I Ranked Konami SNES Games

[@JohnRiggs]

I Ranked Capcom SNES Games kzbin.info/www/bejne/m37XoZl3jcmEopo

[@AndSaveAsManyAsYouCan]

You forgot one of the greatest SNES Konami games of all time; Cybernator!!!

[@bepohal]

Castlevania IV is more like an A while Contra III is a S+ game

[@samuelallen2831]

Contra III is S tier alllllll day for me

[@combobreaker_99]

Yes hands down

[@DFG3755]

He forgot to rate it! But it's a S tier all day long

[@pabloalvarez-qu2hy]

S+

[@Zaloomination]

Absolutely! If THIS ain't S tier what could be?

[@alanf8622]

@@DFG3755 Are you drunk?

[@Weezing336]

I've never been bored playing Batman Returns. It's an A for me.

[@pabloalvarez-qu2hy]

S

[@Weezing336]

@@pabloalvarez-qu2hyI'm fine with that too.

[@skateboard_sandwich]

S. Cinematic style is off the charts and pure Burton.

[@wdavis911]

Riggs has horrible taste giving it a C, that game is an A tier minimum

[@DanielNewm]

Agree!

[@imyanigmw]

Konami and Capcom were top tier developers in the 90s

[@chrisjohnson9542]

I was going to make a similar comment. Not only in the 90s but in the 2000's too. Boktai, metal gear, megaman Zero and megaman battle network! I almost completely forgot that Capcom is responsible for 3 of my favorite Zelda games as well. That's right Capcom made 3 Zelda games.

[@joeboo8626]

The 80s as well. Where the NES had Konami and Capcom, the 2600 had Activision and Imagic.

[@holddamayo7474]

Capcom still is but man Konami sure has fallen

[@kenterminateddq5311]

I hope JohnRiggs ranked Super Castlevania IV as an S-tier. IMO, it's the best Castlevania game of all-time (Sorry, Bloodline fans. Sorry, Symphony of the Night fans).

[@isd8894]

@@nehemiahpouncey3607 I hope you aren't implying that video games in the 90s were a "wasteland"???

[@chriswheatley3146]

Batman Returns should definitely be ranked higher. It's the best version of Batman returns on all systems. It's one of the best brawlers on the SNES only held back by a lack of simultaneous 2 player option. I loved that you could throw people into the street signs and it would make a 'gooong' noise.

[@MrBoyYankee]

Agreed

[@zengram]

One of the best beat em ups ever

[@jmarx3943]

It would definitely be in my top 10 beatem ups all time list

[@Blaster1986]

Came here to say this. It’s an underrated beat ‘em up with great graphics, music and gameplay. It’s not quite on the level of Turtles in Time, but it’s up there. I used to love renting the game when I was a kid and eventually rediscovered it via emulation.

[@haruruben]

Overall for me the game that made me feel like Batman the most was that Sunsoft Batman game where you do the wall jump. You have a batarang and stealth and puzzles (Batman is a detective after all). Technically it isn’t a SNES game but somehow they squeezed some amazing graphics out of the NES

[@r.e.goodrich759]

John, John! Are you kidding me!? Contra III The Alien Wars only an A!? It's one of the greatest SNES games of all time, and the best Contra game. C'mon man!

[@jmarx3943]

I agree it should be in s, but for me the best contra game is hard corps. It's debatable either way though.

[@BB-te8tc]

Batman Returns is one of the best beat-em-ups on the console in my opinion. It gets that brutality factor down just right (the punching sounds, throwing enemies into walls, etc), there's lots of enemy variety, and even the platforming sections work pretty well.

[@Seathon]

Totally agree, that plataforming stage when you have to leave a building on fire just by hooking to the roof, and also the full stage where you drive the batmobile, very good levels to break the continous beat em up on the rest of the levels and boss fights.

[@BaldoFlores_godmetal]

You have no idea the phenomenom that International Superstar Soccer was in Latin America. We were raving maniacs for this game, friendships started and ended thanks to this game. And it was MUCH better than Fifa, this is what eventually became Winning Eleven and then PES, Fifa's greatest competitor. Top 10 SNES game for me I apreciate the respect a a non-soccer fan has for it, you rock!

