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Monday, July 2, 2012

Update July 2, 2012

A thank you to anyone who has enjoyed or supported the first iteration of The Hippie Gamer. In this first month I have tested the waters and learned much about putting thoughts out onto the web. I hope anyone who reads this will follow along in the continuing evolution of this blog and the idea behind it as I hope to expand and grow as time goes on. Our mission is simple, show the world the joys and wonders that our minds, creativity, computers and software can bring today and in the future and how we relate to these video games, smart phones, and the ever evolving world of the internet and ideas. Our upcoming future projects involve getting our own domain name and to have our website hosted on a server rather than the Google Blogger Service. I am also planning on my first video project based on the video game Kid Icarus for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The project will be a 10 to 15 minute long fan action film and parody review. I will also continue to write entries for this blog and provide any information if and when we move. 


If you would like to donate to help support us and our future video and web projects please feel free to donate to The Hippie Gamer via our paypal donation button.

Thanks, Peace,

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Off to on


You are not alone, you have never been alone and never will be. The universe is vast, and contains an endless inexhaustible, unfathomable wealth of stars, and planets, and energy, and atoms that you are a part of. You are made up of the same materials you can find everywhere in the universe, and yet you are specially arranged so that you have the capacity to experience. If you can read this, that means you’ve been given the gift of a brain, which means you have the capability to shape the universe around you. The brain was born to create, and even the simplest thoughts and words you speak or write have the most profound power to create unique realities and experiences.When you learn to think for yourself and operate your own mind you can use that ability to speak directly to the mind of another human being. This is why computers are the most important tools in our continuing human existence. The computer allows you access to media and tools of creation so that you can take control of your own mind easily. Media is the language of the brain. Lights and sounds, pictures and ideas. Through media we can create a basic universal human language. If a game is good, if a picture is appealing, if a video is funny, it is so universally without having to speak. If you consider electronic medium a way to communicate directly to the brain without language than computers and the internet allow us a sort of telepathy. The Internet and Computers give us a platform on which to speak to the collective mind of the entire world and say anything that we desire. What would you say into the microphone? What would You say to the entire world? What message would you send knowing you had that large an audience?
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Friday, June 22, 2012

How to Design Video Games



Video games are an amazing electronic art form, and there are already many amazing great games out there to play and experience and enjoy. But have you ever thought to yourself, I wish I could make my own games? If you have the passion and dedication, you could actually teach yourself how to make your own games using the internet. I’m writing this as a sort of guide for anyone who would be interested in the idea of game development as anything from a hobby to a full blown profession. I am by no means a part of the latter category but I’ve gotten my feet wet enough to know the water’s fine and can show you where to step. I wish it would one day become as easy enough for people to make their own games as it were for people to record themselves on a camera and upload it to youtube.

I hope that this guide inspires someone to start a new revolution in independent game design that creates a gaming Renaissance. Maybe someone will take a look at this and think about coming up with a free and open standard for a games console that anyone can manufacture and anyone can program a game for. Perhaps this very guide could spawn the birth of a new era in human interaction and creativity through the power of imagination!Or at the very least,I hope, you might find it somewhat informative.

Steps toward game development.

Passion

  • Maybe you’ve heard of the hundreds of millions of dollars that the video game industry is able to rake in year after year and think to yourself, man, I would love to make a game and get filthy rich. People hear all the time about how small teams of developers, as small as even possibly one person can write a game using a Software Developer's Kit for iOS or Android and publish it on the iTunes Store, or Google Play and make millions of dollars in a flash! Money can sometimes be a good motivational factor for a some people. However, with a labor intensive job like game design where one must have a large amount of knowledge and dedication to get projects done on time, (or done at all!) it really helps if you’re already a gaming enthusiast.

If you already love video games and know which ones are popular and which ones are your favorites then you already have a basis of ideas for what makes a game fun. We’ve all seen and played horrible games made my companies that clearly had no passion for gaming, and no ideas for what constitutes as fun. Games like abysmal movie tie-in games, like anything made by LJN on the NES or Batman Forever for the Super Nintendo, or shovelware crap like Ninjabread Man for the Wii. And if you do love video games, chances are you’ll never stop exposing yourself to games new and old alike and do lots of research on video game history.

