Super Play’s Top 600 Super NES Games of All Time (Full List)

#594: Pit-Fighter
14% "Yikes! Where's the scaling graphics? Where's the gameplay? Where's that receipt? Not recommended."

#593: Jeopardy!
15% "Very much an American product (you won't understand three quarters of the questions), but still completely nob and a waste of money."

#592: Time Cop
15% "Not just a bad movie, but a bad game, too. Avoid the temporal rozzer at all costs. You have been warned."

#591: American Gladiators
16% "It was inevitable, perhaps, but this is appalling. And it doesn't even manage to incorporate any of the TV programme's appeal."

#590: George Foreman's
KO Boxing
18% "Useless boxing game that's a strong contender for the worst SNES release of all time."

#589: Super Bikkuriman
18% "If it wasn't for Pit-Fighter, this would be the worst beat 'em up ever. So, a bit of a narrow escape there, then, eh?"

#588: Wheel of Fortune
18% "A truly appalling idea for a game (never mind a television programme). The strange hold it had on us initially soon evaporated."

#587: Kawasaki:
Caribbean Challenge
20% "To add insult to injury, Kawasaki doesn't even include the one thing that may have saved it -- a two-player mode. Put your £60 towards a plane ticket instead."

#586: Road Riot 4WD
20% "Buy this instead of Mario Kart and we'll send the boys round. The worst driving game on the Super NES by miles."

#585: King Arthur and
the Knights of Justice
20% "Just don't, okay? If you can play this without constantly thinking of better things to do, your lifestyle really wants working on."

#584: Last Action Hero
21% "Last Action Hero is very, very poor. Don't even consider it if you're looking for value for money. There's no action, there's no hero and it's the last thing you should ever spend £45 on."

#583: California Games II
22% "California Games II is an outrageously poor multi-event sport 'sim'. At least it doesn't have the nerve to try and pretend to be something it isn't."

#582: Cliffhanger
22% "This is a fourth rate and wholly derivative game that will appeal to no-one, not even Sly fanatics."

#581: Toys
24% "This really is very boring, and, although it's quite difficult, the hour or two I spent stranded on level 1 was, I felt, long enough."

#580: The Hunt for Red October
25% "Apart from the Super Scope bit, there's nothing about this game that says 'Super Nintendo' any louder than it says 'Vic 20'."

#579: PTO II
25% "Nice for Koei employees, I'm sure, but for any gameplayer with an ounce of taste this represents a real trough in Super NES entertainment. They've taken one of the most interesting episodes of history and made it slightly less interesting than sorting out tax returns."

#578: Tintin in Tibet
25% "An insult to George and his fans. Gamers of the world, unite -- put an end to such cynical cash-ins by refusing to buy it, even if you see it reduced to ten quid. As it will be, very quickly, I assure you."

#577: Izzy's Quest for
the Olympics
25% "Graphically okay, but this has been done and done and done again. Worse still, I can't ever remember it being done much worse."

#576: Wayne's World
26% "It's conceivably, just conceivable, that if you were wild about the films you might enjoy this, simply for the sake of the sound effects and pictures of your heroes. But viewed as a game in its own right, it's ropy stuff."

#575: Robocop vs.
The Terminator
27% "The slackest, shabbiest, laziest film license I've seen in years. Gorgeous graphics, but don't let them sucker you."

#574: Animaniacs
28% "Less a clever game based on a funny cartoon, more a grindingly tedious disaster."

#573: Outlander
28% "A very poor effort. It's fun watching all the motorcyclists getting killed, but only for a minute or two. The actual game itself ... well, there isn't one, to be honest. Not that we can find."

#572: Alien vs. Predator
28% "Not quite in the same dire league as Pit-Fighter and it's motley chums, but severely lacking all the same. Don't buy it. The name is probably the best thing about the whole sorry project."

#571: James Bond Jr.
29% "Quick, turn the page! You really shouldn't look at this. It's ghastly American trash of the first order, with no redeeming features whatsoever. Burn it."

#570: World Wide Soccer
29% "Almost certainly the worst football game on the Super Nintendo, and likely remain so for some time to come."

#569: Paperboy 2
29% "Painfully, teeth-grindingly tedious. You want to rinse your mouth out after playing it."

#568: Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures
29% You can't help wishing that this game had never been released. If Noel's House Party is crap, then this goes right off the scale."

#567: Frantic Flea
29% One day, I'm going to find the people who wrote this game, and I'm not going to very pleasant to them.

#566: Death & Return of
Superman
29% Mr. Dustman! You forgot this when you collected from us this morning. Take it away -- it makes me very unhappy. What a pile of rubbish.

#565: Captain America
30% Not a very good game at all. If you liked the coin-op (which seems pretty unlikely), it might persuade you, though.

#564: Justice League
30% Before going into town, put on your mum's old tights, you dad's baggy Y-fronts, and stick a dustbin bag around your shoulders like a cape. Your embarrassment will be nothing compared to that felt by anyone who buys Justice League.

#563: Sonic Blast Man 2
31% After all of the games which we've insisted be released over here, this is one game which we're happy is likely remain firmly where it is.

#562: Home Alone 2
32% Really dull, really unimaginative and extremely poor value for money. Buy this and you'll be 'Home Alone 2' -- your family won't come near you.

#561: Warpspeed
32% Graphically and sonically, this is a extremely crude. Wing Commander fans might take to the gameplay, but for the rest of us, it's a very dated concept.

#560: Rise of the Robots
33% Easily the worst beat 'em up ever made, a fact highlighted by the enormous and unjustified hype. Sad as it sounds, the SNES version is still the best version of the lot. Buying this would be a cataclysmically stupid thing to do.

#559: Psycho Dream
33% How do games of such startling banality get off the drawing board? And who the hell buys 'em? Not you, hopefully.

#558: Home Alone
34% If you're the kind of person who'd go out intentionally and buy a game called Home Alone, well, then, you deserve everything you get.

#557: Sim Earth
34% Poor presentation is the least of the sins of this over-ambitious and fatally flawed eco-sim. It's simply tedious in the extreme to play, and should be avoided at all costs.

#556: Super F1 Circus 2
34% For this price, you should expect a lot more excitement for your money. Don't even bother trying 'cos it's not worth buying.

#555: Hungry Dinosaurs
35% Has all the visual hallmarks of a classic puzzler but just doesn't cut it. In fact, so misplaced is the concept that it represents only a mildly entertaining diversion at the very most.

#554: Race Drivin'
34% X-cert graphics, all right-ish (with stress on the ish) gameplay but zero lasting appeal. The 'moo' where you run over a cow is nice, though.

#553: Ushio and Tora
35% A truly dismal game that you could finish on your first go (if you wanted) and isn't worth the chips it's encoded on. Perhaps what's worse is that you're given infinite credits. Into the bargain.

#552: Winter Olympics
35% Having 10 events in the game should provide variety, but because none of them are any good, it doesn't work like that. So don't buy Winter Olympics. It's a complete waste of £49.99.

#551: Cacoma Knight in Bizland
36% You'd have to be bonkers to fork out £45 for this. If drawing right angles is your passion, buy a couple of pencils and a set square.

#550: Mecarobot Golf
37% Perhaps the worst golf game we've ever played. You can do far, far better than this.

#549: Uncharted Waters
37% You'd expect there to be an excruciatingly complex and involving game lurking here somewhere. But could I find it? (Answer: No.)

#548: Battletoads/Double Dragon
37% This really is a waste of time. It comes to something when the best part of a new Super Nintendo game is the small section which replicates a 1970s arcade hit. Tch!

#547: Acrobat Mission
38% Acrobat Mission is a really appalling vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up. To buy it you'd have to be completely mad.

#546: Carrier Aces
39% A desperately thin attempt to create a flight simulator for the SNES. Japanese kamikaze pilots would be insulted, if they hadn't all killed themselves.

#545: Star Trek:
The Next Generation
39% A compilation of very poor sub-games adhering only loosely to the Next Gen theme. It's a cosmic disaster that will disappoint gamers and Trekkies alike.

#544: Family Dog
39% The controls are horribly unwieldy (the animation seems to take precedence whenever the game's got to take a decision between moving 'Dog' and completing a sequence of actions), you get sent back frustratingly far when you die, and it's all dull, dull, dull.

#543: The King of Rally
39% A real disappointment. Brilliant 3D scrolling -- it's a very striking game when you first see it -- but with very little to actually do.

#542: Wizardry V
39% Slow, tedious, pointless and completely inexcusable in the '90s. I hope we never see anything like this ever again.

#541: Super Godzilla
39% It captures some of the Godzilla atmosphere, but this doesn't make it a particularly good game. The fighting is quirky; original, but not very much fun. And there's little variety. Boo, hiss.

#540: Double Dragon V
39% Not as good as the two biggies, despite its 24 meg. Diverting for a while, and the CPU plays a mean game, but generally too shallow and lacking real fight. And the graphics could be better.

#539: Beavis & Butt-Head
39% Committed B and B fans -- if such people exist -- may get something out of this, but, as the gruesome twosome themselves would no doubt say, 'this sucks'.

#538: Imperium
40% Imperium is very lack-lustre. In a couple of days time you'll probably have forgotten it ever existed. (It's called Assault Suits Darion in Japan, but the way.)

#537: Olympic Summer Games
40% Not the best use of an Olympic tie-in, which seems wholly satisfied with shoving reams of Atlanta '96 emblazoned title screens down your throat rather than sorting out its faults. The whole thing feels a little flat and is essentially only worth considering if you throw parties regularly. It won't have a long life if you're Billy No Mates, you see.

#536: Foreman For Real
40% A license. A flash graphics routine. A poor interface. For Real manages to miss the spot in every respect, turning in as bad a performance as the first Foreman game.

#535: Monopoly
20% If you get really, really bored on a rainy day, this may just amuse you for about 10 minutes, but only if you haven't already got Monopoly the board game.

#534: Wordtris
41% Fine in principle, and fun for a little while, but they seem to have made a bit of a hash of it. What should need lots of brain-power is really just a game of luck.

#533: Space Invaders
40% Personally, I can see it being a hit in Japan, hearing in mind it's selling for only 4,980 yen (approximately £26), and the Japanese people's notorious love of all things out of the ordinary. Over here, though, I can't see anyone but the most nostalgia-huntry fanatics buying it.

#532: Incredible Crash Dummies
41% For the price of this cart you could actually buy a Game Boy. Perhaps you should ask yourself what you want from your machine?

#531: Liberty or Death
41% Liberty or death? Death is marginally the better option here. (Unless you're a wargame fan, and fascinated by American history.) You'll want to play something fun after you've had a go at this.

#530: North Star Ken 6
42% Effective, large, smooth-moving sprites, some funny moments and lots of speed, but TERRIBLY shallow in the gameplay department. It's a chore to play and absolutely no competition for Street Fighter II.

#529: Super Black Bass
42% I don't understand how anyone could enjoy fishing, unless you count the bit where the fish are barbecued and eaten. And that's what it all boils down to in the end -- whether you've got the patience for this sort of thing.

#528: Turbo Toons
42% Initially very amusing but, much like that looping background scenery of every Hanna Barbera cartoon, it's too simple and becomes repetitive far too quickly.

#527: Action Pachio
42% It's yawn city and bad enough to have us scrambling to cover up the monitor when someone from Sega Power walked into the room for fear that if they saw this, they'd be taking the Michael out of us for months.

#526: Super Tom & Jerry
42% A largely worthless attempt to cash in on the Tom and Jerry name that isn't going to keep the average player amused for long.

#525: Golden Fighter
42% A perfectly awful beat 'em up that combines elements of Final Fight and Street Fighter II, adds a novel pick-your-own-move option, and then throws everything away by mucking up the scrolling, animation and basic gameplay.

#524: Power Piggs
42% Dislikeable characters, ill-conceived gameplay and tawdry graphics add up to a -- yeah, sorry -- swine of a game.

#523: Death Valley Rally
42% Everything that makes Road Runner so wonderful (and that what this gets most of its marks for) dragged down by an awful game. It's too hard, and simply not worth the trouble of persevering with.

#522: Super Battletank 2
43% If just the smallest amount of thought had been put into it, this could have been the first true tank simulator on the SNES, and been superbly detailed and playable. It wasn't, it isn't and it never will be.

#521: Might & Magic II
43% This is rule-playing, not role-playing. Even 'fans of the genre' would be hard-pushed to elicit any enjoyment from this cart.

#520: Tecmo Secret of the Stars
43% Hmmmm ... mediocre. Don't be fooled into thinking that just because Final Fantasy got you interested in RPGs that they've all that good. This is a bog-standard Japanese style RPG that only die-hard fanatics will get anything out of.

#519: Super Sumo
44% Super Sumo is very nearly as good as Sumo Spirits. In fact, in quite a few ways it's better: It's slightly easier to work out what's going on, and the graphics are cute and amusingly animated. But it's just not as playable, somehow.

#518: Revolution X
45% It's an arcade game. It belongs in the arcade, where you can blast away for ten minutes then play something else. Venture any further in, and you'll discover how little there is to it.

#517: Ultima VI:
The False Prophet
45% Ultima: The Vast Profit (for old rope), more like. Compared to Zelda or Secret of Mana, this is a shameful bit of old tat.

#516: Super Drift Out
45% There's a dearth of good driving games on the SNES right now, and this doesn't address the problem at all convincingly. Too limited? Too easy? Too true.

#515: Front Mission: Gun Hazard
45% Fun Hazard, more like. Devoid of action, tactics, playability or challenge, Front Mission: Gun Hazard is the Dusty Bin of mecha gaming. And it's published by Square. The rot sets in.

#514: Ultraseven
45% Two-player mode gives lots of laughs, certainly, but of the 'oh dear, how ridiculous is this?' type. Just as tacky as the useless original.

#513: Operation Europe
46% Poorly thought out and slow; there aren't any decent combat bits to life it up. A pity, because the detail is excellent. And therefore wasted.

#512: Rise of the Phoenix
46% There's more strategy in a game of Snap. Below average, even by Koei's standards.

#511: Syvalion
46% Odd central character, which presents its own challenges, but otherwise a fairly unremarkable blaster -- and one that fails to ever get very exciting.

