I Ranked Every SNK Game on NES

[@JohnRiggs]

Ranking my first set of SNES games starting next weekend! And the footage will be cropped :) ICYMI - Ranking Vic Tokai games kzbin.info/www/bejne/ooi9pHluaKhjapo

[@TechWithSean]

Nice! SNES is my favorite retro system, looking forward to those

[@woody4077]

was at a retro store (here in monroe county ny) last week and found a super mario/duck hunt cartridge witha purple triangle on it !!!!!!

[@franciscoresendiz8854]

Waiting for The SNES ranking!. And The Génesis.

[@caseyhayes4590]

crop it extra just to get their undies in a bunch. Try one where 50% of the screen is cropped.

[@henrygpk]

Oh. So you will also post another list for every SNES publishers mentioning that retro games is where your heart is while saying they are mostly mediocre with C D and F??

[@lougaru2445]

Thanks John. Baseball Stars is a big S. It's a legendary, cult classic with secret codes, a money earning system, free agency, customizable teams and it even saved your game. I know the rankings are personal but this game is deeply loved amongst fans. It's almost a Tecmo Bowl.

[@TheRmm1976]

Baseball Stars is easily an 'S'. It's far and away the best NES baseball game. The stat tracking was amazing for its time, and the controls were perfect.

[@caseyhayes4590]

Baseball Stars is practically a strategy and RPG compared to what was out there at the time. It consumed entire summers of my childhood. Only other NES game that did that was Final Fantasy. Then on top of all the depth it was just a great playing game even if it didn't have all the team creation features. I'm not sure there are any 16-bit sports games that are more advanced in some ways.

[@kobymusic108]

I modded baseball stars and had a fantasy draft and played multiple seasons. I might have put more time into this game more than any other

[@Dagasm]

I was amazed that players stats could be upgraded. The graphics were great, game play fluid and satisfying. There were other good baseball games, but this was the one I wanted to play. I was introduced to the game by another kid on my Little League team, go figure.

[@jeffmoen8563]

Bad News Baseball might be the bast baseball game.

[@jim34xh]

AGREED!!!

[@TheRosswise]

I definitely agree with the S on Crystalis. I managed to snag this game for $10 brand new back in the day. I tried going back and the item swapping gets old quick. But damn this is such a hidden gem.

[@tigmo55]

We both got super lucky my friend! Back in 1997 or so, our local hobby shop was getting rid of brand new, shrink-wrapped NES games for $10 as well. I snagged Life Force and Crystalis and I still own both to this day (mint condition in both cases too...I treat my games well) I actually got P.O.W. as well but the lack of a two-player option doomed that game for me (really solid game too...it NEEDED a 2 player mode though).

[@wjr4700]

I used to wonder why no one talked about this game. Now suddenly people are speed running it and their is a randomizer. I think its because Nintendo made the wise decision to have it available on the switch. Still have my old copy from when I was a kid. The lable is ripped off though.

[@oaf-77]

The long S drought is finally over, all hail Crystalis

[@joeadair1339]

Definitely S tier

[@jordanjackson6151]

Agreed!

[@bigg_redd_cox1902]

Crystalis is of the best NES games = S Rating for me!!

[@bingevintage8124]

Whenever he does these rankings it reminds me of yuyu kakusho how they ranked demons lol

[@michaelreardon303]

Toguro was Upper B Tier & he was the main bad for an entire Saga!

[@PeaceArt1]

5:20 you said B, but a D is on the screen. Lols

[@barcodebattler2587]

It was a b on the chart too, oopsie😃

[@Colombia20102018]

The polls are rigged

[@barcodebattler2587]

@@Colombia20102018 I call for impeachment of John Riggs, does he know about his sons laptop??? How deep does this go?!!

[@JohnRiggs]

haha, yeah. When I copy/pasted the letter over it didn't save apparently. Now it's stuck. Oh well. the Mistake stays.

