 Sss Hi there. If you're new to the Super Nintendo, and you wanna know the best games it has to offer, then here you go. This video is meant to be a guide to what I consider to be the essential games on the system, and I'm gonna list a few games in each genre to make sure I cover as much stuff as possible. I did have a video like this from ten years ago where I actually appeared on the camera with Clyde T Dogg in the background, and yeah, Clyde is still around and doing great, but that video badly needed an update. This one is going to feature over 50 games, and you know what, there's still going to be people mad in the comments that I didn't mention a certain game, but that just goes to show how great the Super Nintendo library is. I want to start out with a group of games that I'll refer to as the obvious category. These are the titles you likely already know about. They're all-time classics, and they still hold up extremely well today. Super Mario World is the most obvious of the obvious. It's the perfect continuation of the Mario series, introducing new power-ups and crazy levels like the Ghost Houses and the Star World. One reason this game has held up so well over time is that even if you finish it once, you can still go back and play it again without activating certain exclamation blocks, so it's almost like you can choose your own kind of challenge. In addition to that, I got to mention the massive influence this game has had over the ROM hacking community, with hundreds of folks spending years and years creating their own games based off of Mario World. If you're more into the NES Mario games, then you'll want Super Mario All-Stars, a package of all three official NES Mario games, along with the Lost Levels, otherwise known as the original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2. This is an outstanding recreation of the original titles, and if you get the cartridge that's packaged with Super Mario World, you get the most bang for your buck of any single title on the Super Nintendo. The next obvious game is The Legend of Zelda, a link to the past. There's something about how simple this game is, at least at first. All you're doing is wandering around, slashing at enemies, occasionally finding items, solving simple puzzles, but what makes this game great is how it builds with more items like the hookshot or the magic rods, and the bosses get tougher and the puzzles get more complex, while keeping everything reasonably intuitive. This game lives on today through the link to the past randomizer, which I also highly recommend checking out if you can, but man, link to the past on its own is easily a top five Super Nintendo game. A while back, Nintendo released F-099 for Switch Online, and I couldn't be happier if nothing else then, because more people get to see how awesome this game is. It's another one in the obvious category for me. It's a well-balanced racing game that offers a serious challenge, and it's also one of the best launch titles of all time, if only because it showed that the Super Nintendo could easily keep up with the Sega Genesis. On the other end of the racing spectrum is Super Mario Kart, and this game is an obvious pick because of the one-on-one battle mode. I wouldn't be surprised if this game also got the 99 treatment. I'd love to see some new maps with 99 carts spread out with all sorts of craziness happening in every direction. And hey, the racing is pretty good too if you happen to be into that, although Donut Plains 3 and Rainbow Roads still give me nightmares. Of course, I gotta mention Donkey Kong Country. That's another obvious one, but I'm going to go to bat for the sequel, Donkey Kong Country 2, Diddy's Conquest. I personally would rather play this one today just because it's a lot of fun to play as Dixie, and the level design is the best you'll find on the console. It's right there with Mario World as the best SNES action platformer. There's tons of secrets, and you almost always feel rewarded for taking just an extra minute to explore around each level. Another action platformer that's way up there is Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island, although I gotta say the Super Mario World 2 part of the title is kind of misleading. That was added on to help boost sales in North America. This is Yoshi's adventure through and through. Most people know this game as the one where Mario cries. But don't let that dissuade you. Yoshi's Island has some of the most inventive level design you'll see in any 2D platformer. But if I had to pick THE best game on the Super Nintendo, I'm inclined to lean toward Super Metroid for a few reasons. One is that this game works brilliantly with any way you want to approach it. It's one of the most satisfying games to either speedrun or to get 100% take your pick. Or if you're brand new to this game, you'll simply enjoy the fantastic settings, the sequence breaks, the boss fights, and the music that adds so much to the entire experience. It's the total package of visuals, sound, action, exploration, tension, enemy design, boss design. You name it, this game has it. There's no such thing as Metroidvania if there isn't Super Metroid. Mega Man X is another absolute must. I think it's a top 5 Super Nintendo game. It's one of those titles where maybe you've played through it a few times over the years, but you're always down for one more go. The controls are perfect, and it always feels so satisfying to blast your way through each level, and the game does a nice job escalating the difficulty as you go. Plus, it's just downright fun to use some of these boss weapons that you get. I don't even use these on bosses necessarily, I'll just use them whenever. Or if you want a real challenge, you can try and finish the game with the arm cannon and no upgrades. Anyway, you want to play Mega Man X, it has a lot to offer. Super Castlevania IV is another action platformer, and it's another great example of a series making a hugely