#510: Clue
46% The usual board game conversion comments apply, really: ie it's a perfectly serviceable conversion that has nothing over the original and costs much more.

#509: Ren & Stimpy
Show: Veediots
47% Quite interesting to look at for a little while, but deeply sub-incredible to play.

#508: Sumo Spirits
(Oozumou Tamashii)
47% Believe it or not, sumo wrestling does actually work quite well on the SNES -- sort of -- and Super Spirits is the best version we've seen yet. We're not suggesting you rush out and buy it, though.

#507: E.V.O.: Search for Eden
47% A splendid idea, but a very mediocre game. Tacked on to a shoot 'em up, say, the evolution concept could have been a winner.

#506: Super Bowling
48% The problem with Super Bowling is that it's so easy -- within 30 minutes we were getting perfect strikes every time, which makes you question the long-term appeal rather. There's little else wrong with it, true, but isn't that enough to be getting on with?

#505: Battle Clash
48% Quite a bit more exciting than previous offerings, but not conclusive proof that the Super Scope is the peripheral of the '90s (or whatever). It's just too limited, and too repetitive. (And miles too easy to finish.)

#504: Super F1 Hero
49% A pretty poor effort. The driving side of things sort of works, but the graphics let the game down completely.

#503: Super Conflict
49% Not only is this about 10 years behind what's going on elsewhere in the wargaming world, but it doesn't even work properly.

#502: Redline F-1 Racer
49% A very poor racer compared to the likes of either Human Grand Prix or Nigel Mansell's. It tries quite hard, but it's really barking up the wrong tree of playability altogether. In completely the wrong forest, if the truth be told.

#501: Power Athlete
49% A poor Street Fighter II rip-off -- and a total waste of money -- but if you did ever get to play it, I'd venture you'd grow oddly fond of it.

#500: Fang of Edo
49% Decent music (in parts) and a smattering of quite nice bits (though nothing ever really reaches the dizzy heights of 'good'), can't save this one from the dumper.

#499: Super Baseball
Simulator 1.000
49% Too crude compared to the rest [of the baseball games], but the music is nice.

#498: Final Fight Tough
49% While the gameplay, although a tad simplistic, is varied enough to get you hooked, the challenge is a travesty. Many household pets could take up the rather pathetic gauntlet of finishing this game and succeed admirably. Capcom have become sloppy in their old age and need a good slap.

#497: Best of the Best
50% For the most part this is fine. But it's extremely limited in scope, and -- considering that it's essentially just a simple beat 'em up -- it's hopelessly outclassed by the likes of Street Fighter II.

#496: Rocky Rodent
50% Any day now, somebody is going to produce a really frightening statistic about being able to reach the moon, if all the mediocre game cartridges in the world were laid end to end.

#495: Dirt Racers SFX
51% It's a shame that Dirt Racer be compared to Stunt Race FX, but it's an inevitable comparison, and it comes off worse on just about every count. Only budding rally drivers/ram raiders really need apply.

#494: Ren & Stimpy: Time Warp
51% Not just another crap cartoon-licensed platform game from THQ. A crap cartoon-license Final Fight clone instead. Revol! Revol!

#493: Knights of the Round
51% You know the score by now; smashing looks backed up with all the gameplay and lasting appeal of a broken yo-yo. Boo.

#492: Astro Go! Go!
51% Engagingly off-beat, but only for a matter of seconds. Then its true colours as a lazy attempt to copy F-Zero will shine through, driving you to despair.

#491: Super Air Diver
51% This is the kind of game that would look great in the window display of a computer shop, but it's sadly lacking in the gameplay department. Even the most ardent shoot 'em up fan would only be interested in Super Air Diver for an hour or so.

#490: Terminator 2:
Judgment Day
52% A contender for the title of 'Biggest Waste of License Ever'. Heaven knows what the T-800 would do to LJN if he ever saw it.

#489: The Lord of the Rings
52% A stunningly bad effort, saved only by the huge nature of the task and the dedication to accuracy. If the graphics and general gameplay had been tweaked, this could have been a success. As it stands, Lord of the Rings is a pretty apt name. Think about it.

#488: Kick Off
52% Ridiculously flawed, badly programmed but nevertheless reasonably enjoyable (in two-player mode) soccer game. Should be so much better though.

#487: Andre Agassi Tennis
52% Many of the elements of a decent tennis game are here, but they don't gel. It's just not up to the standard of playability and fun you'd expect. After all, Super Family Tennis was written when the SNES first came out, and that beats this hands down. So there.

#486: Eye of the Beholder
52% If you're mad enough on fantasy games to stick your hand in, there's a mollusc of fun to be scraped from the bottom of Capcom's barrel of stinky fish.

#485: Cameltry
52% I dunno, maybe a few camels might have been a good idea after all. A rotating Mode 7 maze game had to be done, presumably, but it's a shame the designers didn't manage something more exciting with the idea. Fun for a very short period only.

#484: Cool World
52% Good looking, and -- on the surface -- complex film conversion that, once you start playing it, boils down into not very much at all. A real disappointment after the likes of Pugsley.

#483: F1 Grand Prix Part II
52% Slick, but very difficult, and for all the wrong reasons. To be honest, these overhead view things are best avoided unless you've got lots of patience.

#482: Lester the Unlikely
52% Rotoscoping or not, Lester The Unlikely is frighteningly mediocre, with nothing to offer but a 10-minute gawp period.

#481: X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse
52% Why do all X-Men games seem to be humdrum horizontally-scrolling beat 'em ups. It's about time they mutated into something a bit more original.

#480: Brandish
53% Definitely one for the die-hards. My faith of Koei not even being able to commission a decent game is re-affirmed. Come back Wizardry, all is forgiven.

#479: James Pond's Crazy Sports
53% Slick and fun -- sort of -- but this isn't really a very sensible way to spend £40 or so.

#478: Super Batter Up
53% Yet another baseball game rolls off the production line, flops to the ground and lies there twitching for a while before quietly expiring.

#477: King of Dragons
53% A sad pastiche of beat 'em up. It run, hack and magic formula just doesn't make the grade. It looks great, but don't be mislead. You may as well cut the characters out of the pages, stick them on card, make the fighting noises yourself and save £50 while you're about it.

#476: Faceball 2000
54% Faceball 2000 is a bit like a piece of bread. It'll sit quite happily in your 'toaster' (er, SNES) for about two minutes, but then it'll pop out and, um ... ah.

#475: The Flintstones: The
Treasure of the Sierra Madrock
54% The game is right out of the stone-age. It's a bit crap as well.

#474: Mickey's Ultimate Challenge
54% Weak design means that this is worth renting for a child on a rainy day, but that's about it.

#473: Super Widget
54% Another dull American game, then -- even the younger players this is aimed at, are likely to get bored very quickly.

#472: Taz-Mania
54% A smashing scrolling road, and a great feel for the original cartoon. But, erm, there just isn't a game in there. Not that I could find, anyway, no matter how hard I tried.

#471: B.O.B.
54% Fun for a bit, but too unoriginal and limited to make a real impression. B.O.B.? NOB, more like it.

#470: Super Ice Hockey
55% It's as if years of development in the team sports sim genre have been ignored in favour of a couple of cheap gimmicks.

#469: The Chessmaster
55% If you're after a chess game for your SNES, your search is over. But you could probably get a pocket chess computer for half the price with no obvious disadvantages.

#468: Evil Sword (Kendo Rage)
55% A very Japanese game, but one whose eccentricities don't make up for slack programming. A shame, as we hoped for a game that lived up to the 'Don't Lose' name.

#467: Full Throttle: All-American Racing
55% Africa can be the cradle of the human species, but you can be sure that, had Full Throttle Racing been left to survive and adapt in the hostile wilderness of millions of years ago, it'd now be extinct. Unlike, say, Street Racer.

#466: Legend
55% Skillfully crafted with cracking graphics and some novel touches. But all that can't hide its true colours as just another humdrum scrolling slasher.

#465: 90 Minutes
55% A football game that's better in one-player than two, and the one-player game's pretty poor.

#464: Super Dunkstar
55% Basketball games need to be extra specially good if they're going to be worth buying at all, and Super Dunkstar simply isn't.

#463: Super Bases Loaded
55% Scruffy and slow, with a strange way of doing things.

#462: Super Chase HQ
55% A badly-made jalopy cluttering up the highways and byways of SNES software. And destined for the scrapper.

#461: Sink or Swim
55% Although it handles very nicely and a bit of thought has been invested in some of the level designs, it's not really doing anything new or pushing the barriers back. I know I'd be sorely disappointed if I'd bought this.

#460: Lode Runner Twin
55% Not flexible to be a real puzzler, Lode Runner Twin is more like Mario and Wario meets Donkey Kong. But not as much fun as either. Two-player mode is alright, though.

#459: X-Zone
55% The best Super Scope game to date, but still pretty dire. So, unless Terminator 2's any good, we're going to light a bonfire and toss our Scopes onto it. Sorry.

#458: Mario Paint
55% By all means buy Mario Paint for the mouse, which will come in dead handy later on, but don't expect to have much fun with Mario Paint itself.

#457: Brass Boss
56% A bizarre looking beat 'em up that's playable in its own little way, but far too derivative to make any sort of splash.

#456: Spawn
56% I fail to see how a company can recoup its development and promotional outlay on such an 'average' game. Surely the artists and programmers could tell what sort of old toot they were churning out as they laboured away. Spawn in just the sort of title you'll ponder over and then walk away from when it's languishing in the bargain bin for a tenner in a couple of months time.

#455: Doraemon:
World of Fairies
56% There's so much Japanese text in it that working out what's going on is nigh on impossible. Progressing ofrom one bit to the next is a matter of luck, and it's always a huge relief when you make it through another negotiation with head view-section bit and into the relative clear of the platform side of things.

#454: Lagoon
56% A dull and generally unentertaining game. There is a little explore-and-discover enjoyment value, but the game mechanics are far too torturous and frustrating.

#453: Boogerman
56% Oh, it's very funny for five minutes, but Boogerman is steeped in averageness. A platformer rooted in the old school.

#452: Art of Fighting
56% It's a beat 'em up, it's not Street Fighter II, and it doesn't come close. What more do you need to know?

#451: Lethal Weapon
57% Sort of alright-ish. But it's the same old story -- there are lots of much better games than this around for the money.

#450: Mohawk and Headphone Jack
46% If as much attention had been paid to its core gameplay as so very obviously has on its technical content, Mohawk could have been a tidy little game. There's some nifty stuff going on here, but it's wasted on such insipid gameplay.

#449: The Combatribes
57% I was never very impressed with the coin-op original, and this is a similar story. The clever and funny boss-vs-boss one-on-one mode saves things a bit, but otherwise short levels and limited moves equal a remarkably non-essential buy.

#448: Arcus Odyssey
57% Um, is that it? Is that all there is? Take the game away and bring it back when it's finished.

#447: Hit the Ice
58% Despite some great characters and hilarious animation, the laughably jerky scrolling, poor control and, for much of the time, virtually undetectable puck let it down considerably.

#446: Shanghai 2
58% So, although you'd have to be completely mad to actually fork over forty-five quid for this yourself, if someone walks up to you in the street and presses a copy into your hand, thank them and take it straight home.

#445: Adventures of Dr. Franken
58% Composed of familiar bits and pieces, the result is a shambling, inarticulate monster that fails to impart any sympathy for its condition. How apt.

#444: Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle
58% Slick, colourful puzzle with a high novelty factor. Doesn't push you or your SNES, though, and is ultimately cupboard-fodder.

#443: Caveman Ninja 2
58% This isn't terrible, but there's such a big crowd of Super Nintendo platform games that Caveman Ninja 2 doesn't have a hope of standing out from it. Lots of challenge, though.

#442: Skuljagger
58% A flat-looking, easy, repetitive, platform game that provides some short-term laughs, but little more. Bubble gum bits are weird more than anything.

#441: Space Ace
58% As dog's dinners go this is a Christmas lunch at Battersea. It perfectly combines all the things I hate in video games.

#440: Zoku: The Legend of Bishin
58% A shallow and lacklustre effort which attempts to mix two popular game styles with very little success. Avoid.

#439: Test Drive II: The Duel
58% Firmly rooted in its computer game origins, this looks out of place on the SNES, even though it's a good conversion.

#438: Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage
58% Despite the extra megabits this is just another mediocre Sunsoft platformer riding on a popular cartoon license. And th-th-th-that's all, folks.

#437: Chester Cheetah
58% Over-colorful graphics will please the kids, but this is no star in the gameplay department. It's just too slow and plodding.

#436: Rival Turf
58% All right-ish, and it will earn its fans, but not a game to rush out and buy.

#435: Magic Sword
58% An awful game, basically. (All right, it is kind of quite good fun in a way, if you sort of look sideways at it and squint.)

#434: Venom & Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety
58% A plodding, directionless scrolling beat 'em up that's fun in two-player mode, but ultimately does Spidey -- or SNES owners -- few favours.

#433: Ultra Baseball
59% Not a huge advance over Baseball Simulator 1000.

#432: NBA All-Star Challenge
59% A great looking and smoothly playing basketball game, but, with its 100% commitment to the one-on-one game, it perhaps isn't for everyone.

#431: Kevin Keegan Player Manager
59% Dull. With the added bonus of an uncontrollable football game thrown in. You didn't buy a SNES to play games like this.

#430: The Flintstones
59% Not a bad game per se, just an average one -- something that the SNES has quite enough of already, thank you very much.

#429: Suzuka 8 Hour
59% The title promises much, but the execution is severely flawed. It's slow, hard to get into and just lacks any freshness at all.

#428: The Terminator
59% The Terminator license has plenty of potential, so it's a bit of a shame to see such a lacklustre game based on it. Plenty of action, but old-fashioned graphics, repetitive gameplay and a lack of imagination -- plus assorted glaring faults -- combine to create a very ho hum game. Mindscape seems to be relying on the name alone for pulling power here -- never a happy state of affairs.

#427: Gunforce
59% If Contra III was Paul Merton, Gunforce would be Bobby Ball. Not recommended.