[@mandrias]

@@JohnRiggs At least the letters rhyme. teehee

[@Omn1Slash]

These lists are awesome! It's funny - (as a kid) one year I asked for Contra for Christmas, and it was sold out everywhere. My parents told me they asked the person working at Toys R Us about Contra, and they recommended Guerilla War as an alternative, and they bought it. I told my parents they were different games, but I was appreciative and tried it anyway. They made a deal with me that if I beat the game, they'd buy me Contra when it was back in stock. One hour later, I was showing them the ending, because the game had unlimited continues and was easy! It was a fun game and I really enjoyed it and its still in my collection to this day.

[@JohnRiggs]

Fun story! I'm glad you were at least appreciative.

[@cooladee]

Crystalis is the best by SNK and is one of my favorites for the NES. Will Taito be next or maybe Jaleco?

[@louisdellalucca8969]

Crystalis was my favorite from SNK. Wish that started a series.

[@joesshows6793]

Game was insane for the time

[@astaynax7531]

I still go back and play crystalis now, I love it it's my top nes game, followed closely by mario 3, megaman 2,3, and the guardian legend.That said going back to it I can see where some people get stuck these days, the game can be quite cryptic.

[@cam9144]

Crystals and The Guardian Legend > Zelda. There I said it.

[@astaynax7531]

@@cam9144 zelda 1 wouldn't even make my top 20, and to be different than most I actually prefer zelda 2 and that's the black sheep of the family.

[@cam9144]

@@astaynax7531 I agree and also love your name

[@samgamgeeterminator]

Yes, Crystalis has been my favorite for a long time. So good!

[@rayvinson1414]

Glad to hear others had heard of Crystalis. Probably one of my favorite NES games and easily my favorite SNK game. Thanks for covering it.

[@GamesfromtheGrave]

Crystalis really is one of the best games on the system.

[@JohnRiggs]

it honestly is.

[@rezterralico4369]

I need to get the time to play the rest of it on my switch.

[@rezterralico4369]

@@JohnRiggs You need to try a Tunnocks brand snowball then, its a flaky cocunut and chocolate outside with a marshmellow ish inside. So good. Too bad they stopped selling them at the local shop and only had the tunnock's caramel logs. Maybe hard to find since it's more of a European item (get them here out west in Canada and I think it's tied to the Newfoundlander food item section in the local mediterranean store). They have a scottish band with a dingy yellow colouring for the 3 or 4 pack. Man even if you get an indiviual one at an import store. Mmmm. I should import some zagnut bars this winter.

[@FlairVSSavage]

It was my fav rpg

[@pungisotu]

SNK knocked it out the park with that one. Might be better than all their arcade games too.

[@feedthesnake3394]

crystalis finally getting respect 30 years later.

[@kenwheeler3637]

I love this series of videos. They get me to look through my collection to discover stuff that I forgot I had and on some occasions, unfortunately, to lean I don't have some I thought I did.

[@ostiariusalpha]

Riggs: Crystalis is an S. Me: (Puts pitchfork and torch away)

[@the_kombinator]

How could it be anything else?

[@Rountree1985]

Yeah, can’t have people having different opinions, can we? You’re a child. I will always thumbs down comments like these, thanks for giving me something to do.

[@the_kombinator]

@@Rountree1985 Why not go play Crystalis? Probably a better use of your time :P

[@ostiariusalpha]

@rountreeeightyfive The fact that Riggs understood that was an obvious joke and hearted my comment seems to have totally escaped you while you were busy trying to find something to be butthurt about. Great job, pal. 👍

[@Rountree1985]

@@ostiariusalpha k

[@rangoononline]

Good list! I'd probably rank Baseball Stars as S-Tier because you can customize it. That was a big deal back in the day. Also, I'd probably rank Athena a little higher due to sheer ambition and influence. Great video :)

[@bucksatanII]

I think Baseball Stars is the best baseball game on the NES

[@scootermcg9910]

Baseball stars easy S

[@ostiariusalpha]

The fielding and hitting gameplay aren't necessarily better than any of the other top tier NES baseball games, but the depth of customization just takes it way beyond its contemporaries. S-rank, easily. Athena is so badly executed that I can't argue with Riggs' assessment myself.

