The Best SNES Games to Buy Today
The Super Nintendo has one of the strongest libraries of any console: great platformers, the best RPGs of the 16-bit era and a handful of multiplayer games that still get played at parties. This is where we would start.
SNES cartridges are tough, but the RPGs and adventures save to memory powered by a battery in the cartridge. Those batteries last decades and are now old; our save battery guide covers what to expect. We list the North American releases, which fit and run on a North American SNES.
Platformers
- Super Mario World: The SNES launch game and pack-in: Mario, Yoshi and a world map full of secret exits.
- Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island: Yoshi carrying Baby Mario in a hand-drawn world. One of the most inventive platformers ever made.
- Donkey Kong Country: Rare's pre-rendered graphics stunned everyone in 1994. Donkey Kong Country 2 is many fans' favourite of the trilogy.
- Super Mario All-Stars: Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3 and The Lost Levels, rebuilt in 16-bit.
- Kirby Super Star: Several Kirby games in one cartridge, with two-player co-op.
- Super Castlevania IV: Castlevania with an eight-way whip and a haunting soundtrack.
Adventures and RPGs
- Zelda Link to the Past: The template for 2D Zelda, with the Light and Dark Worlds.
- Super Metroid: Atmospheric exploration that gave its name to a whole genre.
- Chrono Trigger: A time-travelling RPG from an all-star team, often called the best RPG ever made.
- Final Fantasy III: Final Fantasy VI in Japan: an ensemble story and one of the great video game villains.
- Final Fantasy II: Final Fantasy IV in Japan, which introduced the Active Time Battle system.
- Super Mario RPG: Mario's first RPG, made with Square, with timed-hit battles.
- Earthbound: A funny, strange RPG set in a small American town. A cult classic.
- Secret of Mana: An action RPG that up to three people can play together with a multitap.
Multiplayer classics
- Super Mario Kart: The first Mario Kart, still great in two-player battle mode.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV Turtles in Time: Two-player Turtles beat-'em-up, a port of the arcade game with extra stages.
- Street Fighter II Turbo: Street Fighter II Turbo at home. Super Street Fighter II adds four more fighters.
Shooters and racers
- Star Fox: 3D polygon space combat, made possible by the Super FX chip inside the cartridge.
- F-Zero: A launch-era racer that showed off the SNES's Mode 7 scaling.
Browse the full SNES collection or SNES games under $25. If a cartridge will not start, clean the contacts first.
Every game is cleaned and tested and backed by our 1-year warranty, and orders of $50 or more ship free in the US. Prices follow the market, so the listing always shows today's price.