[@NikateeN]

Ouch! Batman Returns under Animaniacs?

[@slaugmromni6743]

A John Riggs video is always so suspenseful: "This game is really good, it's actually great, I'm surprised at how well it plays and the graphics are amazing for 1992. D-tier." "This game is okay. It's not that great. I used to play it some, but it hasn't held up well. A-tier." Or, my favorite Riggs-ism, the whiplash: "This game, ya know, is pretty good, pretty damn great, ehhh it's okay, it's good, it's kinda bad, but it's really great to play, and I hated playing this when it came out, but it was my favorite game when I was a kid" Never. Change.

[@Arkki213]

International Superstar Soccer Deluxe was HUGE here in south america, the best soccer game of the 16-bit generation. It was so huge that, even back in the 90's, it had many, many rom hacks that you could buy as bootlegs and play on you SNES, way before the Everdrives. One of those rom hacks gave life to a very famous meme, the Ronaldinho Soccer intro.

[@joshjohnson6891]

Batman Returns as a C? Whew dawg, you are tough.

[@turboshazed7370]

Turtles in Time, Sunset Riders, ZAMN and Castlevania 4 are S tier games for me.

[@VizabeeGames]

100% agree. That Castlevania game was also the only one that allowed you to whip in any direction. I think it was the best in the series and definitely S tier.

[@christophmatthews4313]

Agreed with all you said, and add contra to that as well.

[@MilkWasABadChoice17]

Mostly agree with this, although I definitely have some disagreements. 1) Batman Returns, while repetitive, isn't a C tier game. Its B tier, borderline A tier. Very good beat em up. 2) Contra 3 is a top 20-30 SNES game. Absolutely S tier. 3) NHL/NBA games are definitely D tier sports games. Not very good or memorable.

[@JMDSPhotography]

Contra 3..... A teir??? Are you kidding, John? 100% S tier my man, come on!

[@mattm7798]

Yeah, if you rank contra on the nes an S, isn't this one just better?

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

​​@@mattm7798 he actually ranked contra nes A tier

[@thenoseguy]

​@@akhandtripathipyz9888Actually it was B tier I think

[@derekshropshire2513]

Sunset Riders on SNES is better than Genesis. Definitely A quality game.

[@andrewalexander4331]

The UK game magazines in the 90s made clear that International Superstar Soccer, and then International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, were vastly superior to FIFA in the 90s. Along with the N64 games, it was half of my childhood.

[@MonoGrinded]

The music, sound efx and announcing on the 64 game are top tier alone

[@totesmagotes213]

I wish Metal Warriors had been included. Such a great action game with a cool 2 player vs mode. Side scrolling mech action game with multiple suits and very cool levels.

[@katherineberger6329]

Yeah, I was disappointed by the exclusion of this. I know it's a LucasArts game that Konami just distributed, but it's amazing and I still bust it out every so often.

[@TheDuke013]

Even bad games by Konami are better than most modern games.

[@dinkc64]

Wholeheartedly agree 👍

[@valkiriforce]

Contra III and Axelay are my S-tier games, for sure.

[@esmerylan]

So about Prince of Persia being the "same game"... this is the one version that actually ISN'T exactly the same as the others. It increases the time limit from 1 hour to 2, makes significant changes to the original levels, and adds entirely new ones. David X. Newton's excellent "Stumbling Through Prince of Persia on Almost Everything" video goes into these changes in detail.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

Yeah, his video is the best on it. I also recommended it before seeing your comment.

[@giuseppedidioroccazzella8534]

International superstar soccer was also very popular in Europe...was considered the best soccer game on SNES...and..."C" tier? you can see that this ranking is made by an American guy

[@casualretrocollector]

Yeah international superstar soccer was the best soccer game on the snes. Period. Americans will never see that due to the different culture there.

[@mattm7798]

Yeah, "it's better than Fifa...It's a C" lololol

[@Greg_Games]

International Super Star Soccer was a huge success in my country Brasil! Even today is played. Same thing for Top Gear games

[@viniciusamorim147]

International Superstar Soccer literally changed the scene. Every kid in Brazil wished they had it back in the day, and the non official versions with the Brazilian league were on point. S tier alllllll day!

