Affordable SNES games?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

So, I'd really like to beef up my 16 bit game collections, but everything, everything that's pretty good is just ridiculous, are there any great games that are actually affordable?? I don't have too much just cuz the prices are just frustratingly high.

I've been collecting NES and N64 games hardcore cuz they're way cheaper, all the best and well-known games sell for around $20, more or less, but SNES games are just ridiculously expensive, $50 or more for common games like Contra and Ninja Turtles, and forget about the RPG's.

Is there anything people would recommend for a decent price? I refuse to pay $50 for Turtles in Time or $65 for Kirby's Dreamland 3. As much as I really want those games.

[ZP3]

I have run into the same problem; I have found around 50 NES carts in the wild for cheap, but SNES is either super rare or super expensive. I too would be intetested in what more experienced collectors have seen in the price trends.

[theclaw]

I'm not going to count the boxes but...

Tetris Attack
Donkey Kong Country games
Super Mario All Stars
Super Mario Kart
F-Zero
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island
Kirby's Avalanche
Illusion of Gaia
Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past
Star Fox
Tetris & Dr. Mario
Super Game Boy (useful enough I may as well list it)

Keep in mind a method to play Japanese games will pay for itself immediately. Such as Kirby Dreamland 3 for under $25...

[celerystalker]

Sure, for under $15 for a loose US cart:

Gradius III
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Brawl Brothers
Any Street Fighter other than Alpha 2
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose
Darius Twin
Brain Lord
Illusion of Gaia
ActRaiser
Super Castlevania IV
Super Star Wars games
King Arthur's World
Cybernator
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
Super Mario World
Donkey Kong Country
F-Zero
Super Ghouls & Ghosts
Kendo Rage
SimCity
Lagoon
Paladin's Quest
The Addams Family
Arcana
The 7th Saga
Firepower 2000
On the Ball
Rampart
Uniracers
Earthworm Jim 2
NBA Jam
Wanderers from Ys
Xardion

There are a lot more, but most of these are outstanding and can be had on ebay and retro stores for under $10 even.

[ZeroCool]

you must have a real cheap store near you then

[celerystalker]

St Louis does have a pretty decent retro market, but those are readily available on ebay for cheap as well. Just check recent sold listings for confirmation.

[dra600n]

What kind of games do you enjoy the most? A lot of great titles have been listed, but there may be something outside of the popular titles.

Secret of the stars is a decent rpg that hasn't been mentioned yet, as well as spike mcfang, goof troop if you like puzzles, and last I knew ff 2 and 3 were under $45 each, though I haven't kept up with prices for quite some time.

[Tanooki]

What do you consider the cut off for reasonable pricing? $20? $30? Clearly $50 is touching a high mark as is $65 or more and I do not blame you one bit. Also where would you be going to buy these thing because sometimes on ebay, accidents happen and one off games get missed or a lot of games can have some goodies inside where the average makes it worth it too (or selling duplicates make the stuff you want cheap/free.) I'd love to have more SNES games but the pricing has become fairly out control on a mix of first party and third party noteworthy franchise games along with some randomness as well that's not so easily explained.

At the $25 mark there is a LOT of games you can get if you're just shooting for the game alone (no paper.) Any of the first party games are all on the table pretty much (even Mario World+Allstars combo) other than Super Mario RPG and perhaps Super Metroid. Here's a list of good 3rd party games off the top of my head using the wikipedia listing I know would fit the mark, leaving off the trendy RPGs, and some fall so short of the $25 you could even get them CIB for that.

ActRaiser
Aero the Acrobat 1 or 2
Arkanoid
Blackthorne
Blazeon
Brandish
Civilization
DOOM
Dragon View
Faceball 2000
Firepower 2000
Firestriker
FInal Fight 2
Gradius III
Indiana Jones Greatest Adventures
Joe & Mac 1 (and 2)
Kendo Rage
Lemmings 1 and 2
Lost Vikings
Magic Sword
Magical Quest Starring MIckey Mouse (and it's sequel the Great Circus Mystery)
Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow
Mech Warrior (and MW 3050)
Micro Machines 1 and 2
Phalanx
Rock n Roll Racing
Shadowrun
Super Adventure Island
Super Castlevania IV
Super Empire Strikes Back (also Star Wars and Jedi)
Super Valis IV
Top Gear (1, 2, 3000)
UN Squadron
Wing Commander (and WC: Secret Missions)
Wolfenstein 3D (for comedy purposes, no nazis, giant rats, all new stages.)
Zombies Ate My Neighbors

All the fighting games on the system (SNK 'Takara' ports of Neo Geo stuff, Capcom fighters all fit, even SF Alpha 2 eeks in under $30.) Also you can luck into Turtles in Time for around the $30 mark on ebay with some patience still. Also any of those Virgin licensed Disney games from various movies would be cheap good pickups.

[Dashopepper]

Snes collecting is brutal right now. Ya sure a game you're going to play and you really want you can spend $40 and that's OK. But COLLECTING is a different story. If you had all of celerystalker or Tanooki's list you would still have under 40 games, 80% of them you would never play for more the 5 minutes and they would cost you at least $500. My go to cheep game has always been Goof Troop as it was at the $5 mark forever but even that has crept up. ( ah crap I see now it has already been mentioned, well I second it.)

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I don't mind spending $20-$30 on a game I'm gonna enjoy, at all. I didn't have Legend of Zelda for NES so I got it for $20 on Amazon, and beat it, loved every minute, it was worth every penny. Same with Contra, Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, all those popular NES games.

I also don't mind spending $50 or more if the game is actually rare, but Turtles In Time and Kirby's Dreamland 3, correct me if I'm wrong, are not rare at all. Probably about as common as Legend of Zelda, and just as desirable, maybe not as desirable cuz Zelda is, well, Zelda. Contra III is like $50, Castlevania IV is around the same price. U could get the first 2 NES Contra games for that price, and they have at least as much demand, I would think. Maybe more.

I'm not a huge RPG guy, but I'm a big platforming nut, love Zelda games, I do like puzzle games also, I also love schmups as well, so I'm easy to please.

Is it that the demand for NES games is dropping now? N64 games aren't all out of hand, price-wise.

Idk, I'm just bitching. I do have most of the ones mentioned, like F-Zero and Super Mario World, and I do plan on getting some of the other good/cheaper games as well.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Idk if it was mentioned tho, Mega Man X, at least the first one, is also around the $20 range, and the games awesome.

[celerystalker]

If you're patient and don't jump at buy it now prices, you can still get out cheap on a lot of the games you're talking about on ebay. In the last year I've pulled a ton of good buys that way, and on harder to get stuff. You just have to be okay with letting a game go when it's more than you want to pay, and be wary of shipping cost gouging. It's the "gotta have it right this second" that'll get you. I always just look at what money I have to spend on games, and then poke around to see what's out there at that price instead of targeting one specific game, and that has saved me a lot of money.

[goldenband]

A few haven't been mentioned that I enjoy:

AD&D: Eye of the Beholder
B.O.B.
Drakkhen (YMMV, most people hate this but I liked it a lot, and there's nothing else like it)
Flashback
Mortal Kombat II
Out of this World
Pilotwings
Prince of Persia (gorgeous music)
Rival Turf
Sküljagger (absolutely must have the manual to beat this)
Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge (mindblowing soundtrack)
Super Battleship (goofy, but oddly engaging once you get into it)
Super Tennis

Some of these are multi-platform but I still favor the SNES port, especially B.O.B. and Prince of Persia.

Also, I'm shocked Pilotwings didn't get a mention yet -- I know some people think it's a glorified tech demo, but I found it completely addictive.

[Tanooki]

I don't mind spending $20-$30 on a game I'm gonna enjoy, at all. I didn't have Legend of Zelda for NES so I got it for $20 on Amazon, and beat it, loved every minute, it was worth every penny. Same with Contra, Kirby's Adventure, Metroid, all those popular NES games.

I also don't mind spending $50 or more if the game is actually rare, but Turtles In Time and Kirby's Dreamland 3, correct me if I'm wrong, are not rare at all. Probably about as common as Legend of Zelda, and just as desirable, maybe not as desirable cuz Zelda is, well, Zelda. Contra III is like $50, Castlevania IV is around the same price. U could get the first 2 NES Contra games for that price, and they have at least as much demand, I would think. Maybe more.