#426: Run Saber
59% A Strider wannabe that's not really up to much. Nice in places, but miles too easy to finish.

#425: Stargate
60% Just like the film, only with all the grand spectacle missed out which, uh, was ... the ... only ... good ... thing ... about ... it ... oh dear, oh dear.

#424: Asterix & Obelix
60% You'll either complete it out of sheer determination or overwhelming boredom. Either way, you'll wonder why you bothered.

#423: PGA Tour Golf
60% Not the best golf game on the Super Nintendo, but a reasonable stop-gap until something better makes it over to this country.

#422: Primal Rage
60% A very average conversion of a very average beat 'em up. It's calculated, yes, but with dinosaurs, gore and morbid humour it does at least pull all the right strings.

#421: Speed World
60% Speed World is packed with enough options to satisfy even the most committed anorak so it's such a shame that it plays like a dog. Okay, it looks good, but then again, so do many cheeses and you wouldn't spend £50 on them.

#420: Rushing Beat Run
60% Well, it's another scrolling beat 'em up, innit? It looks a bit smarter than most, but is just as boring as these things always are, and can only be recommended to committed fans.

#419: Super Cup Soccer 2
60% Yet another Japanese football simulation which offers very little in its bid to beat the hordes of contenders already out there.

#418: Time Slip
60% A poorly-executed Contra Spirits clone that's fun for a bit, but only because of what it has borrowed so shamelessly.

#417: USA Ice Hockey
60% Looks nice, but doesn't play too well. NHLPA is still the ice hockey game to go for.

#416: Wolverine: Adamantium Rage
60% Apart from the brilliantly animated main sprite there's nothing that distinguishes the game at all. It never gets it claws in.

#415: Wing Commander
60% It's a solid representation of the PC original considering the Super NES's 3D limitations, so fans will love it. However, we can't help feeling the original was vastly over-rated, translating into a very average Super Nintendo game.

#414: Mario's Time Machine
60% Mario's Time Machine hasn't got enough depth on the education side, nor is it that entertaining. It would work better as a sequel to Mario Is Missing in an adventure format, with a little quiz after you've visited each person. This really needs a bit more variety to lift it out of the doldrums.

#413: The Pagemaster
61% Oh dear, another insipid license tie-in thing. Dull, unoriginal, and not even very pretty. (And that's just the title screen. Ho ho.)

#412: Chuck Rock
61% Whether it's down to the uninspired graphics, the lack of a password system or the charmless central character I'm not entirely sure, but Chuck Rock didn't do an awful lot for me.

#411: Super Strike Eagle
61% A real letdown next to its Amiga- and PC-based namesakes. It has its moments, but they're few and far between.

#410: Jelly Boy
61% Inspired, beautiful and exciting. All words which are as applicable to Jelly Boy as dainty is to Cyril Smith's Y-fronts. Look elsewhere for a good solid platformer.

#409: Super Back to the Future Part II
61% A bit odd, and a bit crap as well. Rather a shame, really.

#408: Batman Forever
61% A great deal of effort has clearly been expended in making Batman Forever look the part. And, on paper at least, it seems to have all the ingredients of the ultimate scrolling beat 'em up. But it's no fun.

#407: Tin Star
61% A good idea spoiled by a lack of levels to get your teeth into, and a rather linear vein to the ones that are in there already.

#406: Ghost of Kitaro
61% The graphics are good. But it doesn't play very well. And it's all a bit weird and Japanese.

#405: Pro Quarterback
62% A lightweight American football game, with attractive Mode 7 graphics, but many glitches and unworkable strategy.

#404: Paladin's Quest
62% 8-bit in appearance, this RPG looks distinctly antiquated after Secret of Mana. It would cost a lot less on a NES, though ..."

#403: New Horizons
62% One of Koei's more accessible titles to date, but only cautiously recommended even to fellow stratoraks. Normal people should flee in terror.

#402: GP-1
62% A no-frills motorbike racing game that could really do with some. Frills, that is.

#401: Mega Man Soccer
62% There's no hint at FIFA International Soccer's reality, no sign of Sensible Soccer's speed and not a whiff of World Cup Striker's options galore ... oh, and the gameplay stinks.

#400: 3D Baseball
63% Only true baseball fans are going to get their money's worth. A fluent knowledge of Japanese is essential to work out what all the options mean.

#399: Super Off Road
63% A fast and funny off-road racing game, great with two players, but too small and short to be worth this sort of money.

#398: SD Great Battle III
63% Some great graphics and characters, but no-one will be impressed with the stale and unchallenging action. Cute though, and anime fans will appreciate it.

#397: Mech Warrior
63% Pretty good graphics, and the nearest thing yet to an assault suit simulator. This is great as far as it goes, but sadly that just isn't far enough.

#396: Total Carnage
63% Cleaning up all the gore would have been forgivable if the game was as good as the original, but it isn't. Although it looks similar to Total Carnage, this version fails to capture anything but a tiny percentage of the frantic, over the top, kinetically shot away action of the original. If, like me, you love Smash TV, then my advice is to go and play it some more. This is a step in the wrong direction.

#395: Extra Innings
64% Neatly presented, but ludicrously fast.

#394: Wing Commander: The Secret Missions
64% Despite the so-called extended gameplay and the more involved plot, The Secret Missions still failed to 'ring my bell,' and became increasingly tedious as I played. As far as I'm concerned, The Secret Missions are best off remaining a secret.

#393: Drakkhen
64% Fantasy role-playing games aren't too common on the SNES (not in English, at any rate), and Drakkhen is consequently a welcome release. It's not exactly brilliant, though.

#392: Bassin's Black Bass
65% It sounds stupid. And it is. But I have to admit that Bassin's is oddly compulsive, perhaps for its sheer novelty and laidback style. There goes my career as a games journalist.

#391: Super Strike Gunner
65% Extremely dull and run-of-the-mill, but still quite enjoyable in its own little way.

#390: Super Slap Shot
65% A fast and furious ice hockey game, but NHLPA Hockey is so much better.

#389: Speed Racer
65% A disappointing game; the decent racing bit is marred by the sloppy platform sections. Tch.

#388: Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
65% It's a tad more fun than the text above makes out, but not by much. Buy Mario, Lost Vikings or Pitfall 2 instead.

#387: Zool
65% Detailed backgrounds, fast, smooth scrolling and stomping music. Tinny, sparse sound effects, poor animation and repetitive gameplay. On balance? Average. Yeah, definitely average.

#386: Marvin Missions: Daffy Duck
65% Nice-looking, quite good fun to play, and with plenty of Daffy Duck-ness. You've already got lots of games like this, though, and -- take it from us -- you don't need another one.

#385: Cutthroat Island
66% Fair to middling scrolling slash 'em up that tries to incorporate new ideas, but ultimately falls flat.

#384: Champions World Class Soccer
66% Absolutely not the Ryan Giggs of SNES football games. Except that it quite obviously is, if you see what I mean.

#383: Fun 'N Games
66% Okay, so it's aimed at the younger folk but with the advent of multi-media, the quality and imagination behind this cart should have been much better. This could be more accurately titled: Questionable Fun 'n Very Poor Games.

#382: RoboCop 3
66% A difficult arcade game that might appeal to real Robocop fans, but otherwise proves to be frustrating and altogether unremarkable. It's a real shame there's no digitized speech, too.

#381: Pipe Dream
66% Neat race-against-time puzzle game format, well presented, but lacking the variety, number of levels and essential head-to-head two-player mode to make it a real classic. Almost identical, and cheaper on home computer formats.

#380: F1 Grand Prix
66% This is the nearest rival to Super F1 Circus in look and feel, but on playing, it proves to be far inferior. Graphically, F1 Grand Prix is pretty much on par -- if that was the only purchase criteria there'd be little to choose between then, but in every other way it comes across as a much shallower and less sorted game.

#379: Rushing Beat Shura
66% It doesn't look too bad and certainly plays well enough, but it's got all the lastability of an M&S prawn mayonnaise sandwich.

#378: Q*Bert 3
67% Gently amusing and nice to look at, but not for anyone other than the most casual player.

#377: Romance of the Three Kingdoms III
67% Dedicated strategy wargamers will be in anorak heaven for a couple weekends. I know I was. Normal human beings should steer well clear.

#376: Blues Brothers
68% A nice little platform game, though a bit simplistic, and out-classed by Mario et al. And it's not too easy, unlike many of its type.

#375: Big Hurt Baseball
68% A realistic and in-depth sim. There's immediate gameplay here, good look and strategy. But it's all a waste, 'cos, after all, it's baseball.

#374: Flying Hero
68% An average shoot 'em up with sturdy gameplay and a sense of humour, but hardly a must-buy. Full of cute things, though.

#373: Battle Pinball
68% The SNES has a hard time with pinball, and the release of this improves matters not a jot. It has lots of jolly ideas and a neat line in table graphics, but disappoints everywhere else.

#372: Dragon View
68% An infuriatingly entertaining RPG awash with compounded minor flaws. It improves vastly once you're about a quarter in and have found all the short-cuts and magic stuff. Perseverance, as in life and abominably moral cartoons, will pay off.

#371: The Fortress of Fury (Operation Logic Bomb)
68% A competent and fairly attractive shoot 'em up, but one starved of decent gameplay.

#370: Super Ninja Kun
68% If platform games were cars, this one would have electric windows and a sun-roof. But it would be the same colour as all the rest, and would still be looked on with scorn by the Honda Fireblades which represent decent, imaginative games. It's a crap metaphor but you can see what I mean.

#369: Super Double Dragon
68% Some varied and enjoyable gameplay, but why does it all have to look so primitive? With more variety in the later levels this might have been more memorable. Fun for a while, but a bit of a waste of money.

#368: X-Kaliber 2097
68% There are some decent bits in here, but the package as a whole lacks the quality required to make it altogether recommendable.

#367: Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV
68% For months to come, armchair strategists across the world will be united in a state of anorak nirvana by Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV's politics and intrigue. But be honest, it's still nowhere near as good as it ought to be.

#366: Warlock
68% No, really, don't bother. Save your money and rent the film loads of times. Presumably Julian still gets a cut every time the film is hired out, so get your friends to rent it too.

#365: Lethal Enforcers
69% The action may be a bit dull in one-player mode, but the two-player is a real hoot. And that'll cost you a hefty £93. Urk.

#364: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
69% A pretty standard, fairly old-fashioned platformer that only occasionally shows any spark of real life. Playable enough, it shambles along aimlessly (much like De Niro in the film) and ends up pretty unmemorable.

#363: Pac-Attack
69% Not a bad effort really, but it suffers from the simple fact that the competition is so much better. Get Super Puyo Puyo instead.

#362: Hardball III
69% It looks like there's loads going on but, in reality, it's a pretty limited and unexciting affair.

#361: Alcahest
69% As a great-looking slasher/blaster with clever power-ups, this works wonderfully. Anyone expected much more, however, will be disappointed.

#360: Exhaust Heat
69% A reasonably sound driving game that plays quite a bit better than it looks. (And, let's face it, it does look a bit naff. Apart from the pits scene, which is great.) But -- and it's a very big 'but' -- it's nowhere near as good as Super Mario Kart.

#359: Harley's Humungous Adventure
69% Cleverly thought out, fairly inventive platform game with it's fair share of good bits, but very average visuals. It's got potential, even if it isn't always realized.

#358: International Tennis Tour
69% A solid enough tennis game, but there are two or three others that are better, and which we'd suggest you buy instead.

#357: Spindizzy Worlds
69% A nice idea, with a distinct air of nostalgia about it, but it's a bit too patchy and empty feeling to hold one's interest for long. The original Spectrum game was more fun -- lots of exploration, and less of the crummy puzzles.

#356: Super Professional Baseball
69% Not bad if you can get used to the unusual camera angles.

#355: Super Off Road: The Baja
69% Simple and fun to play, with enough challenge to last for a little while. But it's nothing very new, and the two-player mode's extreme disappointing.

#354: Sonic Blast Man
69% Gameplay wise, just an average beat 'em up. But it's got lots of nice bits, and Sonic Blast Man himself is great. Fab for fans of the genre, but no-one else.

#353: Power Drive
69% It's like Micro Machines never existed. Old-fashioned bordering on primitive, Power Drive's like a fairly good mid-'80s Amiga game. It's playable enough, sure, but come on ... it's not exactly the sort of thing you bought a SNES for.

#352: Aerobiz
69% A well-presented attempt at a little strategy on the SNES, but it's too serious and down-to-earth. There's just not enough to do.

#351: Goof Troop
69% Gather round, Goofy-lovers, and hear the news. Goof Troop is fun for a while, has some neat puzzles and will fill your breast with a minor swelling of enjoyment in two-player mode. But it's too easy, too short and your Super Nintendo won't blow up through over-exertion.

#350: The 7th Saga
69% A disappointing effort but, if money is no object and you love all things RPG, then you'll certainly get some entertainment from this.

#349: Yoshi's Safari
69% The best Super Scope game yet by a long way, with lots of funny bits and good ideas. It still doesn't measure up to our idea of top entertainment, though.

#348: ActRaiser 2
69% A disappointing step backwards. It might boast 12 megs of audiovisual splendour, but shouldn't there be a game in there somewhere, too?

#347: The Mask
70% A decent enough film license -- it's just a pity the gameplay isn't that engrossing.

#346: Dragon Ball Z: Super Butouden 3
70% Dragon Ball Z 3 is even more similar than 2 was to 1. Which means it's a quirky, anime-true game -- not a great beat 'em up but, well, interesting in the short term, at least.

#345: The Jetsons
70% Let's be fair: The Prince of Persia idea and implementation is really rather excellent. And all the rest? Just fair to middling I'd say.

#344: Sports Illustrated Championship: Football & Baseball
70% A great idea on paper, but limited in practice. Find two good separate second-hand titles instead.

#343: Super Troll Islands
70% A bright and cheerful game, and I'm sure that young children will love it, once they've mastered the tricky bits. But wait for the cheaper, UK cart.

#342: Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
70% If you're short-tempered or impatient, AVOID. But don't worry if you aren't, because you'll soon begin to demonstrate these fine qualities after a weekend with Pac-Man 2.

