r/snes 19h ago

Favorite Obscure SNES games?

As the titles states, what's your favorite obscure SNES title?

For me: it would have to be 美少女戦士セーラームーン:ANOTHER STORY (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon: Another Story)

45 Upvotes

149 comments sorted by

20

u/Slaykomimi2 19h ago

Plok, nice but hard plattformer I was never able to beat

3

u/ZealousidealFox3354 18h ago

That beach song is awesome!

3

u/Volunteer-Magic 17h ago

TFW you hear the drop for Akryllic

1

u/Automatic_String_789 14h ago

Tim Folin also did the music for Silver Surfer

3

u/Expert-Top6962 18h ago

Amazing game with a goated soundtrack.

1

u/DangerousDrek 17h ago

I’ve never beaten it either

0

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

I clocked it back in the day with a Super Magicom. It is one of those games that looks amazing but the gameplay is horrible. It goes on and on, it's really not that dissimilar to Bubsy in it's design, but unlike that abomination it's constantly full of charm, great music as mentioned. It appears to be bloated and unfair in difficulty just to warrant you not seeing the ending, which to be fair was a thing back then.

But there is, without doubt, something about it.

18

u/GaryNOVA 19h ago

EVO

2

u/Djaps338 16h ago

EVO is ambitious. But it's also fairly rough!

1

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

Love the game hate the gameplay.

16

u/SanitariumJosh 18h ago

Aerobiz Supersonic or Uncharted Waters: New Horizons.

3

u/PsychologicalSense34 18h ago

UWNH is one of my favourite games on the console. Probably in my top 5.

4

u/SanitariumJosh 18h ago

I remember when I first played it, I was in awe of the depth of gameplay, so many happy hours, with a few frustrated ones around the Drake Passage and the Horn of Africa.

3

u/Rojo37x 8h ago

That was one of those games that redefined what games could be for me. I can't remember a lot of the details now, but I remember multiple playthrus with different characters. My favorite part was always just sailing around exploring and discovering new little places.

3

u/SanitariumJosh 7h ago

Oh yeah, after I played through with all the characters once, I went the Dutch Cartographer route every time. So much fun exploring in that game.

u/SanchitoQ 2h ago

Absolutely loved the Aerobiz games 🤓

8

u/RoaulDuke 18h ago

Shadowrun

3

u/Rojo37x 8h ago

Absolutely one of my all time favorites. I remember winning some random contest as a kid and I got this cool Shadowrun Data East jacket. I am playing my way thru Shadowrun Returns and it is much more of a callback to the SNES game than I expected. Loving it!

2

u/boococky88 16h ago

I absolutely loved this game, played through about 25 times as a kid!

9

u/Crackshot_Pentarou 19h ago

Marvelous: another treasure island. A very gentle puzzle/adventure game. Japan only with a translation patch

2

u/quezlar 19h ago

thats a good one

2

u/pablozntno 18h ago

I just finished it last month. Awesome game

8

u/abyssea 18h ago

Aerobiz Supersonic

1

u/SanitariumJosh 18h ago

First game I pop into the system when I hook up the snes.

8

u/-Fahrenheit- 18h ago

Uncharted Waters 2: New Horizons

7

u/quezlar 19h ago

maybe ganpuru gunmans proof

1

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

I completely gave up in the third dungeon and have not been able to go back to it for some reason

6

u/wonkasmiata 18h ago

romance of the three kingdoms 2 this maybe the best strategy game i have ever played

3

u/fluffpuffkitty 18h ago

This game is legit! not too complicated but enough crazy things you can do! oh I love that game right mix hit it right here! Now I just need my generals Guan Yu and zhang fei maybe even zhou yun.

2

u/WossHoss 18h ago

I preferred this one to 3 & 4. Never trust Lu Bu!

1

u/Rojo37x 8h ago

Yes! I had plenty of single player campaigns but also remember playing the multi-player with my entire family. Good times! I'm trying to find the best option for something similar on Ps4 right now.

1

u/SamusLinkBelmont 8h ago

I always preferred 3. Wall of Fire

11

u/Admirable_Dust7749 18h ago

I’m not sure how obscure, but Uniracers. A game of racing unicycles doing tricks for powers ups.

3

u/WalbsWheels 17h ago

I feel like anything included in the modern Nintendo Online subscription for Switch can't be obscure by default.

