The Super Nintendo is well known for its Japanese role-playing games and platformers but one other genre that is also prominently featured on the system is action games. Action games consist of any fast pace moving games that have very little story and plenty of action, hence the name.
While the Super Nintendo’s processing power doesn’t lend itself as well to action games as the Sega Genesis with all of its fancy blast processing, there are still plenty of stand out titles on the system that while action-oriented still manage to span many other genres. So to look back at the action games offered by the system, here are 10 great games that are chalked full of fast-paced fun.
10 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
Konami was the king of arcade beat ‘em ups in the 80s and 90s. They created many classic arcade cabinets like The Simpsons Arcade Game, X-Men, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While many didn’t make it home, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did. Instead of making a direct port, Konami restructured the game, added more content, and added in a story involving time travel. What came of it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. You can play as any of the four Turtles all with their signature weapons and face off against classic villains from the cartoon like Shredder, Bebop, and Rocksteady.
9 Zombies Ate My Neighbors
In Zombies Ate My Neighbors you must save your neighbors from many different monsters that are running amok in your neighborhood, shopping mall, and many other colorful areas. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a top-down run and gun that allows you to play solo or with a friend.
There are many classic movie monsters represented here from zombies, vampires, werewolves, spiders, squid men, and more. There are a total of 48 levels in the game with the goal of each level being to save all of your neighbors that are spread out across the level.
8 Super Ghouls n' Ghosts
While most consoles received a port of the Ghouls n’ Ghosts arcade game, the Super Nintendo received its very own exclusive game that switched up the gameplay. While the arcade original allows you to shoot up and down, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts allows you to double jump and focuses more on platforming.
Also added to Super Ghouls n' Ghosts from the arcade original is the ability to upgrade your armor twice instead of once. The first upgrade gives you green armor and strengths your shot, the second upgrade gives you gold armor and a special attack that is different for each weapon.
7 Sunset Riders
Sunset Riders is essentially Contra with cowboys. You can pick from 4 different cowboys all with different weapons. As you make your way through the game you can upgrade your guns to be more powerful, shoot more than one bullet at a time, and more. Some stages take place on horseback while some play like a classic run and gun. Each level starts by showing you a criminal that has a bounty on their head. At the end of each level, you run into the criminal and must take him out to complete the level.
6 R-Type III: The Third Lightning
R-Type III: The Third Lightning is a shoot ‘em up developed by Irem and made exclusively for the Super Nintendo. Like in previous R-Type games, you have an option that can be attached to your ship either on the front or the back to power up your shot, shoot out to cause a powerful attack, or follow your ship to cover more ground.
Added in R-Type III: The Third Lightning is multiple weapon load-outs to choose from, some emphasize attacking while others emphasize defense. You can also power up your shot from super to hyper which is much more powerful but requires a longer cool down before you can use it again.
5 Shien’s Revenge
One of the most unique games on the system is Shien’s Revenge which is a first-person game where you must stop ninja stars from hitting you by swinging your knife across the screen. The control of your knife if totally free and can also be used to take out nearby enemies. You can also shoot your own ninja stars to take out enemies in the distance. Each level ends with a boss fight that will all take different techniques to destroy. The game has cut scenes dispersed between levels that tell the story of Shien’s revenge.
4 Mega Man X
When the Super Nintendo was launched Capcom decided to put the classic Mega Man series to the side to try something completely different. Mega Man X was an early release for the console and gave X a diverse set of abilities that Rock, the classic Mega Man didn’t have.
Added in Mega Man X is the ability to jump off of walls, charge your shot, dash, and much more. There was also more of an emphasis in the story with X trying to live up to Zero, a much more powerful robot that saves X at the beginning of the game.
3 Wild Guns
Wild Guns is a gallery shooter developed by Natsume. You play as cowboys fighting off robots and are stuck to a single plane in the foreground with the ability to do melee attacks to enemies who are close by, swing your lasso to stun enemies, and collect more powerful weapons.
While the game is seemingly impossible when your first pick up the controller, once you learn to utilize your dodge roll, shoot enemy bullets, and learn the level design it begins to click. The game was recently remastered and released for modern consoles called Wild Guns Reloaded.
2 Pocky & Rocky 2
Pocky & Rocky 2 is an overhead run and gun similar to games like Smash TV and Enter the Gungeoun. You play as Pocky, a young shrine maiden or Rocky, a tanuki. You can shoot in all eight directions, slide to avoid enemy bullets, collect different power ups to improve your character or shot, and wave a stick to destroy enemy bullets that have gotten too close.
There are 9 levels total, all with shops that you can go to and upgrade your character. The game’s art style was inspired by Japanese Mythology from the enemy designs to Pocky herself.
1 Contra 3: The Alien Wars
Contra 3: The Alien Wars added many new features that weren’t found in previous titles. You can hold two weapons at once and swap at will, fire screen-clearing bombs, and more.
Rather than starting with a weapon with a single shot, you start with a machine gun, a good indicator of how much crazier the game is compared to its predecessors. The jump from 16-bit to 8-bit was a massive leap for the Contra series as the game is completely insane with large bosses and excessive enemies all while barely producing any drop in frame rate.