You, too, can play Minecraft on the SNES with this surprisingly playable version of the hit game

Credit: Game of Tobi Published Aug 24, 2026, 4:22 AM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Minecraft runs on an SNES via a custom cartridge — surprisingly playable despite hardware limits. It runs smoother on SNES than the Game Boy port, even without SNES's advanced 3D chip. The SNES ROM is available to download for free on the creator's Patreon for those with compatible hardware. Minecraft is pretty graphically simple. Sure, rendering huge worlds can really tax your CPU, but if you cut it down to a smaller size, you can theoretically get it running on all kinds of hardware, such as a smart bulb. Now, someone has managed to get Mojang's hit game up and running on an SNES, and it doesn't even need the advanced 3D tech Nintendo made at the time. Minecraft on an SNES works better than it should There's not a lot you can do, but you can play it at least As spotted by Hackaday, this cool little project was the idea of Game of Tobi over on YouTube. If that name is somehow familiar to you, it's likely because you last saw them when they ported Minecraft over to the Game Boy. It was surprisingly playable on the portable console, but things quickly ground to a crawl when you tried to render really GPU-intensive things, like, uh, the bark on the trees. So, Game of Tobi wondered if their version of Minecraft would run better on an SNES instead. They put their game onto a custom cartridge, booted up the game on the SNES, and gave it a try. Sure enough, the additional hardware packed into the SNES meant that Game of Tobi had a much smoother time playing Minecraft on the retro hardware. Sure, it's still not the smoothest game that ever graced the SNES, but given how this wasn't using the advanced 3D tech that powered titles like Star Fox, it's very impressive. If you have the means of playing custom SNES games on real hardware, Game of Tobi released the Minecraft file for the console on their Patreon page. Don't worry, though; at the time of writing, you don't need to be a patron to download the file, so you can grab the SFC without paying a cent.