Learn the classics from every system and how the current systems came to be. Watch game reviews until your eyes bleed. Participate in community gaming events like hobbyist leagues, conventions, and tournaments and initiate and hold your own gaming events. Make fan films or animations about your favorite games, or write a blog or a song about them. Take advantage of sites that allow you to build and customize games like RPGmaker.

Communicate with fellow gamers over the internet using forums or chat rooms. Read top 100 lists for classic gaming systems. Spend discretionary income on classic gaming systems easily found online or at thrift stores, flea markets,pawn shops,garage sales, independent game shops, and used media outlets.

Gamer Culture Resources:


Programming

  • One big aspect of game development is computer programming.For learning programming at a fundamental level and to make a large library of software and resources available to your disposal instantaneously, you should definitely check out free and open source software. For computer gaming development open source can provide such tools as easy to learn programming languages like Python and Lua. You also have text editors such as Emacs, and Gedit to write your software.
There are also free operating systems to run your software such as GNU/Linux distributions like Ubuntu, and Linux Mint. Or, there are BSD and other operating systems, which are known as “Unix-like”, for sort of emulating or performing similarly to an older proprietary (as in not free) operating system called Unix. The beauty of free software from a programmer’s standpoint is that free software is not only free as in no charge, but that the program’s source code, (sort of like a recipe for a program) is made freely available so that you can observe it, study it, correct flaws, and do with it what you wish so long as you maintain the rights of others to do the same.

  • If programming is a part of game design that really interests you, be advised programming is very math heavy and you should try learning all the arithmetic you can.

Programming Resources:


Python Programming

Python, Blender and PyGame

  • The language I started learning with, and the language that I’ve seen in a lot of research as being easy to learn even for people who have no experience in programming is python. Python is a general purpose programming language that is included in the default installations of many common operating systems such as Ubuntu Linux and Mac OS X.

Python Links



HTML Design

Another good skill to have for game development is web development! Naturally after you’ve made a game you’re going to want to share it with people. Whether as open source, or for profit itself, a website is a good way to generate a passive income stream so that you can focus on your new passion and hobby of game development. You can do lots of things with your game on the web like advertising, developer’s logs, uploading video trailers, etc. The most basic and fundamental skill you will need for web development is knowing how to write in HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language. Much like a programming language this is what every website is written in.

HTML Tutorials
http://code.google.com/edu/submissions/html-css-javascript/

Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, and Creativity

  • Game design generates many technical problems that can only be solved with a sharp mind that’s capable of solving difficult problems, and critical thinking is necessary to come up with scenarios and characters that would fit well within gameplay mechanics and hardware limitations. Creativity in all different aspects as well would be beneficial to game design, anything from drawing to creative writing, to musical ability, etc all wind up in one form or another with game design.

  • Another aspect of this is being well rounded. Learn as much as you can about whatever you want and don’t stop thirsting for knowledge and new experiences. The more you understand about the world and what goes on in it the more ideas and experience you can put into great gaming experiences. Even Shigeru Miyamoto used something as simple as a scary dog bite as a child as an inspiration for the character chain-chomp. The creator of earthbound based the main enemy of it’s game, Giygas as a distorted memory he had of a rape scene from a vintage japanese snuff film. The world all around us if filled with a wealth of ideas and it takes a creative mind to copy, transform, and combine all kinds of different elements into something new and exciting.


Artistic Abilities

Maybe programming isn’t your thing, and you wouldn’t want to be a producer. Maybe you want to design levels, or characters, or costumes. Maybe you want to design the box art or instruction manual for a game. Visual arts is one of the biggest parts of Video Game Design from Graphic Arts to Multi-Media Design. As such you should have functional knowledge of drawing techniques and fundamental elements, as well as being familiar with visual art software such as Adobe Photoshop.

Artistic Resources:

  • http://dev.drawspace.com/ - Basic Drawing Lessons.
  • http://www.drawright.com/ - Drawing On The Right Side of The Brain by Betty Edwards is a highly regarded book that looks at the technique of combining elements from an artistic work and viewing them as parts of a whole piece.
  • http://www.creativecrash.com/ - A community for Computer Graphics Software
  • http://www.good-tutorials.com/ - A website full of user submitted tutorials for Adobe Photoshop
  • http://www.gimp.org/ - A free and open source alternative to the commecial graphics editor Adobe Photoshop.
  • www.blender.org - Blender is a free and Open-source 3D image editor and animator written in Python. Blender can be used for video effects, CGI Animation, and Video Game Development.

