20 Underrated SNES Games – 16-Bit Hidden Gems From Nintendo’s 4th-Generation Console

U.N. Squadron

• Release Date — July 26, 1991
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Scrolling Shooter/Shoot ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

An early favorite of mine in the SNES library, but one that seemingly only shmup fans remember, is U.N. Squadron. Initially released in arcades as Area 88, Capcom would bring the popular scrolling shooter stateside as U.N. Squadron just in time for the SNES’ North American launch, making it one of the few shooting games available on the console right out of the gate. While other 4th-gen consoles got plenty of vertically-scrolling shmups (especially NEC’s PC Engine and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive), the SNES was primarily home to a host of incredible horizontally-scrolling shooters, and U.N. Squadron remains one of the best. Part of what makes this game so unique is the slight RPG elements, such as a monetary system that allows you to purchase better planes after accruing enough cash and a gradually improving shot that carries over from one aircraft to the next.

Ys III: Wanderers From Ys

• Release Date — June 21, 1991
• Developer — Nihon Falcom
• Publisher — Nihon Falcom
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 64% (Mixed or Average)

Despite the fact that the SNES version of Ys III is arguably vastly inferior to the many other versions (specifically, the excellent PC Engine CD release from just a few months prior), it’s still a noteworthy release in the console’s library for being the only Ys game on the system to receive a Western localization. And, even though Ys III is a weird outlier in the classic Ys games thanks to its place as a side-scrolling game with real-time combat versus the classic overhead perspective and “bump” combat system, it’s a great and breezy action RPG that more than held its own in the SNES’ early crop of titles. The SNES certainly wasn’t hurting for action RPGs, with many of the genre’s most legendary titles included in the console’s library. But even stacked up against those more noteworthy games, Ys III is still a fun and worthwhile adventure.

Xardion

• Release Date — March 20, 1992
• Developer — Jorudan
• Publisher — Asmik
• Genre — Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 53% (Mixed or Average)

The first few months of the SNES’ lifespan were positively jam-packed with one legendary release after another (for evidence, just look at the console’s launch library), but that flood of titles soon gave way to a bit of a drought before the next crop of hits arrived. During the slower beginning months of 1992, one title that was mostly critically panned but much-loved by those of us who happened to pick it up at our local video rental store was Jorudan’s Xardion.

A side-scrolling action platformer in which players get to control not one, but three transforming mechs, Xardion is a wild ride that deserves a lot more recognition. While its controls are admittedly a little stiff and the game eventually loses most of its challenge once you level up all three mechs enough, Xardion has some inventive and off-the-wall enemy and level designs and a soundtrack that’s better than it has any right to be.

Soul Blazer

• Release Date — January 31, 1992
• Developer — Quintet
• Publisher — Enix
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

Putting ActRaiser on a list of underrated SNES games seems silly given how almost universally appreciated Quintet and Enix’s RPG/city-builder hybrid is (both at the time of its release and now). But that game’s spiritual successor, and one that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition for how ahead of its time it was, is the excellent Soul Blazer. Soul Blazer maintains many of the elements that made ActRaiser great (specifically, a unique combination of genres and some air-tight real-time combat segments), but it also does enough new things to help it stand out as a definitive step forward. The game often gets lumped into being part of Quintet’s “Gaia” saga (The Legend of Gaia and Terranigma), but it’s actually a sort of prequel to ActRaiser, and playing it for just a few minutes readily illustrates the shared DNA between the two games.

Phalanx

• Release Date — August 7, 1992
• Developer — Kemco
• Publisher — Kemco
• Genre — Scrolling Shooter/Shoot ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 56% (Mixed or Average)

Putting aside the bonkers North American box art that does it no favors, Phalanx is an excellent horizontally scrolling shmup that deserves a bit more recognition. Sure, there are plenty of shooting game fans who are already well aware of Pahalanx and will regularly tout it as being one of the best shmups on the SNES, but general audiences mostly seemed to avoid Phalanx. Again, for a clue as to why, just look at the game’s bizarre cover. Regardless, Phalanx is a truly challenging and worthwhile scrolling shooter that has some of the best visuals for the genre (especially on the SNES), as well as a ridiculously challenging mode players can unlock through a cheat code.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

• Release Date — October 5, 1992
• Developer — Square
• Publisher — Square
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 67% (Mixed or Average)

