Topic: best snes games

[Abnormal Freak]

Yeah, the first SNES Final Fight leaves much to be desired, but it's still a good port. I prefer playing the SFC version since it's uncensored (e.g., has Poison, has names like Damnd and Sodom, and I think might still have the blood but maybe that was cut out of all versions). It's fun if just to hear the SNES sounds, but I prefer playing the arcade original.

[knightmere]

Blackhawke/Blackthorne - A very dark and atmospheric Prince of Persia style platformer with GUNS! There is a GBA port too but the SNES version is where it's at.

Plok! - Fun and pretty challenging platformer with a main character with removable limbs. Forget NeverDead, Plok is the real deal.

Uniracers/Unirally - Many people seem to hate this game but I had plenty of fun with it! It's a pretty unique racing game that really has more in common with Sonic than anything else in the genre. Dunno how "obscure" this game is though but I nevee hear people talking about it.

Lady Stalker - Spiritual sequel to Genesis classic Landstalker. It's only in japanese but there may be a patch somewhere? I got pretty far in the japanese version though and it's worth checking out.

Energy Breaker - Taito JRPG I know very little about, but I know I really wanna play it in english. The little I've played reminded me of Final Fantasy Tactics, complete with isometric graphics and lovely sprites!

The best version of Blackthorne was on the 32X, but the SNES one is still good.

[Sinful]

There is a translation patch for Lady Stalker almost done by the best in town. So I suggest holding out for that. (I can't wait for this one to be done already!)

Lady Stalker SNES Opening Cinematic, in English

Go here for more info; http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=lady


Landstalker for Genesis is a game that pretty much made not having Zelda no problem, if it wasn't better then Zelda? (Though honestly, I can't replay Zelda SNES anymore. Tried twice or more (even on GBA bored out of my mind to reach a destination & I still ended up more bored with Zelda . I just know it too well to enjoy it at all anymore... It was an amazing first experience way back when the game was new and SNES was my very first 16-Bit baby. Ah, I can still remember being blown away by the rain and my childhood imagination being blown away by that scene under the bridge ). So I'm really curious to how the SNES sequel holds ups? By the looks of it, I shouldn't be disappointed.

SNES games? I don't, try the Shining Force series! ... oops, wrong system. >_>

... no wait, I play just as much SNES as Genesis or any other retro system (all from NES  and before Dreamcast is gold to me), so I'm sure I can think of something?... Ah yes! Try Dracula XX/Vampire Killer/some funny Japanese name/org. Now your playing with power.


Oh wait, my fav Mega Man X was actually 3. Even thought that's the one I have no warm nostalgic memories of from the past out of the first 4. Just seemed like the most refined game in that series to me... better go to the Mega Men thread soon next to get it all out...

I never could get into Super Metroid for some reason? Made it pretty far twice, then just lost the urge to go on anymore... I did beat both GBA games, and I dreaded going though the hidden NES original on Zero Missions, but once I finally managed to make it past the 5 min mark, I was hooked beyond belief! Massive strong nostalgic memories about what games were really all about hit like nothing else before!

RPG wise, yeah, I thought FF6 was the best, even though Chrono Trigger was my first RPG that blew my mind away. Something you might not expect is Breath of Fire 1. Not 2, which kinda ruined my BoF1 playthrough because I was rushing through it to get to the supposed much improved in every category sequel... yet disappointed me beyond words... you may like it more, but not me. It's flawed too. Part 1 was a classical magical experience I'll never forget. ... But would you believe that my fav 16-Bit RPG is Shining in the Darkness for Sega Genesis?!?!? Yeah, this one was a shocker to me too, as I had many failed attempt trying to play that one, but once I got past a certain point. Bam! What an amazing experience! ... you probably won't like it, many don't (but personally I think most ruin it by playing it with an on-line map or making their own... trying to keep track at where I was at & exploring made tedious RPG turn based battles very tolerable + that game's world and atmosphere was like no other & it was like YOU were right there! ... game was very well balanced too for playing without a map... play with a map and you'll need to powerlevel to stand a chance, thus not fun).


