Some of my favorite SNES games in honor of the system's 25th anniversary

If you asked me earlier in the week what I did back on Aug. 23, 1991, I would've answered, "I have absolutely no idea."

Today, though, I know exactly what I did on that date: I, along with my older brother and our parents, waltzed into the local Toys R Us (or Shopko, or Kohl's--I can't remember this particular detail) and bought a Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

It was the first game system I ever got the day it came out, by the way. Previously--with the NES, TurboGrafx-16 and GameBoy--I waited months or even years before jumping on board.

There was no way my brother and I were going to wait for the SNES, though. Both of us had followed the console's development and Japanese release like our lives depended on it, so we did whatever we had to do to ensure we'd be able to nab Nintendo's second system the minute it was available.

Sadly, that meant selling our precious NES and our enviable catalog of games. (The latter included such treasures as Bionic Commando, Duck Tales, R.C. Pro-Am and pretty much every other Nintendo-published title worth owning.)

On the flip side, it allowed us to get our hands on a SNES and a copy of Super Mario World pronto, so at the time the sacrifice seemed acceptable.

I still have that SNES, by the way. I also still have a handful of the carts my brother and I accumulated in the years that followed the console's debut--Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III and Yoshi's Island among them.

Speaking of which, none of those games are discussed in this nostalgia-filled post that's supposed to celebrate the SNES' 25th anniversary. Also ignored here: A Link to the Past, EarthBound, Super Mario Kart and Super Metroid.

That's not because I dislike any of those classic games, mind you. On the contrary, I dearly love each and every one of them. No, the reason I'm not devoting any space to them is they're honored all the time (and rightfully so) for their greatness.

You'll also notice no Japan-only SNES--or Super Famicom, if you want to be technical--games are named here. That's because Aug. 23 was the 25th anniversary of the console's North American launch. So, I'll only ruminate about that region's releases. (Believe me, if I expanded this write-up's reach in that way, it'd feature blurbs about Ace wo Nerae, Pop'n TwinBee, Tetris Battle Gaiden, Torneko no Daibouken, Umihara Kawase and more.)

What does that leave? It leaves the following nine SNES titles, all of which are near and dear to my heart, and all of which did a stupendous job of showing what Nintendo's entry in the 16-bit game-system wars was capable of when the right people were involved.

ActRaiser--I still remember my initial reaction to this early SNES game. Teenage me thought it was so beautiful that someone at developer Quintet must have sold his or her soul to create such brilliance. Do I feel that way today about this ambitious title, which dares to combine the action-platformer and city-building genres? Yes and no. On the positive side, ActRaiser's looks still bring tears to my eyes. I also continue to appreciate some of its bold gameplay choices. On the negative side, though, I find the side-scrolling sections to be a bit stiff and unforgiving these days. Oh, well, as they say: two out of three ain't bad.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest--Unlike ActRaiser, this Final Fantasy spin-off (in Japan it was called Final Fantasy USA) didn't immediately trip my trigger. In fact, I turned my nose up at it for a good long while. What changed? I rented it one weekend when no other game appealed to me. What I discovered during the ensuing two days was that, while the game strays far from the traditional Final Fantasy fold, it does so in some really interesting ways. (Much like Square's Mana and SaGa series.) I especially like the rock-leaning soundtrack conjured up by Ryuji Sasai and Yasuhiro Kawakami.

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja--It's kind of hard to believe this game, part of Konami's long-running Goemon series, made the trip across the pond when it did. At the time, most "wacky Japanese" titles stayed put in their countries of origin. Thankfully, the higher-ups at the company that Castlevania built took a chance on this one. It's still one of the system's best looking and sounding games, in my opinion--despite the fact that it's one of its earlier offerings.

Pocky & Rocky--Here's another unconventional game (according to Western tastes, at least) that a company had to take a chance on and that immediately appealed to me. I've got to say that I like this scrolling shooter, which actually is a sequel to Taito's KiKi KaiKai, a bit more than the action-adventure title mentioned above. Every single aspect of it is spot-on--a fact that explains why even loose copies of it tend to go for shy-high prices on both sides of the globe.

Secret of Mana--I know it's now popular to poo-poo this action RPG, but I love it. Always have, always will. Granted, you're talking to someone who gleefully ogled early screenshots of this "real-time Final Fantasy" for what seemed like ages before it finally saw the light of day. Plus, for me, its still-stunning aesthetics and wide variety of weaponry trump any of its gameplay or performance niggles.