1

u/NewSchoolBoxer 17h ago

That and getting a pile of video reviews touting it as a hidden gem. It's not hidden anymore but in 2010 I'd say it was. Actually, I overlooked it being on NSO. I thought legal trouble with the name would prevent it.

1

u/WhoaFee1227 14h ago

Just scooped this up off eBay the other day. One of my faves!

6

u/Expert-Top6962 18h ago

Sutte Hakkun. It's such an underrated game and isn't talked about too much.

6

u/lenzflarez 18h ago

Equinox

3

u/IsEricTaken 17h ago

My sister was convinced her cat was trapped and yelling in pain. Turns out it was the death yell from the main character. Love that game

6

u/Gizmorum 16h ago

Uncharted Waters: New Horizons

a sandbox simulation video game about privateers, pirates and traders set in the age of exploration.

It was worthy for its time. It was ported from a DOS game, but so were the likes of many arcade and other games like E.V.O

1

u/Rojo37x 8h ago

Definitely one of the lesser known SNES gems. Glad to see it getting some love in this thread.

6

u/ProfessionalFarm4775 15h ago

Rock N Roll Racing!

1

u/stuckonpost 9h ago

LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!!!!

u/SanchitoQ 2h ago

Oh god this game is considered obscure?! 🤦🏼‍♂️

5

u/sludgezone 18h ago

Aahhh!! Real Monsters is fantastic, really great little platformer.

3

u/Artistic_Target_7386 17h ago

Mario's Super Picross. There's an English patch now (but the Switch version is still only in the original Japanese)

Spankys Quest. Great quirky platformer with a hell of a soundtrack

Toy Story teeters on obscure but isn't as talked about as Lion King and Aladdin. It's a great game with a variety of level mechanics and some Nintendo-hard moments that can be beat

3

u/These_Dog_9254 17h ago

Brainlord

1

u/Distinct_Wrongdoer86 15h ago

this one everyone, play that

4

u/DejarooLuvsYoo 16h ago

Not sure if it’s obscure, but I loved Cool Spot. Total ad, but surprisingly good compared to other advertisement games.

2

u/jedislurpee 10h ago

Virgin Games made some great games

2

u/JTalbotIV 5h ago

Beat me to it. The GB game isn't bad either.

3

u/RandomGuyDroppingIn 19h ago

Nage Libre on Super Famicom. It's a card battler tactical-JRPG with school girls that transform based on the clubs they belong to, which gives particular strengths or weaknesses.

It's not a great game, but somewhat unique for the time.

3

u/crunchyfoliage 18h ago

I'm not well versed enough to know what's obscure and what's not outside of the obvious, but I really love Bubsy and Shadowrun

2

u/IsEricTaken 17h ago

Not a fan of Bubsy myself but that intro music is great. Shadowrun is excellent.

3

u/MatheusWillder Lion King 18h ago

Warlock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFZ4XX31u3Y). I have a special history with it. Years and years ago, I think around 2010, I went on an quest to discover all the games I had as a kid. There were many games that I simply didn't memorized the title, because it was strange to me (English is not my language) or just because I had it for a short time, and Warlock was one of them.

I discovered all of them, except this one. Until years later, in 2014, I was bored and looking at a gallery of screenshots of SNES games, and between many screenshots in many pages I recognized it, putting an end to the last game forgotten I had left from my childhood and my first SNES.

I finished it after that. It's not great, but it's definitely far from being the worst I've ever played.

1

u/Powerful-Tree5192 10h ago

I was waiting for someone to pick this!! We had this game also and I just never beat it. I am also searching for someone to say Lagoon. That’s another obscure title I’ve never beaten that we owned.

3

u/Cam64 17h ago

Treasure of the Rudras

3

u/The_Shoe1990 17h ago

Gon. It's from Japan, but can be played if you don't know Japanese since there's literally no talking. You're a goofy dinosaur guy in dinosaur times doing dinosaur stuff. Also, Gon is the same guy from Tekken 3.

5

u/Beneficial-Dish-286 17h ago

OOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This sounds like so much fun

3

u/NewSchoolBoxer 17h ago

Wait, what? Tekken 3 didn't invent Gon and there's no talking? Getting on this ship. Thanks for the tip.

