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The 20 Best SNES Games of All Time

By YPB Team

The Super Nintendo turned 16-bit hardware into a golden age: Nintendo's own platformers, Square's RPGs, Capcom's fighters and Rare's pre-rendered spectacle all landed on the same machine. Vote on which one still holds up best.

  1. Super Metroid — ranked #11
    Super Metroid
    The 1994 atmospheric exploration classic that gave the metroidvania genre its name.
    1000pts
  2. Super Mario Kart — ranked #22
    Super Mario Kart
    The 1992 original that turned Nintendo's mascots into a racing series.
    943pts
  3. Final Fantasy IV — ranked #33
    Final Fantasy IV
    The 1991 RPG that introduced the Active Time Battle system to the series.
    900pts
  4. Super Mario World — ranked #44
    Super Mario World
    The 1990 launch platformer that introduced Yoshi and set the standard for 2D level design.
    800pts
  5. EarthBound — ranked #55
    EarthBound
    The 1994 cult RPG set in a satirical version of suburban America.
    771pts
  6. Kirby Super Star — ranked #66
    Kirby Super Star
    The 1996 compilation of eight Kirby adventures with a copy-ability sidekick system.
    600pts
  7. Chrono Trigger — ranked #77
    Chrono Trigger
    Square's 1995 time-travelling RPG with multiple endings and an all-star development team.
    600pts
  8. Super Castlevania IV — ranked #88
    Super Castlevania IV
    The 1991 gothic action platformer with a whip that swung in eight directions.
    600pts
  9. Contra III: The Alien Wars — ranked #99
    Contra III: The Alien Wars
    The 1992 run-and-gun shooter widely held to be the series' hardest and best entry.
    600pts
  10. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars — ranked #1010
    Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
    The 1996 Square and Nintendo collaboration that sent Mario into a turn-based adventure.
    600pts
  11. Secret of Mana — ranked #1111
    Secret of Mana
    The 1993 action RPG built around real-time combat and three-player co-op.
    491pts
  12. F-Zero — ranked #1212
    F-Zero
    The 1990 launch racer that showed off Mode 7 scaling at blistering speed.
    491pts
  13. Final Fantasy VI — ranked #1313
    Final Fantasy VI
    The 1994 ensemble RPG with fourteen playable characters and an opera scene.
    491pts
  14. Street Fighter II Turbo — ranked #1414
    Street Fighter II Turbo
    The faster 1993 revision that made the SNES the home of competitive fighting games.
    491pts
  15. Star Fox — ranked #1515
    Star Fox
    The 1993 rail shooter whose Super FX chip put polygons on 16-bit hardware.
    491pts
  16. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island — ranked #1616
    Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
    The 1995 hand-drawn prequel where Yoshi carries baby Mario across the island.
    360pts
  17. ActRaiser — ranked #1717
    ActRaiser
    Quintet's 1990 hybrid of side-scrolling action and god-game town building.
    360pts
  18. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past — ranked #1818
    The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
    The 1991 top-down adventure that defined the Zelda template for a generation.
    360pts
  19. Donkey Kong Country — ranked #1919
    Donkey Kong Country
    Rare's 1994 platformer whose pre-rendered graphics stunned the 16-bit generation.
    200pts
  20. Mega Man X — ranked #2020
    Mega Man X
    The 1993 reinvention that gave the Blue Bomber wall jumps and a darker story.
    200pts

#games262#90s147#nintendo49#classics476#retro21#snes1

Comments

Super Mario World brought Yoshi in 1990 and A Link to the Past fixed a template in 1991. Chrono Trigger is on the same twenty: https://youpick.best/articles/super-mario-vs-legend-of-zelda https://youpick.best/articles/final-fantasy-ranked-many-ways

YP
ypb-team·Aug 21·
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