I Ranked Konami SNES Games

Konami was one of the kings of the 16-bit era with some of the best licenses like Castlevania and TMNT. Here's a look at (almost) every Konami game on SNES and where I'd rank them.

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John Riggs
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[chriswheatley]

Batman Returns should definitely be ranked higher. It's the best version of Batman returns on all systems. It's one of the best brawlers on the SNES only held back by a lack of simultaneous 2 player option. I loved that you could throw people into the street signs and it would make a 'gooong' noise.

[BaldoFlores_godmetal]

You have no idea the phenomenom that International Superstar Soccer was in Latin America. We were raving maniacs for this game, friendships started and ended thanks to this game. And it was MUCH better than Fifa, this is what eventually became Winning Eleven and then PES, Fifa's greatest competitor.
Top 10 SNES game for me

I apreciate the respect a a non-soccer fan has for it, you rock!

[r.e.goodrich]

John, John! Are you kidding me!? Contra III The Alien Wars only an A!? It's one of the greatest SNES games of all time, and the best Contra game. C'mon man!

[imyanigmw]

Konami and Capcom were top tier developers in the 90s

[BB-tetc]

Batman Returns is one of the best beat-em-ups on the console in my opinion. It gets that brutality factor down just right (the punching sounds, throwing enemies into walls, etc), there's lots of enemy variety, and even the platforming sections work pretty well.

[Weezing]

I've never been bored playing Batman Returns. It's an A for me.

[slaugmromni]

A John Riggs video is always so suspenseful:
"This game is really good, it's actually great, I'm surprised at how well it plays and the graphics are amazing for 1992. D-tier."
"This game is okay. It's not that great. I used to play it some, but it hasn't held up well. A-tier."

Or, my favorite Riggs-ism, the whiplash: "This game, ya know, is pretty good, pretty damn great, ehhh it's okay, it's good, it's kinda bad, but it's really great to play, and I hated playing this when it came out, but it was my favorite game when I was a kid"

Never. Change.

[Arkki]

International Superstar Soccer Deluxe was HUGE here in south america, the best soccer game of the 16-bit generation. It was so huge that, even back in the 90's, it had many, many rom hacks that you could buy as bootlegs and play on you SNES, way before the Everdrives. One of those rom hacks gave life to a very famous meme, the Ronaldinho Soccer intro.

[NikateeN]

Ouch! Batman Returns under Animaniacs?

[turboshazed]

Turtles in Time, Sunset Riders, ZAMN and Castlevania 4 are S tier games for me.

[viniciusamorim]

International Superstar Soccer literally changed the scene. Every kid in Brazil wished they had it back in the day, and the non official versions with the Brazilian league were on point. S tier day!

[MilkWasABadChoice]

Mostly agree with this, although I definitely have some disagreements.

1) Batman Returns, while repetitive, isn't a C tier game. Its B tier, borderline A tier. Very good beat em up.
2) Contra 3 is a top 20-30 SNES game. Absolutely S tier.
3) NHL/NBA games are definitely D tier sports games. Not very good or memorable.

[JMDSPhotography]

Contra A teir??? Are you kidding, John? 100% S tier my man, come on!

[joshjohnson]

Batman Returns as a C? Whew dawg, you are tough.

[andrewalexander]

The UK game magazines in the 90s made clear that International Superstar Soccer, and then International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, were vastly superior to FIFA in the 90s. Along with the N64 games, it was half of my childhood.

[georged]

Remember ppls this is John’s Tiers list 🙏🏽

[valkiriforce]

Contra III and Axelay are my S-tier games, for sure.

[derekshropshire]

Sunset Riders on SNES is better than Genesis. Definitely A quality game.

[totesmagotes]

I wish Metal Warriors had been included. Such a great action game with a cool 2 player vs mode. Side scrolling mech action game with multiple suits and very cool levels.

[rjgt]

Great ranking! It definitely shows that Konami was a beast in that era, I honestly can't remember a game that I didn't like from them through the nes-snes generation. About ISSS Deluxe this game was huge not only in Japan but in Latin America too, I might be wrong but I think that up till PS2 era Konami football games were in a higher regard than FIFA.