#341: Cal Ripkin Jr. Baseball
70% A bit slow-moving, and a baseball game, obviously. But otherwise pretty solid, with no obvious flaws. Pro League '93 is better, though.

#340: Shinseiki GPX Cyber Formula (Cyber Spin)
70% The fact that it's based on a rather ace anime TV series is perhaps the best thing about this one. Well, that and the graphics. This is undeniably fast. The problem is that it's fairly boring.

#339: Mario is Missing!
70% One of the better entertainment/education carts we've seen, and no disgrace to the Mario mythos, but, from an over-eight-years-old perspective, it suffers from traditional edutainment problems -- chiefly that as a game it's too repetitive. You do get to learn lots about historic sights though.

#338: Pop 'N Twinbee: Rainbow Adventures
70% Cute is a nasty word but an apt one -- I even enjoyed the giggle that greeted me every time I started a new level. Unfortunately, the chances are that you've already got something that does the job just as well, if not better.

#337: Super Formation Soccer II
70% It's a funny old game. It doesn't feel much like football. It's not very multi-player-ish. And it's a real con if you've already got the first game. But it's still fun. Sort of.

#336: Mario & Wario
70% Nintendo obviously wants to get the most out of their mouse. But as a puzzle game which gets its irritating hooks into you, this works.

#335: Koushien 2
70% Very Japanese, very weird, but really not all that bad.

#334: The Humans
70% So close to being playable it hurts, but too slow to be fun. The puzzles are well constructed, but it takes so long to play through each one you'll tire of it soon after you start.

#333: Cosmo Gang
70% Smart graphics, loads and loads of neat touches, and plenty of humour. It's also pretty good fun to play -- for a while. But moving left and right while firing a lot simply wasn't enough to sustain my interest. Sorry.

#332: Phalanx
70% So there you have it, one of the most middle-of-the-road of shoot 'em ups. It's got its impressive bits, it's got its lousy bits, and while it's far better than the worthless Blazeon and its pals, it equally trails well behind the likes of the brilliant Super Aleste.

#331: Wildsnake
70% A puzzle game that works as it was designed to. But it's not as engrossing, rewarding to play or fun as Tetris. So only top snake fans should buy it. Like Terry Nutkins, for example.

#330: Asterix
70% Bright 'n cheerful, and good fun to play, with a good feel for the license. But there's nothing here we haven't seen before.

#329: Darius Force
70% Reasonable enough, but the Super Nintendo has enough reasonable shoot 'em up already. Come on -- let's have a really good one for a change.

#328: Mega Man X3
70% Playing Mega Man X3, it is impossible to escape the feeling that Capcom are cashing in on their loyal fans. It's a good game, certainly, but there are none of the new ideas we were hoping for in Part 2 and which now, third time around, must be considered mandatory.

#327: Ranma 1/2
71% Fabulously imaginative, with the weirdest range of moves ever in a beat 'em up. It's a bit too easy, but anime fans will love it.

#326: Super Play Action Football
71% A complex American football game -- it has an off-putting number of plays and controls to deal with, but is a faithful and accurate game. This one is good for fans, great for statistic-freaks, but is a little too heavy for the rest of us.

#325: Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension
71% A surprising score, you may be thinking, considering the technical expertise on show. Well, yes, but technical excellence can never compensate for a spot of original gameplay and, sadly, Hyper Dimension lacks it in abundance.

#324: Wings II
71% The pictures make it seem more exciting than it is, but they're not that far off. This game's not as varied as Pilotwings, and doesn't look as pretty, but it has the massive advantage that you can shoot other flying things. Make up your own mind.

#323: BioMetal
71% A polished game with decent graphics and enjoyable and tricky (on Hard) action. It's originality it lacks, not challenge.

#322: Turn & Burn: No Fly Zone
71% The best SNES airborne combat sim yet. But couldn't the 12-strong (!) development team be put to better use?

#321: Beauty and the Beast
71% It all looks fine and dandy but you should never judge a book by its cover. Or as this game proves, never judge a game by its graphics.

#320: Inspector Gadget
71% Like a lot of things (and people), it's good but not great. You can spend a pleasant couple of hours with it and then not be bothered if you never play it again.

#319: T2: The Arcade Game
71% Kill millions of things with the mouse, Super Scope or the humble joypad. Enjoy it less than you thought, maybe. And get bored with its slightly sooner than you thought, too.

#318: Biker Mice from Mars
71% As effective interpretation of a dubious license, and, inevitably, much more fun in two-player than in solo mode. Loud, zippy, and stylish, but lacking substance, invention and longevity. And, out of Rock 'n Roll Racing and this, this is definitely 'best'.

#317: Super Empire Strikes Back
71% More of the same for Super Star Wars fans. And that's not necessarily the buying recommendation it might at first sound like.

#316: Battle Grand Prix
72% Oh dear. For an example of how not to programme a game, check this one out. Battle Grand Prix sounds great -- the screen's split vertically for a true head-to-head action -- but playing it is another matter.

#315: Super Fire Pro Wrestling 2
72% As a one-player game this is a dead loss, but with a Super Multitap four-player adaptor, it's by far the best wrestling game by far. Lots of Japanese text, though.

#314: Hook
72% A polished platform romp that relates to the film about as well as a computer game can. Ten levels don't provide enough challenge -- the infinite continues will enable most players to waltz through the whole thing quite easily. Fun, but not a great buy.

#313: Robotrek
72% Look at the pictures, everything can be gleened from them. Certainly, while Robotrek doesn't do anything original, what it does, it does fairly well.

#312: Suzuki F1
72% A good, solid driving game which -- bar the odd no-warning-of-corners problem -- should give you many hours of useful service. That said, it's hopelessly outclassed by Human Grand Prix.

#311: Joe & Mac
72% Hardly the slickest of platform games, but one of the more lively and colourful. The gameplay isn't likely to appeal to the serious player, though.

#310: Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday
72% Porky wears its heart on its sleeve and tattooed on its heart are the words "simple, formulaic platformer for kids."

#309: Super Pang
72% Like a swan that's had its wings cruelly clipped, Super Pang is perfect in almost every way, but can't get off the ground in the lastability stakes. True, it's fun for a while, but a two-player option would have made all the difference.

#308: Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
72% Occasionally lively but, more commonly, plodding multi-level superhero thriller. Really lousy graphics, though nifty music -- one for Spidey/X-Men fans, but very average to the rest of us.

#307: Super R-Type
72% A great-looking and very challenging shooter that's let down a little on the technical side.

#306: Dragon Ball Z
73% Good-looking anime-based beat 'em up, using interesting 'windows' to depict the action. Lots of moves, if hard to access.

#305: Super Pinball: Behind the Mask
73% Lovely to look at, decent to play, but as limited as a guitar with only one string.

#304: Final Stretch
73% Brilliant 3D scrolling -- it's a very striking game when you first see it -- but with very little to actually do. A real disappointment.

#303: Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball
73% A few graphical probs, but nice and playable.

#302: Newman-Haas Indy Car
73% The Nigel Mansell license isn't enough to make this a corker. It's not too terrible though. It's just rather samey and not quite enough to keep your interest.

#301: Time Trax
73% Slick and tremendously entertaining for the two to three days it will last you.

#300: Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey & Minnie
73% It does have a simultaneous two-player option, and those graphics are lovely, but it's too similar to the first game in both styling and ease of completion to make it a really good buy.

#299: Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam!
73% Basketball is a tough enough sport to simulate without taking away the rules. What makes NBA Jam so good was realism mixed with the utter stupidity of it all. Charles Barkley seems to take itself too seriously and frankly just isn't much fun.

#298: Lamborghini American Challenge
73% There's a nice sense of speed (212 mph, to be precise) and once you get into it you'll want to play on. Not perfect, but not too shabby, either, this one.

#297: Battle Cars
73% An odd cross-pollination of F-Zero and Rock 'n Roll Racing which works well as a one-player game, but drops far short of the mark in two-player mode.

#296: Jaki Crush
73% Reasonable fun, and quite attractive in places, but far too slow to get the adrenalin flowing. If you've got a UK machine with an adaptor, especially, give it a miss -- it's even slower. (Perhaps they'll speed it up if it gets a UK release.)

#295: World Class Rugby
74% Rugby has none of the failings of, say, Kick Off, and will be great for fans. The rest of us will find it a bit stop/start, however.

#294: Super WWF
74% It's really slick, and brilliant fun for a bit, but there's very little game behind the graphics.

#293: Super High Impact
74% Rather to my surprise, this all adds up to a game I rather enjoyed playing, though I wasn't expecting to. Hardcore Madden fans may scoff, but I think this is actually really rather good.

#292: True Lies
74% Quite a bit of exciting blasting, but frustration will creep in when you can't get the angles exactly right. Learn where everyone is and you'll go far. But make sure you want to.

#291: SeaQuest DSV
74% Despite its fair share of minor annoyances that threaten to scupper it, SeaQuest just about stays afloat, providing an appealing mix of (sedate) strategy, shoot 'em up and sim action.

#290: Gods
74% Gods has a very different feel to most SNES platform games, and that's no bad thing. It's got a lot more depth, too, but the gameplay's so repetitive you might get bored before you explore the many subtly-hidden features. Stick with it, though, and this'll last you ages.

#289: Mr. Tuff
74% Mr. Tuff? Mr. Fairly Standard Platform Game With a Few Nice Touches But Overall Rather Samey and Too Easy, I'd call it.

#288: Bonkers
74% It doesn't break any new ground, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. Bonkers is a well-worked, appealing cuddly little game, with a smattering of cartoon high-jinks in for good measure. Even if he is a cop.

#287: King of the Monsters 2
74% A suitably silly combat game that's bound to appeal to Godzilla fans. Although it's very enjoyable, the joke wears a bit thin all too quickly. It's sort of Rampage meets Street Fighter II, but nowhere near as much fun as either.

#286: Top Gear 2
74% The original Top Gear looked a bit old fashioned even when it first came out, and it'd be lucky to get over a 70% if we reviewed it again now. The sequel is slightly more sophisticated, and has more features, but still looks a little behind the times.

#285: Hagane
74% Hagane is as traditional as Yorkshire Pudding, as tough as liquorice sticks you get from the greengrocers and mildly enjoyable in a 'haven't-I-seen-you-somewhere-before?' sort of way. Something linear though, ultimately you progress through practice parrot-fashion which disappoints.

#284: Nolan Ryan's Baseball
75% Smart, slick, solid and really quite good fun.

#283: Demolition Man
75% It's crude in places, shaky in others and certainly has frustrating moments, but Demolition Man pulls itself back from the brink by including a number of inventive touches.

#282: Dragon Ball Z 2
75% If you like manga action then this delivers the goods in a big way. As a beat 'em up it's fun for a while, but no great shakes.

#281: Addams Family Values
75% Gomez and his flashing blade might have served better than Fester for the action elements, but the action puzzle/RPG hardcore will find it worth a delve.

#280: Pinball Dreams
75% An utterly perfunctory conversion of an overrated hit, which was crying out for major improvements during its journey to the SNES. But no-one was listening.

#279: Magic Boy
75% There's plenty of enjoyable moments in here, albeit interspersed with a certain amount of teeth-grindingly annoying ones. Overall, though, not bad at all.

#278: Prime Goal
75% Lots of J-League flavour, and it plays a great game of footy. But the inexplicable lack of speed will spoil it for most people.

#277: Super Adventure Island
75% Brash, with a nauseating character, but brilliant fun and very nice to look at.

#276: Urban Strike
75% This instalment of the popular Strike series is let down by dodgy controls and glitchy movement. It's a shame, because deep down there's a cracking game.

#275: The Firemen
75% Original, fun and quite tricky. But the lack of variety gets boring and you'll wish for some extras to keep your interest.

#274: Super BC Kid
75% A huge game with more humour, surprises and fun than an average episode of Tiswas. Unfortunately, like Tiswas, it has a very limited lifespan.

#273: Nosferatu
75% Nosferatu isn't nearly the game it should have been. The graphics, sound and presentation are all present and refreshingly correct. Absent? Fresh gameplay ideas, responsiveness and rewarding gameplay. It's doubtless some will still enjoy it, though.

#272: Weaponlord
75% Its better aspects are those that crib, imperfectly, from Street Fighter -- sigh -- but for all its terrible faults, it's not unamusing.

#271: Final Fight 2
75% A bit of a disappointment all round, really. A great scrolling beat 'em up, but nothing we haven't seen before, and too easy.

#270: Jimmy Houston's Bass Tournament USA
76% Okay, so it's neither action packed nor particularly revolutionary, but Bass Tournament USA does hold some bizarre fascination for those looking for something a bit different to plug into their SNES. There's certainly a lot more to do here than in Bassin's Black Bass. Doom fanatics, however, need not apply.

#269: Pink Goes to Hollywood
76% Dedicated Panther fans will be tickled pink (sorry). Others could do worse.

#268: NFL Football
76% It's not as good as Madden '93, and nowhere near as good as Madden '94 will be (when it finally comes out). And who needs more than one American football game, anyway?

#267: Yoshi's Cookie
76% A well-presented, but simple, puzzle game that maintains the quality of the Mario line. But it's the variety offered by the three gameplay options, rather than any inherent depth to the game itself, that will decide its longevity.

#266: Volleyball Twin
76% Perfectly decent two-player volleyball game that could have been made better, but really suffers from the simple fact that it's about volleyball. Great for fans, and playable (though not essential) for the rest of us.

#265: Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D
76% An attempt at 3D which really works. But once you've oohed and aahed over it, the game underneath is another platformer. Still, a brave attempted and 3D could well be something we'll be seeing a lot more of.

#264: Prehistorik Man
76% A decent and -- oh, alright then -- polished platformer all the way that doesn't rely on gimmicks or licenses. But where's the spark?

#263: Top Gear
76% A neat little game this one, but you just have to say 'Mario Kart' and it runs into the corner, shivering. It's just not in the same league.

#262: Blackhawk
76% Two words: Flashback and clone. Demanding gun-toting fun while it lasts, except that it doesn't. Cup of tea, sir?

#261: Fatal Fury
76% Well, it's not, is it? Street Fighter II, I mean. Yes, it's got the graphics (almost), but that's about it -- the gameplay struggles hard, but still doesn't compare. That said, however, this is still the best of the current crop of pretenders.

