Mr. Saturn's Top 20 Super Nintendo Games Part 2
15. Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball - 1994 - Nintendo
The Game: It is baseball. Featuring future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.
My Take: The SNES really wasn't the console of choice if you liked sports games but occasionally a few would provide a great experience. While maybe not the most realistic or technical baseball title out there, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball provided me and my little brother with hours of baseball action with tons of seasons played through even though there wasn't a franchise mode. It is hard to quantify why I loved this game so much in ways that non-sports fans would appreciate but a game that you put so much time in with a family member is something very good. And I gushed about it in a retro review anyways so read that.
14. SimCity - 1991 - Nintendo
The Game: The Nintendo-fied version of Will Wright's classic city building simulator.
My Take: Anyone who has gotten into any kind of simulation game can attest to the fact that sim games can be insanely addicting. SimCity for the SNES was my first experience with these games and the amount of time I spent crafting cities of various types was always fun. Even if I used the cheat to amass large amounts of money early on. The Nintendo touch added to the game also gave a charm to the SimCity experience that is tough to reproduce. Having Bowser replace the godzilla like character or even the inclusion of Mr. Wright (Nintendo's creative nod to franchise creator Will Wright) gives this iteration added charm that really holds up well.
13. Mortal Kombat II - 1994 - Acclaim
The Game: After losing Mortal Kombat, Shang Tsung returns to Outworld and schemes with the Emperor Shao Khan to lure Kombatants from Earthrealm to fight for another chance to conquer it.
My Take: Nintendo learned their lesson from the first Mortal Kombat. Blood sells and thusly SNES fans got a Mortal Kombat chock full of blood and all the fatalities a person could want. To this day, and despite having a copy of the arcade version on the PSN, this version of MKII still holds up as my favorite of the console ports. Sure it may not be the prettiest but I spent many hours playing this game and while my interest in the franchise has since cooled it still a fun game to play and see one of those so-called ultraviolent games that would have apparently turned me and others like me into sadistic murderers.
12. Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting - 1993 - Capcom
The Game: The early '90s arcade fighting king's second go around on the SNES features faster gameplay and the ability to play as the boss characters.
My Take: My favorite of the SNES Street Fighter II variations even over Super SFII's larger cast almost entirely for I feel this got closest to matching the arcade's sense of speed. There isn't a whole lot further to say about Street Fighter II that most people don't already know. While I'm a rather casual fighting fan, games like this and Mortal Kombat II helped define an era. One that sadly we may not really see again.
11. Donkey Kong Country - 1994 - Nintendo
The Game: King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's precious banana horde and it is up to DK and his protege Diddy to storm the Kremlings hide outs and get them back.
My Take: Strangely enough the first straight-up platform game on my list so far. Which is odd since my love of video games really was developed quite a bit around them. DKC coming out at the 2nd half of the SNES's lifespan was in all honesty a pretty straightforward platformer more reminiscent of early days of the genre despite the advanced graphical capabilities the game showed off. It was actually a bit refreshing to see a platformer like it but it did bring some good stuff to the table. The buddy system of using DK or Diddy made for some interesting strategy even if they weren't extremely different. The game's use of secrets while kinda pointless outside of 1-up hoarding nicely broke up any monotony. Overall it would be an above average platformer, but where this game really shone was the graphics. the SGI graphics used to bring this game to life was very eye popping at the time brought that next generation graphics feel without needing to buy an add-on. Along with the great soundtrack this all came together to create a truly memorable game. And hey I chose this over games like Final Fantasy 3 and Super Metroid and I really don't regret it.
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