#40: Demon's Crest
1994
Imagine Mega Man X mixed with Castlevania. If that just gave you an erection, this game will blow your load. Like Mega Man, it's a Capcom platformer where you're free to choose the level order, you can scale walls, you earn new abilities with each level you beat, and you can revisit previous levels to unearth more secrets. But what makes the game stand out is it's Castlevania-like style. It's set in the dark ages, it has that great gothic atmosphere, moody music, and you play as Firebrand, the gargoyle first seen in the Ghosts 'n Goblins series who then went on to star in the little-known Gargoyle's Quest series (of which Demon's Crest is the third). This game has beautifully disgusting graphics. Everything is deeply detailed, from the enemies to the backgrounds. You'll fight some of the grossest, awesome monsters I've ever seen, like a partially decomposed zombie-dragon, a giant glob of slimy eyeballs, and a weird creature that can rip itself into independently-functioning parts. Though not nearly as popular as Mega Man or Castlevania, Demon's Crest is one of those overlooked games that's actually equal to the sum of its parts. Throw in a Mode 7 world map, RPG elements, collectibles and multiple endings based on how many collectibles you found and you've got one Hell of a game. The only weird thing is that you have to get a Game Over to save your progress. I didn't know that for the longest time (as I never get Game Overs) and assumed the game had no save feature. Speaking of save features, I miss cartridge-based videogames. Cartridges last forever as long as you take care of them (although you may have to clean them out occasionally with Windex and a cuetip). Disc-based games, on the other hand, will scratch themselves naturally from usage. Also, I hate dealing with memory cards. I miss the days when you could save your file right onto the game itself. Memory cards are a pain in the ass, especially when you play as many games as I do, and end up having to purchase a half dozen of them for every console.
1996/97
An RPG without battles?! That’s right, Harvest Moon was a sim game about farming and family. After your grandpa buys the farm, you inherit his actual farm, and you have three years to make your parents proud. This means growing crops, raising livestock and starting a family. Beware: this game is eck-fucking-stremely a-fucking-dictive! I discovered it in college, and it considerably lowered my GPA that semester. Instead of studying for tests, I would stay up until four in the morning grinding away at this game. Every day I would promise myself I wouldn't let it happen again, yet every night I found myself unable to resist. Farming was so much fun! See, the more crops you sell, the more you can afford to plant, so your field just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You can also raise cows for milk and chickens for eggs. Time really passes in the game, not only day to night, but seasons, too. It's very repetitive, but there are plenty of events and hidden secrets to keep it fresh. The game isn't set entirely on the farm, either. You can also explore the nearby wilderness or venture into town. Just as addictive as working on the farm was working on the fam: you can pick out one of five eligible ladies in town, each with different views on subjects like religion and alcohol. I chose the alcoholic atheist. You can court her by flirting, buying her gifts, dancing and skinny-dipping. You can get married, have children, and even have affairs! But beware, you have to keep your woman happy or she’ll runnoft – sneak a peek at her diary to see how “in love with you” she still is. My women are always at “ten hearts.” After the third year, your parents come to visit and you receive one of three endings based on your performance. Harvest Moon is one of the most addictive, charming little gems I’ve ever unearthed. The game may sound like a chore and a bore, but trust me: it really grows on you.
#38: Paladin’s Quest
1992/93
Chezni is a gifted young student at a magic school – keep in mind this was years before Harry Potter. One day, Chezni accepts a dare from a classmate to climb a forbidden tower, and in the process awakens an ancient demon. Damn, couldn't Chezni have chosen “truth?” Unique mechanics, great writing and a frankly astounding soundtrack by Kohei Tanaka made this one of the most overlooked RPG's on the SNES. The game is set in the world of Lennus, a colorful world inhabited by a wide variety of races and creatures which were blessed with the most creative names I've seen since Star Wars. Written and directed by Hidenori Shibao, PQ boasts a strong, well-translated story -- I only spotted one typo! Throughout the game, you unravel the mysteries behind the lead villain, Zaygos, the centuries-old feud between nations, the ancient demon you awoke, Dal Gren, as well as the so-called “gods” everyone worships. PQ made a number of ballsy departures from the familiar Final Fantasy formula. Casting a spell required sacrificing hit points instead of magic points. There are eight magical elements, and your affinity with each grows stronger every time you cast a spell of that element. I especially liked the game's mercenary system, which allowed you to hire two temporary party members at any time. There are dozens of mercs scattered throughout Lennus (usually boozing it up in taverns), and they're all very diverse. Some are great warriors; some are great magicians. Some will join you for free, while others are ridiculously expensive. Some, you have to recruit to get to progress the story, while others are well-hidden. And many come with a twist -- Nails is a tough-as-nails robot with impossibly high hit points, though he cannot be healed by items. The Razav brothers insist on traveling together, so hiring the beefy older bro means hiring the pathetically weak younger one, too. And whatever you do, don't hire Lilly! She may seem great at first, but once you find someone better, she gets all clingy and refuses to let you ever dump her. Just like my ex-girlfriend. The mercenary gimmick may seem overwhelming at first, but it's very user-friendly, as you can check out a mercenary's stats and equipment before hiring them, every merc you fire is always eligible for rehire, and each one you recruit contributes to the game's ending. Paladin's Quest is quite different than other RPG's of the era, which I blame for it's unpopularity as well as its longevity.
