The SNES Rankings - Finished!

[Splain | 2,571]

1 hour ago, RH said:

And now back to @Reed Rothchild.  If you guys want to assist, PM me.  Once we get this ball rolling, we can talk semi-launch with a new thread post about the project and then people can discuss it much like this one.

Nah, this is our thread now.

Ok fine I'll PM you. Just a quick word to appreciate Reed's undertaking here, actually playing each game with a sincere effort to complete it, and putting together an entire ranked list of 714 games is an enormous task full of hard decisions. And then a writeup for each one. Doing the same with GB games has felt insurmountable, and GB games are way shorter and fewer.

[Gloves | 11,790]

1 hour ago, RH said:

I can admin a site just fine, but standing one up isn't my strong suit.  I've not created a full website since the days of actually purchasing shared virtual hosting.  I'm more of the site maker, who works on projects that have already been stubbed out and are part of CD/CI pipeline.  If that's your thing, I might ask you to help.  Cost is also a big point.  I'm quite aware how cloud services, but I have no clue about optimizing the minute details.  If that's all your area of expertise, then I'd appreciate the advisement and help if/when we get that far.

That's exactly what I mean. Transparently, I am not a designer. I can build a site that looks how you want, I can do the building, and I can get you set up on a system that is free to use up to a point (such a ridiculously high point that you'll never realistically reach it with this type of site). Hit me up whenever and we can discuss.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

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#22

And yes, I've been making you all scroll down on purpose this whole time! @Sumez

[B.A. | 1,139]

All bangers so far, pick something for me to get mad about already! 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,089]

6 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

#22

 

This is what I've been waiting for: to see some of the highly regarded SNES games that aren't on the "obviously" list.  Yeah, I know Chrono Trigger and FFVI and SMW will be in your Top 10 (probably Top 5), but it's how #25 to #11 shake out that is far more interesting to me.  As a guy who missed 80% of the SNES library, I've already put Actraiser on my wanted list as per your review...

[Tanooki | 4,936]

I've sung the praises of ActRaiser to anyone worth bringing it up to in a good 30 years now it's just that good, and for a list like this, that's a very suitable spot.  Perfection?  No, but it's leaps ahead in quality in nearly most the games on the system, all the most stunning due to the nutty blend of two genres with a hint of exploration there too that really make the game just magical.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

23 hours ago, Splain said:

Nah, this is our thread now.

Ok fine I'll PM you. Just a quick word to appreciate Reed's undertaking here, actually playing each game with a sincere effort to complete it, and putting together an entire ranked list of 714 games is an enormous task full of hard decisions. And then a writeup for each one. Doing the same with GB games has felt insurmountable, and GB games are way shorter and fewer.

Someone mentioned my site in a SNES thread somewhere yesterday, and the first response was "why did he only do US games?"

Like, can you imagine if I hadn't only done 714 games?  I'd have another 2-20 years in front of me 

[TDIRunner | 2,742]

7 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Someone mentioned my site in a SNES thread somewhere yesterday, and the first response was "why did he only do US games?"

Like, can you imagine if I hadn't only done 714 games?  I'd have another 2-20 years in front of me 

Wait, are you saying you aren't going to play and rank all of the Super Famicom dating sim games with a language barrier?  

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

3 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Someone mentioned my site in a SNES thread somewhere yesterday, and the first response was "why did he only do US games?"

Like, can you imagine if I hadn't only done 714 games?  I'd have another 2-20 years in front of me 

There are others than US?

 

You are to busy with your white privilege western centric ideals to do any other countries  

[Philosoraptor | 468]

3 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Wait, are you saying you aren't going to play and rank all of the Super Famicom dating sim games with a language barrier?  

Which horse racing game is the best horse racing game? Which mahjong game has the best "mechanics?" Which pachinko game best simulates sitting in a smoky, cacophonous, 1990s pachinko parlor watching your monthly paycheck literally going down the drain?

...The world may never know.

