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Sometimes, a good idea gets held back by poor execution and localization errors. The 7th Saga, published by the famed RPG studio Enix, starts off with an interesting premise—to collect seven runes and attain ultimate power—but it quickly becomes difficult to overlook the glaring faults that mar an otherwise promising concept. Admittedly, this is not your run-of-the-mill RPG and you can tell Enix was exploring new territory with The 7th Saga. Most traditional Japanese RPGs like Final Fantasy will lead the player along a set path, but Enix unleashes you upon the world of Ticondera and lets you find your own way. You’re aided by nothing but some oblique clues and a crystal ball that flashes with the location of nearby runes, and as you travel to new towns and meet NPCs, you’ll run across fellow apprentices who, like yourself, are searching for the runes and will fight you if they deem you a threat to their mission. The apprentice system is unpredictable and adds an element of the unknown to The 7th Saga that is lacking from many other RPGs. Unfortunately, this game is notorious for its unforgiving difficulty and unbalanced leveling system. As you progress, you’ll find yourself terribly unprepared to take on the more powerful enemies that reside in later regions. (The Japanese version of the game was far more generous with stat point allocation than the international version.) From the start, you’ll control only one character, so battles can get dicey really fast. On the plus side, if you encounter any apprentices on your travels, you can recruit one for extra muscle. With a progressive free-roam approach and unpredictable path to the finish, The 7th Saga is quirky and fun, but it isn’t for everyone. Give it a try if you like challenging RPGs.

A pretty interesting game, the aim of the Actraiser is to play the role of a God and let civilisation flourish. You do this by listening to people’s wishes (sometimes directing them where to build), performing miracles and getting rid of all sorts of creatures. Actraiser is really two genres in one. In simulation mode you fly around the land expanding the reach of civilisation, it plays like a more action-oriented version of Sim City. While in action mode you traverse platform-based levels in a traditional 2D hack and slash fashion disposing of enemies and defeating bosses. All aspects of this game are above average – the graphics are simple (this is an early release) yet clear and effective. The sounds provide plenty of atmosphere and the controls are spot on. While each part of the game isn’t really anything special (especially nowadays) it is really a case of something being more than a sum of its parts. There is lots to do and it provides a good-sized challenge and your progress is saved to battery backup. There is an option to just play the action scenes, but this really isn’t recommended as played on their own and out of context they really only amount to standard 2D scrolling fighting levels. The game really needs to be experienced in full as the two different sections affect each other (e.g. higher populations give you a larger health bar in the action scenes). An excellent and original game overall, which is one of the best in the SNES’ vast library.

This one got a pretty late release in the Super Nintendo’s life so not many people got to try this, which is a pity. It isn’t an Earth-shattering experience, but it’s a solid version of the famous bat and ball game and it supports the SNES mouse controller, which gives you far better control. The standard controller works too and the options let you adjust the sensitivity but the mouse is preferred. There are loads of levels to play and it gets pretty tough pretty soon so it will last a good while. It has the usual Arkanoid play features such as power up capsules, little enemies that move around the levels, you also encounter a boss fight every 10 or so levels and that keeps the interest up. It also has some nice 2 player options; you can play alternating, simultaneously or in a novel split-screen battle mode. Sadly there is no battery backup and, though it uses passwords to save your progress, this really hurts the included level editor and makes you wonder why they bothered with that feature without adding battery backup, a real shame. The graphics are nice even though once in a while the background effects can make things hard to see. It sounds ok but the gameplay is the main attraction here.

