Today's Most Viewed Games Tagged 'SNES' on The Great Games Experiment Today's Most Viewed Games Tagged 'SNES' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg Today's Most Viewed Games Tagged 'SNES' on The Great Games Experiment en-us Metal Warriors Metal Warriors is set in the year 2012 and has players controlling and fighting against mecha-like assault suits.
]]> 27 Mar 2007 04:44:05 Doom The mother of all FPSes...

Doom. Run around, blast demons, get weapons. Uncompromisingly intense, with no shortage of challenge, Doom ushered in a new era - the age of the FPS.
]]> 26 Nov 2006 06:16:16 SuperMetroid The galaxy once enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. Trade lines were open, the citizens were happy and the Galactic Federation kept a watchful eye over the planets. Not long ago, that peace was broken by a startling discovery:
The Dawn of the Metroids
]]> 27 Nov 2006 09:34:50 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Arguably the finest example of two dimensional gaming goodness, the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the true inspiration behind the masterpieces that are Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess. The fine soundtrack is but one of the seminal areas of inspiration;in fact, a majority of the most prominent Zelda themes -such as Zelda's Lullaby and Kakariko Village tunes; even the name entry music-were directly lifted from A link to the past's musical score.

Between the environmentally based dungeons, two distinct realms, hookshot and punt-able chickens, it's clear to see that the original Legend of Zelda merely provided the canvas and a rough sketch of the series whereas A Link to the Past served as a the charcoal and oil paints.

Yes A link to the Past is truly a Bob Ross inspired happy little tree in the corner of the masterwork that is the Legend of Zelda series.
]]> 28 Nov 2006 11:36:44 Syndicate Controversial at its time of release ('93), Syndicate is a violent, real-time tactical game with cyborg agents performing missions all over the world ranging from political assassinations to abductions and rescues.
]]> 01 Dec 2006 02:15:43 Shadowrun The player takes on the role of Jake Armitage, a courier who is shot and nearly killed in the streets of Seattle in the year 2050 by a hit squad. He wakes up in a morgue with significant amnesia as to what he was doing that resulted in his near-death --- in fact, he was thought to be literally brain-burnt, which he himself felt as if he was when awakened.

Publisher: Data East
Developer: Beam Software
Release Date: Nov 1, 1993
]]> 01 Dec 2006 09:42:53 Chrono Trigger The 32-meg Chrono Trigger utilizes time travel, science-fiction, and fantasy adventure to create one of the best role-playing games ever. The game's hero, Crono, is transported into the past and ends up altering the course of history, and with it the future as well.

The integral time travel element of the game enables players to alter the game by changing the past, give players multiple endings and excellent repeat game play value. There are mini-quests, a huge cast of characters, realistic time travel, non-linear game play, and more active and interactive battle scenes than Squaresoft's 1994, highly acclaimed, role-playing game Final Fantasy III.
]]> 06 Dec 2006 11:26:30 Final Fantasy VI Final Fantasy VI was a landmark title in the series, and set the tone for many later console RPGs, both of the Final Fantasy line and elsewhere. Released originally as Final Fantasy III in the U.S., the game has been re-released under its original title for the Playstation. A GBA re-release is scheduled for early 2007.
]]> 09 Dec 2006 07:46:38 Utopia Utopia (subtitled: "The creation of a nation") is a strategy game which features both isometric SimCity and RTS gameplay, although in a somewhat primitive form as it's from 1991. At this time the RTS genre was still experimental, and this could be argued to be both the strength and weakness of this game.

There was an expansion called "The new worlds".
]]> 10 Dec 2006 02:18:09 Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen is a strategy video game for Nintendo's Super Nintendo. It is the first installment of an episodic series (although it is supposed to be the 5th episode), and was originally developed by Quest for the Super Famicom system (and subsequently Sega Saturn in 1996 with voice acting) in Japan.
]]> 14 Dec 2006 12:23:45 Earthbound
Nintendo Power said,
A meteorite crashes near the peaceful town of Onett, and a young boy's life is changed forever in Nintendo's role playing game, Earthbound. Earthbound is different, though, than the average sword-wielding RPG. In what other game can you defeat enemies with a frying pan, call a pizza-delivery man, or ask your dad for money? Need to get some cash? Just jog on down to the local ATM and withdraw some money for that great Yo-yo you saw at the drugstore. Similar to other RPG's like Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, Earthbound uses a party-based fighting format, and you pick up new members as you explore both your world and others. Earthbound is irreverent, a little silly, and a must have for RPG fans.

Additional Game Features:

  • Gameplay employs many traditional elements such as buying equipment, recharging energy, interrogating NPC's, but while taking the player away from the traditional dungeons to a more contemporary era, full of wit and humor aimed at modern life and pop icons.

