpet player who also teaches Elementary School Concert Band and my brother plays Alto Sax and just finished his first year at Crane School of Music. Under my father’s tutelage, I started playing Trumpet and learning to read music at around the same time that I got my Super Nintendo. It almost goes without saying, but yes: The first piece of music I ever wrote was made in Mario Paint. Here I was – 8 years old, writing music using a video game. Needless to say, this resulted in a bit of culture shock for my father, who was nevertheless pleased with my musical endeavors. Looking back from the year 2008, I think that one of the greatest testaments to the Mario Paint music tool is that, well… people are still using it. The charming simplicity of the feature was even valued enough to warrant some people remaking it for home computer use as well.

That is not to say I spent all of my time in Mario Paint using the music tool. In fact, I probably clocked in the most hours using the Stamp Creator.

This would be my very first experience with pixel art. I simply can’t express how elated I was, as a kid, being able to actually create the very same graphics that are used for the console on which I was playing. Mario Paint took my appreciation for video games to a whole new level by giving me control over the very building blocks of the SNES itself.

Ah, and what a fine time for me to mention just how awesome the strategy guide was:

I just have to say that I don’t know a single SNES strategy guide that was more comprehensive than this one. Seriously, they didn’t really NEED to show you the sprite breakdown for all those characters from all of your favorite Nintendo games. But they did. There’s even a whole mess of pages with characters from Street Fighter 2, which isn’t even a 1st-party Nintendo game. On top of that, there’s pages and pages of project ideas, lessons on animation basics, tips on composing music… They even explain how you can create animated music videos for your favorite songs by hooking up your stereo and two VCR’s:

Unlike some other creativity-based games, Mario Paint did far more than give you a couple templates and leave you on your merry way – It encouraged you to be creative and make your own unique compositions. This proactive and encouraging attitude toward creative freedom is something that I find to be, for the most part, severely lacking in the games of today.

So what does the future hold for creativity-based games? To be perfectly honest, it’s hard to imagine Mario Paint making a comeback nowadays. Especially considering the evolving face of today’s games industry, where creativity is continually squelched in lieu of mainstream titles that easily generate mass-appeal. Still, games like LittleBigPlanet and Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts both focus on a strong foundation of user-generated content, giving us hope that perhaps developers aren’t entirely opposed to the idea of putting the tools back into the hands of the consumer. Now that I think of it, wouldn’t these kinds of games be perfect for the DS platform? As another one of my favorite games always says, ‘YA GOTTA BELIEVE!’

Like many games of its kind, some say that Mario Paint isn’t really a game. I won’t say that this is completely false, but nevertheless, I still maintain that there should always be a place for creativity-centric software within the realm of video games. Mario Paint came along at the perfect time and did something for me that I can say of no other game: It catapulted both my passion for art and my lifelong love for video games — And if 30 years from now a young kid can play a game on his Playstation 7, Xbox 1080 or Nintendo VirtualRealityMachine that influences him or her to adopt a creative lifestyle, I’ll be a happy camper.

Fast-forward 15 years to the present day. I’m now 23 and a recent graduate SUNY Fredonia’s Media Arts program. But before I left, my senior thesis project brought everything full-circle:

So now after a decade and a half, I’m back to making pixel art. Even though it’s not with Mario Paint this time around, everything makes a bit more sense to me. I’m now an artist and a gamer, and I realize that all of this might not have happened if it hadn’t been for that 16-bit brick of gray plastic.

Note from racketboy: Thanks again to Ack, for all of his hard work on this comprehensive guide to the best RPGs the SNES has to offer.

Were you one of the next generation of gamers that didn’t think RPGs were cool until Final Fantasy VII?  Own a Super Famicom, but have no clue what to play for it?  Wondering what the role-playing classics of Nintendo’s entry in the 16-bit generation were?  Well look no further.  Here at Racketboy.com we’ve got a list of suggestions that you just gotta try.  So sit back, chill with a nice frosty potion, and prepare yourself to experience the world of SNES RPGs.

Final Fantasy Series

The Super Famicom would see three releases from the main Final Fantasy series for the console, each one taking Square’s popularity even further.  While Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI would get stateside releases(as FF2 and FF3, respectively), Final Fantasy V would stay obscure to American audiences for years afterwards.  Europe would be forced to wait even longer, not seeing the titles until their PlayStation re-release several years later.

While each Final Fantasy features different characters in different worlds, all three brought new ideas to the series.  While preceding titles for the NES had full casts, the characters that would populate the Super Famicom titles would prove to be some of the most memorable of the series, with many fans ranking them among the best titles of the series.  The SNES’s audio capabilities were brought to the test by Nobuo Uematsu, with VI bringing some of the most loved songs from the series to the table.  The sprites and backgrounds would evolve slowly over time, and all would utilize Mode 7 technology for some extra visual flair.

But perhaps most endearing were the characters, designed from the concept art of Yoshitaka Amano.  Amano’s art would pervade all three games, though his creature designs and character portraits are most obvious in VI.  The series would also broach potentially controversial topics, such as child abuse, prejudice, the deaths of loved ones, and a coming apocalypse, while also discussing love, duty, honor, and other themes commonly explored in the genre.

It should also be noted that the Final Fantasy Series had another game released for the SNES, entitled Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in the USA, Final Fantasy USA Mystic Quest in Japan, and Mystic Quest Legend in Europe.  This game did not feature the stunning artwork or music the main series was known for, the battle and equipment systems were cut down immensely, and a small party size of up to 2 characters was implemented.  The game is generally easy, excepting the first battle, which is arguably the hardest in the game.  The title is more of an attempt to bring new RPG players who have little to no experience with the genre into the fold.  Most RPG veterans avoided it.
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Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger was considered quite revolutionary for an RPG, featuring a multitude of side quests, multiple endings, a unique battle system that combined aspects of the turn-based Japanese RPG with the action RPG flavor of titles like Secret of Mana that allows part members to combine attacks for greater effect, as well as a beautiful score and excellent characters designed by Akira Toriyama.

The game follows Crono as he and his friends attempt to stop the apocalypse, brought on by an extraterrestrial creature named Lavos.  To do this, he and his friends must wander through time, collecting weapons and items while becoming more powerful in anticipation of the final battle.  The story’s a bit more complex than this, but I don’t want to give anything away if you haven’t played it.  Chrono Trigger is quite epic, and also has lots of replayability as the party stays powerful between each game, allowing players who’ve beaten the title several times easier access to the various endings.

While it has been criticized at times for its short length and generally low difficulty, Chrono Trigger is often considered one of the best games ever made.  If you are new to the world of RPGs, it’s definitely worth a look.
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Dragon Quest/ Dragon Warrior Series

While the Famicom versions of Dragon Quest would make it to the states in the form of Dragon Warrior 1-4, the Super Famicom versions wouldn’t see an official release either stateside or in the PAL regions.  The series forms two trilogies, comprised of Dragon Quest 1 -3 and Dragon Quest 4 -6.  The game is well known for its art, done by Akira Toriyama, whose influence would grow more obvious in the series as graphics in the titles improved.  The series is also remembered for plots that are out of the ordinary.  For instance, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride follows the Hero through twenty years of his life as he finds a wife and starts a family.

The Dragon Quest games always focus on a character called the Hero, who must complete some kind of quest, ranging from fighting a Demon Lord to slaying dragons to getting married.  The earliest title only allowed the Hero in the party, though later games would include multiple party members, the ability to recruit monsters after random encounters, and even a job system that.  While not as expansive as what would come in the Final Fantasy titles, still held some interesting occupations.

While Dragon Quest V and VI were made for the Super Famicom, eventually the early Dragon Quest titles would find their way on as remakes, with improved graphics and sound as well as minor changes and tweaks to improve gameplay.  The Game Boy Color remakes also featured specialized borders if played on a Super Game Boy.  Obscure only that in the middle games never saw releases outside of Japan, the Dragon Quest series is one definitely worth looking up, and fan translations of ROMs can be found on the web.
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Mother 2/ Earthbound

A SNES RPG that showed us the modern-day setting could work perfectly in an RPG, Earthbound could only be described as strange, quirky, and very fun.  From its off-beat music to its hilarious references to American culture and the RPG genre, this is definitely a title not to be missed.  Earthbound serves as the sequel to the Japanese only game Mother, released for the Famicom in 1989.  It follows a boy named Ness, who discovers a meteor has crashed near his home.  There he encounters the alien Buzz Buzz, who informs him that he is from the future where an alien named Giygas has taken over the world.

From there Ness and his friends must venture from town to town, solving problems as they go.  And character names like Twoson, Threed, Fourside, and Magicant, are just an early indication of the bizarre experiences that are in store.  No random encounters occur, instead enemies are present on screen and attempt to rush the party.  If Ness and his pals are high enough in level, enemies will attempt to get away from them, and the party will automatically win battles. Also, hit points roll downwards, like an odometer, and a character does not go unconscious until his hit points reach 0, so a character whose hit points are rolling down can be healed, saving them.  Money is also earned by withdrawing it from ATMs, after Ness’ father puts money in for him.

Originally meant to fit on an 8 megabit cartridge, Earthbound would eventually become large enough it required a 24 megabit cartridge, likely due to the large amounts of music in the game.  In all, Earthbound would require five years in development, being shared by both Ape, Inc. and HAL Laboratory, Inc.  When it did release in Japan, gamers had option of purchasing it boxed with the strategy guide and such promotional items as scratch and sniff stickers!  In America, though praised by reviewers, sales didn’t do so well, as RPGs were often overlooked at the time.  Still, what more could be said about a game that features the “New Age Retro Hippie” as an enemy?
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Breath of Fire Series

The SNES would see the start of Capcom’s ongoing RPG series, Breath of Fire, where the player always follows the adventures of a blue haired hero named Ryu.  In every game except the fifth, Ryu has some sort of dragon-based heritage which allows him to learn to shape-shift into dragons to fight.  While the games all seem to fall into the same continuity(except V, which Capcom says is a different universe entirely), the Ryu of each story is never the same character.  Capcom has never defined the order the games come in(though IV-I-II-III seems the most plausible).