[@rangoononline]

@@ostiariusalpha Good point. It's not even my favorite nes baseball game. I really like the first RBI baseball because it's a silly fun time.

[@manmadeaids]

I liked Athena as a kid, better than Ikari warriors. To this day, I still like Athena better than akari warriors. That f grade was harsh.

[@GenerationGapGaming]

Quite a few SNK NES games that still hold up today. Enjoyed this list man.

[@billcook4768]

Lee Trevino Fighting golf deserves at least a B for gameplay, but I’m ok knocking it down to a C for lack of fighting.

[@robertanderson2898]

I owned that game and i NEVER did any fighting. False advertising !!!! ;)

[@JustinLeeper]

POW was cool because of the military motif and the weight of the hits. Especially jump kicks.

[@PearlJamaholic]

I saw Crystalis in the thumbnail and was thinking 'if he doesn't give that game an S I'm never watching another one of his ranking videos.' ok, i probably wouldnt have watched another video for a few days, than I'd be back cause these little nostalgia trips are great!

[@VeniceChris78]

"Ikari Warriors 3, it's pretty good...D" Tough curve on the Riggs grading scale.

[@JohnRiggs]

Meant to be B but the text put it as D (forgot to change it)

[@tigmo55]

@@JohnRiggs someone must have had their "Victory Road" glasses on when reviewing IW3! ;) I grew up playing Victory Road so it's nostalgic to me but even so...you gave it a fair rating. LOL... :p

[@ScarletSprites]

A video near and dead to my heart! I’m actually two shy of completing this set. Baseball Stars is such a guilty pleasure. I loved the ability to sign and upgrade players back in the day.

[@ostiariusalpha]

What's there to feel guilty about with Baseball Stars? It's a truly exceptional game. Unless you've been neglecting your video writing and editing to spend unhealthy amounts of time getting lost in in the customization menus, then bad Scarlet Sprites! Bad!

[@DerekDomino71]

I agree for the most part on these, except for Baseball Stars. I don't know what is better than an S but Baseball Stars gets it. Best baseball game on the NES and it still holds up well. Touchdown Fever would be a turd, but to each their own.

[@jamesgruesome9780]

So good. Add in Little League and Legends if the Diamond that I didn’t play til way later, but same gameplay. Bad News was my second fave and Base Warz

[@MarkoPolo8888]

As an giant SNK fan I most say I loved this video. I was going to message you and recommend a video request of all SNK games on NES, and you already did it. That’s for the awesome content John Riggs. Love your videos. Anything on on SNK NEO GEO would be much appreciated. Thx 👍🏽

[@GreenDragonPainting]

I hope this style of video never ends! I enjoy these more than anything else. Happy to hear you will be diving into snes and sega and not ending with nes.

[@cavalen]

C'mon ... Guerrilla War B ?? a solid S for me, super fun game ... great video !

[@richie616]

Crystalis was one of those games that I spent the entire 16-bit era waiting on a sequel for. It seems like every other franchise from the NES I loved got a SNES successor but that one.

[@guitarzan5328]

5:19 John Riggs: *ranks Ikari III: The Rescue as B tier* *D shows on screen* 🧐🤔

[@1903tx]

Ah, yes...who could forget the great battles on the links fought between Lee Trevino and Super Mex. Truly one of the greatest rivalries the sports world has ever seen.

[@hjalmarjohnson5846]

Super Mex really needed to be a golfing luchadore, just sayin'.

[@aaronguerrette]

3:18 Guerrilla War is the cracked out love child of Ikari Warriors and Commando.

[@ostiariusalpha]

It plays better than both the NES versions of those games combined.

[@fcjusttalking]

Thank you! Crstalis is my all time favorite too and it never gets any love. I wish it were more popular

[@DiskCart]

I swear these videos teach me more about theae games than id get anywhere else. Sometimes i just need tbe rundown like this

[@geogantart]

I just realized Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge is a parody of Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf. "Ball is in parking lot! Would you like to play again? You have selected 'no'."

