List of Crap #107: Countdown to the Top 50ish Console Games of the 16-Bit Era!

[Russoguru]

Contra 3 The Alien wars is a great game. Hard as hell, but my favorite in the series is still the original Contra on the NES.

[Johnny Unusual]

Ah, Street Fighter 2.  Amazing soundtrack, fun colourful characters, just an all-around good fighting game.  Capcom sure-as-heck is great at them, from the Marvel Vs. Capcom series to lesser known stuff like the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure fighting game.  Did they ever make a full-on Megaman fighting game?  Seems like an obvious choice for their flagship character.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/TqKwmfHq4iw" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/TqKwmfHq4iw</a>

[Russoguru]

yeah but in that version you can't play as Balrog, Vega, Sagat or M. Bison. I'll take pretty much any other version of Street Fighter 2 instead.

[Pastor of Muppets]

yeah but in that version you can't play as Balrog, Vega, Sagat or M. Bison. I'll take pretty much any other version of Street Fighter 2 instead.

When we were kids, my brothers and I had a fun nickname for Sagat, based on his name.  You see, Sagat always got distracted when he tried to eat cereal and waited too long after pouring on the milk.  So we just called him "Soggy".

[Pastor of Muppets]

#23

Street Fighter II

System: Super Nintendo, Genesis

46 Points

2 of 11 Lists.  Highest Rank: #4 Johnny Unusual

Year of Release:1991

Details

Street Fighter II is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in 1991. It is the second entry in the Street Fighter series and the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in 1987. It is Capcom's fourteenth title that runs on the CP System arcade hardware. Street Fighter II improves upon the many concepts introduced in the first game, including the use of command-based special moves and a six-button configuration, while offering players a selection of multiple playable characters, each with their own unique fighting style, and introducing a combo system and competitive multiplayer combat between two players.
The success of Street Fighter II is credited with starting the fighting-game boom during the 1990s which inspired other game developers to produce their own fighting-game franchises, popularizing the genre, and setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s. The game is widely considered among critics to be one of the greatest fighting games as well as one of the greatest video games of all time. It was then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System platform, for which it became a long-lasting system-seller. Its success led to a subseries of updated versions (see below), each offering additional features and characters over previous versions, as well as several home versions.
By 1994, the game had been played by at least 25 million people in the United States, at home and in arcades. The video game console ports sold more than 14 million copies worldwide; the Super NES port of the original game sold 6.3 million units, making it Capcom's best-selling single consumer game software until 2013 (when it was surpassed by Resident Evil 5) and remaining their best-selling game software on a single platform through to the present day. Adjusted for inflation, all versions of Street Fighter II are estimated to have exceeded $10 billion in gross revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing video games of all time.

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/GPP_RcMdqW4" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/GPP_RcMdqW4</a>

Personal Thoughts

I was really into fighting games in the 90s.  Not so much any more.  So of course I owned this one.  It was against the law to be a boy in the early 1990s without playing this game.  I remember when I found out you got special character specific endings when you beat the game on the highest difficulty, I put in some Game Genie code that let you hit your opponent from across the screen.  Computer opponents never blocked from that far away, so victory was easy.

[Pastor of Muppets]

Stethcantus informed me of a mistake he made on his list, so Contra's position has been adjusted.  You will all have a little deja vu soon.

[Pastor of Muppets]

#22

Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition / Turbo

System: Super Nintendo, Genesis

Some people had Turbo on their list, some had Champion.  We discussed this during the submission period, and I grouped these together since they had the same set of playable characters.  They're basically the same game.

46 Points

3 of 11 Lists.  Highest Rank: #2 PsychoGoatee

Year of Release: 1992

Details

Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition is a competitive fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in 1992. It was the first of several updated versions of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, part of the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games. The main changes were the addition of the Grand Masters (the final four computer-controlled opponents in the single-player mode) as playable characters and mirror matches (vs. matches using the same character). The fighting techniques of the eight main characters from the original game were also further refined to allow for more-balanced competitive play.

Champion Edition was followed by Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, released several months later.

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/c6aFXUs_7Bg" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/c6aFXUs_7Bg</a>

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/otPC3_bL-4Y" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/otPC3_bL-4Y</a>

Personal Thoughts

I know that I owned Turbo, and was pretty psyched to be able to play as M. Bison.  I think I owned Champion edition, but I can't remember.  I do remember that Turbo was not that fast unless you put in a special code.

[PsychoGoatee]

Gotta love Street Fighter II, and for sure the 90s (and early 2000s a bit) were great times for 2D fighting games. Capcom and SNK delivering the goods many a time. Street Fighter II Championship Edition was my jam as a lad.

