Illusion of Gaia (SNES, 1994)

It was almost unheard of to have a character driven game back in the days of 8 and 16 bit games.  Quintet/Enix were one of the few companies that concerned themselves greatly with having great plots in their games, which they succeeded at with their Dragon Warrior/Quest series on the NES, and then again with Actraiser (1991) on the SNES.  They wouldn't nail that mark until they made Illusion of Gaia (1994), the second game in their "Gaia" trilogy, which began with Soulblazer (1992), and ended with Terranigma (1995).
The three games, like Actraiser, deal with themes of creationism and evolution, with Illusion of Gaia being the strongest of the three.  In the game, you are a young man named Will who survived a fatal expedition, while his father and the rest of the crew did not.  Back in his home town, he amazes his friends with his gift of telekinesis.  One day a young girl named Kara and her pet pig, Hamlet, come to the seaside village and she and Will strike up an immediate friendship, but she is quickly taken away by guards.  As it turns out, she is a princess, attempting to free herself of palace life in favor of adventure and romance.
Will is summoned by her father, the King, to ask him about a precious artifact that he suspects the boy possesses.  Regardless of Will's answer, the King is outraged and has him thrown into the dungeon.  Sitting in his cell, Will is contacted by a spirit, unknown to him but offering strength.  Hamlet comes to him, with a letter from Kara and a key.  He escapes the prison, ascends to her bedroom, and the two of them make their way out.
Travelling across the globe, Will is contacted by the god Gaia, who tells him of a great evil that will pass over the Earth, in the form of a comet.  This comet has been by the planet before, and when it comes close it changes the whole world and speeds up evolution, at the cost of many lives and entire civilizations.  Will is tasked with preventing the annihilation of life on the planet, but knows that he may not survive.  His friends, especially Kara, with whom he is developing a romance, agree to help him in any way they can.
So the epic tale is in motion.  It is a good thing that the plot is so interesting, because it forgives the game of having somewhat mediocre gameplay.  The actual gameplay is similar to The Legend of Zelda in that you have a top down perspective and you slash at enemies with your flute (not sword).  You have telekinesis, as I stated before, but it is only really used to move objects.  Occasionally Gaia will grant you the form of one of two ancient warriors, but these parts are limited and few.  It is adequate, I suppose, but it would make for a boring game if the story weren't so grand and exciting.
One part of the story that keeps things interesting is the romance between Will and Kara.  This is one of the most realistic and affectionate personal relationships I have seen in a game, especially incredible when you take into account that this was a time when gaming relationships were mostly hero-saves-damsel.  The two of them share a believable affection and chemistry, seen most evidently during one scene that takes place after a shipwreck.  The two of them are alone together, floating through the ocean on a chuck of their vessel. Without the constraints of society and peer pressure, the two of them survive a few weeks adrift, forming a tender closeness.  They very clearly have fallen in love, but whether or not they consummated that love would have been impossible to even suggest in a video game at this time.
Perhaps it is to set them up as the Adam and Eve figures for Illusion of Gaia's other main theme of creationism and evolution.  The god Gaia has clearly defined the effects of the comet as evolution, so perhaps Gaia's illusion is that he has intentionally set it on a course for Earth.  After continuing the progress of creation, Will and Kara shall be the patriarch and matriarch of a new human civilization.  So which is the game in favor of?  Creation or evolution?  I believe that the game is suggesting a symbiosis of the two, where the actions of a deity can be best explained through natural science.
Illusion of Gaia is a criminally overlooked title for the SNES.  Of all of the operatic and melodramatic RPGs of the time (even the best Final Fantasy games were guilty of this), it has the most subtlety of tone and genuinity of characterization and storytelling.  Quintet/Enix obviously took great care and attention to detail in their games, which sadly led to their eventual purchase by Square (forming the current day Square Enix).  On the bright side, many of their great titles made it to the United States because of their insistence.  We have all four Dragon Warriors on the NES, Actraiser, and the first two installments of the Gaia trilogy (Terranigma sadly did not make it over).  Their old titles are a vindication to the medium of video games.

