Salvador's Top 7: Super Nintendo Games

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S release of the Super Nintendo so in order to celebrate I'm going to take a look back at some of my favorite SNES games.

Now you will see a big lack of the RPG's that the SNES is known for since I have never actually played any of them. I know, blasphemy. But I do plan on playing Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy III at some point.

Note: All the games on my lists are games that I've personally played. If I don't name a game, chances are I haven't played it. 


So hit the jump and see what else I came up with.

7) Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run

This is one of the few sports games that I actually enjoyed playing. Back then my dad was really into baseball and so it transferred to my brother and I. And since we could play together at the same time it made it even better.

It was actually made by Rare, the guys behind Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct, so maybe that's why I found this game to be so much fun. It was really easy to pick up and play and I really didn't care about the fact that they didn't use the the actual players names. 

Plus, the game looked amazing.

6) Super Godzilla

This game is just as cheesy as the films it's based on and I love it. The Japanese somehow managed to gain control of Godzilla and walk him around different areas of Japan to fight other gigantic monsters. Literally that was it.

Riveting gameplay!!!

But as a kid who was entirely engrossed in gigantic monsters battling, there was nothing better. I got to control the King of the Monsters as he battled six of his biggest rivals like Biollante, King Ghidorah, and Mecha Godzilla.

Funny thing is that Biollante is a plant.

But easily the best part of this game is the final stage where you are given the opportunity to turn into the ultra badass form of Godzilla known as Super Godzilla.

Steroids!

If you like Godzilla and revert back to a small child whenever you see anything Godzilla related, this is for you.

5) Street Fighter: Alpha 2

Nowadays I really enjoy playing Street Fighter IV, but the one that originally got me into it was Street Fighter: Alpha 2. One of my favorite things to do was just sit and watch the intro.

Once my brother and I watched that, we button mashed the hell out of each other. We didn't know any of the moves or specials or anything like that. We just mashed the buttons until one of us did something awesome. I remember one time my brother pulled of Akuma's Raging Demon on me and we just sat there in disbelief. Great times.

4) Super Mario World

First game that I got with my SNES and I played the absolute hell out of it, though I don't think that I ever actually beat it.

I loved the music, the Yoshi's, and especially the cape. If you were good enough you could just float your way through the entire level with it! And there was nothing quite as satisfying as spin jumping on top of enemies and them exploding in a puff of smoke.

There was only one thing I disliked about this game, and it was jumping off of Yoshi to save your own skin. I always felt bad after I did that.

Yep, it was something like that.

3) Killer Instinct

Hey look, it's another Rare game. My brother and I actually managed to find a guide for this game so we actually could play it with some skill instead of just mashing buttons like we would in Street Fighter. It was super cheesy and easy to pick up, thought the latter was probably because of the auto combos.

A velociraptor and werewolf?!?!

Add some off the wall characters (refer to picture above), Ultra Combos, Ultimate Combos (fatalities), and even humiliations and this game was just meant for cheesy glory.

Oh and not's forget one of the best parts of the game: The Announcer!

2) Donkey Kong Country

I swear this is the last Rare game on the list!

If there was a game that rivaled the platforming of the Mario series, Donkey Kong Country was it. The premise? King K. Rool stole Donkey's banana hoard and you are on a mission to get it back. You progress through the jungle, ancient ruins, underwater, and even mines. And the visuals were astounding for a SNES game.

Screw Yoshi, I got Rambi the Rhino!!!

Of course it had the co-op mode where if one of you got hurt the other took control until they found the partner and also a competitive where you saw how much faster you could complete a stage than the other person.

But probably where this sticks to mind the most was the percentage it showed next to your save. For the first time ever I got completionists syndrome and found everything in that game till my save said 101%. And yes, a full complete is 101 not 100. 

Not mine but proof.

Thank you Donkey Kong Country for making me a completionist.

1) Super Mario Kart

So take some of my favorite Mario characters, throw them into a racing game, and make them throw objects at each other to battle for 1st place. Sign me up!

Now this was in no way a pretty game. The stages were in 3D, the character models were 2D, and the coin pick ups and item boxes were flat gold circles and squares on the ground.

But you could play splitscreen and race or splitscreen and battle so my brother and I just played the absolute piss out of it. It was easy to pick up and if someone pissed you off all you had to do was send a red shell after them. It was even better since the blue shell hadn't been introduced yet.

And then you had the best way to cause a seizure. The Rainbow Road track.

Trippy!!!

Oh man did I nearly burn my eyes out the first time I played on this track.

So what are some of your favorite SNES games guys? Let us know in the comments.

Honorable Mentions (Minus the aforementioned RPG's)


Mega Man X 
Mario Paint
Contra III
Mario All-Stars
WCW Wrestlemania The Arcade Game
Super Punch-Out
Super Ghost and Ghouls