  • Gearing up in modern towns means that you'll more likely find baseball bats, yo-yo's and frying pans than swords! A wide variety of weapons are available in the course of the game.

  • Form parties to explore and battle.

  • Battles aren't random, as most enemies are visible.

  • Persistent onscreen analogue HP and PP meters assign losses gradually in real time, enabling the player added opportunity to heal or complete a battle.

  • Graphically simplistic, but rich in humor and imagination.

Developer: Ape, Inc. and HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Publisher: Nintendo
Producer: Shigesato Itoi
Written By: Shigesato Itoi
Game Designer: Akihiko Miura
Art Director: Kouichi Ooyama
U.S. Conversion Director: Kouichi Ooyama

Released in Japan August 27, 1994 for SNES as "Mother 2: Revenge of Gigyas!", and subsequently as a GBA port in June 20, 2003, also only in Japan. EarthBound was introduced to the U.S. on June 1, 1995 as a stand-alone game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In Japan, however, its title refers to the fact that it's a sequel to the NES/Famicom rpg "Mother".

It's worth stating that this game has cultivated such fan devotion that there are numerous sites and communities rife with information and trivia regarding Earthbound, so that one can only scratch the surface of available information here!
]]> 16 Dec 2006 06:31:05 Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros is a classic game of Nintendo. It revolves around rescuing a kidnapped Princess by an evil creature named Koopa. Mario and Luigi must help each other to succeed in their mission and save the Toadstool Kingdom.
]]> 30 Dec 2006 07:27:55 SimCity

History

SimCity was first developed on the Commodore 64 in 1985 by Will Wright. It gained much of its popularity after it was released on the PC and MAC in 1989. It spawned a legacy of "Sim" games, some successful, and others not so, that are still enjoyed by players today. Sometime after the release of SimCity 4, SimCity Classic Live was made available by EA games to registered members.


Game Summary

SimCity is a city simulation game. The player plays the roll of god and mayor, building a city from the ground up. This requires careful balance of expansion and budget management. Players can change everything from taxes to education funding. There are no legal restrictions as well, players may levy huge taxes, as well as drop police funding down to 0 in order to raise money, but they also must deal with the effects of their actions. SimCity also has a number of disasters that can occur in your city, ranging from fires, to nuclear melt-downs, even alien invasions. SimCity uses a top-down view.

Purchase Details

The game is no longer in production. You may be able to find copies on amazon or Ebay, as well as your local used games store. Also, you can play SimCity Classic Live for free.
]]> 31 Dec 2006 09:30:39 Frogger The game starts with three frogs. The player guides a frog which starts at the bottom of the screen. The lower half of the screen contains a road with motor vehicles, which in various versions include cars, trucks, buses, taxis, and/or motorcycles speeding along. The upper half of the screen consists of a river with logs, alligators, and turtles. The very top of the screen contains five "frog homes"â€â€
]]> 13 Jan 2007 02:39:31 Final Fantasy II It's not an exaggeration to say that Square Enix's Final Fantasy series of role-playing games rates as one of the strongest entertainment franchises in the world. You'd be hard pressed to name another RPG series that can match Final Fantasy's breathtaking computer-animated FMV sequences, fantastical steampunk environments, gorgeous musical scores, and enormous, pristine worlds that practically beg for exploration. This is the series that introduced the now-trite concept of the airship to the gaming masses, after all.

All of these elements are truly great, yes, but perhaps the Final Fantasy series' most important innovation has been in storytelling. The characters are believably human (even the nonhuman ones)--they get scared, play jokes on one another, and even get married. Although the world's always on the brink of destruction in Final Fantasy, the path to preventing the catastrophe is usually convoluted and filled with twists and cul-de-sacs, like a great fantasy novel. And the dialogue is consistently top-notch, from the everyday banter around the towns to the villains' soliloquies. The storytelling prowess didn't start with the original Final Fantasy, though. In its day, the game was more comparable in its construction to leading RPGs like Dragon Quest rather than to something completely groundbreaking. No, the revolution that created the rich RPG genre that millions of fans adore today began with the release of Final Fantasy II (Final Fantasy IV, in Japan). Together with Phantasy Star 2, Final Fantasy II invented the modern, story-driven RPG simply by making players care about what happened to their characters. This is why it deserves to be called one of the greatest video games of all time.

he narrative in Final Fantasy II gripped you and shook you like a rag doll right from the beginning of the game. Your introduction to the protagonist, Cecil, took place on the deck of a military airship that had been ordered to extort a magic crystal from an innocent town (not a very heroic vocation). After his complicity in this war crime, the conscience-wracked Cecil was dismissed from the military and sent on an errand to a nearby town, along with his best friend Kain. Using generic archetypes for characters (like Final Fantasy's White, Black, and Red Mages, for instance) was standard operating procedure in RPGs at the time, but Final Fantasy II went off on a far more interesting tangent.

