With one of the best libraries in the medium, the Super Nintendo is considered one of the best video game consoles of all time, it not the greatest. This was a console Nintendo actually ended up supporting into the 21st century, the last Super Famicom game surprisingly releasing in 2000.

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While such a dedicated approach to keeping the console alive helped ensure the SNES’ legacy, it also ended up hurting the Nintendo 64’s. Several games that released near the end of the Super Nintendo not only could have been released on Nintendo’s 64-bit console, they downright should have been in most cases.

10 Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

The Nintendo 64 remains Nintendo’s only home console to completely lack a Fire Emblem title. Even the Wii U had Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. The Nintendo 64 should have had Thracia 776 considering how late into the Super Nintendo’s life cycle the game released in, but it persisted as an SNES release nonetheless.

As a result, Thracia 776 is something of a black sheep within the fandom. It’s well-liked by just about everyone who’s played it, but it’s not a game that many fans actually end up playing. A Nintendo 64 release could have, at the very least, given the game the popularity it deserved.

9 Street Fighter Alpha 2

The fact Street Fighter Alpha 2 released on the Super Nintendo at all is a testament to just how deceptively powerful the console actually was. Unfortunately, it’s a bad port of a very good game and far and away the worst version of Street Fighter on the SNES. Worse yet, the Nintendo 64 was already out when it launched.

To make matters even worse, not only was the Nintendo 64 already out, the PlayStation 1 had already released a port of Street Fighter Alpha 2 a few months prior. As a result, the SNES version was more or less dead on arrival, the blatantly worst version of a very good game. That wouldn’t have happened on the Nintendo 64.

8 Rockman & Forte

In moving Mega Man away from Nintendo, Capcom decided to throw Super Nintendo fans a bone by releasing the Japanse exclusive Rockman & Forte after the release of Mega Man 8 on the PlayStation 1. While a plenty good game and one that feels at home on the system, the Nintendo 64 was out at this point.

Rockman & Forte was more or less relegated to a dying console when its release on the Nintendo 64 would have given the console a traditional and proper Mega Man. More importantly, had Capcom developed the game as-is for the N64, it might have actually garnered a localization effort.

7 Mega Man X3

One of the worst-selling X games, Mega Man X3 came out far too close to the Nintendo 64’s launch title. What was meant to be the Super Nintendo’s Mega Man X swansong ended up immediately obscured by the advent of 3D gaming. Bizarrely, Capcom noticed how Mega Man X3 failed and almost immediately ported it over to the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

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But never the Super Nintendo. The Sega Saturn got a port of a major Mega Man X game, but the Nintendo 64 only ever got Mega Man 64, a port of Mega Man Legends. Given the fact that Mega Man in general was switching gears towards Sony, it does make sense, but it’s a disappointing end to the original Mega Man X trilogy nonetheless.

6 Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension

Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension might be a licensed game, but it’s also the single best Dragon Ball fighting game on the Super Nintendo. Creative, visually stunning, and mechanically sound, Hyper Dimension really does do it all. It even features one of the better story modes the franchise has seen in a video game.

It also came out insanely late into the Super Nintendo’s life cycle and would have fit perfectly on the Nintendo 64 as is. Not just that, but the Nintendo 64 would have allowed the game to run even better, making the action far more fluid. Unfortunately, the franchise went from thriving on the Super Nintendo to ignoring the N64 outright.

5 Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!

Much like Mega Man X3, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble! was meant to be its series’ swansong on the Super Nintendo, but it ended up releasing far too close to the Nintendo 64’s launch for its own good. Worse yet, it was following up Donkey Kong Country 2, one of the best sequels of all time.

This is a shame since Donkey Kong Country 3 is an incredible platformer and would have been a fine enough launch title for the Nintendo 64. No, it didn’t show off the console’s 3D capabilities, but the PS1 managed to feature SNES-esque games during its formative years whereas the N64 didn’t. As expected, it’s the former that fans remember fondly nowadays.

4 Ys V Expert

Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand isn’t a bad action RPG by any means, but it was a noticeable step down for the Ys franchise, to the point where Falcom was more or less forced to release an updated version of the game just a few months later, Ys V Expert. Released for the Super Famicom, the effort in fixing Ys V didn’t exactly work out too well.

But it might have had the revised version released on the Nintendo 64. Not only would the title have gotten more notoriety this way, but the Nintendo 64 would also have helped iron out some of the game’s technical kinks. It wouldn’t have salvaged the experience, but it would have certainly improved it.

3 Star Ocean

Star Ocean released so close to the end of the Super Nintendo’s life cycle that it actually was able to use a special compression chip in order to produce better audio quality, voice acting, better graphics, and faster gameplay. As far as Super Nintendo games go, Star Ocean is one of the most advanced on the system.

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This would have made it fit right at home on the Nintendo 64, arguably more so since the N64 would naturally push Star Ocean even further. As is, however, Star Ocean is a nice reminder that consoles can continue to improve after their heyday.

2 Kirby’s Dream Land 3

Although Kirby 64 is a fairly traditional Kirby game on the Nintendo 64, it’s hardly the best entry in the series. Neither is Kirby’s Dream Land 3, granted, but its main problem is how slow it is. The level design, the music, and the art style are all top-notch. For whatever reason, however, the SNES just ended up making the game very slow.

While the Nintendo 64 may not have helped fix any inherent design flaws in the game, it perhaps would have allowed Kirby to move more in-line with the speed he has in the rest of the franchise. Given how late Dream Land 3 released as well, there’s really no reason why it needed to be on the SNES.

1 Metal Slader Glory: Director’s Cut

Originally a Famicom game, Metal Slader Glory very quickly rose to cult status thanks to its great presentation and an even better script. It’s far and away one of the best games on the Famicom, and it even saw a 2000 re-release on the Super Nintendo under the moniker Metal Slader Glory: Director’s Cut.

It’s without a doubt the definitive version of the game, but… why for the Super Nintendo when the Nintendo 64 was ripe and healthy? More importantly, Metal Slader Glory released on the Super Nintendo near the end of the Nintendo 64’s life cycle. If anything, logic would dictate it release on the latter.

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