NeoGAF Games of the Fifth Generation Awards
NeoGAF Games of the Sixth Generation Awards
1. Super Metroid (Super NES)
2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
3. Super Mario World (Super NES)
4. Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
5. Final Fantasy VI (Super NES)
6. Street Fighter II (Super NES, Sega Genesis, PC Engine, Game Boy, Arcade, PC)
7. Doom (Super NES, Sega 32X, PC)
8. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (Super NES)
9. Earthbound (Super NES)
10. Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Arcade)
11. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (Super NES)
12. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy)
13. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Sega Genesis)
14. Mega Man X (Super NES)
15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
16. Final Fantasy IV (Super NES)
17. Super Mario Kart (Super NES)
18. Secret of Mana (Super NES)
19. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Super NES)
20. Terranigma (Super NES)
21. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Sega Genesis)
22. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super NES, Arcade)
23. Gunstar Heroes (Sega Genesis, Game Gear)
24. Super Castlevania IV (Super NES)
25. Mortal Kombat 2 (Super NES, Sega Genesis, Sega 32X, Game Boy, Game Gear, Arcade, PC)
25. Tetris Attack (Super NES, Game Boy)
NeoGAF Games of the Sixth Generation Awards


1. Super Metroid (Super NES)
the most complete 2D game of all time IMO. Forget about generation. It has mood, fantastic gameplay, and an incredible score
The level-design, atmosphere and replayability of this game are still unmatched. Super Metroid remains one of the pillars of the entire subgenre and action adventures in general. This is how you do an immersive experience.
1. Super Metroid ; Though rightfully best known for its masterful level design and atmospherics, I will always remember this game for its storytelling. Classic "show, don't tell" storytelling that would be all-too scarce in the years to come.

2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
Smooth, silky perfection. I could take up the whole character count limit talking about this game. It grabs you from the word "go" and doesn't let up, with a world that is totally engrossing and gameplay that feels wonderful. When I finished the game I felt like I truly knew the place I was playing in, that I'd discovered it all and it was a part of me, and that's a feeling I've always adored from the Zelda series.
Simply the finest game of all time. I can't think of any other game which so successfully and skillfully weaves design, challenge, variety, pace, content and aesthetics together. Every component is exemplary and the quality is off the charts. A magical, epochal, artform-defining tour de force.

3. Super Mario World (Super NES)
]Platform perfection + exploration. This is the game I usually measure all platfomers against.
FThis game blew my mind at the time when it came out. Going from SMB -> SMB3 -> SMW was such an evolution. I love the variation in the levels and the fully fleshed-out zones. This is one of the first games I remember that had tons of extra content - allowing you to get so much more out of it - even after beating the game - with the secret exits, the P-switches, and Star Road.

4. Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
Seamless design allowing combat and exploration to intuitively be on the same screen, no random battles allows logical transition from exploration to battle, great spritework, animated characters and enemies combined enemies move around the battlefield and characters that actually run up to enemies to attack gives the game world a non-abstract feel, great looking tech/magic effects with different areas of effect, well paced story and progression, soundtrack by Mitsuda and Uematsu is probably the greatest in a game ever, time travel means a wide variety of environments, multiple endings, new game plus...
To me it's harder to think of an example of a game from this generation that does quite as much. It's pacing is flawless, it's soundtrack is timeless, and it's battlesystem and story to this day still do not feel dated like many other RPGs in the generation do.

5. Final Fantasy VI (Super NES)
The characters are depicted in broad stroke yet every line is poetic. The gameplay strikes the perfect balance between making each character unique and large room for customization. The soundtrack is Nobuo Uematsu at his peak and the graphic ages like fine wine with the expressive sprite-based animation.
Final Fantasy VI is as ambitious as it is bold. The cast of characters is massive and they all feel very distinct due to their classes, musical motifs and characterisation by multiple creative juggernauts of that company. There’s plenty of flexibility still in the mechanics that allow you to customise them to your own liking if you really want to though. The best part of the game is how it is paced though. All the scenes and set pieces are close together, and the game’s forward momentum makes you blaze through them. You don’t really get much time to take things in, unless the story calls for it, which helps drive home how the first lead character gets pulled into this conflict, and helps illustrate the determination of the other leads.