Donkey Kong Country (SNES, 1994)

Games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) were often very blatant about their use of the system's biggest graphical toy, Mode 7.  As I've stated before, Mode 7 allowed the SNES to stretch, twist, and tilt sprites without having to redraw them, which could be used to generate pseudo-3D graphics.  Early SNES titles like F-Zero and Pilotwings showcased the kind of visuals the system was capable of, and most later titles had to shoehorn Mode 7 in some way.  So how is it that Donkey Kong Country (1994), often considered one of the best-looking games on the SNES, uses its special effects so invisibly?

Actually, Mode 7 is used very subtly in the game.  More impressive and revolutionary was its use of pre-rendered computer graphics.  Character sprites were drawn and animated using early 90's CG, and then put into the game.  This allows every character to have crisp, detailed sprites and fluid animation.  It allows the game to look just as impressive today as it did back then.  When Mode 7 is used, it is for background details.  Inside of a mine shaft, lanterns hanging from the ceiling will rock back and forth.  In underwater stages, a vast expanse of sand will move as you move in the distance.

A game is nothing if it doesn't have great gameplay, even if it does have amazing graphics, and Donkey Kong Country nails that as well.  It is a 2D platformer, one of the best on the SNES.  The story goes that King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's precious horde of bananas, and now with the help of his buddy Diddy Kong, he'll get them back.  You control the two apes through levels of jumping, climbing, and fighting baddies.  The two have different strengths and weaknesses which makes each one better for unique situations.  Donkey is stronger and tougher than Diddy, but Diddy is faster and jumps higher.  They also have animal friends who will give them rides from time to time, like a rhinoceros, ostrich, and giant frog.  The pair can also pick up and throw barrels at enemies.  Some can only be killed with a barrel.  If Donkey or Diddy get hit once, they are knocked out, but can be brought back if a special DK barrel is found.

One of the best features of the game, however, is its marvelous atmosphere and sense of humor.  The game is full of self-referencial humor, such as the inclusion of another Kong named Cranky, the old wise ape who will impart some knowledge to you, and scold you for being spoiled by new-age graphics ("I'll bet you thought this was 64-bit!  Back in my day you only got four pixels, and you'd be lucky to get more than one shade of grey!").  The music also adds to the atmosphere.  Every track is memorable and fantastically composed, but they never make an overstatement.  The soundtrack is right up there with the likes of Super Metroid and Final Fantasy VI.

The game was actually not developed by Nintendo, but a company called Rare Software.  They had produced a few games on the original NES, but were now tasked with making a high profile SNES game.  Obviously, they did an outstanding job, and Donkey Kong Country's success led to a golden age for Rare.  There were two sequels to Donkey Kong Country, plus their own Killer Instinct on the SNES.  On the Nintendo 64, they had Goldeneye 007,  Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, and Conker's Bad Fur Day.  They were bought by Microsoft in the early 2000's, where they suddenly started to produce sub-par (even awful) titles on Xbox consoles.  Nintendo bought them back recently, so maybe we will see a return to the glory days of Rare, all started by their early masterpiece, Donkey Kong Country.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES, 1996)