You played a washed-up veteran with a tortured past, and the game quickly introduced you to a multitude of characters with different backgrounds, motivations, and abilities. Each character had unique combat abilities that fit together into a cohesive whole, like Kain's jump attack and Cid's peep. Furthermore, every character kept his or her own counsel during the course of the adventure. Some left the party at an important juncture in the story, only to return at an unexpected moment. Other major characters were simply, shockingly written out of the lineup. Was Kain firmly on your side, and, if so, why was he acting so erratically at times? What about Edge, the mysterious ninja? Did the game's chief bad guy, Golbez, really mastermind the evil plan you were trying to defeat, or was there some other, ulterior force at work?

You simply didn't know the answers, and there was only one way to find out: fly to the moon on a spaceship that looked like a gigantic whale. This memorable sequence was only the most grandiose in a long line of in-game breaks for story advancement, which are now referred to as cutscenes. Some of them, like the noble sacrifice of the Magi Twins, Palom and Porom, were particularly poignant, while the epic-staged battle right before the end of the game was just awe-inspiring. Compared to other Super Nintendo games from 1992, Final Fantasy II was a feast for the eyes and ears. Nobuo Uematsu's gorgeous, haunting MIDI scoring was completely peerless, and the game did a lot of fancy work with the SNES's Mode 7 scaling technology, too. That Meteo attack looked like it hurt.

In Final Fantasy II, your characters weren't dumb marionettes; they were full-fledged actors and actresses, and they delivered knockout performances. By the time you finished the game, you had developed such an affinity for your band of heroes that you actually wanted to see what happened to them after they defeated the final boss. And the game obliged with a sort of "where are they now?" trailer during the credits, which was another innovation in a game full of novelties.

The Final Fantasy series has already chalked up a Greatest Game of All Time, and it will surely contribute more entries to the list over time, thanks in part to the quantum leaps Square made in Final Fantasy II. It was with this game that Square assumed the pole position in the console RPG market--a position it has never relinquished. We, and the Kingdom of Baron, are the better for it.

-- Steve Palley
]]> 15 Jan 2007 09:41:58 Blackthorne This excellent Prince of Persia clone has you controlling Kyle Blackthorne, who has been called back to his home planet after being sent into hiding on Earth as a child when his planet was overrun by some generic forces of evil orcs and demons.

You have to jump, climb, and shoot your way through the dark caverns, prisons, forests, and castles of the planet Khuul in order to liberate your planet. But there are traps everywhere, and the forces of evil are armed to the teeth. Tools like grenades needed to get through obstacles are few and far between. Meaning you more have to out-think instead of out-shoot the enemy in order to survive.
]]> 19 Jan 2007 04:27:18 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest In comparison with the original Donkey Kong Country, the game contains many new features. These include a plethora of hidden bonus stages with collectible tokens rewarded for completing, more diversity in level design and level settings, an unlockable "Lost World" with extra levels, and the ability to transform into various animals (the first game included some of these animals, but the characters normally rode them, being able to transform into them only in bonus stages). A portion of the game's theme now involves sailing and pirates, as exemplified in many enemies sporting a pirate fashion and the seaside locations in some levels. While Donkey Kong Country 2 introduced new features such as these, it also abandoned a few from the original. For example, the steel barrel was removed, eliminating the ability to roll on barrels, and the ability to find hidden items in the ground was removed. However, some of these removed features were brought back in Donkey Kong Country 3.
-Wikipedia

Dying is somewhat frequent, but the difficulty is pretty low and free lives are plentiful. Even very young players will be able to get through the difficult parts through repetition.

The real game, though, is to uncover all the secrets. Each of the 40 levels has one to three bonus rooms and a single "DK coin." I believe the DK coin is the greatest innovation in all of platform games. It’s a ridiculously large, shiny, spinning coin that somehow manages to be hidden on every level. There’s something magical about finding that single, well-hidden secret on every level that just isn’t the same as finding 5 Jingos (Banjo-Kazooie), 100 coins (Mario64), or any of the ten zillion tedious things on your shopping list in DK64.
-Sirlin.net
]]> 19 Jan 2007 07:04:13 Secret Of Mana Secert of Mana was a game modeled more after the Legend of Zelda than the typical Square RPG. It was also one of the first action RPGs to allow for multi-player simultaneous play with two or three players.
]]> 07 Feb 2007 09:40:21 Super Mario Kart Super Mario Kart was a game for the SNES that introduced to many that racing games could include a lot more elements of play than just seeing who could get from point A to point B. It contained many items such as turtle shells to hit other players with, stars to make the player invicible, and mushrooms to speed up the character.
]]> 26 Jan 2007 05:58:13 Clock Tower: The First Fear
patente101 said,
I thought a SNES game couldn't be scary. I was wrong. Really wrong. Clock Tower made me scream and made nightmares form in my mind. For almost a month, I checked behind each single door in my house...