successful leap from the NES to the SNES. This game isn't as brutally difficult as the NES Castlevanias, but that's not a bad thing. Super Castlevania IV still captures the atmosphere in the essence of a classic horror-themed game, with great visuals, unique level and boss design, and some spectacular music. So this is another easy pick as a must-play for the Super Nintendo. Contra III The Alien Wars is one of those games where I don't even have to say anything. It's Contra, it's non-stop action. There's explosions, walls of fire, huge mini bosses, Terminators you have to defeat only to be met with a giant Terminator. You're hanging with one hand off a missile flying at a million miles an hour while shooting and dodging everything on screen. It's a non-stop adrenaline rush, and if you're looking for more of a challenge, then here you go. Contra III is one of the most rewarding games to complete. Now, from an aesthetic standpoint, here's the opposite end of the spectrum, Kirby Superstar. This title is actually seven games in one, with each game providing different objectives, whether it's exploring and finding treasure, fighting through a boss gauntlet, racing, or just, you know, playing through a normal action platformer. What really puts this game over the top is the multiplayer. You can create your own helper buddy, and a second player can take control. So this is a perfect game to play alongside younger kids, or just with people that aren't as familiar with gaming. It's a great time. Star Fox is a bit of a polarizing game. Certain aspects of it have aged poorly, like the frame rate and having stuff pop up in front of you out of nowhere, but I still think it belongs as an essential Super Nintendo game just because of its pickup and play quality. You're in a fighter jet shooting everything that moves flying through space set to this great music. There's just something so simple and satisfying about this game that, despite its flaws, I still think it's a lot of fun to play today. Now, let's get into specific genres, starting with puzzle games, and you can't go wrong with Tetris Attack. No, it's not exactly Tetris. It's actually called Panel de Pan in Japan, and I was likely given the Tetris name and the title to help sell the game, but whatever you want to call it, it's an easy game to get the hang of, but it's a tough game to master. It's a matter of matching squares and blocks of three while creating combinations that fall together. Sounds simple, it's not, but it's addictive, and it's the best puzzle game on the Super Nintendo. Goof Troop isn't the same kind of puzzle game as Tetris Attack, not even close really, but it's a great top-down action puzzle game that's my pick for the best Super Nintendo game to play with a second player. It's easy to get the hang of for all skill levels, the puzzles are intuitive without being too easy or too ridiculous, and it's got that Capcom Disney polish to it. This game is a must if you're looking for a good two-player game. Let's move on to beat-em-ups, and there's three that stand out for me. First is King of Dragons, a really well-made arcade port from Capcom. There's five playable characters with varying skill sets, and I like how quickly this game is paced. There's also interesting mechanics like the clear screen attacks being floating orbs that you have to hit. 16 levels may seem like a lot for a beat-em-up, but it goes by so quickly that you'll wish there were more. Next is Final Fight 3, another Capcom beat-em-up, and this game is loaded with all the hilarious cliche stuff you love about beat-em-ups. Of course, the star of the game is Hagar, who somehow has muscles on top of muscles, but there's three other characters you can play as, each with their own unique movesets and specials that you can unleash. This game is just so 90s, I don't know how else to describe it, and it's a great time. My pick for the best beat-em-up on the Super Nintendo is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4, Turtles in Time, because it gets all the basic beat-em-up stuff down like hit detection, enemy design, and boss design, but the time travel gimmick makes this one so much fun, because you have no idea what could be coming next. This game is all over the place, and it's the very rare instance of a home console port that's actually better than the arcade, thanks to the extra game modes. You don't even need to like Ninja Turtles to enjoy this one. It might be a top-10 Super Nintendo game, no matter how you slice it. Fighting games were absolutely everywhere back in the Super Nintendo's heyday, with everyone desperately trying to capitalize on the success of three games in particular. The obvious one is Street Fighter 2, the game that launched a million clones. But the best version of this game in my opinion is Street Fighter 2 Turbo, since you can play as the boss characters, and the additional speed makes things challenging even for seasoned pros. There's also Mortal Kombat 2. As groundbreaking as the first Mortal Kombat was, the best game is the second one, with 12 playable characters, interactive backgrounds, and of course, tons of finishers, and tons of gore. They also threw in a boatload of Easter eggs, none more recognizable than sound designer Dan Forden popping in. And that's in addition to friendships and babalities. I will say the single-player campaign in Mortal Kombat 2 kinda sucks, because the difficulty spike is ridiculous, but playing this with a second player is always really entertaining. I also have to mention Killer Instinct. This game at the time felt like the natural evolution of fighting games, requiring more precise inputs in order to land huge combos. It's got the look and lore of a game influenced by Mortal Kombat, but it's got the fighting game guts influenced by Street Fighter 2. This one can be tough to get the hang of, but when you land a huge combo, it's always really satisfying. Let's mention some shoot-'em-ups, and yes, despite popular