As consoles go, the SNES has quite the family friendly image. But, just like a Pizza Hut when you look at its hygiene rating or taste its pizza or breathe inside a restaurant, it’s not always good for everyone.
King of Demons
Originally released exclusively in Japan in 1995 as Majūō, this game came west decades later as King of Demons — with an official SNES cartridge release. This devilish 2D platformer doesn’t pull its punches — the game begins with protagonist Abel and his entire family being sacrificed by a man he thought was his friend, to raise demons from hell.
Naturally, Abel wants revenge, and while his first attempt fails, the soul of his dead wife brings him back for another round, beginning the game proper. King of Demons is a challenging platformer that sees Abel fighting his way through seven stages of Hell, armed with a gun that can fire energy blasts and classic platforming maneuvers like slides and double jumps.
With each boss Abel takes down, he’ll earn a jewel that unlocks a demonic transformation, each with its own abilities. Which one you use (or whether you use them at all) is left to your discretion, though your choices will lead to two possible endings.
Having been released near the end of the Super Famicom’s life, King of Demons boasts intricately detailed artwork and a gruesome style, with enemy designs that would never have slipped past Nintendo of America’s censors. Even so, the game hasn’t been forgotten, with those who have played it all enjoying it enough to form a small cult following around it, which even drove up import prices.
Still want more SNES platformers that dive into the occult? Then the next game should help sate your appetite.
Demon’s Crest
Sometimes, a new star can be found in the most unexpected places. Demon’s Crest, released in 1994, is the third game in the Gargoyle’s Quest series — spin-offs of the fiendishly difficult Ghosts ‘n Goblins series. The games star a Red Arremer (powerful enemies in Ghosts ‘n Goblins) named Firebrand, who embarks on his own adventures to save the Ghoul Realm from even greater evils.
Demon’s Crest in particular introduces the titular Crests: elemental stones that, when all gathered, grant the user unimaginable power (sound familiar?), enough to conquer all the realms. By the time the game begins, Firebrand has managed to get his hands on nearly all of them — but in the process of beating down the opponent holding the last Crest, Firebrand is left wounded and weak — and naturally, a new demon enters the scene to take advantage of this and steal all of the Crests, save for a fragment of the Fire Crest that remains in Firebrand’s possession.
The game takes the form of a challenging and moody platformer, with a bit of Metroidvania mixed in. As Firebrand reclaims the Crests, he gains new abilities, which in turn opens up new areas in old stages to explore.
Despite the game’s wonderfully macabre art direction and solid gameplay, sales figures fell short of Capcom’s expectations — and it was enough to stop a potential GBA port from clawing its way out of the Ghoul Realm.
Demon’s Crest is at least available on the Nintendo Switch Online service, for those who are willing to challenge the most terrifying demon of all: monthly subscription fees. Next up, the second most terrifying thing: holy war.
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Though the fourth mainline Fire Emblem game has yet to see a western release, Genealogy of the Holy War’s characters have gone on to make appearances in other Fire Emblem games and media that did make it west. More importantly, the game still has a legacy among fans, some of whom hail it as one the best games in the series. And also the most child labour-y.
Genealogy is a massive epic that spans well over a decade, beginning with protagonist Sigurd repelling an invasion from the kingdom of Verdane, before spiraling into a dark tale filled with political intrigue and evil cults.
This entry is famous for a few key reasons: its maps are absolutely massive, it was the first game to introduce relationships and child units (which returned in Awakening and Fates), and its story is the darkest in the series. That story not only delves into themes you wouldn’t expect in a Nintendo game, it also features some absolutely shocking moments, like the death of Sigurd and his entire army, leading to their children to all finish the fight in the second half of the game. It also has something that I don’t know I can even mention in a video.
Though Fire Emblem as a series hasn’t exactly shied away from dark themes since then — just look at Three Houses — virtually no other game in the series gets as grim as Genealogy does. Thanks to this and rumors that have been floating around for years, fans are eagerly anticipating a potential remake. Such a title would finally allow the series’s growing audience to experience one of Nintendo’s darkest cult classics and find a Laplace of its own.
Laplace no Ma/Laplace’s Demon
Those who know their survival horror will likely be aware of Sweet Home, a turn-based horror RPG for the Famicom by Capcom. Featuring puzzles and permadeath, the game helped birth the survival horror genre. Its impact is even more important when taking into account the fact that a planned remake eventually morphed none other than the original Resident Evil.