The true title of this game is simply "Clock Tower". It was released in Japan only, for the Super Famicom (Japanese market equivalent of the SNES). It was later ported to the Playstation (also in Japan only), and Windows 95, but under the title "Clock Tower: The First Fear". Thus it was natural for the sequel to be titled "Clock Tower 2" in Japan, but the North American sequel was entitled "Clock Tower", since the title had not yet been exploited here. In keeping with the North American release title, it is the sequel that's listed as "Clock Tower" elsewhere here at GGE.


We enter the story just as the 15 year old orphan Jennifer and three of her friends are adopted by the reclusive Mrs. Barrows. Upon arriving at the imposing Barrows mansion in the mountains of Norway, Jennifer and her friends are left alone for a long while and finally the girl sets out after Mrs. Barrows, but runs back in search of her friends when she hears a scream. The power has gone out, and Jennifer finds herself in the dark and alone.

As Jennifer, you now must seek out your friends, and save them if you can as you discover the depth of evil at work, witnessing a murder at the hands of the Scissorman, leaving you terrified throughout your ordeal as you try to evade and hopefully, escape.

Jennifer's adventure will unravel mysteries of the mansion, the murderous evil Barrows twins, and even her own past as she explores the eerie mansion and encountering it's evil inhabitants.


Additional Game Features:


  • Simply point and click gameplay means you have to use your head and keep your wits. Choices made throughout the game will sooner or later have consequences.

  • Keep an eye on Jennifer's avatar throughout the game. Her current strength is indicated by the window color and must be managed wisely, and her reactions to what's going on may provide useful hints.

  • Sounds and music used sparsely and cleverly, adding to the overall tension and drama.

  • Explore the numerous rooms and levels of the Barrows Mansion.

  • Intricate story full of mystery and puzzles, with many alternate endings adding to the replay value.

Developer: Human Entertainment
Publisher: Human Entertainment
Released: Sep 14, 1995 (JP)

System Requirements
Windows 95 version information unverified. Contributions welcome!
]]> 26 Jan 2007 06:53:43 Super Mario World Super Mario World is most likely the best 2D adaptation of the Mario universe. Player's will guide Mario across the world map, unlocking secrets, and fighting the evil koopalings to defeat Bowser. Along the way, Mario will be aided by a variety of special power ups like the Cape and colored Yoshi's. This is an incredibly deep and enjoyable game that almost anyone can get into.
]]> 26 Jan 2007 10:31:41 Madden 91' John Madden Football, the game that started a revolution. Madden exploded on the market like an atomic bomb. The game was simply amazing in all aspects of the word. The sports genre within the game industry would never be the same, and the bar was set quite high for other would-be developers.

Publisher : Electronic Arts
Developer : Park Place Productions
Release Date : 1990
]]> 29 Jan 2007 02:32:59 Final Fantasy V Final Fantasy V is a classic SNES Final Fantasy game. It was originally released in Japan sometime in 1992, and the US didn't recieve it until 1999 under the title Final Fantasy Anthology, being packaged with Final Fantasy VI. It has you take the role of Bartz, a young man set out on a quest to travel the world. He runs into Lenna, a princess, Galuf, an old man who lost his memory, and Faris, a pirate. They later gain the power of the crystal of wind and are able to use Final Fantasy V's job system. There are over 22 jobs in this game, and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. It plays similar to Final Fantasy IV and VI, but using the Job system is key. This game is definately worth checking out.
]]> 29 Jan 2007 09:38:06 Pilotwings This flight simulator for the SNES features 4 training locales and instructors with 4 flight mechanisms to master. It also features a helicopter rescue mission as an added bonus. The 4 main flight mechanics include the Light Plane, Skydiving, Rocket Belt, and the Hang Glider. With the inclusion of the game's Expert mode there is a total of 8 training levels and 2 rescue missions.

When it was originally released Pilotwings wowed the world with mode 7 graphics which allowed for hardware scaling and rotation. In terms of gameplay, this system feature allowed some of the very first open ended 3D environments to be explored. Although the pseudo-3D effects featured in Pilotwings would be dismissed as primitive by most gamers today, they can still effectively put a pit in a player's stomach.
]]> 30 Jan 2007 12:25:28 Wing Commander I Set in the year 2654, Wing Commander tells a tale of mankind's struggle for survival in a ferocious war between the Human Confederation and the warmongering Kilrathi Empire, a fierce bi-pedal feline race.





"You're a starfighter pilot, the best of the best, but nothing in your training prepared you for action this hot. Deep space dogfights against Kilrathi aces are deadly, and the future of humanity is on the line each time you fly!