#260: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
77% Far too slow, and steeped in the usual Star Trek nonsense, but reasonably enjoyable for all that. It's not going to make you explode in joy, though.

#259: Pro Baseball League '93
77% Sure, it's another baseball game. But it's a really good one!

#258: Excite Stage '95
77% While this improves on the original version in many areas, the overbearing shadow of International Superstar Soccer will prevent it making any lasting impression on the SNES soccer scene.

#257: Mechwarrior 3050
77% The tallest power-crazed destructathon on two legs, tripped up by a chronically short and stumpy lifespan.

#256: Power Monger
77% A great strategy game, but it's very complicated and takes ages to get into, and lots of people will consequently find it really boring.

#255: Super International Cricket
77% A thoroughly entertaining and amusing cricket sim, if occasionally limiting, sounds about right. Yes.

#254: Troy Aikman NFL Football
77% It looks pretty manky, but it plays well enough. But it's a bit too complex for US footie novices.

#253: Young Merlin
77% Young Merlin's enjoyable but not engrossing. It's big but you won't get lost. It's puzzley but rarely brain-wracking. It's fun but not big fun. It's average.

#252: World Heroes
77% Well, it's all right in itself (if a pretty disgraceful rip-off of someone else's idea), but you'd have to be completely bonkers to buy it.

#251: Dirt Trax FX
77% If Sculptured had put as much effort into the game as they did in making (admittedly excellent) use of the Super FX chip, Dirt Trax FX would be a stormer. As it is, it falls a fair way short.

#250: James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
77% An unashamed Mario rip-off ... er, homage. It's 111 (admittedly short) levels of good, honest, unpretentious, varied, and ultimately rather dull platform action.

#249: Lawnmower Man
77% Pleasing 3D sections mixed with tedious platform ones. The overall effect is pretty much okay, and there's a plenty of Virtual Reality atmosphere.

#248: Spider-Man
77% Lots of bosses, some flexible gameplay and nice backgrounds just about make up for slow characters, and rather linear levels.

#247: Hammerin' Harry
77% Better than average platformer, where hitting cats and old ladies with a hammer is fine. Smiles on faces.

#246: Bubsy the Bobcat
77% A solid enough platform game with plenty in its favour, but too predictable and with too many rough edges to be the classic it could have been.

#245: Championship Pool
78% As pool games go, and there aren't many on the SNES, this captures the mechanics and feel of the game well. But then, 40 square feet of green baize doesn't give you much scope for going wrong.

#244: Brett Hull Hockey
78% It's got both NHLPA and Stanely Cup to beat, but ol' Brett might just do it. It's a component, well-constructed game, and I enjoyed it. I wonder what playing the real game is like?

#243: Fever Pitch
78% Despite its original approach, Fever Pitch is just a meat-and-potatoes footy game, albeit a mildly enjoyable one, in the short term at least. Its lack of depth and some clumsy AI seriously spoil its chances of succeeding in such a competitive area.

#242: Zen-Nippon Joshi Pro Wrestling Kounin
78% There's much more strategy involved in performing moves and counter-moves. Oh, and it works with the Super Multitap. Which is the same, only you can have up to three people playing at once.

#241: Muscle Bomber
78% Unless you're guaranteed to have four player and a multitap always at hand, you won't get your money's worth out of this. It's a big and attractive game, but that just won't be enough for most gamers.

#240: NBA Live '96
78% It's not a bad basketball game, it's just that it's not the best basketball game. You may think I'm wrong, or a liar perhaps, but to me NBA Jam is king.

#239: Pushover
78% Very well designed and coded, and very absorbing, too. The snag is that once you've solved all the puzzles, that's it. (This'll take ages, though.)

#238: Dead Dance
78% A pretty good beat 'em up with plenty of depth and challenging gameplay. Ultimately, though, it's NAGASFII* (Not as good as Street Fighter II. We're sick of writing it in full.)

#237: Wolfenstein 3D
78% For a bricky-looking, 3D, Nazi-blaster, it's really quite fun. Just don't mention the War, okay?

#236: Tiny Toon Adventures Wild and Wacky Sports
78% With more challenging and complex events this could have been fantastic. As it is, it only really comes into its own with lots of players taking part, then it starts to become a lot more fun.

#235: Mario's Super Picross
78% An initially pleasing release which offers addictive gameplay and satisfying challenges, let down by the fact that its gameplay never changes.

#234: Phantom 2040
78% Plentiful vim and verve plus some clever-clever ideas about pacing and story paths boosts this platy shooter to the status of Good Thing. And a cheer for The Phantom, who truly is the supplest hero of 1995.

#233: Skyblazer
78% Nice, with pretty graphics and plenty of variety. But it's too lightweight to constitute a serious purchase, and you'd probably finish it in half a day's playing.

#232: Claymates
79% Fun and gimmicky, but let down by some glaringly horrible bits. The availability of infinite continues means it's all over far too quickly, but there's plenty here to play around with.

#231: College Slam
79% It's a cliché, but if you already own one of the NBA Jam titles, you'd be advised not to consider this. If not, then in gameplay terms, College Slam certainly improves on the Jam formula, but suffers from the lack of recognizable faces on court. Then again, how many basketball players can you name? Bonkers and far too addictive in multi-player mode, but hardly original.

#230: WWF Royal Rumble
79% Think carefully before spending money on it -- it's shallow stuff -- but this is the best WWF game imaginable, and very amusing.

#229: Super James Pond
79% The transition from Amiga to Super NES is a journey fraught with perils, but Super James Pond has managed it just swimmingly.

#228: NHL Stanley Cup
79% It's not the screaming shot into the roof of the net which is NHLPA. More a glancing deflection between the 'keepers legs. A goal all the same though.

#227: Raccoon Rascal
79% I doubt that many copies of this will make it over here, but if you see one and fancy something quite definitely puzzley, but distinctly different to the rest, then buy it.

#226: Super Volley II
79% Despite odd perspective, a fab two-player game -- but one that suffers from extensive Japanese text. For this reason, much of the gameplay is hidden.

#225: Syo the Seal (Shounen Ashibe)
79% A bit off-beat, and unlikely to make a big impression in the UK, but irresistibly cute, with the playability to back it up. It gets our 'seal" of approval.

#224: Troddlers
79% Initially Troddlers seems rather too easy, with disappointing graphics, but this game improves as you get into it. Cute, but not lovely.

#223: Krusty's Super Fun House
79% Quite compulsive in a Lemmingsy sort of way. Little brothers and sisters are likely to enjoy it.

#222: Toy Story
79% For the Mega Drive, Toy Story marked a new high point in graphics and gameplay. But on the SNES, this side-scroller can't help but be compared to Donkey Kong Country 2 and that's a comparison where it will lose every time.

#221: Lufia
79% It's not up there with the likes of Final Fantasy on the High Shelve of Quality, but it's good enough to avoid gathering dust under the Mattress of Iniquity.

#220: Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure
79% It's fun. But then, alas, it's over. And that price, eh?

#219: 100% Cotton
79% A great shoot 'em up with a style you almost want to hug. Questionable longevity, though.

#218: Ranma 1/2: Hard Battle
79% The best Ranma 1/2 game to date, with gorgeous graphics supplementing a good, solid (if not quite top-notch) beat 'em up. Very weird and Japanese, though, obviously.

#217: Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest
79% Funny, hugely enjoyable and a great introduction to the genre. Just don't expect it to last you very long.

#216: Super Return of the Jedi
79% More levels than every multi-story car park in Milton Keynes combined. It's a pity most of them are run-of-the-mill platform fodder, interspersed with the occasional Mode 7 work-out. Polished, but essentially repetitive and all-too-familiar.

#215: Fatal Fury 2
79% Not very fatal and certainly not furious, but it has its moments. As you can guess, it's NAGASFII. (*Not as good as Street Fighter II -- a handy abbreviation invented by Jonathan Davies for just such an occasion. We'll be using it again soon, I daresay.

#214: Mega Man 7
79% Mega Man 7's the logical 16-bit extension of the 8-bit series, with prettier graphics and more accomplished soundtrack. It's just a pity the gameplay didn't get the same overhaul.

#213: Rampart
79% As a one-player game this is merely okay, but in two-player mode it really motors.

#212: Kikikaikai 2
79% A perfect example of the 'It's great while it lasts' type. I'd recommend it to Jap-styling fans, though -- they'll adore every minute.

#211: Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss
79% Not what Castlevania fans will necessarily expect -- or even feel they deserve -- but a solid addition to a very fine series of games nevertheless.

#210: Devil's Course
80% Just as playable as Pebble Beach and chums, but with a really bizarre set of holes to play on. Lots of fun, but not a sensible first choice if you're after a golf game.

#209: The Smurfs
80% This is simply a good, well-rounded platform game which will appeal to platform game fans who enjoy a stiff challenge. That's it.

#208: Amazing Tennis
80% Extremely polished and enjoyable tennis game, featuring an unrivalled 3D effect, though suffering from restrictive viewpoint and simplistic gameplay. Super Tennis is still the champ.

#207: Metal Marines
80% An attractive title which blends challenge, playability and good old-fashioned smash-the-opposing-factions-to-bits. I like it.

#206: Namcot Open
80% Yup, this is a very good golf game indeed. The ball moves around realistically, and the holes are entertainingly varied, and there's only one course, as usual.

#205: Soccer Shootout
80% It's a tad rough around the edges but as a pure arcade-style kickabout, Soccer Shootout is the best example we've seen yet.

#204: World Masters Golf
80% By no means perfect, but wholly entertaining, and probably your best bet golf-wise on the SNES.

#203: Choplifter III
80% Like a whiff of something that you, er, haven't smelt for years, Choplifter 3 is a nostalgia trip well worth considering.

#202: First Samurai
80% No stunner to look at, but underneath it's a finely tuned adventure/slice 'em up with week(ish) of playing potential.

#201: Kid Klown in Crazy Chase
80% It looks marvelous and it's packed with great gags but it's too short and the restart business is a right pain in the bum.

#200: Joe & Mac 2
80% A great little game which is playable, funny and occasionally ingenious. But how much?

#199: Adventures of Batman & Robin
80% A pretty uneven game in which all the disparate elements only occasionally come together to create something truly awesome. Fans of the series, though, will love the authentic atmosphere.

#198: Ogre Battle
80% The sheer pleasure of kicking in a squad of paladins with a zombie dragon unit almost makes up for the game's lack of variation, so fantasy fans should definitely give it a look. The skean dubh/thigh arrangement is purely optional, however.

#197: Syndicate
80% Not the classic you'll find on other formats, but it's still a tidy little strategy shooter with a compulsive playability.

#196: Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
80% Varied beat 'em up/shoot 'em up/platformer of assorted degrees of competence, but always funny and challenging. Needless to say, great with two.

#195: Breath of Fire
80% Accessible but ultimately lightweight Final Fantasy-style RPG with smarter graphics but less plot. Excellent but you might have a bigger selection of RPGs very shortly.

#194: World Heroes 2
80% World Heroes 2 has a definite Neo Geo fighting game feel -- which is fine if you know what to expect. Street Fighter II stalwarts may not be immediately keen; but take time to learn its feel and you'll realize that there is more to life than Street Fighter II. (But not much.)

#193: Mega Man X2
80% Although just a slight upgrade to Mega Man X does not make a bad game, the potential of a special graphics chip to give the series a new lease on life hasn't been realized. A superior platformer and a good solid game, but, unfortunately, nothing new.

#192: Super Turrican
80% A fast, smooth platform shoot 'em up, overflowing with smart graphics and sound. Despite some simor improvements, this ain't that different from the Amiga Turrican games -- it's slick and playable, but lacking in the major league thrills we're now used to.

#191: Demon's Crest
80% A very nearly wonderful game, with showstopping graphics and a great bulging sack full of neat touches. If only Capcom could address those difficulty defects.

#190: Pinball Fantasies
81% A good pinball game, but not half as neat as the one which we're all sure could be written. The SNES deserves the best, and this could have done with four extra meg and that still imaginary game.

#189: Brain Lord
81% Not what you'd call the future of role-playing games, but fans of Soul Blazer won't be disappointed by this action-heavy scabbard wobbler from the Enix stable.

#188: Zoop
81% There can be no doubt that -- yes! -- this is a puzzle game. Not an earth-shattering, SNES-stretching, terrifying, captivating, radical experience. Just one to while away a dozen afternoons chasing a high score.

#187: Mega-Lo-Mania
81% I must say, I'm quite pleased with my test to find out whether you like wargames and I like this. It's got some great synthesized speech in it as well.

#186: Mortal Kombat
81% Really smart looking, and as close to the arcade original as one could hope for (bar the loss of blood). But was Mortal Kombat really that great a game in the first place?

#185: Disney's Aladdin
81% Great to look at, very involving, and jam-packed with laughs. Just like the film, in fact. But in no time at all it's all over and, er, that's it. It depends what you're after, really -- a short, intense burst of gaming heaven, or something you're still going to be playing a week later.

#184: Secret of Evermore
81% Placed in the glare of the best of Square's Japanese games, Evermore withers, wilts and goes a bit manky at the edges. A lot of effort has gone into its production, though, and it's certainly a welcome UK release.

#183: Out of this World
81% If you fancy a change from the usual platform game experience, this is certainly a good bet -- but if what you really want from your £45 is bags of gameplay and a lasting challenge (and why shouldn't you?) you're probably better off shopping elsewhere.

#182: Breath of Fire 2
81% Don't misunderstand the score -- this game has undeniable flaws, enough to put off the novices and the action fans, so I can't recommend it unreservedly. But if you're a hardcore pointy-hat like me then Breath of Fire 2 is an essential purchase.

#181: Super Mario RPG
81% A short, cute and extremely simplistic introduction to role-playing by Nintendo's most famous character. Buy the translation for a younger relative and look over their shoulder to see the wacky bits.

#180: Dragon's Lair
82% If you don't mind the dissimilarities with Dragon's Lair proper, the ... the ... sadistic (there's no other word for it) difficulty level and the teeth marks that are more than likely to appear on your joypad as a result, this polished and wonderfully playable platform game can be highly recommended. (And it's British, too.)

