SNES Mini Classic – What 30 Games Should Be Included? 2

SNES Mini Classic – What 30 Games Should Be Included?

As I’m sure all of you are aware by now, Nintendo are releasing the “Nintendo Classic Mini” in November of this year, which is a mini NES with 30 games built in, and replica controllers that can also be used with the Wii and Wii U. I made a video talking about my thoughts on the system and the games included. Afterwards, like a lot of people, I started thinking of what other systems could get the same treatment, and which games I’d love to see included on them. Originally I recorded a video for each of these different systems, but being unhappy with them, I decided to scrap the videos and create some text content here instead! No doubt you’ve figured out from the title that this particular piece of content will focus on what 30 games I’d love to see if Nintendo released a SNES Classic Mini console! Without further ado, here is my list!

1 – Super Mario World

Impossible to make a list of games that should be included on such a device without including THE definitive SNES game. Super Mario World is bar far my favourite game, as well as being the greatest game ever made (in my opinion). Super Mario World took everything that was great about the original Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 3, and improved in every single way. Every gamer should play through this game at least once.

2 – Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

While I don’t agree with the title of this game being “Super Mario World 2”, I guess I can understand on them wanting to use the title in order to help sales and establish Yoshi as a main character. Kinda like with Wario Land on the Game Boy still using the “Super Mario Land 3” title despite being a new series. Anyway, after my recent review of Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Wii U, I realised that I hadn’t actually played the original Yoshi game! From what I know of the game, the basic mechanics are there in the first game that I loved so much in the Wii U game, only this one has its own unique visual look, something that most Yoshi games look to try and create rather than staying the same. The crying Mario aspect always put me off wanting to try this in the past, but now I’m more than willing to ignore the crying baby and get on with the game. And what better way to finally play it than to have it included on a SNES Classic Mini?

3 – Super Mario Kart

The first game in the Mario Kart series, and to this day remains as one of my favourites. Racing around courses set in the Mushroom Kingdom, picking one of the Mario franchise characters as the driver, and picking up crazy weapons to help you win first place all combined to generate one of the funnest gaming experiences on the console. Add in multiplayer races and the awesome BATTLE mode, and we have a winning game. The series is still going strong today, and is all thanks to the incredible start it got on the SNES. An obvious choice to include!

4 – Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

Don’t worry, this is the last Mario game on my list! Nintendo were expanding game genres with Mario, something we also saw in the previous game on this list, and they trusted their biggest gaming IP to Square, knowing that they would be able to use that IP to create an RPG that wouldn’t disappoint! The SNES was home to MANY great RPG games, most of them developed by Square too, and this is no different. You take the Mario franchise characters and put them in a foreign world, add in a great sense of humour, a non-typical Mario story and some quality 16-bit JRPG mechanics and BOOM. You have a masterpiece. Sadly this game was never released in Europe for people like me, but thanks to things like emulators and then Nintendo’s Virtual Console, I have been able to play some of this over the years and I am so sad it never came out here for the SNES. So, since it was already released on the Wii’s Virtual Console, I don’t see why we’d have a problem getting it put on a SNES Classic Mini too!

5 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

This game is the first on the list that isn’t a game I’m a fan of. I don’t care for the Zelda franchise. Never have and probably never will. BUT, I would have to be insane to not include such an iconic SNES game on my list of games I think should be on a Mini version of the console. A hell of a lot of people love this game, and consider it one of, if not the, best in the entire franchise. So it kinda has to be included, even if I personally don’t give a monkey’s backside about it!

6 – F-Zero

Mario Kart is a fun racing game. Yeah, we all know that. But in some ways its a little… too relaxed? Sounds about right. F-Zero takes the fun aspects of racing from Mario Kart… and does the complete opposite of relaxed! The feeling of speed while playing the game is wonderful, and provides you with a lot of challenge trying to stay on the track while simultaneously making sure you finish in first place! A nice counterpart game to go on the system alongside Mario Kart.