I'm not a huge RPG guy, but I'm a big platforming nut, love Zelda games, I do like puzzle games also, I also love schmups as well, so I'm easy to please.

Is it that the demand for NES games is dropping now? N64 games aren't all out of hand, price-wise.

Idk, I'm just bitching. I do have most of the ones mentioned, like F-Zero and Super Mario World, and I do plan on getting some of the other good/cheaper games as well.

You and I have similar tastes as far as how much punishment one is willing to take in buying an old game. I'm fine with the $1-30 range for most games if I know I'm certain to enjoy it the higher I go. I'm cool spending $50 too, the original retail concept, but over that market I'm almost surely not going to unless it really is legitimately good and rare, otherwise it can wait or never happen. Kirby's Dream Land 3 actually is legitimately semi-rare I suppose, it was the last 1st party Nintendo game for the SNES out after the N64 came out so it didn't get as many pressed or many bought as other games. It's kind of odd it gets as high as it can yet something like DKC3 (a third in a trilogy too) does not and it's as late almost. TMNT4 was mass produced as it was an earlier release, it's just slimy tactics and sheeple mob mentality propping it up but as I said you can get it still for around or a little under $30 with a little luck and perseverance.

I"m not sure where you're buying your games if you think Super Castlevania is a $50 game. Last night I cross referenced ebay using a $5-25 price range lock, US region, good/acceptable listings only wnilte ignoring ripped up labeles, and I was able to pop that one up for that price. Sure many won't sell that low, but some do, so it's not really a $50 game. Super Contra seems to get a little more, not sure why as it's not the better game, but it's still good and it is Konami, but again it's the sheeple manipulation factor on that one too.

NES games I would disagree they're dropping. I wish they really would, they need to fall back to reality, but I think it's more of a plateau because the heat is now on with the SNES stuff. N64 should be higher than it is right now due to the age of the buyers of the system being right for it, but when you factor its unfavorability against the period with the PS1 in play, the general lack of releases (297 if I remember), the wonky to some controller, and how that generation of games tends to be hit and miss being nice on a non-CRT it probably harms the value. Some of them are ugly though if you find a real rarer cart on that system like your Turok Rage Wars gray, Conker, Worms, and a few others so maybe it just never will sail high, or at least until someone makes a cheap idiot friendly mod or after market system that'll do those titles justice in HDMI like the Retron5 does.

[goldenband]

Kirby's Dream Land 3 actually is legitimately semi-rare I suppose, it was the last 1st party Nintendo game for the SNES out after the N64 came out so it didn't get as many pressed or many bought as other games. It's kind of odd it gets as high as it can yet something like DKC3 (a third in a trilogy too) does not and it's as late almost.

One big difference is that KDL3 uses the SA-1 enhancement chip, which hasn't yet been transplanted onto or emulated by a flash cart, so you need an original to play it on real hardware.

It's for that reason that all my SNES buying revolves around enhancement chip games (except for chance finds at flea markets) -- though unfortunately KDL3 is one of a few US enhancement chip games I still don't have, along with MMX2, MMX3, SF Alpha 2, and Super Mario RPG.

[Gatucaman]

One big difference is that KDL3 uses the SA-1 enhancement chip, which hasn't yet been transplanted onto or emulated by a flash cart, so you need an original to play it on real hardware.

It's for that reason that all my SNES buying revolves around enhancement chip games (except for chance finds at flea markets) -- though unfortunately KDL3 is one of a few US enhancement chip games I still don't have, along with MMX2, MMX3, SF Alpha 2, and Super Mario RPG.

You'd need to get the US Super Mario RPG for obvious reasons, you can buy the japanese versions of the other games tough

(i find a Rockman X3 at $24 but with a faded label, and that game usually goes around for $40 and i meant the japanese version)

[Steven]

A few haven't been mentioned that I enjoy:

B.O.B.

Some of these are multi-platform but I still favor the SNES port, especially B.O.B. and Prince of Persia.

B.O.B. is one of my underrated, overlooked favorites, too. It's sort of like a "retarded" Super Metroid. Sort of. Maybe just a hint, haha. But it's fun and addictive IMO. Another challenging action title I would suggest is Rocky Rodent. I can't imagine it more than $20 but then again I have not kept up with SNES prices for several years now. Rocky Rodent seems to be a like or hate game though. Personally, despite the damn tough difficulty, I enjoy it and find it to be a pretty neat platformer.

[Tanooki]

Golden good call, not sure why I hadn't thought of that but it is a SA1 game. It's a fantastic game though, very worth picking up. The titles you have you're right other than the RPG game they're fine if you don't want to feed the beast buying the Super Famicom revisions of them. I don't blame you for not buying MMX2 or 3 as the price is just unbelievably wrong, but SFA2 you can snap up for under $30 so that's a surprise and that one is amazing all things considered.

[Gentlegamer]

Good thread. As has been pointed out, the "cheap" good SNES games tend to fall in the $20-30 range rather than under $20 as one would like. You can find plenty of great games at those prices without trying to chase the $50+ titles.

[Scissors]

Drakkhen (YMMV, most people hate this but I liked it a lot, and there's nothing else like it)

I really like this one too, but it's easy to see why many people hate it. It's really cheap though, so anyone looking for something a little different should give it a try.

Wizardry V is another decent, cheap SNES RPG.

[SparTonberry]

I also don't mind spending $50 or more if the game is actually rare, but Turtles In Time and Kirby's Dreamland 3, correct me if I'm wrong, are not rare at all.
Turtles is probably common because it was released in 1992, still when the original Turtles line was in its prime, and it was re-released late in the SNES life.
Kirby 3, however, was the last first-party SNES game in North America (though Nintendo published Space Invaders and Arkanoid after that, I'm not counting them as first-party :P ), released before Christmas 1997 (well after the 32-bit era had picked up). So I'd say it has to be at least uncommon.

Probably also a factor in its value that PAL regions never got a physical release of the game.

[Casati]

Kirby 3 is a more expensive game, but it's price has plateaued the last few years. The Legend of Zelda though has really taken off the past couple years. I was chasing CIB auctions on Ebay in 2012 and they were finishing $10-30. I never did get one because I sniped for below $20. Now that will buy just a loose.

[dra600n]

I really like this one too, but it's easy to see why many people hate it. It's really cheap though, so anyone looking for something a little different should give it a try.

Wizardry V is another decent, cheap SNES RPG.

I always had a difficult time trying to get into Drahken, but Wizardry V is a damn fine game if you like RPGs and dungeon crawlers. Excellent mention :) and it's surprisingly cheap.

[celerystalker]

Yeah, Drakkhen isn't the most acessible game. I like it okay, but I loved its sequel, Dragon View. Unfortunately, that one does trend closer to $40 or so.

[dra600n]

Yeah, Drakkhen isn't the most acessible game. I like it okay, but I loved its sequel, Dragon View. Unfortunately, that one does trend closer to $40 or so.
That one is on my list to play. I heard it's a major improvement over Drakkhen, though I should give Drakkhen another fair chance.

[celerystalker]

That one is on my list to play. I heard it's a major improvement over Drakkhen, though I should give Drakkhen another fair chance.

It's pretty neat. You move around in the overworld the same way as Drakkhen, but the town and dungeons play like a pretty decent beat 'em up, and moving around town is a lot like Valkyrie Profile or Princess Crown. It's about 20 hours long for a first play. It doesn't feel as much like Drakkhen in atmosphere, but I think it's a much better-realized game.