F-Zero is my fav 16-Bit racer by far.

Hmm, looks like I killed enough time? Time to get ready to head out into the real world. ... I'll see if I can think of anything else for when I come back?

[TheouAegis]

And for all you Genesis haters out there, the group that made Landstalker, Ladystalker (that sounds so wrong), and the Shining Force series (not to be confused with the shit that was on the Playstations and Gameboy Advance) went on to make the Mario sports games. If it was a sports title and it had Mario in it, they probably made it.

Also, Landstalker and Shining Force had some of the best concept and manual artwork ever. If you ever got your hands on a Landstalker/Shining Force game manual, then modern game manuals just make you shed tears of dismay.

[GuyStarwind]

I actually really enjoyed Shinning Force. I thought the first one had a really cool ending. I've only played 1 and 2 though.

[Abnormal Freak]

And for all you Genesis haters out there,

Maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but I don't think there are any Genesis haters here. :p Nintendo vs. Sega is so two decades ago.

I was a Nintendo fanboy all my life and never had a Sega system and still prefer the SNES to the Genesis, but the latter is a kick-ass system and I'm happy to finally be playing a bunch of cool games for it.

[Sinful]

And for all you Genesis haters out there, the group that made Landstalker, Ladystalker (that sounds so wrong), and the Shining Force series (not to be confused with the shit that was on the Playstations and Gameboy Advance) went on to make the Mario sports games. If it was a sports title and it had Mario in it, they probably made it.

Also, Landstalker and Shining Force had some of the best concept and manual artwork ever. If you ever got your hands on a Landstalker/Shining Force game manual, then modern game manuals just make you shed tears of dismay.

There usually seems to be some confusion in regards to this. I'll clear this quickly;

Camelot made the first two Shining games (SitD & SF1) with the help of Climax, since they were so small. For Shining Force 2 they hired enough new guys to make it themselves, but very sadly the artwork suffered a lot (in my opinion) due to Climax not helping anymore. But the beautiful artwork followed in the other Climax games like Landstalker (which was at one point supposed to be tied in with the Shining Force series. Why the hero of this game, and it's spiritual sequel called Alundra, looks like Max from Shining Force 1. I couldn't believe it when I seen the ad for Alundra in EGM ). All the Mario related sports were made my Camelot, not Climax.... Camelot or the Shining series alone are by far my fav developers. They also opened my eyes big time for proper game design & difficulty balance. ie. their SRPGs don't require any powerleveling for any difficulty level + simple & arcade like controls/setup, and at the same time also very deep enough to be still challenging as you get used to every difficulty level & forever replayable... But yeah, simplicity = excellent design & balance. Complexity leads to... well just look at the mess that is Final Fantasy Tactics.

I actually really enjoyed Shinning Force. I thought the first one had a really cool ending. I've only played 1 and 2 though.

Play part 3 (it has a fan translation for Scenario 2 & 3 now. Find the patch at Shining Force Central now!). It's the one that got me into the series and my fav game ever (not all three Scenarios combined, by either one of them alone is enough... together they blow my mind away!!! + when I first discovered these games (only Shining Force 3 Scenarios), I played nothing but them for almost a year straight... and I had no job or other worries taking away my free gaming time!!!! ... a better gaming time will never exist again. The Shining series has been long dead... so maybe it's best not to have your heart broken and never discover these games for yourself. )

Maybe I just haven't been paying attention, but I don't think there are any Genesis haters here. :p Nintendo vs. Sega is so two decades ago.

I was a Nintendo fanboy all my life and never had a Sega system and still prefer the SNES to the Genesis, but the latter is a kick-ass system and I'm happy to finally be playing a bunch of cool games for it.