Stunt Race FX--Did Nintendo's first Super FX title, Star Fox, blow me away upon it release in early 1993? You bet it did. To be honest, though, this second such game blew me away even more. That's likely because Stunt Race FX's genre and graphical stylings are more my cup of tea than those of its rail-shooter counterpart. Sadly, it's harder to ignore this game's big flaws--a pitifully low frame rate and a slow overall speed--these days than when it first hit store shelves. Even so, I continue to take it for a spin now and then just to bask in its goofy, googly-eyed glow.

Super Bowling--Although no one's likely to call this KID-made sports cart one of the SNES' best offerings, that doesn't mean it's not one of its most enjoyable--especially if you're in the mood for a multi-player romp. There's not a ton of depth here, admittedly, but the various characters, as well as ball, lane and gameplay options, provide more than enough content--not to mention fun--to make the price of admission worthwhile if the idea of a digital bowling title sounds interesting to you.

Super Tennis--This is one of a handful of video games produced by Japanese textbook publisher Tokyo Shoseki, so you might assume it's a bit of a turd. In reality, it's one of the best tennis titles ever created. It's not the most realistic, mind you, but it controls so well and feels so smooth that only the biggest tennis snobs will care. My only complaint: after you've spent a good amount of time with it, you'll be able to pick off most of the computer-controlled opponents with ease.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors--My brother, friends and I put an ungodly amount of time into this cartoonish run-and-gunner back in the day. That's the only way to play Zombie Ate My Neighbors, by the way--with another person sitting by your side. Which is too bad, in a way, as the designers and developers at LucasArts did a bang-up job on the game's controls, music, looks and even humor. The fact is, though, it's just not much fun if you go it alone. So, be sure to grab a pal or lover--or both--before you boot it up to get the best experience.

Happy (ever-so-slightly belated) 25th anniversary, Super Famicom!

Twenty-five years ago, Nintendo made its second cartridge-based games console, the Super Famicom, available to the Japanese masses.

I breathlessly followed its development in the pages of magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly, Nintendo Power and Video Games and Computer Entertainment. (Note: I remember reading this article--over and over again--like it was yesterday.) I was especially obsessed with coverage of Super Mario World, of course, although I was nearly as keen on "launch window" titles Pilotwings and F-Zero.

Despite my overwhelming interest in the Super Famicom and its initial releases, though, I didn't buy one on or around its Nov. 21 debut. Granted, I was just about to turn 14 at the time, and buying Japanese consoles (or even games) wasn't really an option--especially since doing so likely would have cost me somewhere in the vicinity of $400.

Instead, I had to wait until shortly after the Super Famicom's North American counterpart, the SNES, launched in my own neck of the woods a year later before I was able to experience Nintendo's brand of 16-bit gaming for myself. 

A couple of years later, I finally got to play my first Super Famicom (as opposed to SNES) game when I imported a used copy of Final Fantasy V--which I still have today, mind you--via one of those companies that advertised in the back of DieHard GameFan and the aforementioned EGM.

Actually, I may have picked up Parodius Da! first, but who really cares this many years later, right?

Strangely--given my current love of imported games--those two Japanese titles, along with Final Fantasy VI, may have been the only ones I ever bought to play on my trusty SNES. (Don't worry, I've bought a few more Super Famicom in the last couple of years, although only a few--so far.) 

Also, I've never owned an actual Super Famicom system. Which is a crying shame, as I've always considered its design to be among the most attractive and appealing of the consoles that have seen the light of day since the early 1980s.

What else did I--and do I--love about the Super Famicom? I've always loved its graphics capabilities, which for me represent the peak of two-dimensional, sprite-based game visuals. I've also always loved its audio components, which allowed the best musicians and composers of the day to produce some absolutely stellar soundtracks. 

And then, of course, there was the system's controller, with its four face and two shoulder buttons, which I've long considered to be as eye-catching as it is comfortable.

How about you? Do you have any particularly fond memories of this superb entry in the fourth generation of game systems? If so, feel free to share them in the comments section below. 

My favorite GameBoy photos (so far)

While prepping yesterday's post about the GameBoy's 25th anniversary, I spent some time wading through all of the photos I've taken of my GameBoy "acquisitions" over the last few years.

Although I think the shots I've snapped of, say, my DS, Game Gear and even WonderSwan games are more appealing (in general) than the ones I've snapped of my GameBoy titles, I like enough of the latter to share a smattering of them here--you know, so we can keep the GameBoy anniversary train rolling for at least a few more hours.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland

Kitchen Panic

Japanese Tetris box, cartridge and manual

Wario Land II + GameBoy Pocket

Balloon Kid cartridge and case

BurgerTime Deluxe's Japanese packaging

Top flap of Painter Momopie's box

Pokémon Red

If you'd like to see a couple (OK, a lot) more photos of GameBoy and other handheld carts and systems, head over to this Flickr album of mine at your earliest convenience.

