Game Reviews

Doozie Dozen - SNES Games (4th Gen)

The Super Nintendo was more popular than the Sega Genesis in the 4th generation of video game consoles, however, the Genesis sales were bolstered by attracting a more mature set of kids and teens. In my life, I owned both systems and in the end I found the SNES to be superior. Virtually none of my friends had the Sega and almost all of them had the Nintendo. I lived in England and Canada during the fourth generation of consoles and enjoyed many hours playing SNES games at my friend's houses in both countries. 

This list, much like the other Doozie Dozen lists, is my top twelve choices of games for particular consoles, arcade or computer. These are the games that have had the greatest influence on my life and ones that I would recommend to others to try and the ones that I would love to play through again. The games are ranked for each list based on my preference to play them. 

N.B. I have linked a youtube gameplay video for each entry, although I cannot assure that the uploader will keep the video active or that a company won't put in a successful removal request. Feel free to search online for these games.

12. NHLPA Hockey '93 (1992)

This is the game that you see Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and the guys playing in the movie, Swingers. It was a great hockey game with fast action and some exploits that made head-to-head play with friends quite intense. Injuries were a hilarious addition to the game as well as being able to swing the advantage from one side to the other. This was a great game to play with buddies.

11. Super Mario Kart (1992)

Super Mario Kart redefined racing games and ushered in a movement of having racing versions of successful platformers. The game was highly addictive with easy controls, catchy tunes and a variety of characters to choose from. The drops were all useful if used properly. The cups had good variety in tracks and it was fun to play single player tournaments or to play against a room full of friends. This was the ultimate party game at the time. 

10. Lemmings (1992)

Lemmings was a clever game that required a measure of intellectual engagement. I used to go to my friend Nick's house and we attempted to play through the levels late at night. The game had a massive number of levels because the UI was simple. There were a lot of clever exploits in this game once you had a lay of the land, so to speak. This is a game that translates well to mobile. 

9. Streetfighter II: The World Warrior (1992)

Streetfighter II is the definitive fighting game. The controls and moves were easy to learn and master. There was a good variety of interesting characters with unique special moves. The four bosses were remarkably different and appreciably more difficult to defeat than the regular characters. The game provided a great two-player experience after beating the game with all the characters. I spent many hours playing the game at friend's houses like Michael and Anton. Streetfighter II was also a great way to work out some excess aggression. The music is memorable and I can still hum many of the character's signature themes. Super Street fighter II was a good sequel that added an array of playable characters, moves and costumes. 

8. Secret of Mana (1993)

Secret of Mana was a great RPG that had the look of the Legend of Zelda. The story was fun and engaging while it took many hours to complete the game. I used to go over to my friend, Daniel's house to play the game where I kept updated save files on his console. One of the downsides of the game was that a lot of the environments had the same bucolic aesthetic and there wasn't a great variety of NPCs in each area.  

7. Chrono Trigger (1995)

Chrono Trigger was a late release for the SNES but worth the wait. This RPG had a very interesting time-travel narrative and the story was teased out effectively. The game had a darker feel than Secret of Mana and the music was more enjoyable. Otherwise, it played like Secret of Mana and had the familiar look of the Final Fantasy games as far as animation was concerned. The game took many hours to complete. 

6. Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 (1994, 1995, 1996)

Donkey Kong Country games were SNES's answer to the Sonic the Hedgehog phenomenon with Sega Genesis, but played more like Taz Mania. DK Country games had a crisp, almost 3D look from the use of parallax background animations. The missions were fun and collectibles were worth chasing down for the bonus levels. The music created a soothing ambiance.  The bosses were enjoyable to learn and defeat while all the animations for characters in the game were really cute and amusing. This was a great use of the Donkey Kong characters. 

5. WWF Royal Rumble (1993)

Professional wrestling video games are like movie adaptation games - rarely any good. Often the graphics for these games are sub-par and the controls are not intuitive. The games can be glitchy from buggy, rushed and sloppy code. The reason is likely the high cost of licensing the property means that the staff has to be shored down and you can't afford to hire the best people to work on the game. However, WWF Royal Rumble is one of the best wrestling games. The controls are simple and you can either finesse to avoid damage or fall back on button mashing. In that respect, this game was in the same vein as Double Dragon beat'em-up type games, except the squared circle keeps the player bound to the basic wrestling ring layout. The game launched at a time when the WWF was expanding (they had just launched their cable show, Monday Night RAW) and the roster of playable characters were all legitimate superstars and legends in the industry. The UI was easy to understand and all the characters had their distinct signature finishing moves. I played this game for hours on end at my best friend, Ben's house. 

4. Super Mario World (1991)

Super Mario World was the game that came with the console. It was a huge step up from Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES and had 100 levels with none seeming wholly like any other. Special levels and paths could be unlocked through know-how, close attention to level design and sharing information with friends while the game still took many hours to play through. The music was catchy and the characters were the now iconic ones from a previous generation of successful console games. The addition of the dinosaur Yoshi was an added bonus that put the game over the top. 

3. Soldiers of Fortune (1993)

I really got into Soldiers of Fortune because of the fast action and its top-down view which reminded me of Guerrilla War for NES. There were six playable characters to choose from with different weapons. The music was a cool electronica soundtrack while the sounds had high fidelity and meshed nicely with the action. The theme of the game was post-apocalyptic which attracted me because I was into movies like Mad Max and The Terminator at the time. The action was quite repetitive though and that makes me think the game would work well on mobile. 

2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1992)

Zelda for NES was one of the console's greatest games and it was no different when it came to Zelda for the Super Nintendo. The game had the familiar feel of the NES version, but the graphics were a huge step up. Mario games had developed for NES, but Zelda's sequel for NES was nothing like the original, leading one to compare Zelda for NES and SNES directly. This made the SNES Zelda really stand out. The story was compelling, teased out well and there was a good variety of challenges in navigating the world and negotiating NPCs. Although the game took many hours to complete, the story was engaging enough that you would go back a year later and play through the game again. 

1. Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI in Japan)(1994)

This is one of my top 10 favourite games of all time and there is no other for my top ten list from the 3rd and 4th generations of video game consoles. I first played Final Fantasy 3 at my friend, Elliott's house. He was pretty nerdy and really into RPGs. He got me into the game genre which wasn't that difficult because I was already into adventure games I had been playing on computers. I remember Elliott had written out a full list of prizes that you could win from particular wagers at the gladiator ring. I found that amusing, but didn't hesitate to borrow the info sheet and refer to it while boosting my team's weapons.

​Final Fantasy III had a big improvement in graphics from Final Fantasy II and the story was one of the most compelling in the history of games. The array of characters were all interesting and you could play through the game multiple times while favouring the use characters you were less familiar with. Kefka was a great enemy and final boss while his theme music is unmistakable. In fact, the musical score for the game is one of the best ever. There are hundreds of weapons, dozens of Espers and tons of unique enemies. The story runs the gamut of emotions - there are funny moments, eerie moments and tear-jerking ones. The random attacks on the map could be annoying, but they broke up the lull of exploration and travel. Additionally, there were exploits to attain items that would ward off attacks. The downside to this was that XP was harder to gain and a lack of leveling up could lead to areas of the game and enemies that were hard to pass. This is a game that I would play again right now and I have been contemplating for years about downloading the mobile version ($20), but am worried that the cinematic feel of the game experience will be lost on the small screen.