The Breath of Fire series features other constants as well.  Every game features a large cast of anthropomorphic characters.  There is always a female counterpart to Ryu named Nina, and in the first four titles she is always a blond woman with wings.  Ryu also has a love of fishing in every game, which serves as inspiration for a very common mini-game in the series.

Only Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II were released on the Super Famicom, both seeing a release soon after in North America, though only II seeing release in Europe initially.  Both games were criticized on their release for being too difficult.  However once the player has advanced far enough in the game, the difficulty is countered by the size of the character roster.  The Breath of Fire series features the ability to switch out characters in the middle of a fight, so if one goes down, another can step in to take his place. The games also show health bars of enemy creatures, though this feature doesn’t work out for bosses, who often have more health than the bar registers.

While not the greatest RPGs on the console, the two Breath of Fire games are still solid titles, and definitely shouldn’t disappoint.
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Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

This title would serve as the end of a relationship.  First, it was the final Mario game to be released on the Super Famicom.  Two, released in 1996, it would be one of the final games to receive a major commercial release on the console in general.  And three, it would serve as one of the final collaborations that Nintendo and Square would have to for more than five years.  But despite all these endings, Super Mario RPG was worth it.  This game was incredible, featuring some of the best music on the console, 3D graphics absolutely phenomenal for the console, and an entertaining battle system that combines the play styles of a Squaresoft RPG with a Mario platformer.

Of course to handle this, the hardware had to be upgraded.  Super Mario RPG is one of three titles to be released outside of Japan with Nintendo’s SA-1 chip, improving clock speed and RAM while also employing copy-protection, thus ensuring the European crowd(who never saw an official release) would have to wait even longer for the ROM.  In the meantime, 210 sound effects were put in the game, along with music by Yoko Shimomura, who would incorporate the work of Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu to round out the sound.  The game would combine many elements of both platformers and RPGs, fusing the two genres quite seamlessly even in the battle system, where well time commands could increase attack power and length.  For instance, one of Mario’s most basic powers was to stomp on his enemies, but press a button at the right time, and he does it again.  And again, if the press is times right.  And again and again, and so on, dealing massive amounts of damage.

The game does feature many characters originally created for the game, though due to Square owning rights on many of them they are unable to appear in other games.  But the game is an excellent choice for fans of Nintendo or Squaresoft, and even Bowser is a playable character.  This title comes highly recommended.
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Tales of Phantasia

While the first title in the Tales series of RPGs, Tales of Phantasia wouldn’t see a release outside of Japan until 2006 (on the Gameboy Advance), which is a shame considering the quality of the game.  This title would be the first 46 Megabit game to be released on the Super Famicom, as well as the first game to feature streamed audio voices, thanks to the power of the “Flexible Voice Driver.”  This includes full vocals for the song “Yume Wa Owaranai.”

The plot follows two young men, Cless Alvein and Chester Burklight, who are out hunting when their village is destroyed.  When they return, they find their families killed, and Cress vows revenge.  Along the way, they make new friends and allies, adding to the party in skill, power, and capability.  It sounds stereotypical, yes, but the battle system goes above and beyond.  It’s an early build of the Tales combat system, known as the Linear Motion Battle System.  Combat is on a 2D plane, similar to a fighting game, where characters can run around attacking one another.  The player generally controls one character, while the computer handles the rest.  In Tales of Phantasia, the system is not as refined as it would be in later games, so the player never has total control over their character.  But they can make general selections about the AI of other characters, improving the party’s survivability.

On a side note, this title would lead to the creation of Tri-Ace, known for the Star Ocean line of RPGs.  The original creators, Wolf Team, were looking for outside publishers and financiers for their title.  Namco made the winning bid(though Enix tried), and brought them into their company, then cut half the staff and began making massive changes to the game.  Incensed by this behavior, several team members protested the changes.  The controversy created delays, forcing Namco to slow Tales of Phantasia’s development by a year.  After its release in 1995, many Wolf Team members would leave to form Tri-Ace, leaving the others to stay at Namco.  Meanwhile, Nintendo was originally planning on publishing the title, but as they shifted gears to start working towards the Nintendo 64, they dropped Tales of Phantasia. Though the game was released, it created a schism with Namco, leading them to work almost exclusively with Sony, since Sega was a major rival of Namco’s.
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Terranigma

One of the console’s greatest and most overlooked Action RPGs, Terranigma was released only in Japan, Europe, and Australia.  So while PAL owners got to experience the joys of this title, most Americans went on with their lives, never knowing the greatness that lay across the oceans.  Terranigma tells the story of the resurrection of the world, progressing from millions of years ago to the near future.  The main character, named Ark, is a bit of a trouble maker, who just so happens to open a box that causes the inhabitants of his village the freeze.  The village elder, the only person besides Ark not to be frozen, then tells him he has to fix things, and sends him on his way to bring life back to the Underworld, and then the Overworld.

The plot is heavy on ideas about good vs. evil, the creation of life, the progression of life, death, and reincarnation.  While not necessarily one of the greatest games in terms of graphics or music, the changes to the world that take place as Ark progresses with his mission, watching life grow into abundance, is an extremely beautiful change, and the music does a superb job of backing up the imagery.  Mode 7 graphics are utilized for the game world when moving between towns and dungeons, and appears to wrap around in a way that represents the curvature of the Earth.

As an Action RPG, the title also features an unusual combat system, where attacks differ depending on whether the character is running, standing still, or jumping.  There is also the option to block, though this does little more than stopping small projectiles.  The game also uses a magic system involving “magic rings,” which are made from Magirocks found in the game that the player takes to magic shops and has turned into rings.  Once a ring is used, it’s destroyed, though the player will get the items used to make it back in their inventory to make more rings.

Terranigma was released in Japan along with a book by Kamui Fujiwara about the plot of the game that reads similarly to a “Choose Your Own Adventure.”  A two-part manga series, novel, and game atlas were also released.  For the German release, Club Nintendo put out a small comic book.
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Star Ocean

Remember that mention of Tri-Ace’s creation earlier?  Well this is where it pays off.  Star Ocean is their first game release, published by Enix for the Super Famicom in 1996, as well as the first title in the Star Ocean series.  While a North American release was initially in the works, it was canceled when Enix closed their America division.  A shame, too.  Star Ocean would be one of the most intensive games on the Super Famicom, coming in at a whopping 48 megabits.  The cartridge utilized the “Flexible Voice Driver” and featured even more voice work than Tales of Phantasia, though due to size limits the quality was lessened.  The game also featured surround sound.  Finally, the title was one of only two Super Famicom games to use the S-DD1 chip to help with graphics compression, the other being Street Fighter Alpha 2.

But on to the good stuff.  The title follows Ratix, a young Fellpool from the planet Roak.  Rumors start spreading of a mysterious petrification disease, so one of his closest friend’s father goes to investigate, subsequently becoming infected himself.  Ratix undertakes a quest to find a special plant that is said to cure any disease, but just as he reaches it a sudden light explodes, and two humans appear from space.  That’s right, Star Ocean is a science fiction RPG, with many similarities to Star Trek.  It also features standard random encounters, but the battle system is real time, where the player controls a character as the rest of the party is controlled by computer AI, much like Tales of Phantasia.  After all, the original creators had just left Namco to found Tri-Ace, so the many similarities are quite striking.

The series also features the ability to gain up to 8 characters in the party, two of which are secret characters.  The title also serves as the first game to utilize the Private Action, where each character enters a town separately and does their own thing.  The player can use this to affect plot progression and character development, though its effects would end up far more important in later games in the series.  It was also the first to feature the Star Ocean system of item creation, which players could use to make powerful equipment, expensive objects to sell, and even cook food to get around the 20-limit cap on individual items.  This would be one of the final hurrahs of the Super Famicon before the Nintendo 64’s release, hitting store shelves on July 19, 1996.
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Seiken Densetsu (Mana) Series

The Seiken Densetsu series, often referred to as the Mana series, is a bit of an odd bird.  Originally intended as a sideline of games to the Final Fantasy line, the first Seiken Densetsu is also known as Final Fantasy Legend.  The next two in the series, Seiken Densetsu 2 and 3, would release on the Super Famicom in a much different style.  While 3 never made it out of Japan, Seiken Densetsu 2, better known in the USA and Europe as Secret of Mana, would reach wide acclaim, and is often considered one of the best games ever made.  Though originally designed for the Super Famicom CD add-on(ie. the PlayStation) as a launch title, the project was quickly turned into a cartridge upon Nintendo’s dropping the peripheral.  The game was translated in less than a month, causing much of the text to be cut, so conversations are bare-bones at most.  Seiken Densetus 3, meanwhile, was supposedly so large that translating it proved impossible on the SNES catridge, as well as plagued by some software bugs, and the game was never brought over.

Both games were definitely Action RPGs, with the player controlling one character while the CPU controlled two others in a pseudo-Zelda style combat system.  While both titles feature multiplayer, Seiken Densetsu 3 only supported two players.  Secret of Mana could support up to three via the use of a Multi Tap.  Both games also feature the Ring Menu system, where items, spells, equipment, and even various options settings can be changed on the fly.  Mode 7 would also be used occasionally in the titles, and Seiken Densetsu 3 featured surround sound.

Seiken Densetsu 3 also had players pick their characters at the beginning, heavily affecting gameplay and some plot elements.  It would feature a system to choose which stats to raise whenever a character leveled up, as well as job classes that would evolve over time.  Both titles would feature amazing graphics at the time of release, as well as large and epic soundtracks.  If you’re a fan of the Action RPG, the two Seiken Densetsu titles for the Super Famicom are worth taking the time to check out.
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Fire Emblem Series

And you thought the back story to the Seiken Densetsu series was complicated.  While the West wouldn’t see any Fire Emblem releases until after the popularity of Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Intelligent Systems was pumping them out like hotcakes in Japan.  There are four Fire Emblems for the Super Famicom, though most fans consider only three of them officially for the console, and only two were originally in cartridge form.  The first two releases, Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo and Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu, were released late in the Super Famicom’s pre-Nintendo 64 days, in1994 and 1996 respectively.  The third game, BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki, considered unofficial, was released in four individually playable parts in 1997 via the Satellaview.  And the fourth, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, was released in 1999 on Nintendo Power catridges.

