[suigintou]

SNES. It's possibly the only console ever that managed to be a master in every genre applicable to it. Platformers, RPGs, scrolling shoot-em-ups, adventure, etc.

Platformers: Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Kirby Super Star, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Mega Man X, Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, Super Castlevania IV, Super Return of the Jedi

RPGs: Final Fantasy 6 (3), Secret of Mana, EarthBound, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Chrono Trigger, Illusion of Gaia, Secret of Evermore, Breath of Fire II.

Action-Adventures: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid.

Fighters: Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (best version), Killer Instinct, Ultimate Mortal Kombat III.

Scroling Shoot-em-ups: Gradius III, Axelay, R-Type III, Super R-Type, Smash TV.

Other stuff that doesn't warrant a genre grouping: Kirby's Dream Course, Star Fox, Super Mario Kart, SimCity, Super Bomberman 2.


...and more, of course. This is just an attempt at a small list of favorites that I have on the SNES. It's clearly a beast when it comes to great games.

I noticed a lot of people in this thread naming the N64. Strangely, I was never able to love that console as much as other people. Sure, it's got the 3D Zeldas and a handful of good platformers (Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day), but overall it's really lacking in other genres. There's no decent scrolling shoot-em-ups, no decent RPGs (ouch!), etc. In fact, I can only really think of 20 or so really good N64 games whereas I can come up with around 80 really good SNES games. It's a real shame that the N64 was so inflexible...everyone just wanted 3D platformers and adventures...and that's mostly all they got.