[@waywardpony]

You're AWFULLY dismissive of Konami's Prince of Persia. There are some SNES-specific levels, the rotoscoping is incredibly smooth, the use of color is vibrant and unique to the SNES. Not to mention the sounstrack is bone-chilling.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

He probably doesn’t get cinematic playformers. It’s one of the best & arguably the best port of PoP.

[@waywardpony]

@@NinjaRunningWild Gotcha, however in not being familiar enough with the source material (and not saying as such) he's not doing the work put into making the game unique justice, nor is he able to be fair with his assessment. All one needs to do is watch a KZbin video of a level or two being played on both platforms to see a majority of the differences, and glance at the walkthroughs to see additional levels put in and mentioning of bosses. My point is that part of the video lacks any research or interest, which you hit the nail on the head when it comes to the latter. Otherwise the thoughts in this video on other games seem to be fairly solid.

[@rjgt87]

Great ranking! It definitely shows that Konami was a beast in that era, I honestly can't remember a game that I didn't like from them through the nes-snes generation. About ISSS Deluxe this game was huge not only in Japan but in Latin America too, I might be wrong but I think that up till PS2 era Konami football games were in a higher regard than FIFA.

[@manuginobilisbaldspot2]

Biker Mice from Mars was a 90s cartoon! Saw ads for it everywhere back in the day.

[@Aqua.man045]

Konami SNES games were like Rare’s N64 releases. Helped stay the console up

[@jasonhansen9]

Maybe if you are ranking them amongst themselves this list could make a little sense, but for me, most of your A tier should be S tier, many of your B tier should be A tier, Batman Returns should be probably A tier, and some of the sports games should be F tier. You have maybe the best soccer game in c tier and then a bunch of mediocre basketball and football games there too, doesn’t quite make sense haha. But such a fun list thank you for the video!

[@dejatwixt9214]

I played the heck out of Batman and Robin. Such a damn good, well made, game.

[@LivingwithPerks]

Zombies ate my neighbors was definitely S tier. 😢

[@g4lsupreme542]

Man I put so many hrs into that game .. I still don’t know how many levels there are. Top 5 2 player game for snes

[@georged7627]

Remember ppls this is John’s Tiers list 🙏🏽

[@thumperbangin2000]

legend of mystical ninja was excellent. me and my sister used to play that game!! we never beat it though :(

[@masonsheppard1236]

Contra III is S tier, and if you beat it on hard there is a secret final boss.

[@chrisjohnson9542]

There is a sparkster rocket knight collection with all 3 games coming out for switch!

[@gurvmlk]

While pretending like the fourth one never happened.

[@augustusclaudiusvenorius6292]

B for DracX and S for Contra 3 IMO, but that's me ;)

[@richardjenkins128]

John Riggs videos are S tier

[@andrewalexander4331]

As a kid growing up in the 90s in the UK, we'd never use the initials TMHT, we'd just say Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, or just call them Turtles. But with the internet making the world smaller, I kinda forget nowadays that we used to call it Hero, rather than Ninja.

[@alanfike]

I remember the public calling them "TMNT" in any regularity began in the US after 2000. I remember everyone calling them Ninja Turtles, similar to the way you said. There's another franchise where in this case Americans are divided on the name, WWE. Some of us still refer to it as WWF.

[@Virtual_Vinsanity]

​@alanfike yea it was marketing.

[@goranisacson2502]

Swedish person here and yeah- it was Hero Turtles that was the full name, but we too also just called them 'The Turtles'.

[@bigcozz89]

Konami+SNES = GOAT-material - TMNT IV - Turtles in Time, Adventures of Batman and Robin, Batman Returns, NBA Give N Go, Contra III - The Alien Wars, Sunset Riders, Tiny Toon Adventures - Buster’s Busts Loose, Axelay and International Super Star Soccer are some of my favorites

[@louisdellalucca8969]

I’m so happy you’re doing ranking videos again!

[@BigBossCQCLegend]

Batman Returns is an A Tier Beat Em Up for me

[@philwarren6346]

Nice video. Super ISS is the best football game on the system and probably best 16bit era soccer game. 😊

[@BoboBreez]

Keep doing the ranking videos!

