Super Play's Top 600 Super NES Games: #200 - #151

#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.