The Nintendo Entertainment System laid the groundwork for 2D side scrollers, creating entire genres and laying out the fundamentals of game design. The Super Nintendo had all of these tools out the gate, so, when developers were creating games for the system, they could focus much more on making unique experiences that were unlike any other games.

Another notable thing about the 16-bit era is that gaming was still relatively new, so there weren’t as many fans begging for sequels of certain games, and games were also infinitely cheaper to make, allowing for a lot more creative freedom.

With all of these things in mind, it makes sense the Super Nintendo was home to some very odd games, many of which were exclusive to Japan. So, to celebrate the weirdness that came from Nintendo’s second console, here are 10 odd games released for the system.

10 Cho Aniki: Bakuretsu Rantou Hen

When it comes to odd video games, one name that will come up time and time again is the Cho Aniki series. The Cho Aniki series is memorable for having greased-up muscle men wearing far too little as either an enemy or as the main character.

Cho Aniki: Bakuretsu Rantou Hen is a one on one fighting game, similar to the Street Fighterseries. There are many odd characters like the aforementioned muscle men, but also Adam from the Sistine Chapel, a guy with a ship on his back who houses even more muscle men, and more.

9 UFO Kamen Yakisoban: Kettler no Kuroi Inbou

UFO Kamen Yakisoban: Kettler no Kuroi Inbou seems like an odd decision was made at the UFO Yakisoban ramen’s marketing department as a way to appeal to a larger audience. The game plays like a typical beat em’ up similar to Castle Crashers, but your character is powered by UFO Yakisoban ramen. The character also acts as the companies mascot with a colorful outfit and a bowl of ramen on his head. For being a licensed mascot driven game, it is actually a fairly competent beat ‘em up with odd and creative character designs.

8 Fire Striker

Fire Striker is one of two games on this list that was released outside of Japan. The game plays like classic Arkanoid or Break Breaker where a ball is constantly bouncing around the screen and you must prevent it from going past your character.

The odd part about Fire Striker is that, not only do you have control of a character who acts a paddle, but you also control a knight who has free reign to go around the entire board to better manipulate the ball.

7 Pop’N Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures

Pop’N Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventures is a platformer starring Twin Bee who was the main character of a shoot ‘em up series called Pop’N Twinbee. Instead of being a shoot ‘em up, Pop’N Twinbee: Rainbow Bell Adventure is a platformer where you are given a variety of abilities such as dashing in all eight directions, using a variety of weapons, and more. Like the series Twinbee originated from, there are colored bells peppered throughout each level, with each color giving you a different ability to play around with.

6 Clock Tower

Clock Tower is a very creative take on the survival-horror genre. You play as a girl roaming around a large mansion, investigating, and trying to avoid a killer. Instead of having direct control of your character, you can choose to either have the girl go forward or backward.

Clock Tower plays like a classic point-and-click game, as you must press on to different objects with the cursor on the screen in order to have your character investigate. As you go through the game, you’ll run into the murderer and must either run or hide to escape.

5 Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijurokube no Karakuri Manji Gatame

While we did see the first game in the Goemon Super Nintendo trilogy in North America, released as Legend of the Mystical Ninja, we missed out on the two other, arguably better games. You can pick from three different characters: Goenmon, who was based on the thief Ishikawa Goemon, Ebisumaru, who is a chubby man with an odd demeanor, Sasuke, a mechanical ninja, and Yae, a sword-wielding kunoichi.

Ganbare Goemon 3 is a platformer with a lot of variety in its gameplay with typical platforming stages, beat ‘em up like stages, and shoot ‘em up stages.

4 Earthbound

Earthbound is a roleplaying game with a contemporary setting as opposed to the fantasy settings you see in most roleplaying games. Instead of swords and shields, you use baseball bats and yo-yos. What makes the game so odd is its sense of humor with some very clever and enjoyable writing.

What sets Earthbound apart is the fact that you can see enemies when exploring, allowing you to either run, approach them from behind to get the first hit, or, if unsuccessful, have them approach you from behind, giving them the first hit.

3 Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban

Deae Tonosama Appare Ichiban is an overhead run-and-gun similar to the Pockey and Rockey series. You have the option to play as a man dressed in traditional Japanese garb who waves a fan for an attack or a flamboyant romantic who throws roses for an attack. Also, their names translate to “Lord Stupid” and “Prince Stupid.”

As you defeat enemies, you will fill up a gauge at the bottom of the screen, and, once the gauge has reached 100%, you can temporarily turn into a much more muscular version of your character with more powerful attacks.

2 Parodius Series

The Parodius shoot ‘em up series is a parody of the Gradius series, with the name being a mash-up of parody and Gradius. The games play very similarly to the series they are parodying, with an identical powerup system.

You can play as a variety of different characters in the Parodius games from the Vic Viper from the Gradius series, Twinbee from the Pop N’ Twinbee series, a penguin, an octopus, and more. The enemies you fight range from large cat-ship hybrids, massive women that take up the entirety of the screen, and more.

1 Umihara Kawase

Umihara Kawase is a game where you play as a young girl who goes through a variety of different levels, which are set up more like obstacle courses, while also catching fish. All of the fish in the game are much larger than the girl, yet she still grabs them with her very malleable fishing line and throws them in her backpack. While the premise by itself is odd enough, the bosses are even odder, with the first boss you encounter being a massive tadpole who shoots out tiny frogs.

NEXT: 10 Of The Best RPGs On The Super Nintendo That Aren’t Final Fantasy