Wing Commander puts you in the middle of the most intense starship action you've ever experienced outside of a movie theatre. But in Wing Commander, you're the star!"





The majority of the game takes place within the cockpit of various space fighters. Depending on how well one performs while in action, the player may find themselves on the winning or losing path thus altering the plot accordingly. Medals and the respect of your wingmen are gained if performance is exemplary, in turn leading to a more effective attack wing. In between space-flight missions the player is free to roam the legendary carrier "TCS Tiger's Claw" and have conversations with their fellow crew mates, learning more about the horrors and triumphs of the bloody war that is now being fought.


When Wing Commander was released in 1990, the in-game graphics and space-combat engine were a step above all other products during that period. The game was even one of the first to use the new Sound Blaster for PC's, adding to the already cinematic feel of the game.


The strong script and characters which has been a staple through out the series are the primary reason why the Wing Commander has gained such a strong following over the years. That combined with movie-like presentation and strong gameplay has made the venerable Wing Commander a classic among gamers and critics.





Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 07:47:45 Super Mario All Stars Play the original Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3, and the Lost Levels in this all new updated version of each game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
]]> 02 Feb 2007 12:23:04 Mortal Kombat 2 Following the footsteps of the original Mortal Kombat game, MK2 is more visceral, brutal, and better looking than first. With more playable characters, interactive levels, this game is a must own for any fans of the fighting genre.
]]> 02 Feb 2007 12:27:41 The New Zealand Story (taken from cover of Sega Master System version)
Tiki the Kiwi stars in the adventure of a lifetime in this arcade No.1 hit. Watch the feathers fly as you guide Tiki through the islands of New Zealand solving mazes, defeating fiendish foes, rescuing his kiwi friends and finally facing the evil Wally Walrus in the ultimate battle.
Will you be the next dish on the fresh kiwi menu? Only time will tell and it is running out fast!

ABOUT THE PLAYER:
Tiki has a range of weapons he can use to defeat the evil minions of Wally the Walrus:

Bow & Arrow : This is Tiki's default weapon.

Ray gun : Fire laser beams of death that will rip through any enemy that is unfortunate to cross it's path.

Staff : Fire a ball of plasma that not only rips through enemies, but bounces off walls as well.

Bombs : Short range bombs destroy all in a blast.

Book : This is used up as soon as it is collected, and destroys all enemies on the screen.

A remake of this game is to be released on the Nintendo DS soon.
]]> 04 Feb 2007 10:38:11 Sid Meier's Civilization Sid Meier's Civilization is a landmark turn-based strategy game. It is inspired by Avalon Hill' board game of the same name.

The game begins in 4000 BC, where the player gets a small tribe which have to be controlled and made great through the ages until modern and near-future times. The game is also known simply as Civilization, or abbreviated to Civ or Civ I.
]]> 05 Feb 2007 10:25:27 Nba Jam The hilariously unrealistic, cartoon-style basketball that you've paid up to five bucks a shot for in the arcades is now scaled down for the Super Nintendo. Choose from 27 different NBA teams and take to the court for incredible two-on-two action. Each NBA team is represented and there are plenty of hidden bonuses to uncover with each hard-earned victory. All of the flips, twists, shooting flames, and loose refereeing from the coin-operated original are present right down to the "on fire" streaks. If you make it too far into the game to lose your valuable progress, you can save your game with the use of a password. Whether you're looking for NBA basketball or a fast-paced brawl, you'll find plenty of both in NBA JAM.
]]> 28 Feb 2007 03:05:21 Flashback The year is 2142. You play as Conrad B. Hart, a man who has lost his memory. After barely escaping from hostile aliens, Conrad's bike crashes on an unknown planet. Conrad finds himself in the jungle, and from now on his quest for survival and his lost identity begins.
]]> 06 Feb 2007 03:49:44 NHL 95 NHL 95 puts all of the slap shots and big hits of professional hockey in your hands. See if you can handle the ups and downs of a full season. As the season progresses, individual, and team statistics are tracked. Before you get on the ice, you can put yourself into the game by creating a player or trade players to strengthen your team. Once you grab a stick, the gameplay is faster plus there are brand new animations to for more realistic movement. Become a hockey star with NHL 95.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 10:07:16 NHL94 NHL '94 is the reason many Gen-Xers even know who Wayne Gretzky is in the first place. Not only did this iteration introduce the one-timer to the videogame series, but was also the first to support four players at once, making for many a lost afternoon with friends. Although the fights were toned down a bit and the blood was gone after '93, NHL '94 stands as a fast and fun experience that no hockey game has been able to live up to since.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 10:08:24 Terranigma Terranigma is a 1995 action role-playing game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed by Quintet and published by Enix. It is the story of the resurrection of the world (as we know it), and its progress from prehistoric times to the near future.