[RH | 4,915]

Counter point, this list could definitely use a couple of games some where on it like Bahamut Lagoon, Live a Live and the GOAT-- Final Fantasy V.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

ACKTUALLY,

Spoiler

the Dating Sim that popularized the genre, Tokimeki Memorial, was a 1994 PC Engine CD game and only got a SNES version in 1996 (by all accounts worse than the 1995 PS1 version). Not sure very many developers jumping on the latest trend would have bothered making Dating Sims for SNES when even the original version they were iterating on probably called on the CD medium a lot for its presentation and the SNES version was both late and would have shown the limitations of the console. And Tokemeki itself recently got a fan translation (sadly of the SNES version, though I'm sure that was easier to do than the PS1 game) so beating every Super Famicom dating sim might not necessarily be more complicated than "just play the English fan translation of Tokimeki Memorial and you're done."

But yeah, this is already a stupendous achievement and trying to take on all of the Super Famicom games in addition would clearly be silly.

What might not be ridiculous if you're going to call this "Ranking Every SNES game" is at some point having all of the officially licensed and released Super Nintendo games not released in the United States included in some fashion too - in other words, the PAL stuff. I've got a spreadsheet (copied from wikipedia a few years back) with every officially released SNES/Super Famicom game and there seem to be "only" 62 SNES games with a PAL release but not a North American one. Would still be a a big project by itself but might be sanely manageable at some point. And I recognize enough names among those games that the average quality might not even be worse than the stuff North America did get.

Oh, regardless all of that, looking over my spreadsheet it occurred to me that this thing doesn't seem to be either covered by the project or in the "Games that will not be covered by this project" list:

https://snescentral.com/article.php?id=0901

Might want to specify that it's not included. Or play it at some point, not sure it'd be much different emulating that than any of the other light gun games?

[Daniel_Doyce | 475]

18 hours ago, Tanooki said:

I've sung the praises of ActRaiser to anyone worth bringing it up to in a good 30 years now it's just that good, and for a list like this, that's a very suitable spot.  Perfection?  No, but it's leaps ahead in quality in nearly most the games on the system, all the most stunning due to the nutty blend of two genres with a hint of exploration there too that really make the game just magical.

You and Reed have talked me into it - I'm going to put it next on my to-play list. I've watched some of the longplays and the non-platforming parts are definitely confusing without much context.

[RH | 4,915]

Market watchers in the coming weeks...

"Hey, why in the world is ActRaiser going up in price?!"

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

@Tanooki @Andy_Bogomil @peg @Splain @spacepup @JamesRobot @bronzeshield @Space Jockey @Kguillemette @Daniel_Doyce @a3quit4s @ICrappedMyPants @scaryice @Matchbook @Shmup @KokiriChild @ALTQQ @jonebone @Ausden @AstralSoul @Gaia Gensouki @doner24 @Foochie776 @guillavoie @glazball @profholt82 @TheBiRD @LHCGreg @Dr. Morbis @RetroMichel @MrWunderful @ChickenTendas  @niner @MagusSmurf @Jeevan @Deadeye @RH @Philosoraptor

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#21

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

Kinda feel like this one still needs some touchups.  Guess I can do that tonight.  Oh well.

[JamesRobot | 5,806]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Kinda feel like this one still needs some touchups.  Guess I can do that tonight.  Oh well.

Lousy editors.

UN Squadron rules though.

[Tanooki | 4,936]

7 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

You and Reed have talked me into it - I'm going to put it next on my to-play list. I've watched some of the longplays and the non-platforming parts are definitely confusing without much context.

I could see that I guess.  You actually start out in a sky palace, then drop into first an action sequence in a forest with a centaur at the back end (Fillmore.)  You pop down to the world where 2 people are resurrected, from there you just use your limited tools you have now(just lightning) to clear the bushes/small trees and point which way to build.  It's straight forward, and the temple prayers to the master(you) via the angel (your avatar) will make sense quick.

7 hours ago, RH said:

Market watchers in the coming weeks...

"Hey, why in the world is ActRaiser going up in price?!"

Oooohnooossss not NintendoAge-Effect 2.0.