[@TheRealDannAlexander]

Iron Tank and Guerrilla War took up many late nights in my kid days. Lee Trevino one of the best NES golf games ever.

[@cacophonic7]

I love these NES ranked lists! Crystalis was such a treat!

[@karliekray8290]

I also learned what a "P.O.W." was from renting the game when I was little. Never played it in the arcade though.

[@jdorsey9]

Baseball Stars is possibly the best sports game on the NES. Maybe a close second behind Tecmo Superbowl.

[@JohnRiggs]

Well, unless you count Dodge Ball as a sport

[@bdillmore40]

John I'm so glad you made this video! Big Neo Geo fan here, and I love a lot of SNK made NES games! Loved the video, and keep up the good work! - Brendan

[@BrianKapellusch]

Disappointing: there's no fighting in lee trevino fighting golf :(

[@JohnRiggs]

I agree!

[@nufi20]

Simple yet I enjoy this content you put out

[@captainz72100]

I'm really enjoying this series of ranking videos John. Keep em coming! Thanks!

[@tarallocaballo]

Baseball Stars is an absolute S for me. Another great list, JR.

[@superduty2023]

Thanks for these ranking videos Mr. Riggs.

[@iankempster7007]

I could binge watch this channel for days.

[@fresnokila3]

I remember renting Guerilla Wars for the Nes a lot back then..had so much fun playing with my friends.

[@jeff97ish]

Great video John Riggs! I am learning about some gems for the NES lately.

[@wjr4700]

Man ive been waiting to hear your thoughts on Crystalis and i wasnt dissapointed. Hands down my favorite NES game of all time. It IS my childhood.

[@BlackMoore82]

Crystalis turned 30 this past April. Never cared for Golf myself but I did play both Fighting Golf (1988) and Golf (1984) quite a bit growing up. They were pretty relaxing.

[@bezerker99]

Baseball Stars! Fantastic game. I'm hoping that one day I will wake up and see it has been added to the Nintendo Switch Online service.

[@TheRmm1976]

Athena for me is actually in the B+ range. The gameplay, music, and fun factor are great. The only thing that brings it down is the difficulty... It was incredibly hard just to get past the first few stages, and I believe it had only a few continues once you died.

[@controlpadblues]

Lee Trevino - also known as that terrific actor from Happy Gilmore who **knew**, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Grizzly Adams DID, in fact, have a beard.

[@ShinobiShowdown]

Guerilla War is a great game by SNK both in the arcade and NES.

[@adriangonzalez3600]

Guerilla War is the best co-op game on NES to play with your little brother because of the forgiving lives/continue system and non-stop action. Also, it inspires revolutionary spirit in its youth.

[@TrainmasterCurt]

I liked it when I was younger, but once I learned about the errors of Communism, the story bugged me

[@ShinobiShowdown]

@@TrainmasterCurt Yeah well it is based on a revolutionationist in Cuba aka Che Guevara.

[@Carlb328]

You should do a video about puzzle games on the NES like Loopz. Also have you tried the shooter IO on the Commodore 64? It's super hard.

[@nickspaeth444]

Another great list. Would have went with an S for Baseball Stars for sure though.

[@tigmo55]

Thanks for another super fun video, John! I honestly have never played several of the games on this list and it sounds like they are better than I thought! And I feel you on Crystalis man. Cool story: At the 1990 Powerfest in Cincinnati, Ohio, I actually played Crystalis because no one was on that machine (they were all lined up at the Mega Man 3 booth...which is what I REALLY wanted to play but...) Getting to play a game like that before it was even released was really cool and years later when I bought the game and I truly played it, I loved it! Yes it can be incredibly cryptic and some of the nuances of the game are maddening but overall, it is still a gem of a game for sure. And based on memory, Guerilla War was better than the entire Ikari Warriors trilogy. GW was just really fun and enjoyable with superb gameplay. Baseball Stars is a gem for sure but Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball is still my favorite NES baseball/softball game by FAR. :)

[@jiznoof]

Giving Baseball Stars an A is an A+ move 💪

[@JohnRiggs]

As far as baseball games go, it's probably the best on NES to me.