#37: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
1992/93
The censors may have banned religion in videogames, but that didn't stop them from preaching evolution! Though far from an eductional game, this unique platformer-RPG was kinda like a history lesson with some fun fantasy twists. You start as a pathetic little fish in the sea of the Devonian period, where you must pass life's ultimate test: the survival of the fittest. The more enemies you eat, the more “evo points” you earn, which can be used to upgrade one of 8 body parts (jaws, body, fins, etc.) to evolve into a new species. Then you play as an amphibian on Pangaea in the Carboniferous period, where you battle giant insects. Next is the Jurassic period, where you play as a reptile battling dinosaurs, then the Paleogene era, where you're a mammal during the Ice Age, battling mammoths and saber-tooths and such. Finally, you reach the Neogene period, where you can evolve into pretty much whatever you want. The evolution system is very deep and engaging. Each of the five chapters feature a wide variety of growable body parts, many of which have their own pros and cons. I would just sit there forever experimenting strange mutations until I ran out of evo points, resetting, then selecting only the strongest combinations. Once you reach the final chapter, the options are limitless. You can change into anything -- and even become human. Personally, I chose to become a cross between a Lion and Rhinoceros. Or, as I call it, the Linoceros, which I named Rhion. EVO covers the greatest timespan I've ever seen in a videogame: 4.6 billion years! And well-hidden throughout the game are magic stones which give you the ability to temporarily transform into special creatures like a dragon. Speaking of secrets, I'll let you in on one of my own: there's a cool, little glitch in EVO that really helped me through the tough spots: every time you evolve, your hit points are brought back to the max, so during difficult boss battles, I would frequently upgrade something miniscule like a horn or a mane, just to cheat death. To top it all off, the game has a great twist ending. All in all, EVO is one of the best platformer-RPG “hybrids” ever created. Darwin would be proud.
#36: ActRaiser
1990/91
You are God (or, in the censored English translation, The Master), and it's your duty to create life on Earth, meanwhile defending it from Satan (changed to Tanzra). If religious propaganda ain't your thing, fear not. Even Christian mythology is badass in videogames. ActRaiser is truly one of a kind, seamlessly mixing a wide variety of genres into one. There are two distinct sections to the game, which I will henceforth refer to as “man-mode” and “God-mode.” Hey, those are also my two nicknames in bed! God-Mode is a real-time-strategy/building sim in which you must create and cultivate towns. In addition to commanding men and expanding the village, you must protect the village from the devil's forces with a guardian angel who's armed with a bow 'n arrow. Also at your disposal is complete control over the weather. You can make lightning strike anywhere on the map to destroy obstacles (take that, sheep!), make it rain to grow crops and irrigate deserts, make the sun shine to dry marshes and melt snow, or even create earthquakes. In Man-Mode, you take the form of a knight as you hack 'n slash your way through platforming levels. These sections are short but sweet, the highlight being the bitchin' boss battles. I particularly liked how your human form is armed only with a sword. I found the emphasis on short-range combat to be very refreshing, on account of most classic platformers being shooters. There's nothing quite as satisfying as defeating enemies with a leaping slice to the face. The game's two sections compliment each other greatly, as your performance in one affects your status in the other. The platformer levels must be cleared before you can start cultivating a continent RTS-style, while raising your towns' populations rewards you with items, magic and higher hit points in the platformer levels. Beware: the final level of this game is notoriously difficult, pitting you against EIGHT back-to-back boss battles. What is this, Mega Man?! But don't give up! The boss fights seem super hard at first, but, like Mega Man, it's all about memorization. Once you get to know their patterns, they're super easy. The ending is among the deepest, most thought-provoking endings in videogame history. Whoever says videogames aren't art are living in the past; videogames are the greatest artform of our generation.
