Not every post on here is going to have spiritual/moral/religious topics in it. Some posts are just going to be showing some nerd love for things I'm interested in. What better place to start than with my favorite game console, the SNES.
Here's the plan. I'm going to go through every game in the SNES library, by release date. This includes Japanese and European games. I'll go by earliest date for multi-released games. Understand I'm sure I will fail at this, so the goal is to just get as far as possible. Obviously emulation is necessary since I unfortunately lost the giant ebay auction where you could get a full set. I really thought my best offer of $50 was pretty reasonable. Anyway, here's the disclaimer; I'm not selling the roms and neither should you. If any of the games look fun track down a real copy and buy it. They are only for the purpose of this post and preserving the software and anything else saying I mean no harm with them. If any owner of the property happens across this little blog feel free to tell me and I'll remove any images of your game. Also, details can be sketchy with some of this so if you have some information about a game I got wrong let me know and I'll credit you for finding it, an honor which has no cash value whatsoever.
Let's get started shall we?
F-Zero - Starting the system at warp speed
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released:
11/21/1990(JP)
8/13/1991(US)
This might be surprising as the first game, but I'm going by date and title to give some consistency. The SNES release on November 21, 1990 in Japan, and the only games available were F-Zero and Super Mario World. If SMW was a pack in there like it was here in the states that means the only thing on the shelf for the Super Famicom at launch was this game, so I imagine it sold well. F-Zero set the bar very high for early 16-bit racers. It was fast, it controlled well, and the Mode-7 effects were insane for the time. I was really surprised at how well this has held up, gameplay-wise. The only glaring problem is that this was a single player game. There have been sequels on later consoles but none quite had the charm of the original.
If you want to try it out, here's a link to the F-Zero Virtual Console Page.
Game info and buying options:
My Grade: A
Worth Playing: Yes
Super Mario World - Making video games a better place, one Yoshi at a time
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Released:
11/21/1990(JP)
8/13/1991(US)
So let me start by saying this is my favorite Mario game. I like it better than 3, and better than 64. The cape was a great power-up, the map with all it's secrets was a great step forward from 3, and best of all, World introduced us to Yoshi. There really isn't a whole lot else to say. If Nintendo remade this in HD and packed it with the Wii U it would sell them out of consoles. It would be a much better business decision than whatever they are thinking Nintendoland is going to be. Anyway, if you've never played this classic, I feel bad for your childhood and you can see it in action on the Virtual Console page and then dust your Wii off and buy it.
Game info and buying options:
My Grade: A+
Worth Playing: Yes
So that was it for day one of the SNES in Japan. It's not much compared to the hoard of games available at the US launch, but then Japan had the system for almost a year before North America saw it. I am going to break my proposed formula, on the very first post, to put up one more game that released by itself.
Ka-blooey - Try not to blow up the eggplant
Developer:
Mirrorsoft
Publisher: Kemco
Released:
12/1/1990(JP)
8/1/1992(US)
Released in Japan as Bombuzal on December 1, 1990, this action puzzle game developed by Mirrorsoft and published by Kemco was the third game release for the Super Famicom. It's a fairly generic game where you blow up bombs in order to clear the platforms in each level. I imagine it did OK in Japan since there wasn't anything else like it at the time. The strange thing is that it wasn't ported to the US until 2 years later. Pretty much all the other games that came out in Japan before the US launch in August of 1991 were either released in America right away or never. It's curious what made them decide to release when they did. If you're into puzzle games you might want to try this weird mix of Q-bert and Bomberman, but it's not on the VC so you'll have to go online to find it.
Game info and buying options:
My Grade: C
Worth Playing: No
And that's the end of this first step in a really long journey. I hope you enjoyed it and join me further on as we watch how the SNES evolved over the years. God Bless and take care.
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