Of all the genres Mario touched upon, the RPG was probably the last thing anyone expected.  The Mario games are all about action, not about careful strategy and turn-based battles.  At this point, Mario had done racing games, puzzle games, and had yet to star in a plethora of sports games.  Nintendo wanted to put Mario in an RPG, so they gave the full creative license to Square, the geniuses behind Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, to make it.  What they came up with was a brilliant game that both helped popularize RPGs in the West and stay true to the Mario canon.
Square had tried earlier to make a simplified RPG for American beginners to the genre, Final Fantasy: The Mystic Quest for the SNES, and it had been a colossal failure.  The game pushed insulting when it came to how easy and dumbed-down it was.  American gamers rejected it outright.  Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996) is the right way to make a simplified RPG, that doesn't underestimate its audience or hold their hands, and offers depth and fun at a level low enough for new-comers to enjoy.
Super Mario RPG starts off like a typical Mario game:  Bowser kidnaps Princess, Mario must go to Bowser's castle to save her.  However, during Mario's rescue mission, a giant sword descends from the sky and plants itself into the castle, destroying the bridge to star road (the place where people's wishes are granted).  The sword has come from another dimension and belongs to the Smithy clan, who wish to take control of Mario's world as well as theirs.  The only way to fix star road, where the trans-dimensional portal is located, is to collect the seven legendary stars.  Only then, can Mario fight off the invaders.
This certainly sounds like a serious story, darker than the typical Mario fare, and it is, but the game takes a light-hearted approach to it.  This game's humor would become the standard for future Mario RPGs (such as Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi).  Consider the scene where Mario explains to the Toadstool king what happened at Bowser's castle.  In pantomime, Mario acts out the events with a slapstick quality that evokes the likes of Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.  He walks forward, representing his approach to the castle, then looks up and makes a bewildered expression, then jumps backward frantically.  This is only one scene among many that inspires genuine laughter.
The game's RPG elements also mesh well with the Mario aesthetic and universe.  Mario roams an isometric, pseudo-3D landscape, where enemies can be seen in plain sight.  If Mario runs into one of these enemies, a battle is initiated.  You may have three party members in a battle, and they include the cloud-person Mallow, the living doll Geno, the Princess, and even the King of the Koopas himself joins your party.  Each player and foe takes their turn attacking, and you may make a standard attack, or a special one, which costs TP from a shared pool among characters.  What makes the battle system in Super Mario RPG special though is the battle command system.  When doing a normal attack, press the attack button at the right moment and you can deal extra damage.  Special attacks require their own intuitive button imputs.  When being attacked, press the button at a precise moment and you can mitigate the damage you receive.
Audiences were originally alienated by this game (especially younger players).  The combination of Mario platforming and RPGs was confusing at first, but players eventually warmed up to it.  The game offers some of the best gameplay and visuals on the SNES.  All of the backgrounds and character sprites (and animations) are pre-rendered by a computer, so everything is detailed, bright, and colorful.  The music is lively and eclectic.  Beside the inevitable remixes of the classic Mario themes, there is a lush soundtrack that pushes the SNES's sound to the limit.  This game would be the genesis of the Mario RPG, which would come far in between, but always something special.

Super Mario World (SNES, 1991)