#179: Judge Dredd
82% Doesn't even try to do justice to the license, but thankfully it still manages to deliver a bucketload of classically powerful platform action. Oh, and it's one of the hardest games of this sort I've played.

#178: Dracula Kid
82% There's Japanese text, but not enough to prevent some serious enjoyment, in this imaginative and ultra-cute adventure. Hunt it down!

#177: Addams Family
82% This one's really hard, but really imaginative and lots of fun.

#176: Human Grand Prix
82% A really smart Formula 1 game with the huge advantage of a two-player mode. It's a shame about the controls though: They'll drive you rou ... Grr!

#175: The Lion King
82% A very high-quality platform game with little in the way of innovation. Everybody who loves platformers, great graphics and the Lion King start queuing over there. Everybody who wants something new to play on their SNES, follow me.

#174: Smash Ball
82% A simple game with ever-so-cute graphics which really gets to you after a while. Very addictive and great fun in one- and especially two-player mode. A surprise gem, Smash Ball.

#173: Spike McFang
82% Packed with everything that's good about Japanese game design, this represents a good buy for Zelda/Soul Blazer fans everywhere.

#172: Pebble Beach Golf
82% Although this is the only golf game officially available in the UK at the moment, it's not a bad choice, and is lots of fun -- even if you don't like real-life golf.

#171: Super SWIV
82% One of the top, ohh, eight scrolling shoot 'em ups on the SNES. Very slick but, strangely, not as exciting as it could have been.

#170: Soreyuke Ebisumaru Karakuri: Meiro Kieta Goemon no Nazo
82% While its format shows signs of age, Goemon 4 nevertheless provides the avid gamefan with an Aladdin's Cave of 'only in Japan' videogaming. If you see it and you're feeling particularly adventurous (all its text is in Japanese), pick it up.

#169: The Jungle Book
82% Big, bouncy and beautiful. Virgin have done the man-cub and his jungle chums proud.

#168: Donkey Kong Country 2
82% A better game than Donkey Kong Country, rougher at the edges, but with a little more depth of gameplay and fewer pointless frills. A fact that surprises me as much as you, I'm sure.

#167: Ghoul Patrol
82% A gigantically entertaining, if small, silly-Gauntlet with impeccable presentation; a slightly disappointing sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The solution is elegantly simple: buy both games.

#166: Kikikaikai
82% Slick, lovable, very weird and enormously enjoyable. You'll never look at a raccoon in quite the same way again.

#165:Cool Spot
82% Snazzy show-off platformer with a way cool character, but the fun's short-lived. If you can afford that, go ahead.

#164: Super Family Tennis
83% As clean and polished looking as a tennis game can get, but Super Family Tennis lacks diverse controls and (so) single-player thrills. As a three- or four-player Super Multitap game, it's a treat, however.

#163: Adventures of Mighty Max
83% Sony could have easily rush-released a load of old tat to ride on the recent wave of hype surrounding Mighty Max, but they didn't. They thought about it came up with a strategy platformer better than anyone expected.

#162: Dinosaurs
83% Dinosaurs is an utterly fabulous game, and probably the best looking and most imaginative platformer of the system. If it wasn't so easy, it might even (and we've got to be careful here) have knocked Mario off his perch.

#161: Exhaust Heat 2
83% Good looking and fast. F-Zero lookalike that requires a bit of 'getting into' at first. No two-player option, but it's still good fun.

#160: Irem Skins Game
83% There are lots of really good golf games on the SNES, but this is probably the best of them. It's really slick, and has a great golfing atmosphere, but it's a shame there's only one course.

#159: Jungle Strike
83% Desert Strike again, but more so. Which means it's not worth buying in addition to Desert Strike, but is certainly the game to get instead of it.

#158: Alfred Chicken
83% Just when you think you've had your fill, Alfred Chicken makes the platformula worth playing again.

#157: King Arthur's World
83% The controls are a total nightmare, and the presentation isn't great, but otherwise this is an absorbing and extremely addictive little game. Keep an eye out for it.

#156: F-1 Pole Position
83% It's fast, it's fun and you'll keep playing it for ages. F1 Pole Position is best played against another human, but enjoyable anyway. Come on software publishers, let this be the last word in Mode 7 racing games.

#155: Bulls vs. Blazers
83% Another good basketball game -- this one's not the slickest, but it's perhaps the most challenging and realistic game.

#154: Euro Soccer Champ
83% A strange game, the rules don't help and the music wouldn't get past even Eurovision judges, but as it stands it's the best kind around at the moment, and jolly good fun.

#153: Micro Machines
83% A little game with poor graphics, pipey, rather crap sound and not a great deal to it. But play it once and you'll be hooked. Micro Machines is fun, you see. Something other games have forgotten about. Fun! Bloody fun!

#152: Super Tetris + Bombliss
83% Playing Tetris on a Super Nintendo is a bit like driving to Sainsbury's in a Lamborghini. But Tetris is Tetris, and this version is just as addictive as any other.

#151: Ardy Lightfoot
83% A neat game with great cartoon-style graphics. There isn't quite enough there for the seasoned game player, but as a my-first-platform-game, it's got everything.

#200: Joe & Mac 2
80% A great little game which is playable, funny and occasionally ingenious. But how much?

#199: Adventures of Batman & Robin
80% A pretty uneven game in which all the disparate elements only occasionally come together to create something truly awesome. Fans of the series, though, will love the authentic atmosphere.

#198: Ogre Battle
80% The sheer pleasure of kicking in a squad of paladins with a zombie dragon unit almost makes up for the game's lack of variation, so fantasy fans should definitely give it a look. The skean dubh/thigh arrangement is purely optional, however.

#197: Syndicate
80% Not the classic you'll find on other formats, but it's still a tidy little strategy shooter with a compulsive playability.

#196: Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
80% Varied beat 'em up/shoot 'em up/platformer of assorted degrees of competence, but always funny and challenging. Needless to say, great with two.

#195: Breath of Fire
80% Accessible but ultimately lightweight Final Fantasy-style RPG with smarter graphics but less plot. Excellent but you might have a bigger selection of RPGs very shortly.

#194: World Heroes 2
80% World Heroes 2 has a definite Neo Geo fighting game feel -- which is fine if you know what to expect. Street Fighter II stalwarts may not be immediately keen; but take time to learn its feel and you'll realize that there is more to life than Street Fighter II. (But not much.)

#193: Mega Man X2
80% Although just a slight upgrade to Mega Man X does not make a bad game, the potential of a special graphics chip to give the series a new lease on life hasn't been realized. A superior platformer and a good solid game, but, unfortunately, nothing new.

#192: Super Turrican
80% A fast, smooth platform shoot 'em up, overflowing with smart graphics and sound. Despite some simor improvements, this ain't that different from the Amiga Turrican games -- it's slick and playable, but lacking in the major league thrills we're now used to.

#191: Demon's Crest
80% A very nearly wonderful game, with showstopping graphics and a great bulging sack full of neat touches. If only Capcom could address those difficulty defects.

#190: Pinball Fantasies
81% A good pinball game, but not half as neat as the one which we're all sure could be written. The SNES deserves the best, and this could have done with four extra meg and that still imaginary game.

#189: Brain Lord
81% Not what you'd call the future of role-playing games, but fans of Soul Blazer won't be disappointed by this action-heavy scabbard wobbler from the Enix stable.

#188: Zoop
81% There can be no doubt that -- yes! -- this is a puzzle game. Not an earth-shattering, SNES-stretching, terrifying, captivating, radical experience. Just one to while away a dozen afternoons chasing a high score.

#187: Mega-Lo-Mania
81% I must say, I'm quite pleased with my test to find out whether you like wargames and I like this. It's got some great synthesized speech in it as well.

#186: Mortal Kombat
81% Really smart looking, and as close to the arcade original as one could hope for (bar the loss of blood). But was Mortal Kombat really that great a game in the first place?

#185: Disney's Aladdin
81% Great to look at, very involving, and jam-packed with laughs. Just like the film, in fact. But in no time at all it's all over and, er, that's it. It depends what you're after, really -- a short, intense burst of gaming heaven, or something you're still going to be playing a week later.

#184: Secret of Evermore
81% Placed in the glare of the best of Square's Japanese games, Evermore withers, wilts and goes a bit manky at the edges. A lot of effort has gone into its production, though, and it's certainly a welcome UK release.

#183: Out of this World
81% If you fancy a change from the usual platform game experience, this is certainly a good bet -- but if what you really want from your £45 is bags of gameplay and a lasting challenge (and why shouldn't you?) you're probably better off shopping elsewhere.

#182: Breath of Fire 2
81% Don't misunderstand the score -- this game has undeniable flaws, enough to put off the novices and the action fans, so I can't recommend it unreservedly. But if you're a hardcore pointy-hat like me then Breath of Fire 2 is an essential purchase.

#181: Super Mario RPG
81% A short, cute and extremely simplistic introduction to role-playing by Nintendo's most famous character. Buy the translation for a younger relative and look over their shoulder to see the wacky bits.

#180: Dragon's Lair
82% If you don't mind the dissimilarities with Dragon's Lair proper, the ... the ... sadistic (there's no other word for it) difficulty level and the teeth marks that are more than likely to appear on your joypad as a result, this polished and wonderfully playable platform game can be highly recommended. (And it's British, too.)

#179: Judge Dredd
82% Doesn't even try to do justice to the license, but thankfully it still manages to deliver a bucketload of classically powerful platform action. Oh, and it's one of the hardest games of this sort I've played.

#178: Dracula Kid
82% There's Japanese text, but not enough to prevent some serious enjoyment, in this imaginative and ultra-cute adventure. Hunt it down!

#177: Addams Family
82% This one's really hard, but really imaginative and lots of fun.

#176: Human Grand Prix
82% A really smart Formula 1 game with the huge advantage of a two-player mode. It's a shame about the controls though: They'll drive you rou ... Grr!

#175: The Lion King
82% A very high-quality platform game with little in the way of innovation. Everybody who loves platformers, great graphics and the Lion King start queuing over there. Everybody who wants something new to play on their SNES, follow me.

#174: Smash Ball
82% A simple game with ever-so-cute graphics which really gets to you after a while. Very addictive and great fun in one- and especially two-player mode. A surprise gem, Smash Ball.

#173: Spike McFang
82% Packed with everything that's good about Japanese game design, this represents a good buy for Zelda/Soul Blazer fans everywhere.

#172: Pebble Beach Golf
82% Although this is the only golf game officially available in the UK at the moment, it's not a bad choice, and is lots of fun -- even if you don't like real-life golf.

#171: Super SWIV
82% One of the top, ohh, eight scrolling shoot 'em ups on the SNES. Very slick but, strangely, not as exciting as it could have been.

#170: Soreyuke Ebisumaru Karakuri: Meiro Kieta Goemon no Nazo
82% While its format shows signs of age, Goemon 4 nevertheless provides the avid gamefan with an Aladdin's Cave of 'only in Japan' videogaming. If you see it and you're feeling particularly adventurous (all its text is in Japanese), pick it up.

#169: The Jungle Book
82% Big, bouncy and beautiful. Virgin have done the man-cub and his jungle chums proud.

#168: Donkey Kong Country 2
82% A better game than Donkey Kong Country, rougher at the edges, but with a little more depth of gameplay and fewer pointless frills. A fact that surprises me as much as you, I'm sure.

#167: Ghoul Patrol
82% A gigantically entertaining, if small, silly-Gauntlet with impeccable presentation; a slightly disappointing sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors. The solution is elegantly simple: buy both games.

#166: Kikikaikai
82% Slick, lovable, very weird and enormously enjoyable. You'll never look at a raccoon in quite the same way again.

#165:Cool Spot
82% Snazzy show-off platformer with a way cool character, but the fun's short-lived. If you can afford that, go ahead.

#164: Super Family Tennis
83% As clean and polished looking as a tennis game can get, but Super Family Tennis lacks diverse controls and (so) single-player thrills. As a three- or four-player Super Multitap game, it's a treat, however.

#163: Adventures of Mighty Max
83% Sony could have easily rush-released a load of old tat to ride on the recent wave of hype surrounding Mighty Max, but they didn't. They thought about it came up with a strategy platformer better than anyone expected.

#162: Dinosaurs
83% Dinosaurs is an utterly fabulous game, and probably the best looking and most imaginative platformer of the system. If it wasn't so easy, it might even (and we've got to be careful here) have knocked Mario off his perch.

#161: Exhaust Heat 2
83% Good looking and fast. F-Zero lookalike that requires a bit of 'getting into' at first. No two-player option, but it's still good fun.

#160: Irem Skins Game
83% There are lots of really good golf games on the SNES, but this is probably the best of them. It's really slick, and has a great golfing atmosphere, but it's a shame there's only one course.

#159: Jungle Strike
83% Desert Strike again, but more so. Which means it's not worth buying in addition to Desert Strike, but is certainly the game to get instead of it.

#158: Alfred Chicken
83% Just when you think you've had your fill, Alfred Chicken makes the platformula worth playing again.

#157: King Arthur's World
83% The controls are a total nightmare, and the presentation isn't great, but otherwise this is an absorbing and extremely addictive little game. Keep an eye out for it.

#156: F-1 Pole Position
83% It's fast, it's fun and you'll keep playing it for ages. F1 Pole Position is best played against another human, but enjoyable anyway. Come on software publishers, let this be the last word in Mode 7 racing games.

#155: Bulls vs. Blazers
83% Another good basketball game -- this one's not the slickest, but it's perhaps the most challenging and realistic game.

#154: Euro Soccer Champ
83% A strange game, the rules don't help and the music wouldn't get past even Eurovision judges, but as it stands it's the best kind around at the moment, and jolly good fun.

#153: Micro Machines
83% A little game with poor graphics, pipey, rather crap sound and not a great deal to it. But play it once and you'll be hooked. Micro Machines is fun, you see. Something other games have forgotten about. Fun! Bloody fun!

#152: Super Tetris + Bombliss
83% Playing Tetris on a Super Nintendo is a bit like driving to Sainsbury's in a Lamborghini. But Tetris is Tetris, and this version is just as addictive as any other.