Terranigma keeps a constant top-down view of the world. Instead of turn based battles, which were common in most RPGs at this time, Terranigma utilizes a combat system that allows the player to perform different attacks based on whether or not the player is running, in a jump, tapping the attack button, or a combination of the three.

(source en.Wikipedia)
]]> 08 Feb 2007 03:07:38 Star Fox StarFox aka StarWing
The Lylat System is home to many animal-type humanoid species. Most of the beings in the system live together in peace, and they've built an advanced space-faring civilization. Fox is the son of James McCloud, the former leader of the Star Fox mercenary team. On a mission against the evil Andross, James was betrayed by one of his own wingmen. Fox then assumed the leadership of the team and led the charge against Andross with his friends, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. Such is the premise of Star Fox; the legendary space flight game from Nintendo that introudced one of the company's most enduring characters and was the first to utilize the powerful SuperFX Chip
]]> 08 Feb 2007 04:47:51 Final Fantasy 3 Snes This is another addition to the treasured Final Fantasy RPG series from Square. Released in the US as Final Fantasy III, this SNES title is actually the sixth FF game -- the previous Japanese titles did not make it across the sea, and to keep continuity on the series, the game was renamed to part 3. Whatever you call it, however, this is one of the most engrossing RPGs of its era, Final Fantasy III stands up well to the test of time and still intrigues RPG fans to this day. Known for its intriguing storylines, the Final Fantasy series has always been filled with imaginative plots and twisting storylines. In Final Fantasy III, magical beings called The Espers return from centuries past to destroy the rational and mechanized new world.
]]> 13 Feb 2007 06:52:15 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island Yoshi returns to save Baby Mario in this sequel to Super Mario World! The Evil Magikoopa, Kamek, is out to kidnap Baby Mario. You play as Yoshi with a mission to successfully carry Baby Mario back to his parents in the Mushroom Kingdom while avoiding all of Kamek's clever traps and evil minions. The levels have a unique, hand-sketched look that gives this game a style all its own. Yoshi's Island has six worlds, each with eight stages. There are six kinds of Bonus Challenge games to earn extra lives or items. This game features the Super FX2 chip which allows for incredibly smooth vertical, horizontal and diagonal scrolling, as well as multiple foregrounds, multiple backgrounds, scaling, rotation, zooming, tons of special effects, huge characters and even bigger bosses!
]]> 08 Feb 2007 07:12:06 Tetris Attack What's better than Tetris? Depending on whom you talk to, its distant cousin Tetris Attack (and N64-released Pokémon Puzzle League) might be even more satisfying and addictive. Nintendo designers took what was already a sure-win formula and embellished it to cater to a more-demanding, evolved gamer. Tetris Attack presets colored square blocks in a well and has players swapping them into vertical or horizontal lines. Match three or more and they vanish. Seemingly simple, it is actually one of the most complex puzzlers due to the potential resulting combinations and chains. Played alone or with others, it's extremely addictive. Don't say we didn't warn you.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 07:15:12 Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. 2 was the highly anticipated 2nd installment to the Super Mario Bros. Series for the NES in the US.

While still a side-scrolling platformer, the game differed greatly from its predecessor Super Mario Bros. and introduced character selection, with each character lending a special ability to gameplay, a brand new set of enemies and bosses new and never seen again to the Mario series, as well as a whole new setting.

The reasons for this are due to Super Mario Bros. 2 not being based off an actual Mario Bros. game. Super Mario Bros. 2 was first released in Japan and was simply an extension of the original NES title Super Mario Bros. with new and harder levels, but essentially the same in terms of concept, gameplay, characters, and art assets.

However, Nintendo felt that American gamers would not enjoy the high difficulty the game processed and therefore decided to remake a Japanese title named Doki Doki Panic, swap out the characters with Mario characters, and rename it Super Mario Bros. 2 for a US release.

The original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was later released in the US under the name, Super Mario Bros. All-Stars along with remakes of a few other classic Mario Games.

This game was featured in Nintendo Power Issue #1 July-Aug 1988.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 08:17:50 Sunset Riders The Wild West...full of the criminal element. Sir Richard Rose, the most despicable face in the criminal lot, has enough power to control the mining facilities, cattle ranches, and trading communities and turn everything to his favor. With that much power, he could literally buy himself the Wild West and control everything!

The people need help, desperately. And just as things were looking grim, who should ride into town but 4 men who have made a pact: to put down Sir Richard Rose and make the Wild West a free and peaceful place to live.