opinion, the Super Nintendo has some quality shoot-'em-ups starting with Axel-A. I might be a bit biased here, because I always used to suck at these games. Well, I still kinda do. But Axel-A was the first one that really clicked with me. I think part of that is because it was made with the SNES hardware capabilities in mind. It wasn't trying to be something it wasn't, or something that the Genesis or TurboGrafx could necessarily do better. The game flips between vertical and horizontal shooting, and it presents just enough challenge without going over the top. This is one of my personal favorites, and I highly recommend you check it out. If you are looking for an over-the-top challenge, then look no further than R-Type 3, The Third Lightning. This game is brutal, and it was clearly made for shoot-'em-up veterans. Some of the level layouts here are crazy, with the screen absolutely crammed with stuff trying to kill you. And of course, since this is an R-Type game, you get nothing but huge, horrifying-looking bosses that take up nearly half the screen. Like, sure, let's have a wall made out of mutant flesh that throws eyeballs at you. That sounds normal. Finally for shoot-'em-ups, there's my pick for the best of the console, Space Megaforce, made by Compile. They have a track record of making some of the all-time best shoot-'em-ups like Zanak and Blazing Lasers, and Space Megaforce isn't far behind. This game does a great job balancing difficulty while providing you with tons of options for weapons, while keeping the level design interesting. And perhaps most importantly, this game managed to be fast-paced with minimal slowdown. It's a really well-made game that's well worth your time. On to sports games, and there's one racing game besides F-Zero I wanted to mention, and that's Top Gear, because I'm afraid if I didn't mention it, the entire continent of South America would come and burn down my house. This game remains hugely popular there, and for good reason. All the different tracks, cars, difficulty settings, combined with a genuine sense of speed, that all makes for an easy choice for an essential SNES racing game. For boxing, nothing really comes close to Super Punch-Out. It maintains the same simple gameplay of the original Punch-Out with 16 fighters you got to defeat, including some familiar faces from the original game. Continuing on with sports games, it's pretty simple and cut-and-dried. If you want a hockey game, you go with NHL 94, unless you want to play it on the Genesis instead, which, you know, I don't blame you. If you want to play a basketball game, go with NBA Jam, the original or Tournament Edition or Hangtime, whatever. You don't even need to like basketball to have fun with that game. If you want football, go with Tecmo Super Bowl. It keeps things simple and seriously. The Madden games on Super Nintendo are a mess. Tecmo Super Bowl at least resembles football most of the time, so that's your go-to. If you want soccer, then go with International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, because, again, the entire continent of South America will burn down my house if I don't mention that game. Not really. It's a well-made game by Konami. I don't even like soccer, and I still play this one once in a while. And for baseball, go with Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball. It has an arcade-style feel to it, it cuts a quick pace, and it's easy to pick up and play. It's my pick for the best sports game period on the Super Nintendo. Let's take a quick break from the essentials for a bit, so I can throw in some picks for some games off the beaten path, something beyond the obvious. First, there's Sunset Riders, another really well-made Konami arcade port that does a great job capturing the arcade-style of gameplay, switching between a side-scrolling mode and a gallery shooter mode. Plus, it's got great moments like this. Another hidden gem, so to speak, is Metal Warriors. And if you're familiar with this channel, I've talked about this game a lot over the past few months because it's really good. This is a game like Contra 3 where what you see is what you get. You're a mech using all sorts of different weapons to destroy everything in your path. And since this is made by LucasArts, you also get a friggin' lightsaber. How cool is that? Definitely check this game out any way you can. I'm probably gonna get some crap for recommending this one, but I really like this game. It's called Claymates. It's a platformer where you start out as a blue blob, but if you mesh with other blobs, I guess, you turn into different forms, like a mouse, a duck, a fish, a cat, and they all have unique abilities. And I can't help but enjoy this game. I never hear anyone talking about it, so maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's a fun time. Another weird game off the radar is Metal Marines, which sounds like a crappy Metallica cover band, but it's actually a strategy game. And I'm not gonna lie, it's not the most intuitive game, but once you figure it out, it's a lot of fun. Your opponent's landscape is a blank slate, so it's up to you to find out where their base is and bomb the hell out of it, kind of like battleship. You can also deploy, you know, actual Metal Marines or mechs that can wander around and wreck everything in their path. So this is a fun one that I think more people would enjoy if they knew about it. But my number one pick for the best hidden gem on the Super Nintendo is Dragon View. Technically, this is a sequel to Drakken. As you can see with these open world segments here, but the combat goes into a beat-em-up style like Knights of the Round, and it works. I love the combination between exploration and combat here, and I think everyone should give this game a try. It's a good time. Alright, now that we've talked about quote-unquote hidden gems, let's talk about Imports, games that were never localized and stayed in Japan. And the first one I gotta