#151: Ardy Lightfoot
83% A neat game with great cartoon-style graphics. There isn't quite enough there for the seasoned game player, but as a my-first-platform-game, it's got everything.

#150: Michael Jordan in Chaos in the Windy City
83% A high-quality platform game, hidden under a bizarre plot and a great deal of licensing. A pretty rare thing these days and all the more laudable for it. Hooray!

#149: Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius
83% As slick as ever and truly funny in bits but nothing innovative. Just the same timeless blasting gameplay we all know and love.

#148: John Madden '93
83% A real improvement over the original John Madden game, though mostly it's through cosmetic differences. Not quite as good as it could have been, mind and probably not quite as good as the Mega Drive version (though that's a matter of opinion), but still an excellent American football game that's unquestionably the best on the SNES. Hurrah for Electronic Arts!

#147: Jurassic Park II
83% A brilliant intro leads you into a tough, varied game with a shade too much standard platforminess to make it a classic. But stay with it and not only will you be a better gamer, but you'll have a lot of fun.

#146: R-Type III
83% A bit of a hackneyed theme, I know, but it's a very polished presentation with some great, frantic action and enough challenge to keep even hardened veterans of the shoot 'em up bashing away for quite a while. Even if you've got Super R-Type, play this. It's been improved to make a more satisfying blast.

#145: Out to Lunch
84% It's fun, it's big and there are lots of ways of approaching it. Out to Lunch is a competent game and contains enough clever animation and characterization to make it rise above the rest of the crowd, take a bow and regain its seat gracefully.

#144: Pac-In-Time
84% If your faith in platformers need reaffirming, try Pac-In-Time -- it's one of the most playable and polished examples available.

#143: WWF Raw
84% Bigger, better, more. That's what you get here. But at a price. Royal Rumble owners should have to go first, but other grapple-fans should suplex their wallets onto the counter and start the count.

#142: Super Dunk Shot (NCAA Basketball)
84% Technically accomplished and really playable with it. What more could you possibly want from a basketball game?

#141: Soccer Kid
84% Okay, it seems to be a platform game with an annoying ball to control. But give it a bit of time and you'll see what it's actually jolly great and deserves to get some serious slot-time in your SNES.

#140: Hebereke's Popoon
84% A great game, with smashing Japanese samples and a classic eight-player tournament mode. But it's partially eclipsed by Super Puyo Puyo, which remains that tiny bit more playable.

#139: Super Putty
84% Not entirely compulsive, despite its weirdness: but Putty remains slick, humorous, and puts much of the competition to shame.

#138: Pop 'N Twin Bee
84% A great looking shoot 'em up -- with imaginative backdrops and absolutely gorgeous sprites. Like Axelay (another Konami game) it features some, but not really enough, enjoyable gameplay, but ultimately lacks fast-paced excitement and, on the easy levels at least, challenge. We defy anyone to resist its appeal, though.

#137: NBA Live '95
84% Bot an NBA Jam clone, and a jolly good basketball game. You'll need to know your 'hoops' if you're to stand a chance of getting the best out of it.

#136: WWF Wrestlemania
84% With only six players this does tend to get repetitive, even with all the options on offer, but it's still a graphical achievement and very funny. Into the bargain.

#135: Puzzle Bobble
84% Not quite up there with Tetris and Puyo Puyo, but a great little puzzle game nonetheless -- especially with two players taking part.

#134: The Lost Vikings
84% A slow, plodding game, and one which many people will hate. But if you're the puzzley sort, prepared to put in the brain-work, it's, er, Viking brilliant!

#133: Madden NFL '95
84% Pretty much the same as Madden '94. The changes are minimal. Which still means it's good.

#132: Aero the Acro-Bat
84% A strange one, but once you give it a chance you'll be hooked. Aero handles well, and you'll learn to live with the tricky, but cavernous, early levels. What puts it in the 'very good' league is its sheer size and variety. Just when you're bored with a game-type, it's gone and there's something new there. So, Aero the Acrobat is a good chap in my book.

#131: Ninja Warriors
84% Despite its modern ninja-ness, it's got an old-fashioned feel. But, as the game is done well, Ninja Warriors is worth checking out.

#130: FIFA '96
84% FIFA was beginning to look badly dated and, true enough, '96 looks and feel like a much more modern game. But despite some improvements, the same problem as before -- over inertial players, for starters -- still leave it in the chasing pack behind International Superstar Soccer.

#129: Samurai Shodown
84% A jolly good beat 'em up, but you'll want more for your money, and you'll wonder if there isn't more, hiding in the vastness of the 32 megs. Still, it's fast, different and packed with moves, combos and weirdness. Wealthy fighting fans, here you go.

#128: Alien 3
84% Nice graphics and clever animation help to make Alien 3 both an enjoyable game and a splendid rendition of the film. Hurrah!

#127: Super Smash TV
84% Not for the squeamish, or those who like to put a bit of thought into their shooting. Be warned, though: It can eventually get monotonous, and the bosses are unreasonably though.

#126: Super Turrican 2
84% It's a bit like the new Elastica album -- forget originality and enjoy a load of old cliches done with energy and style. Short-lived but intense gaming action.

#125: SimCity
84% This probably isn't the most technically accomplished game around, but it's definitely the one that'll keep you from going to bed for longest. Surprisingly user-friendly too.

#124: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
84% Turtles fans will really adore this. Others will regard it as a competent, smart-looking but thin beat 'em up that might not last them very long. Actually, both would be right.

#123: Killer Instinct
85% Not arcade perfect, of course not, but a conversion that totally captures the essence of the original. Killer Instinct is surely the last word in side-on beat 'em ups.

#122: Nigel Mansell F1 Challenge
85% The best Formula One game on the Super NES. But, while it does what it does extremely well, it's a teeny bit straight-laced. High on thrills, low on frills -- that just about sums it up.

#121: Fighter's History
85% Others will trounce this for being overtly derivative, but that's exactly why it's such a damn fine game. Can't wait for Super Street Fighter II? Got Turtles? Have a look at this.

#120: Clay Fighter
85% Clay Fighter has got the best soundtrack of any fighting game ever. There's loads of speech and marvelous effects. The graphics, too, are unlike anything ever seen before in a combat game. But the playability can't quite live up to the incredible looks and sounds. Still, it is fun and, although the humour wears off, it's a fab game with some real depth to it.

#119: NBA Give 'N Go
85% It's arcade action all the way. For real-world accuracy go for NBA Live '96 but in pure fun to play terms this really gives NBA Jam a run for its money.

#118: PGA Tour '96
85% Lots of options, plenty of holes and a steep learning curve make for a top-notch simulation.

#117: Populous
85% This is an all-time computer classic. Relaxing, impossibly compulsive and nice to look at, too. But be prepared for things to get tough later on, and frustration to set in when you start losing.

#116: Unirally
85% Unirally is better than it looks. But it's a quirky game, and will appeal to the sort of people who love shaving hundredths of a second off their best times. Possibly Super Mario Kart fans.

#115: Magical Drop
85% A brilliantly enjoyable puzzle game. It's immense fun in one-player mode because you can just keep going and going. Even more fun in two-player mode, of course. It takes 10 minutes to get the basics, and days to discover the finer points of creating and setting off these opponent-hurting chain reactions. Magical Drop is a must for competitive puzzle fans.

#114: Mortal Kombat 3
85% A well-balanced fighting game, faithfully recreating the coin-op original in gameplay. But one which would have benefited from some more attention in the presentation department.

#113: Madden NFL '94
85% At last! An American football game for the SNES that's worth buying. So go out and buy it.

#112: Shadowrun
85% If you can cope with the size and cerebral nature of the puzzles, then Shadowrun is a very playable and enjoyable game.

#111: 2020 Super Baseball
85% 85% for a baseball game -- it's outrageous! Well, it would be if 2020 Super Baseball wasn't the slick, challenging and hugely enjoyable game it is. Fabulous with two players, this isn't baseball as you know it. We've got a great Neo Geo conversion at last.

#110: Axelay
85% Graphically awesome. But even Axelay's greatest fans will have to admit that, gameplay wise, the whole thing is just a little thin. A really nice game to have, though.

#109: Earthworm Jim 2
85% Even more laugh-filled than the first game, and not a runaway mine-cart in sight. If you've got loads of spare money, definitely buy a copy.

#108: Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts
85% A top-class platform game only spoiled by a high difficulty level and awkward game structure.

#107: Kirby's Tee Shot
86% Puzzly cute golf battling? It's more promising than it sounds. Once you get into Kirby's little world, you'll find it more absorbing than you might imagine. And it's got a great two-player mode, too.

#106: Side Pocket
86% Oh, did I mention that great selection of cocktail-lounge tunes? Well, I should have done. There, I'm mentioning them now. And Side Pockets is even better because of them. Consider it and prepare to be tempted.

#105: Super Morph
86% An intriguing idea and an utterly compelling one at that. For puzzle-oriented platform fun, don't let Morph slip you by.

#104: Super NBA Basketball
86% The flat side-on viewpoint works very well in this slickly animated, very accurate and real-life statistic-packed basketball game. A must-uy for fans of the sport, but well worth considering by the rest of us too.

#103: Utopia
86% They've had a nice idea and made a nice Super Nintendo game of it. Uptopia requires concentration and common sense rather than reactions, but you'll still get excited. It's a classy game and guaranteed to keep you up after bedtime.

#102: Tetris Battle Gaiden
86% An idea which held as much potential as Mario Fighter. Thankfully, Bullet-Proof Software were on hand to propagate a sickly seedling into a rare rose. Or something.

#101: Lemmings
86% Like a little world of its own inside a cartridge. A real investment.

#100: Super Parodius
86% A very funny, imaginative and ridiculously good fun shoot 'em up. But then Super Parodius gets most of its marks for being funny, imaginative and ridiculously good fun, rather than for having much lastability.

#99: Mr. Nutz
86% Platform gaming at its most pleasurable. Step aside, Tufty -- Mr. Nutz is the new king of the treetops. Hail Mr. Nutz! Hail.

#98: Final Fight
86% A star beat 'em up, though that two-player options would help a lot.

#97: F-Zero
86% Fast, furious, frantic, fun -- and if not quite up there with Super Mario Kart, great all the same. Buy it.

#96: NHLPA Hockey
87% An excellent, fast and furious, ice hockey sim, only let down by slightly jerky graphics and the fact that the actual game of ice hockey seems fairly tactic-free. One of EA's best though, and brilliant with two players.

#95: Macross
87% It's a shoot 'em up, it's got anime robots in, it's well-paced, it's got lots of variety, it plays just perfectly -- it's everything a SNES game should be. Three cheers for our chums in Japan.

#94: Boxing Legends of the Ring
87% A fab boxing game that's easier to pick up than most beat 'em ups, but has enough variations to outlast them all. Really bruising graphics and vicious sound put it in a different league to other fighting games. A great change from tired Street Fighter II rip-offs.

#93: Populous 2
87% They've done a good job here. The game is definitely better than before. But it's one to play in the dark watches of the night; it's not action all the way.

#92: Super Dropzone
87% All the hopelessly lovable, blood-buzzingly furious attraction Defender and a level structure (10 per planet, six planets to beat). But O! those cruelly appended flaws.

#91: Super Aleste
87% Lovely looking and a gorgeous sounding shoot 'em up which really shows everyone that lots of sprites and no slow-down can be done. The only weak points are the game life (it's too easy) and an over reliance on (admittedly excellent) weapons. This is still the current benchmark game.

#90: Batman Returns
87% Konami have consolidated their position at the forefront of Super Nintendo development once again, producing both an excellent film conversion and a brilliant beat 'em up.

#89: Clay Fighter II
87% There are a wider range of characters and a decent amount of moves in this sequel. The sounds are smart too, but the joke's worn just a little thin the second time around. The gameplay's improved, but not enough to make it rank alongside THE BIG TWO. It's great fun, but feels a little lost.

#88: Sunset Riders
87% Contra in stetsons. This is a faithful conversation of a classic arcade game. And it's a damn good blast in its own right. Go get it, er, pardner. (Sorry.)

#87: Wild Guns
87% It's an arcade-style game with no pretensions to be anything else. This target-led balster has it over Lethal Enforcers. You don't get a gun; you can't even use a mouse, but it's still great.

#86: Mickey Mania
87% From a technical and graphical point of view, this is one of the strongest SNES titles yet produced. And it plays almost as well as it looks, too. A great platform game. Yes.

#85: NBA Jam
87% What a classy game. NBA Jam fever should sweep the nation, if there's any justice. It's got slick gameplay, great visuals and a hyper addictive four-player mode. Simple, yet compelling. Fun.

#84: Xandra's Big Adventure
88% A wonderfully versatile and highly unusual game that, as a slightly bizarre trip into Japanese eccentricity and mysticism, is hard to beat. Despite some infuriating sections, this is highly recommended, especially to hardcore gameplayers. One thing is for certain -- no-one will finish this in a hurry.

#83: Dragon
88% A different sort of fighting game, and tough enough to last. Dragon is certainly one to consider next time you get itchy fists.

#82: Dungeon Master
88% A hugely interactive RPG by current Super NES standards, but complicated and fiddly enough to put off many casual gamers completely. Despite being slower than the original, this is still -- yes, you guessed it -- a classic game. Even after all these years.

#81: Civilization
88% Proof that appearances really can be deceptive. A totally absorbing, but very complicated game. Prepare to say goodbye to your social life for many months.

#80: Front Mission
88% Not for everyone, agreed, but Front Mission is the most playable wargame ever to grace the SNES. It's also the finest game of the year, to date.

#79: Jimmy Connors' Pro Tennis Tour
88% A really great tennis game that simply begs to be played -- especially with four players. Plenty of options too. However, it does demand that you spend loads of time really learning those controls.

#78: Lemmings 2
88% A great Amiga game makes a great SNES game, too. Those with low frustration thresholds may need to approach it with caution, though.

#77: Micro Machines 2
88% Not a game for the faint-hearted, perhaps, but a veritable laugh riot in multi-player mode.