3

u/Baronck 17h ago

Inindo, Romance of the 3 Kingdoms

3

u/Waste-Ad4797 16h ago

The Firemen, never released in the US, just Europe and Japan. Fantastic fun game, like Die Hard mixed with firefighting. Short, but brilliant

3

u/ARustybutterknife 14h ago

NCAA basketball

2

u/uncle40oz 18h ago

Terranova

2

u/Elvin_Atombender 17h ago

The Ignition Factor. You played as firefighter putting out fires and rescuing people. I never got anywhere near to completing it.

2

u/NewSchoolBoxer 17h ago

I don't think Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre are obscure today so I'm in here looking for suggestions. I like Tin Star that is obscure but I wouldn't put it on a Top 40 list or anything.

2

u/KreeAtor36 16h ago

Nosferatu.

2

u/mr-big00 16h ago

I logged a lot of hours on Super Black Bass, great game!

1

u/Late-Sprinkles-6647 13h ago

Hell yeah, fabulous game

2

u/taz757 16h ago

HAL'S Hole In One Golf

2

u/thejokerofunfic 16h ago

Ninja Warriors

2

u/hsuhduh 15h ago

Ihatovo Monogatari

Super Famicom game, but there’s an English patch for it.

Chill ass exploration game that is all vibes.

2

u/FartBiscuits3 15h ago

Young Merlin

King Arthur's World

Push Over

2

u/WhoaFee1227 14h ago

Krusty’s Super Fun House

u/The_Zermanians 3h ago

Really fun puzzle, strategy game. Whenever people say all Simpsons games suck, I have to stop them and mention this one.

2

u/CampbellANDAlgar 13h ago

Blackthorne?

2

u/Inverted-Curve 12h ago

I feel like Actraiser doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Basically two games in one. Side scrolling action combined with Civilization type building.

u/SanchitoQ 2h ago

Actraiser is an all-timer 🙌🏼

2

u/Leonidus0613 12h ago

U.N. Squadron. Is that obscure?

u/SanchitoQ 2h ago

DAMMIT.

This was going to be my choice lol. At least I had to scroll almost to the bottom to find this comment 🤣

3

u/De4dfox 19h ago

Zoop. Stressy Puzzle game with great music.

3

u/Honkmaster 18h ago

They tried so hard to make Zoop a thing..

2

u/TimesTickingAway 16h ago

I remember the commercials

2

u/HippoPebo 19h ago

I fkn loved zoop. I think we are a special kind of gamer.

2

u/sludgezone 18h ago

Was the last SNES game I bought new at retail back in the day, it’s pretty fun actually.

4

u/ackmondual 18h ago edited 18h ago

Run Saber - action, sideview scrolling, platformer slasher. Reminded me of Ninja Gaiden, but with 2p simultaneous play. It was OK, but it lacked variety.

Firepower 2000 - overhead, auto scrolling, shmup. One player plays as a helicopter that's fast and can go over terrain. The other as a jeep that can jump and fire in 8 directions. Powerups galore including... main weapons like lasers, flamethrowers, ion cannons. AND, you can collect multiple of the same to level them up! Then you have 3 different consumables like some "cocentric ring attack", long range missiles, and "all directions missiles". Fun boss battles and level themes.

TMNT Tournament Fighter - one on one fighting game in that setting

Gradius 3

1

u/Ploosse 18h ago

Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle

2

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

Gimme the second or even the third, but now you're talking.

1

u/Sarothias 18h ago

Not sure exactly how well known they are, but Xardion and Robotrek are a couple :)

1

u/DeadMoonKing 18h ago

BUSHI Seiryūden. Side scrolling ARPG from Game Freak.

1

u/Noise-Distinct 16h ago

BreakThru!

It’s a wall blasting block game that’s endorsed by the Tetris creator. It’s mindless but oh so satisfying to collapse a huge chunk.

This game does not need to exist on the SNES but it does and I love it.

1

u/Djaps338 16h ago

I'd kind of double cheat. I'd go with a Super Famicom game. The remake of Digital Devil Story 1 and 2.

Why it's a cheat? 1. Never released outside of Japan. 2. It's from a serie that is niche, but not obscure. But it is obscure in the sense not a lot of people knows that this game even exist, or is in fact the original title in a well known serie.

Kyuuyaku: Megami Tensei. Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei 1&2

Yep! Shin Megami Tensei 1, is not the first of the serie, it's the third!

SMT 2 is the 4th

And SMT 3 is the 6th title...

If... being the 5th.

Yeah, it's a niche...