mention is Front Mission Gun Hazard. I'm not gonna mince words here, this game is amazing. It takes customizable 2D mech combat and puts it in a GRPG setting and gives it some of the most badass-looking 16-bit graphics ever. This is one of the best examples of gameplay and story coming together seamlessly that you'll find on the Super Nintendo. You'll need an English patch to play it, but it's worth it. And if that doesn't scratch your GRPG itch, then there's Fire Emblem 4, otherwise known as Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War, and this is a tactical-based RPG. I mean, it's Fire Emblem, duh. But it's my pick for the best strategy import out there, so if you want a story-heavy strategy game, this one's for you. And again, you'll need an English patch to play it, but it's easy to find on romhacking.net. These next few imports don't require English patches to play, so you can just play them as is or any way you can, really. Magical Poppin is a solid exploration platformer structured in a similar way as Metroid, where you discover new abilities that unlocks more of the map. Some of my favorite games that stayed in Japan are the great battle games, in particular 4 and 5. The fourth game has some serious Mega Man X vibes, and it's a lot of fun being able to switch between three characters with different weapons. The fifth game takes on a Western motif, but it's more high-quality action platforming with some gallery shooter stages thrown in as well. There's also Gundam Wing Endless Dual, which is a surprisingly in-depth one-on-one mech fighting game. You'd normally think a game like this would chug like crazy on the Super Nintendo or Super Famicom in this case, but the performance is great, which makes this one a lot of fun. Finally, there's Makaross Scrambled Valkyrie, another game that features top-notch performance. In this case, a horizontal shoot-em-up with three different ships you can choose from, as well as the ability to convert enemy ships to fight alongside you. This game offers a ton of replay value and a ton of challenge. Last but certainly not least, we got to talk about what the Super Nintendo is probably best known for, role-playing games, and I got to start by mentioning the Quintet trilogy of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma, but I want to highlight Soul Blazer in particular because I appreciate its straightforward nature while telling an oddly dark story that keeps you hooked. Plus, this game probably has the best example of that classic SNES slap bass. Next, I got to mention Secret of Mana, and this is another polarizing game. Some people love it, and some people think the combat and hit detection is too wonky, but I think the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses in this one. The music is fantastic, the boss fights are a lot of fun, and the fact that you get like 10 different weapons to use and level up is pretty nice. Not a whole lot of action RPGs can say that. For turn-based RPGs, we can start with Luffya 2, Rise of the Sinistrals. This game is actually a prequel to the first Luffya, but you don't need to play that one to get into Luffya 2. I dig how the story is told in this game. It almost feels like playing through episodes of an anime series or something, and there's a great sense of humor here, too. Plus, I mean, look at these bosses and these spells. That just looks cool as hell. I got to mention Super Mario RPG, Legend of the Seven Stars, but really, at this point, you're probably better off playing the recent remake, thanks to all the quality of life enhancements that game offers. Still, if you'd rather play it on Super Nintendo, you can't go wrong there either. It's a really entertaining playthrough that features some laugh-out-loud moments, and the timing-based combat keeps you engaged throughout. Earthbound is also an essential Super Nintendo game, but, uh, how the heck do I describe Earthbound as someone who's never played it before? It's a truly strange playthrough, one of the most surreal games you'll ever play, but the heart of the game is just you and your friends on a big adventure in an attempt to save the world, and it features one of the most satisfying endings to any game I've ever played. You really feel rewarded for playing all the way through this one. If you prefer a more straightforward role-playing game, then you can't go wrong with Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy III, as it was called here in North America. You want tons of characters and customizable options with things like espers and relics in addition to tons of weapons and equipment, all set within a ginormous sweeping story. Well, then here you go. This is a 35-40 hour playthrough, and again, like Earthbound, it really feels satisfying to finish. But my pick for the best role-playing game on the Super Nintendo is Chrono Trigger, thanks to its unique story and the way it's told, featuring time travel in a way that you can actually follow. Imagine that. This is one of those games that was clearly made by people who loved role-playing games, hence the Dream Team moniker bestowed on the development team. It's one of those games where playing for four hours can feel like 15 minutes. The story is engaging, the characters are likable and interesting, the combat is outstanding, featuring dual and triple techs, and the game is balanced almost perfectly. There's hardly any grinding in this game at all, and that in and of itself should be considered a huge achievement. Combine all that with some amazing visuals and a great soundtrack, and you have the most essential role-playing game on the system. This is a game that everybody should play through at least once. Okay, that's all for now. I'm sure I'm missing some of your favorite games. You know, I didn't even have enough room in this video for stuff like Sim City or Pilotwings or Super Ghouls and Ghosts, so I could go on and on. But I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.