Super Mario World (1991) was the game that was packaged with the brand new Super Nintendo Entertainment System.  The system was the direct response to Sega's "Genesis does" ad campaign, being Nintendo's first 16-bit system.  The new console could handle more color, sound, and action than the original NES, and arguably even more than the Genesis.  One clear advantage the SNES had over the Genesis was sound.  It had twelve channels of orchestrated sound that were used over its five year lifespan to craft some of the finest video game soundtracks in history.  Another revolutionary piece of technology the SNES had was Mode-7, which allows sprites to be re-sized, tilted and turned in three dimensions, giving games like F-Zero and Pilotwings a pseudo-3D look.
That said, Super Mario World is really Nintendo putting their best foot forward on the SNES's launch.  The game shows off all of the system's new capabilities while also perfecting the Mario formula.  The game is quite easily the best of all the 2D Mario platformers.  All of the innovations that Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced are fully realized in this game.  Where SMB3's eight world had separate map screens, the whole of SMW takes place on one congruent map, with twists and turns at every place imaginable.  Most levels have a normal exit and a secret one (or more), which branches each path off to give the game a completely non-linear style.  This is also the first Mario game to feature a battery for save files.
The story this time goes that Mario, Luigi, and the Princess are on vacation on dinosaur island, when who should kidnap her but the infamous Bowser.  The Mario Bros. are yet again tasked with saving her.  While travelling the first small bit of the island, they discover an egg that hatches before them to reveal a green dinosaur named Yoshi (who would become one of the series' most beloved characters).  Yoshi tells them that Bowser trapped him and his friends inside of eggs, and agrees to go along with them.
The Yoshis are one of the biggest additions to the game, and offer whole new dimensions to the platforming. Mario can ride on a Yoshi, whose main ability is eating enemies with their long tongues.  Most enemies are simply swallowed, but the koopas (who now come in four colors) give different effects.  Green koopas can be spat out as a sliding projectile at enemies.  Red koopas can be spat back out as fireballs.  Blue koopas give Yoshi wings, allowing him to fly temporarily, and yellow koopas  allow him to stomp on the ground and knock out nearby foes.  Yoshi can also jump on any enemy and walk on some surfaces that Mario cannot.  Some of the game's levels and secrets require the clever use of Yoshis to solve them.  If Yoshi gets hit, Mairo will fall off of him and the startled dino will rush back and forth until Mario jumps back onto him, or he stumbles off of a cliff.
The raccoon suit from the last game has been replaced with the cape, which works somewhat similar.  When Mario has the cape, he can fly by getting a running start, and then he soars into the sky, and tilting back on the D-pad at the right time will give Mario more height.  This takes a short while to get used to, but once you do, it can be used greatly to your advantage.  Unlike the raccoon suit, it won't run out if you are good at it, but can only go one direction at a time.  The fire flower returns, of course, but Super Mario World does not have as many power ups as SMB3 in favor of the excellent Yoshi system.
Nintendo had once again proven why Mario is their strongest intellectual property, and gave the SNES the killer application it needed to become the number one console for the next five years (until the Sony Playstation came out).  The Mario series is always raising the standards for the games that come out after it, and even still hold up against the modern games.  This is the last time Mario would have a 2D outing on a Nintendo home console (not counting Yoshi's Island), until New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and is the finest of all of them.  Mario would make a few deviations on the SNES and Game Boy (all excellent, regardless) but his next main series game would once again change the face of gaming.

Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995)

Chrono Trigger (1995) is easily the best of Square's non-Final Fantasy games, and one of the finest RPGs of all time.  The game takes place in the year 1000 AD, and a young boy named Crono is going to a fair in celebration of the 400th anniversary of when his country, Guardia, won the war against the fiends, a race of monsters who now live on another continent.  At the fair, Crono runs into a girl named Marle (who is revealed to be a princess) and the two of them hit it off immediately.  They go up to the square where Crono's friend Lucca, a young scientist, is revealing her new invention, a transporting machine.  When Marle volunteers to try it out, something goes wrong and the machine opens up a wormhole, which she is engulfed in.  Crono rushes after her, and finds that he has been sent back in time 400 years.
It is the middle ages, during the war against the fiends, and Marle has been mistaken for the kingdom's queen.  The real queen had been kidnapped, and since the search was called off once Marle was found, this causes a butterfly effect.  Marle is erased from existence since the queen, her ancestor, had perished along the timeline, undoing generations of family lineage.  Crono and Lucca (who has since developed a way to control time gates) are joined by Frog, a knight sworn to protect the queen of Guardia, and they set off to rescue the real queen.  As a result, Marle is brought back.  Upon returning to 1000 AD however, Crono is arrested and found guilty of kidnapping the princess, and in escaping, the kids find another gate which takes them to the year 2300 AD.
The future is bleak, as endless dust storms rage across the planet, and obliterated cities decay in ruins.  A barely functioning computer module shows surveillance footage from 1999 AD, the Day of Lavos.  Lavos, the harbinger of doom, erupts from the planet's core and rains destruction upon the high-tech civilizations of the world, annihilating everything.  Humanity has been barely surviving for the 300 years since this apocalypse.  The kids decide to use their time travelling capabilities to stop Lavos and save the future.
This somewhat lengthy opening to the game offers an ingenious tutorial on the rest of the game's mechanics.  These are the butterfly effect and decision making.  By interacting with the past, you can alter the course of history and change the future.  Decisions you make in the various time periods can have a positive or negative effect on history.  For instance, you may interact with several people at the fair where you meet Marle, and the actions you take will effect how the trial goes.  Likewise, the things you do throughout the game will impact the overall ending you get, of which there are more than twenty.
Worry not, for this game is also as packed with action as it is with intelligent decision making and time-travel.  Unlike its counterparts of the Final Fantasy series, battles are not random encounters.  Enemies can be seen in all regular environments, some minding their own business, some actively attacking you, and can be avoided or faced head on.  Also unlike Final Fantasy, going into a battle will not take you to another screen. Battles occur wherever you happen to be, and the environment can have an influence on the way these fights go.  Each character has a regular attack, and a set of techniques (which use individual Tech Points, similar to MP) to deal extra damage.  Characters can also combine techniques, such as the cross cut with Crono and Frog, where they both slice through an enemy.  Some techs allow you to attack multiple foes.
The combination of fantasy and science fiction elements would become a trend in almost all future Square games, and nowhere does it make more sense than in Chrono Trigger.  Time periods range from the prehistoric era to antiquity, the middle ages to modern day, and the post-apocalyptic future to the end of time.  Every character is fleshed out and brilliantly written in this game.  Every one has a unique personality and backstory, something that was rare in games of that era, and still fairly scarce today.  There are very little negative things I have to say about this game.  It speaks to me on an intellectual, emotional, even spiritual level at some points, something I cannot say for many other pieces of popular media.  It may be a perfect video game experience.

