Favorite Games of 1992

Believe it or not, but I used to own more Super Nintendo games than this. Not many since I rented most from this bankrupt place called Eye On Video that never quite caught up with the times when it came to gaming. That shithole continued to stock SNES games up until the GameCube’s release, if I remember correctly, and maybe beyond that, too.

What am I writing about? Oh, right, ‘92. Of the few remaining games from that wonderful year, here are my favorites. Stiff fucking competition, right? Four games.

List items

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  1. Super Mario Kart

  I can’t calculate the amount of time my friends and I spent with Super Mario Kart, but I do know that it dwarfs time spent with each of the sequels. We raced through every course on each difficulty, battled relentlessly in battle mode, and once that grew tiresome, we created our own entertainment by tackling stages backwards or jumping over lava pits in the handful of Bowser’s castle arenas. It was simple enough that we, as children, were easily capable of enjoying the game, but the hardest cup always proved challenging enough to return to over and over.

  As I mentioned, my time with Super Mario Kart far exceeds that of every subsequent Mario Kart with only Double Dash!! coming anywhere close to that record. It’s a testament to the excellent, varied level designs and weapons that don’t feel quite as cheap as, say, the infamous blue shell. Of course, it wasn’t completely fair. A last-minute red shell from a bastard AI always caused a round of frustrated yelling, but that mattered little when your buddy managed to claim the top position himself. Of course, that’s not exclusive to Super Mario Kart, unless you’re referring to the times when you used a feather to launch through a shortcut and back into number one.

  Progress: Complete.

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  2. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

  It’s telling when space can be considered one of the more conservative locations that Super Mario Land 2 brings the iconic plumber to. Beyond dancing with the stars, Mario explores the insides of a sappy tree and climbs a massive, almost Lego-like statue of Mario himself before knocking Wario - making his first appearance here - from the castle that’s never seen again.

  Mario Land 2 is a great platformer that doesn’t always feel like a Mario game, frankly. Come to think of it, the same accusation has been labeled against the original Mario Land. Man, Mario’s early portable adventures were weird.

  Progress: Complete.

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  3. Mega Man II

  I respect the opinions of anyone who shits on the second Mega Man game released for Game Boy. It’s an ugly game that recycles from the superior console titles, and yet I enjoyed Mega Man II enough to actually finish it. I will absolutely not replay it, but there must be something special with the classic Mega Man that I enjoyed this crapped upon game.

  Progress: Complete.

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  4. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

  I can’t say that Sonic has been a particularly favorite series regardless of whether we’re talking about the second or third dimensions. Select titles are enjoyable, but they’ll never come anywhere close to being my favorite anything, and this can absolutely be said for the original Sonic through Sonic & Knuckles, often labeled the best of the whole series.

  Truthfully, while I have little doubt that I have played Sonic 2 (likely through Sonic Mega Collection), I can’t recall much, anyway. Consider my opinion void.

  Progress: Little played.