Can the NES/SNES be pared down to 50 games each?

[fox | 1,667]

I think 50 would cover just the bare min.  You miss out on a lot of lesser but still great sequels (if you limited it to 1 per franchise), hidden gems, and personal favs.

Bump that threshold up to 100 and you would be set.

[Gaia Gensouki | 1,073]

Star Ocean is definitely a SFC game, but definitely worthy of an inclusion. But then one would absolutely also have to include Tales of Phantasia (imho) and Terranigma. Terranigma is so damn good and a worthy swan song for Quintet. Seiken Densetsu III and Final Fantasy V are also amazing. As for Dragon Warrior I would play the SFC versions of DQI-III anyday over their original Famicom/NES versions. There are probably many other great SFC games that could be mentioned, but I don't want to recommend anything that I haven't played yet.

As for the other recommended games, Goof Troop is definitely a good and fun game, that can be played with two players. Joe & Mac 2 is pretty good, but nothing I would put on a top 50 list. The same for Mega Man X3. It's quite a big drop in quality. I would rather see Mega Man VII on that list since that game is actually really good. Donkey Kong Country 3 also doesn't quite get the recognition it deserves. I know that it's not so iconic and immediately recognisable, but as far as gameplay, level design and visual presentation goes I would even consider it to be above the other two DKC games.

[T-Pac | 7,539]

I'd agree with @Andy_Bogomil and @BortLicensePlate. Paring down each library to 50 best games would be solid, but incomplete; whereas 100 would start to include games that aren't particularly definitive for the systems. It also varies depending on whether you're thinking of personal favorites or a more general, all-encompassing list.

For example, I've been collecting NES for 6 years and I only have around 100 games because my tastes are so specific (although I've yet to finish off my "must-have" list, which is around 180 games total), and my SNES collection is significantly smaller because I'm just not into it as much. But there are a ton of defining games for the NES and SNES that I would consider staples of the library even if I don't personally care to collect or play them (like RPGs and sports games).

-CasualCart

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

Since this is coming from a gaming perspective ("must play" titles), there's no reason to not just drop the whole lot and get a PowerPak/Everdrive instead. As you said, you're a hardware guy.  No need to waste the extra space on tapes.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

1 hour ago, JamesRobot said:

Since this is coming from a gaming perspective ("must play" titles), there's no reason to not just drop the whole lot and get a PowerPak/Everdrive instead. As you said, you're a hardware guy.  No need to waste the extra space on tapes.

Maybe another way to phrase the question is the "optimal" load-out for the SNES Classic, in terms of the necessities from each library worth playing on that system with that controller, and assuming you aren't going to hardware hack to get SD-card support.

 

You can get a decent selection on there, but it isn't like a PowerPak or Everdrive where space isn't a factor -- you have about 75 MB to work with if you want to make sure you leave space for save states across the library.

[dougeff | 14]

I own about 80 NES games, and there is still a few I wish I had. I think 100 would be closer to the essential set.

Although, I feel differently about other systems. I don't think I could name 50 n64 games. That essential set might be more like 25, for me.

Edited November 19, 2019 by dougeff

[Splain | 2,569]

That's why I think a percentage works better. 10% of the NES library helps cover the titles that you "miss out on" with just 50, and doing 50 games with N64 is a bit too many.

[Strikezone1 | 154]

23 hours ago, Nintegageo said:

Nah, I tend to be an original hardware sorta guy. I am with the people saying 50 games does not cover all the games you'd want to play though. Both consoles are amazing.

^I'm with this.

[Philosoraptor | 468]

16 hours ago, Rooster said:

Would SFC count towards an SNES list?  Because with SNES only, I could maaaaybe get a list down to 50.  With SFC included I absolutely could not.

I'd make the same statement for Famicom. In an already packed list, it'd be very difficult to add in all the deserving Japanese exclusives.

[Philosoraptor | 468]

Double post.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Philosoraptor

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

21 hours ago, Splain said:

Is this a spoiler?

 

It would be neat to all vote on it, and compile lists of the top 10% of each system. NES/SNES would each be close to 70 games. Game Boy, 50 games. N64, 30 games. Virtual Boy? One game, two if you round up.

Or 7%. 50 games from NES/SNES is about 7% of the library for each.

Well, it's within 50 of that number.

And SFC would really open the floodgates.  Tactics Ogre, Terranigma, Trials of Mana, Final Fantasy V, the Bombermans, Front Mission, Gun Hazard, and on and on...

[Rooster | 124]

6 hours ago, Philosoraptor said:

I'd make the same statement for Famicom. In an already packed list, it'd be very difficult to add in all the deserving Japanese exclusives.