Steve, Bob, Billy, and Cormano are the Sunset Riders, and they're about to live out the wildest shootout the Wild West has ever seen in this run and gun arcade classic...
]]> 09 Feb 2007 01:09:57 Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

"This game revolutionized the fighting-game genre with characters that had unique fighting skills, speed, special moves and unique endings. Two-player combat, all of the characters as well as all four bosses, every one of the classic stages and music themes ... the arcade great came home with this SNES title, and you can now relive it on your Wii."--IGN
]]> 09 Feb 2007 03:51:22 Rock N Roll Racing The races themselves put the player against two (in 2-player games) or three (1-player games) computer opponents and are viewed from an isometric viewpoint. In the background play instrumental versions of several heavy metal and rock 'n roll songs: "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, "The Peter Gunn Theme" by Henry Mancini, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, and "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. Players are updated on the race by commentator "Loudmouth Larry" (Larry "Supermouth" Huffman) making comments like "The race is set, the green flag drops!" (or "Let the carnage BEGIN!"), or "Rip: is about to blow!" at appropriate points through the race. (There is a slight pause between a name and action, as each name and each action is its own sound effect, which can be heard in the FX screen).

The tracks are littered with mines, money power-ups ($1,000 for each one you collect), and health power-ups. Similarly, in each lap, each player's frontal weapons (energy weapons or missiles), rear weapons (oil slicks or mines), and turbos (jumps or nitro boosts) are recharged. The number that you get depends on the ammo upgrades you've bought, which maxes out at 7. You get money for blowing opponent cars up and for lapping (gaining a full 1 lap lead on the opposition) your opponents.

The race goes on for 4 laps and the final standings provide rewards: 400 points and $10,000 for first place, 200 points and $7,000 for second, 100 points and $4,000 for third, nothing for fourth. Money is used to buy upgrades and new cars. Points are used to advance to the next racing class or the next planet. In 2-player mode, one player can choose to advance and leave their "loser friend" (as the character in charge of advancement calls players without enough points to advance) behind, kicking him/her out of the game for good. Once left behind, the other player has no choice but to hope that they had written down their password (available fron the F/X screen) and that the other player will reset the game and let them try again at some point.


--from the Rock and Roll Racing wiki
]]> 12 Feb 2007 02:27:53 Mega Man X Mega Man X, released in 1993 by Capcom, is the first game in the Mega Man X series. The first subseries of the popular Mega Man series, it was made primarily as a stepping stone between the NES and SNES incarnations of the original series. In Japan, it is titled Rock Man X. It was released on the SNES first, then ported to the PC in 1995. The game was remade in 2006 as Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (Irregular Hunter X in Japan), for the PlayStation Portable.

The Mega Man series has always been an action game that focuses on "run-and-gun" gameplay. The player takes control of Mega Man X ("X" for short), a Maverick Hunter who seeks to stop Sigma's rebellion against humans. After an introductory stage, the player is presented with a stage selection screen that depicts eight Maverick boss characters.

After the player selects a Maverick to battle, X is teleported into the Maverick's base of operations. The player must dodge obstacles, destroy enemies and other hazards, and keep their life bar as high as possible. Defeating a stage and its boss Maverick rewards X with the boss's weapon, which can be used in a rock-paper-scissors fashion to defeat other boss characters. This mechanic is carried over from the Mega Man Classic series; Capcom maintained the tradition throughout the new series, with a few twists. In the X series, completing a stage may affect the environment of other stages, possibly making them easier or more hazardous.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 02:12:59 Wing Commander II Released in 1991, Wing Commander 2 is a sci-fi space simulation that is a continuation of the storyline that was told in the original Wing Commander.






"Ten years ago, you were the Hero of Vega Sector, idol of millions - the starfighter pilot who single-handedly turned the tide of a major Kilrathi invasion. Then something went wrong.


You were disgraced, court-martialed and transferred to a backwater outpost. For years, your lightning-quick reflexes and instinctive dogfighting tactics went to waste while the Kilrathi killed your closest friends on the front lines.


But Mankind still needs a hero, now more than ever before. And you're still the best pilot in the Galaxy. You've got just one chance to prove yourself, just one chance to keep the Terran homeworlds from falling to the massed armada of the Empire of Kilrah."



Think you can handle it, flyboy?"





Again most of the game is spent flying missions in space for the Confederation in the continuing war effort against the fearsome Kilrathi Empire. When not flying missions, the player is also able to explore the "TCS Concordia" and talk to fellow crew-mates. A greater emphasis has been placed on storytelling, which gives the player a greater scope on the people fighting this war. The mood is darker than the original, mainly due to the fact that the Humans are in fact losing the war.


Wing Commander 2 bettered the original in every regard, from the updated graphics engine to the detailed script. It is considered an all-time classic within the gaming world.








