The first video game console I was ever introduced to, there are still several heavy hitters for the system that are absent from our collection.
In our library of over 450 video games and several video game consoles, none have made quite the sentimental impact that the SNES has over the course of my lifetime.
Released in North America in 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was at the forefront of the “Console Wars” of the 1990’s, with the Super Mario-led SNES battling against the Sonic the Hedgehog-led Sega Genesis for market dominance.
One of the best-selling releases for the console ended up being the first game I truly fell in love with, a remastered compilation of the original Super Mario games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the name of Super Mario All-Stars.
Though I wasn’t aware at the time of course, the game offered an incredibly impressive upscaling of the original games, providing a fresh-looking environment with an updated soundtrack and easier controls thanks to the SNES’ more naturally shaped controller.
Even to this day, as we continue to hang on to the exact same SNES that was in my family’s living room the day I came home from the hospital in April 1996, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t spend the vast majority of my time on the console playing Super Mario All-Stars.
With that said, we’ve shored up the SNES collection a little bit over the years, adding other notable titles such as Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox and F-Zero.
Yet the console holds the title as the fourth generation’s best-seller thanks to a wide variety of games, plenty of which remain conspicuous absences from our library.
Here’s a look into the classic games I’m looking to pick up the most:
1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
While I’ve never been nearly as competent with Legend of Zelda games as I am with Super Mario games, I still greatly enjoy the series and am fascinated with the incredible immersiveness its games continue to supply to this day.
Perhaps the beginning of the Zelda series being at the forefront of innovation in first-party titles came with A Link to the Past, released in North America in April 1992 while serving as the third major installment to the series.
After the series switched from a top-down perspective in the first title to a side-scroller for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, A Link to the Past returns to the top-down view, one that looks incredibly refreshing and updated with the colorful 16-bit presentation.
Though I’ve personally never played the game and have only watched gameplay videos, the incredible upscaling seen in every aspect of the title’s gameplay, visuals and music provide an apt preview for the massive step forward the series took six years later with the release of Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64.
2. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Officially a sequel to the console’s best-selling title in Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island provides a radical departure from the established precedent of the series while also providing plenty of inspiration for future games in the Yoshi series.
Released in North America in October 1995 closer to the end of the console’s lifespan, Yoshi’s Island is not a Mario game in many regards. Yoshi is the character controlled by the player, navigating through a lengthy quest alongside Baby Mario to reunite him with his brother.
The game features a longer storyline than its predecessor, while also introducing future series staples Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to the series. The departure from other Mario games went beyond the gameplay and title character, with the game boasting an incredibly unique art style that ideally pairs with the game’s more explorative nature when compared to earlier Mario games.
While a game like Yoshi’s Island hasn’t exactly been replicated in the Mario series outside of a Game Boy Advance remaster released in September 2002, the game provided the blueprint for Yoshi’s Story, a Nintendo 64 game that helped set the tone for the Yoshi series going forward.
3. Chrono Trigger
A vastly different video game than the two aforementioned titles, Chrono Trigger has greatly intrigued me over the better part of the past two decades, owing to my affinity for the 2004 JRPG Tales of Symphonia.
A landmark title in the JRPG genre, Chrono Trigger was released in North America in August 1995 to an audience that was largely unfamiliar with the genre at the time.
While I’m still officially unfamiliar with the game itself, there’s no arguing that the title was instrumental in providing influence to future Final Fantasy and Tales of titles that drastically increased the popularity and awareness of JRPGs in the United States and Canada.
From a highly acclaimed soundtrack that helped set the stage for music being an integral part of the JRPG experience to an immersive party-based gameplay system that features a wide range of sidequests, opportunities to improve characters outside of advancing the plot and multiple endings, Chrono Trigger served as a launching pad of sorts for the genre, particularly when updated hardware increased the limits of the games.
This legacy was continued by the Square development team, who released the game’s sequel, Chrono Cross, in North America for the Sony PlayStation in August 2000.
Unfortunately for my wife and I, adding this title to the library would be quite the investment, with loose copies being sold for an average of nearly $220 – which may not approach the asinine pricetags that EarthBound commands, but would still be well above what we have ever spent on a single game.
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