Is it Mode 7? Who actually cares? What Axelay is, is fantastic. Arriving fairly early in the life of the Super Nintendo, Axelay was a showcase for the machines stunning visual trickery and audio capabilities. Programmed by members of Konami that would eventually go on to form Treasure, Axelay is a shoot ‘em up that scrolled into the screen with a pseudo 3D perspective or a traditional 2D side on approach. The viewpoint changed every other level and gave a nice feeling of variety. Axelay boasts a huge range of weapons and you can carry three at a time. New ones are unlocked as you clear levels but the Round Vulcan from the very first level is the best in the game. Level design is consistently fantastic with superb enemy variety and some truly epic bosses. The huge lava boss at the end of level 5 is a memorable one and took up well over half of the screen. Level 2 also saw an ED 209 homage with the boss at the end of the area. Visuals are stunning but it does suffer bouts of slowdown and flicker. The audio is once again fantastic with some fantastic tunes and sound effects. The music on levels 2 and 4 are sublime, level 2 boasting superb percussion and level 4 has a wonderfully ethereal feel to it. Six levels hamper the life span somewhat, they are supremely re-playable but no doubt two more would have been much better. In 2012 Axelay is still a stunning shooter and worthy in any collection.

Based directly on the movie of the same name, Batman Returns from Konami is a great scrolling fighter for the SNES, you play as Batman and battle through multiple scenes from the movie in a bid to bring down the Penguin and peace to Gotham. The main crux of the game is a Final Fight style scrolling fighter. You have a good variety of moves at your disposal including standard combos, jump attacks, spin attack, test tube smart bomb and some awesome grappling moves. When grappling you can attack and enemies or throw them into the background. This can damage the windows or lamp posts which is very amusing and a nice touch. You can also grapple two enemies and smash their heads together. There are also more platform based levels that require good use of the Batterang to progress. There is also an into the screen driving level which is mildly amusing and creates a little variety. The game is one player only, which is a bit of a blow. Overall in the world it is only Batman against the enemies but a two-player option would have been cool. Visuals are stunning with huge sprites with decent animation and backgrounds. Audio is based on the Danny Elfman themes of the movie and the game simply sounds incredible. Batman does play really well. Combat is satisfying with meaty punches and kicks. Batman moves at a good pace and enemies are constantly interesting. Boss fights are memorable, the first even using the brilliant hook shot into the wall to pull the wall out from behind the boss, like the scene from the movie. The major issue like many scrolling fighters is that is does become rather repetitive and the lack of a two-player option is a shame.

Excellent sequel to the NES original, a humorous multi-style platform game that was just a bit too tough to be enjoyable for many. This version has less levels and the difficulty is toned down a bit but this is still a challenge. The graphics are nice and big and colourful. There is lots of humour in this game and it is enshrined in the character graphics, which have lots of little quirks and fun animations to spot. This is quite a varied game which starts off as a traditional scrolling fighter – but you soon get to experience fast paced bike levels, vertically scrolling levels, and puzzle based maze levels etc so it’s interesting enough to keep you playing. The two-player mode is a hoot, and you can toggle collisions between player one and player two. But if you are serious about getting past level 1 or 2 you really need to set the toggle to off, as it’s too easy to “accidentally” hit someone which will result in quick revenge, meaning you won’t progress very far. It features a cheesy rock style soundtrack and great crunching fighting sounds. Overall, while this is a really tough game, the humour means you will have a great time even if you aren’t doing well. It has aged pretty well indeed and is definitely recommended.

No this isn’t a driving game that lets you shoot pesky caravan users off the road, it’s a compilation by Hewson who used to run NES high score shooting game road-show competitions in the Japan. It is in fact a format that gave its name to the caravan shooter – usually meaning a 2 min or 5 min score attack mode. You get 3 games in this compilation: Star Force, Star Soldier and Hector ’87. They are all basic (though compulsive) old-school space shoot-em-ups for 1 player only. Oddly only Hector ’87 actually has a caravan mode, so I’m not sure why the compilation is named as it is. The graphics have been largely untouched, they still look like NES games but any issues with flicker or slowdown are gone. They feel really solid and the sounds have been beefed up a little too, though not too much so as to sound weird and they are still in keeping with the look. It’s a big pity there is no cartridge backup for high scores, this kind of spoils things as these games are all about high scores. So overall this one is for collectors only I would say. A nice package and, while the games play better than the originals, you can probably get those for next to nothing.

