Retro Rumble: Round 14

[Leon Retro]

Contra: Hard Corps
Killer Instinct
Sonic the Hedgehog
Star Fox
Stunt Race FX
Yoshi's Island

Six random retro games face off against each other to see which ones are the most popular.

Choose 3 that you like the most.

[phillv85]

Sonic - My first ever video game, and a true masterpiece even to this day.
Yoshi's Island - Another first rate platformer, but in a totally different style to Sonic.
Contra - It was a toss up between this and Starfox. This game is brutally hard, but Starfox, while insanely cool looking at the time, just hasn't aged quite as well. Starfox is also a bit spoiled for me because I played Lylat Wars before I played Starfox.

[Leon Retro]

Sonic - My first ever video game, and a true masterpiece even to this day.

What a great game to start with. I agree that it's a masterpiece -- everything about it is brilliant.

Yoshi's Island - Another first rate platformer, but in a totally different style to Sonic.

Yeah, completely different to Sonic. But just as special in its own way. I'll never forget how much it impressed me back in 1995. An extremely charming game that's a joy to play through.

Contra - It was a toss up between this and Starfox. This game is brutally hard, but Starfox, while insanely cool looking at the time, just hasn't aged quite as well. .

As much as I like Hard Corps, I'd opt for Star Fox. It may look quite basic technically, but I still enjoy what it has to offer. Nintendo's design magic shines through.

[Atticus]

Starfox is my favourite there. It was such an event of the SNES's lifetime, and not just a technically great game but a great game period.

Yoshi's Island next. I didn't actually play this back in the day as I think I was knee deep in a Saturn/Virtua Fighter situation ... but I did get around to it eventually and it's great, but nowhere near as great as SMW.

Contra Hard Corps maybe should be next but the truth is I've hardly played it ... so I've got to give it to Sonic the Hedgehog. I always thought the gameplay was a bit uninvolving but the music and design and pure nostalgia is hard to ignore. Along with SoR this was really my introduction to home console gaming and what a start it was

[Team Andromeda]

Star Fox I still love playing this to this very day and the music is increabile

Yoshi Island Not quite the Super Mario 2 I was hoping for, but still a great game and a showcase for the SNES and FX chip. I remember thinking at the time, it had better graphics than a lot of 2D Saturn and PS games

Sonic Not the biggest fan of the game, but had to say it was a true showcase for the system and I liked how people of all ages could play it and how they was no killing of anything in the game at all.

[phillv85]

I know I didn’t vote for KI, but I thought it might have featured in quite a few people’s choices. A lot of people seem to rave about it. I don’t really get the hype, but then I was a Sega kid and didn’t have much exposure to the SNES outside of a few games until the late 2000’s.

[Leon Retro]

Starfox is my favourite there. It was such an event of the SNES's lifetime, and not just a technically great game but a great game period.

Yeah, it was a huge thing back in the day. It not only impressed people technically, but was also a really well made in all departments. Nintendo did a brilliant job with the graphic design, rousing music, and exciting action.

Star Fox I still love playing this to this very day and the music is increabile

Yeah, the music is excellent. It really enhances the action.

Yoshi Island Not quite the Super Mario 2 I was hoping for, but still a great game and a showcase for the SNES and FX chip. I remember thinking at the time, it had better graphics than a lot of 2D Saturn and PS games

I wish Nintendo had also made a proper sequel to Mario World, but Yoshi's Island is certainly something special. I really love how the game radiates charm.

Sonic it was a true showcase for the system and I liked how people of all ages could play it

I remember when Sega decided to pack Sonic in with the console -- sales went through the roof. It impressed everyone I showed it to upon release; they hadn't seen anything like it before.

I know I didn’t vote for KI, but I thought it might have featured in quite a few people’s choices. A lot of people seem to rave about it. I don’t really get the hype, but then I was a Sega kid and didn’t have much exposure to the SNES outside of a few games until the late 2000’s.

I remember the arcade version drew crowds and was popular with the fighting game fans. The way you could do extreme combos really grabbed people. The SNES version was surprisingly good, so lots of people also enjoyed that version. I liked the game more than the Mortal Kombat series'.

[CAPCOM]

Hah! I was just wondering when the next one in this series was due...where will the conversation lead this time...