For those not in the know, the Satellaview was a satellite modem Nintendo released as an add-on to the Super Famicom.  Many of the games were exclusive, and still are, and games had to be saved to a Memory Pak.  Since the Satellaview service has been discontinued, it is effectively impossible to play BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki unless someone found a Memory Pak still containing the game, and even then the game wouldn’t be playable in its full glory, as the voice acting in the game was streamed.  Meanwhile, Nintendo Power catridges were flash RAM carts, which people could download games onto.  Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 was also released on a DX Pack, and so it is still possible to find the game.

Anyway, enough history.  The Fire Emblem games are Strategy RPGs, known for their difficulty due to permadeath.  Namely, if a character dies in a Fire Emblem, they stay dead for the rest of the game.  Any segments of story they were in are removed, and if necessary, plot will change, though if any of the major characters fall it usually spells game over.  Of course this also affects enemy units, so once you drop an enemy, they stay down.  Combat is handled on a large map which players must navigate in a turn-based approach, slowly moving their units one by one across it.  Instead of randomly generated player units, such as in titles like Final Fantasy Tactics, all characters have distinct personalities and skills, though they always fall under specific professions in Fire Emblem’s job system.  Combat operates similarly to rock-paper-scissors, with certain weapon types being more or less effective against other types of weapons.  All the games take place in a continuous world on various continents, and many serve as sequels, prequels, or even between chapters of other games, and while interpersonal relationships were always an important part of the series, they’re not fully delved into until after the Super Famicom titles.

If you enjoy medieval battles, turn-based combat, and engaging characters, the Fire Emblem titles are good places to look, though be wary: They aren’t easy titles, though they are rewarding.
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Front Mission

Want to try a Strategy RPG, but not into the fantasy setting?  Enjoy near-future mecha combat?  Want to blow the limbs off enemy mecha with all manner of destructive paraphernalia?  Then, Sqauresoft’s mech-combat-filled Front Mission is for you.  Front Mission is sometimes seen as more of a Strategy game than an RPG.  Units are moved about the field one by one and can either enter physical combat or take potshots.  All people drive battle mechs, called Wanzers in the series.  The Wanzers can be outfitted with all manner of different kinds of weapons, entailing a great deal of customization for every character.  The two arms, the legs, and the body all have their own hit points, and players can destroy different pieces to cripple their opponents.  While destroying the body will finish the Wanzer off, destroying their arms will remove their weapons and taking out their legs ruins their mobility.  Vehicles also exist, though they only have bodies.

The plot of Front Mission focuses on a war breaking out in the year 2090 on a small island in the Pacific, named Huffman Island.  The war, known as the Second Huffman War, occurs between the Oceania Community Union(OCU) and the United States of the New Continent(UNC).  Though the main character, a man by the horrible name of Royd Clive, initially severs the OCU, the first mission in the game gets a bit bungled, and because of that he’s effectively court-marshaled.  Which leads to is eventual recruitment as a mercenary for the OCU.

Unfortunately the plot remains rather vague, and isn’t fully explained.  Not even in the remake for the PlayStation, Front Mission 1st, is the plot fully explained, or in Front Mission 4, which is directly related.  Finally, in Front Mission 5 is every mystery finally answered, so if you want the whole story, it’ll require playing through every game.
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Bahamut Lagoon

Another Strategy RPG that was never released outside of Japan, Bahamut Lagoon is a squad-based game where squads are moved one by one over battlefields in an attempt to destroy the enemy or finish specific objectives.  However, the defining thing about Bahamut Lagoon is that the squads also have dragons.  That’s right, dragons.  The game’s all about them.  You can fight with them, feed them to increase their stats, and by feeding them enough, get them to evolve into various forms to make them more effective at combat.  In general they have minds of their own, though they will accept simple commands.

The plot of the game centers around Byuu, head of the Resistance.  His aim is to defeat the Granbelos Empire, who recently conquered the world after a long and terrible war that destroyed Byuu’s home kingdom.  They start by stealing a giant ship called the Farnheit, and set about on their open rebellion.  Now there isn’t much in the way of land in the game.  The world seems mostly composed of caves and floating continents, as well as ships made of land, including the Farnheit.  Flying around on a ship made of dirt and feeding dragons may not seem that interesting, but the game actually ends up rather fun.  Later on, mission modes become available, allowing the player to level themselves and their dragons without advancing the plot.

On a side note, Bahamut Lagoon shares designers with Final Fantasy VI, including an enemy.  In FFVI, an enemy Monster-In-A-Box can be found in the World of Ruin, named the Presenter.  The enemy is actually a commonly occurring one in Bahamut Lagoon, making an interesting tie-in between the games, though they aren’t officially related.  Also, Bahamut Lagoon released in Japan in early 1996.  There were plans made by Square to release both it and Front Mission in North America, though events were quickly souring between Nintendo and Square.  This is often considered the ultimate reason for why they were never brought over, as Square would soon abandon Nintendo to make games exclusively for Sony.
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Lufia Series

The Lufia Series is a set of currently four fantasy RPGs all set in the same world across multiple centuries, though only two were released for Super Famicom.  While America would get both Lufia & The Fortress of Doom and Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals, Europe and Australia would only see Lufia 2(called Lufia in Australia).  The two titles are actually out of order in the time line, with the ending of Lufia 2 serving as the intro to Lufia.  In the Lufia games, random encounters occur on the world map, but in Lufia 2, dungeon enemies are represented by sprites similar to one of the enemies in the group, and only move when the player moves, making it possible to dodge them.  Both games are rife with puzzles throughout their dungeons, ranging from fairly easy to extremely difficult to figure out.

And then there’s the combat system.  Lufia doesn’t have characters target individual monsters.  Instead, you target the group.  If there are two lizards and two bats attacking, they’re lumped into groups, and while you can target a specific group, you don’t know which one you’ll hit.  Also of note is that all characters take turns at the same time, and if one character kills an enemy that the next was targeting, that character will still attack the dead monster.  Strategies must be formed to effectively combat creatures.

As for story, a group of creatures called the Sinistrals emerge and attempt to take over the world, so some of mankind’s greatest warriors go after them.  This story is the plot of Lufia 2.  In Lufia, the story takes place 99 years later, when a new Sinistral army has emerged, and the player must take the hero they choose to name to fight against them.

While the games are sometimes criticized for not being as good as some of the heavy hitters of the genre like Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana, and while the second one does suffer from a few glitches and spelling errors, they do make for a fun romp and any hardcore RPG fan should take the time to give them a spin.  Also of note, the original Lufia was considered for a port to the Sega Genesis, though the project was scrapped early on in its life.
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Live A Live

Ok, I’ll be honest.  This title is only on here because it’s a personal favorite of mine.  The plot is actually a group of different stories about different characters from different times, ranging from a caveman in prehistory to a robot in the far future.  Each of the seven sections is very different, with some featuring without combat, to nothing but combat.  Every character is distinct, and while many may appear stereotypical, they still have likable personalities.  Ultimately after all seven sections are finished, a special section appears set in medieval Europe.  After completing this section, the final boss appears, asking the characters why they fight.  The player must then select who they will use to defeat him.

The battle system is something that really stands out as different from other RPGs Square produced.  Combat takes place on a 7×7 grid, though this may be divided up in various ways in different chapters.  Characters move around the grid, performing special moves that target specific areas.  Enemies do the same, and the two must fight until one side is finished off.  Skills work off charge times, and hit points are refilled after every battle, so the player can always fight at his hardest.

The game is also rife with little tributes to various films and historical characters.  Many of the chapters were written and designed by manga artists, as were character designs.  Yoko Shimomura also composed all the game’s music, much like Super Mario RPG.  Unfortunately the game’s relatively obscure and doesn’t seem to have even been considered for a release outside of Japan.

So there you have it, 15 RPGs and series to look up for all you Super Famicom fans.  But just because I recommend these doesn’t mean there aren’t many, many more RPGs on the console worth playing.  Here’s a few more recommendations that should keep you occupied for a long time:
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Illusion of Gaia

This is another Action RPG, known as Illusion of Time in Europe.  The game takes place in a psuedo-historical setting, with many well known locations like the Egyptian Pyramids serving as locales.  The player takes control of an explorer named Will and have them wander different areas attempting to reach new places and kill enemies.  In a bit of a twist, Illusion of Gaia features no experience system.  Instead, a jewel appears after clearing an area that will raise the characters’ stats.  Money and equipment are also not present in the game, and there are few healing items.  Instead players can visit Dark Spaces to heal up and save.

It is this Dark Space that sets off the plot of the game.  Will accidentally stumbles into one where he is told by a being called Gaia that a comet is hurtling towards the earth and will bring great evil to it.  Will must do everything in his power to stop it.  While the game isn’t as acclaimed as many of the rest of its SNES RPG brothers, it is still considered quite good in its own right and deserves a look.  Nintendo also initially released the game with a t-shirt, so if you can, check it out.

On a side note, this title was created by Quintet, also known for Terranigma and Soul Blazer as well as other games like the ActRaiser series.  The titles see several similarities, and in a secret developer’s room in Terranigma, the game is referred to as “Illusion of Gaia 2.”  If you enjoyed Terranigma, definitely check this one out.
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SaGa Series

While the SaGa games would eventually make their way out of Japan, only one of the three Super Famicom titles would see a release in America(and not at all in the PAL regions apparently), and it would only take Squaresoft 13 years to do it.  The three SaGa titles on the Super Famicom are known as Romancing SaGa 1, 2, and 3 respectively.  The games follow multiple characters, taking the time to focus on each separately.  After that…well, there really aren’t too many similarities, so I’ll devote a quick paragraph to each one.

First, in Romancing Saga, the player selects one of 8 characters, follows their story to the end, then selects a new character who wanders around the world.  Often selectable characters will come across each other then continue on their merry way.  The world is your typical fantasy RPG fare.  The player can also recruit various party members from the world to continue with their storyline, and through this the overall plot of the game is discovered.  It’s great for anyone who doesn’t want to spend hours uncovering a long storyline and feeling like they’re getting no where as each section is significantly shorter than a run through something like a Final Fantasy game

Second, Romancing Saga 2 mixes up the idea a bit by having the player play as a king or queen.  When they die, the player then controls their heir.  And upon their death, again the player controls the heir.  And again.  And again.  And so on and so forth until the game ends.  On a nifty note, only the first heir is chosen for the player as well, so after a while they player can decide who they wish to take over as.  The ultimate goal?  Advance the kingdom, of course!

