10 Super Nintendo Games That Remain 10/10 Masterpieces In 2026

Published Jul 25, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Kyle Gratton is an editor and writer based out of Kansas City. He received a bachelor's degree, dual majoring in English and History with a minor in Film and Media Studies, and has been a senior staff writer and reviewer for Screen Rant's Gaming section since 2021, with roles in editorial, and various freelance projects. A terminal Midwesterner who graduated from the University of Kansas, Kyle also has knowledge and interest in literature, film, film adaptions of literature, and history. Find Kyle on Bluesky: kwg.bsky.social and Letterboxd: KyleG5 In 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released in North America, beginning the storied developer, publisher, and platform holder's 16-bit era in the West. The advent of 3D graphics was on the horizon, but sprite-based artwork still had room to grow, and 2D gaming was in the middle of an era that remains exceptionally influential. Some of the most beloved games ever were originally released on the SNES, and many still hold up over three decades later. True masterpieces of the medium from the Super Nintendo era remain such in 2026. Here are 10 such games. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past Many longtime Zelda fans still hold A Link to the Past in the highest esteem, even over other consensus all-timers like Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild. In 1991, when ALttP first released on the Super Famicom (it would come to the SNES in 1992), it crystallized the classic Zelda formula which would persist for nearly three decades until BOTW restarted from base principles. In a lot of ways, A Link to the Past is the Platonic ideal of The Legend of Zelda, the pinnacle of the series' early 2D innovations, and the introduction of tropes that reverberate through successive games, like a parallel world and the Master Sword. It didn't have a medium-shaping influence like its successor, Ocarina of Time, but it's still the only Zelda game where Link has pink hair. Chrono Trigger Coming before the advent of 3D graphics, the Super Nintendo coincided with the pinnacle of classic roleplaying games (not to discount the numerous impeccable retro-styled RPGs that continue to come out), and even 31 years after its release, Chrono Trigger remains one of the genre's very best. Its unmistakable art style is the trademark of the late Akira Toriyama, and Chrono Trigger miraculously manages to remain one of the artist's most famous works in an oeuvre packed with legendary creations. Chrono Trigger's story is ambitiously spread across seven eras strung together by its time-traveling heroes. Its gameplay is equally intricate for the time, serving as something of a culmination of the combat and exploration developer Square had created for the Final Fantasy series up to that point. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Donkey Kong Country 2 is a classic example of a series starting off great, but only getting better with its second attempt. Rare's side-scrolling platformer, subtitled Diddy's Kong Quest, is actually a tag-team endeavor between the titular Kong and his girlfriend, Dixie, during which they attempt to save Donkey Kong from King K. Rool's clutches. While the original game laid a solid foundation, Donkey Kong Country 2 improved it in nearly every way. Its levels are gorgeous, fun to navigate, often challenging, and inventive all the way to the end credits. As with most Donkey Kong games, it's impossible to overlook the incredible soundtrack of Diddy's Kong Quest, one of the best heard on the Super Nintendo. Super Mario Kart Super Mario Kart feels quaint when looking back from the high competition Mario Kart 8 and the grandeur of Mario Kart World, but it's quite remarkable how much of the series' progenitor is intact over three decades later. It might take some getting used to, but Super Mario Kart is exceptionally familiar – items, drift boosting, it's all there. As if its eternally popular gameplay wasn't enough, Super Mario Kart has been admirably preserved throughout the series, with an updated version of a track persisting all the way to Mario Kart World. A word to the wise: you'll probably want to play as Donkey Kong Jr. EarthBound Originally Mother 2 on the Super Famicom, Creatures Inc. and HAL Laboratory's RPG was localized a year later, in 1995, as EarthBound on the SNES (and the original Mother followed as EarthBound Beginnings a whole 20 years later, finally localized officially via the Wii U Virtual Console). EarthBound's legacy has, sadly, been subsumed by series protagonists Ness and Lucas being mainstays of the Super Smash Bros. roster, but the RPG remains unique. While a lot of EarthBound's gameplay systems are familiar to the time period, its seamless world is a quirky mix of science fiction and 1990s Americana. It's more approachable than EarthBound Beginnings, but it's still a tragedy that we'll probably never get an official Mother 3 localization. Final Fantasy 6 While its sequel tends to get all the flowers (and a full trilogy of games for a remake), Final Fantasy 6 is the crown jewel of the series' 2D era. Due to Japanese RPGs not initially taking off in the West, FF6 was originally released on the Super Nintendo as Final Fantasy 3 (it was the third to be localized), but thanks to re-releases and the Pixel Remaster series, the unfortunately confusing naming conventions have been ironed out. Square was on a roll in the mid-90s, with FF6 coming out just one year before Chrono Trigger, and being equally vaunted. While it was essentially an iteration on its predecessors mechanically, Final Fantasy 6 began the series' exploration of technologically advanced fantasy settings, rather than the classical sword-and-board fare that came before. Super Mario RPG: Legend Of The Seven Stars Before Paper Mario, there was the astutely named Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. A year after Final Fantasy 6, Square took the eponymous plumber off of Nintendo's hands to deliver the iconic character's first roleplaying game. Super Mario RPG is often overlooked because of its descendants in the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, but its legacy is so strong it received a full remake for the Nintendo Switch in 2023. Super Mario RPG is very much of the era, an isometric, turn-based game where Mario leads a group of intrepid adventurers. A distinct highlight is Square's take on the Mushroom Kingdom, which features plenty of creature designs that still haven't returned in any Nintendo-developed Mario game since. Mega Man X You really have to feel for Mega Man fans, because it often seems like the series has only gone downhill since the illustrious Mega Man X graced the Super Nintendo in 1994. It spawned a whole subseries, but not even Mega Man X2 or X3, both of which also came to the SNES, could ultimately live up to their predecessor. Capcom had released six mainline Mega Man games on the NES, and Mega Man X marked a new era for Nintendo's new console. In addition to the upgraded 16-bit graphics and futuristic setting, Mega Man X made significant strides in the series' platforming and sequencing, giving players more traversal options and an incredible amount of freedom in choosing which order to play its levels in. Super Metroid Like A Link to the Past, Super Metroid has its zealous fans, and is often still named the series' greatest entry. It picks up right after Metroid 2, with Samus in possession of the last living Metroid, which is quickly stolen by her arch nemesis, Ridley, and the Space Pirates, restarting the series' classic gameplay loop on a new planet, Zebes. Super Metroid is so good and so influential that it is the game that lent one-half of the metroidvania genre name, the other coming from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Super Metroid holds up incredibly well, still feeling great to play with exceptional sprite work that oozes atmosphere, and may be making a comeback if rumors of a remake turn out to be true. Super Mario World Super Mario World is the Super Nintendo game – and it's not particularly close. It's the best-selling SNES game by an astounding margin of 10 million sales, nearly doubling second place... which also happens to be Super Mario, the original All-Stars collection (Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, and The Lost Levels). Super Mario World's big innovation over the NES games was the introduction of Yoshi, whom Mario can ride and perform special moves from the back of. Nintendo would repeat history when Yoshi was added in Super Mario Galaxy 2, similarly expanding the moveset of the 3D games. Super Mario World is one of the best games ever created, is arguably still the Super Mario series' pinnacle, and is in contention for best platformer of all time. It's all the more astounding that you can still play the game in 2026, and it's every bit as good as it was when it first arrived on the Super Nintendo, a masterpiece.