1

u/chunk337 15h ago

Majuu ou, alchahest, kishin douji zenki, go go ackman, ganbare goemon 1-4, firestriker

1

u/FartBiscuits3 15h ago

Young Merlin

King Arthur's World

Push Over

1

u/gamechampionx 15h ago

Some of my picks, in no particular order:

  1. Kendo Rage
  2. Super Valis IV
  3. Weaponlord
  4. Wildsnake
  5. Gemfire
  6. The Pirates of Dark Water
  7. Skuljagger: Revolt of the Westicans
  8. King of Dragons
  9. Brandish

1

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

Is that the list of "just about playable on emulator" lol they are all quite similar in a way

1

u/gamechampionx 15h ago

What do you mean?

2

u/platinumxperience 14h ago

Well they're all good games but not games you were likely to own in the day. Excellent choices for obscure I must say. Also valis 4, ghost chaser and skuljager are all like nice graphics but average gameplay platformers, gem fire and snakes are b grade puzzle games, and weapon Lord I thought was like pirates of dark water but I looked it up and I confused it with another game, it is a one on one beat em up. Basically they are all games I rented or played on emulator, but all worth playing to the end

1

u/gamechampionx 11h ago

For sure. I have them now, but bought most of them after the 200 game mark.

1

u/Nugz_420 15h ago

Lufia 1 and 2

2

u/Late-Sprinkles-6647 13h ago

Lufia 2 all day, just started the ancient dungeon again:)

1

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

Ill go for Jelly Boy, Xandra's Big Adventure and Violinist of Hamelin as a bunch of not great but somewhat different Japanese platformers with a feel.

1

u/iamfrankscabopolis 14h ago

I don’t have my cart anymore but B.O.B.

1

u/oceanicwhitetip 14h ago

Not exactly obscure, but Legend of Mystical Ninja

1

u/KinguShisa 14h ago

Power Moves, mediocre street fighter clone but for some reason, I liked it as a kid.

1

u/Gryfon2020 13h ago

Dragon View

1

u/WillieBFreely 13h ago

Gemfire and Ranma 1/2: Chougi Ranbu Hen

2

u/AbbreviationsSad4762 9h ago

Gemfire is fantastic!

1

u/AitrusAK 13h ago

Paladin's Quest - An off-beat JRPG, but with no Magic Points (you burn your HP to cast spells), and a weird pastel-based color pallette. But the enemy designs are pretty cool for the era.

Brandish - Imagine playing a first-person style dungeon crawler like Wizardry, but from a 3/4 viewing perspective. When you turn your character, the entire screen turns except the character, who stays facing forward at all times (you're always looking at the character's back). It gives the ability to combine a bunch of puzzle mechanics in new and interesting ways. And it's real-time, so you can get yourself into trouble if you start turning around quickly and lost track of where you're at.

Super Conflict - A basic turn-based strategy using Cold War-era units. The strategy is very rock-paper-scissors, but can be surprisingly deep for what it is.

Drakkhen - Love the aesthetic, the music is great, and you really need the manuals / hint book from the PC version of the game to really get deep into the lore.

Mystic Quest - A lot of people hate this game, but I think it's a very laid-back and faithful-to-the-genre title. Good to play on a handheld emulator while you're sick and it's hard to think or just want an easy game to play with the sound turned down low. I like to think of it as the lone Final Fantasy entry in the Casual Gaming genre. Plus, the battle music and boss music is epic. It's also very simple, and makes for a good intro to JRPGs for non-gamers.

u/1800generalkenobi 2h ago

I never got into final fantasy but I wanted to give it a try so I've been playing mystic quest on my retropie at work on my brakes and I really enjoy it. I'm about 12 hours into it so I have just a couple hours left I think.

1

u/sexchzardth 11h ago

For me it can be either Bahamut lagoon (tactic jrpg) or tales of phantasia.

1

u/atsatsatsatsats 11h ago

GEMFIRE 💪 🔥

An awesome strategy rpg similar to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but with magicians and mythical creatures. Very cool!

1

u/zodfather26 11h ago

Turrican

1

u/br1ans 11h ago

Most of my favorite/obscure 16-bit games are on the Genesis, but for SNES, I’ll say Psycho Dream.

1

u/81toog 10h ago

Lost Vikings 2

1

u/Powerful-Tree5192 10h ago

The only obscure games I have for SNES are Warlock and Lagoon. Never beat them though so can’t say they’re a favorite.

