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[EightBit Man]

While the Super NES was mostly the home of beloved Japanese titles, there were also quite a number of great Western-developed titles released on the platform. Nintendo itself, at least it's Japanese division, wasn't very keen on Western games according to a alleged conversation between Nintendo of America's Tony Harman and Hiroshi Yamauchi in the book Console Wars by Blake J. Harris. According to it, it was said that "only the Japanese could make good games". If it wasn't for Tony Harman's persistence convincing otherwise, Star Fox never would've seen the light of day.

I've played plenty of Western games on the system to know that this was nonsense, and ultimately racist on Nintendo's behalf.

Here are some of the solid Western titles I used to own back in the day:

(Alien 3, Probe Software and Spearsoft, 1993)

(Flashback, Delphine Software International, 1993)

(Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures, Factor 5, 1994)

(Jurassic Park, Ocean, 1993)

(Mickey Mania, Travellers Tales, 1994)

(Phantom 2040, Viacom New Media, 1995)

(Pierre le Chef is... Out to Lunch, Mindscape, 1993)

(The Ren & Stimpy Show: Time Warp, Sculptured Software, 1994)

(RoboCop versus The Terminator, Interplay, 1993)

(Spider-Man / X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, Software Creations, 1992)

(Super Star Wars, Sculptured Software, 1992)

(Super SWIV, The Sales Curve, 1992)

(Super Turrican, Factor 5, 1993)

(Syndicate, Bullfrog Productions, 1994)

(The Lawnmower Man, The Sales Curve, 1993)

(Total Carnage, Black Pearl Software, 1993)

(T2: The Arcade Game, Probe Software, 1993)


And last, but not least...

(Earthworm Jim, Shiny Entertainment, 1994)


There's also plenty of games I wish I bought back in the day, like Virgin's Cool Spot, Beam Software's Shadowrun, and Blizzard's Blackthorne. Probe's Judge Dredd also looked quite great in magazines. Used to borrow a friend's copy of Plok sometimes. Good times.

What are your favorites? Which ones did you unfortunately miss out on, or regret you didn't buy?

 

[Ulysses 31]

You didn't own Donkey Kong Country 1&2?

 

[EightBit Man]

You didn't own Donkey Kong Country 1&2?

Of course!

 

[Afro Republican]

Considering most SNES players outside japan had more western games than japanese games this thread views things from a japanese fan rose glass instead of actual reality. There's been a consistent myth usually by jp fans of Japanese dominating software WW on major gaming consoles(outside nintendo consoles.)

When we can look at NPDs for the some of these systems and see that's not the case. The SNES had a good balance but NIntendo never was really that popular with western devs so it's always slanted on their consoles, N64 was likely their best ratio between western and JP devs.

 

[Birdo]

Rock And Roll Racing (1993, Bilzzard Entertainment)

 

[Nightrunner]

Out of This World - A beautiful cinematic platformer that went on to inspire the likes of Fumito Ueda, Hideo Kojima and Suda51. Very interesting, minimalistic storytelling. The SNES port is not the best but still very decent.

Super Turrican (Factor5) A really good run and gun/ shoot em platformer.

The Lost Vikings - A really decent puzzle platformer developed by Blizzard.

Blackthorne - Another Blizzard game. This one's a really atmospheric cinematic platformer that plays as a 2d cover shooter kinda like Rolling Thunder crossed with Flashback set in a world very reminiscent of Warcraft.

Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues - Decent little action game that has an interesting (also kinda annoying) ammo system and a few good set pieces. Well worth the short playthrough if you're okay with a game that simply delivers using an established formula.

 

[sunnysideup]

Blackthorne
super turrican 1 and 2
rendering ranger
street racer

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

SNES version of SimCity and Disney's Aladdin are both top-quality western releases.

EDIT: oops, I was thinking of the Genesis version by Virgin Interactive

 

[EightBit Man]

Out of This World - A beautiful cinematic platformer that went on to inspire the likes of Fumito Ueda, Hideo Kojima and Suda51. Very interesting, minimalistic storytelling. The SNES port is not the best but still very decent.

I used to rent the game, didn't understand it, but man...I was quite impressed by it's visual presentation (wasn't familiar with the other versions at the time). Ignorance can be bliss. There's also more music in this version of the game, which I missed when I played the Amiga version.

 

[Birdo]

Prince of Persia (1992. Arsys Software). Probably the best looking port of the classic.