And third, in Romancing Saga 3, the character is once again given a choice of 8 characters to pick from.  Battles can take a much more strategic approach than the standard RPG in Commander Mode, with the player creating battle formations that use teamwork to defeat enemies.  The game boasts a large cast, as well as a unique level system.  Characters don’t level up.  Instead they gain stat boosts based on the way they fight.  If a character casts lots of spells, they become better at it.  Melee characters get better at physical attacks and defenses.  It allows the player to build them to their strengths, instead of the game forcing them down a specific tree or path.
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Megami Tensei Series

Oh boy.  There’s no easy way to talk about this one.  The Megami Tensei series happened to see a lot of releases on the Super Famicom, with no fewer than six releases, sometimes with three in one year.  Of course, while they’re all related, they’re not all sequels of each other.  The six titles are Shin Megami Tensei, Majin Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei 2, Shin Megami Tensei if…, Majin Tensei 2: Spiral Nemesis, Last Bible 3, and Kyūyaku Megami Tensei.  They fall into four categories on the Super Famicom: the Shin Megami Tensei games, the Majin Tensei games, the Last Bible games, and the Digital Devil games.

The Shin Megami Tensei games are Shin Megami Tensei 1, 2, and if….  And yes, it is actually called if….  These games are First-Person RPGs, set in Tokyo in the year 199X, and revolve around high schoolers being sucked into the demon world.  Well, the first and if… do, while Tensei 2 is about what happens in the aftermath of 1.  Combat is turn based, and every character has a specific alignment.  Many of the recruitable characters don’t have official names either.

Then there are the Majin Tensei games, Majin Tensei and Majin Tensei 2: Spiral Nemesis.  While these games are set in the same universe as the others, they are Strategy RPGs, similar to Fire Emblem in terms of gameplay and graphics.  The games feature some odd but interesting effects, such as moonlight affecting the strength of demon characters.  Again, they are set in a more modern setting, in locales in the series canon.

Next comes the Last Bible games.  Only one would be a Super Famicom release, while the others saw releases on Game Boy(only one of which would see release outside of Japan).  Last Bible 3 is a bit different from the rest of the series in that it takes place in a fantasy setting instead of the modern day.  The main character is able to recruit monsters to join his party, and can then customize those monsters to fight in various ways for greater party benefit.  Monsters can also equip gear and level up like the main character.  It plays closer to the typical RPG than the other titles.

And finally there is the only Digital Devil game released for the Super Famicom, Kyūyaku Megami Tensei.  However, that’s a bit of a misnomer, as this title is actually both of the Digital Devil games for the Famicom remade for the Super Famicom console.  Once again, the game is a First-Person RPG.  The plot is about a boy who summons demons via a computer program he wrote, hence the name Digital Devil.  The remake would see graphical improvements as well as valuable additions like a save feature for the first title.

It is important to note that all of this was spawned by a book series by Aya Nishitani.  The series didn’t stop on the Super Famicom either, but went on to see releases on PlayStation and PlayStation 2, cell phones, Game Boy Advances, PSP, PC, Sega Saturn, and even a spin-off for the Virtual Boy.  Upcoming games include potential releases on the DS, PS3, and Wii.  The series, sometimes referred to as MegaTen, is nothing short of HUGE, and is perhaps the most prolific series in game history, coming to 52 current releases since the Famicom if including every title(there are a lot of cell phone titles).  It’s considered a bit off the beaten path for most RPG fans, but if you really want something different, look the series up.

Shadowrun

Based on the popular pen and paper role playing game, Shadowrun is a cyberpunk RPG set in Seattle in the year 2050.  The player follows Jake Armitage, a courier and shadowrunner, who suffers amnesia after an attempted hit on his life.  So now he has to find out who he is, found out why people want him dead, and get them back.  The game is an Action RPG with battles and assassination attempts occurring in real time.

It does feature a leveling up of sorts.  As Jake kills enemies he gains Karma, which can be spent to boost stats, power up abilities, or unlock new ones.  Jake can also speak with NPCs through a large database of terms that gets added to every time someone says a new keyword to him.  But finally, in a hark back to its roots and the novel Neuromancer, Jake can enter cyberspace to hack computers.  This gets him money and key information, though if you die in cyberspace, you die in the game.

While it did release in all three regions and English was the main language in all three, the Japanese version featured subtitles, a longer intro, and some small graphical differences.  The game didn’t sell very well despite it being considered pretty good.
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Ys Series

The Ys series is a series of Action RPGs that follow a Germanic young man named Adol Christin, who goes around on various adventures, helping people as he goes.  Three of the games would see release on the Super Famicom, being Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, Ys IV: Mask of the Sun, and Ys V: Kefin, the Lost City of Sand.  The plots are: Adol learns that a village is being threatened by men in a castle so he helps out, Adol finds a message in a bottle asking for help so he boards a ship to help, and Adol hears a rumor about a lost city so he investigates.  It’s simple, really.

Gameplay varies, though stays in the Action RPG genre, with camera position changing a bit in each of the titles, from a side-scroller to a top-down.  In the first two games, as in IV, Adol deals damage by running into his enemies, though in III and V, he manages to swing a sword.  In V he can even jump and pull out a shield, as well as use magic.

Ok, so it’s extremely simple in concept and story so why include it?  Because the Super Famicom featured a wide deal of diversity in its RPGs, enough for almost everyone to try.  If you’ve tried one on this list and hated it, try a different one and see if it’s more your style.  So many companies were putting out RPGs at the time that while there’s lots of similarities, there’s also lots of differences.  They’re all worth spending a few minutes with.  But this isn’t all.  What follows is a short list of some other recommendations, though these are no where near the complete number of RPGs on the console.  There are literally hundreds on the console.  There’s a good chance there’s one for you.
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Other Titles Worth Checking Out:

• Soul Blazer
• Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
• Der Langrisser
• Ultima Series
• Drakkhen Series
• Wizardy Series
• Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together

When someone says “bad fighting game” to you, what do you think of?  If you’re reasonably versed in the Super Nintendo, your thoughts may drift to Shaq Fu, C2: Judgement Clay, or even the Primal Rage port that was, let’s face it, atrocious.  But spend a little time with them, and you’ll realize that these games aren’t the worst.  Sure, they have low sprite counts, horrid colors, terrible controls, pathetic single-player games, and gameplay that flows like an avalanche, but are these truly the worst?  God no.  Oh God, no.  If talking about bad games makes you queasy, stop reading now.  If thinking about bad games makes you ill, turn back.  Because we’re about to break ground in a Gaming No Man’s Land.  And frankly, you don’t want to touch these titles with a ten foot pole.

Ballz 3D: Fighting At Its Ballziest

So Virtua Fighter gets released, and suddenly somebody at PF Magic decides “Hey!  A 3D fighting game.  That’s awesome!  I sure wish we could make one of those.”  And so they did.  Ballz 3D sticks the player in a flat, circular arena, complete with two levels of background.  The closer one contains a screen where mindless taunts are displayed about every time someone gets hit.  This also displays all information, such as match number, opponent name, and even home many opponents are left when you beat someone.  The farther background is about a screen’s worth of picture, which simply repeats itself over and over.  All in all, bland and boring, just like the flat stage you’re fighting on.

But I suppose the important question is how does it play?  First, it is a two-button fighter.  It uses all six buttons on the SNES controller, but two are repeats of the attack buttons and two are used for jumping.  Never mind that jumping is usually pretty useless in 3D fighters, and this one is no exception.  As for the characters, they’re all made up of balls.  It’s an interesting idea, but they tend to lean more towards the crude side(A farting monkey, anyone?), or stereotypical (Look, a strong guy, a clown, and random girl A).  Also, while they got the 3D bit down rather well for the time, distancing is almost impossible to tell.  You know if a move has connected if the other guy blinks white, but because everything spreads on a character when they attack, move, or do anything, I can’t tell where the hit box is.  It’s also pretty easy to lose the other guy on the screen, so often times you can wander far enough away and have no idea where the fight is supposed to be.  Also, because of the 3D action, blocking is a bit weird to pull off, as are special moves.

Finally, the music is bizarre.  The track at the Title Screen is…well, let’s just say I feel soiled after listening to it for a few minutes.  I finally believe it is possible for a game to have too much attitude.  Even with Nintendo censoring some of the language, I still feel insulted playing this title.  And dirty.  Very dirty.

Battle Blaze

So back before they were producing Guilty Gear, Sammy decided they would grace us with a fighting game featuring barbarians and knights and monsters for the Super Nintendo.  That got us Battle Blaze, a game where demons take over a fighting tournament to let their demon king free upon the earth.  The only problem with the demon king’s plan was that one of the fighters managed to beat down the demon sent after him.  He doesn’t get possessed, but dies in the process, and so his son must take up the sword and go beat down his father’s possessed old friends.  This is where you come in.

There’s only two game modes, The Hero and The Battle.  The Battle is your standard arcade, where you can select one of six characters to play against the CPU or a friend.  It has a nifty prep screen for the battle where a soldier lists your names and tells you the King decrees no cheating.  It’s a nice touch.  Then there’s The Hero, where the son must go around the map to fight the other champions and win the day.  It sounds cool, right?  Unfortunately, it means little more than picking the order in which you fight your opponents.  Traversing the map equates to picking a location where certain characters will fight you.

And then there’s the combat itself.  Battle Blaze takes a controller with six buttons and uses two of them.  And one of those buttons is for jumping.  That’s right, it’s a one button fighter.  To make matters worse, the jump button is also used in performing special moves, where it has to be held down to perform the move.  Now factor in the son as the worst character in the game, with little power, little range, and weak specials.  And then there’s the enemies’ ability to air block by attacking.  That’s right, when the main character attacks in the air, he swings his sword.  A quick animation that’s done in less than a second.  The CPU villains’ animation doesn’t end until they hit the ground, and the main character lacks the range to go through it to connect.  This is the rule of the game, not the exception.