[dra600n]

It's pretty neat. You move around in the overworld the same way as Drakkhen, but the town and dungeons play like a pretty decent beat 'em up, and moving around town is a lot like Valkyrie Profile or Princess Crown. It's about 20 hours long for a first play. It doesn't feel as much like Drakkhen in atmosphere, but I think it's a much better-realized game.
Awesome, thanks for that bit of info. Sounds like I will enjoy this one :)

[Tanooki]

celery I've always been curious about that Drakkhen game but it always looked so confusing trying to figure out what to do and where to go when I tried it in the later 90s on an emulator with no manual/faq to look at. I may be off, but I don't remember it really giving you a sense of direction or even how to recover, you just kind of wander around and if you're dead, that's it. The game I think just screams for a printed guide with pictures/maps. Maybe the manual is very descriptive and helpful, almost essential as it was with a few NES games years earlier. I liked the concept of how it looked but I never got anywhere with it and knowing the other game was a sequel I never gave it a look.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

You and I have similar tastes as far as how much punishment one is willing to take in buying an old game. I'm fine with the $1-30 range for most games if I know I'm certain to enjoy it the higher I go. I'm cool spending $50 too, the original retail concept, but over that market I'm almost surely not going to unless it really is legitimately good and rare, otherwise it can wait or never happen. Kirby's Dream Land 3 actually is legitimately semi-rare I suppose, it was the last 1st party Nintendo game for the SNES out after the N64 came out so it didn't get as many pressed or many bought as other games. It's kind of odd it gets as high as it can yet something like DKC3 (a third in a trilogy too) does not and it's as late almost. TMNT4 was mass produced as it was an earlier release, it's just slimy tactics and sheeple mob mentality propping it up but as I said you can get it still for around or a little under $30 with a little luck and perseverance.

I"m not sure where you're buying your games if you think Super Castlevania is a $50 game. Last night I cross referenced ebay using a $5-25 price range lock, US region, good/acceptable listings only wnilte ignoring ripped up labeles, and I was able to pop that one up for that price. Sure many won't sell that low, but some do, so it's not really a $50 game. Super Contra seems to get a little more, not sure why as it's not the better game, but it's still good and it is Konami, but again it's the sheeple manipulation factor on that one too.

NES games I would disagree they're dropping. I wish they really would, they need to fall back to reality, but I think it's more of a plateau because the heat is now on with the SNES stuff. N64 should be higher than it is right now due to the age of the buyers of the system being right for it, but when you factor its unfavorability against the period with the PS1 in play, the general lack of releases (297 if I remember), the wonky to some controller, and how that generation of games tends to be hit and miss being nice on a non-CRT it probably harms the value. Some of them are ugly though if you find a real rarer cart on that system like your Turok Rage Wars gray, Conker, Worms, and a few others so maybe it just never will sail high, or at least until someone makes a cheap idiot friendly mod or after market system that'll do those titles justice in HDMI like the Retron5 does.

I sort of am surprised N64 games aren't priced more aggressively, too. I do get a lot for N64 though for that reason. I enjoy the console and do have a lot of nostalgia for it, so I am a fan of it. I do think it's a highly collectable system though cuz people who were into it as kids swear by it. But there are some games going up in price, I think. There's not a ton of rare games for the system though, there's Sculptor's Cut and the cart variants u mentioned, but generally there's no game that'll break the bank. Still there's a few ridiculous prices for games, like Smash Bros, Harvest Moon, the Mario Party's...

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I'll recommend Hyperzone too on SNES. It's a great shooter that looks a lot like F-Zero, it's simple and fun, great graphics, great music, real cheap. I think I got it for around $5 or so. Also Top Gear is a lot of fun.

B.O.B is also great, I have the Genesis version of that game though so not rushing out to score the SNES version.

[celerystalker]

celery I've always been curious about that Drakkhen game but it always looked so confusing trying to figure out what to do and where to go when I tried it in the later 90s on an emulator with no manual/faq to look at. I may be off, but I don't remember it really giving you a sense of direction or even how to recover, you just kind of wander around and if you're dead, that's it. The game I think just screams for a printed guide with pictures/maps. Maybe the manual is very descriptive and helpful, almost essential as it was with a few NES games years earlier. I liked the concept of how it looked but I never got anywhere with it and knowing the other game was a sequel I never gave it a look.

The first Drakkhen really does kinda just throw you to the wolves, but I do have the manual, and it helps a bit. The big things are the somewhat aimless direction and unintuitive combat where leveling up is a chore, not to mention dungeons playing almost like a point & click adventure. Dragon View has great, action-oriented combat with good play control, real towns to explore in 2D belt-scrolling, tighter storytelling with helpful clues, a useful map, and encounters you can see coming in the overworld in the form of clouds you can choose to avoid. It's one of my favorites on the SNES, and I wasn't in love with the original, as it is a very acquired taste, but the sequel is such a different animal that it's worth a look.

[Tanooki]

Thanks for the responses, I really got to look into my SNES want list as I'm thinking there's some stupid cheap to reasonably priced games that are worth a test drive. Hyperzone I always wondered about but never tried it, even as a rom for some dumb reason despite how cheap it is.

Now Drakkhen I think would be worth a throw, but it's just daunting, as you put, throwing you to the wolves but the style is neat and a nice mix. It begs for some classy dude to make an after market PDF guide with images. Dragon View though I think would be more my pace mixing the style of Drakkhen but the combat sequences of a side scrolling action RPG.

Another I have a concern over I've been curious very off and on over the years but never touched is Arcana. The card look of it and my lack of knowledge turned me off entirely as I hate card games, but I learned it was just a sprite choice that it's a normal dungeon crawling-ish type RPG.

I'm looking into a few nice things to dink around with I'd have never touched back in the day but could be good.

I've been thinking of a few games I never had such as Blazeon, Knights of the Round, Nosferatu, and unbelivably Axelay. The last two I've hit on an emulator before in the later 90s but never really sold me. Of course there's the spendy torture of Final Fight Guy and I want my Aerofighters back but the price is crap. Knights of the Round looks decent, Run Saber and Secret of Evermore I had once and those could be good again if had cheap. I did also have PC versions of Flashback and Out of This World before, they could be cool to have since they're sub$10 games but again I had them, looking for 'new.'

[Tanooki]

I'm doing some more digging. I think we should keep this thread going, kind of convert it into an overlooked cheaper game thread and kind of point to why something is worth it or someone can ask if others feel it is.

I'm going through snesguide.com and even the wikipedia on games that use the mouse (like Lemmings 2 and Civilization) that are some usually overlooked good titles to have.

Here's some that might be worth discussion that don't always come up on people's forum lists. Aerobiz Supersonic (I never did 'get' it but maybe it could be enjoyable), Blazeon, Congo's Caper, Dungeon Master, Firepower 2000, Firestriker, Gods (I liked it on PC, not sure if it aged well), Ignition Factor, Lock On, RPM Racing, Sim Ant, sim City 2000, Sim Earth, Skuljagger, Spectre, Strike Gunner STG, Super Battleship, Tin Star, Xardion, and whatever else. Most of those I've never touched, though the PC conversions I have. I've heard nothing on some, good things on others, but it's good to hear more to see if it's true or hype. Most of these titles are cheap to super cheap too.

I can also atest to anything from the makers of Carrier Aces is absolutely awful and doesn't deserve a license.

[Gentlegamer]

@Tanooki

Firestriker is a $50+ game.

Many "hidden gem" games aren't hidden anymore, asking prices are inflated all around.

[celerystalker]

Tanooki, Axelay is pretty good and has some neat visuals, but I personally think it's a little overrated. Blazeon is okay, but it's pretty basic and choppy scrolling. The background details are nice, though. Arcana has a really nice color palette, but be ready to get out the graph paper.Run Saber is really fun in co-op. Some other games that can use the mouse and aren't so pricey are King Arthur's World, which is like Lemmings on a castle siege, Lord of the Rings, which is for up to 5 players co-op, but is a little plodding, and the import Mario & Wario, which is all in English, and you guide Mario & friends to safety while they stumble around with a bucket on their heads.