 

[Nightrunner]

I used to rent the game, didn't understand it, but man...I was quite impressed by it's visual presentation (wasn't familiar with the other versions at the time). Ignorance can be bliss. There's also more music in this version of the game, which I missed when I played the Amiga version.

This and Heart of Darkness for the PSX were developed by the same guy in case you're interested in this specific subgenre.

 

[Nightrunner]

Prince of Persia (1992. Arsys Software). Probably the best looking port of the classic.

Isn't that technically a Japanese developed game since Arsys did the port/reworking?

 

[EightBit Man]

This and Heart of Darkness for the PSX were developed by the same guy in case you're interested in this specific subgenre.

That's right. It was one of the PlayStation titles I looked forward to at the time because I saw a spiritual sequel in it. It was a long wait, but ultimately worth it I think.

 

[Birdo]

Isn't that technically a Japanese developed game since Arsys did the port/reworking?

Hmm. Good point. Although it was designed by westerners.

On a side note, Arsys was three people. Kind of crazy when you look how big devs are these days

 

[Nightrunner]

Hmm. Good point. Although it was designed by westerners.

Yeah I was just wondering if it was reworked enough by the devs (gfx overhaul, new levels, training stages and such) that it could be considered a Japanese developed remake of a Western classic.

 

[Stefan.North]

ZAMN
Smash TV
Death and Return of Superman
Mortal Kombat games
NBA Jam games
Lion King

Plus most of already mentioned.

 

[EightBit Man]

This is also a pretty decent action-platformer. Smooth movement and animation, multiple power-ups, secrets, etc. By none other than...

 

[Birdo]

Plok (1993. Acclaim Studios Manchester)

Fun fact: When seeing early footage, Miyamoto was interested in working on this game, but he had his hands full with Yoshi's Island at the time.

 

[V2Tommy]

Secret of Evermore, Donkey Kong Country 1.

 

[EightBit Man]

Plok (1993. Acclaim Studios Manchester)

Fun fact: Miyamoto was interested in working on this game, but he had his hands full with Yoshi's Island at the time.

It's very easy to be fooled by the cutesy graphics; the game can be pretty darn difficult. The soundtrack is also excellent, composed by the great Tim Follin.

 

[EightBit Man]

This game is also severely underrated, even though it had plenty of coverage in magazines at the time, as well as positive reviews.




The game has a truly exceptional soundtrack, one of the very best in my opinion.

 

[KOMANI]

?

 

[hunthunt]

Donkey Kong Country 2, the best graphics that the console could produce, inspired level design, and a perfctly well balanced gameplay and difficulty curve.

An overall unforgetfable exprerience, i still think in this game when a funfair visits my town.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Wow, that goes far back...... trying to think of my fav non-Japanese games......

Mario. Nope.

Konami stuff. Nope.

Capcom stuff. Nope.

Aerobiz Supersonic. Nope.

I guess 100% of my fave SNES games are from Japanese companies.

 

[Soltype]

Not one mention of Bill Laimbeers Combat Basketball, smh, also Alien 3 was better on Genesis.

 

[EightBit Man]

Alien 3 was better on Genesis.

I played the SEGA game plenty back in the day too, and I liked it quite a lot, but I respectfully disagree. Well, I guess it depends on what you want from such a game...does one want it to be more action-orientated fulfilling the same objective stage after stage, or does one prefer a more exploratory game with different kind of objectives?

Offtopic, my favorite Alien 3 game is the arcade game by SEGA by the way. lol

 

[bronk]

Does Shadowrun count? It's one of my favorite games on the system along with one of my favorite soundtracks.

 

[EightBit Man]

Does Shadowrun count? It's one of my favorite games on the system along with one of my favorite soundtracks.

Of course. It was made by the great Australian developer Beam Software. Definitely one of the great Super NES RPGs I wish I would've bought. I like that they implemented a click and point aspect into the game.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

?

I didn't know Death Stranding had a SNES port.

 

[Shifty1897]

Secret of Evermore, the best JRPG a Western team ever made.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Zombies Ate My Neighbors hands down.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

Super Empire Strikes Back is probably my favorite SNES game

 

[TheGreatYosh]

 

[cireza]

Overall I find that the MegaDrive had the better support from the West. I prefer the MegaDrive version of these games as well.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Secret of Evermore, the best JRPG a Western team ever made.

Great game! You guys remember that creepypasta-ish theory about the game being written by a dude that wrote a "read and go mad" real life eldritch horror about children and shit? It's total bullshit, but it nails the best part about Evermore and that's how strangely creepy it is. I wish more games had that fever dream atmosphere.