As the story goes, Square received several complaints from Western players about the difficulty of both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV (which was released in the West on the SNES as Final Fantasy II), prompting them to develop a new role-playing game specifically aimed toward an American audience. That game is none other than Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, which among die-hard series fans has the unfavorable reputation of being the worst game in the series. Going back and replaying Mystic Quest is actually a bit of an enlightening experience, though, as the title has quite a bit going for it in terms of its charm, pacing, lighthearted story, and absolute banger of a soundtrack. Yes, it’s incredibly simple and holds players’ hands throughout the entire experience, but italso surprisingly shares a lot in common with Final Fantasy Adventure, the first game in the Seiken Densetsu/Mana series.

Super Valis IV

• Release Date — March 27, 1992
• Developer — Laser Soft
• Publisher — Telenet Japan (JP), Atlus (NA)
• Genre — Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 61% (Mixed or Average)

Out of the small handful of games that made their way from the PC Engine to the SNES, among the best is Laser Soft’s Super Valis IV. A fairly long-running series of hack-and-slash action platformers that saw considerable success on the PC Engine, the sole entry in the Valis series to make its way to the Super Nintendo was, for the most part, largely ignored by players and panned by critics. But going back and playing the game today shows it to be a very competent and great-looking side-scroller on par with some of the SNES’ best. That said, Super Valis IV does demand a lot from players in terms of its challenge, with a unique take on lives and continues where players can infinitely continue but only have one life to use in each stage, requiring almost perfect level memorization and pattern recognition.

Inindo: Way of the Ninja

• Release Date — March 19, 1992
• Developer — Koei
• Publisher — Koei
• Genre — RPG, Strategy
• Review Aggregate Score — N/A

The SNES was host to a plethora of incredible RPG experiences, with seminal entries in the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Fire Emblem series in its catalog. One of the lesser-known turn-based RPGs on the console, though, is Koei’s Inindo: Way of the Ninja, which is way too good of a game to go as ignored and overlooked as it has by most players. Inindo is one of the few historical RPGs, transporting players back to 16th-century Japan during the rise of Oda Nobunaga. As the sole surviving member of the Iga clan, you must venture out into the Japanese countryside, gather allies and territory, and make sure to seek revenge on Nobunaga before it’s too late.

The game actually incorporates a unique approach to its main quest where players have a set time window with which to exact their revenge, putting a ticking clock on how much time can be spent preparing. There’s also a unique land acquisition system that mixes large-scale strategy into a turn-based RPG many years before Suikoden would do something similar. Inindo is an overlooked RPG ahead of its time with a unique setting that fans of the genre should revisit.

Cybernator

• Release Date — December 18, 1992
• Developer — NCS Corp
• Publisher — Masaya (JP), Konami (NA)
• Genre — Run n’ Gun, Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)

Cybernator might be slightly more well-known than some of the other games on this list, but its quality places it as one of the best side-scrolling run-n’ gun games on the SNES that should have been more successful than it was. Originally known as Assault Suits Valken, Cybernator is the second game in the Valken series of side-scrolling mecha shooters, and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to other contemporary titles. Movement in Cybernator is surprisingly fluid considering you’re piloting a giant bipedal robot, and the game’s implementation of traditional Japanese shooting game design into a side-scrolling action platformer made it unique within the genre. Together with some incredible visuals, a great soundtrack, and a surprisingly prescient narrative about a near future in which fossil fuels are incredibly scarce, Cybernator was well ahead of its time and arguably one of the best games on the SNES.

Batman Returns

• Release Date — February 26, 1993
• Developer — Konami
• Publisher — Konami
• Genre — Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)

One of the more overlooked beat ’em ups on the SNES is Konami’s excellent Batman Returns, a tie-in game with the 1992 sequel to Tim Burton’s Batman. There was no shortage of licensed games for Batman Returns, but this underrated SNES classic is arguably the best, sitting right alongside other classic Konami beat ’em up games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. One reason the title might have gotten mostly overlooked at the time of its release is due to the general lack of quality in most licensed games. But like the NES Batman, Batman Returns is one of the few quality licensed games on the SNES and also one of its more visceral and satisfying beat ’em ups, with a substantial challenge to boot.

