Battletoads in Battlemaniacs was another reason for me renting a SNES a few times as a kid. It was exclusive to the SNES, and I loved the NES Battletoads. It’s not quite as difficult, but it’s still impossibly hard. I can get to the second-to-last level before tapping out. KILLER soundtrack! 🎮
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land is an excellent end to the original Mario Land trilogy, and even better beginning to one of my favorites, the Wario Land series. Lots of great gameplay mechanics add lots of fun for such limited technology. 🎮
Batman Returns may not be as good as its namesake movie, but it does have some interesting audio, as well as a unique mechanic where kicks can stop bullets. Unfortunately, that’s about all the positive things I can say about it. It was a while before Batman had proper video game representation. 🎮
Super Mario Kart gave me, the Genesis kid, a little bit of SNES envy. Luckily, I had friends who owned it, so I didn’t need a SNES. I’ve had fun playing through the different cups with the wife, who is a big Mario Kart fan but hadn’t played any prior to the Wii one. I still think it plays great. 🎮
I was a Sega kid, but Super Mario World is awesome. I loved the additon of Yoshi, and the sound effects and music are so memorable. I ALWAYS forget how to get past the ghost house. Always have to look it up… It drove me nuts when I first played through! 🎮
F-Zero rocks. It’s super fast, controls great, and the special effects the SNES provided for parallax scrolling really stood out at the time. I adore the music. 🎮
Kirby’s Dream Land was new to me, having only played the NES Kirby’s Adventure. It’s really cool to see how the gameplay formula started, prior to the ability copying mechanic. Plays great, but definitely not as fluid as the NES successor (obviously). 🎮
Why do I have the Japanese version of Sonic the Hedgehog for Mega Drive? Because this came out after the USA version and contains some minor differences, like moving clouds in Green Hills and less spike glitch deaths. So, basically, for the nerdiest reasons possible. 🎮
Ahhhh, what a timeless classic the Game Boy version of Tetris is. To this day, I can play this for so long. Perfect for podcasts, reruns, long car rides, challenging your friends high scores; stuff like that. 🎮
Super Mario Land is a fun handheld take on Super Mario Bros. It’s a very different feeling game than the NES counterpart. Fun to play through while watching reruns, and the start of a great handheld series! 🎮
R.C. Pro AM is an early Rare developed game, so I snagged a cartridge. It’s pretty advanced for NES and has a cool isometric view. I’m not a huge racing game fan (I can barely stand driving in the real world) but its pretty fun! 🎮
I actually acquired Commando by accident. I bought Bionic Commando and this showed up instead. Hey, it happens! I ended up keeping it, because why not? Never played it until now, but it’s pretty fun arcade vertical shooter. Now, I’ve gotta get the right game… 🎮
Excitebike is another one of those NES games that everyone had for whatever reason (except me, the rental-game-boy). It’s enjoyable, but like most of the NES launch games, it’s pretty basic. The sound effects and main theme are still memorable, at least to me. 🎮
Burgertime is awesome because it’s called BurgerTime. Just look at that box art! The actual game itself is fine; it’s an arcade port that is serviceable on the NES. There were better arcade ports on the NES, but it’s still got its place in the library. 🎮
Super Dodge Ball is more fun than I thought, and I remember renting it back in the day when friends were over. The frame rate is hilariously bad, but it’s still enjoyable. The animations have a humorous and unique style. 🎮
Dragon Warrior (also known as Dragon Quest in Japan) is old by today’s standards. I’m more familiar with much later entries in the series. I can see how this could have been enchanting back in 1989. Also…hoo boy. The box art. 🎮
Columns was the pack-in game my Sega Genesis came with when I got it for my 2nd grade birthday. Of all the games, I got Columns. Nope, not Sonic. Beyond that grudge, it’s an interesting take on Tetris, which was super popular at the time. It’s a fun Sega puzzler, but it’s no Tetris.
The original Sonic the Hedgehog is one of my favorite games ever. I can play through the whole thing without dying (on a good day). I play through it at least once every year. I don’t know why it’s this one I’m always drawn to…maybe it’s the extremely catchy soundtrack? 🎮
Pinball is…well, I won’t bury the lead here: it’s pinball. It’s as basic as you can get for a NES launch game, but it’s still fun. It also didn’t require a trip to the arcade, which was the dream back then: arcade fun at home. 🎮
I went a little overboard in July but got ahold of some awesome stuff. 😎🎮