Some other inexpensive lesser-known games:
Super Baseball 2020-maybe the best Neo Geo conversion on SNES
Stone Protectors-a VERY '90s beat 'em up based on rock & roll Troll dolls
UN Squadron-good Capcom shooter
SOS-price is erratic, but it's a bizarre escape from a sinking cruise ship with a lot of creative ideas but stiff controls. Not to be confused with SOS: Sink or Swim
On the Ball-fun maze game from Taito where you control the maze
Kendo Rage-anime-based platformer with a sense of humor
Legend-Haven't checked the price in awhile, but it's a quality beat 'em up
Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City-platformer that's better than it has any right to be, and very campy
Lagoon-Zelda-style action adventure that is underrated.
Brawl Brothers-beat 'em up that contains the full Japanese version, Rushing Beat Ran, via a code. Actually, that whole series came out here one way or another, the other 2 are Rival Turf and the Peace Keepers.
Cacoma Knight in Bizyland-nice Qix knockoff
Ignition Factor-solid run & gun firefighting
Power Instinct-a fighter that is a port of the first game in the series that later gave us Groove on Fight and Matrimelee
Uniracers
Thunder Spirits-pseudo-port of ThunderForce III that's better than its reputation
The Addams Family-sort of Metroidvania that's not half bad if a little short.
Cybernator-the second Assault Suits game, a good run & gun

All of those should be pretty inexpensive and of pretty high quality. Most of the other under the radar stuff I can think of is a little pricey nowadays... at least on SNES. Super Famicom opens up a bunch more.

[Nathan Dunsmore]

Tinstar still goes for under $10 loose.

[Rickstilwell1]

The original Final Fight was only $10 for me so that wasn't too bad. I also like Tuff E Nuff which has never been pricey or really in much demand. Sure it's kind of limited in that by default they only give you four characters with one of them basically being a re-skinned clone of another, but if you enter the cheat code in vs CPU mode it expands the fun a bit by letting you pick from any of the boss characters as well. I think there was a code to do that in 2 player mode too. I was amazed but back in 2007 I even found MUGEN characters of all the characters from the game.

Nintendo 64... I was able to find good deals or somewhat reasonable prices on everything but Super Smash Bros. People tell me that everyone wants Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. as their top 5 games with maybe Donkey Kong 64 and Star Fox 64 being the 6th and 7th most wanted, but it seems Super Smash Bros. has the worst price with Mario Kart coming in next. On the other hand I see a lot of Zelda OOT for $25 and Goldeneye for $15 so something special must be up with Smash. Do that many people really own Nintendo 64's just for Super Smash Bros but not the others? I thought Super Smash Bros. must have had as high a print run as Super Mario 64 or even more because it was so hyped when it came out. The demand for it shouldn't be any higher than the other core popular games. I'm baffled. Maybe more people just hang onto fighting games than platformers or shooters that they beat once or 10 times and don't feel like going through again. But with Super Smash Bros. Melee being so much better and this one being on Wii VC, I still don't see what's going on here.

[Tanooki]

Damn Firestriker is at $50?! I haven't had it in about a year, but a year ago to two it struggled to be like $10-20 for just the cart. The game is a good B level title, nothing fantastic and annoying needs and lacks a save feature if I remember right. Stuff like that just makes me hate people because if B-level games start getting stupid prices it's one step from just being over.

Celery: I kind of feel the same on Axelay. I've toyed with it a few times on an emulator in the 90s but the vertical stages just mess with me a bit. I'm not sure if it's the rolling effect of the background mixed with the faux-high res or what but it does. If you're right Arcana needs graphing paper I'm not interested at all as I hated those games in the 80s and 90s and that hasn't changed in the 2010s. Run Saber is a poormans Strider, I've had it, would play it again but not at the price it goes since it was one of those games price farmed to screw people not long ago. Mario & Wario I'm familiar with, just don't have any SFC games at this time but it has been something I've considered dipping back into because I used to have a couple dozen gems and most of those haven't shot up.

You got a good list of stuff there on your own. UN Squadron I own, agree there. I have had Kendo Rage, Brawl Bros(and its 2 companions), and Uniracers and agree -- absolutely hated Cybernator as it gets cheapo. You do have an overall interesting list of goodies and hope others can make some up too as it would be nice to have a good 'cheap' SNES discussion/mini suggestion-review thread seeing that the system is being so plundered price wise at the moment yet many goodies to get just ignored.

RIck that sounds fairly reasonable for a top7 but I think Conker is equally up in that level too as the demand is there, yet if it weren't like a $70 game I think it would be higher. Smash Bros I think is like the Mario Party and Kart games -- frat boys wet dream as well a kids you can't trust with discs as they're too young group too. It's non-violent, favorite characters, easy to pick up and fun to attempt to master even if it is pretty limited as the original release. I remember in the late 90s college people were all kinds of nuts for getting N64's just for the Nintendo made 1st party fighting, karting and 'party' games as it was hours or whole nights of fun, and at that age drinking games could go around it with winning or losing.

[goldenband]

B.O.B is also great, I have the Genesis version of that game though so not rushing out to score the SNES version.

The SNES version is actually quite a bit better. I played the Genesis version first and enjoyed it, but the SNES release has better controls, a higher framerate (60Hz vs. 30Hz scrolling), a more efficient control scheme, and somewhat better backgrounds in a few areas, especially harmful floor tiles which can be annoyingly hard to spot in the Genesis version.


The first Drakkhen really does kinda just throw you to the wolves, but I do have the manual, and it helps a bit.

I definitely had the manual and got into the game relatively smoothly BITD, but a couple of the puzzles were tricky. IIRC I figured them out myself or asked a sibling -- I don't remember calling the Nintendo helpline about it.


Firepower 2000
Lock On
Spectre
Xardion

Firepower 2000 is a quality 2P shooter that got pricier recently. Lock-On is meh, but it's an enhancement chip game. Haven't played Spectre but the original Mac game was great. Xardion is generally mediocre at best, but one of the stages has nice music, and it's not unpleasant to play.


Lord of the Rings, which is for up to 5 players co-op, but is a little plodding

This game is objectively bad by most metrics, but the music is so gorgeous and haunting that, between that and the Tolkien theme, I find it oddly compelling. It's a good game to play with a very tolerant partner who likes to navigate, and you absolutely must have a manual (all the maps are there) or it'll be a nightmare. Managing your party is like herding cats, they go off in the silliest directions...


I also like Tuff E Nuff which has never been pricey or really in much demand.

Goofy game, but the underlying mechanics are a decent SFII clone, and I had a modest amount of fun playing through it earlier this year. A fair bit of content was cut when it was localized, unfortunately.

[Daria]

I couldn't stand the first Drakkhen game, but the sequel, Dragon View, is quite awesome. Can't believe it's a $40 game now, so glad the majority of my snes wants are over and done with.

I'd suggest Addams Family Values. It's kind of a quirky Action RPG, not at all bad for a movie tie-in. Inindo is a under $10 game, decent enough RPG. Also Wanderers from Ys isn't too tough to get a hold of either.

[Steven]

The SNES version is actually quite a bit better. I played the Genesis version first and enjoyed it, but the SNES release has better controls, a higher framerate (60Hz vs. 30Hz scrolling), a more efficient control scheme, and somewhat better backgrounds in a few areas, especially harmful floor tiles which can be annoyingly hard to spot in the Genesis version.

+1! B.O.B. on SNES is infinitely more enjoyable than Genesis for all the reasons listed by goldenband. I mean, I played the Genesis version for 5 minutes, turned it off and never touched it again. The SNES version is that much smoother and better overall.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

The original Final Fight was only $10 for me so that wasn't too bad. I also like Tuff E Nuff which has never been pricey or really in much demand. Sure it's kind of limited in that by default they only give you four characters with one of them basically being a re-skinned clone of another, but if you enter the cheat code in vs CPU mode it expands the fun a bit by letting you pick from any of the boss characters as well. I think there was a code to do that in 2 player mode too. I was amazed but back in 2007 I even found MUGEN characters of all the characters from the game.

Nintendo 64... I was able to find good deals or somewhat reasonable prices on everything but Super Smash Bros. People tell me that everyone wants Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, Zelda and Super Smash Bros. as their top 5 games with maybe Donkey Kong 64 and Star Fox 64 being the 6th and 7th most wanted, but it seems Super Smash Bros. has the worst price with Mario Kart coming in next. On the other hand I see a lot of Zelda OOT for $25 and Goldeneye for $15 so something special must be up with Smash. Do that many people really own Nintendo 64's just for Super Smash Bros but not the others? I thought Super Smash Bros. must have had as high a print run as Super Mario 64 or even more because it was so hyped when it came out. The demand for it shouldn't be any higher than the other core popular games. I'm baffled. Maybe more people just hang onto fighting games than platformers or shooters that they beat once or 10 times and don't feel like going through again. But with Super Smash Bros. Melee being so much better and this one being on Wii VC, I still don't see what's going on here.


