The top 30 SNES games matchup: vote on the big 4 developers vs the top 30 rebels

Chocobop

We just did a selective creation style group list for the top 30 SNES games NOT developed by Nintendo, Square, Capcom or Konami:

Soul Blazer
Shin Megami Tensei If...
Super R-Type
Mortal Kombat 2
Brawl Brothers
Lufia 2
Dragon Quest V
ActRaiser
Harvest Moon
Blackthorne
NBA Jam
Terranigma
Shadowrun
Super Star Wars
Earthworm Jim 2
Gemfire
Lost Vikings
Doom Troopers
Umihara Kawase
Pocky & Rocky
Flashback
Shin Megami Tensei
EVO: The Search For Eden
Joe & Mac
Tales of Phantasia
Skyblazer
Actraiser 2
Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage
Illusion of Gaia
The 7th Saga

Of course, this begs for a comparison with the top 30 SNES games that were developed by Nintendo, Square, Capcom, and Konami. I've taken the liberty of compiling a representative list using various sources:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Chrono Trigger
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy VI
Super Mario World
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario Kart
Star Fox
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Secret of Mana
Mega Man X
EarthBound
Final Fantasy IV
Tetris Attack
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest
Super Punch-Out!!
F-Zero
Super Castlevania IV
Mario Paint
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
Donkey Kong Country
Mega Man X2
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Sim City
UN Squadron
Kirby Super Star
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
Super Ghouls n' Ghosts

PART 1 - which list is better:

Is the second list better overall than the first? Yeah, probably. But win or lose, those 30 'rebel' games might put up a decent fight given the right chance, so let's do that. We're going to vote on 30 head to head matchups:

https://surveyjs.io/published?id=adb4922a-f912-4767-9758-f01b8d84b133

(Note: This is the first time I've used this voting website, let me know if something doesn't seem right. I believe you also need to use the honor system in regards to repeat surveys.)

If you've ever seen team matches in chess or certain 1v1 esports, then the concept is similar. Each "team" has 30 players, who compete in 30 head to head matches. Each win is worth 1 point, and the team with the most points is the "winner". Of course, we're the ones determining who wins each "match" through our votes for one game or the other. It will also be interesting to see how many total votes each team earns.

If you want your vote to be counted, please make a point of doing so in the coming days. I will hold off compiling the results for at least 3 days (until mid-day Sunday, Jan 7th).

As an aside, I thought about what the most fun and illuminating ways would be to vote on one list vs another, but since we are limited to what polling websites can offer this is the best structure I could come up with. An elimination tournament or some kind of ranked voting would be cool too, but I couldn't find websites to do that for us automatically.

PART 2 - everything else:

Not necessarily related to the above poll, you may post whatever freeform discussion you'd like:

For starters, why not take two of these 60 games and stake out a spicy opinion of your own?
What games should have made it in either list, or were you hoping would make it?
Which games did the 'consesus' list that I compiled get wrong?

Ringedwithtile

Cool setup! A couple of those head-to-heads were tough ones for me and I definitely went with the rebels on a few occasions, though I leaned more towards the big 4 overall.

Chocobop

Spicy opinion time: Soul Blazer > Link to the Past. It certainly didn't start out that way for me, but over time replaying Soul Blazer never ceases to please.
I was hoping King Arthur's World would make it on to our top 30. It probably would have been my next pick, but I felt I properly should put other favorites ahead of it (despite those being generally more well known than KAW).
For the top 30 Nintendo/Capcom/Square/Konami list, I would personally rank Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts much higher. I also feel Tetris Attack, DKC2 and F-Zero are rather weak contenders for the spots they occupy (again, according to personal preferences).

Sazime

Oh man, while there are definitely some Big Guns in there I would pick up and play way before the little guys (some I have beat multiple times), there are others that I would outright ignore. Very interesting match-ups.

In particular, Kirby and Link just hit the sweet spot for me. Tough competition for ANYTHING there.

Chocobop

Here are the results of the survey after a good 4 days of voting:

total head-to-head wins:
Nintendo/Square/Capcom/Konami: 25
other developers: 5 (those lines are marked with a ">")

total votes:
Nintendo/Square/Capcom/Konami: 139
other developers: 71

The match up results

Soul Blazer               -vs-   The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past          votes:  4-3
Shin Megami Tensei If...  -vs-   Chrono Trigger                                   votes:  2-5
Super R-Type              -vs-   Super Metroid                                    votes:  6-1
Mortal Kombat 2           -vs-   Final Fantasy VI                                 votes:  0-7
Brawl Brothers            -vs-   Super Mario World                                votes:  6-1
> Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals -vs-   Super Street Fighter II Turbo              votes:  5-2
Dragon Quest V            -vs-   Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island              votes:  5-2
> ActRaiser                 -vs-   Super Mario Kart                                 votes:  5-2
> Harvest Moon              -vs-   Star Fox                                         votes:  3-4
Blackthorne               -vs-   Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars       votes:  2-5
NBA Jam                   -vs-   Secret of Mana                                   votes:  5-2
Terranigma                -vs-   Mega Man X                                       votes:  3-4
Shadowrun                 -vs-   EarthBound                                       votes:  5-2
Super Star Wars           -vs-   Final Fantasy IV                                 votes:  0-7
Earthworm Jim 2           -vs-   Tetris Attack                                    votes:  6-1
Gemfire                   -vs-   Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest        votes:  2-5
The Lost Vikings          -vs-   Super Punch-Out!!                                votes:  4-3
Doom Troopers             -vs-   F-Zero                                           votes:  2-5
Umihara Kawase            -vs-   Super Castlevania IV                             votes:  5-2
> Pocky & Rocky             -vs-   Mario Paint                                      votes:  5-2
Flashback                 -vs-   Contra III: The Alien Wars                       votes:  6-1
Shin Megami Tensei        -vs-   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time votes:  2-5
EVO: The Search For Eden  -vs-   Donkey Kong Country                              votes:  4-3
Joe & Mac                 -vs-   Mega Man X2                                      votes:  2-5
Tales of Phantasia        -vs-   The Legend of the Mystical Ninja                 votes:  4-3
Skyblazer                 -vs-   Sim City                                         votes:  3-4
Actraiser 2               -vs-   UN Squadron                                      votes:  4-3
Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage -vs-   Kirby Super Star                                 votes:  0-7
> Illusion of Gaia          -vs-   Zombies Ate My Neighbors                         votes:  2-5
The 7th Saga              -vs-   Super Ghouls n' Ghosts                           votes:  2-5

Personally, my preferred picks won 22 out of 30 of these matchups. The 0-7 sweeps weren't too surprising. As always in top SNES lists, i feel that The Lost Vikings doesn't get its proper due. But Pocky & Rocky broke through at least!