Starfox - Really a truly cinematic game on 16 bit that was different to look at and play, reached zenith in N64 version.

Sonic - Blue sky in games the original, and such a great clean looking game, Green Hill Zone always makes me think of the 1990s.

Killer Instinct - Ultraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Combo - Good memories of multiplayer Gold at University.

[Leon Retro]

[MENTION=16860]CAPCOM[/MENTION]

I hadn't seen that Star Fox advert before -- it looks really cool.



It was interesting that a British company[Argonaut] created the Super FX chip that enabled Star Fox. It certainly did a great job with the 3D, which was quite impressive for the time. I'm glad Nintendo designed the actual game.

[CAPCOM]

Excellent short documentary from Al Snow lookalike "Wrestling with Gaming" on the history of the chip.

[Neon Ignition]

1-Yoshi's Island: Not my fave 2D platformer, even of that year but it's still the best of its sub-brand and a great game
2-Star Fox: Long since surpassed by 64 but it's impact and solid design are still clear
3-Nostalgia is taking this one with Stunt Race FX: Yes, it's aged a ton but it's so utterly loveable and without the sequel it clearly needed.

As much as I have nostalgia for Killer Instinct for many reasons there's ultimately only ever been one actually good entry in that franchise and it wasn't under Nintendo's leadership. Sonic seems a harsh omission too but as solid as the original is it was surpassed multiple times by later entries and like Sonic 2 I've long since grown tired of its imagery thanks to decades of repetitive theft of it in the sequels.

[Leon Retro]

2-Star Fox: Long since surpassed by 64 but it's impact and solid design are still clear

I'm a big fan of SF64, but I also enjoy going back to the original. The frame rate is dodgy, but it plays well enough to be enjoyable. The whole design stands up really well.

3-Nostalgia is taking this one with Stunt Race FX: Yes, it's aged a ton but it's so utterly loveable and without the sequel it clearly needed.

I wish Nintendo had held it back for the N64, as it struggles too much on the SNES. It's such a shame that Nintendo didn't refine the concept on a more capable machine.

Sonic seems a harsh omission too but as solid as the original is it was surpassed multiple times by later entries and like Sonic 2 I've long since grown tired of its imagery thanks to decades of repetitive theft of it in the sequels.

Yeah, the Green Hill Zone aesthetic has been done to death. But I still have a soft spot for it.

As much as I know Sonic 2 refined the formula perfectly, I'm still fond of the original and play it now and then.

[Leon Retro]

My votes:

Sonic the Hedgehog - I still really like the striking graphics, catchy music, and fluid gameplay. It's a golden classic.

Star Fox - The whole design is expertly crafted to make the game a joy to play through. The low frame rate may be an issue, but it doesn't really spoil the overall experience. I still really enjoy it.

Yoshi's Island - Full of Nintendo magic and charm, this is a classic platformer that's always fun to go back to.

[Leon Retro]

The votes so far:

Sonic the Hedgehog: 5 votes
Star Fox: 5 votes
Yoshi's Island: 5 votes
Contra: Hard Corps: 1 vote
Stunt Race FX: 1 vote
Killer Instinct: 1 vote

Three games are tied for the top spot.

[samanosuke]

My votes:

Sonic the Hedgehog - I still really like the striking graphics, catchy music, and fluid gameplay. It's a golden classic.

Star Fox - The whole design is expertly crafted to make the game a joy to play through. The low frame rate may be an issue, but it doesn't really spoil the overall experience. I still really enjoy it.

Yoshi's Island - Full of Nintendo magic and charm, this is a classic platformer that's always fun to go back to.

I’m gonna be lazy and just +1 this.

Re: Sonic, the original still remains my favourite. Perhaps it’s just the nostalgia associated with me getting it for Christmas, but for me it’s the bits that many dislike, such as Marble Zone, that draw me back to the original. It’s not just speed, speed, speed, but also more traditional platforming levels that require precision jumps. Starlight Zone was particularly magical too, a combination of speed and precision with music to die for.

Like the Super Mario games, I also felt the feel, the inertia, momentum and the jump mechanics were almost perfect with the Sonic games, making them timeless classics that have never been bettered.