Final Fantasy VI (SNES, 1994)

Just like Final Fantasy IV, this game was re-titled for its North American release.  Fans of the series grew up knowing this game as Final Fantasy III, blissfully unaware that it was actually Final Fantasy VI.  Regardless, it is a some kind of blessing that we DID get this game, because this is the most fully realized, ambitious, and enjoyable RPG of the 16-bit era.  Long time fans of the series argue that either this game or Final Fantasy VII is the best of them all, and those who pick this game have some fairly strong points.  It is the last title to be 16-bit, the last to be on a cartridge, and also the best of them.
This game starts by gracing us with one of the most iconic cinematics of the era, showing Terra, a brainwashed girl, and two empire soldiers riding their mechs (bipedal tanks) across the desolate snowy wastelands to a small mining town, with the intention to steal the crystals.  Terra somehow manages to break free, and is saved by a thief named Locke.  He encourages her to join the resistance group he is a part of, led by the flirtatious king of Figaro, Edgar, and also includes his estranged brother, Sabin.  They discover that the Emperor is collecting these crystals, called Magicite, to try and harness their magical powers.  It is revealed that long ago, humans could use magic, but lost this power due to their recklessness and technology.  The Magicite is actually the incarnation of a dead Esper (formerly known as summons) who come from another realm.  The Emperor is being influenced by the maniacal general Kefka, who wishes to harness all of the Esper's power for himself, to become the new god of magic.
Final Fantasy VI is epic in all regards.  The interpersonal relationships the playable characters have adds much emotional depth and weight to them (and there are a lot of them).  This is the first time a Final Fantasy game used a steam-punk aesthetic instead of the typical European renaissance style.  This allows many creative visuals of a post-apocalyptic world where European architecture and futuristic machines conglomerate together.  The visuals are always clashing, and always eye-pleasing.  The Super Nintendo was already known to have the best graphical prowess at the time, but this game pushes all of its power to the limit.
Terra is the very first female lead in a final Fantasy game, and she is still the best one.  She (and every other character) is written very well, with human traits and great dialogue.  She is a target of the empire because she is one of the few living people who can naturally use magic.  This is because she is actually a hybrid of human and Esper.  To stop Kefka from destroying all of existence, they must seal the portal to the Esper's world, which runs the risk of killing Terra in the process.  Speaking of Kefka, he is arguably the series' best villain.  He is a twisted, sick, demented, and vile human being.  He ruthlessly kills and destroys with fetishistic delight, understanding nothing but hate.
To compliment the incredible story and characters, Final Fantasy VI has one of the series' best systems for customizing party members.  Each character you add to your roster has their own person-specific abilities, such as Sabin's blitz moves or Edgar's arsenal of tools.  When you collect pieces of Magicite, however, you can equip them to any party member, and as they gain experience from battles, that Magicite levels up and imparts some magic and summoning abilities to them.  Just like Final Fantasy II, with some patience and resolution, any character can learn any skill.
Final Fantasy VI is most likely the RPG that Square had dreamed of when they made the original game.  It is the most realized and epic of all of the 2D Final Fantasy games.  The story reaches heights which video game storytelling had previously never imagined, with its emotionally charged characters and plot.  Consider the opera scene where Celes, an ex-general for the empire, is made to stand in for the ill-fallen singer, and the lyrics of her song actually reflect her concealed love for Locke.  The music adds so much dimension to this game, perfectly matching every mood and scenario of the story.  This would be the last time a Final Fantasy game would be released on a Nintendo console, but oh, what a way to go.