Want to learn more about Wing Commander? Visit WCnews.com or Wing Commander Universe.
]]> 18 Feb 2007 11:05:29 Super Bomberman 2 The sequel to the best selling Bomberman series. Super Bomberman 2 puts you in the shoes of it's title character. 5 Aliens have come to earth and you must defeat them before they carry out their evil plan. In single player you make your way through the worlds of these aliens before facing off with them. Upgrades are in the form of cards which range from increased speed to more powerful bombs. In multiplayer you face off against 1-3 enemies in a fight to the death. The game requires strategy and cunning as you outwit your enemies to become the "Golden Bomber"
]]> 26 Feb 2007 03:43:24 Breath Of Fire Breath of Fire is the first role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super NES in Japan in 1993 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1994 by Squaresoft (now Square Enix). It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance worldwide, this time by Capcom themselves.
]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:08:53 Breath Of Fire II Breath of Fire II is the second role-playing game in the Breath of Fire series. It was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1994 by Capcom, and was later brought to North America in 1995 by Capcom, before Laguna released it in Europe in 1996. It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan under the name Breath of Fire II: Shimei no Ko, which translates to Breath of Fire II: The Fated Child. It was re-released in North America and Europe in 2002 under the original title.
]]> 07 Mar 2007 06:17:16 Killer Instinct Killer Instinct is a fighting game by Rare and Nintendo. Initially released in arcades in 1994, and claiming to use an "Ultra 64" hardware engine. The game received a high profile launch on the Super Nintendo, as well as on the Game Boy. It led to a sequel, Killer Instinct 2.

Unlike many other fighting games, especially its contemporaries, Killer Instinct takes place in a modern/futuristic setting. Ultratech is a very powerful company which organizes a tournament called Killer Instinct. Along with regular participants, experimental creatures created by Ultratech also fight in the tournament. Ultratech also discovers a technology to make bridges between dimensions, and to also release from his dimensional prison a two-headed monster called Eyedol, an ancient warrior that was locked away along with his rival.
Developed using SGI computers and 3D modeling software from Alias, Killer Instinct was considered a graphical leader when it was released. It featured animated backgrounds that were pre-rendered movies which changed angles depending on the character location. This technique causes the backgrounds to have an unprecedented three dimensional look — a look far better than was possible at the time in real time 3D rendering.

Killer Instinct plays like many other typical fighting games, in which the player controls a character in order to beat an opponent in a one-on-one encounter. The game borrows Street Fighter IIs attack set (a weak, medium and strong attack for punches and kicks, respectively), but also is inspired by Mortal Kombats graphic violence and finishing sequences. There are several features that distinguish it from other franchises: A double energy bar; Automatic combos; Finishing moves; Ultra Combos; Combo Breaker.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 12:42:09 Mega Man X2 Mega Man X2 was released in 1994 by Capcom and is the second game in the Mega Man X sub-franchise. It used the same graphics engine from the first installment of the series, but Capcom included an in-cartridge enhancement known as the C4 chip to improve semitransparencies and allow for some 3D graphics in the game. Mega Man X3 was the only other game to ever use this chip. Like the first game, it's praised for having an excellent soundtrack.

Mega Man X2 is an action game, where the player is given a selection screen of stages to begin, When selected, the player uses Mega Man X to blast various enemies throughout the level and reach the boss character, where defeating it wins the stage and earns a new weapon to utilize for the player.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 02:30:06 Mega Man X3 Mega Man X3 was released in 1995 by Capcom. It was the third game in the Mega Man X sub-franchise and the last to appear on the Super Nintendo. An enhanced version was also released on the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and PC in Japan and Europe in 1996, and the PC version arrived in North America in 1998; the enhanced version included remixed music and anime-style cutscenes. It is currently available in the anthology collection Mega Man X Collection, which includes the first six Mega Man X games and Mega Man Battle & Chase. The PlayStation version of X3, not the SNES version, appears in the X collection. Mega Man X Collection was released for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 on January 10th, 2006.

Like its predecessor, Mega Man X2, Capcom included the C4 chip to allow for some limited 3D graphics and transparency effects. Mega Man X3 was the first game in which Zero is a playable character in addition to X.

Mega Man X3 is an action game where the player is given a selection screen of stages to begin. When selected, the player uses Mega Man X to blast various enemies throughout the level and reach the boss character, where defeating it wins the stage and earns a new weapon for the player to utilize.

The story of Mega Man X3 revolves around a Reploid scientist named Dr. Doppler. In the year 21XX, the threat of the Mavericks had been neutralized thanks to Doppler's technology, which prevented the Mavericks from going berserk. The reformed Reploids had formed an utopia near their new mentor called Doppler Town. It seemed that all was well, until the former Maverick Reploids suddenly reverted and once again began causing trouble. Dr. Doppler was held accountable, and X and Zero were sent out to contain the new threat. They were soon after called back to Maverick HQ, which was under attack by Doppler's forces.

However, the two did not realize that while Doppler was indeed behind the new Maverick threat, someone else was pulling his strings. As if that wasn't bad enough, one of X and Zero's old enemies is back from the dead, ready to take them down.
]]> 02 Mar 2007 02:48:09