This week’s Big Question was a no-brainer. Nintendo has released two mini versions of their classic consoles. But which one has the better games?
For reference, here’s all the games that shipped on the Mini NES:
- Balloon Fight™
- BUBBLE BOBBLE
- Castlevania™
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest™
- Donkey Kong™
- Donkey Kong Jr. ™
- DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
- Dr Mario™
- Excitebike™
- FINAL FANTASY®
- Galaga™
- GHOSTS’N GOBLINS®
- GRADIUS™
- Ice Climber™
- Kid Icarus™
- Kirby’s Adventure™
- Mario Bros. ™
- MEGA MAN®2
- Metroid™
- NINJA GAIDEN
- PAC-MAN™
- Punch-Out!! ™Featuring Mr. Dream
- StarTropics™
- SUPER C™
- Super Mario Bros.™
- Super Mario Bros. ™2
- Super Mario Bros. ™3
- TECMO BOWL
- The Legend of Zelda™
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link™
And for the Mini SNES:
- Contra 3: The Alien Wars
- Donkey Kong Country
- EarthBound
- Final Fantasy 3
- F-ZERO
- Kirby Super Star
- Kirby’s Dream Course
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Mega Man X
- Secret of Mana
- Star Fox (originally released as Starwing in Australia)
- Star Fox 2
- Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting
- Super Castlevania 4
- Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
- Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Super Mario World
- Super Metroid
- Super Punch-Out!!
- Yoshi’s Island
Having Star Fox 2 is a big drawcard, but two Castlevania games and Mega Man 2 is a pretty good drawcard. There are still tournaments held for Tecmo Bowl today, although you could argue the Mini SNES roster has more highs and lesser lows.
But what do you think: which mini console has the better game library?
Comments
14 responses to “Which Has The Better Games: Mini NES Or Mini SNES?”
Mini SNES has Secret of Mana, so it wins by default.
It’s all a matter of nostalgia. Having grown up with the Super Nindendo I have way more memories of playing the games on the list, compared to the NES.
That said, I would kill a man if it meant playing more Yoshis Island on a Super Nintendo so I’m a bit biased
I didn’t own a Nintendo console until the N64 so I don’t have any nostalgia for the games on the older systems. Years later I would play games from both systems via emulator and the SNES games are just better by an absolute mile. There is just so much more depth to SNES games.
Super Nes Mini all the way. I can’t wait for this.
For me it’s the SNES, hands down. I feel like the 16-bit generation was generation that really moved past “arcade at home” style games and embraced the idea of a longer narrative as game.
The mini-NES is a really fun thing to pull out when friends are over and play with an arcade mid-set, but there’s only 4 games (Castlevania, Zelda, Mario 2 and Metroid) that I can see myself sitting down and actually finishing.
The SNES has way more games that I actually want to finish all the way through (including, but not limited to, sequels to all of the NES games I want to finish), while still having some really fun multiplayer games such as Mario Kart and Street Fighter II.
I completely agree!
I feel that the 16-bit era was the “Golden Age” of home gaming that really laid the foundations of what we have today
Ive been a gamer since the house got an Atari 2600 when I was about 5, and have been an avid gamer ever since.
I haven’t been this excited about gaming for quite a while now
Nes high point for me was Castlevania 1&2, Zelda, Punchout and Mario 1-3.
SNES has games that appeal to me as a whole, so winner by landslide, even if its less games.
Probably the SNES in reality but most of the games I like on there I still have on my SNES anyway so it didn’t seem worth buying for me unlike the mini-NES (I never had a NES).
SNES by a freaking mile. Looks like I get to “accidentally” pump Slippy full of lasers again in Star Fox!!!
Never owned a SNES of my own, only pre-ordered it for SF II Turbo (mirroring my purchase of a Switch just for USF2: The Final Challengers). I played through DKC on a friends system and enjoyed it, the SNES Classic just needed Nigel Mansell’s WCR and Bubsy… then you could pretend to be on A*Mazing!
The NES Mini is my favourite purely because those were the games I grew up playing.
SNES Mini wins for me because of the JRPG to non-JRPG ratio.
On the whole SNES by a long shot. Nes had a number of one screen type games which while nice from a nostalgia perspective, is a far cry from where gaming has progressed. The SNES titles on the whole are much more developed products.
I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed that there aren’t more games included on the Mini SNES. I think ultimately both systems have a pretty good selection but the SNES one could have been so much better.
Definitely the SNES. Don’t get me wrong, the nes had its classics, but the 16bit era was the pinnacle of that style and era of gaming.
SNES has Star Fox 2. SNES wins.