Alas, Resident Evil is also a very different game from Sweet Home, and that will likely leave retro enthusiasts craving for more of that turn-based horror hybrid gameplay. Released in 1987 for the NEC PC-8801, and remade for the Super Famicom in 1995 by Vic Tokai, Laplace no Ma, or Laplace’s Demon, does an admirable job at filling that niche.
Set in the fictional Newcam, Massachusetts, Laplace’s Demon stars a player character with a selectable gender and job class. You’ve got your pick between Detective, Journalist, Scientist, Medium, and Dabbler, each of which has their own strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve made your character, you can pick up three party members to accompany you into the haunted Weathertop Mansion — which you happen to be investigating after some children who’ve snuck in are killed, with one still missing.
Though the turn-based battles drag a bit due to high encounter rates and low experience gain, Laplace’s Demon does a phenomenal job at creating the kind of atmosphere you’d expect from a haunted mansion, with dark lighting and an eerie soundtrack setting the mood while you explore and solve puzzles. The game is also a lot more forgiving than Sweet Home, since you can leave and return to town, where you’ll find facilities to upgrade gear, allocate skills, and revive fallen party members.
While Laplace’s Demon isn’t exactly an award-winning turn-based RPG, it’s still one of the best atmospheric experiences available on the Super Famicom, and it’s a shame that this blend of JRPG and survival horror isn’t more commonplace today.
Blackthorne
In contrast to the fast and frenetic action of other platformers in this era, Blackthorne is content to let its players explore a dark and moody alien planet.
Its protagonist, Kyle, who lived his life as a mercenary on Earth, is actually the heir to the throne of Androth, a kingdom on planet Tuul. By the time of the game’s events, Ka’dra’suul, led by Sarlac, have invaded and conquered Androth. With the truth of his heritage revealed, it falls to Kyle to avenge his father and reclaim his rightful place as the next king of Androth.
Blackthorne is a slower paced platformer, emphasizing the navigation of large environments and finding items to proceed. Despite what the box art might suggest, our hyper masculine protagonist’s weapon of choice is a shotgun, which, thankfully, doesn’t run out of bullets. Interestingly enough, both Kyle and his enemies can take cover to avoid incoming fire, and he can also shoot dudes without looking. Pretty cool.
All of this comes together to produce an experience that can best be described as “Prince of Persia with shotguns”, and though developer Blizzard hasn’t shown any interest in making a sequel, they did at least bring the game to a variety of other platforms — including the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, letting the game live on in this age.
Shin Megami Tensei
Released in 1992 in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei marks the first game of its series, and the third Megami Tensei game overall. While several of the other games we’re covering today have players fighting demons, this dark JRPG also allows players to negotiate with them to secure items, money, and even a new recruit for the team.
And unlike Pokémon, demons are fickle, dangerous creatures. Screw up negotiations and they’re liable to attack you without warning. Even if you manage to recruit them, Shin Megami Tensei ensures that you don’t play favorites with demons — they can’t gain EXP and level up like humans, and so the only way to power them up is to fuse multiple demons together to create a stronger result.
Shin Megami Tensei also forgoes the fantasy setting seen in most JRPGs at the time for an urban — and later, post-apocalyptic — setting where Tokyo comes under siege by demons from the Expanse. Things escalate badly, leading to a nuclear exchange, and soon enough, the game’s protagonist finds himself confronted with the fate of the world, with his dialogue choices influencing his final moral alignment and endings.
Where other JRPGs — including the later Persona series — have players saving the world with the power of friendship, Shin Megami Tensei instead has you killing your friends over ideological differences in a world that’s already ruined. Though it would take until Nocturne for this series to come west, Shin Megami Tensei nonetheless has left a lasting legacy on the JRPG space.
Clock Tower
Though not released in the west until the 2024 remaster, the original Clock Tower is one of the Super Famicom’s most atmospheric and terrifying games.
This point-and-click survival horror game stars Jennifer Simpson, one of several orphans adopted by the wealthy Simon Barrows, as she investigates her new home after her new step-siblings all go missing.
