Tartan

Issue date: 3/24/05 Section: Entertainment

"Super Metroid" - Released by Nintendo in 1994

The Super Nintendo, often shortened to SNES, was the product of the videogame masterminds at Nintendo. The successor to the Japan-based Nintendo's previous home console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Super Nintendo first hit American shores in 1991, packaged with two controllers and a copy of the exquisite "Super Mario World." The system's amazing capabilities were soon tested in full by "Super Mario Kart," a game that utilized the system's Mode 7 faux-3D abilities. The combined result of the system's balanced technical design, advanced sound processor, and it's powerful graphical capabilities was some of the greatest videogames ever designed, if not the greatest two-dimensional videogames ever produced.

The Super Nintendo crawled into obscurity starting in 1996 when Nintendo's "Nintendo 64" hit stores along with Sega's "Saturn" and Sony's "Playstation," which appeared the year before.

The Super Nintendo was really all about its phenomenal games. The following is a list of my 10 favorite Super Nintendo games. Each game established a legacy of what maybe is the greatest videogame system ever created.


1) "Super Metroid" - 1994

Fans of the "Metroid" series know what I'm talking about. "Super Metroid's" utterly fantastic game design is married to such intuitive alien-blasting gameplay, playing this game becomes second nature. Highlighted by a gorgeously detailed game world and a sublimely haunting score, "Super Metroid" is not just my favorite Super Nintendo game, it's my favorite videogame period.

2) "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" - 1991

The love for the "Zelda" series is large and wide-reaching, and for good reason. "A Link to the Past" may just be the best one in the series, containing some of the most ingenious dungeons, prettiest bosses and most memorably haunting songs in the entire series. Buy the Game Boy Advance remake if you can't buy the original.

3) "Chrono Trigger" - 1995

Some consider "Chrono Trigger" the spiritual heir of "Secret of Mana", a game of similar graphics and game design. "Chrono Trigger", a role-playing game revolving around time travel, is one of the ultimate examples of a videogame cult-classic. Buy its remake on the Playstation One if you can't nab a justifiably rare Super Nintendo copy.

4) "Final Fantasy VI" - 1994

Continued...

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