Pocky & Rocky

• Release Date — June 12, 1993
• Developer — Natsume
• Publisher — Natsume
• Genre — Scrolling Shooter/Shoot ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)

For shooting game fans, the Pocky & Rocky titles are beloved classics. For the average gamer, though, Pocky & Rocky and its sequel were largely overlooked despite their charming visuals, accessible challenge, and unique approach to the shmup genre. While most other shooters are either vertically or horizontally scrolling, Pocky & Rocky is both, allowing players to freely navigate its stages thanks to its overhead perspective and the protagonists’ ability to move in eight directions. Additionally, the mix of needing to use both close-range and long-range attacks against different enemy types gives Pocky & Rocky a nice layer of strategy and challenge that makes it more than just another “cute ’em up.”

Rock n’ Roll Racing

• Release Date — June 4, 1993
• Developer — Silicon & Synapse
• Publisher — Namco (JP), Interplay (NA)
• Genre — Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)

Silicon & Synapse’s Rock n’ Roll Racing is one of many titles the developer would produce for the SNES before going on to rebrand to the company we know them as today, Blizzard Entertainment, and the title’s quality speaks to the future greatness that Blizzard would achieve. At its core, Rock n’ Roll Racing is a sort of 16-bit take on classics like RC Pro-Am, with its isometric perspective and emphasis on maneuverability and physics over pure speed. But what helps set Rock n’ Roll Racing apart from every other racing game on the SNES is its incredible soundtrack (which features a surprising array of licensed tunes from Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf, and others) and undeniably cool aesthetic. Though it didn’t reach considerable commercial success, the title is generally understood as one of the SNES’ many cult classics.

Operation Logic Bomb

• Release Date — April 23, 1993
• Developer — Jaleco
• Publisher — Jaleco
• Genre — Action, Run n’ Gun
• Review Aggregate Score — 67% (Mixed or Average)

Konami’s Contra III and Beam Software’s Super Smash TV were pretty sizable hits in the SNES library, but what about a game that combines elements of both titles into a similarly satisfying shooter? That title is Operation Logic Bomb, and despite its rock-solid premise and gameplay, it went largely overlooked in favor of the games it clearly borrowed from. A top-down shooter with a “search and destroy” premise (where players wander through intricate levels and take down enemies while searching for a specific end goal), Operation Logic Bomb plays a lot like both Smash TV or the top-down levels in Contra III, but its more accessible challenge and fast-paced gunplay make it a great run n’ gun experience that stands on its own.

Alien vs. Predator

• Release Date — January 8, 1993
• Developer — Jorudan
• Publisher — IGS (JP), Activision (NA)
• Genre — Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 47% (Generally Unfavorable)

Not to be confused with the excellent Capcom beat ’em up of the same name, the SNES’ Alien vs. Predator is a game that was largely panned by critics at the time of its release. However, time has been kind to this 1993 cult classic, as going back and playing it today shows it to be a fairly serviceable beat ’em up with some great sprite work and a killer soundtrack despite its obvious flaws. Getting to play as the Predator comes with all the bells and whistles you’d expect given his arsenal in the movies (including the iconic shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and cloaking system), and many of the enemy and boss designs get really inventive with their imagining of hybrids between the Xenomorph and various wildlife. It’s fairly difficult in parts and has some jank, but Alien vs. Predator is not without its charm.

Skyblazer

• Release Date — February 18, 1994
• Developer — Ukiyotei
• Publisher — Sony
• Genre — Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)

Ukiyotei’s Skyblazer is one of the more unique side-scrolling action platformers of the 16-bit era. While its gameplay is fairly standard and what one would expect to find from any number of titles following in the footsteps of Capcom’s Strider,Skyblazer sets itself apart thanks to its unique premise and setting. The title’s use of Hindu deities and mythological figures places Skyblazer as one of the few games to dabble in Southwest Asian culture on the SNES, and its gameplay is equally as inventive. In between the game’s side-scrolling stages, players get to tackle head-on segments using the SNES Mode 7 chipset that resemble Sega’s Space Harrier as they collect crystals to earn more lives. Despite these high points, though, Skyblazer remains a hidden gem in the SNES library that many players don’t even know exists.

Hagane: The Final Conflict

• Release Date — November 18, 1994
• Developer — CAProduction, Red Entertainment
• Publisher — Hudson
• Genre — Action Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)

There’s no shortage of “ninja with a sword” games between both the NES and SNES game libraries, but to overlook Hagane just because it fits that description would be doing yourself a major disservice. Coming to the SNES from the incredibly talented team at Hudson Soft, Hagane: The Final Conflict is one of the best-looking side-scrolling hack-and-slash games on the console, and maybe of the 4th generation as a whole.