Clock Tower’s gameplay is simple: you use a cursor to click on objects to have Jennifer move towards and investigate them. She has a stamina meter that can be used to run, and it can be refilled by resting on the floor.
You won’t be able to investigate the house and solve puzzles at your leisure, though, because soon enough, Jennifer will find herself stalked by Bobby Barrows, also known as Scissorman. As the name might suggest, Scissorman is an invincible killer wielding a large pair of scissors. There’s no fighting him; while Jennifer can struggle and break free when caught if she has enough health left, her only real method of defense is to run, hide, and use environmental traps to impede her stalker.
Clock Tower spawned several sequels, all of which released in the west to mixed or even outright negative reception. But despite the series fizzling out in the early 2000s, the original Clock Tower has nonetheless left its mark on survival horror history.
But if you’d rather fight your way through a castle instead of scouring a mansion for clues, this next one might be for you.
Super Castlevania IV
Despite the moniker, Super Castlevania IV isn’t a sequel, but a reimagining of Simon Belmont’s original adventure on the NES. Semantics aside, one thing we can all agree on is that it’s an absolute classic, and one of the best platformers the SNES has to offer. As an early SNES title, the game is a graphical showcase, with a polished art direction that holds up to this day, as well as great use of Mode 7.
While the journey is still all about surviving tough platforming challenges on the way to kill Dracula, Super Castlevania IV does make some big changes: Simon can now change his trajectory mid-jump, and attack in eight directions with his whip. That may not sound like much to a gamer raised on sleek modern titles, but it was a big quality of life improvement at the time, and has helped the game age far more gracefully than the source material it strived to retell.
Though somewhat censored in the west, Super Castlevania IV is still a delightful horror-themed romp, and while not as gritty or gory as our next two entries, is still worth playing today. It’s a good thing that Konami has put it on tons of different platforms in the decades since its release.
Once you’ve sent Dracula to his Doom, though, consider checking out this next entry.
Doom
We’ve covered in the past how Doom can run on pretty much everything under the sun, but what about the game itself? Released in 1993 for the MS-DOS, Doom came about due to creator John Carmack’s ambition and a desire to top what Wolfenstein had achieved. And top it they did — Doom has an incredible legacy behind it, and its impact on gaming endures to this day.
Doom’s premise is simple — it’s all about killing demons that have invaded Mars’s moons before taking the fight to hell itself. But rather than focus on the story, Doom is first and foremost a fast-paced and ultra-violent buffet that’s all about killing demons with all manner of weapons. Even with the hardware limitations of the era, id Software spared no expense on pushing the violence and gore as far as they could.
The SNES version, released in 1995, used the custom Reality Engine (as opposed to the Doom engine) designed to use the Super FX 2 Chip. Though the game is rough in hindsight, that it existed on the SNES at all — uncensored — is something of a miracle. It’s also one of the few games on the system to have the honor of an ESRB M rating — shared only by Mortal Kombat 3 and its updated re-release. Speaking of which…
Mortal Kombat II and 3
No list of dark and macabre games is complete without Mortal Kombat, one of the pillars of ultraviolence that, along with Doom, caused enough controversy to create an entire content ratings board in the US.
The original Mortal Kombat, however, was also infamous for being censored on the SNES. To comply with Nintendo’s policies at the time, the porting team had to replace the blood with sweat, and the Fatalities with less violent finishing moves. To say it didn’t go down well with fans was an understatement, with the uncensored (via cheat code) Genesis version handily outselling the SNES version. Nintendo, thankfully, learned their lesson, and both successors were released uncensored in the west.
As a direct sequel, Mortal Kombat II featured more playable characters, more moves, more Fatalities, new finishers called Friendships and Babalities, and polished up the combat by making it easier to combo opponents and overall increasing the speed of the game. With the violence now fully intact, Mortal Kombat II’s SNES port became just as beloved as its other versions.
Mortal Kombat 3 would follow up on this by adding even more characters and moves, as well as a run button and run meter to address the problem of prior entries being biased in favor of defensive play. Less than a year later, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 added more characters yet again, as well as balance changes and new modes.
Beyond the blood and guts that paint their battlefields, Mortal Kombat II and 3 are both excellent fighting games in their own right, and an important part of SNES history.
READ NEXT: Bizarre & Forgotten Final Fantasy Games
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