I agree totally on Smash Bros. I played much more Mario Kart on the N64 then Smash Bros, and not till recently did I get to playng Zelda or Super Mario. But I still don't get the steep price tag. Mario Kart 64 definately has to be in at least as much demand, Ocarina Of Time has to be in higher demand, I don't get it.

What I've always found odd is why Perfect Dark is so cheap. I got it from a flea market seller for $5, and I remember when this game was released, my friends and I were playing Goldeneye to death, and there was a lot of hype around Perfect Dark, and we all, at 13 years old, concluded Perfect Dark was clearly the superior game. I still think so. But 15 years later, it's Goldeneye that gets all the attention, and no one seems to care about PD. I think that's a case of nostalgia, simply put. Cuz Perfect Dark was released in 2000, right before the PS2 came along with the amazing games like the Unreal Tournaments, Quakes, and all those, so we didn't play it as much as Goldeneye.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

+1! B.O.B. on SNES is infinitely more enjoyable than Genesis for all the reasons listed by goldenband. I mean, I played the Genesis version for 5 minutes, turned it off and never touched it again. The SNES version is that much smoother and better overall.

I'll hafta try this version then. I played BOB on Genesis for only a hot minute, put it down and picked something else up, but I did conclude it to be a good game that I'd come back to. It was like that sort of 90s humor, the bizarre random cartoon character with maybe a little potty humor, Ren & Stimpy style, kinda like Boogerman or Earthworm Jim. Just weird to be weird, cuz wat kid wants to play as an earthworm? But it was fun.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Thanks for the responses, I really got to look into my SNES want list as I'm thinking there's some stupid cheap to reasonably priced games that are worth a test drive. Hyperzone I always wondered about but never tried it, even as a rom for some dumb reason despite how cheap it is.

Now Drakkhen I think would be worth a throw, but it's just daunting, as you put, throwing you to the wolves but the style is neat and a nice mix. It begs for some classy dude to make an after market PDF guide with images. Dragon View though I think would be more my pace mixing the style of Drakkhen but the combat sequences of a side scrolling action RPG.

Another I have a concern over I've been curious very off and on over the years but never touched is Arcana. The card look of it and my lack of knowledge turned me off entirely as I hate card games, but I learned it was just a sprite choice that it's a normal dungeon crawling-ish type RPG.

I'm looking into a few nice things to dink around with I'd have never touched back in the day but could be good.

I've been thinking of a few games I never had such as Blazeon, Knights of the Round, Nosferatu, and unbelivably Axelay. The last two I've hit on an emulator before in the later 90s but never really sold me. Of course there's the spendy torture of Final Fight Guy and I want my Aerofighters back but the price is crap. Knights of the Round looks decent, Run Saber and Secret of Evermore I had once and those could be good again if had cheap. I did also have PC versions of Flashback and Out of This World before, they could be cool to have since they're sub$10 games but again I had them, looking for 'new.'

I say pick up Hyperzone. I got it on a whim for maybe $5 or somethng. It's fantastic looking, looks a lot like F-Zero, plays a lot like F-Zero meets Space Harrier, music is awesome, I would say just imagine if F-Zero were a shooter and u got it. The levels are real psychedelic and weird, I can't get very far cuz I'm horrible at shooters, although I really enjoy them, but for <$10 it's worth it.

[Tanooki]

Some more great suggestions. I've considered BOB before but I wasn't sure if it would be my thing but you know that's what emulators are there for, try before you buy. :P

As to Perfect Dark there's 2 easy answers on that one. It was overly mass produced as an oversight by Nintendo/Rare thinking they still had a teen/adult market left to pander to and a crap load of the games never sold and plenty had quick used overturn too all due to when it came out. It's not quite as bad as buying a cheap F-Zero or Space Invaders SNES CIB was and still is, but pretty close. And of course it's a nobody chick, it's not James Bond in what was considered one of his best (if not best) rolls since the 70s put into a game. For all reasonable thinking PD smears dirt in Goldeneyes face as far as a quality game goes.

I have I guess a kind of sizable SNES pile of games and more that I've had in the past too. I know some good stuff worth mentioning I probably should but I'd have to price check them because if something as common as Castlevania, Turtles and Super Ghouls n Ghosts gets as much as they do I'd rather not go blind into it. :) For all intents and purposes a game like Pocky & Rocky or Wild Guns should be a $10-20 title no one cares about or even is much aware of but that's not the case on those as it's just so random.


I will throw this one out there some may find screwy to mention -- Wolfenstein 3D, the non-nazi adventure! Censorship at its second highest to MK1's Immortal Kombatting. Hitler, it's not the moustacheless Staatsmeister, all nazi iconography out, and oddly the dogs replaced by large mutant rats. German is replaced with english (hertzog!-> Halt!) and other things. Why this game is even tolerable is the fact that it's really not Wolfenstein, it's an entirely new game with completely new levels, a stage map (press select), more weapons, L/R to strafe, can even use the snes mouse somehow too and it actually has a fun stage design element to it. You can snap this one up for around $20.

[Steven]

I will throw this one out there some may find screwy to mention -- Wolfenstein 3D, the non-nazi adventure! Censorship at its second highest to MK1's Immortal Kombatting. Hitler, it's not the moustacheless Staatsmeister, all nazi iconography out, and oddly the dogs replaced by large mutant rats. German is replaced with english (hertzog!-> Halt!) and other things. Why this game is even tolerable is the fact that it's really not Wolfenstein, it's an entirely new game with completely new levels, a stage map (press select), more weapons, L/R to strafe, can even use the snes mouse somehow too and it actually has a fun stage design element to it. You can snap this one up for around $20.

I certainly don't find it screwy at all -- I love SNES Wolfenstein. LOVE IT! It started out as a bit of a childhood obsession, but I feel it still holds up quite well 20 years later. Few SNES games IMHO can simulate the adrenaline rush as clearing a room of 15 bad guys in all about 10 seconds. I understand the hate the game has received over the years, but I stick firm to my opinion that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure the graphics are blocky and a little rough around the edges a bit, but the gameplay is there.

For more in-depth thoughts you can check out my review that I wrote for it over 7 years ago: http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7401/226901.html

Another recommendation: Arkanoid Doh It Again! Very underrated super late release in the SNES lifespan. One of the most fun 2 player games on SNES. I love the co-op mode because ANYONE can play it, even non-gamers. Nice simple bright graphics and cool sound, plus the classic solid Arkanoid gameplay. Fun power-ups make for a fun game! Not sure on its price, but it can't be more than $20-$25 cart only.

[Tanooki]

Damn that maybe an old write up but it's still a fair one and it's good for what you're trying to get across. I'm surprised Exaggeration Gaming Monthly gave it that nice of a set of scores, it wasn't on the Genesis. :D

Oh and Arkanoid, it has no love really, you can buy it sealed(new) for $20 shipped on ebay or maybe a little less, complete for half that and maybe $5~ for the game alone. I've had it before, but I ended up picking up that NES version (CIB at the time, still have all but the box now) for a really good price so I let it go. When I think back on it, the SNES game is far better and not just because of the prettier graphics and audio. Arkanoid II compares well to it, but they left that one in Japan only which I was thinking of grabbing for the system but it is gimped needing vaus controllers too and the lame-os at Taito made the controller not compatible between Arkanoid 1 and 2 so that's an added expense. The SNES game flows smoothly since it never had the special controller intended for it.

Arcade conversions are an interesting breed on SNES. Some of them are truly fantastic, some fall in the better or worse half of the middle, but there are some that fairly blow or at least are good but chopped up (Final Fight.) Arkanoid, Bust a Move, most of those SNK(Takara) ports of the arcade games are solid. Even stuff like Smash TV and Total Carnage are pretty solid outings too.

[celerystalker]

Arcade conversions are an interesting breed on SNES. Some of them are truly fantastic, some fall in the better or worse half of the middle, but there are some that fairly blow or at least are good but chopped up (Final Fight.) Arkanoid, Bust a Move, most of those SNK(Takara) ports of the arcade games are solid. Even stuff like Smash TV and Total Carnage are pretty solid outings too.