Bottom line is this: I want to like Battle Blaze.  I really do.  It’s got some good ideas, and while the stages are bland, I really like the sprites and the music.  But this is not a good fighting game by any stretch of the word.  Don’t bother with it.

Pit-Fighter

I’ll be honest.  I wasn’t a fan of Pit-Fighter in the arcade, and I’m not that into digitized sprites.  But the SNES port is nothing short of a mockery of the original game.  To fit Pit-Fighter on the cartridge, animations were dropped(in some cases to single frames), stages were reduced to fewer then ten colors, characters were resized and redrawn so they look almost nothing like their arcade counterparts, the music was dropped, and the sound quality is garbled.  And to make up for it…nothing.  Not even an options menu.

If you want to see an example of a bad port, look to Primal Rage.  If you want something that could hardly be considered the original game, there’s Pit-Fighter.  The title was literally stripped down to the bare bones, with even the final winning screen cut from the game.  Because of the dropping of frames and the lack of options, the closest thing a player can get to a difficulty setting is by picking different characters, with Ty the easiest(a one-frame punch, just spam it to make it through the entire game), to Buzz being the equivalent of Hard Mode(slowest character in the game).  Everything about this port is bad, from the pathetic lack of color to the random image of the boss showing up between every three or so rounds.  Half the time he says something, but the sound quality is so bad I can’t make it out.  The other half, he just kinda stares at me like an imbecile.

If you enjoyed Pit-Fighter for the arcade, don’t bother with this.  In fact, no one should bother with this.  THQ took a game that was actually quite good looking for its time and gave us utter garbage.

Rise of the Robots

There was so much going for this game.  Originally for the PC, Rise of the Robots featured FMVs showing enemy intros and defeats even on the SNES, as well as an intro that shows the Cyborg entering the city.  Graphically it looked amazing for its time, from the menu design with the Cyborg sitting at a console, pressing buttons for certain objects, to some pretty entertaining character design.  Pieces would go flying off whenever a hit connects to bounce on the ground, and there are even reflections of the characters on some of the stage floors!  And with a soundtrack featuring Brian May, formerly of Queen, it had to be good, right?

Well, no, actually.  For starters, while May was doing his best with the soundtrack, and actually composed a full album, his record studio continually requested delays, forcing Mirage to do all their own music.  Second, while the graphics are good, stage design was actually a bit bland, and characters had few animations.  All six buttons on the controller were used, but only for four different attacks, a system of weak and strong punches and kicks that share similar frames of animation.  They look so similar, it’s actually difficult to tell the two apart.  Factor in single-button special moves, and you have a recipe for disaster.

And then there was the horrid multiplayer, where one character was forced to play the main character, and the other got to be their choice of enemy robot.  None of the robots were rebalanced, either, so certain characters were vastly overpowered.  In the end, it may look good, but it is not a quality title by a long shot.  Game journalist Stuart Campbell even went so far as to write an angry letter to Mirage and Time Warner about it.  Do yourself a favor and avoid it.

Street Combat

Ever wonder what would happen if you took a Ranma ½ game in Japan, edited all the sprites to make Ranma into some guy with a mullet, and did away with the story entirely?  Why, you’d have Street Combat!  The game has little in the way of options beyond 2-player and Vs. CPU, only 8(technically 7) characters, and no plot.  Make it through Vs. CPU mode, and a random man gives Steven(the player) a trophy and tells him he’s a fine young man.  Never mind that if I walked around beating the snot out of random individuals, no one would call me that.  But back to the game…

So Steven has to fight a bunch of random individuals who make corny taunts and are all redrawn Ranma sprites.  To make matters worse, not only does this game commit the mortal sin of 2D fighters by having a jump button, it also uses the L and R buttons for blocking.  That’s right, no pressing away from your opponent on the D-pad.  This game goes above and beyond with unintuitive design.  It’s really a 3-button fighter, with one for punch, kick, and special, which makes Steven create some magical circle.  Don’t ask, it’s never explained.

As for design, the game is very bright and colorful, almost nauseatingly so.  The music is pretty bland, with the IREM publisher screen potentially having the best music in the game.  In multiplayer, there are two Steven’s available, one in the weird blue armor, and one in what I can only image are “street clothes,” as well as all the other characters.  In Vs. CPU mode, the player is forced to play as Steven, though at the Versus screen they can change costumes using the D-pad.

For the record, the game was actually created by NCS/Masaya, known for their wonderful child-friendly series Cho Aniki.  If you don’t know what that is, don’t look it up.

Ultraman: Towards the Future

Hey, Ultraman!  This has got to be good, right?  Wrong!  ScrewAttack once claimed this was the worst fighting game ever made, and after spending a few minutes with it, it’s hard not to agree.  The player controls Ultraman as he faces off against ten of his monstrous enemies.  All six buttons on the controller are used, with B and A serving as punch and kick, respectively, X serving as jump, Y as special attack, and L and R to cycle through different special attacks.  Special moves, like somersaults, flip kicks, and other abilities, can be performed by pressing different directional buttons and attack buttons at the same time.

Sounds like a nice system, right?  Unfortunately, in all this Ultraman mayhem, Bandai forgot a block button.  There is an Ultraman Shield, but no way to block your average attack.  Also, don’t bother crouching, as there are no crouching attacks.  And the majority of the time the enemy is backing away from you, so you’re constantly on the move anyway.  Why is the enemy moving away?  Two reasons: first, enemies regenerate health.  Ultraman doesn’t.  Whoever thought that was a good idea is an idiot.  Then there’s the second reason.  To kill an enemy, Ultraman not only has to beat them down to no health, he then has to hit them with a special attack, called Plasma Bolt.  It wouldn’t be so bad, except you have to charge up your special attacks, and it takes a good thirty seconds to charge a plasma bolt.  Miss, and you have to recharge the full attack again.  Now factor in any other special attack, or that shield I mentioned before, draining power, and it takes even longer.  Meanwhile the enemy is regaining health, so even if you do get charged, they have to be beaten back down.  Throw in a three minute time limit, and this is a recipe for disaster.

Now factor in everything not in the game: specifically alternate game modes, and animations.  That’s right, all that exists in Ultraman is the single player game, and there is little in the way of animation for most of the enemies.  That monster just turned around in two frames.  Apparently that was some kind of attack.  It opened its mouth.  Apparently that was another attack.  Outside of their projectiles(which they abuse constantly), there is no way to tell if something is fighting back or not.  And there’s no way to change difficulty settings, so after a while, an enemy will inevitably knock the crap out of you.  You only get two credits to play through the game, too, and while you may gain extra credits for earning 50000 points, that’s at least a good three or four battles in even when playing well.

I suppose I can’t be too harsh.  Ultraman is ok about a few things.  It’s stage design is pretty cool, often with smashed buildings in the back and foreground.  Unfortunately this does hamper the player’s site, and said stages just wrap around.  There is no corner to knock the enemy into so they can just keep running and regenerating.  The game’s also nice about dying.  Get killed and when you come back, the monster will be close to where you left it in terms of health.  Of course you still have to recharge your Plasma Bolt, so it’s not that much of a boon.  And then there’s the the intro to each fight.  Honestly, that’s the best part, watching a bunch of explosions and then Ultraman shows up, just in time for an extreme closeup.  No matter how angry I was with this title, I’d break out into laughter every time I saw it.  It’s actually a pretty good stress reliever, there to keep me from screaming in rage about the rest of this horrible game.

Out of all of the fighters, these are the bottom of the barrel.  Sure, Shaq Fu might have had poor framerates and clunky controls, but these titles prove that it’s actually rather mediocre…just on the low end of mediocre.  Then again, playing these titles makes just about any game look good.

Some Other Titles to Avoid

• Brutal Paws of Fury
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
• Ranma ½: Hard Battle

The Low End of Mediocre

• ClayFighter
• ClayFighter: Tournament Edition
• C2: Judgement Clay
• Doomsday Warrior
• Justice League Task Force
• Power Moves
• Primal Rage
• Shaq Fu
• Tuff E Nuff

Note from racketboy:  Our newest contributor, Ack, has been on a recent quest to track down a copy of every US-released fighting game on the Super Nintendo.   After playing through the good and the bad, he was kind enough to share his recommendations.  (even if there are better ports out there)

The 16-bit generation was really the heyday of the 2D fighter.  It was the genre that defined the arcade of the late 80s and early 90s, fueled much of the gaming violence debate through the decade, and holds within its ranks the title that many point to when debating how Nintendo ultimately won the generation’s console war over Sega.  And in the United States, we ate it up.  For many of us, dreams of the hits that sucked us into gaming came from our arcades, and ports of those same titles brought us to love our home consoles.

Unfortunately, the US didn’t get all the fighters that would populate the Japanese market.  We didn’t see great titles like Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on our shores.  But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get some great games.  Here’s some titles you might have missed while waiting to get that import-ready SNES off eBay.

Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition

Based on the television series Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, this title is really a giant monster fight.  It features 8 playable characters from the start, 4 good megazords and 4 villains.  It’s a 4-button fighter, features the original Power Ranges theme, and various stages designed to emphasize that you are fighting in giant size.  Unfortunately it also runs into problems because of these same perks.  While the stages emphasize size, there’s a lack of them in the game.  All the Megazords use the same “Zordon’s Hideout” stage as their base.  To make matters worse, Zordon’s stage uses the Power Rangers theme song as background music.  The Power Ranger’s theme constitutes about 70% of what you’re going to hear in this game.

The game does have some interesting other features, however.  The player can pick Story Mode, Fighting Mode, or Trial Mode.  Fighting Mode is the name for Player vs. Player, and Trial Mode lets the player pick any character and play the CPU.  Story Mode only allows the player to pick from two Megazords, and they then fight all 8 opponents before finally facing Ivan Ooze.  Whenever a monster is defeated, the player is treated to a cut scene where the Rangers finish off the villain.  Also, if the player happens to lose, they get to see a pretty interesting continue screen, where Lord Zedd’s finger taps on the option you’re currently selecting.  As far as losing is concerned, I didn’t mind too much considering how interesting it looked.