Schooling

Maybe teaching yourself isn’t for you but you’re still interested in pursuing a career in game design. Here is a list of colleges that you can research for further information on an education in the field of Game Design.


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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Gaming on Venus


As a note on this article this is really just more a creative writing piece than any sort of journalistic work. I was sitting down and meditating one day just thinking about the possibilities of the future as I often do, and was thinking more about how video games and technology in general are connecting humanity in a way never before achieved where events and people can communicate essentially by thought around the world already.


The Venus Project is a planned society designed by Jacques Fresco to try and solve the problem of scarcity in a society, in order to bring the highest quality of life possible for everyone by declaring all the worlds resources and land as common heritage among all peoples.While the idea is a bit Utopian, and improbable in the near future barring a total societal collapse, there are developing technologies such as Solar Power, Utility Fog, and 3D-Printing that may eventually actually bring us to a post-scarcity society in which goods and resources are freely available thanks to decentralized manufacturing and production. In other words, the future will allow us the satisfaction of piracy of physical goods through artificial means. You wouldn’t download a car would you? I’m pretty sure the answer everyone actually has to that question is IF I COULD! I SO VERY MUCH WOULD!

In a futuristic world like The Venus Project there wouldn’t exist any corporate entities, no big gaming companies like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc that would dictate what games come out and when and what system specs and platforms would be. Would we still have video games? How would they have progressed? What would we play them on? Would we just all have open source computers hooked up to our tvs with futuristic versions of a Steam Platform? Thousands upon thousands of Humble Indie Bundles? Not to question the fact that if we lived in such a post scarcity society anybody who had the desire to learn to develop a game could, it would open up a whole new world of creativity and diversity in gaming as more people than ever who were enthusiastic about game design could collaborate and make new games.

There’s billions of possibilities as well for the different platforms that games COULD adopt. In Star Trek’s post scarcity society they had the Holodeck which could literally replicate any sort of imaginable environment or object as a 3-D solid photonic hologram. At what year does full immersion virtual reality take effect? How will it? Would it be an open room simulation like the Holodeck, or would it be nanorobots interfacing with your brain and changing your perceptions to the point where you’re nothing but a vegetable inside your own infinite imagination. How do we know we’re not already in a simulation like that right now?

Controllers , a keyboard, and mouse, have been the preferred methods for gaming input so far. Motion controlling is still comparatively in its infancy even though there are some elaborate tech demonstrations that are quite impressive. The Seventh Generation is the first to have major adoption of motion controls on consoles. Even Razer came out with a PC accessory that’s similar to the Wii remote and nunchuck combo. Video Headgear is making a comeback in recent years from the original 80s and 90s designs. Even the legendary John Carmack who is responsible for great FPS games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom is working on a Virtual Reality helmet for the Doom 3 BFG edition and probably a lot more applications than just that. The new Wii U gamepad is giving you a dynamically positionable screen and all kinds of input and feedback devices built into a controller not significantly larger than former offerings.

Not to mention gaming is becoming a much, much more social experience. Even more so than just online games there is now even online content in single player games. As evidenced by the Wii U where other people and players around the world will be able to observe your gameplay in real time through status updates and your own comments and feedback and interact with you even when they’re not even playing the same game but can still help you out with tips. I’m reminded of a Shigeru Miyamoto interview I once read where Miyamoto explained how he wanted the original Legend of Zelda to be a social game in the fact that people would stand around the water cooler or talk about it at school and reveal different pieces of information about the game to each other so that in a sense you’re all helping each other out to beat the game and unlock all the secrets. Now Nintendo has finally managed to devise the technology to implement that system directly into their online gaming network.

Just another sign of the connected consciousness that human technological evolution is progressing toward. Social Networking, pervasive wireless networking advances, and other technologies are continually linking more and more devices together. Kevin Warwick even implanted RFID chips into his own skin to control electronic devices like doors and lights. What if we put that same technology into an Xbox or a Wii for signing in to the console’s network? Or what if we used the impulses from his arm like he did in another experiment and used it to control 1:1 lifelike movement of a video game character or a telerobot engaged in actual combat or a sporting event for entertainment all while humans sat comfortably at home in their chairs watching from their tvs.