[@jiznoof]

@@JohnRiggs it's honestly one of my favorite baseball games of all time. I love the create a team feature. I really wish they would of added the game to the SNK collection or NES NSO service.

[@qwerty52676]

S all the way!

[@davidnorris8724]

Great series 👍🏻

[@stevent7944]

Hey John, I love your NES videos. I would love (and I am sure that I am not alone) to see a video done of your TOP A and Top B games for the NES from all brands. A video of ever hame that you graded an A and make a grade for them compared to each other, Find the best game for the NES?

[@MalcolmmStromberg]

Got off work early, great way to start the weekend. SNK really had a diverse lineup on tne nes. When will see Data East?

[@jordanjackson6151]

Fun fact Riggs. Iron Tanks protagonist IS the main dude from Ikari Warriors despite the different character name .

[@DigiPen92]

I did noticed that most of all the SNK NES games are on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. I just looked at the SNK NES list that were completely missing in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection are Fighting Golf, Little League Baseball, and MechaNized Attack. It's a shame that the three SNK NES games are completely in the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.

[@amazonviking]

Wanna hear a trippy Mandela Effect? I remember owning P.O.W. for the NES, however I remember it was a two player game. My buddy, used to come to my place every afternoon to play it with me and I remember how we used to get into fights about who gets the machine gun. It shook me when you said that POW was a single player only game. I am quite sure it was the NES version, I never owned Sega or Turbografx, and only in dreams would I ever own a Neo Geo. Other than that I agree with most of the reviews, and whatever I don't agree, is ok. Kudos, great job!

[@JohnRiggs]

Interesting! It was 2-player in the arcade. Dumb it wasn't on NES.

[@MasterZebulin]

Same thing for me except it was Target: Renegade.

[@ostiariusalpha]

@@MasterZebulin If you have played River City Ransom also, then it would make sense that your brain would cross wire them together.

[@MasterZebulin]

@@ostiariusalpha No, this was before I was aware of the existence of River City Ransom. Long before.

[@kranibal]

Greeeeeeeaaaat video! Loved the SNK games overall on the NES.

[@Maokaizen]

i was waiting for " its ikari warriors but its golf" xD

[@Bobby8451]

I'd have to say Crystalis, Guerrilla War and Althena are my most memorable ones that I played as a kid.

[@matttherrien9608]

"Winners don't use drugs!" Unless of course you're Lance Armstrong, Mark McGuire, Hose Canseco, Barry Bonds & every professional body builder ever. 'Roids are rampant across all types of physical competition.

[@overlordalfredo]

5:19 that's a strange looking B...

[@jlmf6274]

I havent watched the video yet... but you better give Crystalis an S 👿👿👿😄

[@r91playsind]

Guerrilla war is an S for sure. Just get a friend to play with. + The boss tunes are amazing. It's on the level of Contra and Super C for me although you didn't rate them S either so it's probably a preference thing.

[@dantediss1]

Is that seriously a princess tomato in the salad kingdom picture on your wall !!! Badass !!!

[@indyracingnut]

You're killing me with the underratings of the sports games, bro!! Baseball Stars was the BEST NES BASEBALL GAME EVER!! How is that not an automatic S?? Tragedy!!

[@JohnRiggs]

It's all opinion-based. But Baseball Stars probably is the best Baseball game on NES.

[@isaiahconstante2206]

Guerilla War is the best of those style games. Man do I have nostalgia for that one!

[@xxdeftones86xx]

always look forward to these vids. keep it up

[@ddeleckijr]

Culture Brain is a good one. Basewars, little ninja bros, flying warriors etc.

[@JohnRiggs]

Loved Flying Warriors.