The game also features a new way of building power.  Each character’s power bar fluctuates on the bottom of the screen, filling from nothing to full, then dropping to nothing again.  When a special move is used, it will be more or less powerful, depending on how full the bar was when the move was executed.  If the bar is full, it changes color next time it fills up.  After the player uses a special move 3 times when the bar is full, their character enters a special mode where they can use special attacks as much as they want at their most powerful setting, for a limited amount of time.  Each character’s play style and special attacks are unique, making for a well-diversified cast.  This title is definitely worth a look.
Find Power Rangers Fighting Edition on eBay (about $12.00)

Street Fighter Alpha 2

First off, Street Fight Alpha 2 is well known, but not on this console.  Why?  It saw an extremely late release, coming out in arcades and for the SNES in 1996.  More people played it for Playstation and Sega Saturn, where it was released in 1997.  As far as SNES fighters go, it’s the most expensive American fighting release, averaging nearly double what other good fighters on the console cost.  It also lacks many of the secret characters from the arcade title.  The game was manufactured using the S-DD1 chip for graphic decompression, making it gorgeous and hard to emulate, as the chip doubles as copy protection.

The title brings many staples of later 2D Capcom fighters to the end of the 16-bit era, including the three-level Super Combo bar, counters, fall breaking, and a particular favorite of the writer, air-blocking.  It’s a deep game with 18 playable characters, not including an alternate version of Chun Li that can be unlocked in the title.  It’s a well-designed 6 button fighter, combining much of the classic Street Fighter characters with the Alpha series, and introducing Sakura’s first apperance.  Backgrounds are detailed, the music is great, and for the most part, sound effects are well done.

This does not mean the game is without its problems.  The limited size of the cart caused a lot of frames of animation that could not be ported.  Alpha 2 also suffers from some pretty nasty pauses while trying to load.  Every time the announcer says “Fight!” the game will pause for a moment to load.  Any load screens will cause the game to freeze for a second or two.  While it doesn’t get in the way of gameplay, it does swiftly become annoying.  Sound effects have trouble too, especially if two are played at the same time, say from two characters executing special moves.  The game won’t pause, but one effect will briefly override all other effects.  In general, sound quality is also diminished.  Again, it doesn’t effect gameplay, but it is noticeable.  And in a last bit of censorship, Alpha 2 is one of the last SNES titles to go under Nintendo’s knife.  Apparently Nintendo of America disliked the biblical implications of one character’s name, so in this title, Sodom is called Katana.  This has never been repeated in any other Street Fighter game.

Finally, the game lacks the options of the first two titles I’ve mentioned above.  All the player can do is Arcade and Versus.  That is all that’s available.  Of course the two modes you get are excellent, but it really does have to be weighed against the high price tag the game carries.
Find Street Fighter Alpha 2 on eBay (about $22.00)

World Heroes 2

The World Heroes series has had a bit of a bad run in the United States.  When the original title appeared on the screen, it featured characters and controls similar to Street Fighter, causing the series to be written off as just another SF clone.  The series would only see two more releases, and only the first two titles would appear on the Super Nintendo in the United States.  World Heroes 2 is the better of the two titles.  It’s a 2 or 4-button fighter, depending on the options you pick at the beginning.  The game features only Two play modes from the beginning, Single Player and VS.  This is where the game becomes quirky.

Indeed, World Heroes 2 is all about Quirkiness.  There are actually several different game modes, depending on options selected at various points.  For a different experience, the player can start by selecting Arcade or SNES controls, being 2 and 4 button control schemes respectively.  The player can also set the health bar to arcade, normal, or seesaw, the last causing health to go back and forth between fighters.  Do more damage, get more health.  Also, when picking Single Player, after selecting a character, the game asks if the player wants Normal Mode or Survival.  The cast features 14 playable characters from around the world, and the game gets even more wacky when considering who to pick.  Do you want the German military commander who’s also a robot?  How about the football player from America?  The Pacific Islander with a  giant Tiki mask named Mudman?  Why not the pirate captain, who is apparently not from a country at all?  Each character is more bizarre than the last, and it makes for some excellent fun while using an engine that’s as deep as the game is weird.  Also note, projectiles can be reflected back at targets, possibly multiple times.  Can you think of a better way to piss off your buddies while proving you’re number one?
Find World Heroes 2 on eBay (about $6.00)

Power Instinct

Power Instinct is the English name for Gōketsuji Ichizoku, or The Gōketsuji Clan, a fighting game released on the console in 1993 by Atlus.  While its sequel would be released in 1994, it didn’t see another console port until the Playstation.  Power Instinct follows a family tournament of the Gōketsuji, who fight every so many years or so to see who should control the clan.  The game focuses on a strange blend of fighting and comedy, and though some of the humor was lost in translation, the game’s about as quirky and bizarre as World Heroes 2.  It’s a 4 button fighter featuring 8 selectable characters and one boss who is a palette swap of one of the main characters.  The game features a Vs. Mode, “Life Attack,” which is basically a survival mode, a standard arcade mode, and two different practice modes, one where the CPU stands or sits, and the other where they fight back.

The game’s got some interesting moves.  Double jumps and double dashes make mobility a must in the game, and players can knock their opponent through barriers on both sides of the stage, making it larger.  The SNES version also looks and sounds better than the Sega version.  Unfortunately the game does have issues with material being cut out.  Character endings were removed, as well as character bios that originally appeared between game demos.  In fact, the game intro demo was removed.  But perhaps the worst loss of all was the Karaoke Mode that was removed from the SNES port, prohibiting American Nintendo fans from singing along.

Still, we do get to use Otane, the old woman.  She has perhaps the greatest projectile in all of gaming history(Hint: it’s her dentures).
Find Power Instinct on eBay (about $5.00)

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

The Mortal Kombat series was possibly Street Fighter’s biggest rival in American in the early 90s.  It popularized digitized sprites, proved palette swaps could still be made fairly unique, and got the gaming industry into a fair bit of trouble with its rampant bloodshed and violence.  Of the four MK titles released on the SNES, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 had it all.  The same 4 button high punch/low punch/high kick/low kick system as the arcade.  23 characters.  2 on 2 Vs matches.  8 player tournament mode.  Unlockable boss characters for two-player fights.  There was even an option to turn blood and fatalities on or off.

The game also featured some interesting additions not found in the arcade.  The Brutality, where a player would wail on their opponent until they exploded, was invented for the SNES port.  Many of the characters hidden in the arcade were playable from the start.  There was even an easter egg where the player could access up to three different cheat menus, changing gameplay, watching character endings, accessing hidden content on the cart, and so on.  But the title did lose some things just to get all this on the cart.  The character Sheeva’s animation data was removed, though she can technically be played through some glitches.  Many backgrounds from Mortal Kombat 3 were removed.  Certain characters fatalities were edited, and in some cases removed entirely.  And finally, the announcer does not say character names when selected.  For the most part, however, gameplay remains intact.
Find Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 on eBay (about $13.00)

Fatal Fury Special

Unfortunately for the Fatal Fury series, the series was plagued by allegations of ripping off Street Fighter 2 from day one, even though the first title was in development by the time Street Fighter 2 was released in arcade.  Nevertheless, Fatal Fury was well built and inventive from the get go, becoming known for its two-lane fighting system.  Players could jump and attack between lanes for quick escapes or reprisals, and could also throw their opponent into the other lane if desired.  The series would see its next installment a year later in Fatal Fury 2, and an update a year later in Fatal Fury Special.  Fatal Fury Special featured all the playable characters from Fatal Fury 2, plus the four bosses as playable characters, and three more from the original Fatal Fury, totaling 15 available from the get go.  The title also features one unlockable character, Ryo Sakazaki, from Art of Fighting.

Fatal Fury Special is a 4 button fighter, with R and L serving as “3D Move” and “3D Attack,” allowing a quick switch to a different fighting lane.  The game features a single player arcade mode, V.S. Game, and an option called Count Down, where the player has infinite health and 3 minutes to defeat as many CPU opponents as possible.  On a bit of a surprising note, the game also features Dolby Surround Sound.

There are a few problems.  Jumping sometimes feels a bit floaty, taunts have strange controls, and the lane system isn’t quite there yet in this title.  But it features a unique cast with varied characters, mixes up the lane system by throwing a few stages into the mix that don’t have a second lane, and decent controls.  If you’re a fan of SNK, this game is a must.
Find Fatal Fury Special on eBay (about $12.00)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

This game was created after the popularity of the Sparring Match feature in the TMNT: Turtles in Time beat-’em-up.  Unfortunately when this title was released, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were waning in popularity, so this game went largely unnoticed.  It’s a 4 button fighter, featuring 10 playable characters.  The game sports a Tournament Mode, VS Battle, Story Mode, and a Watch mode, to view CPU battles.  Tournament Mode serves as the standard arcade battle, where players can select any of the ten characters to fight others for cash.  Story Mode is a bit more deep, making the player select one of the four turtles, then moving them from location to location to fight villains while trying to rescue April O’Neil and Master Splinter.

It’s unfortunate that this title sees so little recognition, as its fighting system is actually well developed.  TMNT Tournament Fighters was one of the first games to ever use a power bar that is charged by fighting.  Build up enough energy, and the player is able to unleash a powerful super move on their opponent.  This feature would become a staple of the 2D fighting genre.  The game is also great for nostalgia purposes, both for its TMNT characters as well as the use of character bios after Demo fights.  It’s deep, controls well, has great music, and a very unique attitude that lives up to its namesake.  There are a few issues with names and grammar in Story Mode, but these can be easily overlooked.  On a side note, this was also released on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis.  The Super Nintendo version is considered the best of the three.
Find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters on eBay (about $9.00)

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct was a great game in the arcade, and its success lead to a release on the SNES less than a year later.  It was a 6 button fighter that borrowed some of the best elements of other popular series at its time, and then added its own into the mix.  Techniques such as Automatic Combos, Combo Breakers, and even Ultra Combos going over 80 hits were all on the playing field.

Killer Instinct was known for its dual health bars.  You don’t win rounds in Killer Instinct, you pummel the other guy down, give him a breather, then pummel him some more.  If the player was hit before beating him down, that’s no problem.  The player still have all that health left over when the other guy gets back up.  And once the player had beaten down their opponent, the screen flashes red and finishing moves become available.  The Humiliation finisher was always a particular favorite of mine.