Xbox, aside from the last minute throw-in of the “smart glass” feature which is basically a glorified controller app, is essentially taking the direct opposite approach to Nintendo’s new gaming platform. The Kinect is all the sensors and input methods built into the console itself and having no controller other than your own body. In theory this method would be pretty unique and efficient, but in reality the Kinect isn’t Minority Report so much as it’s Microsoft Eye-Toy Waggle Fest. I can’t seem to know anyone who actually uses a Kinect for their Xbox to play Xbox games, and yet it’s a huge selling device and this past week at E3 it’s essentially all Microsoft talked about. There’s no telling what the Xbox 720 or whatever the successor shall be called will use as its primary input method as Microsoft hasn’t yet said a single word about it and they will most likely try and copy Nintendo’s idea a little more, but with as much time and energy they’ve invested in Kinect so far I wouldn’t count the device not being relevant to Microsoft’s next console in some way.

There’s really no telling what direction game input methods could take in the future with all the technology becoming more easily available. From everything to better Kinect sensors, to clothes with built in biometric and motion sensing capabilities, to holodecks, neural stimulators, to maybe even one day pure thought control over every aspect of your game allowing some sort of god-like satisfaction and utility of world creation with infinite details customized to your liking.

Would we even have consoles in the future? Would we even have computers? Currently, rather than becoming more decentralized as lots of technologies become over time, the internet and computing as a whole is moving toward cloud computing, or computing as a utility where if you could just pump high end supercomputing power through the internet to a terminal, you essentially eliminate the need for private storage, or even operating systems capable of anything more than connecting to the mainframe system and accessing your own personal desktop. For lots of personal reasons I don’t find this model a favorable one as it limits control to the individuals that own your server and your data and I’m definitely in favor of a more decentralized approach with computers a plenty and pervading our surroundings from everything to computers in clothing to computers in furniture like Ray Kurzweil predicts. To quote Isaac Asimov “I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them.”  Computers and Technology can usher in lots of exciting new possibilities and can make future experiences incredible, and allow for connection on levels never thought possible before and one of the driving forces behind that development in the future is definitely going to be gaming.

In a world without scarcity there’s no need for money, with no need for money, monetary incentive is replaced as the primary motivating factor in one’s work with self satisfaction. With no boring or monotonous jobs that leaves a large amount of time that could be devoted to entertainment and leisure. You would see works of art of all kinds in abundance in such a society. Gaming would be one such category that would evolve from largely a money making form of entertainment to one that could be freely utilized as one of the ultimate forms of self-expression. Popular games could be experienced by anyone without ownership being necessary. People would make games purely for passion and desire and could give them to others as unique gifts. You could make a game like an interactive movie where you take the lead role, you could create any imaginable scenario, even replicate the life events of another person.

I think gaming and the social interconnectedness made possible by technology will be a major part in the coming singularity as we all become one subjectively experiential collective conscious.
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Bit Wars: An Alternate History Part 1

I’ve always wondered what the console market would be like if things had played out differently during the Bit Wars. If Sega had stayed a top dog after the Genesis, perhaps if Sony had never released the Playstation. What if Microsoft focused on different means of gaming like PC hardware and what if Gabe Newell had never left Microsoft but released Steam and Valve gaming as the head of Microsoft Games Division? The first multi-part series I’ve decided to include is a Command and Conquer: Red Alert style retrospective and alternate history of the 90s console wars. I hope you’ll subscribe and enjoy reading about my ideas for how the face of video game hardware and software could have been radically different from that which we know today.

1984: The Third Generation

Following the video game crash of 1983 in the US, two home consoles from Japan rose from the ashes of the over-saturated market and reclaimed it with superior hardware and quality titles.One was the highly popular Famicom, also known in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System. This system dominated in both the US and Japan thanks to innovative and addicting games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and also thanks in part to restrictions on software development. The other system was the Sega Master System, while also having high popularity in the US and Japan it didn’t have nearly as many sales in either market. The Sega Master System did however have a substantial lead over its competitor in Europe, Brazil, and Oceania. While long time veteran Atari did release their own 8-bit console, the Atari 7800, to compete with Nintendo and Sega they failed to gain even a small percentage of the market share and finally dropped out of hardware development in 1987. After 5 years on the market at the end of the decade Sega and Nintendo knew it was time to release the new wave of 16-bit consoles and turn the cold-war between them hot.

