RPGs
Scratch n' sniff this Shigesato Itoi joint that flopped at release but has become a beloved cult classic. Should've grabbed those bargain bin copies when you had the chance.
What is EarthBound?
This 1991 Enix/Quintet game blends action/platforming sections with periods of top-down city-building sim gameplay. Playing God has never been more fun.
What is ActRaiser?
This popular anime series is one of the foundational pieces of "giant robot" pop culture and boasts a whopping 15 separate Super Famicom games.
What is Mobile Suit Gundam?
*** "Gundam" is acceptable. This is the 100 point question, or I would have made you say an actual game title.
This inventive Midway/Acclaim basketball game from 1993/1994 was "on fire" as it took the gaming world by storm in arcades and on every home system you could think of.
What is NBA Jam?
This 1992 Mario title produced by Gunpei Yokoi was packaged with the SNES Mouse peripheral and inspired a generation of aspiring artists.
What is Mario Paint?
This 1995 classic time-traveling Squaresoft RPG is considered by some to be the best SNES game ever made. Though it has been released on multiple systems, it is inexplicably not for sale on modern consoles, with a 2008 DS release being the most recent outing.
What is Chrono Trigger?
This followup to NES game Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos features isometric puzzle-platforming and, unlike Landstalker, actual shadows cast by objects.
What is Equinox?
This wildly popular horse racing sim series is comprised of over 21 games total, of which "II," "III," "'96," and "'98" were released in some form on Super Famicom.
What is Derby Stallion?
This 1992 Kemco racer kicked off a popular series where drivers compete internationally to become the "top" driver in the world.
What is Top Gear?
This 1989 Maxis game was re-developed/ported to SNES in 1991 with significant involvement from Nintendo, helping propel the game to sell nearly 2 million copies. Don't let Bowser wreak too much havoc on your well-planned community!
What is SimCity?
The First Final Fantasy title featuring characters with set, unchangeable character classes and dramatic storytelling. Though Square-Enix generally re-sells FF titles as broadly and as often as possible, this irreplaceable classic has not been seen on a console since the PSP/DS days.
What is FFIV (JP/normalized) or FFII (NA SNES)?
Before Farmville, Stardew Valley, etc., there was this 1997 Natsume farming life sim game which birthed a long-running series (and indeed, a genre.)
What is Harvest Moon?
This 1996 Squaresoft tactical RPG centers around two player-owned unit types: humans (which you can control) and dragons (which act autonomously on the player's behalf.) Much of the gameplay involves feeding and raising dragons between battles to make them stronger and cause them to evolve.
What is Bahamut Lagoon?
This fighting game parody was created by photographing and digitizing clay models.
What is Clay Fighter?
This Taito brick-breaking game was published by Nintendo in North America and Europe in 1997.
What is Arkanoid: Doh it Again?
*no points for just "Arkanoid"*
This 1995 tactical RPG from Enix features a wide variety of endings as the player leads a revolution against the oppressive Empress of Zetegenia. Decisions during battles and conversations result in secret "good" and "evil" markers, pushing you towards one ending or another.
What is Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen?
Originally an Atari arcade game, this title was published by EA on SNES. Players alternate between building castles to annex territories and shooting cannons to breach the opponent's castle walls.
What is Rampart?
This first installment of a survival horror series later popularized on Playstation consoles came first to Super Famicom in 1995. Jennifer must escape Barrows Mansion while evading Scissorman with her fellow orphans.
What is Clock Tower?
Though most people don't associate this series with SNES, this 1994 Acclaim title sold 1.5M copies on the system. Good thing Nintendo decided not to censor the gore this time around.
What is Mortal Kombat II?
Look, I know a joycon is no giant plastic bazooka, but I need you to figure it out, Nintendo. Yoshi hasn't scolded me for shooting him in the back of his skull since the mid-nineties.
What is Yoshi's Safari?
Many people consider this 1994 Quintet/Enix action RPG to be part of a trilogy alongside Terranigma and Soul Blazer.
What is Illusion of Gaia?
This LucasArts-developed space-traveling, power-suit-wearing, side-splitting adventure pits the player (a newly minted 21-star general) against the evil Space Slugs in a sprawling, intergalactic struggle for humanity's survival.
What is Big Sky Trooper?
This 1999 Fire Emblem title has never been officially released outside Japan, where it first came out through the Nintendo Power flash cartridge system and has seen subsequent Japan-only virtual console releases on Wii and Wii U.
What is Fire Emblem: Thracia 776?
This 1995 Namco fighter is often considered to be the precursor to what would later become the Soul Caliber series.
What is Weaponlord?
This Nintendo/HAL gambling game features blackjack, poker, craps, roulette, and slot machines. Players compete against each other or in single player mode, against CPU to race to $10M
What is Vegas Stakes?