Not to threaten the livelihood of millions of department-store Santas, but everybody already knows what most children want for the holidays this year. Some 104 million video games are projected to be purchased during the season, making these tiny cartridges the little red wagons of the cathode age — not just toys, but a shared experience that's now an inevitable part of growing up. For parents who still remember the monotonous blip, blip of Pong, the flash and complexity of current games can be dizzying. Considering the amount of time children spend in their electronic wonderlands, though, it's important to distinguish between the wheat and the chaff. So before buying those gifts, consult the following list — organized by game system and ranked by quality. (Unless noted otherwise, all are suitable for ages 5 and up.)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1. THE SIMPSONS: BART'S NIGHTMARE
Falling asleep
while doing his homework, Bart has to battle with the demons of his
subconscious — imagining himself as, among others, a rampaging green
Bartzilla and a caped Bartman. A surreal blast.
2. OUT OF THIS WORLD
More like being in a movie
than playing a video game, this leisurely paced, noir-tinted
adventure demands that you use your wits to find your way out of an
eerie parallel universe.
3.SUPER STAR WARS
If you've ever fantasized about
piloting an X-wing fighter into the heart of the Death Star, now you
can do it — in simulated 3-D as well as reenact the movie's key plot
developments.
4. NCAA BASKETBALL
While most video basketball
games play like most other video basketball games, this Nintendo
effort sets itself apart with a unique,rotating 3-D perspective.
5. ROAD RUNNER'S DEATH VALLEY RALLY
You, as the
Road Runner, must escape the clutches of Wile E. Coyote, whose
ACME-brand costumes and contraptions have been lovingly reproduced in
detail from actual 1950s cartoons.
6. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IV:TURTLES IN
TIME
The Turtles may have peaked on the big screen, but
in video-game land they're just reaching their potential. In this
latest multilevel battleground, players fight the evil Shredder's
minions.
7. SKÜLJAGGER: REVOLT OF THE WESTICANS
Parents who fret that their
Nintendo-addicted kids never pick up a book should rush out to buy
Sküljagger, which requires players to browse through a lengthy
well-written adventure tale (indluded with the cartridge) in order to
complete the game.
8. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST
While
this third installment of the fantasy series has all the elements
that made the first two popular — ingenious mazes,gnarly monsters, a
stirring soundtrack — it's the vastly improved 16-bit graphics that'll
wow you.
9. STREET FIGHTER II
Sure, it's violent
(people can be set on fire), but Street Fighter II offers a depth of
play (each character has more than 20 different moves) unmatched by
any other video-game slugfest.
10. SUPER MARIO KART
What might appear to be a
cynical attempt by Nintendo to cash in on its Super Mario
franchise — plunking the familiar characters down in souped-up go-carts
actually makes for a delightful racing game.
