When you think of collecting for the classic 8bit and 16bit generation of consoles, you probably expect to spend a lot of money to getting into the game. Gone are the days of being able to hit a yard sale or thrift store and score a classic game for a fiver.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good deal on classic games, some of which are actually still really fun to play. Today we take a look at the 10 cheapest video games for the SNES as listed by our friends at PriceCharting.com.
Each game on this list will cost you well under a fiver and should offer up more than enough fun for the low cost of entry. With that said, let’s get on to the list!
- . NFL Quarterback Club 96
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It’s a given that this list would feature mostly sports titles as even today they drop in value at alarming rates. That’s probably because a new version is released every single year, many times with little more than a roster update that could be done via a patch. At least these old games released every year because there was no way to update stats.
That said, the one game for the Super Nintendo that is worth next to nothing in value in 2024 is none other than NFL Quarterback Club 96. This series was always playing catch-up with the Madden franchise right from the beginning and all the way to the Gamecube generation. What’s strange is that this iteration of the game actually bested Madden in terms of gameplay with its passing system, game saves, player trades, the no huddle offense, pocket passing, replays, and more.
The only thing that NFL Quarterback Club 96 didn’t cut the mustard on were the graphics which lagged behind the Madden series. The other killer was the opponent A.I. being pretty weak even on the highest difficulty making for lackluster single player games.
Current Price: $1.97
- . ESPN Baseball Tonight
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There are games that try to do something new or special. And then there are games that blow all their money on a license or a gimmick of some kind. ESPN Baseball Tonight is the latter with is use of the ESPN branding. Instead of spending money on creating a good baseball game, we instead get a boring title that’s propped up by ESPN’s Sports Center announcer that spoke before each game and during each batter. It was a neat gimmick that would have been far more impressive if it were paired with a good game.
The game was so lackluster that any inclusion of a difficulty setting was meaningless. One inning you might score a dozen runs, while another inning you might not score any. It all felt so random whenever playing. It also wasn’t uncommon seeing scores in line with a football and and not a baseball game. ESPN Baseball Tonight lacked what every other baseball game at the time had and is only good for a few laughs between friends to see who could get the highest score at the end of 9 innings.
Current Price: $2.00
- . Zoop
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Zoop is the first non sports game to make the list. It’s a puzzle title that’s actually pretty fun and is probably best known for its inclusion in the Blockbuster World Video Game Championship II before its release.
Zoop suffered from being to hard to follow and understand as the gameplay is far less intuitive than something along the lines of Tetris, a title Zoop was trying to ride the success of with its release on every platform at the time. There is a learning curve that makes getting into Zoop a difficult task with its convoluted mechanics with swapping pieces in quadrants.
It’s a very hard game to explain, even having played it a bunch. It’s also not helped that Zoop features a mechanic where the harder the game gets the more distracting the background becomes. Everything is fighting against you making for a complicated mess that overburdens itself instead of focusing on simple fun like Tetris did.
Current Price: $2.88
- . Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Edition
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The thing about playing old game shows for old consoles is that you probably aren’t going to be all that great with them, especially those of a pop culture nature. . Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Edition is no different with questions that were written before most of the readers to this site were even born, making for a difficult game.
The game mimics the show as well as it can for the SNES, but that isn’t saying much. The art and backgrounds are bad and the game is just plain slow and boring. You really are just better off watching the show and yelling at the TV trying to guess the answers with friends. Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Edition is simply far too tedious to enjoy alone or with friends.
It takes forever to play and there doesn’t seem to be an option to reduce the amount of rounds you are forced to play. You simply spin an ugly wheel, guess a letter, and do it over and over again. At least Vanna White pulls double duty as host and letter spinner!
Current Price: $3.00
- . Super Play Action Football
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Super Play Action Football is not a great Football game. Designed by Tose, known mostly for their Super line of sports game in the early days of the SNES, Super Play Action Football is a weak outing that pales even against its compatriots at the time.
The most interesting thing about the game is the challenge coin that features Mario on the Heads side of the coin and the raccoon tail on the other. Outside of that the gameplay is rudimentary and the A.I. is pretty brutal at times leading to a slow game with minimal yardage.
A quirk in the gameplay allows the defensive player to get an easy sack if they dive with the nose tackle at the precise moment the ball is snapped. The best thing you could say about the game is the ability to compete in three leagues. You can compete in High School, College, and the NFL. Sure, the players all look the same but it’s something unique to only this game.
Current Price: $3.06
- . Madden 93
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Madden finally joins the party with Madden 93. Selling over a million units, a huge deal at the time, Madden 93 was a huge hit and one of the reasons for its low cost. There are so many copies of the game out there that when the world ends aliens with find working copies of Madden 93 thousands of years into the future.
One thing to note that feels really strange was the fact that this was the last Madden video game to not feature the NFL license. Madden 64 would be the only other Madden title to not feature the NFL license. Madden 93 scored high and critics praised it for improving on what came before in all respects and many claim the game is the best of the 2D era.
The game is so well-loved that the entire game was included in several future Madden titles as a unlockable and special feature in Madden 2002-2005 for the PlayStation with the 2005 edition getting updated rosters and the official NFL license. If you want a cheap game that is worth every penny, then Madden 93 is the game to get.
Current Price: $3.14
- . Troy Aikman NFL Football
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Troy Aikman NFL Football was developed by Leland Interactive Media who signed former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman to endorse their then-upcoming American football title. Aikman was also heavily involved in its production by creating the plays.
The name of a big-time star helped the game stand out against Madden much like Joe Montana Football had on the Genesis. The game featured real-world NFL teams, a money management system, and the ability to create your own plays.
Where the game falters is in the graphics department. Player models are small and the animations can at time be pretty clunky. The small models also made it much harder to track players, especially in larger mobs.
Current Price: $3.25
- . Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball
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Lacking the MLB license, Sculptured Software decided top feature Roger Clemens as the games featured star with all other player names humorous takes on actual pros. The 26 teams featured in the game correspond to the 1991 MLB teams as well, though team nicknames were used due to the lack of an MLB license.
The SNES version placed a stronger focus on playing defense rather than offense, something different for a game of this nature, especially at the time. Base running is considered to be of secondary importance in the game while batting is considered to be simple by Super NES standards and was criticized at the time.
One fun thing is that by pushing a certain sequence of buttons on the Super NES version, a screen can be accessed where the variables for offense (pitchers/runners) and defense (fielding) can be edited.
Current Price: $3.49
- . Bulls vs Blazers and the NBA Playoffs
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A basketball title makes the list with Bulls vs Blazers and the NBA Playoffs. The game is a sequel to Bulls vs Lakers, both games featuring the teams in the NBA playoffs for their given year. The game was the first NBA game to feature the entire rosters of each NBA Franchise at the time.
The game is also notable for being the last in EA’s Playoffs series to feature Charles Barkley, as he began holding out on signing a licensing agreement due to the lack of pay to retired players from the National Basketball Players Association the following year.
One special feature of the game was that each team featured a star player with a signature move known as a “Marquee Shot”. These shots were difficult to perform, and only occurred when a player would press the “A” button under the right circumstances.
Current Price: $3.50
- . Championship Pool
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Officially endorsed by the Billiard Congress of America, Championship Pool is a straightforward, virtual version of pool. The player may play against the computer or up to seven other friends using the same console using the “Party Pool” option.
A simpler time, Championship Pool was designed and programmed by only two people, Franz Lanzinger and David O’Riva. The game does nothing to push the virtual pool genre forward but it’s a very solid game that scored well with critics.
Current Price: $3.54
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