The game’s top-notch presentation should come as no surprise considering its developers (Red Entertainment, who at the time of Hagane‘s release had already worked on several noteworthy PC Engine and PC Engine CD titles), but Hagane is more than its sharp visuals. Hagane features a fair challenge that places it in line with contemporaries like Shinobi III, and despite being deserving of the same level of recognition as games in that series and Ninja Gaiden, it remains a hidden gem in the SNES library.

The Ninja Warriors

• Release Date — January 28, 1994
• Developer — Natsume
• Publisher — Taito
• Genre — Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 79% (Generally Favorable)

Natsume’s The Ninja Warriors (or, simply Ninjawarriors depending on where you look) is yet another of the SNES’ great beat ’em ups that was largely overshadowed by higher profile games like Capcom’s Final Fight titles. But the players who overlooked The Ninja Warriors ultimately missed out, as the title is perhaps one of the better beat ’em ups on the SNES. Unlike most of its contemporaries, The Ninja Warriors is not an arcade conversion but instead a game developed specifically for the SNES, which shows in its visuals, soundtrack, and gameplay. While arcade conversions need to make certain concessions to run well on the Super Nintendo, Ninja Warriors being developed specifically for the hardware gives it a noticeable boost to its performance and presentation that’s only enhanced by its three distinct characters and satisfying beat ’em up gameplay.

Knights of the Round

• Release Date — April 1, 1994
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Action RPG, Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 64% (Mixed or Average)

Capcom had no shortage of great beat ’em-up games on the SNES. But for every best-selling classic like Final Fight, there were several smaller arcade conversions that players would mostly gloss over. One of the best is Knights of the Round, which carries over a lot of the mechanics established in another Capcom beat ’em up series, the Dungeons & Dragons games released in arcades: Tower of Doom and Shadow of Mystara. More than just a typical side-scroller in which you punch bad guys while moving from left to right, Knights of the Round incorporates some light RPG elements through its character progression, and its unique steampunk take on the Arthurian legend gives the title a cool atmosphere that sets it apart from other games using the same setting.

Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen

• Release Date — March 12, 1993
• Developer — Quest
• Publisher — Quest (JP), Enix (NA)
• Genre — TRPG/SRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)

While the series would go on to achieve more success and recognition with its spiritual successor Tactics Ogre (which, coincidentally, was also released on the Super Famicom in Japan), Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen is one of the best RPGs on the SNES that almost no one played outside TRPG enthusiasts. What sets Ogre Battle apart from most other RPGs of the era is its place as a turn-based tactical RPG with strategy elements, aligning more closely with the Simulation RPG/SRPG subgenre than a true tactics experience like its follow-up. But going back and playing Ogre Battle today shows just how far ahead of its time it was, especially when stacked up against modern TRPG/SRPG hits like Unicorn Overlord.

Ogre Battle sees you control not single soldiers but instead entire units as you navigate an overworld map, battle enemy units, and liberate territory while progressing through the game’s story. It’s a unique blend of real-time strategy and turn-based RPG battling that is incredibly satisfying to play, and while it’s widely recognized now as one of the most important RPGs on the SNES, it was largely overlooked by players at the time of its release, which was just a few short years before Final Fantasy VII would bring JRPGs into the mainstream.

Terranigma

• Release Date — October 20, 1995
• Developer — Quintet
• Publisher — Enix (JP), Nintendo (PAL)
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 74% (Mixed or Average)

The final game in Quintet and Enix’s “Gaia” saga (which includes The Legend of Gaia and, loosely, ActRaiser and Soul Blazer) Terranigma is perhaps the best action RPG on the SNES that no one has played. A large reason for it going mostly overlooked by North American players is due to it never receiving an official NTSC version, with the title being relegated to Japan and PAL regions. Thanks to the emulation community, though, a ROM of Terranigma has been widely available for roughly 20 years, giving American audiences their first chance to experience what is one of the more profound and mechanically satisfying action RPGs ever made.

It’s not a stretch to say that Terranigma stands shoulder-to-shoulder with games like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana as one of the best role-playing experiences on the SNES, and it’s not hard to imagine the title sharing those classics’ accolades had it ever received a North American release.