[@ddeleckijr]

Little ninja bros is good too. They also did magic of scherezade and a few others. They are what I call a stealthy good developer/publisher.

[@chriscox3709]

Baseball Stars deserves an S ranking. That game was amazing and way ahead of it's time. It is still to this day what I compare a baseball game to. I also really liked Ikari Warriors. I would give that one a B-. It had a lot of clipping if I remember correctly. Awesome channel.👍

[@mastersofboarddom7570]

After five games in a row of "It's Ikari Warriors but _____" I half expected you to say Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf was Ikari Warriors on a golf course, and I was slightly disappointed when it wasn't.

[@DarkCarmack]

Riggggssssss....I managed to get in the first few comments woooo. Hope the family is doing good. Love the content

[@motoxrider450]

John you should review TAITO nes games! Arkanoid was my fav TAITO game on the arcade and I didn’t change much on the NES besides you needed the VAUS controller

[@1gr8chef123]

perfect anology for Athena and snowballs....spot on!!

[@silverserpentor6710]

I feel an aspect that many people miss on Alpha Mission is you can change ships by picking up the little red icons and then pushing start to switch ships. Great for when fighting the bosses

[@patrickfischer2932]

I agree. AM would've been aBC IMHO.

[@kbeast98]

Got baseball stars for my birthday one year. Me and my friends used to have all night tournaments all the time playing this

[@richhutnik2477]

Baseball Stars! YES! It is an RPG baseball game as far as I am concerned. I remembered renting it and liking it so much I went out and bought it... around the same time the Sega Genesis hit the stores, so I also picked up a Sega Genesis to go with Baseball Stars. Crystalis also is excellent.

[@jacksonvandyke]

My best friend and I have a 25 year running competition at Lee Trevino's fighting golf. Early on he chose Trevino and I chose Chosuke. He chose wisely. I chose poorly.

[@westlancsflips]

I love these ranking videos John.

[@bmshaven]

Am I the only one that noticed Little League baseball looks more like Baseball Stars Arcade than the actual NES Baseball Stars?

[@jaredhammonds8255]

I loved mechanized attack with the zapper.

[@nickdean8205]

Dude I legitimately fist pumped in excitement when I saw this in my feed, I love these videos! You rock man thanks!

[@danielgray2909]

I said the same thing about Athena... But then I figured out it's memorization and it turns out to be one of my favorite games ever. Loads of charm. Solid A for me.

[@RetroGameNova]

POW looks pretty sweet thanks Riggs!

[@youngstownassault2438]

Crystalis is my favorite NES game. This and Super Metroid are my all time favorite games period. I replay them annually.

[@knightimusprime25]

P.O.W. was a damn good game it's definitely an S to me it was also the second nes game i got which i got it for christmas along with my nes i have alot of fond memories of it

[@Travel-With-Dan]

Love the videos, John. Always keeping everyone entertained. Thank you!

[@senzomcmanus]

Love SNK!

[@studiokadaver]

I love this ranking series

[@johnnino7520]

Baseball Stars is hands down best baseball game on the NES second to All Star Softball. Many hours invested in making roster just right while farming homemade players.

[@ProudGrip]

Great vid as always John! I cant wait for the snes ratings... I'd still like to see Nes ratings for Taxan and Natsume

[@ProudGrip]

Add Taito and Jaleco also and I think that'll do it for my nes ratings wishlist

[@TR47]

Little League BB was basically just a reskin of Baseball Stars, you can tell by the similar mechanics, sound effects, etc. For some reason, Romstar published BBS 2, and it was worse than the original! BB is my all time favorite NES game, I still play it with a saved godlike team sometimes.

[@mennig182]

LLWS is an S+. One of the greatest NES games of all time.

[@roguerifter9724]

I would put Guerilla War as an A. I wish Crystalis had started a series. Being able to combine different element swords and elemental orbs for different effects in later games would have been a lot of fun IMO.

[@Alex-xh9kv]

I recently beat the only SNK game i ever played & it's Crystalis. I fully agree, it's an Superior game.