3 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

#21

Sweet, Area88/UN Squardron -- Another I own, also you're assuming half right.  Area 88 is an anime alright, but also a manga.  In the US stupidly, the publisher bailed on it when the story was mostly done, not all done, and I have the entire set in comic format I found early this year for a steal.  See for yourself, re-attached these, not sure why they're not in my storage.   It's a fantastic shooter, fantastic arcade game which this was copied from quite well, and a really nice read and watch.  Watching there's a 2 part OVA (smaller sized movie) you can find streaming legit free a few places online with a basic google search.

About the purchases, you're part of this unit of mercenaries, some who signed on, others who got snatched, and everything costs money because every kill is cash.  If you can save up enough money (in the real story) you can buy your freedom from this small nation.  But that's why it all costs, to keep you in debit to the country you fly for until the contract expires, you die, or buy your way out.  The more you kill the better weapons and fighters you can get to make it easier, not a lot, but some.  The main pilot Shin was snatched into the fight and while being the lead and so called best, he's all about escape, and the others, about cashing in.  It's a unique back story to a pretty straight forward shooter.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

8 hours ago, Daniel_Doyce said:

You and Reed have talked me into it - I'm going to put it next on my to-play list. I've watched some of the longplays and the non-platforming parts are definitely confusing without much context.

Just to be clear, it's a far, far cry from the sorta "sim" stuff you're used to.  Very lightweight stuff.  Consider that fair warning.

[Sumez | 2,966]

16 hours ago, RH said:

Counter point, this list could definitely use a couple of games some where on it like Bahamut Lagoon, Live a Live and the GOAT-- Final Fantasy V.

Yeah I mean I think playing through every single Japanese SNES game, including hundreds of text-heavy games you aren't even able to understand, would have muddied up the list even more than all the shitty US games in the bottom end of the list. This undertaking is already ridiculous, no reason to make it even more ridiculous.

But at the same time, a massive ranking of SNES games also becomes a bit misleading when the top 100 end of it ends up missing a lot of the games that are actually easily among the 100 best SNES games, due to what is frankly quite an arbitrary segregation. To turn the question around, would you be interested in a "ranking of all SNES games released in Europe", when it's missing obvious top hits like Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6?

So yeah, there's obviously two sides to that subject, on one side it would be incredibly terrible for Reed to even attempt it, on the other hand critics do have a point that important titles are being skipped.

I know he's played them though. I think a companion piece along the lines of "top 20 games not released in the US" or "honorary mentions because they would have been in the top 100 if it wasn't filtered by region" would be a fine way to sort them out and make everyone happy.
It's Reed's list though and I'm not actually gonna tell him what to do. Except from adding #-bookmarks to the links and not putting U.N Squadron over Gradius III. No, actually, putting Axelay of all things above Gradius III is probably the bigger crime.  

Edited September 17, 2022 by Sumez

[Reed Rothchild | 9,547]

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#20

I apologize for spamming all of you so many times!

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

We love it! Keep ‘em coming! Love how you stayed true to UN Squadron. This is your list and ultimately graphics, gameplay, level design, controls, whatever else don’t even matter as long as you had fun playing it. New Horizons was a surprise to me but I know your a glutton for punishment so it isn’t really a surprise. 

[scaryice | 588]

7 hours ago, Sumez said:

Yeah I mean I think playing through every single Japanese SNES game, including hundreds of text-heavy games you aren't even able to understand, would have muddied up the list even more than all the shitty US games in the bottom end of the list. This undertaking is already ridiculous, no reason to make it even more ridiculous.

There's something like 1400 total SFC games, so that would be even more ridiculous.

To me, one interesting thing is how a game's placement might change based on the region. FF4 is such a great, classic rpg, but I would definitely rate the western version lower because of the changes they made.

Edited September 17, 2022 by scaryice

[Splain | 2,571]

How many PAL-region games are there that didn't get a US release? For Game Boy it's around 15%. Maybe we can convince Reed to do those ones. We'll give him like a week off and then back to it!

[MagusSmurf | 577]

1 hour ago, Splain said:

How many PAL-region games are there that didn't get a US release? For Game Boy it's around 15%. Maybe we can convince Reed to do those ones. We'll give him like a week off and then back to it!

62.

And he’s already played at least The Firemen and Terranigma so 60 or less to go!