Probably the most interesting thing about this particular homebrew is the custom cartridge you can play it in. While these cartridges are sadly no longer sold on the Retrozone website, if you find one, it might still be one that comes with built-in Christmas lights. These lights actually blink depending on what’s happening in the game, which is a very nice touch. During the time when you could buy the game you could also get a custom message put in the cartridge and the game itself, if you want a more personalised touch. The actual game itself is a pretty simple platformer with a holiday theme to it. Aliens have stolen Christmas presents all over the world, because they’re evil or something. As a small boy, with nothing but snow to defend himself, you take up the task of collecting all the presents, while avoiding the UFOs. Every level is made up of a single screen with platforms to jump on, presents to collect and UFOs to avoid. The screen wraps around, which is something you’ll need to keep in mind to reach certain places. Touching a UFO will take away one of your three lives but crouching will let you make a snowball, which stuns UFOs for a few seconds. That’s more or less it and while it’s not the most complex of games it’s reasonably fun, if not that much of a challenge. The graphics look nice and there’s a nice wintery song that plays through the game. If you are wanting a good Christmas-themed platformer on the SNES then you could do a lot worse than this, especially when you put it up against Daze Before Christmas.

One of the most eagerly awaited games of 1995, Chrono Trigger delivered on every possible level. An RPG that took a different approach from the usual random battle/turn based style, Chrono Trigger was a breath of fresh air and still is today. An all-star team put the game together and it really shows. You play Crono, a young man inadvertently sucked back in time which sets of a series of events that change the world. You must travel back and forth through time across six time zones to find and defeat the main antagonist of the game. The game eliminates random battles by placing enemies in the field. Many can be avoided but some are certainly set-up to attack. The fights themselves are played out on the same screen with no transition, which is a lovely thing. Combat is turn based but characters are not just stood in a line and it feels more natural as a result. The battle system is very well designed with magic and abilities being character exclusive, which makes party choice important. You also have double and triple character attacks, which are not only powerful, but look amazing too. The plot is really very good. Characters are charming and interesting, each with their own fleshed out back story. Enemies are believable and suitably dramatic without being cheesy. The game also features multiple endings which was rather less common in 1995. Graphically the game is what you expect, stunning, with some beautiful locations and brilliant battle animations. The music is even better, the first major score from Yasunori Mitsuda and he didn’t fail to deliver. Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece of RPG design. It has so much content and so many clever features, no wonder it is still regarded as one of the best of the genre, get it now!

Much like Super Road Blaster, Classic Kong’s another homebrew port of an arcade game brought to the Super Nintendo. This one, however, is much simpler but much more beloved - Nintendo’s arcade classic Donkey Kong. If you’ve played the original game then you’ll figure out this particular port in no time. If you’ve been living under a rock without any electricity for the past 20 years you play as Mario, AKA Jumpman. An angry gorilla, you may or may not have abused, has kidnapped your girlfriend Pauline and taken her to a dangerous construction site. With your incredible jumping prowess it’s up to you to avoid the obstacles sent towards you and travel 100 meters to the top. Unlike the Game Boy version, which was pretty much an entirely new game, this port is pretty much a recreation of the original arcade game. Not that that’s a bad thing of course, seeing how popular the original arcade game was and still is. But if you’re hoping to see Mario effortlessly back flip his way straight to Donkey Kong then you’re out of luck. They’ve even managed to fit every feature of the arcade game in there, including the cut scenes. They even managed to get the concrete factory in there. Yes it’s a concrete factory and not a pie factory, that sound you heard was your mind blowing! It’s not an entire recreation though because the graphics and sounds have been updated to make more use of the SNES hardware. The new graphics look nice, even if the music sounds a little tinny. Still, it’s a great update of the original arcade game if you are wanting to try something a little more traditional, compared to Nintendo’s interpretation.