Of course, some changes had to be made to the game so it could run on a Super Nintendo cartridge.  First of all, all character sprites had to be toned down, in both size and quality.  Previously 3D stages were changed to straight 2D, and some were completely dropped.  The game’s camera was also changed to be more static.  And in perhaps the most heinous of cuts, the full motion videos for victory poses were changed to static images.  Heart-breaking, but necessary.

To make up for it, Rare added new game modes.  An 8 player Tournament Mode was put in, similar to what Mortal Kombat fans would see on their SNES carts.  Killer Instinct also featured a Practice Game, essentially a training mode where the player wails on Fulgore in a random stage.  Stage finishers and character bios during the game demo were also left in the game.

Killer Instinct also has three particular notes of interest.  First, it was released in a black cartridge in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States, not the standard gray for most SNES titles.  Second, the game was never released in Japan.  And third, and perhaps most important of all, the game came packaged with a 16 track CD of songs taken straight from the game, titled Killer Cuts.  The CD was later sold via Nintendo Power, where it could also be ordered in cassette format.
Find Killer Instinct on eBay (about $7.00)

Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers

When talking fighters on the Super Nintendo, most point to Street Fighter 2 Turbo as the genre and era defining fighter.  But a year later, Capcom would release a new version of Street Fighter 2 on the SNES.  Many believe this game was released to early, and another tweaked version called Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo would be released a little while later, but it would never make it to the shores of the United States, probably in part due to the failure to sell Super Street Fighter 2.  Commercially, it tanked.  Too much supply, not enough demand.

Super Street Fighter 2 is a 6 button fighter, much like its predecessor.  It featured a similar arcade mode, called Super Battle.  Versus Battle, Group Battle, and Tournament Mode all served as multiplayer options.  Group Battle and Tournament Mode were both for handling multiple fighters or players beyond the second.  Want 8 individuals to play in random pyramid chart?  Tournament Mode.  Want to duel 8 characters vs. 8 characters with your best friend?  Group Battle.  A Time Challenge mode was also included, where the player picks their character and their CPU opponent, then tried to beat them as quickly as possible.

But beyond extra game modes, what else was there?  Quite a bit, actually.  New character portraits were devised for the game.  Characters had 8 palette swaps to choose from by pressing different buttons to select a fighter.  Chun-Li’s ending was changed, and the bosses all had new endings put in.  New animations for special moves were also put in for a few characters, including Chun Li’s fireball.

But that isn’t all.  Capcom took the time to put in a fully fleshed out combo system, keeping track of the number of hits and adding bonus score, while also awarding bonus points for things like getting the first hit.  Reversals were added into the game, to help combat some of the issues found in Street Fighter 2.  Character bios were interspersed with game demos at the start of the game.  New characters were brought in, including Cammy, bringing the total up to 16 playable characters, each with their own unique stages and fighting styles.  The game also featured an updated intro, one that is quite possibly my favorite of the entire Street Fighter series.  The only real downside was that the game was slowed down, back to speed with Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition.
Find Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers on eBay (about $15.00)

Additional Recommendations

But just because I recommend these titles doesn’t mean you should stop there.  Here’s a few more recommendations for all your fighting needs  (And just to let you know, most of these were left off of the above list because I wanted to only included one installment from each series).

• Art of Fighting
• Fatal Fury
• Fatal Fury 2
• Fighter’s History
• Mortal Kombat
• Mortal Kombat 2
• Mortal Kombat 3
• Samurai Shodown
• Street Fighter 2
• Street Fighter 2 Turbo

Of course, there are even more fighters to be found on the SNES.  You can see my quest to collect each on on this forum thread.

Here is another chance for you to raid you closets or used game stores for hidden treasures. The Super Nintendo is the target of this expedition and there are plenty of highly-collectible games this time around. Surprisingly, many of the the most valuable SNES games aren’t actually rare, but are instead driven by popularity and the hunt for elusive boxed SNES games in good condition.

In stark contrast to the Cheapest Games series, this series by JJ Hendricks will round up the rarest and most valuable games for a given console or handheld so you’ll know what to look for whether you are buying or selling. JJ owns VideoGamePriceCharts.com and writes the Video Game Pricing blog which analyzes video game prices, pricing trends, and charts historic video game prices. He used his pricing statistics to find both the average selling price and the highest selling price for each game over the last two months.

Below you will see two prices beside each title. The first is the average daily selling price, which is typically the going rate for the cartridge by itself. The second price is the highest daily selling price of recent history. The list is ordered by the balance of the two prices. Note that some of these games are not rare in the sense that there are not many available, but rare relative to demand, which makes the games expensive.

The Expensive Super Famicom Imports

It’s rather difficult to find solid rarity and value information on Super Famicom titles unless you have a Japanese connection, but here are three of the most desirable Super Famicom releases from the research we did. If you have more to add, please use the comments section below.

	Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Zenin Shuugou Tournament Special Gold Cartridge: $1,000 – $1,200 Rarity = There were a number of Super Famicom games that were released as limited edition gold carts for tournaments in Japan, one of the most valuable being the Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Zenin Shuugou Tournament Special. It was given away as a prize to winners of Technos Japan’s Dodgeball Tournaments, which they used to host several times during 1993. Check for Kunio-kun no Dodge Ball Zenin Shuugou Tournament Special Gold on eBay
	Fire Emblem Thracia 776 Box Set: $150 – $270 Rarity = Before the Fire Emblem series came to the US on the GBA and Gamecube, it was a very popular strategy RPG series in Japan. To satisfy the many fans of the series an feature-packed box set was released that included maps, posters, toys, and other cool stuff. Check out this forum thread to see picutres of the complete Box set. Check for Fire Emblem Thracia 775 Box Set on eBay
	Rendering Ranger R2: $90 – $200 Rarity = From the makers of the Turrican series, this run-and-gun shooter is one of the most desirable standard-issue Super Famicom games. It is hard enough to find a bare cartridge of this game, but it will more the double the value if you have a complete boxed copy. Check for Rendering Ranger R2 on eBay

Limited Edition Collectables

	Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartidge: $200 – $727 Rarity = Donkey Kong Country Competiton cartidges were used by Blockbuster Video in tournaments held within the store, and never receieved a true commercial release. (The cartridge is rumored to have a print run of 2,500 copies) As typical with most video rental stores, a few leftover carts were tossed into the bargain bins for customers to purchase. Nintendo Power also offered some extra carts in their catalog. See Latest Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge on eBay
	Starfox: Super Weekend Cartridge: $218 – $282 Rarity = Much like the DKC Competiton cartidges, this Star Fox cart was used by Blockbuster for game tournaments and extra carts were sold off by Blockbuster and Nintendo Power. An article included in the original packaging suggests that the Starfox Weekend cart actually had a smaller production number (around 2,000) than the DKC cart, but for some reason the Star Fox cart has showed up on auction sites a bit more often and has fetched a lower price. See Latest Star Fox Super Weekend Cartridge on eBay
	Exertainment Mountain Bike Rally/Speed Racer Combo: $150 – $200 Rarity = Ok before somebody gets excited about the cover art to the left, that is for the more common version that only has the Mountain Bike Rally Game. The rare version of this game actually has the Speed Racer game on it as well. For use with the LifeFitness Bike Unit. One of the rarest games for the system, as it may have not seen full or any retail distribution. This 2 in 1 most likely never made it to any stores, and most copies that have been found have been from NOA’s warehouse itself!

Treasured Standard USA Releases

	Earthbound: $66 – $181 Rarity = Another game that is not hard to find, but is very popular. The game is famous for its cult like following of fans. It is a non-traditional RPG taking place in suburbia and weapons are every day household items. Still regarded as one of the most enjoyable RPGs to this day. Check for Earthbound on eBay
	Ogre Battle The March of the Black Queen: $61 – $149 Rarity = Enix, the publishers of the game, only made 25,000 copies of the game for sale in the US. The game is very hard to find because of this limited release. The Ogre Battle is a very good strategy RPG game too, so many RPG fans want to buy it just to get a chance to enjoy a great game. Check for Ogre Battle The March of the Black Queen on eBay
	Ninja Gaiden Trilogy: $60 – $135 Rarity = All three NES Ninja Gaiden games combined onto one cartridge with some graphical improvements and passwords added, but gamers didn’t think this was enough to warrant a purchase. The game didn’t sell well on initial release. Collector’s want the game now because it is hard to find and they get three games for the price of one, even if that price is fairly steep. Check for Ninja Gaiden Trilogy on eBay
	Castlevania Dracula X: $59 – $100 Rarity = Castlevania Dracula X is the final Castlevania game released on the SNES and like many games in a series the later versions don’t sell as well. However, the hardcore following of the series and SNES collectors keep the price of this title rather high. Check for Castlevania Dracula X on eBay
	Harvest Moon: $57 – $95 Rarity = Harvest Moon was released the same year the Nintendo 64 was launched so many gamers had already moved onto Nintendo’s new console and didn’t bother buying this game. The Harvest Moon series also has a cult following of gamers who want to farm and try to get a girl to like them. This is the first in the Harvest Moon series so many of these fans want to buy the game that started it all. Check for Harvest Moon on eBay
	EVO the Search for Eden: $56 – $90 Rarity = The game is not really hard to find, but is very popular and therefore expensive. It is a unique platforming/role-playing game and is very highly regarded by gamers which helps increase its popularity. Check for EVO the Search for Eden on eBay
	Chrono Trigger: $53 – $1,217 Rarity = The game is not rare, but is rated as one of the best games of all time on many gamers’ lists. It was created by an all-star cast of developers and stands up to the test of time in terms of story and game play. Typically, a complete copy of Chrono Trigger goes for about $120, but when a sealed copy showed up on eBay bidding exceeded $1,200. Check for Chrono Trigger on eBay
	Mega Man X3: $49 – $194 Rarity = Mega Man X3 was one of two games to use a specialized chip called Cx4 that allowed for some 3D graphics in games (Mega Man X2 being the other title). Because of this chip it is an oddity and has some of the best graphics on the SNES. It is also hard to find. These two factors combine to make it one of the more expensive Super Nintendo games. Check for Mega Man X3 on eBay
	Aero Fighters – $50 – $120 Rarity = The game was released as an arcade game in 1992 and then ported to the SNES two years later. When it was brought over they made very limited quantities so it is one of the hardest games to find on the system. The price isn’t as high as other games but the chances of seeing this game are much lower. . Check for Aero Fighters on eBay
	Super Mario RPG: $44 – $157 Rarity = An RPG developed by Squaresoft featuring Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom? How is this not a recipe for collectability? Again, this game is far from rare, but collectors (especially of boxed games) keeps the value of this gem flying high. Check for Super Mario RPG on eBay

The Rarest Games At Affordable Prices

Each of these games have a rarity rating of 7 or 8, but routinely sell for less than $30. If you are an SNES collector and see a boxed or sealed copy of any of these on eBay for a low price, you might want to snatch them up — you may never see them again.