I would definitely agree with that, too.  Famicom has so many interesting exclusives that it is too hard to get it down to 50.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

Definitely.  I'm sure some would probably get hot over this or that name worthy game/series being left out of the mix, but a Top50 list is a cinch.  Back when I had some hard days of unemployment that lost most my collection I had lots of hard pills to swallow killing off one entire line of systems on the whole, or just console(s) and the games with them too.  In the end I even had to chop into the Nintendo stuff I had, but I refused to let stuff drop under a certain level, the true stuff I had been gifted or bought in those periods for the NES and the SNES.  I conveniently did not let them fly under 50.  Even now after rebounding then realizing what mattered most, neither system is much higher around 56-58 games on each and I could make easy cuts there.

See for yourself, I can give you a list of X to remove to hit 50 if you're that curious but it saves me the trouble of writing that up or pasting it.  I do have a few famicom titles, I don't include those so they'd just get sold.

http://tanooki.byethost16.com/nintendo.html

http://tanooki.byethost16.com/supernintendo.html

[Californication | 1,477]

SNES maybe, NES I don't think so.

[OptOut | 8,883]

13 hours ago, Splain said:

That's why I think a percentage works better. 10% of the NES library helps cover the titles that you "miss out on" with just 50, and doing 50 games with N64 is a bit too many.

Challenge accepted! Here is my top 50 N64, not necessarily in order, just split into a few categories. Actually, I could have added quite a few more, but I didn't want to double up too much with sequels etc. and there's so many more games worth a look on the system! Just 50 for N64 is also too few, I'm serious, lol!

N64 Top 50 

Nintendo

1. Mario 64

2. Mario Kart 64

3. Paper Mario

4. Mario Party

5. Mario Tennis

6. Mario Golf

7. Ocarina of Time

8. Majora's Mask

9. F- Zero X

10. Yoshi's Story

11. Kirby 64

12. Wave Race

13. Pilot Wings 64

14. Smash Brothers

15. Star Fox

16. Pokemon Stadium 2

17. Pokemon Snap

18. Tetrisphere

Rare

19. Banjo Kazooie

20. Banjo Tooie

21. Diddy Kong Racing

22. Blast Corps

23. DK64

24. Jet Force Gemini

25. Conker

26. Goldeneye

27. Perfect Dark

FPS/shooter

28. Turok 

29. Turok 2

30. Doom 64

31. Quake

32. Duke Nukem 64

33. Duke Nukem Zero Hour

34. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

35. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

36. Operation Winback

Platformer/adventure

37. Rocket Robot on Wheels

38. Gex 3: Deep Cover Gekko

39. Tonic Trouble

40. Rayman 2

41. Space Station Silicon Valley

42. Toy Story 2

43. Disney's Tarzan

44. Hexen

45. Indiana Jones and the infernal Machine

Others

46. Star Wars: Episode 1 racer

47. Worms Armageddon

48. Vigilante 8

49. Lode Runner 3D

50. Harvest Moon 64

[NESfiend | 1,515]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:40 AM, fox said:

I think 50 would cover just the bare min.  You miss out on a lot of lesser but still great sequels (if you limited it to 1 per franchise), hidden gems, and personal favs.

Bump that threshold up to 100 and you would be set.

Agree with this 100%

[BortLicensePlate | 652]

On 11/19/2019 at 9:26 PM, Tanooki said:

Definitely.  I'm sure some would probably get hot over this or that name worthy game/series being left out of the mix, but a Top50 list is a cinch.  Back when I had some hard days of unemployment that lost most my collection I had lots of hard pills to swallow killing off one entire line of systems on the whole, or just console(s) and the games with them too.  In the end I even had to chop into the Nintendo stuff I had, but I refused to let stuff drop under a certain level, the true stuff I had been gifted or bought in those periods for the NES and the SNES.  I conveniently did not let them fly under 50.  Even now after rebounding then realizing what mattered most, neither system is much higher around 56-58 games on each and I could make easy cuts there.

See for yourself, I can give you a list of X to remove to hit 50 if you're that curious but it saves me the trouble of writing that up or pasting it.  I do have a few famicom titles, I don't include those so they'd just get sold.

http://tanooki.byethost16.com/nintendo.html

http://tanooki.byethost16.com/supernintendo.html

I'm kinda in a similar situation here. Once I started getting rid of stuff I realized I didnt need all that much to be happy. Right now I probably have about 20 or so games each for NES and SNES. Theres a few I'd like to add but I don't think I'll get over 30. And I've got plenty of great games to enjoy

[themisfit138 | 523]

50 per systems is easy to do. Just pick the games you will actually spend time playing. Do not pick what others have told you that you will enjoy. I have bought quite a few games that will only get a few minutes of play total. If I cut them out I could easily be down to 50.