[@griloleatherface]

Internacional superstar soccer should be an S. It was BY FAR the best soccer game on the 16 bit era, not even close. I say that as a south american where soccer actually matter a lot, no one played any other soccer game really. Also Batman Returns is really good, at least a B.

[@RetroGamingWithEdgarRivera]

Man I got to say is quite hard to choose because I enjoy most of the Konami games on the SNES such as TMNT Turtle's in Time, Gradius 3, Super Castlevania 4, Zombies ate My Neighbors or even Sunset riders, however my personal favorite is always Contra 3 The Alien Wars, yes I know some prefer Contra Hard Coprs but I always prefer Contra 3 mainly because of the atmosphere and the music it reminds me of Alien and Predator not to mention the main character of the game reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger. My second favorite is Batman Returns I love that game it's so satisfying to beat the hell out of those bad guys from the Penguin, as for the honorable mention TMNT Tornament Fighter and Axelay both games are childhood favorite of mine.

[@PixelGameSquad]

I could watch these all day

[@krisfrederick5001]

It's always amazing when you play your cartoons literally.

[@dan_evilrobot]

90s Konami, made some amazing 16-bit games for the Super Nintendo. Interesting list.❤👍

[@streetmagik3105]

Totally agree about the Legend of the Mystical Ninja. I love that game!

[@roberthilfinger5076]

Absolutely love your content. Long time watcher with over 40 years of console gaming. I still learn new stuff from your videos. Thank you for keeping it going!

[@EstebanGallardo]

Working at Konami during the 80s and 90s should have been awesome. So many classics.

[@SkitchPowers]

I really, really enjoy these new ranking videos you have been doing lately. Brilliant content. Excellent visualization. Keep them coming! :)

[@JGKingCrusher]

Of all of these, Gradius III was my favorite! I LOVE that game! I was a fan of the NES games, and then the SNES one just raised every aspect of the game and just blew me away!

[@smoothALOE]

NBA Give ‘n Go was based on an arcade called “Run ‘n Gun.” I was really excited when it came out cause I enjoyed the arcade. If you liked that arcade, it was a very good port and even added players’ and teams’ licenses that the arcade didn’t have. Its greatest strength is in its presentation…there was this bowling game on the system that I thought was made by Konami, too, but you didn’t review it in this video. Maybe it was made by Capcom, though. I wonder.

[@aristophanes1433]

I'm a fan of the SNES Prince of Persia so I'd give it a B or A but otherwise I agree with every ranking. Legend of the Mystical Ninja really is great. The N64 Goemon has the same silly sensibilities and is fun too

[@meyeboy2]

i didn't like legend of the mystical ninja as much as everyone else did, i never was able to get into it

[@louyork8379]

Biker Mice from Mars was a cartoon, Bro. That’s where they got the idea for that one lol

[@WrestlingandFilmReviews]

Close to being playing Castlevania on SNES was one time I played Bram Stoker's Dracula for SNES, I think AVGN made video on that game and noticed funny name: Fred Fuchs.

[@evilmact]

Batman Returns is great, one of my favorites Beat em Ups. An easy A for me. International Super Star Soccer games were the best soccer games on Snes by far, miles better than any other game from the competition. Specially the second one ISSS Deluxe. They were super popular in Europe and Latin America. Deluxe is an A for me and the original a B.

[@toddburgess5056]

I love gradius 3 and 4, ive followed that gane from SNES to the PS2, and still play it today. Its the perfect "pick it up and play" game

[@isd8894]

Wait, how did you use a Game Genie for Contra III??? Was there a Game Genie for SNES that I just didn't know about?

[@MichaelTaylor-qp2xf]

4 Goemon games came out for the Super Famicom and I wish the latter 3 came out on the SNES as well.

[@toddburgess5056]

You do a great job on these ranking videos, Mr. Riggs ! 🕹️📺

[@benvanasdale6273]

Riggs, I knew you were a man of culture. Raphael is indeed the best turtle.

[@moshpit3]

Another top video, thanks John, some great memories here. Being from across the pond, I played the heck out of ISS, some great two-player games with my mates. Good times.

