TroxTalks Top 5 SNES Games

       What up gangsta!? Welcome to the 3rd installment of the TroxTalk Vs. The Best Podcast old school gaming face-off challenge...That's a really long title that we haven't discussed even once. I guess it will do for now. If you're just tuning in, for the last couple of weeks I have been doing a tandem exercise with my boys Dave and Phinny from The Best Podcast in which we have laid out our respective Top 5 NES and Sega Genesis games, then they air their show, and I post my blog each Friday to compare results. Last week for the SEGA post we came up with a very similar list of games, but neither of us had any particular game slotted exactly the same. Interesting..
      This week we're shifting the focus over to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Our society has always had a unique way of slapping a "super" in front of different things so that consumers will understand the vast improvements being made to a product. The Super Bowl is better than just some bowl, Superman is better than just some man, and the Super Nintendo..well you get the idea.
       For this weeks countdown, I actually have a little confession to make. I never technically "owned" an SNES until about a year ago. Remember when I told you I was the only one out of all my friends who had a SEGA instead? I would swap systems with my buddies, play their Super Nintendos at sleep overs, and if I really had a hankering, I would just rent the entire system from the Picture Show Video down the street. (PSV's rates for a 5 day SNES bender were pretty reasonable to a bored kid on summer vacation.) Of course, now that I'm grown, and have the resources, I finally have my own SNES that I bust out for a little nostalgia from time to time. My list may be a little skewed because I've never really had a Super Nintendo game that I viewed as a milestone in my life or a prized possession that I worked hard to obtain...I'm rambling..Here's this week's Top 5....

#5

       Kicking off the countdown is a game that I am still playing through for the first time even as we speak. I am ashamed to say that I haven't beaten it yet, but for as far into it as I am I can say one thing about it confidently, once I've seen all that Chrono Trigger has to offer, I might have to come back to this blog, reconsider, and make it even higher on the list. It's crazy that, since I didn't play CT in it's prime, I still have a pretty level field to compare it to. What I mean to say is, playing Chrono Trigger today, even by gaming's current standards, is still better than 90% of the games that have come out in the last few years.

#4

           I think a lot of people would argue that Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest was the best of the original DKC trilogy, but you know Trox, I always gotta go against the grain. For my money, the first one has the edge because it marked the rebirth of a classic arcade icon. I used to play the original Donkey Kong with my Dad on his Atari 2600. These are my earliest memories of video games, and they are very dear to me. When I first played Donkey Kong Country I was skeptical because Kong had never been in the role of protagonist in the past. I kind of preferred him as "bad guy". I eventually warmed up to it, and DKC became one of my favorite games of all time...even though I still hate the shit out of those ridiculously tough mine cart levels. Remember those? Eff those! 

Most people think the name Donkey Kong was a translation error, and this vile ape's name was originally supposed to be Monkey Kong. The creator of the game, Shigeru Miyamoto, actually wanted an English word to evoke the inherent stubbornness of the character. He chose "Donkey", and just about every big ape in Japan at the time was referred to as a "Kong" because of the "King Kong" movies. In Japan the game was called Donkii Kongu. TroxTalk is all about finding the truth. Even if it is a mundane detail.

 #3

          When you think of the term "RPG" what comes to mind? Dragons, swords, princesses, and wizards? EarthBound (titled Mother2 in Japan) is the most atypical role playing game I've ever played. Swap all those things I just mentioned for some rabid dogs, cracked baseball bats, and ATM machines, and you'll have a better idea of the environment in EarthBound. In 1995 games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Breath of Fire, and Ogre Battle had defined the RPG genre and it was starting to get pretty watered down with epic quests and D&D stigma. To put it mildly, RPGs just weren't very cool. In my opinion Earthbound made RPGs interesting again. Since EarthBound's release, RPGs have become more about the future, and most of them try to offer a more unique story than the "Storm the castle. Kill the dragon. Save the damsel in distress." games of the past. EB set the bar. Nowadays it's one of the hardest cartridge games to come by..if it weren't for the pricetag, I'd encourage you to pick up a copy.. It goes for about $150 used, and you really can't find a new copy of it still sealed in the box. Go google it. I'll wait.

Be honest. The first time you played Super Smash Brothers, you had no idea who this dude was, but you beat some serious ass with him.

 #2

           I don't feel like this one requires too much explaining. TMNTIV: Turtles in Time has it all. All four heroes-in-a-half-shell are playable characters. Pretty much all of your favorite friends and enemies of the turtles are accounted for.AND it has pirates, dinosaurs, sewer surfing, and the Technodrome! THAT'S RIGHT KIDS! THE TECHNODROME! This game is fun, it has a lot of replay value, and just about anyone can pick up a controller and play it instantly. It's so versatile! I've used it to calm down bratty kids I was babysitting. I used it when I was 13 or so as an excuse for girls to be "allowed" in my bed room. And when one of my buddies was going through a tough time where I really didn't know if anything I could've said would help him cope, we used Turtles in Time to heal. The Xbox Live remake was aight. Nothing truly compares to the 16-Bit version though. The only things missing from this game were a few of my all-time favorite TMNT bad guys....

 Panda Khan and Usagi Yojimbo the Samurai Rabbit. Respect.

#1

          To be perfectly honest, this #1 isn't anything close to fair. I caught a lot of flack from my readers about my Top 5 NES games for not including a single Super Mario Bros. game. I responded to their beratings with a simple "Wait for it..." because I knew this day would come. This is the single greatest compilation cartridge in the history of console gaming. You have the legendary SMB 1-3, along with a bonus game called The Lost Levels AND Super Mario World all in one neatly wrapped gift package. I could make a pretty good case for Super Mario World being one of the most influential and groundbreaking titles to ever launch, but because this pick is so jam packed with AWESOMENESS, I don't really have to. Let's face it. It's pretty hard to make a bad Mario game. Mario 64 will probably make the Top 5 N64 Games (if we have one..dun dun dun!) And I know I won't be doing a Wii countdown, but if I did, one or the other of the Mario Galaxies, Smash Bros., or Mariokart would pretty much have to be on there. In my view, Mario is the reason Nintendo stays afloat for the most part. Many of the titles they are coming out with lately that aren't somehow Mario related are pretty crappy. The SNES in it's prime had tons of great games, but Mario will always be at the helm.


Almost every mario game for SNES was good.

'Ceppin' these edjumacational ones..

          And there goes another one! Time flies when you're having fun! As usual you can rant and argue with me via email trox@troxtalk.com, leave something witty in the comments for your peers to snicker at, follow me on Twitter @troxtalk, or go get elevated to the heavens at 6pm tomorrow for all I care. Whatever path you choose, I hope you've had as much fun reading as I've had writing. Enjoy your weekend......GOODNIGHT NOW!!!!


P.S. Hipster Pick You kids probably think that I don't really almost forget this every week, but I just say "oh shit I almost forgot" to seem like I'm too good for my own blog or something... Maybe someday I'll tell you if you are right. Rock'n'Roll Racing is a killer pre-kart racing game that is a lot like Super Off Road or Micromachines. The kicker here is the soundtrack, comprised of popular heavy metal MiDi files (Radar Love and Bad to the Bone for example) that sound like old Nokia ringtones and get stuck in you head for days! BITCHIN!