~Beyond the Border~ > Akyu's Arcade
Gather around for SNES chat
Tamer Anode/Cathode:
I'm going to break from the RPG crowd here and say Mega Man X1 and Super Metroid. Both are very solid platformers with solid atmospheres, pretty memorable boss encounters, and lots of ways to experiment around with techniques to discover shortcuts and ways to improve a run.
Gesh86:
Super Metroid and Secret of Evermore.
Super Metroid is just all around great. Controls, level design and atmosphere is top notch. I really like how it can make encounters impressionable without resorting to the conventional cutscene (examples: Crocomire taking his final bath; Draygon being buried by her kids, the Baby defending you). Kind of unprecedented at its time. Despite it being my childhood favourite, I only recently finished it with the best ending. There was something I never liked about the idea of getting such a game done quick, but now I'm glad I did it and experienced how tough it can be when you have no time to grab all the items.
Secret of Evermore unjustly has the reputation of being "that western Secret of Mana rehash". It's one of the most mature looking titles on the system. I like the intended dirtiness of the environments and it also has great sound ambience. I didn't mind it having no multiplayer, it was difficult at the time to get the average buddy interested in a Squaresoft ARPG anyway.
The runner-up is Terranigma. I'm European, so I loved it long before the rest of the internet did :3.
dosboot:
Man, I keep hearing why I should play Phantom 2040, I really ought to finally do that!
(I also am pretty intrigued by Romancing Saga 3 now. I've previously only received weak vibes when people described it.)
--- Quote from: Gesh86 on May 28, 2017, 04:51:05 PM ---I really like how it can make encounters impressionable without resorting to the conventional cutscene (examples: Crocomire taking his final bath; Draygon being buried by her kids, the Baby defending you). Kind of unprecedented at its time.
--- End quote ---
You know, I never really noticed this technique of "in-game scenes" as a veritable through line for Super Metroid until now, even though I've remarked before how effective it works at the start and end (where Ridley appears on the space station, and then the two scenes with the Metroid in Tourain).
Secret of Evermore is well regarded by myself as well, it would probably make my short list of favorite SNES action RPGs. At one point I was smitten by Secret of Mana, but Evermore's partner AI and magic system fix big sore spots so it's much more fun to replay. I actually feel like Evermore fans have been muscling up on Secret of Mana's reputation over the years, even if hasn't quite escaped being the lesser cousin.
dosboot:
I've been playing B.O.B. lately. Anyone familiar with this? In my mind it's one of the ultimate rental SNES games that plenty of people seem to have played but few probably owned, although I don't know if that's really the case. It's a level based sidescroller with a lot of shooting and platforming. You play as a gold robot with cartoony animations, collecting lots of weapons and trying not to get hit while you search for the exit. It's fairly fun, but sometimes it doesn't feel enough thought was put into the enemy placement so you get hit when you weren't expecting to.
I've been cheaty by using save states at the start of levels, but after making some progress I'm tempted to play more without it. The main punishment for death is that you lose all your collected ammo when you die. You have infinite continues, but running out of lives makes you continue from the last level that gave you a password (every 3 or so levels). When you use save states to restart levels you end up with tons of surplus ammo, whereas playing normally gives a more seat-of-your-pants experience.
theshirn:
Terranigma you uncultured heathens. For all that it had an exceedingly awkward translation and never was released in NA, it is one of the most genuinely beautiful games I've played. Some spectacular music and some great moments of character development and (literal) world building. I would absolutely love a polished, updated reboot of Terranigma, I think it would be incredible.