1987:The Genesis of the 16-bit Era

Noticing the lucrative business models of companies like Nintendo and Sega, Japanese company NEC partnered with Hudson Soft who fell out of an agreement for advanced graphics chips from Nintendo. Thus, the PC-Engine, the world’s first 16 bit game console was born. Thanks to an efficient 3 chip architecture and the use of proprietary game cards rather than cartridges the PC-Engine became a fast seller and rivaled the aging Famicom in Japan. The PC-Engine was then brought out of its native country and into the US, redesigned with composite video out, and an extra controller port to appeal to the US multiplayer market. NEC didn’t want to chance making a big flop outside Japan and made an aggressive ad campaign posing the PC-Engine as Faster and more cutting edge than The NES or Sega Master System.It worked, and following the launch of the PC-Engine in North America NEC/Hudson Soft were on top of the world Console market.

What they hadn’t realized was Nintendo and Sega had both been working on 16-bit machines of their own. They had urinated on sleeping giants, and come 1988 Sega was the first to respond to the PC engine with superior sound and graphics on the Sega Mega-Drive. Fans of the Master System happily upgraded to their brand new Sega systems complete with a new game that was to become the mascot rivaling the edginess of PC-Engine and the cuteness of characters like Mario that had made Nintendo a household name combined, with the launch of Sonic The Hedgehog. It had proved to be a killer app as it appealed to all age groups, whereas the PC-Engine had a more adult feel to its library of arcade games and shoot-em-ups.

Another benefit of the Sega Genesis was the choice of cartridges for its game medium which allowed for much longer and more complex games making the initial cool-factor of the PC-Engine’s rather limiting in size HuCards a major concern for developers who quickly developed an add on using the latest in CD technology in Japan that same year, to increase the space available and as an added benefit the ease of production for the PC-Engine games. The initial japanese CD model was a success and paved the way for a cheaper more marketable model in the United States.

Unfortunately due to failed partnerships and the foresight for a small market relative to an expensive add-on for an already expensive console, Sega decided to shelve their plans of their own 16-bit CD add on, works for many Sega CD games other than those that were to include a gimmick of low quality “Full Motion Video Graphics” were translated into Mega Cartridges. This included what became Sonic 2, with a Sonic 3 done by Sonic team in US following relatively quickly.

Finally in 1990 Nintendo had bided their time riding the continuing success and longevity of NES long enough to acquire more cutting edge and powerful hardware than either NEC or Sega who had already released their 16-bit machines. They released the Super Nintendo with a plethora of launch titles. Although they had considered a CD add-on like Sega and NEC they decided to move their plans and ideas with their partners Sony into a new console project for the next generation, as their cartridge technology still provided better graphics and only lacked the fidelity in sound the the PC-Engine’s audio was capable of rendering.

Meanwhile NEC had designed and released an all in one unit for the PC-Engine and the CD add on which also included more memory and a second set of video chips, known as the PC-Engine Duo. This model completely replaced the core PC-Engine system as well as the add-on and was cheaper together rather than separate. All 3 Systems were in a fierce competition and all had roughly equally 30% of the market share beating out even the newer smaller consoles like the Panasonic 3DO, the Phillips CD-I, and to a lesser extent the Neo Geo by SNK Playmore who still had a niche market of arcade cabinet quality cartridge units and superior arcade joysticks as well as wonderful fighting games and shooters.

By the mid 90s, Nintendo and Sega both knew that CD would be absolutely essential to their success in the coming console generation as the the newcomer PC-Engine rose from nowhere to virtually a 3-way tie with its inclusion this time.












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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Top 12 Super Nintendo Games

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was the second video game console produced by Nintendo following the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in the United States in August of 1991 it was the best selling and most popular game console of its time. I have very fond personal memories of this console as it was the first video game system that I ever played. In fact, one of my earliest memories is waking up in the children’s seat of a shopping cart at my local K-Mart to see a green Super Nintendo box bundled with Donkey Kong Country being pulled out of layaway. Little did I know at the time that the Super Nintendo would be one of the most influential pieces of technology in my life. It would instill my love of video games and set me down the path to meeting friends, deciding my career, and shaping the outlook I have on the world. I’ve never really heard any negative criticism on the Super Nintendo. It is generally regarded as a great platform and as such, I’m sure lots of people are already very familiar with the great game library it has to offer. The following is a list of my favorite Super Nintendo games, why I love them, and what I think makes them worth playing even today. I hope that this list will maybe introduce the Super Nintendo and its classics to new people, or maybe act as a reminder to those that have already experienced the Super Nintendo that it truly is a masterpiece of gaming. Maybe after reading this you’ll want to dust off your SNES and play some games and relive times past. So without further ado, let’s get started shall we?