#35: Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
1993/92
Mystic Quest was like Final Fantasy for retarded kids. Everyone hates this game, and it's easy to see why. It bears little resemblance to the numbered Final Fantasies, neither in content nor quality. But back in the early nineties, Squaresoft thought a good way to attract more gamers to the FF franchise was to make an extremely dumbed-down, simplified version of the formula. There are no save points, no random battles, there's no customizable equipment, no shopping necessary and no exploration on the world maps. Your allies are all controlled by AI. The story, characterization and dialogue are practically nonexistent. Calling this game a Final Fantasy is a joke… but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an amazing little game in its own right! That's right, I love this game, and I think everyone else would too if they would just stop comparing it to the rest of the series. Pretend for a moment that the game is titled simply Mystic Quest and has nothing to do with Final Fantasy, and you quickly realize how fantastic it is. I love how you could save whenever and wherever you want, how you just found weapons and magic instead of having to shop for them, how new equipment automatically replaces the old, how you can see all your enemies in dungeons and avoid many of them if you wish, how enemy sprites changed as they grew weaker, and how you could use all your weapons outside of battle. Aside from the writing department, the game actually has some really good production values, especially the stellar soundtrack. Sure, the game doesn't even compare with FF4 or FF6, but few games do. I love chess, but sometimes I'm just in the mood for checkers.
#34: Skyblazer
1994
Most overlooked platformer on the SNES! When Raglan, the Lord of Darkness, kidnaps the sorceress Arianna, it's up to a young prince named Sky to save her. This was one of the early Sony titles (and the only one to make this list), yet it was a mark of true craftsmanship that foreshadowed Sony's later prowess on the Playstation. Skyblazer begins like a standard 2D platformer, with obvious nods to Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man. Like Ryu Hayabusa, Sky's main attack is close-range, and he can also stick to and climb walls. And like the Blue Bomber, Sky has freedom in the choosing of the level order and he gains a new special move each time you defeat a boss. It's a nice, fresh mix of familiar elements with some very unique set pieces. One level has you circling around the outer wall of a tall, cylindrical tower. Another takes place entirely on a small boat where you must defend yourself from tidal waves and sea creatures. The game is full of awesome Mode 7 effects that give you that 2.5-dimensional feel, like revolving backgrounds that affect the foreground. But where the game soars highest and burns brightest is in its epic boss battles. You'll face big, elaborately detailed monsters in a wide variety of scenarios. Figuring out how to defeat them is highly engaging, like a deadly dance in which your opponent leads until you learn the steps well enough to take the lead yourself. This is one of those games that should have had a majestic flight and left a fiery trail of sequels behind it. Sadly, no one bought the game, it nose-dived into obscurity and the idea of a series burnt out forever. But in a way, that makes this one burn all the brighter.
#33: Star Fox 2
This was the greatest game never made. Of all the games canceled during production, none are so famous as Star Fox 2. The game was actually completed, minus some minor debugging, but Nintendo decided not to release it was because of the impending approach of the N64, which was sure to plummet SNES sales. As a result, the project was abandoned, and this poor fox went unseen for so long it was considered extinct. Four years later, the beta (or rough draft) was rediscovered by hackers who not only captured the elusive fox; they nursed it back to health, brushed out all the bugs, bred it and freed all its offspring on the internet! I can't believe this game wasn't released, because it was even better than the original. It was everything a sequel should be – it retained all the core elements of the original while moving the series in bold new directions – literally. See, every level in Star Fox 2 is set in a truly 3D environment in which you can navigate in full 360 degrees, as opposed to the rail shooter levels of the original. They're like the all-range mode levels in SF64. Speaking of which, Miyamoto himself said that 30% of Star Fox 64 came straight from Star Fox 2, and it's very evident. But SF2 also incredibly unique. When the game begins, you get to choose which character you play as, and which teammate you want as a partner. All four of the original crew return (Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy), plus two new female dogfighters, Miyu and Fay. The characters' ships have different stats when it comes to speed, armor and special weapons. The world map, or level selection screen, looks just like it did in the original, only now it plays out like a real-time-strategy game. Every time you move your Arwing, Venom's forces close in on Corneria. You have to defend the planet from missiles, Battleships and rival mercenaries. This game introduced the charged homing shot, multiple vehicles and the the rival mercenary group led by Star Wolf. While navigating the interiors of battleships or making ground assaults, you can transform the Arwing into a walker (not unlike the AT-ST's from Star Wars), or turn into a frog-like machine to swim underwater. There's even an arcadian high score board that records how many enemies you shoot down and how many of the hidden Pepper coins you find. Star Fox 2 practically eclipsed the original.