That's nice to hear, but trust me, they are out there and here. Because they are everywhere. I find Nintendo biased fans to be way more crazy and blind then Sega fans, because they think they are far superior due to their system having the best graphics and sounds. While many Sega fans, sadly, admit to having inferior graphics and sound... me, I see pros and cons in these areas for both systems... and as strange as it may be to most, Sega Genesis' graphics and sounds are what won me over from being more of an SNES fan... yes, in grade school I was the one making fun of Genesis. But by the tailend of the 16-Bit era before i even knew it I was a Sega fan... Thank goodness by Dad bought me a Genesis right aways after my Mom bought me an SNES, otherwise I may of ended up a blind SNES fan too.

Reason why I like Genesis graphics are many. For one; it's the resolution which very strongly remind me of Arcade games. Same with the Sega Saturn over PS1. The other is the 256 total colours & less then 64 on screen lead to bolder more primary colours that I very much prefer over something like the faded comic book look of say Super Castlevania 4 (yes I went there ... you see, I played this game just before SotN, so I never got what all the fuss was about it's graphics outside of a very few examples.. and I'm not talking mode 7 ). And with less colours, artists were forced to be more creative, and when they were, they blew me away. Genesis game also could make real places like images of real people in the Strike series look real, unlike cheap cartoons drawings they looked in the SNES version. Another example is Terminator VS Robocop, even though it was made by two different developers, trust me (because I have yet to see this), the SNES version could never come close to looking as real and gritty as the Genesis version... Also, Genesis games look wrong in their pixel perfect form on emulator (and what do most people nowadays play Genesis game one if they aren't Genesis fans? That's right, they will forever remain blind). They need to be played on a TV via composite or S-Video connection, otherwise you lose lose extra colours from pixel blending and you end up with dithered & pixelated graphics instead... even if Genesis game don't use this technique, they still look way better. ie. Shining Force 1 looks like an amazing drawn & smooth edged cartoon out of Disney VS the pixelated blocky look of otherwise... yes, you can achieve a TV affect with emulators too, but if your not far away enough from monitor, it can look pretty blurry... unless you use Blargg's NTSC filter with it's a ton of TV option in custom settings... but Gens emu sounds sound pretty lame/off sometime, like especially for Castlevania Bloodlines, sadly.

[Abnormal Freak]

I play Genesis games on a 480i TV via S-Video emulating through my Wii. :) Looks awesome. Dunno if that creates any of the problems you mentioned, but for me it gives me the sharp visuals plus the glow of a scanlined tube TV. Genesis Virtual Console games also look amazing. I never wanna plug a Genesis into a TV again (unless I get a Sega CD or something and feel like modding everything for S-Video out).

[TheouAegis]

Shining Force III took everything that was great about Shining Force and built upon it to make one of the greatest SRPGs ever. Seriously, the game has so much in it. Tons of characters with their own personalities (sure, they are limited by classes and even use the same models between classes and at later levels you don't care much about the new additions). Great music fans of the Shining series have grown to love. Tons of bosses. Lots of spells. Hidden items both in and out of combat. Tomb raiding!! Multi-front battles (which occur when you raid a tomb). Great story. And THREE distinct stories that all come together in the final scenario. It's not just three games in one, it's one game in three!

Also there's Shining The Holy Ark (Shining Wisdom I wasn't impressed by). Shining The Holy Ark has always been and always will be one of my all-time favorite games. It was what got me hooked on the Saturn. It's a pretty straight-forward dungeon crawler with some hidden secrets. Gorgeous graphics (for its time). EXCELLENT music! OMG the haunted forest's theme! That song creeps the fuck out of me even to this very day! The town theme is so beautiful. The shop theme is so damn upbeat and catchy! And the ending... Unfortunately I have the Jap version so it's not as sad now when I play it, but I remember crying when I beat the US version when i was a kid. And the nostalgia/omg-I-recognize-that factor of the game is great. 3D versions of some enemies from Shining In The Darkness. And some of the character animations are reminiscent of Shining Force and Shining Force II battle animations.