Final Fantasy V (Super Famicom, 1992)

Part of the reason why half of the retro Final Fantasy games were not released in the United States was because at the time, RPGs were a fairly niche genre which most American gamers were not accustomed to.  Releasing one of these games was a fairly big risk due to the cost of localization.  RPGs contain a relatively large amount of written dialogue and text, which is expensive and time-consuming to translate from Japanese to English, especially if the game is not expected to do well in sales.  Even the well-known Final Fantasy series was not invincible to this, and Square's next installment, number V, was the last of these games not to be released in North America.
Final Fantasy V follows Bartz, Lenna, Galuf, and Faris, a group of people who are brought together after a meteorite crash causes the four elemental crystals to lose balance (notice any themes in these games?).  These crystals form a seal on the evil sorcerer Exdeath, who wishes to destroy the world.  This game has, admittedly, one of the weaker stories in the series, but is made up for by its characters and gameplay.  Unlike other Final Fantasy games, V does not take itself as seriously and features more humorous scenes of character interaction.
This game revives and perfects the job system.  The greatest thing about this game is its amazingly deep character customization.  There are some new classes added, such as time mage and berserker, but the way you are allowed to every class is astounding.  Like Final Fantasy III, you may change character jobs at any time, and level them up in battle by collecting experience points and ability points.  New to this game though, is how you can combine classes.  Each time a class gains a level, the party member learns a new skill which they never forget, and if you change classes, you can equip one of these skills to the new class.  This allows virtually no limit to the party configurations you can devise.  You can have warriors who use time magic, red mages who can summon, magic users who can use swords, etc, etc.
Battles are, in all other respects, identical to Final Fantasy IV.  The active-time system is back, which is probably the best battle system the series would ever have.  It would stay in until Final Fantasy X on the Playstation 2, but popular belief suggests that the series had begun to slide downhill by that point.  This fifth game's perfection of the job system is enough to make it stand apart from the rest, regardless, and keep it held high as one of the best Final Fantasy games.  It is remarkable that even at five games, the best still had yet to come.

As a side note, all three of the Japan-only Final Fantasies have received ports on American systems retroactively.  Final Fantasy II is available on Final Fantasy Origins on the Playstation (which also includes Final Fantasy I), and on iOS.  Final Fantasy III was first released stateside on the Nintendo DS.  Final Fantasy V is available on Final Fantasy Chronicles on the Playstation (which also includes Final Fantasy VI).

