Super Play's Top 600 Super NES Games: #250 - #201

#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.