 

[Hendrick's]

Wizards & Warriors was my favorite NES game.

*Edit, Missed the SNES part of the OP.

 

[DGrayson]

(Spider-Man / X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, Software Creations, 1992)

Fuck this game.

 

[GymWolf]

Are the guys behing donald duck in maui mallard western devs?

 

[iconmaster]

You didn't own Donkey Kong Country 1&2?

/thread

Nah, it's a good thread idea. Keep it going.

 

[Pejo]

This is also a pretty decent action-platformer. Smooth movement and animation, multiple power-ups, secrets, etc. By none other than...

It's amazing that in the 90s people flocked to games like this. In today's age, even for kids, this would be a meme game.

Also, it's interesting that a lot of the western developed games in the OP were movie/tv tie-ins. Maybe that's the only way they'd get approved before games proved themselves as a viable revenue model.

For my pick, I loved Clay Fighter. I remember getting a Nintendo Power and reading about how they made the models and scanned them into the game, similar to how Mortal Kombat was doing its characters, except, well, clay of course.

 

[PooBone]

Just wanted to say that none of the games in the OP hold up at all. Donkey Kong Country was developed in the UK which should qualify it. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything else though I'm sure I played some.... at some point.... right?

 

[EightBit Man]

Just played this game again, after many years of having not:

I actually purchased this game when it was for sale, but returned (swapped) it as I was pretty much done with side-scrolling beat 'm ups at that point. Can't remember what I got instead. Either way, I do remember that I used the level select cheat from one of the gaming mags to preview some of the stages. It is a fairly difficult game as expected by the developers of the Battletoads games; you have to remember a lot to make it through the levels. But, I do like it today. There's quite a lot of variety in moves as well that need to be utilized to pass a certain part, often dictated by the current situation the players finds himself in; for instance having to raise your legs to avoid getting hit.

The enemies consist of baddies from the two respective franchises, and there are lots of familiar parts that resemble that as well; take the speeding bike section from Battletoads for example (luckily not as maddeningly difficult). One complaint I have may be the somewhat dull backgrounds in the game.

This was just before RARE became a second-party of Nintendo as well, and you can hear that distinct David Wise-sound in the soundtrack, especially in this track.

Overall, a fairly excellent game. 8/10

 

[TacosNSalsa]

Ii remember Mortal Kombat II being a very good port on SNES after the terrible first one. Killer Instinct was also very good (Rare is western right?)

 

[EightBit Man]

Are the guys behing donald duck in maui mallard western devs?

Yep, the Super NES version was developed by Eurocom (the other ones by Disney Interactive).

 

[EightBit Man]

Ii remember Mortal Kombat II being a very good port on SNES after the terrible first one. Killer Instinct was also very good (Rare is western right?)

I thought the Super NES version of Mortal Kombat looked great, but didn't feel that way. The SEGA version is indeed superior when it comes to control, and of course, content. I thought the Super NES version of Mortal Kombat II was the best on the Super NES instead. That was until I got the PC version later on.

And yeah, Killer Instinct was a very impressive, and "impossible" conversion of one of my favorite arcade games of all-time. Used to wind up my best friend after using Ultra combos, and he got so annoyed by my bragging that we didn't see each other...for a whole week. lol

And man, that Killer Cuts CD that was included, as well as the black cartridge. I believe it was the most-expensive Super NES game at the time, at least here in Europe.

 

[EightBit Man]

This was probably the first tennis game I really enjoyed playing, as I wasn't really good at Super Tennis:

I rented a US copy back in the day. The game was never released in Europe unfortunately.

 

[Ceallach]

Rare's SNES stuff was top notch. Most of the highs have been hit.

 

[Fat Frog]

Offtopic, my favorite Alien 3 game is the arcade game by SEGA by the way. lol

Offtopic, my favorite Alien game is the Alien Isolation by SEGA by the way. lol
I wish their new immersive FPS is the real in-house Alien 2.

And Lost Vikings on the snes wasn't decent, it was excellent.

 

[molasar]

I wish their new immersive FPS is the real in-house Alien 2.

I believe SEGA does not have the Alien(s) licence anymore, but let's hope that Cold Iron Studios' upcoming Alien(s) MMO FPS is so promising like Predator: Hunting Grounds at least.

 

[Kindjal]

Donkey Kong Country 2, the best graphics that the console could produce, inspired level design, and a perfctly well balanced gameplay and difficulty curve.

An overall unforgetfable exprerience, i still think in this game when a funfair visits my town.

What funfair? Divertilandia en el estero?