Guide to the Rating System

The rating system is as follows:
1 star: Terrible.
2 stars: Fair.
3 stars: Good/Average.
4 stars: Very good.
5 stars: Awesome.

(Half stars are available.)

The categories are as follows:
Graphics: This covers all of the on-screen visuals, as well as animation quality and scrolling smoothness. I'd give a 5 star rating of graphics to games like Earthworm Jim and Donkey Kong Country.

SFX: I felt it necessary to rate sound effects and music separately, because there are instances where a game might have crappy SFX but awesome music, and vice versa. I'd give a 5 star rating of SFX to games like Rock 'n' Roll Racing and Star Fox.

Music: I'd give a 5 star rating of Music to games like Star Fox, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Super Metroid. Good music will either make good use of the sound chip capabilities or be well composed, or both. Music that seriously gets on your nerves after playing the game for a short while would get a rating of 1.

Gameplay: The most important aspect of any game! Playability indicates the ease of learning the controls and the responsiveness of the controls. Games that make your fingers hurt and leave you frustrated with the Nintendo controller would not receive a high rating, naturally. I'd give a 5 star rating of Gameplaya to games that are fairly simple to learn and that let you keep control over the game instead of the game controlling you.

Challenge: I can hardly give a high rating of Challenge to a game I can beat in a day. I'd give a 5 star rating of Challenge to a game like Super Empire Strikes Back (I was never able to get past the first few levels when I rented it). Be forewarned, however, since games like these might cause you to swear an oath once and for all to finish the game, or to die trying.

Replay: A 5 star rating of Replay would indicate that this is a type of game that you just can't stop playing and you're afraid of overheating your console. This is where the long-term value of game ownership lies. I'd give a 5 star rating of Replay to games like Chrono Trigger. It's an RPG that has you coming back to play it over and over again, especially with the multiple endings!

Overall: This is the rating that counts the most: the fun factor. Any true gamer knows that games don't have to feature flashy graphics and sound to be fun. This is the general rating of the game and it is not always necessarily an average of all the above ratings.

Attention Submitters! If you would like to contribute to the page and offer an anime Super Famicom game review, please send them in! Please keep in mind that the focus on this review page is on import Super Famicom gaming. In other words, Squaresoft games are acceptable, but US Squaresoft games such as Secret of Evermore are not the focus of this page. The Anime Super Famicom Web Resource Center started out in 1997 as a review page for my growing anime-related SNES/SFC game collection. It still is focused towards anime related games, but this page has expanded beyond the original scope to cover Japanese import Super Famicom games in general and need not tie in to a specific anime or manga title (ie Super Metroid).

It's not necessary to follow this rating format, but it would be helpful for the readers. Also, if you read any reviews on this page that you disagree with, feel free to submit your own review of the game! I'm open to differing viewpoints, and it would help to make the Anime Super Famicom Web Resource Center a better source of information with comprehesive coverage of the game titles. I have supplied scans of the boxes and screen shots from the manuals for the games I have reviewed. If you have the means, please send in any scans of the game material and screenshots that you are able to obtain. Or if you wish, you can just make a short summary of the game to be included on the Snapshots page. You can make a text file of it and attach it to me in an e-mail, or just include your review in the body of the e-mail itself.

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