#76: Septentrion
88% 'Original' isn't a word you can chuck around liberally when talking about most Super Nintendo games, but Septentrion really is. In fact, despite its inspiration, buying this would be no 'disaster'. BUT! Only if you can put up with the Japanese text.

#75: Rock n' Roll Racing
88% A perfect blend of racing thrills, explosions and bouncy cars with huge shock absorbers, and just the right level of silliness thrown in for good measure. Since it's challenging in both one- and two-player mode, I'd say this one's a must for your collection.

#74: Illusion of Gaia
88% Yes! Another action role-playing game worthy of some attention. It isn't the longest or most challenging title around but it is utterly engaging, wonderfully playable and rewarding in the way only these games can.

#73: Mega Man X
88% It's really just a 16-bit upgrade of the old NES games, though that's hardly a criticism. Smart graphics, neat ideas, but it just falls short of being a classic.

#72: Earthbound
88% An RPG that's very much more than the sum of its parts. If you've got the patience to suffer its cruder elements then prepare to be boggled: There's simply nothing like it on the SNES.

#71: NFL Quarterback Club '96
89% Boasting more depth than Madden and now significantly improved both on the field and presentation-wise, NFL Quarterback Club '96 must be worth serious consideration.

#70: Putty Squad
89% Absolutely charming, with enough 'nice touches' to fill ten ordinary games. And it's miles better than Super Putty.

#69: Striker
89% At last the SNES gets a decent football game (though this still isn't quite a match for Sensible Soccer on the Amiga).

#68: NBA Showdown
89% It's faster than Madden and can get nearly as violent as Smash TV, and no matter how many times you slam dunk the ball and the crowd roars, you still feel good. For once this is a sports sim that's great even if you don't like the actual sports, although the league options mean that rabid basketball fans will get their money's worth.

#67: Soldiers of Fortune
89% Adrenaline. Challenge. Style. Big guns. The four hallmarks of a quality game, in my book. The Bitmap Bros come up trumps again.

#66: Kirby Super Star
89% Pretty much everything you'd expect Kirby on the SNES to be. Slick, colourful and addictive with a difficulty curve just the wrong side of easy. Ignore his distinct lack of street-cred and just enjoy another platform masterpiece, the like of which you won't find on any other platform -- 16 or 32-bit.

#65: NHL Hockey '94
89% If you've ever fancied a shot at ice hockey, now's your chance -- this is the most playable and entertaining example out there.

#64: FIFA International Soccer
89% A cracking conversion from the Mega Drive, plus some extra bits thrown in. Fanatic with a few friends and a genuinely contender.

#63: Jurassic Park
89% The months of frenzied programming have paid off. Jurassic Park is just as ace as the film, which is high praise indeed.

#62: Prince of Persia
89% Prince of Persia's a classic game, and the SNES version has been changed and improved from the original so much it could be mistaken for a sequel. Don't miss it.

#61: Mickey's Magical Quest
89% Gorgeous graphics, lovely sprites, bags of character -- and far too easy. But I still love it to bits. Once again, pure quality from Capcom, make no mistake about it.

#60: Super Star Wars
89% Lots of levels, brilliant graphics, incredible music and a well-paced difficulty curve make this most accurate of film conversions one of the best. It's bugged by slow-down on occasion (but not enough to spoil it).

#59: Tiny Toons Adventures
89% An absolutely gorgeous looking fabulously presented cartoon platform game, with bags of imagination and enough tricky bits to keep you coming back for more. Superb.

#58: Super Bomberman 3
89% A great game with a couple of excellent new multi-player features that, nevertheless, remains overshadowed by the original. But we're dealing in the finer points, here ...

#57: Cannon Fodder
89% It's a brilliant game, is Cannon Fodder. But there's too much trickiness and luck involved to give it that extra per cent that games crave.

#56: Soul Blazer
89% Quintet (the creators of ActRaiser) have produced an extremely polished game here, with great graphics, decent puzzles and a zany plot. If you can tolerate some laughable translations in this American version it's good fun.

#55: Zombies Ate My Neighbors
89% If you liked The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies (dir. Ray Dennis Steckler, 1964), then you'll appreciate this game. Even if you didn't, you'll still find it an innovative shoot 'em up with lasting appeal.

#54: Sparkster
89% Games like this are fast becoming rarities. It has style, imagination, surprises and, of course, that vital helping of Konami's special ingredient X. A cracking game.

#53: Desert Strike
90% A truly fabulous game which, prejudices notwithstanding, should be just as popular on the Super Nintendo as it was on the Mega Drive. It really hits the nail on the head, and shows that Electronic Arts can do it on the Super NES after all.

#52: Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
90% Brilliant graphics, great sound, lots of inventive bits and a nicely pitched difficulty add up to one of Ocean's best ever.

#51: Chrono Trigger
69% You can't have a go at Chrono Trigger for falling slightly short of Final Fantasy's standards, this is still a top quality Square game. A paperback adventure of FF's hardcover epic. Slightly more lightweight in nearly every department, it's still an essential purchase for RPG fans.

#50: Super Probotector
90% An explosive shoot 'em up that wouldn't be possible on any other system. Fab.

#49: ActRaiser
90% An extraordinary blend of play styles that proves, against the odds, to be extremely addictive and hugely impressive. It's a pity the bosses aren't tougher, however, as in the Japanese version. Otherwise outstanding.

#48: NHL '96
90% Every year it keeps getting better. Whether there are enough improvements to warrant previous purchasers shelling out again is debatable, but for the rest of us this is a top sports sim.

#47: Solstice II: Equinox
90% If you can cope with its faults -- and they are cope-able with -- Solstice II is an extremely enjoyable arcade adventure with lovely graphics, brilliant sound and some progressively involving and addictive gameplay. Highly recommended.

#46: Vortex
90% More chippage would have led to an even bigger (and thus better) game, but it's difficult to fault what's here. Vortex boasts marvelous 3D (with only the tiniest time-lag as you play) and incredible surround-sound. It's great fun once you master it.

#45: Legend of the Mystical Ninja
90% An all-time classic Super Nintendo game that we've been desperately hoping would come out in the UK. And now it has!

#44: Panel De Pon
90% Brimming with options, heady with playability and steeped in challenge, this'll turn minutes into hours, hours into days. Addictive stuff.

#43: Spectre
90% A simple and stunning tank combat game. With five modes to play (four of which are two-player), it'll last as long as your SNES. Tank battles haven't been this much fun since Kursk.

#42: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
90% Told you I'd give it a 90%. Tournament Fighters is great fun, and a worthy bed-fellow to Street Fighter II. It doesn't have the polished look or feel of SFII. Get down to the shops and give it a try.

#41: Donkey Kong Country
90% A fine game in its own right, and everyone who buys it will be pleased with it. But not as pleased as they might well have expected.

#40: Legend of the Mystical Ninja 2
90% An utterly compelling and fantastically entertaining game that's a worthy sequel to its classic ancestor.

#39: NBA Jam TE
90% NBA Jam was good. This is better. But only due to the odd tweak. Fans of odd tweaks would do well to give it serious hoop-jammin' consideration. Whatever that means.

#38: Plok
90% This is (shudder) a feel-good game. And it's great. Even if your shelves are brimming with cute platform games, there's sure to be room for one more.

#37: Super Punch-Out!!
90% The boxing game equivalent of Street Fighter II. True, it doesn't have a two-player mode, but I guarantee that there is elsewhere will be more than enough to keep you happy. Video game boxing was never this good.

#36: Mortal Kombat II
90% A real improvement on Mortal Kombat 1, and a potential classic. It's more than just blood that makes this well worth a look. Horrah!

#35: Kick Off 3
91% This answers the question in the top left of the page with a resounding 'Yes'. We were skeptical at first, but this is brillo stuff.

#34: Sensible Soccer
91% The best football game on the SNES, and likely to remain so for some time to come.

#33: Assault Suits Valken
91% An engrossing, clever and extremely enjoyable shoot 'em up. Fans of Japanese mecha will go absolutely ape over it, while everyone else will simply revel in its playability. Whichever character you fall into, you can't miss.

#32: World Cup Striker
91% A beautifully well-rounded title which, thanks to the improvements, is guaranteed a place in the finals this Summer.

#31: Street Racer
91% Don't bother waiting for Super Mario Kart 2 -- go out and buy this. It looks beeyootifull and plays just like a good game should. Hey, we like lots.

#30: Kirby's Avalanche
91% Last time we looked at it, we said that consoles were made for games like this. The sentiment still applies. We may now be looking toward the super consoles for next-generation thrills, but it only takes something like this to make you realize that good games are all about gameplay.

#29: Super Puyo Puyo
91% It's just so incredibly playable, is Super Puyo Puyo. (In fact, it's the most played game in the Super Play office this month, apart from Tetris Battle Gaiden, of course.) The have-another-go factor is off the scale, and the more you play, the deeper the game will become. Consoles were made for games like this.

#28: Theme Park
91% A seminal game, making its SNES debut, and not before time too. One of the most sophisticated, frustrating and downright enjoyable ways to kill time ever devised.

#27: Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare
91% Genuinely cartoon-like graphics, a weird sense of humour and bags of playability make this off-the-wall multi-game extravaganza surprisingly successful. It works well because it doesn't just rely on novelty, there's actually a fair amount to do here. The surprise hit of the month.

#26: Earthworm Jim
91% Beautiful, polished and big as only a 24 meg game can be. Earthworm Jim is an example of how to write great platformers. Buy it and enjoy it. You can't really fail to.

#25: Super Bomberman 2
91% Still the favourite it always was, but with new features and an improved one-player game. A fine addition to your SNES game library.

#24: Super Castlevania IV
91% Might look pretty run-of-the-mill, but those who take the trouble to really delve into it will discover some of the best graphics, sound and gameplay the SNES has to offer.

#23: UN Squadron
91% Hardly an easy ride for shoot 'em up novices, but for experts it's a fabulous and addictive challenge.

#22: Flashback: The Quest for Identity
91% This time the stupendous graphics are backed up by a thumping good game. Hooray!

#21: Super Tennis
92% Quite simply the best tennis game ever, and an essential addition to any self-respecting collection.

#20: World Cup USA '94
92% This replaces Sensible Soccer as the overhead-viewed SNES footy game with cartloads of options and super-slick play.

#19: Doom
92% Making Wolfenstein look like an afternoon tea appointment with an elderly relative, Doom is a heart-attack-packed bundle of rapid shoot 'em up ruthlessness, realized in a style that'll change the way you look at games. And it's on the SNES. And everything.

#18: Superstar Soccer
92% Konami has proved that it can turn its hand to anything and excel. If you've been waiting for the definitive football game to arrive, stop waiting -- here iti s. Absolute class.

#17: Pilotwings
92% This is a truly original game and a thoroughly good buy. It's got all the qualities to keep you playing -- and looks good enough to convert just about anybody to SNES-dom.

#16: Super Bomberman
92% You need a Super Multitap to take full advantage of Super Bomberman. Get one, though, and it's devastatingly good fun.

#15: Super Metroid
92% We all love this game. Super Metroid is absolutely marvelous and you should own it.

#14: Puyo Puyo Remix 2
93% It's surely only a matter of time before importers dealing in such highly addictive goods feel the wrath of decent people everywhere. In the meantime this is the most potent fix of Puyo you can get. Take advantage while you can.

#13: Wild Trax
93% This is the most playable and varied racing game ever. A SNES without Wild Trax is a SNES not worth switching on. Almost.

#12: Star Fox
93% A fast, smooth, stunningly playable and addictive shoot 'em up that demonstrates the abilities of the new Super FX chip brilliantly. Fabulous graphics and sound, and well-paced playability, all add up to a real winner. Game of the year.

#11: Super Mario Kart
93% Everything we could have hoped for, and more. It's completely impossible to fault. In fact, this is the sort of thing that Super Nintendo is all about -- sheer perfection (ahem). (Make sure you find yourself a decent opponent, though.)

#10: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
93% A Nintendo-programmed game never tries to be anything more than fun, and Zelda III has bags of it. Beautifully designed and 'perfected' the way only Nintendo seems to know how, this is a must-buy -- especially at the reasonable price of £40. Nice packaging too.

#9: International Superstar Soccer Deluxe
94% Deluxe is just that. Every feature of the game's been improved radically and the combination of fluent but technical play and tactical depth makes it unbeatable.

#8: Secret of Mana
94% What can I say? This is (sob) a beautiful game. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas, so make sure Santa slips a cart in your stocking.

#7: Street Fighter II
94% Shop around for Street Fighter II -- it may become one of the world's biggest elling games, but the UK price of £65 is madness when importers are selling the U.S. and Japanese versions for around £45. Basically, this game is fab.

#6: Super Mario World
94% An amazingly deep and playable platform game, and a credit to Nintendo. Unmissable.

#5: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World II
94% As the best game since Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island is a testament to Nintendo's untouchable design skills. It won't last as long as the ideal, but that's because you'll be so addicted scrabbling through the thing. How it's going to be topped I really don't know, but I'm looking forward to seeing it happen.

#4: Final Fantasy III
95% A game to rekindle any SNES owner's romance with their machine. Too slow paced for some, perhaps, but those willing to put in the effort will be rewarded with a gaming experience of quality all too rarely seen.

#3: Street Fighter II Turbo
96% Believe the hype. Street Fighter II Turbo is the Rolls Royce of beat 'em ups, an essential purchase for fans of the genre, and a strong contender for the greatest video game ever. A must-buy if ever there was one.

#2: Super Mario All-Stars
96% Come on -- you know what this bit's going to say, don't you? Buy this cart! NOW!

#1: Super Street Fighter II
96% A king amongst mere pretenders. Throw away those Capcom gripes and buy the best beat 'em up the SNES has ever seen.

	Atari 50: The First Console War PlayStation 5	B
	Tetris Forever PlayStation 5	B+
	Kill Knight Steam	A
	Nikoderiko: The Magical World PlayStation 5	B+
	Chains of Fury: Vol. 1 Steam	C+
	An Everyday Story Steam	B-
	Atari 50: The Wider World of Atari PlayStation 5	B+
	Maiden Cops Steam	B+
	Iron Meat PlayStation 5	A-
	Copycat Steam	C+

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