After dominating the home console market in 1985 with the Nintendo Entertainment System and having had enough of Sega’s attitude with the release of the Sega Genesis in 1989, Nintendo showed gamers that it wasn’t going down without a fight by unleashing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. Nintendo’s SNES set the home gaming market on fire with more outstanding titles than ever before, bringing its original characters, arcade ports, and striking personality to a booming industry of creativity and innovation.
While many gamers await the next Nintendo Direct, confirming the gaming company’s next big swings for the Nintendo Switch 2, we thought we’d take a look back at the Super Nintendo, and rank the Top 10 titles of the legendary system that brought Mario and friends to the 16-bit era with monumental sequels, bold new IPs, and localized imports that helped change the face of gaming forever.
Honorable Mentions: Star Fox, Donkey Kong Country, SimCity, F-Zero, NBA Jam, Batman Returns, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest, Super Castlevania IV, Secret of Mana, Zombies Ate My Neighbors.
This Super Mario spinoff sparked a lifelong obsession with themed kart racers among millions of gamers worldwide. Featuring a cast of iconic characters from Nintendo’s Super Mario platforming franchise, Super Mario Kart put players behind the wheel for an unhinged racing experience through exciting Mario-themed locales. Whether you’re climbing the ranks of the Mushroom, Flower, Star, or Special Cups, Super Mario Kart offers fast, competitive gameplay with a variety of power-ups that could change the outcome of any race with little warning.
Super Mario Kart gets bonus points for standing the test of time. My friends and I played this game throughout our schooling years and beyond. We’d play until 5 a.m., watching infomercials between races. Shout out to the Sobabakawa Pillow, the Flobee, and Miss Cleo, y’all. While the races were fun enough, the Battle Mode was where it was at. Every time one of those balloons popped, we went ballistic. There have been many Mario Kart games since, but you always remember your first.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a haven for classic RPGs, and EarthBound is as cozy as they come. As the second game in Nintendo’s Mother series, EarthBound finds Ness and Pokey investigating a meteorite crash and discovering an evil alien’s plot to turn every human, animal, and object on planet Earth into a malevolent creature. Featuring a cast of zany characters, cultists, robots, and more, EarthBound never overwhelms players while ushering them through a strange world on the brink of life-altering change.
The writing in EarthBound is fantastic, making Ness’s adventure funny, heartwarming, and strange. The old-school graphics make EarthBound feel like a game out of time while showcasing modern RPG sensibilities. The soundtrack absolutely stomps, and once you’ve played EarthBound, it’s the kind of RPG that stays with you forever.
While the arcade version left players shell-shocked with the amount of quarters it took to complete the final stretch of levels, Turtles in Time for the SNES is a near-perfect port that brings one of the best beat ’em up games ever made into your living room. I said near-perfect because while the SNES version adds the Technodrome level, multiple boss fights (Rat King, Tokka, Rahzar, etc.), and better controls, it only supports 2-player co-op, making a Fab Four brawl impossible.
Still, taking control of the Heroes in a Half-Shell during the height of their popularity felt as good as wolfing down a slice of your favorite pie with a cold pop to wash it down, and a basket of garlic knots on the side. I distinctly remember shouting, “Pizza time,” “Ugh! Shell-Shocked,” and “Tonight, I dine on turtle soup,” while slashing my way through hordes of Foot Soldiers, and getting a sense of satisfaction every time I’d hurl an enemy at the screen. The sped-up, breakbeat soundtrack positively rips, and the energy of this game is off the charts. There are plenty of beat ’em games throughout TMNT history, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one as varied and fun to play as Turtles in Time.
I’ll never forget the first time Final Fantasy VI, titled Final Fantasy III, kicked my ass all over the ICU of Stony Brook University Hospital. I was extremely sick, and the staff wheeled a Super Nintendo game cart into my room and left it there. I spent the entirety of my stay adventuring through industrial zones, with mechanical contraptions whirring and locking into place as traditional fantasy elements bend the knee to an almost steampunk aesthetic. With 14 playable characters, Final Fantasy III offers a variety of personalities, each wielding a specific magic or skillset.
With an astounding amount of special abilities at your disposal, Nobuo Uematsu’s unforgettable and grand soundtrack sets the stage for an act of rebellion against a corrupt military hellbent on upholding a dictatorship that wants nothing more than to win the magical arms race. The experience is fulfilling, the challenge intense, and the gameplay tight. There are many excellent entries in the Final Fantasy franchise, but Final Fantasy III is one of the most refined takes on the property’s approach to old-school turn-based mechanics and action.
When Nintendo introduced Yoshi in Super Mario World, no one could have guessed the adorable dinosaur would go on to lead what many consider the best platforming game of all time with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. One look at Yoshi’s Island will send endless amounts of dopamine to your brain. The game’s pastel colors, storybook backdrops, and adorable enemy roster only enhance its appeal. Oozing with charm, Yoshi’s Island presents gamers with a worthy challenge while also being a welcoming experience for younger players.