6. Street Fighter II (Super NES, Sega Genesis, PC Engine, Game Boy, Arcade, PC)
One of, if not THE most innovative game ever. Codified the Fighter. Invented combos. A leapforward in competitive gaming. Reinvigorated arcades. Made asymetric balancing a goal (even later when this was forgotten at times). Just looks, sounds, and plays sharp.
a total game changer. Redefined multiplayer and set the industry in a whole new direction. DLC-esque 'sequels' were less impactful even if they were more refined.

7. Doom (Super NES, Sega 32X, PC)
Groundbreaking, and changed everything afterward.
Not only did this define first-person action games and introduce modding, but it firmly established the trend of PC gaming's fidelity and complexity outperforming console gaming by a significant margin. No. Doom DEFINED PC gaming as a whole.

8. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (Super NES)
The game is just such a joy to play. It has a unique art style that separates it from anything else out there, wonderful catchy music, and level design that keeps you engaged from start to finish. The game even offers some challenge by going after all the collectibles which reward you with challenging secret levels. Yoshi's Island has a child-like innocence to it that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
The game basically is the 2D prototype of the 3D collectathon games and got everything right from the get-go. Yoshi's versatile capabilities allow for a varied and unique level design, demanding platforming skill, timing, will for exploration and even some light puzzle solving skills. The point system for the levels with its amazing reward of hard-as-nails extra levels allowed for an interesting scaling of difficulty and the presentation is wonderful.

9. Earthbound (Super NES)
Charming, funny, creative, unique, and innovative. Most fun of any RPG to talk to people in the towns because of the sense of humor. Amount of variety is unparalleled. From Stonehenge, to Zombie towns, to shopping malls, to swamps, to traffic jams, to pyrmaids, to deserts, to metropolitan cities, to beach resorts, to alien bases. Battles are more exciting than other RPGs because of the the Rolling HP Meter. Being able to squash easy enemies removed some of the tedium that is usually present in RPGs. The constantly changing battle music and settings keeps the battles and dungeons feeling fresh.
The weirdness, the perfect localization in a time of so many terrible ones, and the background music all built into an adventure that was hard to say goodbye to. Maybe it doesn't have Mother 3's punch, but good friend, bad friends gets me, just a little bit, every time.

10. Streets of Rage 2 (Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Arcade)
Still the greatest side scrolling beat-em-up of all time on a home console and stands up well even today. While there are certainly similar games with greater depth, to have this on a home console in the nineties - something better than what was in arcades - was simply mind blowing. I could wax lyrical about this game for days.
Just pure fun and the difficulty is nicely balanced (unless you play on Mania) unlike any of the arcade beat-em-ups from the same era.

11. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (Super NES)
It's perfect in many ways. Perfect soundtrack by Dave Wise. Perfect level design that introduces a new mechanic in pretty much every level, develops that mechanic in many interesting and unexpected ways, and then doesn't let it outstay its welcome. A surprisingly dark and moody art style for a game about cartoon monkeys.

12. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Game Boy)
Unravelling the strange tale of Koholint island feels that much more interesting in a series that drew from the LttP well once too often. Its tone is quirky yet endearing, it inexplicably drops in some Mario mainstays, it prioritizes puzzling over action and there’s nary a wasted inch of overworld map (rapids aside). Kind of stomps most of its GB competition quite handily.

13. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Sega Genesis)
A near flawless combination of heavily nuanced mechanics and level design that encouraged smart, experimental use of it's mechanics. Levels are huge with plenty of paths without being confusing or overly big. Bosses are simple but diverse and enjoyable. Multiple characters and special stages encourage many replays and the game's presentation is nothing short of marvelous. A definite masterpiece for the ages!

14. Mega Man X (Super NES)
Right when the NES series was going stale with the tried and true formula, this gem comes out and becomes an amazing breath of fresh air. Finding powerups mid levels and boss powerups which were fun to use in the 16-bit era.