7 – Starfox/Star Wing

This game is known as Star Wing in Europe due to lame copyright reasons, but we all know its REALLY called Starfox! This on rails space shooter was revolutionary at the time for its incredible 3D graphics, which were only made possibly by the brand new SUPER FX chip inside the cartridge! The actual SNES would be unable to handle the game on its own, so the developers created their own chip to power the game on the cart while also using the power of the SNES. Nintendo were behind the idea of the chip after seeing the game in action, and as such a handful of other SNES titles would use the chip or even an updated version in order to compete with the better graphics on newer released consoles such as the Sony Playstation. But enough about the chip, the actual game is still so much fun to this day, which actually surprised me as old 3D graphics are usually very outdated and can ruin the experience a little. Here? Yeah, you can clearly see they aren’t very good… but you don’t care. You just wanna fly around in space and shoot things!

8 – Kirby Super Star

Gotta have us some KIRBY on this system, and why not Kirby Super Star, which included 8 games in one? So technically we’d be getting 37 built in games! Yey! What appealed the most to me about including this on my list is the variety of games on it. This isn’t just 8 normal 2D platformers, but instead a mix of genres and gameplay. A lot of fun to be had here!

9 – Dragon Quest I & II

This 2 in 1 game was never released outside of Japan because stuff. The original games were on the NES, and did get English releases in the US under the Dragon Warrior name, and later on the Gameboy/Gameboy Colour. The SNES versions have updated 16 bit graphics (which are the best for JRPG’s imo), and of course feature the first 2 games in the series on 1 cart. In Japanese. So for a Mini SNES I want this 2 in 1 cart on it with the games in English so I can finally play them!!!

10 – Total Carnage

Firstly, just look at that box art. The game can be sold on that alone! I often feel that this game is a little overlooked. It was the spiritual successor to Super Smash TV, but for some reason people tend to only remember Super Smash TV. For me, this is the better game overall, though for pure overheard run and gun action you can’t go wrong with either. For a Mini SNES, I’d stick this on because its pure FUN, and will let people know that it actually exists too!

11 – Doom

Oh yes. DOOM. Yes, the PC version is the best and definitive version, but for consoles, the SNES wins it out for me. Seems that every port of Doom to consoles all had their own positives and negatives, but the SNES one for my money is the better port. Its just cool as hell being able to wander about and shoot the shit out of aliens on your SNES, and the SNES sound chip makes the iconic soundtrack sound that little bit better imo too.

12 – Contra III: The Alien Wars

Gotta get some CONTRA on a Mini SNES! Another shooter, mainly sides crolling run and gun, but also adds in some overhead levels too! Single player or multiplayer, you are bound to have a lot of fun with this, and plenty of frustration too!

13 – Super Metroid

Another game that personally doesn’t interest me, but needs to be on a Mini SNES with 30 built in games. Metroid as a series never interested me until the Metroid Prime games sadly. But like Zelda, I’d be stupid to not include such a classic game on my list. Far more people love the hell out of it than dislike it.

14 – Super Castlevania IV

Ok, who currently has the Castlevania theme in their head right now? I know I do! Considered as a remake of the original Castlevania game, Super Castlevania IV took everything that was great about it and made it better. It took some of the issues and fixed them. While not “officially” a remake, it definitely should be looked upon as one of the best examples of how to do remakes… if that makes any sense? Maybe people rank this one as the best in the series, and I won’t argue. A Mini SNES that didn’t include this game would be a travesty.

15 – Super Punch Out

Punch Out on the NES was fantastic, and Super Punch Out on SNES was even better! The game keeps the simplistic controls and fights based around patterns, and uses the power of the SNES to update the visuals and sound, and making it look more like the Arcade games with the view of Little Mac at the front of the screen and see-through, making you feel more like it was YOU landing all those shots! Can’t go wrong with this!

16 – Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Since we’re getting Ghosts & Goblins on the actual Mini NES, I think its only right that we get one of the sequels to the series on a Mini SNES! Super G&G is an action platformer, with wonderful visuals, a cool soundtrack and a great atmosphere. It also happens to be HARD AS BALLS. Balls made out of steel. Yet its one of those old games that is additive to play, despite how hard it might be and how many damn times you die. You just want to keep playing until you master it. Or until you break the controller in sheer frustration and wait for another to come through the post. Thankfully that never happened to me (though I have only played it on an emulator), but I’m sure someone out there has a broken SNES controller from this game. Would be a good way for Nintendo to make more money on the controllers!

