Article first published on my personal blog at HIVE. 

Hello friends and especially to all gamers who already accumulate years. Since I was a child I was very interested in video games but in my country it was (and is) extremely difficult to acquire a console, but I had the opportunity since I was a child sometimes more or less to be close to video games. My first console was a PlayStation in its first version and the truth by bad luck I could not enjoy it much, first because the titles were extremely impossible for my age and second because it lasted me only about two years and then as much as I tried to fix it ended up breaking down completely. Two years later and unlike most people I got my hands on a Super Nintendo (SNES), not because I knew the console or its catalog but simply because it was what I could get with the money and where I lived.

I never imagined that the SNES would become a revelation and an obsession for me, and although the game cartridge format made it even more difficult to obtain new video games, I was able to get a fairly large catalog for the time and thanks to the exchange I was able to play several titles that undoubtedly marked my development as a player and directed my tastes. I could only think of returning from school to spend hours glued in front of the TV screen.

Today I want to share with you my 5 favorite games from the SNES catalog, in no particular order, but leaving behind many other games that I am very fond of and replay from time to time.

5. Donkey Kong Country

Despite playing the three SNES installments of this saga my favorite is still the first installment. It is part of the platform genre and follows the story of Donkey Kong and his nephew Diddy Kong in the search for the banana thief.

The game stands out for its challenging gameplay and the need for perfect precision to complete many of its levels, jumping from barrel to barrel. The level designs are very well done and keep us attentive at all times. There is a good dose of collectibles, such as the word KONG hidden in the levels, or the gold statuettes that will unlock bonus levels. Undoubtedly to this game we owe one of the most emblematic underwater levels that would influence the industry and several later titles.

It was one of the first games in its time to use pre-rendered graphics that gave it a three-dimensional and vivid aspect, providing it with a lot of color and details, this together with its fluid animation achieved an immersive and enjoyable experience. Turning the pre-rendered graphics technique into a standard and inspiring future titles.

One aspect that caught my attention at the time was the great variety of ways to play it, with more than one playable character that we could exchange or share with a player 2.

4. YS III Adventures from YS

I think this game is not so well known, or at least whenever I talk about it, I get strange looks, and it is undoubtedly a misunderstood videogame. Perhaps the appreciation I have for this game comes from being my entry into the world of RPG. This game came to my hands in English and as I was very small I did not understand what was going on, but it encouraged me to use an old dictionary to try to understand the story.

In the skin of the young adventurer Adol, accompanied by his best friend, we will unravel all the mysteries of a land full of magic, swords and talismans, facing hundreds of monstrous and the most terrible final bosses I've ever met.

The game is incredibly difficult, forcing us to spend hours and hours gathering experience to face even the first boss, but at that time for me to live a whole epic adventure and being obsessed with the Arthurian legends, was to live first hand a fantasy.

The game with a beautiful pixel art and a first time cinematics presents us in a megastar way its universe, full of forests, castles and the deepest caves. With the experience of several JRPGs that followed, no doubt gameplay with side scroll can be a challenge, but it does not lose its charm and the animations and movements despite the limitations of the time do not fail to show us a good action in combat.

To this day I still have pending the entire saga that is quite extensive in titles. A pity that in the West has not been so successful.

3. Mortal Kombat II

Impossible to make this list without talking about my favorite fighting game, and perhaps the obsession of all children of the 90's and early 2000's, also the nightmare of many parents, Mortal Kombat showed a level of violence perhaps never seen before in video games, and honestly I still do not understand how a person as peaceful as me has not only this game but the entire franchise among his favorites.

I had the opportunity to own all three SNES titles and enjoy the Play Station ones. Being the second one my favorite to date maybe because of the excitement of the new characters, the great variety of fatality and the new hidden characters, as well as the amount of hours I dedicated to it when I was a kid. I must confess that I became obsessed with all the footage I saw of this game including the movies.

Each warrior summoned to the tournament, where the end of their world was at stake, showed a well-told story that was perfected with each installment, each with different motivations. Each character added was a new point of view to the universe. Each new fatality or combat technique that I discovered was carefully noted in a notebook where I made tabs on each character.

2. Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure

This is an action and platform game where in the skin of an adventurer we go into the jungle of Central America in search of our lost father.

What I like most about this game, although it recycles forms already seen before is the aesthetic beauty, the level design is too good, with hundreds of hidden places and treasures to discover. The movements of our character is very varied as well as their weapons and ways to kill enemies, something that was being neglected in other games.

Both the character and the surrounding environment is beautifully illustrated feeling alive, there is not a single pixel in the wrong place. The sound also plays an important role in the immersion we achieve, because perhaps Pitfall has the best soundtrack and sound effects I've heard in a SNES game.

We will immerse ourselves in forests, ancient temples, abandoned mines and fight a variety of dangerous animals, living statues and skeleton zombies. We will also find a good amount of puzzles with a certain level of difficulty.

Something I really like about this game is that within it in a difficult to access area we can find a fully playable version of its predecessor without doubt a wink that is appreciated and enjoyed.

1. Super Mario World

With Super Mario World I do not want to extend much, because it is practically impossible that someone does not know our favorite plumber. This character is, perhaps, the most famous protagonist of platform games.

I specifically choose Super Mario World because it was the game I spent the most hours playing as a child and the first game I explored 100%, with its world full of hidden levels, ghost houses, pipes, caves and underwater levels.

A game that greatly improved on its previous installment, Super Mario 3, adding many new mechanics and has aged magnificently. To this day, every few months I dedicate hours of affection replaying it. Undoubtedly, it is a jewel of the SNES.

Thank you very much if you have read this far. It has been a pleasure to share this list with you. I know I left out many games that I remember fondly and maybe you have other favorites. In any case, I'd love to read your views in the comments, best regards and best wishes, see you next time!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I apologize if there are any grammatical errors, English is not my native language, I have tried to be as careful as possible.
The GIFs used are accessed through the Ecency editor.
All screenshots are my own, used under ‘Fair Use’ for critique and commentary.