Top 12 Super Nintendo Games



12.Super Street Fighter 2 The New Challengers : The sequel to the virtually unheard of 1987 title Street Fighter. This game essentially birthed the current fighting game genre as we know it today. Even back in the 90s Capcom had the habit of releasing Street Fighter titles every year or so with only slight new additions and characters to the one before it. The New challengers has the most fighters of any other version of Street Fighter 2 so I decided to include it over others in this list.You play as one of 16 fighters and travel the globe to become the world’s ultimate martial artist. While the game is easy to be picked up and played by anyone who can handle a SNES pad, the real challenge is in learning all the fighting styles and nuances of each character as many enthusiasts have been doing since this game was released. Learning how to chain combos and perform special attacks takes time, practice, and discipline almost like a real martial art itself. The characters, music, and stages are all very memorable and the graphics are fantastic for 2-D games of its time thanks to the games ability for certain larger characters like the bulky Zangief to take up more memory than smaller characters.




11.F-Zero: Probably the most fast paced game on the Super Nintendo. As a launch title for the Super Nintendo it was essentially a way for Nintendo to demonstrate the 3-D perspectives that could be made possible by Mode-7 graphics hardware on  the SNES. This futuristic single player racing game has you hurtling past other machines and obstacles at hundreds of kilometers per hour through 15 different stages split up between 3 circuits. What this game lacks in terms of backgrounds and environments it makes up for in the feeling of sheer speed you get and the killer soundtrack will definitely stay in your mind long after you’ve turned off your control deck. This game was widely praised and paved the way for lots of sequels and even its own anime. As an interesting side-note the cars in this game hovered above the ground using the G-Diffuser technology that’s also mentioned in the game Star-Fox 64. That’s another thing I love about Nintendo games, all the subtle in-game nods to other franchises all within the same universe.




10.Star Fox: One of the first 3-D polygon games on a home console, and the first 3-D Nintendo game. You play as an anthropomorphic fox named Fox McCloud, the leader of the Star Fox team, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. You’re mercenaries hired by the Cornerian army to put a stop to the evil inter-planetary scientist and dictator Andross. The game is a rail shooter which means you move along a predetermined route and moving your ship is primarily a means of dodging enemy fire. Unfortunately due to the nature of the graphics this game hasn’t aged well as many others on this list, but it’s addicting gameplay and amusing characters are more than enough to warrant picking it up today.




9.Super Mario All-Stars: The Nintendo franchise that started it all! Four Mario Titles from the original NES all revamped in 16-bit glory! The gameplay in 2-D mario games starts out very simple and easy and anyone can pick it up and play. As always there’s a wall in Mario games where in a split second it goes from a delightful romp in the park to an all out war against the Koopas and this game is no exception times four. This game included the first 3 Super Mario Bros titles released in the US and also a game called Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. The Lost levels is actually the real Super Mario Bros 2 developed for Japan but then at the time deemed too difficult for American audiences. The game that most people know as Super Mario Bros. 2 In the USA was actually a different non-Mario game entirely in Japan called Doki-Doki Panic that was re-skinned and re-branded. In Japan Super Mario All-Stars was called Super Mario Collection and the US Mario 2 was Titled Super Mario USA. Arguably the best title in the bunch, and arguably the best mario game of all time is Super Mario Bros. 3 which was the first mario game to feature an Overworld Map. The game features lots and lots of levels in varied worlds and all kinds of unique power-ups like the Raccoon Tail and the Tanooki Suit which allows Mario to fly and turn into a stone statue and also the frog suit which allows Mario to swim more easily.




8.Kirby Superstar: Much like Super Mario All Stars, Kirby Super Star is a collection of 8 different Kirby Games. For those that don’t know Kirby is a pink anthropomorphic blob that sucks up enemies like a vacuum and copies their abilities sort of like Mega Man. Kirby was made by the legendary game designer Masahiro Sakurai, who is also responsible for the Super Smash Bros. series and the new Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS. Aside from a couple mini games most of the games are 2-D platforming adventures much like Kirby’s Dream Land on the Gameboy and Kirby’s Adventure on the NES. They all tell different stories but the game engine, enemies, power-ups and mechanics are the same in all the games.Kirby’s copy ability makes a return and there are lots of different enemies to make weapons from. One of the best aspects of this game is Kirby’s ability to take a power-up and create a second player from it. This allows for 2 player simultaneous co-op gameplay. A lot of other Super Nintendo platformers that offered 2 player didn’t allow for both players to play at the same time but instead made you switch back and forth between levels. With 8 Different games, 2 player Co-op, and lots of memorable boss battles this game is still an exciting foray into platforming that is still strong even today. It even got a remake for the Nintendo DS called Kirby Superstar Ultra.