17 – NBA Jam

I think we need that one sports game on here, but unlike the Mini NES, I think we should add one to the SNES that isn’t just appealing to the US market. Sure, Basket Ball is more popular in the US, but I remember it being pretty popular over here around the time of the SNES. Me and my brother had a basket ball net on the side of the house and would play for hours, and I do remember playing at least one Basket Ball game from the time, so there is a very good chance it was this one. If it wasn’t, who cares, this one is good and should be here. An extremely fun sports title and great for multiplayer. Much better than some American Soccer game!

18 – Megaman X

Megaman 2 is going to be on the Mini NES, so I definitely feel we need another Megaman game on a Mini SNES. As for which, honestly I just went with the first in the X series because I’m not that familiar with any of the X games. But hey, its a Megaman game on the SNES, so surly you can’t go wrong with any of them, right?

19 – Final Fight

Gotta have some good old side scrolling BEAT EM UP action! The Mega Drive/Genesis had Streets of Rage, and the SNES had Final Fight. True, I actually prefer the SoR games, but its not like Final Fight was a slouch or anything. Originally planned as a sequel to the first Street Fighter, it ended up becoming its own game (probably for the best), and developers from this went on to make Street Fighter 2! So you know from the start that if the SF 2 people had a hand in this, it has quality written all over it. And it does. Beat em ups back in the day were all pretty much the same; walk to the right, punch and kick everything you see, grab the occasional weapon, fight a boss. Final Fight offers nothing new, it simply does it as well as you’d want. There were 2 more Final Fight games on the SNES (and something called Final Fight Guy, but honestly got no idea what it is and I can’t even be bothered to google it lol!), but I’ll stick to the first game as it was the one I enjoyed the most.

20 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

Speaking of Beat Em Ups… we have one of the KINGS of the genre! In the early 90’s, kids were all about NINJA TURTLES and VIDEO GAMES. Combining the two was bound to be a best seller regardless of the quality. Thankfully, the quality is through the roof on this one! Choose which Ninja Turtle you wanna play as, then let a friend choose too (because multiplayer is the way to go here!), and go on to beat the holy hell out of the Foot Clan, Shredder, Krang and whoever else wants to try and get in your way! Aside from this needing to be on a Mini SNES for being awesome, it also happens to demand a fairly high price today, and I wanna play it dammit!

21 – Street Fighter II

What kind of a fool would I be if I didn’t bring this up? Street Fighter 2 was, and probably still is in many ways, THE defining fighting game. The original Street Fighter game was awful, so awful in fact that most people don’t even know what it is. Street Fighter 2 for a lot of people is the first in the series because they never even saw the first one. And oh boy is that a good thing. Fighting games aren’t usually something I care for. I’ve played a handful over the years, yes, but I still missed out on a TON of them because I just wasn’t interested. Street Fighter 2 is a game I played growing up, and one I can still enjoy today. I own it both for my SNES and on the Wii’s Virtual Console (which I bought before collecting for the SNES), and I don’t regret paying for it twice. In fact, a lot of people out there will have paid for this particular game a number of times because Capcom released numerous versions of the game, all with improvements and new content. So which should be on the Mini SNES? Well ummm… I’ll leave it open to interpretation!

22 – Mortal Kombat II

Well if Street Fighter 2 is in, then dammit so it Mortal Kombat II!!! SF 2 was a more… friendly fighting game, while MK 2 was all about the blood, the gore and the brutal fatality moves. The first MK game on the SNES was a disaster, getting poor sales mainly due to the fact it was censored. No blood to be found. Meanwhile the Mega Drive/Genesis version had all the blood, and as a result people flocked to play on the MORE MATURE Sega console. So with MK 2, Nintendo decided “fuck it” and didn’t censor anything. Because of the superior power of the SNES, its version was better than Sega’s, and fans were soon back to Nintendo for their Mortal Kombat fix out of the arcades. Punching people in the face and watching blood fly out everywhere in beautiful 16 bit graphics is something I can still enjoy today, and so should everyone else!