I don’t think I could even get up to 50 on Wii and Wii U. I am about 30 short on Switch also. 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

On 11/22/2019 at 6:29 AM, BortLicensePlate said:

I'm kinda in a similar situation here. Once I started getting rid of stuff I realized I didnt need all that much to be happy. Right now I probably have about 20 or so games each for NES and SNES. Theres a few I'd like to add but I don't think I'll get over 30. And I've got plenty of great games to enjoy

You're smart.  See I think I did leave out one factoid but I did include that in the whole 'hi I return' welcome thread.  Not only have I stripped what I had back around the big die off, I had more, then went back to less and have maintained it in that 50-60 range, but I also didn't cut myself off cold.  When I realized I didn't want to get upset but more laugh at the crap going on with prices and people I did TWO things.  One: I got HDMI kits installed or attached(GC) to my systems so they'd last longer and be more tv bulletproof.  But TWO: To back that up I've invested in flash kits for nearly every system I have remaining, mostly everdrives, but also a retrohq kit for NGPC, and Omega for GBA as it's better.  Last year I got one for the PCE this year I'm looking at N64 black friday week (either ED or 64drive) and in 2020 when the Virtual Boys multiboy32 hits that from mellott.  This way I don't need a wall of plastic and chips, just what I care for most, and then a backdoor to fun the other way with that.

[Rudybegga | 48]

On 11/18/2019 at 5:45 AM, Nintegageo said:

Hey guys,

I would not ask you to do so, but reasonably do you think it is do-able without missing on any must-play style games.

Been debating removing a shelving unit and buying a second arcade cabinet, but I do not want to be a guy who has his collection in boxes.

No actual plans to do so, just wondering.

Cheers

You must really love the 1 arcade game to sacrifice an entire shelf (hundreds!) of games!!!

[Rudybegga | 48]

On 11/19/2019 at 10:08 PM, OptOut said:

Challenge accepted! Here is my top 50 N64, not necessarily in order, just split into a few categories. Actually, I could have added quite a few more, but I didn't want to double up too much with sequels etc. and there's so many more games worth a look on the system! Just 50 for N64 is also too few, I'm serious, lol!

N64 Top 50 

Nintendo

1. Mario 64

2. Mario Kart 64

3. Paper Mario

4. Mario Party

5. Mario Tennis

6. Mario Golf

7. Ocarina of Time

8. Majora's Mask

9. F- Zero X

10. Yoshi's Story

11. Kirby 64

12. Wave Race

13. Pilot Wings 64

14. Smash Brothers

15. Star Fox

16. Pokemon Stadium 2

17. Pokemon Snap

18. Tetrisphere

Rare

19. Banjo Kazooie

20. Banjo Tooie

21. Diddy Kong Racing

22. Blast Corps

23. DK64

24. Jet Force Gemini

25. Conker

26. Goldeneye

27. Perfect Dark

FPS/shooter

28. Turok 

29. Turok 2

30. Doom 64

31. Quake

32. Duke Nukem 64

33. Duke Nukem Zero Hour

34. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

35. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

36. Operation Winback

Platformer/adventure

37. Rocket Robot on Wheels

38. Gex 3: Deep Cover Gekko

39. Tonic Trouble

40. Rayman 2

41. Space Station Silicon Valley

42. Toy Story 2

43. Disney's Tarzan

44. Hexen

45. Indiana Jones and the infernal Machine

Others

46. Star Wars: Episode 1 racer

47. Worms Armageddon

48. Vigilante 8

49. Lode Runner 3D

50. Harvest Moon 64

You left out Ogre Battle?  How is that possible?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

35 minutes ago, Rudybegga said:

You left out Ogre Battle?  How is that possible?

Oh God, don't even get him started

[OptOut | 8,883]

2 hours ago, Rudybegga said:

You left out Ogre Battle?  How is that possible?

I told you there's WAY more than 50 good games on the N64, but people refuse to accept it.

I only included games on that list that I have personally played and enjoyed, and I haven't got to Ogre Battle yet, so that may explain its absence.

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Oh God, don't even get him started

People just be damn straight ignorant of N64, not my fault dude shit! 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,523]

I was actually referring more to your general disdain for RPGs 

[OptOut | 8,883]

14 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I was actually referring more to your general disdain for RPGs 

Well, I can only be surly and disgruntled in so many directions at once!