Lists

25 games

The 25 best SNES games

The 16-bit years at their best: Mode 7, big RPGs, and the platformers everyone owned.

  1. Super Metroid

    1994 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Zebes as one connected, atmospheric map, with an ending that uses the controls to tell the story.

  2. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

    1991 · SNES · Super Famicom

    A light world and a dark world laid over each other. The template for every Zelda after it.

  3. Chrono Trigger

    1995 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Square's dream team, time travel, combination attacks and more than a dozen endings.

  4. Super Mario World

    1990 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Yoshi, the cape, secret exits and the Star Road. It launched the console and still leads it.

  5. Final Fantasy VI

    1994 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Known as Final Fantasy VI in Japan. An ensemble cast, an opera, and a villain who wins halfway through.

  6. Super Mario Kart

    1992 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Mode 7 tracks, battle mode, and the blue shell's ancestors. It invented a genre.

  7. Donkey Kong Country

    1994 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Pre-rendered graphics that looked impossible on the SNES, and David Wise's score.

  8. EarthBound

    1994 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Small-town America, a dog that follows you, and an RPG that is funny, strange and sad.

  9. Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Faster, with the four bosses playable. The version that filled arcades at home.

  10. Secret of Mana

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Real-time action RPG for three players, with the Ring Command menu keeping the adventure moving.

  11. Super Castlevania IV

    1991 · SNES · Super Famicom

    An eight-way whip, rotating rooms, and a soundtrack that shows off the sound chip.

  12. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

    1995 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Crayon art, egg-throwing and baby Mario. A platformer that keeps inventing to the last level.

  13. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

    1995 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Pirate ships, beehives, and the best level design of the trilogy.

  14. F-Zero

    1990 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Mode 7 at launch: flat tracks that feel like 300 km/h.

  15. Kirby Super Star

    1996 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Eight games in one cartridge, two players, and every copy ability at full strength.

  16. Star Fox

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    The Super FX chip in the cartridge put polygons on a 16-bit console.

  17. Super Punch-Out!!

    1994 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Bigger boxers, the same readable tells, and a timer that begs for one more go.

  18. Mega Man X

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Dashing, wall-climbing, and an intro stage that teaches everything by itself.

  19. Contra III: The Alien Wars

    1992 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Two players, two weapons each, and set pieces on every screen.

  20. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

    1996 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Square and Nintendo together: timed hits, Geno, and Mario's first RPG.

  21. Super Bomberman

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Four players with the multitap, and the loudest nights in the house.

  22. ActRaiser

    1990 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Half god game, half platformer. Build towns, then fight for them.

  23. Illusion of Gaia

    1993 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Quintet's action RPG across real-world ruins, darker and stranger than it looks.

  24. Pilotwings

    1990 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Hang gliders, skydiving and a jetpack, graded by instructors who don't hand out easy marks.

  25. Tetris Attack

    1995 · SNES · Super Famicom

    Swap panels, set up chains, and lose an afternoon to Yoshi's cousins.