When Yoshi’s Island hit shelves, it was clear that Nintendo was finding its visual identity in the 16-bit era, making the game a showcase of the studio’s talents, ambition, and knack for designing awe-inspiring levels. I played through Yoshi’s Island recently, and the game doesn’t miss a beat. It’s just as charming and well-crafted as it was upon its release, standing the test of time and remaining the best title bearing Yoshi’s name.
I almost chose Street Fighter II for this list, but then I remembered how much Hyper Fighting amps up the action of this timeless fighter. I’ll never forget the day my cousin Danny got Hyper Fighting for Easter. We immediately rushed to the SNES and played until the wee hours of the morning, shouting, shoving, and honing our skills. While he bounced around from one world warrior to the next, I focused on mastering Ken and Chun-Li, with flaming uppercuts and spinning bird kicks as my preferred method of attack. Oh, and Chun-Li’s ability to leap off walls and then kick people in the head was priceless.
While Street Fighter II remains a classic, Hyper Fighting ramped the action up by making the gameplay faster and giving you access to the four boss characters. Hyper Fighting refined the OG experience, offering a more frenzied experience that required precision and strategy to send your opponent crashing to the ground. Yatta!
There’s a laundry list of reasons why gamers are clamoring for a Chrono Trigger remake for modern consoles. Square’s time-traveling RPG is a classic take on the character-building formula that shines with a blend of fantasy and reality, making the game’s two-dimensional world feel like it’s reaching out from your screen to envelop you in a warm hug of swords, sorcery, and an engrossing story.
Instead of throwing players into random fights, Chrono Trigger displays enemies on the field map, letting you strategize before entering the fray. The “Active Time Battle” system keeps you engaged, with enemies occasionally changing position, forcing you to rethink your approach. The time-travel mechanics send players through seven eras of the game’s world history, rearranging priorities, allegiances, and combat approaches as they unlock new abilities in an unconventional sequence of events. Like Final Fantasy III, Chrono Trigger offers one of the best RPG experiences on a system that’s overloaded with quality titles in the genre.
Look, I don’t make the rules, but Nintendo’s Metroid franchise doesn’t get any better than Super Metroid. Lauded by many as video game perfection and, in some cases, hailed as the “greatest video game of all time,” this 1994 action platformer is the gold standard for exploration through new items and abilities. As the third game in the time-honored series, Super Metroid finds Samus traveling to the planet Zebes to recover an infant Metroid creature stolen by the Space Pirate leader, Ridley.
Super Metroid builds on systems and gameplay introduced in Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus, giving players access to an inventory screen, an automap, multi-directional targeting, and level design that works in concert with new ideas for an unforgettable adventure in deep space. You’ve heard the term “Metroidvania,” right? This game is where that term was born. Super Metroid is the root of so many branching paths of puzzle-based action games, from Hollow Knight to Dead Cells, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Ender Lilies: Quietus of Knight, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Blasphemous, and more.
Few flagship Nintendo games have undergone as much of an evolution as the Legend of Zelda series. Before Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom introduced players to a Hyrule beyond their wildest dreams, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past gave Link’s top-down adventures a much-needed boost with the most engaging, colorful, and mysterious chapter of the series to that point.
I’m a massive Zelda fan, and to this day, A Link to the Past is still my favorite game in the franchise, with Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild battling it out for second place. When A Link to the Past dropped, the effects of this fanciful, action-packed game turned the gaming world on its head. From revamped renditions of classic Zelda tunes to new items, abilities, and secrets to unlock, A Link to the Past gave new purpose to exploring Hyrule and aiding Princess Zelda in her fight against Ganon. There have been countless gems in the Zelda franchise, but A Link to the Past is the game that truly opened the franchise up to thrilling possibilities beyond our imaginations.
If Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best game on the Nintendo Entertainment System (and it is), then Super Mario World is the must-have Mario game of the SNES era. Bursting with new ideas, characters, worlds, power-ups, game mechanics, and more, this brightly-colored monolith of entertainment is the best adventure money can buy in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Super Mario World builds on bold new ideas introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, hiding new surprises around every corner, and even introducing Yoshi, Mario’s dinosaur companion that would go on to star in his own games. With warp pipes that could whisk you away to the unknown, items that let you explore the sky like never before, and pixel-perfect leaps of faith that meant the difference between life and death, Super Mario Bros. is one of the rare examples of perfection in the fast-paced and ever-evolving world of video games.
What do you think about our Top 10 Super Nintendo Entertainment System Games list? What’s your Top 10 list look like? Leave a comment below and let us know what your favorite games for the Super Nintendo are!