SNES FLASHBACK - PART ONE
Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time digging through my old Super Nintendo collection and contemplating which games meant the most to me in my youth. This is not a list of what I think are the best games on the system, this is a list of which games I enjoyed the most or have the fondest memories of. The ones that consumed the most of my time.
Dirt Trax FX - I swear I used to be GREAT at this game but I recently decided to revisit it and couldn’t place 1st on a single track. The animation didn’t help either. My head was spinning by the second race because it was so choppy. Nevertheless, I used to spend hours upon hours playing this one with my neighbor and I enjoyed every minute of it even though today I’m not confident that it was actually a good game. Come to think of it, we listened to a lot of Barenaked Ladies around that time so maybe we didn’t have the best taste.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - When I first played this game I had absolutely no idea what a turned-based RPG was. None whatsoever. I was at the mall with my dad when I spotted it on the shelf at Electronics Boutique. I assumed it was another traditional Mario platformer so I convinced him to buy it for me. Upon returning home I booted the game up immediately, logged in about an hour or two, and then decided I was done with it. It wasn’t the game I was expecting and I was frustrated that I didn’t understand it. The game collected dust for nearly a year before I gave it another shot and goddamn I’m glad that I did.
Super Mario RPG was the game that introduced me to the role-playing genre and it was the first time that I ever invested myself into a game that wasn’t just about running from left to right or racing to a finish line. This was the most in-depth gaming experience at that point in my young life and for that I will never forget it.
Maximum Carnage - I rented this game. A lot. I’m not quite sure why I never actually owned it though because I would check it out from my local Blockbuster about once a month. My neighbor and I were HUGE Spider-Man fans so we were always pumped to take control of the wall-crawler. I don’t remember too much about this game. Mostly just playing the first few levels over-and-over because we weren’t good enough to advance beyond them. This was another one of those games that we found extremely challenging. Makes me wonder if that was due to inexperience/age or if it was legitimately that difficult.
UPDATE: Curiosity getting the best of me. Scouring Ebay for a mint copy…
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble - DKC3 is often regarded as the weakest game in the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy yet it remains my favorite installment. Sure Kiddy Kong was pretty useless and the game was much less difficult than the previous titles but the explorative elements, inclusion of vehicles, and level variety are what won me over. This also happened to be the first DKC game that I completed in single-player mode.
However with all that being said, if someone were to ask me what the best DKC game is/was I would say, DKC2:Diddy’s Kong Quest. That game built upon the experience of the original and refined the gameplay to the point of perfection. Hands down one of the best sequels of all time. Apparently it’s so good that people have gone out of their way to steal it out of my collection… TWICE! I’ve thought about downloading it from Wii’s Virtual Console but I’m not sure I’m ready to run the risk of an entire console disappearing from my house.
PART TWO PREVIEW: a terrible game based on a popular 90’s Nicktoon, hitting your fellow students with tomatoes on picture day, using banana peels as weapons, and possibly the most annoying noise in video game history.