23 – Pilot Wings

This game is just something that I think Nintendo would add due to the uniqueness of it. A flying simulator that uses the SNES’ Mode 7 capabilities to mimic 3D gaming, and that is pretty damn impressive.

24 – Donkey Kong Country

16 bit Platformers are some of my all time favourite games. Super Mario World alone makes 16 bit Platformers the KING lol. But aside from Mario, Rareware brought us a new franchise using the classic Donkey Kong character, putting him in the protagonist role and giving him his very own platforming adventure. The good platforming action alone would be enough for this to stand out, but Rareware went the extra mile with the super impressive 3D rendered visuals and some of the most beautiful music you can hear in a video game. A must have including for a Mini SNES!!!

25 – Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The sequel to the previous game, and in many people’s eyes, the best in the series. Sadly, Donkey Kong himself is not playable, but we now have Diddy and Dixie Kong, each with their own abilities to help you traverse the game. Nothing truly ground breaking here for the sequel, but overall just a better experience, and I felt both DKC and DKC 2 needed to be on this list.

26 – Plok!

A few years ago, this was considered a hidden gem on the SNES. Now? Well, it still gets called a hidden gem, but truth be told I think it is now fairly well known to the point where it can’t be classed as that any more. More and more people online are talking about it and bringing it up (usually in hidden gem lists lol), so it definitely is getting plenty of attention now. For those who haven’t heard of it yet, its a fantastic 2D Platformer with bright visuals, cool music and a great sense of humour. Plok is similar to how Rayman would turn out, in that he can use his limbs are projectiles to beat enemies. He can also use them to solve puzzles in a way that Rayman has never done, so in some ways he’s better! It can be very challenging as you get deeper into the game, but its well worth playing as far as possible!

27 – Final Fantasy VI (aka III)

The 6th game in the acclaimed Final Fantasy series got an English release under the title “Final Fantasty III” because of reasons. I won’t bore you with the details, but a quick google search will fill in the gaps should you be interested. Despite not being much of a fan of the series, I have been giving the old 2D games a go, so I’d be happy to see this on a Mini SNES so I could play it and see if I actually like a Final Fantasy game lol. Plenty of people would be hyped for this JRPG to be re-released to them in some form, that’s for sure.

28 – Secret of Mana

We go from a typical JRPG to an Action RPG. No turn based combat here, which can be a little jarring at first for those used to JRPG’s, but it doesn’t take long to get used to it, and most people will already be familiar with the style of combat from games like Zelda. Unlike Zelda though, this is a true RPG and well worth playing through. I’ve not played too much of this game, but I have played some of the others in the Mana franchise so I’d love to be able to play this on a Mini SNES instead of forking out £40+ for the SNES cart!

29 – Chrono Trigger

Yet another classic RPG from Square and on the SNES. The amazing visuals of Akira Toriyama (you might know him from that Dragon Ball Z show…), one of the best gaming soundtracks ever, a deep story and good battling system. This might very well be the pinnacle of RPG games from the time.

30 – Earthbound

And we round off my list of 30 games with another RPG game. Known as Mother 2 in Japan, this game was somehow released in the US, but sadly had very poor sales which no doubt justified the reasoning for not brining the first game over, and never releasing the third game in English at all (the first can be bought on the Wii U’s VC along with this, but Mother 3 is still hidden away from us). A very quirky, very funny and just plain WEIRD game, Earthbound has garnered a cult following over the years, making this game very expensive to purchase just to a high demand and low stock. Yes, we can play this on the Wii U’s VC, but if Nintendo ever do bring out a Mini SNES, they’d be fools to not include such a sought after game, especially for people outside of the US that never got an official release!

Phew, there you have it! My list of 30 games I feel should be included in a SNES Classic Mini should Nintendo ever release one (and lets face it, give the success of the NES Mini so far, just from pre-orders, they’d be stupid not to!). Let me know in the comments below what games YOU would include on the system, and I’ll make sure to read through them!

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