7.Yoshi's Island: Serving as a prequel of sorts to the entire Mario series, and also officially the sequel to Super Mario World. Yoshi’s Island focuses on the adventures of Yoshi with baby Mario as they try to rescue baby Luigi from the clutches of Kamek, the head Magikoopa and baby Bowser. This game’s unique and vibrantly colored storybook style and use of Super FX 3D graphics make it one of the most visually appealing games on the Super Nintendo. Eschewing the traditional gameplay of Mario games prior the game does still retain platforming but running is done automatically and institutes a new mechanic of Yoshi eating enemies whole and magically pooping them out into eggs to throw back at other enemies. If yoshi is hit, baby Mario will float away in a bubble and a timer will count down, if the time runs out the toadies will fly and catch mario and you’ll lose a life. This game is big, but the great thing about it is it autosaves after every level. If you collect all the items and get a perfect score of 100 on every level you can even unlock bonus games! There’s even a level early on called “Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy” in which Yoshi touches psychedelic cotton balls that momentarily make him stumble around and hallucinate!




6.Super Mario RPG: A rare collaboration between Square, the makers of the Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger series and Nintendo. Super Mario RPG was meant to be an introductory game into the Roleplaying genre. The game starts off as Bowser has kidnapped the princess for the 1 billionth time and Mario runs to his castle to rescue her. But after the fight with bowser a giant sword comes down from the sky piercing Bowser’s castle and shattering star road. It’s up to Mario and company to collect all the star pieces and defeat the new evil enemy Smithy. This game introduces fan favorite characters Mallow and Geno who are never seen after this game most likely due to copyright issues between Square and Nintendo. The graphics are very similar to those of Donkey Kong Country in which they used digitized 3D models and very beautiful. One big element in gameplay that adds to the enjoyment and detracts from the sometimes monotonous and boring gameplay of turn based RPG’s is the addition of timed hits, where if you press a corresponding button at the right time when your player is attacking you’ll do even more damage. You start off as only being able to play with Mario but as you progress you can make up a team of 3 fighters at a time with 5 characters to choose from. This game oozes character and comedic relief and has lots of little easter eggs like 8-bit Mario in Booster’s Tower and Mario coming out of the shower with a bright red face...This game is a great addition to any fans of Mario and JRPGS alike. 




5.The Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past: On a dark and stormy night Link’s uncle heads to the castle to try and rescue the princess Zelda who’s been captured by the evil wizard Agahnim. You play as link who awakes and runs to the castle to find his uncle mortally wounded so you carry on in his place. Once Zelda is rescued the real game begins, the quest for the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane, and then to vanquish Agahnim  and then Ganon! The game returns the gameplay to that of the first Zelda game on the NES as a top-down aerial view and was the first game to use the Light World/ Dark World theme that was also re-used in Zelda:Twilight Princess. You must travel through many dungeons and places to collect all the items needed to successfully carry out your journey. The game has many difficult puzzles and many memorable boss battles. What I love most about this game has to be the music, Koji Kondo is responsible for a lot of the music in both the Mario and Zelda franchises and definitely didn’t disappoint with this one. From the Dungeon music to the Revamped Hyrule Field, to the Kakariko Village theme, the soundscapes in this game are amazing.




4.Super Castlevania 4: The best Castlevania game of all time. Playing as Simon Belmont again you fight Count Dracula as he is resurrected every 100 years when the forces of good have been weakened. The biggest thing about this game that makes it stand out from the other Castlevanias is the control. Unlike the previous games in the series where the controls are clunky and require lots of patience and perfect timing, the controls in Castlevania 4 don’t hold you back at all. You have a lot of control over your jumps, you can whip in any direction, and you can even walk while crouching! Apart from the controls being absolutely wonderful the game is fairly long. The level design is absolutely gorgeous and the music definitely fits in nicely with its environments. I especially love Simon’s Theme. The game is very difficult like all games in the Castlevania series pre-Symphony of The Night but thankfully you have unlimited continues so there’s really no excuse not to continue to play and play until you finally get good enough to pass on to the next level. The boss battles are very challenging and a lot of them are nods to classic horror films just like in the first game, like Frankenstein's Monster and The Mummy. This is the perfect game to play right around Halloween after watching a bunch of scary movies and a terrific platformer for the Super Nintendo.