Final Fantasy IV (SNES, 1991)

Final Fantasy IV was the first game in the series to be released on the brand-new Super Famicom and Super Nintendo systems, making it the second North American Final Fantasy game.  Because there had been no Final Fantasy II or III in the States, Square decided to rename this game Final Fantasy II, hoping that it would avoid confusion.  I actually own this copy of the game.  This is the most re-released installment in the series, having been ported to the Playstation, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and more, and for good reason.  Final Fantasy IV is one of the finest games in the whole franchise.
The game stars Cecil, captain of the Red Wings, the airship armada of the kingdom Baron.  He has orders to collect the elemental crystals, slaughtering innocents along the way.  Racked by the guilt, Cecil gains the courage to speak out to the king, and question his motives.  The king relieves Cecil of his post, and when his friend Kain tries to stick up for him, he is also dismissed.  Cecil is left with a package to deliver to the valley of Mist, and upon reaching this town, the package reveals to be a bomb which burns it to the ground.  The only survivor is an orphaned girl caller, Rydia.  Startled she calls a Titan which causes an earthquake which separates her and Cecil from Kain.  Cecil eventually discovers that Baron is being controlled by the mysterious Golbez, and his four fiends.
I could fill this entire article with a plot summary about this game, which is one of its best defining features.  Final Fantasy IV is the first game in the series to feature a fully realized plot with deep, interesting characters, twists and turns, and a genuine feeling of weight to it.  Characters have relationships with one another.  Cecil is in love with the white mage Rosa, for whom Kain also has affections for.  Rydia comes to forgive Cecil after he protects her from some guards.  There are more characters than I could do justice to, since they are all marvelously written.  Each new hardship the cast is faced with pulls at the heartstrings, aided by one of the greatest musical scores ever composed for a video game.
The game also perfects the gameplay of the previous games, while yet again reinventing itself into something fresh and new.  The biggest improvement is the introduction of the active-time battle system.  The way this works is that each party member and enemy has a time bar that when full, allows them to take a turn.  This makes battles fast-paced and dynamic, more interesting than before.  For the first and only time, your party could hold five characters, and they came and went as the story progressed.  Each character has a job class predetermined for them which is crucial to them as people and the story.  Cecil starts as a dark knight, but by finding his own redemption for his past actions, he may become the paladin.  Characters gain experience for winning battles, and gain new job-specific abilities with each level.
This game benefits immensely from the Super Nintendo's superior hardware.  The 16-bit processor allows more colorful and detailed characters and environments, and exquisitely composed music.  Final Fantasy IV was the biggest game in the franchise yet, in terms of scope, technology, and ambition.  Since no one stateside knew about Final Fantasy II and III, this game was counted as a gigantic step forward.  From the first Final Fantasy, it is an immeasurable step forward.  Compared to the Japan-only entries, it still propells light-years ahead of them, and would begin a golden age for Square Soft titles.

Actraiser (SNES, 1991)

The Super Nintendo is a console that has many games that are revered as groundbreaking classics.  Games like Super Metroid, Star Fox, and Chrono Trigger are held as the definitive classics that shaped the modern gaming world.  One title that is often overlooked in this category is Actraiser (1991).  It was developed by Enix (who also created the Dragon Quest/Warrior series) and Quintet, two companies who would come together to make some of the most underrated gems on the SNES.
It is difficult to classify Actraiser in a specific genre, since it mixes qualities of platformers, RPGs, even city simulators.  You play as the god of a planet that has ceased to trust you, since in your silence demons (from hell, presumably) have taken their reign.  In order to regain the faith of the humans, you must take physical form and fight the hellspawn yourself.  Your only assistant is a tiny angel.  To begin, you must rid the first village of Fillmore of evil.
This is where the platforming comes in.  Your spirit occupies a statue which comes to life and fights in side scrolling action stages.  These sections are par for the course of games of the time, but what makes them stand out is the art style and music.  One thing that always set Enix/Quintet games apart from the crowd is their amazing compositions which take full advantage of the SNES's 16-channel sound chip.  The music and visuals are colorful, Gothic, and exciting.  After slaying the demon at the end of the dark forest, you move on to the next part of the gameplay.
Two human followers are spawned in Fillmore and your angel is tasked with guiding the progress of their town and protecting them from the monsters that threaten it.  This is where the play of the game changes dramatically.  Suddenly you are flying in all directions, shooting down monsters with your bow and arrow and directing followers to build their village.  The more believers you gain, the stronger you get.
The amount of religious symbolism, theology, and imagery in this old game is astounding.  this was in a time when Nintendo was determined to avoid as much controversy as possible.  They would remove any violence, cussing, and religious items from games released in the United States.  For instance, in Final Fantasy in Japan, you go to a church to revive fallen comrades.  In the North American release, the cross was removed from the building and it was remodeled into a hospital.  It is amazing that Actraiser was allowed to see the light of day with all of its overt religious themes.  Religion is a controversial topic to this day, but the game is smart enough not to declare itself any specific denomination.  It is more a study of faith, and the relationship between god and follower.