15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
This is a perfect game. Soundtrack is perfect, sprites are beautiful, backgrounds are varied and lovely to look at, the spin dash really upgrades the gameplay and the platforming and speed are mixed together nicely. The only downside is the ease of difficulty, but this is such a blast that I don't think it matters.

16. Final Fantasy IV (Super NES)
This game is just fun setpiece after fun setpiece once it gets going. It also has some really memorable moments, and as far as gameplay is concerned it's a much better balanced game than VI. It's really amazing how much more concise and tightly paced the best jrpgs used to be back then, which is almost the opposite view people have of the genre nowadays.

17. Super Mario Kart (Super NES)
Great track design, and enemy AI that's so stupid that it's incredibly fun to manipulate.

18. Secret of Mana (Super NES)
Playing a "Zelda" game simultaneously with 2 friends was absolutely amazing and the soundtrack was and still is one of my favorites.

19. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (Super NES)
A story where Mario rescuingPeachToadstool is only the beginning. No random encounters. Grinding isn't completely necessary. One of the best soundtracks of all time. Also great for an introduction to the RPG genre.

20. Terranigma (Super NES)
This action RPG by Quintet not only has incredibly concept behind it which see the hero reviving our actual planet Earth and then advance the human progress but it also has a good execution with great graphics and audio to back it up.
Even more importantly Terranigma possess a strong soul, with a intelligent plot that isn't too invading and a memorable bittersweet finale.

21. Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium (Sega Genesis)
The game was way ahead of its time with its macro system where you can pre-plan certain actions (e.g. Hero 1 heals, Hero 2 attacks, etc.) to save on tedium and make fighting more fast paced and fun. The game itself had a presentation very similar to early Sega CD games with still anime custcenes and character portraits. The pacing was spot on and promoted the player to keep adventuring. The story itself was pretty dark and well done throughout the adventure.

22. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super NES, Arcade)
I think I've beaten this game more than any other. I've cleared it with my brother, my friends, my son, and by myself. It was amazing as a kid and it's still a blast to play.

23. Gunstar Heroes (Sega Genesis, Game Gear)
On the one hand, I'm usually not a fan of overly powerful protagonists in shooters or plaftormers, but Gunstar strikes a pretty good balance here. You can jump kick, shoulder tackle, block, and catch enemy grenades and throw them back. Like Contra 3, you can hold 2 weapons at once, but unlike that game you can actually switch to a hybrid of the 2 guns you're holding in addition to firing them individually. Great boss fights, unique presentation like the pictured boss rush, and even a board game make this a pretty unique run-n-gun.
Once you've mastered normal mode, expert mode offers an interesting challenge. It does still resort to "everyone takes more damage" as a way of increasing difficulty, but navigating those constraints is often more complicated than just shooting them longer as the greatly reduced the efficacy of certain weapons and special moves eliminate many safe strategies for breezing through the game. Also, you now have to beat all 7 forms of Sevenforce to win the fight instead of 5 chosen at random on Normal. A fun game and a sentimental favorite as I was really considering that video games just weren't for me anymore when Gunstar Heroes showed me that I had just been playing the wrong types of games.

24. Super Castlevania IV (Super NES)
Unforgettable atmosphere, soundtrack, levels, and enemies. The most immersive game of the era after Super Metroid.

25. Mortal Kombat 2 (Super NES, Sega Genesis, Sega 32X, Game Boy, Game Gear, Arcade, PC)
MK shocked the world with its" photorealistic" graphics and its violence. Its successor must have been one of the main topics of conversation among between me and my elementary school friends in 1992 and 1993. I'll never forget my gratification when I actually got this highly anticipated title. Going to the arcades and playing a coin using the formerly mysterious Reptile was a dream come true. Looking back, MK2 represented the end of the early heyday of the franchise, which IMO would eventually weaken.

25. Tetris Attack (Super NES, Game Boy)
One of the best puzzle games ever made. Playing against a friend is a blast, and watching crazy combos being pulled off is amazing.