[Pastor of Muppets]

#21

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

System: Super Nintendo

47 Points

3 of 11 Lists.  Highest Rank: #1 Quirk

Year of Release:1995

Details

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is an adventure platform video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was first released on 20 November 1995 in North America, 21 November 1995 in Japan and on 14 December 1995 in Europe. It is the second installment of the Donkey Kong Country series and serves as a direct sequel to Donkey Kong Country. It was also re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004. The game was made available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, and for the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2015. It was followed by a sequel, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! in 1996.
The story revolves around Diddy Kong and his girlfriend, Dixie Kong, who try to rescue Donkey Kong after he is abducted by King K. Rool. The game is set on "Crocodile Isle", in which there are eight worlds of varying environments, totalling to 52 levels. The game utilises the same Silicon Graphics technology from the original, which features the use of pre-rendered 3D imagery. Diddy's Kong Quest received critical acclaim, being widely regarded as one of the greatest 2D platformers ever made. Praise was directed at its graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack. It was the second best selling game of 1995 and the sixth best-selling game on the SNES.

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/TZC3g-6R3a0" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/TZC3g-6R3a0</a>

Personal Thoughts

I've only played the first game.  I've meant to get to the other two, but never did.  They all look pretty similar.

[Russoguru]

I really like Diddy's Kong Quest... but the only thing that holds it back for me is the ridiculous difficulty level. The level where you have to hang onto a parrot for a ride to the top of a mine shaft made me want to scream. Then there's that ONE level where you have to play as all the animals and from what I've heard, it's hard as shit.

[Pastor of Muppets]

OK.... now we're back....

#20

Contra 3: The Alien Wars

System:Super Nintendo

48 Points

4 of 11 Lists.  Highest Rank: #8 CJones

Year of Release:1992

Details

Contra 3: The Alien Wars is a 1992 run and gun video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System developed and published by Konami. It is the third console iteration of the Contra series, following the original Contra (1987) and Super C (1988) for the NES. Nintendo re-released Contra III: The Alien Wars in the United States in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition.

Set in the futuristic year 2636, the alien invaders that were defeated during the previous installments have decided to launch a full-scale war against mankind on Earth, starting the "Alien Wars". Unlike the previous Contra games for the NES and Game Boy, the futuristic setting was kept for the American version. However, the identities of "Bill" and "Lance", the original Contra heroes, were changed to their descendants "Jimbo" and "Sully", maintaining the continuity of the previous localizations. Likewise, the alien invader was once again changed to "Red Falcon".

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/jHr_oCdasM0" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/jHr_oCdasM0</a>

Personal Thoughts

The Contra games are pretty good, but the only one I ever played with any regularity was the original Contra, which I'm pretty good at.  I can beat it easily without the Konami code, and can even beat it on one life.

[Pastor of Muppets]

That's either 4 or 5 or 6 or pi or whatever.  Anyway that's all for tonight.

[PsychoGoatee]

I dig what I've played of Contra 3, cool stuff. It's funny that even the arcade version of Contra won't let you just keep putting in quarters to beat it, that series is hardcore.

[Russoguru]

Anyone here heard Vomitron's interpretation of the music from the original Contra? Because it is super bad-ass.

[Pastor of Muppets]

#19

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

System: Genesis

50 Points

4 of 11 Lists.  Highest Rank: #5 PsychoGoatee

Year of Release: 1992

Details

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a platform video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. It was released worldwide in November 1992. The game is the second main entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In the game, protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower must stop series antagonist Dr. Ivo Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg.

The game features a new type of bonus stage, as well as the premiere of Super Sonic.  Checkpoint posts are placed throughout each level.  If a player passes the post with 50 or more rings, a circle of stars appears above the post.  If the player jumps into that circle, he is sent to the special stage.

Special stages take place within a half pipe and are divided into 3 sections.  Each section is filled with a combination of rings and spikes.  If a player hits spikes, he loses rings.  Each section has a minimum required number of rings.  If you meet or exceed the requirement, you go to the next section.  If you don't, the special stage ends.  After completing 3 sections, the player gets a Chaos Emerald. 

After collecting all 7 Chaos Emeralds, the player unlocks Super Sonic.  After collecting 50 or more rings, Sonic can transform into Super Sonic.  This gives Sonic super speed and invincibility, although Sonic is still subject to drowning, crushing, and falling.  Sonic gradually loses rings, and after running out, returns to normal mode.

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/IM5gOCUUqoo" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/IM5gOCUUqoo</a>

<a href="https://youtube.com/v/5YZR20bqLwg" target="_blank" class="new_win">https://youtube.com/v/5YZR20bqLwg</a>

Personal Thoughts

Loved this game.  Loved the whole 16 bit Sonic series.  I owned this, played it extensively back then.  I could never unlock Super Sonic back in the 90s, but I pulled it off on Sonic Mega Collection years later.  I used some of the cheat codes to play as Super Sonic though.