I usually agree with you, but not on the Takara SNK ports. I've always found those to be pretty rough, especially Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown. I did like Tradewest's version of Super Baseball 2020, though. Playing it next to my Neo Geo, just about everything but the mines in the outfield made it in, and Sunsoft did okay with World Heroes. Capcom's stuff other than Final Fight seemed better to me, maybe because they published it themselves. King of Dragons, Knights of the Round, Super Ghouls & Ghosts, and especially Street Fighter II Turbo all knocked my socks off at the time, and still hold up. I really like Magic Sword, too, but I wish it had the 2 player. Totally agree about Smash TV. Holds up great. I never did enjoy Total Carnage as much, but that has more to do with the game itself and not the port. Even though it's nowhere near perfect, I still feel like Street Fighter Alpha 2 was impressive for the hardware it was using.

[Tanooki]

Perhaps I should have been a little more broad and left out Takara. I've had over time Art of Fighting, King of the MOnsters (both), Fatal Fury, and still do have Samurai Shodown. Other than the characters not scaling and being huge I felt they were pretty accurate as I had access to most of those at a college 4game arcade unit over time. AoF and FF were rough, but the original games were pretty wooden too, so it's not like they were really worse, they just weren't made any better with age.

I never was a big fan of Total Carnage either but I did get stuck playing it for awhile on a trip before so I'm familiar with it which is why I listed it along side of Smash TV as they're done pretty nicely.

Other than never playing Knights of the Round and SF2T (have SF2), agree and own the rest of your Capcom list entirely. Also despite the quirky 4sec load time on fights, that conversion of Street Fighter Alpha 2 is just stunning given the hardware and compression chip involved, also noted as better than the PS1 in side by side comparisons, both though are spanked by the Saturn which did it best.

One thing I also found interesting were the few random PC conversions too. Wing Commander and then the Secret Missions addon as a 2nd cart, Spectre, and Mechwarrior are all fairly interesting. DOOM was in a league of its own though as that game is great, grossly idiotically flawed having no save option, but it could have been even greater. I found out they cheaped on the storage when I was at Midway, had they gone up to the next chip size so many issues with that game (1 of 8 monster views, ground/ceiling textures) and the missing monster would have all made it one of the best instead of middle of the road.

[goldenband]

The huge problem with Art of Fighting SNES is that once you spot the gaping hole in the AI, it becomes incredibly trivial to beat, and the challenge is gone. The only exception is the second opponent (Jack), who isn't vulnerable to that pattern for some reason.

Otherwise it tries to be a faithful port, and has a couple nice touches, but overall I prefer Art of Fighting on the Genesis. Despite the dreadful sound and stupid changes (like limited continues), it's the one version where I can actually pull off special moves reliably. Even the Neo Geo original had pretty wonky controls -- uppercuts were nearly impossible to pull off -- and the Genesis version somehow fixes the issue.

[celerystalker]

Yeah, Art of Fighting didn't really come into its own until the second game. I think I'm critical of the other ports is because in the original, the gigantic sprites and scaling were really the whole point, since it was clunky on the Neo Geo. Remove the amazing graphics and make it even clunkier, and you have a game that doesn't really do anything well.

Samurai Shodown, though... the SNES and Genesis are both so flawed. SNES has such tiny characters since they gave up on scaling, slower speed, and laggy control. Genesis had bigger sprites with less colors, but still felt off.

Being that they were some of the more advanced Neo Geo games at the time, it really wasn't a surprise, but when I was a kid who didn't know all of the hardware limitations, I was still susceptible to disappointment when they came out, especially with how well Street Fighter turned out.

[Steven]

Even though it's nowhere near perfect, I still feel like Street Fighter Alpha 2 was impressive for the hardware it was using.

SNES SFA2 gets too much undeserved hatred IMHO. On its own, it is rather impressive. The load times are a bit of a drag, but not a dealbreaker. They're only 2 seconds (if that). People act like it's 5 seconds or something. It's really not that bad. Just a bit of an inconvenience. The fact that all the characters and moves made it over is something to marvel at, indeed.

Speaking of Takara, IIRC they programmed King of the Monsters 2 and I'd wager that or Fatal Fury 2 to be their best work. Saurus developed World Heroes 2 (Takara published it) and WH2 is one of the better non-SF arcade ports on the system.

Tanooki, thanks for the compliment on my Wolfie review. It was one of my earliest works, and one I have fond memories of. "I'm coming to git chu!" sound effect is still a bit creepy to me to this day.

[wizardofwor1975]

I don't think it's been mentioned yet but "Plok" is a great SNES game that can be found on EBay for about 9-12 bucks. I always thought it was one of the best platformers for the SNES.

http://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2010/09/plok_retro

[ZeroCool]

I recommend The Legend of the Mystical Ninja if it hasn't been already.

Picked it up on a whim cause it was cheap. Pleasantly surprised.

[wizardofwor1975]

I recommend The Legend of the Mystical Ninja if it hasn't been already.

Picked it up on a whim cause it was cheap. Pleasantly surprised.

Great pick. The spritework and the soundtrack for The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is just outstanding.

[Gameguy]

I just get SNES games when I find them cheap, it doesn't usually matter to me what they sell for online when I buy them. Around $5 tops for most titles, unless it's something I know is extremely valuable. Still won't pay full value but if a game is worth more than $100, I'd be willing to pay more than $5. Might not keep it though if it's more than $5. I have found plenty of good games for cheap over the years including Final Fight Guy.



What I've always found odd is why Perfect Dark is so cheap. I got it from a flea market seller for $5, and I remember when this game was released, my friends and I were playing Goldeneye to death, and there was a lot of hype around Perfect Dark, and we all, at 13 years old, concluded Perfect Dark was clearly the superior game. I still think so. But 15 years later, it's Goldeneye that gets all the attention, and no one seems to care about PD. I think that's a case of nostalgia, simply put. Cuz Perfect Dark was released in 2000, right before the PS2 came along with the amazing games like the Unreal Tournaments, Quakes, and all those, so we didn't play it as much as Goldeneye.
Personally I think a contributing reason is that you need the expansion pak to take advantage of most features. When I first played this game I didn't know about the limitations, I just thought the game sucked because after around 20 minutes there's nothing left to do. They should have just made the expansion pak mandatory like with Majora's Mask or Donkey Kong 64. Plenty of current N64 users still don't have the expansion pak.

There's still not much of a price difference between Perfect Dark and Goldeneye, Perfect Dark is $5 and Goldeneye is $10. Goldeneye is probably the best James Bond game made in terms of multiplayer, liking James Bond probably has a lot to do with it's current popularity.

[SparTonberry]

DOOM was in a league of its own though as that game is great, grossly idiotically flawed having no save option, but it could have been even greater. I found out they cheaped on the storage when I was at Midway, had they gone up to the next chip size so many issues with that game (1 of 8 monster views, ground/ceiling textures) and the missing monster would have all made it one of the best instead of middle of the road.
I thought Doom was already at the limit of what the Super FX2 could handle (16mb)? (and supposedly the SFX1 only supported 8)

I have a non-working Arkanoid II controller, so I can't say how it's different, but I compared the routines for the Vaus-reading routines and FC versions of 1 and 2, and I recall 2 reading at least one more pin off the port so it's presumably doing at least SOMETHING different. (I know NES version of Arkanoid needed to be changed due to differences between the original Famicom and the NES controller ports)
I see NESDev has information on the Arkanoid 1 controllers but not Arkanoid II.

[Tanooki]

Spar: The Arkanoid 2 controller isn't different, they just did something to the game code or inside that makes the opposing game not detect the thing so they could sell 2 useless one shot controllers for profit. DOOM kind of pushed that FX2 a good bit, but it wasn't tapped out. The game just wasn't optimized well and they cut those corners leaving out stuff because they cheaped and went with a smaller ROM chip to throw the game on. I think it's a teeny 2mbit chip and had they gone with the next size up the missing monster views, missing monster, and the floor/ceiling could have been there. Williams/Midway king of corner cutting stupidity, even on their better N64 stuff they still cut corners. I only know it could be better because I asked when I was there in the same convo I had about DOOM64 and the whole Sony media smear campaign on the n64 'kiddie' box.