Super Metroid (SNES, 1994)

Video games are a strange medium in that sequels often improve upon the original design.  Super Metroid (1994) is the third game in the Metroid series and continues the story of the bounty hunter Samus Aran.  In the first Metroid game for the NES, she was sent to the planet SR388 to hunt and destroy the Space Pirate leader, Mother Brain.  In Metroid II for the Game Boy, she was hired to exterminate all of the metroids (floating monsters that leech energy from their host) from the planet Zebes.  Upon killing the metroid mother, Samus comes across an egg, which hatches a single metroid infant.  The baby follows her off of Zebes and she turns it over to scientists.  This is where Super Metroid picks up.  The instant that Samus leaves the research facility, she receives a distress signal from it.  Upon her return, she finds that the whole crew has been killed, and the metroid hatchling is stolen by another Space Pirate leader, Ridley (pictured above), and taken back to SR388.
Atmosphere is this game's strongest feature.  This game makes you feel completely alone with its dimly lit corridors and eerie music.  You have no contact with any other human beings.  The earlier games attempted this same effect, but due to the hardware limitations of the NES and Game Boy, this was not quite possible.  Now with the SNES's superior graphics and sound technology, it is perfect.  Consider the opening scene when Samus enters the research station.  There is fog in the air, the lighting is damp, and the only sounds are distant whirrings and beepings of malfunctioning equipment.  There is a sense of foreboding.  Samus comes to a dark room where on the floor lies the metroid hatchling's container, then Ridley emerges from the shadows and lets loose an ear-sickening cry.  This scene is startling even when I am expecting it.
Like the previous games, you are set loose in a world where you have no sense of direction.  You start at point A, and you know what point B is, but you have no clue how to get there or where it is.  However, navigation is not as difficult as it was before.  In Metroid I and II, many areas looked the same, which made you feel like a rat in a maze.  Now you have a map that charts itself as you explore, and different rooms look like new environments.  This allows the world to be much larger than previous games, and exploration is not left unrewarded.
The Metroid games have always had an upgrade system, where you can find parts to improve your fighting and maneuvering capabilities, but Super Metroid improves on every aspect of that.  Energy upgrades can be expanded tenfold.  You have two types of missiles.  Introduced here are the grapple beam, speed booster, and X-ray visor.  Each new upgrade gives a heightened sense of empowerment, and makes the game progressively even more fun as you go.  The game also does a fantastic job of teaching you how to use each power without needless exposition.  When you collect the speed booster, for example, acid raises from the floor, and you must use your newly equipped power to dash out of the corridor unscathed.
Great science fiction seeks to create a world that is as real and tangible as our own.  Super Metroid achieves this by creating a world that feels like it would go on if you weren't there.  There are some creatures that will not attack you unless provoked.  Tiny insects dine on the flesh of a deceased creature, and when you approach they scatter.  Space Pirates patrol the corridors of their facilities, and applying a little stealth, you can get the drop on them.  This game is more than an adventure.  It is an experience.