#32: Secret of Evermore
1995
Hold onto something, gamers, because I'm about to floor you: I hate Secret of Mana. Take a minute to catch your breath before you continue. Secret of Mana is widely regarded as one of the best games on the SNES, and will surely be the most shocking and controversial exclusion on my list, but I absolutely hate it. I think anyone who claims to like it only remembers liking it as a kid. I dare you all to go back and replay it today. You won't get far before you you reevaluate the game and sell it on ebay. Mana may have been innovative for combining RPG elements with an action-adventure battle system, but it was a failed experiment plagued by repetitively repetitive repetitiveness. I regard Secret of Evermore as the vastly underrated yet vastly superior game that got lost in Mana's shadow. Evermore is a tale of a boy and his dog who discover the magical world of Evermore, a utopia created by the brilliant Professor Ruffleberg. It was the only game ever made by Squaresoft's American team, and you can tell. The script has a very distinct style and humor that could never have survived a translation. The hero is a self-proclaimed movie-buff who constantly drops cheesy one-liners and B-movie references -- after defeating monsters that sprang to life from a stained-glass window, he says, "Whew! Those guys were a pane in the glass!" Unfortunately, all the films he references are fictional (I looked them all up, being quite a film buff myself), but it certainly gives the game some flavor. You can switch off between the hero and the dog, and have to work together to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles. The boy can use weapons and magic as well as speak to other people, but only the dog can speak to other animals, jump large gaps and find alchemy ingredients with his heightened sense of smell. The magic system is one of a kind. Instead of MP, you need alchemy ingredients to cast spells. For example, fireball requires one part brimstone, two parts ash. You can unearth ingredients all over the world with help from the dog's nose. The music is one of the best videogame soundtracks ever, and it was written a kid straight out of high school, Jeremy Soule. I loved the world of Evermore. It's divided into four distinct regions, each a personal utopia of its ruler's creation (Ruffleberg and his three closest friends/family members). There's a prehistoric world, a gothic world, an antiqua world and a futuristic world. What would your Evermore be?
1996
Drive-Thru Operator:
Welcome to Kirby's; can I take your order?
Gamer:
(Muffled gibberish)
Drive-Thru Operator:
Sir, please speak into the giant Kirby's mouth.
Gamer:
Sorry, I'm still looking at the menu. So many choices... Can you tell me what this “Spring Breeze” is?
Drive-Thru Operator:
Sure, that's a remake of our popular Kirby's Dream Land, now with colorful, 16-bit graphics, two-player capability, plus the ability to steal your enemies' powers, which was surprisingly absent from the original game.
Gamer:
Um... thanks. I'll take one of those. What's this “Gourmet Race?”
Drive-Thru Operator:
That's a racing game. You compete against King DeDeDe to the finish line and to see who can collect the most food along the way.
Gamer:
I'll take one of those, too. And how about “The Arena?”
Drive-Thru Operator:
That's nineteen back-to-back boss battles against popular Kirby villains.
Gamer:
Ouch! That sounds too tough.
Ouch! That sounds too tough.
Drive-Thru Operator:
Yes, but you get to use powers, you can turn your power into a “helper,”and the second player take control of the helper at any time.
Gamer:
Oh, in that case, I'll take it. I love co-op games. What's “The Great Cave Offensive?”
Drive-Thru Operator:
Ah, that's an extra-large helping of Kirby goodness. You explore a giant cave that's full of hidden artifacts, all references to other Nintendo games, like Kong's Barrel, a Mr. Saturn or the Triforce.
Gamer:
YUM! You got anything else with collectibles?
Drive-Thru Operator:
We do! “Milky Way Wishes,” our finest dish, is the only game where you can't actually steal your enemy's abilities. Instead, you must find hidden trophies which will grant you certain abilities permanently. At any time, you can select any of the abilities you've collected so far from the menu.
Gamer:
That sounds delicious. But just in case all that doesn't fill me, I'll take a small “Dynablade” and the “Revenge of Metaknight” off the children’s menu. Extra Max Tomatoes, please.
Drive-Thru Operator:
You got it. Would you like any two-player mini-games with that?
Gamer:
Whadaya got?
Drive-Thru Operator:
We have “Megaton Punch,” which tests your timing, and “Samurai Kirby,” which tests your reflexes.
Gamer:
I'll take one of each, and that's it.
Drive-Thru Operator:
Your total comes to $19.99. Please pull forward.
Gamer:
Wait. Only $19.99?
Drive-Thru Operator:
Yes, sir.
Gamer:
That's, like... nine games for the price of one!
Drive-Thru Operator:
Yes, sir.
Gamer:
And they all sound so good!
Drive-Thru Operator:
Yes, sir.
Gamer:
I love you, Kirby.
Drive-Thru Operator:
Sir, please stop hugging the giant Kirby.
Twenty games down, thirty to go! Here's Part 3.
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