Like Gameguy I buy the games on a budget, the most I've put out in the last 5~ years on foreign or domestic SNES stuff has been $50 out of pocket. I just can't do it higher and despite that I've nailed down some good stuff. You just need to draw a line in the sand and stop feeding these shmucks playing with the prices. That's why this thread is great because you can list so many ignored $1-10 games as much as the known but not yet hosed $10-30 stuff too.

[Steven]

DOOM was in a league of its own though as that game is great, grossly idiotically flawed having no save option, but it could have been even greater. I found out they cheaped on the storage when I was at Midway, had they gone up to the next chip size so many issues with that game (1 of 8 monster views, ground/ceiling textures) and the missing monster would have all made it one of the best instead of middle of the road.


I see SNES Doom much in the same vain as I do SNES Alpha 2. Both games get a lot of hate but I actually rather admire both ports. I hated SNES Doom back in the day, but playing it again as an adult I have come to oddly appreciate it for what it is. Yes, the lack of a save option really hampers it, but then again, being forced to beat all 22 levels in one sitting is a grueling, challenging and rewarding (IMO) experience! There is no safety net whatsoever, and you literally have to have a "perfect" run through in order to beat the game. That makes it immensely satisfying, though, of course, I would prefer the option of being able to save.

The Japanese version though somewhat mitigates this issue...

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/media/DIR_1932543/41a5399bf01be91fffff808fa00140f.JPGhttp://www.rvgfanatic.com/media/DIR_1932543/41a5399bf01be91fffff808ea00140f.JPG
This is the issue with the US version. You can't start any episode on any difficulty level. You could only start on episode 3 if you chose Ultra Violence or Nightmare. Starting out on the later episodes with just a pistol and 50 bullets on either of those two insane difficulty levels was a recipe for a quick death. It was basically virtually impossible to enjoy the experience, so you were forced to begin on the first episode anyway. At least that way you could play on any difficulty.

Now let's look at the Japanese version...

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/media/DIR_1932543/41a5399bf01be91fffff8090a00140f.JPGhttp://www.rvgfanatic.com/media/DIR_1932543/41a5399bf01be91fffff8091a00140f.JPG
WOOT. You can start Episode 3, Inferno, even on the easiest difficulty level of I'm Too Young To Die. It makes it much more manageable and helps to break the game down into smaller chunks. If you're adamant on buying SNES Doom, I definitely recommend the Japanese version. After all, there's not exactly a whole bunch of text in Doom to worry about... and IIRC the text is still in English as evident by the shots above, lol

If anyone's interested (or seriously bored), here is my (lengthy and nostalgic) SNES Doom review I wrote Halloween 2013

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7401/1919564.html

[celerystalker]

Getting ready for bed (doing overnights for the holidays) and another couple of inexpensive little games popped into my head.

Timeslip-a run & gun that's actually pretty friggin' solid
Soldiers of Fortune-Overhead run & shoot with solid co-op, but it's tough. Good on Genesis, too.

Timeslip really surprised me by having way tighter gameplay than I expected. It's fast and responsive-a huge step above games with bigger reputations like GunForce.

[Tanooki]

This maybe some odd games to put out there, but I've been watching a couple videos and checking some writings on things and it appears that Street Racer trumps Mario Kart as a great combat kart racer with far more variety and then Super Offroad the Baja is a solid mode7 racer but they gave the courses height/depth and gaps to fly over giving it a rough ride instead of your usual flat terrain racer on the system. I know that one gets a mixed review from cranky old fans of the old arcade game, but taking it for what it is, it looks solid.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I just get SNES games when I find them cheap, it doesn't usually matter to me what they sell for online when I buy them. Around $5 tops for most titles, unless it's something I know is extremely valuable. Still won't pay full value but if a game is worth more than $100, I'd be willing to pay more than $5. Might not keep it though if it's more than $5. I have found plenty of good games for cheap over the years including Final Fight Guy.



Personally I think a contributing reason is that you need the expansion pak to take advantage of most features. When I first played this game I didn't know about the limitations, I just thought the game sucked because after around 20 minutes there's nothing left to do. They should have just made the expansion pak mandatory like with Majora's Mask or Donkey Kong 64. Plenty of current N64 users still don't have the expansion pak.

There's still not much of a price difference between Perfect Dark and Goldeneye, Perfect Dark is $5 and Goldeneye is $10. Goldeneye is probably the best James Bond game made in terms of multiplayer, liking James Bond probably has a lot to do with it's current popularity.

$10? I've never seen it that low. Still not that expensive a game, but I usually see it for around $15 or $20. And that is true the expansion pack is somethng not everyone had. You can play the game without it, though. James Bond was sort of a thing at the time, also. I remember The World Is Not Enough movie coming out, and I was really into it, I was watching as much James Bond movies as I could. The Austin Powers movies came about also which added to the spy movie hype for me, also.

[wizardofwor1975]

Soldiers of Fortune-Overhead run & shoot with solid co-op, but it's tough. Good on Genesis, too.

I completely forgot Soldiers of Fortune was ported to the SNES. I've loved this game since I first got it for my Amiga 500 back in the day. The Amiga version was called The Chaos Engine. I also play it on my Genny.

[Captain_N77]

Lots of good mentions already. I'll throw in a few that I dont recall being mentioned and may re-iterate a few that already were called out. All of these are under $10 games currently(online prices of course).

Super Tennis! I love this game and it holds up well after all these years. It's cheap and a very over-looked sports game from that era.

Batman Returns: Really fun beat-em-up that actually gets that off-kilter, gloomy Christmas feel of the movie right.

Earth Defense Force: Though not great, a quality and very playable shmup.

Rival Turf: Not on the level of Final Fight or Streets of Rage, but an enjoyable beat-em-up.

Super Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi: Good actiony platformers with great music. Hard as balls though.

Thunder Spirits: I know it gets some flack, but approaching it with an open mind it's a very fun shmup.

Then, as has been mentioned, there are plenty of quality $10+ - $20 games like Starfox, UN Squadron, Out of This World, Super GnG, etc.

And Castlevania IV is NOT an under $20 game, certainly not in the neighborhood of $10. When it is found for those prices, that is what you call a bargain, not the going rate. I found ZombiU brand new for $1 a month ago at K-mart; that doesn't make it a $1 game because a store or stores near me have been selling it for that much.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Lots of good mentions already. I'll throw in a few that I dont recall being mentioned and may re-iterate a few that already were called out. All of these are under $10 games currently(online prices of course).

Super Tennis! I love this game and it holds up well after all these years. It's cheap and a very over-looked sports game from that era.

Batman Returns: Really fun beat-em-up that actually gets that off-kilter, gloomy Christmas feel of the movie right.

Earth Defense Force: Though not great, a quality and very playable shmup.

Rival Turf: Not on the level of Final Fight or Streets of Rage, but an enjoyable beat-em-up.

Super Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi: Good actiony platformers with great music. Hard as balls though.

Thunder Spirits: I know it gets some flack, but approaching it with an open mind it's a very fun shmup.

Then, as has been mentioned, there are plenty of quality $10+ - $20 games like Starfox, UN Squadron, Out of This World, Super GnG, etc.

And Castlevania IV is NOT an under $20 game, certainly not in the neighborhood of $10. When it is found for those prices, that is what you call a bargain, not the going rate. I found ZombiU brand new for $1 a month ago at K-mart; that doesn't make it a $1 game because a store or stores near me have been selling it for that much.

What I kinda go by is the cheapest a used copy is selling for on Amazon. Ebay can be ridiculous sometimes, but Amazon seems to be what most game sellers go by, price-wise. At various stores and flea markets I've frequented.

[Tanooki]

Hmm interesting. I ignore amazon because the pricing on there is the high end of retail pulled from ebay or stores who like to have local nerd tax premiums. When I was quoting any price on mine I just as I said regulated it to a $5-25 window under good/acceptable. If enough copies of the game came up that weren't beat up I mentioned it. Super Castlevania isn't a $10 or much of a $20 game, but it did show enough at the $25 level to get the nod and $5 isn't going to break someone.