[Bloodreign]

I play Genesis games on a 480i TV via S-Video emulating through my Wii. Looks awesome. Dunno if that creates any of the problems you mentioned, but for me it gives me the sharp visuals plus the glow of a scanlined tube TV. Genesis Virtual Console games also look amazing. I never wanna plug a Genesis into a TV again (unless I get a Sega CD or something and feel like modding everything for S-Video out).

*purist mode on*

Boooo booooo, real hardware man, I don't find the Genesis visuals all that bad on an LCD TV, I just love owning real carts of Genesis games, stuff that will never even be on the VC. 

For the life of me I own only 1 Mega Drive game on VC, and only because it costs an arm and a leg, Super Fantasy Zone.

*purist mode off*

edit: in before get a CRT TV. But that's ok, more Genesis games for me then. 

[Abnormal Freak]

Eh, emulation for some consoles has come so far that it's practically indistinguishable from the real deal. :p Hunting down carts costs too much and often they're in bullshit condition. Plus Genesis games look like garbage on composite video and I don't really care to mod one to have S-Video out.

Then there's all those different sound chips. :p To get a Genesis with the best video and audio, you'd have to do quite a bit of modding and parts swapping. Emulation has it all right there and ready to go, and I don't need to have a clunky console sitting about.

And I've never had a Genesis controller which didn't have either a busted D-pad or a cord that's no more than three feet long. :p Screw that, I'll play with my Super Famicom Classic Controllers. The Genesis console itself is bullshit on so many levels.

[GuyStarwind]

What system is Shinning Force 3 for because I'll be willing to try it. From what I'm reading it sounds good.

[Sinful]

You know, I'm not sure if S-Video is good enough? Actually, I don't think it is? I think your screwed? If you don't like composite, Sega Genesis is not for you. Quick way to check is S-Video is good enough or not is fire up Bloodlines, and during the pre-level or pre-map screen, check if the clouds are transparent or not (dithered. ie. clouds with very many tinny holes in them). If not, your screwed from getting the best Genesis image. Don't believe me? Fire up a game like Comix Zone. Without colour blending the game looks like total dithered shit. With colour blending the game looks like an actual comic. Very simple comparison, and I've made my choice a long time ago. For me, if you have the right TV, right size and/or distance away from it, Genesis games looks clear and amazing to me.



Oh, and your playing Genesis games on a current console? But I have yet to see a current console with 6 face buttons. And a pad without 6 face buttons ain't Sega material. Sorry, you lose out on another great Sega pleasure. ... Their D-Pad are the best in the business too. As I have yet to feel any better.

[Abnormal Freak]

Uh, what. S-Video is simply a video signal which has less interference and better color reproduction, resulting in a more hi-fi image. You're actually telling me the Genesis OUGHT to be viewed through 1950s video technology? ;p What next, "You're not having a true NES experience unless you're playing with RF, because the unstable signal was intended"?

Also, fighting games aside, are there any games of note which actually use the 6-button controller? Because I've gotten by on three buttons for all these years.

[Abnormal Freak]

The odd thing is, dithering is still noticeable with composite. Not as much as when the image is more clear, but the blending creates another problem: rainbow banding. If you're OK with it, fine, but I'm personally happy to put away rainbow banding for good. ;) And the Genesis has so much of it, about as bad as the NES.

Thing is, plenty of PC games used dithering as a gradient technique. And that's PC...where, you know, hi-res monitors have always been the norm. I don't think it's necessary or even intended, really, for there to be color blend. It isn't needed for the shading and transparency effects to work.

I just fired up "Bloodlines" on the Genesis with composite and good Lord... Never again. ;p Sweet, sweet S-Video, I love you so. (Would prefer to have SCART, though! Zero signal interference.)