3.Donkey Kong Country 2: In my opinion the single greatest game that Rare has ever made! The sequel to the smash hit Donkey Kong country that was praised for its graphical capabilities on a 16-bit machine by using digitized 3D models as game sprites. Donkey Kong Country 2 is simply a masterpiece of game design. You play as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in an adventure to save DK who has been captured by Kaptain K. Rool. The atmosphere is perfect, from the creepy overworld theme to the enchanting melodies you experience in the levels, everything about this game has a grander, darker, more epic feel than its predecessor while still managing to include lots of little nods to not only Donkey Kong Country but lots of other games as well. The Overworld is absolutely gorgeous. Taking you from a Pirate ship to an active volcano, to a swamp, to a deadly amusement park, and onward climbing up higher and higher atop Crocodile Isle. I really can’t understate the epic feel of this game, the worlds are so varied and all beautiful in their own dark and mysterious ways. The characters, enemies, levels, and multiple backgrounds are all rendered beautifully. Even more so than the original, the two characters you play as have very distinct trade offs between each other and you’ll definitely have to master both to find all the hidden coins and bonus levels in order to unlock the secret levels and eventually the true ending to the game.




2. Super Metroid: Also known as Metroid 3, one of the biggest and best 2D adventures on any game console. This Sci-Fi adventure originally based on the Alien movies by Ridley Scott, features the galactic bounty hunter Samus Aran as she tracks a metroid (a transparent alien parasite) captured by space pirates to the planet Zebes. What makes this game unique to other platformers on the SNES is that it isn’t broken into levels, but it’s actually one giant overworld that you can explore non-linearly. The game definitely gives you a feeling of solitude, like you really are Samus all alone on a giant planet inhabited by dangers. One big element in creating this feeling is the soundtrack that instills emotions in the right places. Exploration is a big part of this game requiring lots of backtracking to different parts of the game over time after you’ve acquired new items. This game is very challenging as you have to solve lots of puzzles in order to collect upgrades and power-ups that help you advance to other parts of the world.This game still holds up as a masterpiece of gameplay and detail even by todays standards. Surprisingly this is one of the few core Nintendo franchises that didn’t see a sequel on the N64 and gamers had to wait until the Gamecube for another installment. The Nonlinear action platforming gameplay was so good it was even used by Konami, map and all for the hit title Castlevania: Symphony of The Night for the Sony Playstation, thus spawning the term Metroidvania for subsequent installments in that series.




1. Mega Man X: Back in the 90s Capcom actually made good choices. One of them was to take everything great about the classic NES series Mega Man and translate it into 16-bits by adding new gameplay elements like dashing and wall-climbing. The Result was Mega Man X. In the game the title character is actually a new android created by Dr.Light who was put in hibernation for 30 years because of his unique quality to think for himself and make his own decisions. Another robotics expert by the name of Dr.Cain later discovers X and creates a new paradigm of “reploids” based on X’s original designs.There’s really nothing about this game that I don’t love. The gameplay is smooth and the controls are pretty much self explanatory. The characters are all quite unique and memorable from X to your reploid friend Zero who serves as a foreshadow for how powerful you’ll be with all the upgrades you can find hidden in the different levels. All the stage bosses are themed after different animals like a penguin and a mandrill, rather than just basic themes or elements like in the original series. The main boss in this series is Sigma, who sort of resembles Sagat from Street Fighter and is bent on creating a new civilization solely for reploids. The music is absolutely wonderful and memorable, it’s like a combination of 80s hair metal and techno and you’ll be humming along with every tune from start to finish. There’s plenty of challenge but the game isn’t too hard to beat and there’s plenty of power-ups hidden in the stages like armor that halves your damage and a helmet to break rocks with your head that adds another level of depth to the gameplay. This game is still fun to play even today and has aged well thanks to it’s nice crisp 2-D graphics and fun platforming environment.

Well, that’s my list. Thanks for reading! What are your favorite Super Nintendo Games? Post it in the comments!









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