[@darrylwalker877]

Sunset Riders was so fun and so underrated and underappreciated. Used to play it so much years ago!

[@conorl1894]

This list is spot on, great video john

[@darktetsuya]

TMNT turtles in time is definitely in my top five snes games, no doubt! tournament fighters would probably at least make my top 15 or 20. Contra 3 and Gradius 3 are also great sequels! I remember renting Prince of Persia but never got to the end! gonna have to pick that one up soon. lethal enforcers was fun, but probably way more so if you sent away for the pink 2nd player gun! overall Konami had a pretty good showing on SNES, for sure.

[@goranisacson2502]

Mystical Ninja is a series I can't remember much of from the SNES days simply because I only played one and it was just okay, but the N64 game is a top-tier adventure. Platforming, exploration and giant mech-battles, it's got it all. But Turtles in Time? Absolute top-tier beat-em-up. Lots of moves, Konami sound team making every level something you can dance to and paired with my favorite characters... those days were so peak. Apart from that I've played Super Probotector, Castlevania IV, Sunset Riders, Zombies, Tournament Fighters and Tiny Toons. As I haven't played the NES Tiny Toons games I have no comparison, but Buster Busts Loose I recall being fast, fun and SUPER-easy, nearly no challenge. Very varied though, lots of mini-games. Zombies was real fun run'n'gun even if not made by Konami themselves, but the resource management fwlt a little too complex foe my kid brain. Probotector was FAR more up my alley, and me and my brother would actually beat it together and it was epic every time. The giant skeleton tearing open the hangar doors and the fight where you essentially jjmp from missile to missile lives in my brain rent free to this day. Sunset Riders have Turtles in Time tier music and is fun enough, but Probotector still got it beat. And Tournament Fighters... well, it isn't as slick as Street Fighter and I only played it on emulation, but it's once again Turtles so I have a lot of oversight.

[@dennisveneman9469]

Biker mice..always remind me @rocking roll racing..deserves more

[@kendejong3588]

I recently came across your channel and I enjoy your videos. This one...not a bad list, but you did Prince of Persia dirty. Yes, it was another version of POP, but it was one of the best versions. The graphics were great, the music was awesome. There was even a way to pick the level music you wanted to listen to. It was top notch. Anyways, that's my rant. Keep up the awesome videos.

[@ZBR_ProXP]

Exactly, and it had like 10 extra levels!

[@samorozco2002]

He did batman returns dirty. That is a A class game easily. With its graphics, music, cut scenes, and different gameplay styles. It's a beat em up, shooter and you drive the batmobile. Yet tmnt isn't monotonous? I like that game too, but still batman returns is a great game.

[@pabloalvarez-qu2hy]

S

[@ehenson99]

100%

[@geoffreybrooks6041]

Buster Busts Loose is criminally under-rated. The football stage alone should bump it into A Tier. It's just really good.

[@madspunky]

International Superstar Soccer is definitely better than FIFA, and should be A-tier imo!

[@cloficc7234]

No ISS Deluxe? Best soccer game on SNES!

[@barcelona909]

Yea I was very confused in the video. He mentioned ISS, but the game cover is ISS Deluxe. I guess he forgot one or the other.

[@Seathon]

This top took me back to my childhood, I physically had half of these games on my console. My all time favorites, Gradius and Axelay; sublime soundtrack and challenging bosses, I couldn't get through them until my 20s because of the difficulty, but it was satisfying when I finally finished them. The position in the ranking seemed very accurate to me, except for Batman Return, which should certainly be in the B or even A because of the level of the batmobile, which should score points for versatility all tho being a long game.

[@Johnenoch226]

New subscriber, love the content! Contra was so much fun.

[@XiJinPiggie]

Oi mate, it was a pleasure meeting you at comic con today!!! And your Eggman costume was great. I was happy to be able to test out your scent collection too. Put the Grandmas Purse scent right in my car after i got it

[@XiJinPiggie]

I was the Jedi with orange sword in case my profile photo doesn't give it away

[@frod79]

Gotta stick up for lethal enforcer's. I just remember playing the Genesis port for the first time at my cousin's place with the gun and having a lot of fun with It ... used to play it quite a bit in the arcade also

[@michaeldavis1464]

I agree with putting mystical ninja at the top of the list. It’s an awesome game.

