Nintendo Switch Online: 10 More SNES Games It Desperately Needs
Now we’re (re)playing with power!
The Nintendo Direct on September 4th brought some momentous news for longtime Nintendo fans. Subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online service will have access not just to classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, but Super Nintendo Entertainment System games as well.
Twenty titles have been dropped, for free, into the eager laps of lucky Switch owners, including some absolutely essential releases.
Super Metroid is an atmospheric classic. Its Metroidvania formula often copied, seldom bettered in the 25 years since release. A Link To The Past is a milestone of the action RPG genre. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is arguably the greatest platformer of all time.
With so much gaming goodness at once, it might seem greedy to ask for more - but who didn’t scan the list of titles and and feel a little disappointed that a personal favourite had been omitted?
So here are some SNES games we’d love to see come to Switch. Some included might not be possible due to various rights or licensing issues, but this is a wishlist - let’s not get bogged down in legalities.
10. ActRaiser
In ActRaiser you run and jump across scrolling stages, hacking and slashing at enemies, looking for extra lives and facing epic boss battles.
So far, so ordinary but then things take a turn. The player character is a god. In the game’s action stages you get to play a vengeful, sword welding deity but you also have to rebuild the world in civilisation simulation stages. You direct your people and help them out by changing the weather. It seems that power for gods, as with Spidermen, comes with great responsibility.
Its an ambitious blending of genres that no one has really tried before or since and it works surprisingly well.
A port to mobile devices late last year omitted the city building stages entirely leaving just the hack’n’slash bits. A real missed opportunity but one Nintendo could rectify. The game is much more fun in its complete state(and, let’s face it, on a platform with buttons).
ActRaiser’s inclusion on Switch would certainly bring something a bit unusual to the SNES Online collection.