The best SNES games of all time

Before Castlevania was known for the sprawling level design and deep RPG elements of Symphony of the Night and its sequels, Castlevania was one of the premier action-orientated scrolling series. The fourth installment, Super Castlevania IV, also ranks among the best of any genre. The Castlevania series has always leaned heavily on its classic horror setting, and Super Castlevania IV is no different. The game opens with an appropriately creepy intro cinematic, which focuses on a shot of a single headstone in an austere field, as the orange sky darkens to purple and lightning flashes in the distance. Suddenly, a rogue bolt strikes the headstone, destroying it, and releasing a glowing bat from within — Dracula has risen! Super Castlevania IV’s intro is just one example of the game’s brilliant attention to detail. Few other games, whether of the SNES era or today, capture the same ominous sense that Super Castlevania IV did. Super Castlevania IV also set itself apart from other games in that it requires a degree of patience and precision that many of its peers did not. The action and level design still play out as one would expect from an action game, but there are moments that require the player to consider their surroundings in order to progress. These moments helped Super Castlevania IV’s iconic atmosphere seep in, making it one of the most memorable games for the SNES.

There is a theory in certain circles of the internet that states the first Mario Kart you play is always your favorite. Of course, that isn’t always the case — Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as a Nintendo Switch game is damn good– but Super Mario Kart was the first for many gamers who can remember the early ‘90s. Nintendo’s trademark polish remains, but we’d be lying if we said this wasn’t one of the few games on this list whose graphics haven’t stood the test of time. Despite that fact, though, Super Mario Kart shines as a multiplayer title and paved the way for what’s now the series’ biggest selling point. I mean, who hasn’t spent hours in a dorm room playing Mario Kart for the sake of bragging rights? Mario Kart has become Nintendo’s best-selling video game series to date, and Super Mario Kart is the game that started the phenomenon.

Super Metroid is not only one of the best Metroid games, but one of the best games ever made, period. What makes the heralded title so special isn’t its seamless world, precise controls, or confounding puzzles, but the way the game so effortlessly and masterfully melded story with gameplay. Whereas most games of the era relied heavily on written dialogue and exposition to tell their stories, Super Metroid used the player’s actions and environmental design to tell its story. In most other video games, combat and puzzle-solving — the “game” parts of most video games — often feels like the sinew tying together the story beats. In Super Metroid, however, every aspect of the game felt deliberate. Discovering a hidden path or item happened naturally as a part of the experimentation Super Metroid’s level design encouraged, and enemies seemed more like living, alien creatures than generic cannon fodder. Few games have ever been so meticulously crafted and polished. From the opening moments aboard a derelict research station, Super Metroid created an impressive atmosphere. From the eerie soundtrack and the subtle thunderstorms on the planet’s surface to the sense of isolation areas such as the Wrecked Ship could evoke, Zebes had a far more palpable sense of place than the settings of most games do today, despite the gap in hardware power. While the game’s atmosphere and subtle storytelling are impressive, the gameplay is equally enduring. No other game remains so fun to play nearly two decades after its release. Hell, few games these days even hold up on a second playthrough. Yet, Super Metroid — by virtue of its design and the limitations of its hardware — is near infinitely replayable, as clearly evidenced by the game’s healthy and ongoing speedrunning community. Whether you’re chasing a record completion time or taking in every corner of the world, Super Metroid is a joy to experience. Gaming simply doesn’t get much better than this.

Few video game series carry the reverence the video game industry holds for the best The Legend of Zelda games. This franchise has been around for almost 30 years and has introduced generations of gamers to fantastic games. It’s one of the most influential series, on par with titles like Super Mario games. There are points to be made for which Zelda game is the best today — many people would argue for a more recent entry, Breath of the Wild — but for a long time, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past was the pinnacle of the series and the best game in the SNES’s stellar library. This installment in the Legend of Zelda franchise is a classic because of the outstanding gameplay.  A Link to the Past is an incredibly exciting adventure, and it also introduces concepts that you will recognize from other Zelda games, including the Dark World, or the Sages. The story of A Link to the Past influenced the subsequent games in the franchise. The vast lands of Hyrule and the Dark World are jam-packed with secrets to uncover, making for a thrilling playing experience. The game’s secrets and exploration mechanism are memorable. Finding a cave’s entrance was a wildly exciting adventure, allowing you to imagine all the challenges and hidden treasures awaiting you. The dungeons in A Link to the Past are perfect examples of the ones all The Legend of Zelda games are famous for. A Link to the Past dungeons aren’t easy, but they’re fair. Winning the exclusive treasures and weapons deep within them transforms Link from a green-clothed explorer into a formidable warrior. Other video games encourage players to crush their foes, but A Link to the Past manages to provide entertainment and a challenge without promoting needless violence. To win the game, you have to defeat Ganon and all the other villains – but you’ll spend most of the game solving puzzles and unraveling adventures. A Link to the Past delivers a unique experience by focusing on independent exploration rather than simply hunting and killing. Like other games in the Legend of Zelda series, A Link to the Past instills child-like wonder and curiosity while cultivating a deep appreciation of a plot and the power of character.