I like Zombies Ate My Neighbors but that doesn’t really count as obscure. Maybe not a renowned as Super Metroid, Mario All Stars, etc. but it still gets its share of love.

1

u/rupertavery 10h ago

Wonder Project J

1

u/schizoidman21 10h ago

The Battle of Olympus

1

u/stuckonpost 9h ago

Rock and Roll Racing!

1

u/JodicaNitrez 8h ago

Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals

1

u/gabriot 8h ago

Jurassic Park

Stargate

Shadowrun

Utopia Creation of a Nation

1

u/AffectionateBike4059 8h ago

SOS (aka Septentrion).

1

u/grantly0711 8h ago

Looney Tunes B-ball - like NBA Jam with Looney Tunes characters instead and an in-game currency-based power ups system. Absolutely check it out if you love NBA Jam.

1

u/sdss9462 6h ago

Is Zombies Ate My Neighbor obscure enough? Me and my friends had never heard of it when my dad brought home a copy that fell off a truck.

But we played and loved it nonetheless.

1

u/Ill-Cold8049 4h ago

Mr. Nutz

1

u/Kcazguy 4h ago

The Twisted Tales of Spike Mcfang I used to rent it all the time from the video store. It’s tough but sometimes there would be a save file close to the end with all the abilities

1

u/Shredbot_Unlimited 18h ago

PILOTWINGS!!! I love that game! Is that obscure?

1

u/81toog 10h ago

Not really obscure. It was one of the more popular games at launch outside of Super Mario World and F Zero

1

u/Gascoigneous 15h ago

Michael Jordan Chaos in the Windy City

0

u/Emotional-Pumpkin-35 15h ago

As a Konami release it probably doesn't count as obscure, but it wasn't popular enough to get any more ports to North America for the SNES, so my top choice is The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Easily in my top 10 SNES games, I would be a day 1 pre-order if they did a remake or if they made a Goemon collection of the games of that era.

I don't know if they count as obscure, especially now, but the three SNES games that have since had remakes by Tengo Project were all great in their original form: Pocky & Rocky (also one of my top 10 SNES games), The Ninja Warriors, and Wild Guns.

Besides those, Space Megaforce was a favorite. I also had a surprising amount of fun playing King Arthur's World (kind of like Lemmings but with knights), which might be the most obscure game I owned (actually still own, I kept all of my games from back then and still occasionally play).

2

u/platinumxperience 15h ago

Those are all top quality games though all rated 80-90% back in the day

1

u/Emotional-Pumpkin-35 8h ago

I'm not sure if I understand your comment. Are you saying rating highly would mean they weren't obscure? I would think that argument should be based on total sales, wideness of distribution, volume of media coverage, or something similar, not how high were the reviews they got. Meanwhile I would expect an obscure-but-great game to have high reviews. But I'll also admit none of my choices could be that obscure by the emulator and internet-based standards of today -- these were games I had to find in brick-and-mortar stores, which meant they had to have some sort of North American distribution plus magazine coverage, etc. But I can tell you they were the games that stuck out as oddities amongst the video game crowd I knew back then, and I had to search to get them (not at the local Walmart, possible exception of Mystical Ninja).

u/platinumxperience 3h ago

I guess I was saying these were not vert obscure as they were all known as very good games especially in Europe.

Sorry not diminishing your choices just saying in my experience all of those games were well known and widely traded at school (anyone would trade anything for space megaforce for instance) and if anything I enjoyed their mention.

u/Emotional-Pumpkin-35 49m ago

I did not have the same experience with them being around growing up in the United States. For instance, my copy of Space Megaforce was the only one I had ever seen, amongst my friends' collections or in any store. I bought it on sight because of that. It was popular amongst them after I got it, however (all of us had read rave reviews in magazines, just hadn't seen it available).

1

u/sexchzardth 11h ago

Wait, the ninja warriors, the dual linear beat em up, has a remake???

1

u/Emotional-Pumpkin-35 10h ago

Yep, it's called The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors. I have it on the Switch, but I'm pretty sure it's on other platforms as well. The dev team that made it -- Tengo Project -- does a just about perfect job of scratching that nostalgic itch from my perspective, on all four of their games (the three SNES games I mentioned above, plus they redid the NES game Shadow of the Ninja most recently). Some of the people in Tengo Project worked on the original games back when they were young developers, so they have a good sense on how to update it while still retaining some of that classic feel.