The 30 Greatest 16-Bit Games

• by McKinley Noble
• July 27, 2009 00:00 AM PST

Not content to let the past go peacefully, GamePro now looks back at a generation of video games that started the first console war, brought arcade games back from the brink, and showed gamers what 3D graphics could do in a cartridge. We present the 30 best games of the 16-bit era. It's as old-school as you can get without being ancient!

The fourth generation of video games was a golden era, one that saw more best-selling titles than the world had seen yet. Video games were bigger than any other form of entertainment, and the 16-bit era saw the first wave of people buying consoles to draw lines in the sand. These were the last days of the console cartridge, and GamePro's counting down the 30 best games in this retro line-up. Old-school will never stop being cool, and this collection of games will probably be around longer than we will. Which one will be the top title of the 16-bit mountain?

Yep, even the fireball and the main character were tastefully, stolen, er, parodied.

#30: Art of Fighting (NEO-GEO)

Original GamePro Score: N/A

Claim To Fame: Art of Fighting was literally an artful title in the fighting genre, with huge graphics and fluid action, as well as being one of NEO-GEO's premier early games.

Sure, Art of Fighting may have cribbed a lot of moves from the more popular Street Fighter series. Maybe they did deliberately copy certain characters to get under Capcom's skin. Maybe it's a big conspiracy, and we have no idea how far it goes. But Art of Fighting took the same amount of graphics and blew everything up the scale with great effects. Arcade gamers couldn't help but notice the lush, eye-catching graphics, and SNK's patented zooming camera was a cool little feature, too.

In 1992, gamers had never seen rotoscoping in a video game -- most people thought it was space magic.

#29: Flashback: The Quest For Identity (SNES, GEN)

Original GamePro Score: N/A

Claim To Fame: Flashback was a technical triumph, the first video game to effectively use rotoscoped graphics in cutscenes and gameplay.

Words can't describe how weird and different Flashback was, with graphics that moved as smoothly as real-life figures and a cyberpunk adventure that was reminiscent of Blade Runner and Total Recall. A lot of the game's artwork was hand-drawn as well, giving this niche French title a visual style that no gamer had seen before. This "CD-ROM game on a cartridge" proved that PC gaming could still make waves in the industry, and console owners were more than happy to see that the Sega and SNES ports of Flashback were up to snuff.

FFIV is often forgotten in SNES collections, but the story and memorable characters solidifies this masterpiece as one of Square's most excellent games.

#28: Final Fantasy IV (SNES)

Original GamePro Score: N/A

Claim To Fame: Although often overlooked, Final Fantasy IV sported a deep and epic story that was supported by memorable characters and genuine plot twists.

People can say that Final Fantasy VI (or III, depending on who's counting) is the most important FF title in the days before the PlayStation era, but Final Fantasy IV told a tale that was leaps and bounds ahead of the three previous games in the series. You didn't have just classic good versus evil, main characters dropped off in this game like flies. It just made the story that much more interesting, and you couldn't ever tell what was coming next.

Real-time combat was a first for many RPG nerds -- we could no longer eat sandwiches and leave the game running.

#27: Secret of Mana (SNES)

Original GamePro Score: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Claim To Fame: Secret of Mana made a name for itself as one of the first games to use real-time random battles and multiplayer technology in an RPG.

With most RPGs, gamers could always doze off in the middle of a random battle if things went on a bit longer than planned. The Secret of Mana not only turned this trend on its head with real-time random battles, but SNES owners could also make use of that second controller. At last, your friend on the couch could put down the Nintendo Power guide and actually give you a hand.

This video game reference is obviously the Beatles' greatest achievement to date.

#26: Earthbound (SNES)

Original GamePro Score: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Claim To Fame: Earthbound's success can be largely attributed to its wonderful sense of humor. Heck, Nintendo even let slip some alcohol references and dirty sexual jokes.

It's no wonder that fans of Earthbound have been clamoring for the full release of the complete "Mother" series. Earthbound is so dense with superb jokes and pop culture references, they're literally tripping over each other over the course of the game. Wacky character designs and weird enemies aside, this eccentric title was fun, lighthearted and a true old-school classic.

Action-packed mini scenes gave this tactical RPG a pimp-slap full of action.

#25: Shining Force (GEN)

Original GamePro Score: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Claim To Fame: Shining Force brought dynamic gameplay mechanics to the tactical-RPG genre, featuring a robust army-based combat system and a surprisingly open-ended campaign.

If the main character in Shining Force dies, it's not a Game Over. Surprised? In a strange and interesting twist on the RPG genre, Shining Force did things differently by actually giving players room to fail. When your army got routed in a battle, you didn't have to start over, and in some cases, you actually got stronger from the defeat. Some genre snobs called it too easy, but Shining Force made a few innovations that really stuck around the genre for years to come.

• First
• Prev
• • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
• Next
• Last

• Print
• Email this!
• • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz!
  • FaceBook
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us