What do you consider “gen 4”, because I’m guessing we may not be thinking the same if you consider the gba “gen 4” era.

Those are all mature systems, and I’d say that rankings for games on old systems are reasonably consensus at this point. You can just search for “best system whatever games” and get lists, look for games in genres you like; I’ve had luck doing that in the past, as that avoids a lot of the chaff.

I personally probably have gone back and played Super Metroid the most on the SNES, but depends on what one likes. If you like RPGs from that era, different set of games.

For this ranking of SNES games, as an example:

www.ign.com/lists/top-100-snes-games/92

1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Super Metroid
4. Final Fantasy VI
5. Super Mario World

I’d say that probably those games are going to cluster near the top of any list of SNES games.

The “/v/s recommended games” wiki is mostly maintained by 4chan users (yuck), but it’s been a good source for both mainstream and hidden gems.

SNES, Sega Genesis, GBA

If I have time later I’ll edit this with some personal recomendations.

I think homm 2 or 3 falls there.

The Pokémon Liquid Crystal ROM hack, a gen 2 remake for GBA

mega man battle network

Excite Bike

Arcade:

• The King of Fighters 2002: KOF fans will tell you either 98 or 02 were the absolute pinnacle. I side with 02 because it has Kula in it. Also note that 98 and 02 both have updated rereleases with an extended roster and rebalancing, but those are Windows-only.
• Puyo Puyo Tsu: 20th Anniversary is the peak of the series, but if you're on hardware that can't run DS or Wii, arcade Tsu is fine. AI is a lot weaker though, and the story mode just forces five colors and high gravity on later stages to compensate.
• Puzzle Bobble 1/3: You've probably played some flash game clone of this. IMO I think 1 was best for its simplicity, I'm not as fond of the garbage patterns introduced in later titles in an effort to give characters some asymmetry. But PB1 does not have AI opponents, singleplayer is only the stage clear mode, so if you don't have a human to play with try PB3 for the next best thing.
• Tetris: The Grand Master 1/2/3: The only good Tetris, do not @ me. Start with TGM2's Novice Mode, then once you can clear that go back to TGM1.
• Twinkle Star Sprites: A versus shmup with a very unique format. Chaining enemies on your screen sends attacks to your opponent's screen. Hard to really explain, just give this a spin and feel it out for yourself. There are a lot of moving parts, screenwatching is vital, and feels like I've barely scratched the surface of the game's depth.
• Vampire Savior: Aka Darkstalkers 3. This game is fast as hell and it's a blast. Like with any classic fighter, good luck keeping up with FightCade folks who really know what they're doing, but I love it casually.
• Waku Waku 7: This game's mechanics are honestly borderline kusoge, you can't even cancel normals into specials. But I love the design and atmosphere so much. Tesse is really fun to play even in spite of the system mechanics.

NES:

• Fire 'n Ice: A very rad little puzzle game.
• Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!: Just an absolute blast. I won't bother listing them seperately but also check out Super and Wii. Super's kinda the black sheep of the series, but it's still a good game, just not as good. Wii is an absolutely top-notch successor and I'm sad it didn't get any more sequels after that. The two arcade predecessors are honestly forgettable.

SNES:

• Chrono Trigger: I am hesitant to recommend most JRPGs from this era if you did not grow up on them, because many of them haven't aged so gracefully. Chrono Trigger is the exception, this game is a fine wine. You may want to check out one of the rereleases though, or at least a retranslation patch, because the original translation was made on a rushed deadline and bound by heavy technical limitations.
• Earthbound: A bit more of a slow burn in comparison to CT, but this game is carried by incredible writing. It's also required reading before playing Mother 3 next. You can skip Mother 1 though.
• Kirby Super Star: Definitely the peak of the series, giving every copy power an entire moveset is a blast. Has an updated rerelease on DS with added extras, I do highly recommend this version, but DS can be awkward to emulate so SNES is fine.
• Panel de Pon: Gamecube version is best, but if you can't run Gamecube then Super Famicom is good too. GBC is also worth checking out, in order to adapt it to the small screen the story mode has health bars instead of true CPU opponents, which makes it play rather differently.
• Wario's Woods: The NES version is more well known since it was the system's last first-party title, and for whatever reason it's the only version Nintendo ever rereleases. But the SNES version is a notable upgrade, biggest thing it has is AI to play versus mode against. Versus mode is wild as hell, so if you've never seen it please check out the SNES version.

GBC:

• Game & Watch Gallery 2: Holds a special place in my heart as the first game I ever owned. Has the best lineup out of all the collections, with 3 and 4 you can kinda tell they had used up all the heavy hitters.
• Mario Tennis: An incredible tennis RPG. And Mario doesn't even show up until the postgame as a bonus boss, which I find hilarious. Has connectivity with the N64 version if you can get that running, lets you transfer your RPG mode character and unlock more content on both titles.

Some good ones I haven’t seen mentioned:

• Donkey Kong (Game Boy)
• Avenging Spirit (Game Boy)
• Castlevania III (NES)
• Marble Madness (NES)
• On The Ball (SNES)
• Mutant League Hockey (Genesis)

I really like Donkey Kong Country as a kid. Great environments, fun platforming and a timeless soundtrack.

On GBA my most played game became an underated licensed gem: Lord of the Rings: The Third Age. The GBA version is completely separate from the ones on other platforms, but it’s a great turn based strategy game in which you get to command the heroes and other units through all important battles of the original story. Really fun!

SNES:

Sunset Riders and Wild Guns are fun little western shooters.

Genesis:

Rock’n’roll Racing is a fantastic racer.

GBA:

The Wario games are pretty superb for quick sessions

Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland was my absolute favorite GBA game as a kid. It’s extremely linear but so well put together

…itch.io/old-school-retro-mini-game-spaceship