Thunderspirits gets a bad wrap not because of the game, but because it's a Sega fans franchise that jumped ship so it's put out there to high levels of unfounded nitpicking and ridicule much like how supposedly Gradius III is the true example of a shooter where all of them lag, tear away graphics and stuggle to run on the SNES which is a huge colossal lie. It was a rushed to launch badly optimized game and that's it.

[Gameguy]

$10? I've never seen it that low. Still not that expensive a game, but I usually see it for around $15 or $20. And that is true the expansion pack is somethng not everyone had. You can play the game without it, though. James Bond was sort of a thing at the time, also. I remember The World Is Not Enough movie coming out, and I was really into it, I was watching as much James Bond movies as I could. The Austin Powers movies came about also which added to the spy movie hype for me, also.
Plenty of loose copies of Goldeneye sell online for $10, though plenty also sell for around $15-$20 as you've mentioned. I'll list a few examples of around $10, it is obtainable for that much. Whenever I get loose copies I ask for $10, I usually find them for around $3-$5 or I won't bother buying them. It's not like I come across N64 games all the time, but lately whenever I see Nintendo cartridges at all they'll mostly be for the N64.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141469951357
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111514023042
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321582660738
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131348525980

This summer I've actually found a couple N64 games and controllers in a trash pile waiting for garbage day, I believe Ocarina of Time and Donkey Kong 64. I still need to test them but pretty neat to just find them for free at someone's curb.

Have you tried playing Perfect Dark without the expansion pak? You only get some limited multiplayer options, no single player missions. Like I said, the first time I played this I didn't have the box so I didn't know about the lack of features and I thought the game sucked. Once I saw the box I noticed how many features just weren't available without the memory upgrade. I haven't really bothered to play it with an expansion pak as I'm not heavily into FPS games and I generally dislike the N64, personally I'd rather be playing other games instead.


And Castlevania IV is NOT an under $20 game, certainly not in the neighborhood of $10. When it is found for those prices, that is what you call a bargain, not the going rate. I found ZombiU brand new for $1 a month ago at K-mart; that doesn't make it a $1 game because a store or stores near me have been selling it for that much.
I found a complete copy of Castlevania IV in near perfect condition for $5, same with Zelda Link to the Past in the same condition for the same price. This was several years ago though. Back when things were still obtainable through craigslist for reasonable prices. This is what I mean by waiting, I buy games when I come across them at a good price, I haven't bought games online ever(not that I can remember at least). The few times I got games online I won contests, that's all I can remember with getting games online.

I almost got a complete Batman Returns SNES just a few weeks ago for $3.99 at a thrift, but another collector beat me to it by a few minutes. Just got to see him carry it around and take it to the cash. Really been wanting to play this one for awhile, for whatever reason despite it being common I haven't come across a copy to purchase yet. Usually I have good luck though so I just have to be patient.

[Gatucaman]

I found a complete copy of Castlevania IV in near perfect condition for $5, same with Zelda Link to the Past in the same condition for the same price.

This was several years ago though.

Does anecdotes like this make the point missed?, as for me i got lucky to find Super Adventure Island II as a gift for one of my SNES (one that didn't work, BTW the game was priced at $3!!!! :eek 2:), and Gargoyle's Quest II for $6 in 2011 (but with a PCB begging for surgery........:puppydogeyes:)

As for that Batman Returns gameguy, better be fine with getting a decent loose copy, before the same horseshit happens with the 16-bit TMNT games.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I don't see SNES games very much around where I live, unless it's a retro game store, in which case everythings priced by Amazon, or perhaps a few dollars less. So if there's something I really want to play like Link To The Past, I'll usually spend the $20 price online if I know I'll enjoy it.

The only SNES games I really see are usually sports titles. I have run into cheap Genesis games, though. I did find a copy of Top Gear for around $2 at a Goodwill, that was the only good SNES game I've come across. To me there's a difference between hunting for games in thrift stores and going to retro game stores for games. Big difference.

I do find some deals for other systems though, I found a copy of Super Mario Galaxy 2 for $4 at a local Goodwill recently, and a complete-in-box Wii with Super Smash Bros Brawl for $30.

But I've never ever found a good deal like that with SNES games. So it's either wait for weeks or months for that one good find, or just get the damn game so I can play it.

[Daria]

But I've never ever found a good deal like that with SNES games. So it's either wait for weeks or months for that one good find, or just get the damn game so I can play it.

This is why I emulate despite being a collector. I can play the game when I get the itch and I don't have to let impatience influence my spending price.

Emulation tends to get vilified in this hobby, I just see it as a tool for prudent spending.

[Gentlegamer]

This is why I emulate despite being a collector. I can play the game when I get the itch and I don't have to let impatience influence my spending price.

Emulation tends to get vilified in this hobby, I just see it as a tool for prudent spending.

This is my view, too. These days I have SD2SNES to take the place of emulation for impulse playing.

[Tanooki]

I don't get the vilification either, it's kind of hypocritical when you parallel the other stuff that gets ignored as defacto legit, like warezy repros, or selling flash kits that emulate a physical cart so the ROM will run in real hardware (ie kind of like a Retron5 which gets whiners ripping on too for that.)

I've used emulation since stuff ran fairly accurately in the mid90s with old Pasofami(NES) and Marats VGB and iNES for GB/C and NES games, then SNES96 and so on. It both saved me a ton of money not buying complete pieces of crap but also helped me discover some slick gems in the latter half of the 90s I never really could dig into back in the day on a kids allowance budget. Some of those games I still have even today, and annoyingly some are spendy titles too into that $50-300 ish or so range so I'm glad I got them then instead of now. Emulators allow you to try before you buy, kind of like that old file_id.diz/group.nfo file junk warez groups did in the day saying '24 hours it's legal to try something out, then erase or buy it' to try and pacify the clueless it was ok to steal. I kept up the fraud of that faith with game ROMS on dead systems and then into active things like the GBC and GBA too as it helped me get what was best for me in a closed Nintendo world of being anti-demo.

[Bloodreign]

Hmm interesting. I ignore amazon because the pricing on there is the high end of retail pulled from ebay or stores who like to have local nerd tax premiums. When I was quoting any price on mine I just as I said regulated it to a $5-25 window under good/acceptable. If enough copies of the game came up that weren't beat up I mentioned it. Super Castlevania isn't a $10 or much of a $20 game, but it did show enough at the $25 level to get the nod and $5 isn't going to break someone.

Thunderspirits gets a bad wrap not because of the game, but because it's a Sega fans franchise that jumped ship so it's put out there to high levels of unfounded nitpicking and ridicule much like how supposedly Gradius III is the true example of a shooter where all of them lag, tear away graphics and struggle to run on the SNES which is a huge colossal lie. It was a rushed to launch badly optimized game and that's it.
Parodius Da on SFC plays pretty damned smoothly, far better than Gradius III, plus Parodius Da sports an extra level not found in any other version. Gokujou though is a nice game to look at, but slows down in spots, Jikkyou Oshaberi on the other hand, the game feels almost entirely in slow motion because of all the animations going on in the background plus sprites.

[Tanooki]

I've had the first two of those Parodius games along with Pop'n Twinbee (not Twinbee) on the SFC. I know Parodius 2 has a point here or there if you're fully powered up but it's nothing like G3 and no tearing. I had no idea about the third one, would have figured with it using the SA1 chip it would be more solid than that since it's an added SNES CPU in part.


Speaking of the thread for affordability and references, I looked into doing something about finding stuff and I did blow $35 today at this one indoor flea shop and ended up with 2 sealed new blurays (24 and Sherlock Holmes 2) but gaming wise, I got Arkanoid for $4 and a virtually unused CIB Arcana for $22. I'm thinking whoever got the RPG didn't use it much if at all more than once since there's zero wear on any of the game pins, plastic or label, it's like new. I hope it's cracked up to being a good game considering the developer. At the least I know having Arkanoid back I got another game, manual and vaus controller I can sell towards my laptop fund! :D

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I just got Star Fox today, and yes I spent $15 on Amazon, and no I don't care if some random garage sale somewhere coulda had it for $5, I wanted to play it. And it's a real good game, I've never been into flght sims, but this ones definately fun and the weird story just makes it that much cooler with the weird animal characters. Good stuff. And no sadly I never really played Star fox before