Happy 25th anniversary, GameBoy!

Twenty-five years ago today, Nintendo unleashed its first portable gaming system--I'm talking about the GameBoy, of course--on a not-so-unsuspecting Japanese populace. (North Americans gained access to it a few months later, on July 31 of the same year, while Europeans had to wait until late September, 1990, to get their hands on it.)

In the ensuing years, it and its related revisions--GameBoy Pocket, GameBoy Light and GameBoy Color--sold more than 118 million units worldwide.

I'm personally responsible for four of those sales ... I think. I say "I think" because I honestly can't remember if I've owned three or four GameBoys over the years (one of which is a blue GameBoy Pocket, while the others are/were of the original "brick" variety).

Regardless, I've been the proud owner of at least a couple of GameBoys between 1989 and the present and I have some really fond memories of both the system and its impressive games catalog.

I distinctly remember, for instance, voraciously reading every article I could about the now-iconic handheld in the run up to its release and, as a result, desperately wanting one. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get one until either my birthday (late November) or Christmas that year, so I had to make do with (enviously, jealously) playing the one my best friend nabbed on day one for a good number of months.

At the time, Super Mario Land was my favorite of the GameBoy's initial handful of titles, although I also got a kick out of Alleyway, Tennis and the ubiquitous Tetris. (This friend of mine got the system and all five of its launch games as soon as they were available--pretty nice, eh?)

Later, my affections would transfer to the Final Fantasy Legend titles--all three of which remained treasured favorites until I stupidly sold my first GameBoy and all of my GameBoy carts in order to buy ... something I can't even remember.

Oh, well. Thanks to the Internet--eBay, especially--I've been able to re-acquire pretty much all of my most cherished (as a kid) GameBoy titles along with a good number of new ones over the last couple of years.

Quite a few of the latter can be found in the "Year of the GameBoy"-tagged posts I've published between late February and now, by the way. Check them out by clicking on the link above, if you're at all interested, and keep an eye out for many more such posts in the coming weeks and months.

In the meantime, do any of you have any particular memories of the GameBoy's launch? Or maybe you have a few general thoughts you'd like to get off your chests on the system or its extensive and diverse games catalog? If so, please feel free to share any and all of them in the comments section below.

Happy 26th anniversary, PC Engine, and ever-so-slightly belated 25th anniversary, Mega Drive!

I was all set to publish a post about something else this morning--such as early impressions of Sayonara Umihara Kawase, which is set to hit the North American 3DS eShop early next year as Yumi's Odd Odyssey--but all that went out the window as soon as I realized that today is the 26th anniversary of the release of one of my all-time favorite consoles, the NEC PC Engine.

For those of you who aren't math wizards (don't worry, I'm not one myself): that means it hit Japanese store shelves all the way back on Oct. 30, 1987. (Its North American counterpart, the TurboGrafx-16, didn't see the light of day until nearly two years later, on Aug. 19, 1989.)



Amazingly, the PC Engine isn't the only 16-bit console partying it up this week. Sega's Mega Drive celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday. (Which means, of course, it was first released--in Japan--on Oct. 29, 1988, with its North American debut following on August 14, 1989, and its European one on Nov. 30, 1990.)

Sadly, I've never owned an actual Mega Drive system (or any Mega Drive games, I believe). Oh, I've had a Genesis for some time now, but it's really not the same thing, is it? Anyway, a Japanese Mega Drive 2 (or maybe a Mega Jet?) is on my "to buy" list--along with a few other systems and about a thousand games--so hopefully I'll acquire one before my time is up.



I have owned a PC Engine, though--as well as a Core Grafx II, a Super CD-ROM2, a TurboGrafx-16 (also with CD attachment) and a TurboDuo. You'd think that would be enough to scratch anyone's PC Engine itch, but nope--I want more. Specifically, I want a PC Engine LT. Thankfully, I'm not (yet) willing to blow $1,000 or so on a single console.

Anyway, enough about me and my insane desires. This post is supposed to celebrate the existence of both the PC Engine and Mega Drive. So, here's a virtual tip of the hat to NEC and Sega for producing a pair of consoles that continue to tickle the fancy of tasteful gamers the world over.

Also: 'Happy belated birthday, Dreamcast!'

Proof that Japanese 7-Elevens are cooler than those elsewhere

On Oct. 28, Nintendo will release--in Japan only, of course--a Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary DSi system. This limited edition system (below left) will be sold exclusively at 7-Eleven convenience stores--yes, you read that correctly--for ¥14,800 (about $177).



Considering the brass at Nintendo of America have yet to announce how they (and we) will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., I guess it's possible this system--and this similarly branded DSi LL--will make it to the States at some point, but I certainly wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

(Via andriasang.com)