My favourite SNES games

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The Super Nintendo is the console I grew up with. I played a lot of games on that thing. Now what games do I talk about from that library? The answer is obviously “yes”.

I don’t want my first post to be about one specific thing and I love me a good top 10 list, so screw it here are my top 10 favourite Super Nintendo games!

#10 - Super Metroid










I figure most people will consider this to be a very low placement for this game. Admittedly, if I actually played this game as a kid it likely would’ve been higher up. But I was already 26 by the time I first played it so there’s less nostalgia involved. In any case, despite not playing this game until later in life I still had an absolute blast playing it. The exploration feels great, and I have to mention the music as well. This game may have one of the best soundtracks in the SNES library.

#9 - Pop ‘n Twinbee









I’m typically not the biggest fan of shoot ‘em ups. But somehow this list will feature multiple of them (spoilers I know). What I particularly like about Pop ‘n Twinbee is that it doesn’t shy away from the silliness that shoot ‘em ups are known for. This game has happy music, bright and colourful art, silly anime cutscenes and all that malarkey. Though what keeps me wanting to replay this game is having to keep juggling the bells to get the optimal power ups.

#8 - Goof Troop









A lot of people refer to this game as two player Zelda. I can’t lie, that’s pretty much what it is. You go through stages (what in Zelda would be the dungeons) solving random puzzles and then fighting a boss. You just play as Goofy and Max instead of Link. This game is a go to for me if I want to introduce someone to the Super Nintendo. It’s pretty short and it’s two player so I find it a great way to help someone get to know this system.

#7 - Axelay









The second (and last) shoot ‘em up in this list. This game is a lot more serious and gritty compared to Pop ‘n Twinbee. It’s also very challenging, to this day I am unable to beat it on anything other than the lowest difficulty. Where this game really shines though, is the music. When people talk about Super Nintendo music there are a handful of games that always get brought up, but you rarely hear someone mention this. I’ll just go ahead and say, Axelay has my favourite soundtrack on the Super Nintendo. In particular the song “Unkai” is one of the most impressive bits of 16 bit orchestrating I’ve ever heard.

#6 - Super Castlevania IV









Speaking of good soundtracks, Super Castlevania IV is definitely up there with the best music the Super Nintendo has to offer. I haven’t played every Castlevania game yet, but out of the ones I have played this one is easily my favourite. I don’t know how to describe it but the way the combat works in this entry specifically works really well for me. For me this is the definitive pre-Metroidvania Castlevania game.

#5 - Super Mario World









Now we’re REALLY getting into the classics aren’t we? There’s a reason Super Mario World has such a huge romhacking community. For me 2D Mario gameplay has never quite felt as good as it does here. They get close a couple of times in fairness, but this game is my personal peak of the franchise.

#4 - The Donkey Kong Country trilogy









Okay I know I’m cheating a little bit with this one. But it’s my list so I get to do whatever I want with it! I wasn’t going to give each of these games their own entry, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave two of them out. These three games are likely my favourite traditional 2D platformers of all time. I enjoy them to the point where I’ve accidentally made it a yearly tradition to play through the entire trilogy every year during the holiday season. Which is honestly very fitting because the third game has a hidden code that makes all the bonus barrel stages holiday themed.

#3 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past









When I was putting this list together I realized something interesting. My favourite gaming franchise of all time is Zelda. But when I think about it I don’t think any Zelda game is my favourite game on its specific console.  Anyhow, before I get too sidetracked, A Link To The Past is one of my favourite games in the franchise. And a big part of it is how easy it is to do a replay of it without getting bored. I’ve done it so much that I know the game well enough to do randomizers of it now. I know that’s not super impressive, but it still speaks volumes on how good this game is.

#2 - The Quintet Trilogy









I’m cheating again and you can’t do anything about it! For those who don’t know, the Quintet trilogy consists of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Time (Illusion of Gaia if you’re in an NTSC region) and Terranigma. My personal favourite out of them is Illusion of Time but I love all three of these games. The combat in all of them feels really satisfying, though I will say it gets more polished with each entry. They all have really fun soundtracks, and the storytelling for whatever reason really speaks to me. These games don’t shy away from heavy subject matter, and I love myself a good bit of melancholy which is all over them.

#1 - Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts









I know not a lot of people will agree with me on this one, but Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is my favourite Super Nintendo game. For me this game has a perfect balance of platforming and action that makes me want to replay it over and over and over again (which is good because the game itself already makes you play it twice before you get the credits). A lot of people call this the hardest Super Nintendo game. I personally don’t agree, but then again I used to speedrun it so I might be a little biased there.


There we go, those are my top 10 (or top 14 I guess) favourite Super Nintendo games. I know there are a lot of popular titles I did not mention but obviously there isn’t enough room for everything. These are the games that I have the most fond memories of and that I still do regular replays of to this day. I am curious to know what everyone else’s favourite Super Nintendo games are though. Let me know in a comment if you have any thoughts.

With that I’m going to call it a post for now. And I probably will play one or two of these games again soon. Writing this has gotten me in the mood for them!

Bring ‘em to the pit!

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