[@Shrapnel82]

For me, Batman Returns is a solid A at least. It does have variety, alternating between brawler, and action platformer, and a Batmobile stage. I was never left bored. There was so much variety. Just the brawler stages themselves had a wide variety of moves, and different strategies worked best against different enemies. The side scrolling action platforming stages were not as fun, but still really good. And you could do the grappling hook into the wall to tear off a piece against the taser clown (not a sentence you often use, but there you go), just like in the movie.

[@bskok82]

5:08 "Maybe you have"... So my college roommate and I would co-op single life clear (and each of us could single player 1 life clear it as well) Contra III on hardmode we played that game so much. Once you know which weapons to use, where the enemies are going to spawn, and the patterns of every boss it's not so hard. If you are both equipped with spread and crusher and then mash the switch weapon and fire buttons simultaneously you can delete most bosses as soon as they appear.

[@Krisipoke]

Heck yeah, Mystical Ninja getting the love it deserves. Truly one of the all-time greats, and it's severely underappreciated.

[@ryanbullock2971]

I beat Contra III on hard a few times. People didn't believe me so I recorded it on my VCR! The last enemy isn't dead when you think it's dead. Well, it's dead when you think it's dead when you aren't playing on hard mode.

[@Chr0mePisto1a]

Great video. Love tier lists.

[@eddiespuhghetti5355]

John is not easily sold on expensive baubles like Batman Returns. Deserves a deeper dive to sell us on your C rank!

[@yordan826]

I agree with some of your ratings and not so much with others, but one thing I think we would all agree and that’s Konami and Capcom were top notch developers back in the SNES era, both companies had an excellent roster of excellent games for not only the SNES but the Genesis as well.

[@danholo]

Amazing games

[@dbzfanatic278]

Mystical Ninja is amazing! Used to play it with my big brother back in the early 1990s. I would put it at at least A tier if not S. The mini games alone are fun as heck not to mention the amazing music

[@smoothALOE]

NBA Give ‘n Go was based on an arcade called “Run ‘n Gun.” I was really excited when it came out cause I enjoyed the arcade. If you liked that arcade, it was a very good port and even added players’ and teams’ licenses that the arcade didn’t have. Its greatest strength is in its presentation…Buster Busts Loose was one of my favorite games on the SNES. I have no shame in saying that. It had good replay value, too, since the ending was different and some of the levels were enhanced if you played it on a harder mode.

[@tyrus82]

Cmon 200k! So close!

[@jeffunderhill7205]

I always love these videos, but not ranking Contra 3 as S tier is sacrilege.

[@clintmangal2038]

Batman returns is an A

[@ErikLarson-l9k]

I absolutely cannot deny the quality of Legend of the Mystical Ninja, and I tried MANY times to get into it, but I just couldn’t for one big reason: the password system. It suffers from the same issue as NES River City Ransom, where the passwords are just so incredibly long and complex it was easier to just play through the whole game in one sitting, which I did once. Give it a battery backup and BOOM, it’s probably one of my favorites on the console. NES Blaster Master is also similar, though that game had no save at all. It’s so much more enjoyable using save states.

[@pliniomsann]

Batman Returns for me is A. Top quality sound , perfect hit-box, challenging, and totally aligned with the movie

[@robbie5984]

Turtles in Time will forever be my number one. It holds a special place in my heart. Curious to see where it is on this list.

[@MotherKojiro]

Dracula X is certainly no Rondo of Blood, but one element that it absolutely ACES even over its Turbo CD counterpart is the first stage music, Opposing Bloodlines.

[@HeyLaserLips]

Speaking of name changes, Zombies Ate My Neighbors was renamed to just "Zombies" in the UK to "tone down" the name title.

[@akzdnz]

This channel rules, glad the algorithm guided me here

[@firecrest3325]

Mystical Ninja was an absolute banger of a game. Spent all day playing this and chronotrigger

[@soxandbears]

biker mice from mars was actually a tv show so a game tie-in was warranted. that said, yeah, B sounds about right