Fondest 16-bit Memories

Jon here.

I’m still on my 16-bit kick and therefore spending quite a bit of time with my SNES and very temperamental Genesis. I’m perpetually stunned with how well the SNES hardware and cartridges hold up when you follow the single most important rule of retro gaming: never blow in the cartridges.

I’ll just throw this anecdotal evidence out there for you consideration. I blew in NES cartridges. The games would all freeze, the spring in the loader broke and the input port for the AC adapter loosened to the point that any contact with the cord caused the system to lose power. I blew in Genesis cartridges. The games would freeze and the internal batteries went caput, eliminating their ability to save progress; and both the AC and RF input on the hardware loosened to the point that any contact with the cords caused the system to lose power/video signal. I never blew in SNES cartridges. Works like a dream.

For the record, I never blew in N64 cartridges and it works fine as well. My biggest issue with the hardware was always the fragile analogue sticks.

But I didn’t want to blog today about the superiority of the SNES hardware compared to its contemporaries and even modern hardware (as far as durability). I wanted to share some of my best memories with 16-bit systems.

Two of my favorites revolve around the same game: Spiderman Separation Anxiety. For anyone unaware, it’s a side-scrolling beat ‘em up that best played cooperatively - one player plays as Spiderman, the other as Venom. It was the first game I ever bought with my own money and I can still remember going into the Game Trader store just before they closed to throw down my hard-earned birthday and lawn mowing money for the brand-new, $60 Genesis cartridge. My second cherished memory with the game was obtained much later in the Genesis life cycle when my brother and I finally beat the game. The game ruthless end runs you through a gauntlet of bosses without relief and less than a plethora of extra lives. Our sense of accomplishment was immense.

One of my other favorite memories comes from a much more obscure game: Genghis Khan II Clan of the Grey Wolf. It’s a strategy game from Koei where players choose a starting 13th century nation, build armies, groom successors, invade nations in a grand attempt to take over Europe, Asia and North Africa. I spend so many hours of my childhood scheming, allying, molding economies and waging war against computer-controlled historic figures. And when all the countries on the world map finally turned the uniform color of my home country, it was a feeling of triumph that has only been duplicated or surpassed by a handful of games.

One of those games that surpassed the triumph of Genghis Khan is Super Mario World. Beating a Mario game doesn’t induce a ton of pride, but getting through all of the Star Road levels takes game. And it rewards you with giving all the levels a trippy new paint job, which is a ton better than a screen that says “good job”. Hundreds of Marios died, but that was nothing a quick side trip to the Forest of Illusion couldn’t fix. Trudging through that torture chamber and coming through victorious is the greatest memory I have playing a 16-bit game.

Oh, and "fighting" that fish boss in Earthworm Jim. Classic.

How about you? What’s your best memory of a SNES or Genesis game?