• Fun N Games: $29 – $39
• Super Turrican 2: $21-$52
• Chavez II: $20 – $42
• Shien’s Revenge: $18 – $41
• Zero: The Kamikazee Squirrel: $18 – $38
• Ardy Lightfoot: $19 – $28
• Oscar: $15 – $35
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: Fire Dogs: $13 – $36
• Hurricanes: $10 – $20
• Pieces: $11 – $15
• Incantation: $15 – $25
• Bebe’s Kids: $15 – $17
• Casper: $12 – $18
• The Adventures of Kid Kleetz: $4 – $15
• No Escape: $5 – $6
• The Miracle Piano Teaching System: $16 – $25

Additional SNES Games of Value

These games aren’t especially rare, but are quite collectable regardless resulting in a high resale value, especially for complete, boxes copies.

• Lufia and the Fortress of Doom: $27 – $88
• Lufia and The Rise of Sinistrals: $38 – $50
• Secret of Mana: $37 – $101
• Metal Marines: $36 – $79
• Uncharted Waters: New Horizons: $35 – $137
• Final Fantasy III: $32 – $156
• The Ren and Stimpy Show Buckeroos: $30 – $75
• Dragon View: $27 – $139
• Mega Man 7: $39 – $78
• Boogerman A Pick and Flick Adventure: $35 – $60
• Metal Warriors: $39 – $52
• Final Fight 3: $31 – $40
• Super Double Dragon : $23 – $135 [sealed]
• Breath of Fire II: $25 – $95
• Kirby Super Star: $29 – $46
• Kirby’s Dream Land 3: $28 – $38
• Breath of Fire : $20-$52

Credits: SNES Video Game Prices provided by VideoGamePriceCharts.com. The source for daily updated prices on over 9,200 video games. The prices are the highest daily price and average daily price from December, 1st 2007 to January, 31st 2008. Rarity scores are courtesy of my friends at DigitalPress.

The RetroGaming 101 series is aimed at gamers who are just starting out in the classic gaming scene or are curious about an older console or handheld that they don’t know much about yet. Those of you that are especially knowledgeable about the featured machine, I encourage you to add any information that you think would be beneficial into the comments section. If you are new to the featured console, and still have questions, you can also use the comments section and I will do my best to help you out.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was one of the big players in one of the most heated console wars of all time and remains as one of the most treasured consoles of all time. Its robust game library and high nostalgia level make it commonplace in a classic gaming collection. This guide should help classic Nintendo newbies jump right in and long-lost SNES owners find their way back to their former love.

I want to thank racketboy contributer, Integrity for piecing much of this guide together and those other members on the forum that helped list points of interest for this post as well.

Background Information

• Nintendo’s second console (known as the Super Famicom in Japan) was designed by Masayuki Uemura, who also designed the NES.
• Nintendo did not originally intend to make a successor to the successful NES, but as Sega’s Genesis/Megadrive started picking up steam and Nintendo saw its numbers slip in the market, this sparked the planning of a new console.
• Brief History of the SNES from GeekComix

Historical Impact

• The release of the Super Nintendo started one of the greatest console wars in history between Nintendo’s Super Nintendo System and Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis.
• The Super Nintendo has some of the greatest pack in games of all time, starting with the American launch title, Super Mario World. Super Mario All-Stars was also included with the system at a later date.
• Even with the launch of 32 bit systems SNES still proved it was a strong contender in the market. Nintendo of America didn’t stop producing the Super Nintendo until 1999. In Japan the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003.
• Nintendo continued to innovate with controller designs by having four face buttons and two shoulder/trigger buttons. This design served as the primary inspiration to nearly every modern console controler after the 16/32-bit era.
• Nintendo took a firm stand on the type of content in SNES game with its censorship standards. The most famous example was the SNES version of Mortal Kombat, which did not contain its tradmark gore. Nintendo eventually loosened its censorship standards once the ESRB rating system was implemented.
• Nintendo started development with Sony for a CD add-on for the SNES (similar to the Sega CD) which was code-named Play Station.

Game Library

• The SNES had a very well-rounded game library supported by both first-party and third-part developers.
• Games That Defined The SNES – these games are the most famous and memorable of the SNES library. They were the best games for the machine at the time of its release, and many still hold up well to this day.
• The Best Undiscovered SNES Games – if you want to explore the hidden gems of the Super Nintendo to round up your collection, this is the guide to explore.
• The Cheapest SNES Games Worth Your Time – If you want to quickly build up a collection of high-quality games without spending much money, take a look at these favorites — many of which are under $10.

Variations in Hardware

• The Japanese Super Famicom and the PAL Super Nintendo Entertainment system share the same design while the American release is a bit bulkier (and more sturdy)
• In October of 1997 Nintendo released an SNES 2, this version was slimmer, stripped of the S Video connection and RF output. It came bundled with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island at a price of US$99. A similar Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time.
• In recent years, there have been a number of SNES clones reaching the market, so of which play both NES and SNES games. These clone are affordable, but reliability may be a concern.

Strengths

• Well-Rounded Game Libary: with particular stengths in RPGs, platformers, and racing games
• In addition to an obvious plethora of great first party titles, Nintendo had an extremely strong third party showing including but not limited to strong support from: Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., and Enix.
• Arguably the strongest RPG library In the history of gaming. (Right up there with the PS1 and PS2)
• The system was able to, in most cases, was able to reproduce more accurate arcade experiences (primarily Street Fighter 2) that the Sega Genesis.
• The console hardware is extremely durable and has a long life span.
• The Super Nintendo’s powerful graphics, sound, and add-on processors made up for its slower primary CPU.
• The video PPU (Picture Processing Unit) allowed the use of Mode-7 effects and 32768 colors.
• The audio subsystem is almost completely independent from the rest of the system and produced some impressive soundtracks and sound effects during its lifetime.
• Games that required more graphic processing power were shipped with internal chips, such as the Super FX ship in Starfox, Stunt Race FX, and Yoshi’s Island.
• The Super FX was the most famous add-on chip, but there were many others that were implemented in a variety of games.
• Easy to play imports (With devices such as the Action Replay or a simple mod )
• The Super Nintendo can use AV and S-Video cables from the N64 and Gamecube, and vice-versa.

Weaknesses

• Slow CPU meant little bits of lag on earlier games upon start up and sometimes while playing, specifically in fighters and shooters.
• Strange specialized video hardware meant inconsistent performance.
• The SNES 2 model lacked S-Video output.
• The machine little pricier than you would expect when searching on eBay or Amazon (however finding them at a thrift store, pawn shop, etc is pretty common).
• The console’s plastic shell is infamous for becoming highly discolored. While many machines still look as they originally did, there are a relatively high percentage of machines that have a strong yellowed tint.
• Due to the cardboard boxes used, games can be a challenge to find complete and in excellent condition. Be prepared to pay a premium if you want to collect complete games.

Accessories To Maximize SNES Experience

• Use S-Video For Best AV Quality – Don’t get stuck with the RF adapter. S-Video is the best quality you can get for the SNES, followed by Composite (RCA).
• Wireless SNES Controllers – Messiah Entertainment has produced some modern wireless controllers for the Super Nintendo that have recieved some great reviews.
• Multi-tap- allowing simultaneous play of up to six players (to my knowledge the only games that take advantage of this are Bomberman and Secret of Mana).
• Converters such as Action Replay- Allowed the use of cheats in games and the playing of imported games. Usually featured a slot for a game for your region and the import you wanted to load.
• Nintendo Super Advantage – The follow-up to the popular NES joystick is great for arcade ports like Street Fighter 2.
• SNES-to-USB Adapter – In case you want to emulate SNES games on computer, you can get afforable adapters to turn your standard SNES controllers into gamepads for your PC for a more authentic experience.

Other Unique Accessories

• Super Scope- The SNES Light gun. Not a very strong library of games that support this, most likely due to the fact that is considered one of the worst Light Guns in video game history by many fans.
• Official Nintendo Two Button Mouse- This plugged into controller port 1 or 2. Only a few games were compatible with it such as Mario Paint and Might and Magic III.
• The Satellaview- Only released in Japan, this accessory allowed the Super Famicom to connect to a Satellite network “St. GIGA”. Games and demos could be downloaded at a certain time to a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette containing 1 megabit of flash ram.

Emulation & Ports

• ZSNES is generally regarded as one of the best SNES emulators out there and has been ported to many different platforms. Check out our ZSNES installation and configuration guide for more details on getting started (tge Windows PC version was used for the guide).
• Snes9X is also a top-notch emulator and is also the source of many emulators on other platforms
• There is a particularly strong SNES emulation community for handhelds such as the PSP, Nintendo DS, Gizmondo, and GP2X.
• Nintendo’s Virtual Console service for the Nintendo Wii console marks the introduction of officially sanctioned SNES emulation. Games are usually available for a small cost.
• There haven’t really been any SNES-based compilations, but many SNES games have been ported to the Gameboy Advance.

Affordability

• You can usually find an SNES with a couple of games and a controller on eBay for around US$50.
• The Cheapest SNES Games Worth Your Time – If you want to quickly build up a collection of high-quality games without spending much money, take a look at these favorites — many of which are under $10.
• Some of the more rare titles can run you between US$50 and US$100 (with some exceptions breaking the hundred dollar mark) but many titles are available at a fraction of that cost.