SNES Games That Changed The Industry

The Super Nintendo was home to some of the best games of the 1990s. Thanks to its robust 32-bit architecture, game designers could dream of never-before-seen ways to interact with digital worlds while pushing the graphical limits of a new gaming generation. That led to an unprecedented wave of innovation that would help establish gaming as one of the most critical cultural industries in the world.

25 Best SNES Games On Nintendo Switch Online

These Super Nintendo classics are the absolute cream of the crop on the Nintendo Switch Online service.

Countless games deserve praise in the SNES, but some helped redefine the media more than others. The ten most innovative SNES games remain eternal classics by breaking boundaries, bending genre conventions, or showcasing an impressive technological achievement.

10 ActRaiser

Although far less known than other SNES titles, ActRaiser is one of the most unique games released on Nintendo’s 32-bit console. Instead of sticking to a single genre, ActRaiser plays around with different ideas, from side-scrolling 2D platforming to city-building simulation.

In ActRaiser, you are a god trying to build a civilization in a monster-infested world. By giving life to a statue, you can control a mighty stone warrior in action platforming levels, where powerful bosses must be defeated for the sake of your people. Outside these sections, you use an angel to guide the people to build new buildings and research advanced technology while protecting your civilization form flying creatures. ActRaiser two-part gameplay structure was quite impressive for the time, and helped to show how fantastic diverse video games can be.

9 Clock Tower

Clock Tower pioneered the survival-horror genre, bending expectations with its inventive approach to point-and-click adventures. While the game features puzzles and challenges common to the genre, it introduces a stamina bar that prevents you from running for too long, limiting your movements and leaving you vulnerable while making your way through a creepy mansion.

Clock Tower is one of the most innovative SNES games due to its real-time simulation. While exploring the mansion, you are constantly being chased by a killer named Scissorman. Despite the limitation of the console, you need to keep moving to evade the villain. Plus, once Scissorman finds you, the game enters a 'panic mode,' where you start to trip or slow down depending on your health. It’s an unnerving experience that shows how scary horror games can be. Finally, Clock Tower has nine different endings, an impressive number even by today’s standards.

8 EVO: Search For Eden

EVO: Search of Eden took replay value to a whole new level thanks to its evolution system. The game is a side-scroller platformer in which you devour your enemies to acquire evolution points, which you’ll use to upgrade your character according to your preferences. That means you can choose which of eight body parts to change in a journey that starts as a fish and ends as a primate.

With eight unique body parts to evolve, EVO: Search of Eden offers a diverse gameplay experience every time you boot the game. That was unprecedented in the industry, making it one of the most innovative SNES games.

7 EarthBound

While most RPGs in the 1990s used an overworld to take you from location to location, EarthBound features a rare seamless world that was quite innovative then. The second game in the Mother series also cemented the notion that RPGs could go well beyond medieval fantasy to create a fantastic world filled with quirky characters and high-stakes adventure.

10 SNES Games That Really Deserved A Sequel

There were some fantastic titles launched on the Super Nintendo, that frankly deserved a second outing on the console.

Another way EarthBound challenged the industry’s standards was by opting for an oblique projection view instead of the most-used top-down or isometric perspective. It’s also interesting to notice that Dark Souls makes you lose your currency when you die it’s nothing new to video games, as EarthBound already adopted a similar system in 1995, taking half your earnings when you reach the Game Over.

6 Super Mario World

There’s no other way to put it: Super Mario World perfected 2D platforming. Featuring intricate level design and secret exits determining the pace at which you can explore the world, Super Mario World was the most significant evolution the series had seen since Jumpman got out of Donkey Kong to get his own game.

Super Mario World also introduced Yoshi as Mario’s and Luigi’s companion and took adaptative soundtracks to the next level by changing the music in real time depending on Mario’s state. Finally, the pixel-perfect controls of Super Mario World help it remain one of the best 2D platformers ever, even compared to recent titles.

5 The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past

While the first The Legend of Zelda became a blueprint for adventure games, the beloved series would find its footing only with A Link to the Past. A Link to Past found the right balance between a semi-open world and a progression blocked by new tools.

A Link to the Past also established a two-cycle playthrough, in which new temples and goals get revealed once you finish your first primary mission. This is also the first game in the series to introduce concepts such as the Sages and the Dark World. A Link to the Past was so groundbreaking that every Zelda game followed its footsteps until the launch of Breath of the Wild.

While Ocarina of the Time became the blueprint for 3D Zelda games until Breath of the Wild, it also majorly follows the series threads set by A Link to the Past.

4 Super Mario RPG: The Legend Of The Seven Stars

Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars was a founding stone in the mustachioed plumber’s series by introducing several world-building elements that would become a staple in the Mushroom Kingdom. For instance, in Super Mario RPG, Princess Peach is first seen with a parasol, now a classic item in her inventory. Plus, Super Mario RPG represented the first time Peach appeared as a playable character, after Super Mario Bros. 2.

7 Best SNES Soundtracks

These soundtracks were the best on the SNES.

However, since the earlier game was a reskin of Doki Doki Panic, Super Mario RPG was the first game to give Peach a personality beyond damsel-in-distress. Super Mario RPG was highly innovative also due to its combat system. Instead of sticking to a static turn-based system like most RPGs, the game allows you to interact in combat, by timing attacks and defenses that make each turn more fluid and interactive.

3 Chrono Trigger

Almost 30 years after its launch, Chrono Trigger remains the best time-traveling video game ever created. While the game tells a story spawning millennia, its branching narrative never gets confusing. In fact, by giving you the choice to alter your fate, Chrono Trigger shows how every action has consequences.

That’s why the game has 12 different endings, one of them with five different variations. There’s a lot to see and do in Chrono Triggers' impressive world, but it’s not on the narrative front that it innovates. The game also makes turn-combat more engaging by adding a timer that controls when each character will act again, an essential step in the RPG industry towards more dynamic combat systems.

2 Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct revolutionized fighting games when it first came to the Super Nintendo. First of all, until then, no fighting game had such detailed graphics and an extensive roster of characters. Then, Killer Instinct introduced the concept of two health bars per character, a metric that’s still used nowadays.

More than cosmetic innovation, Killer Instintic also introduced fighting concepts that became essential to the industry. This was the first game that allowed you to press a sequel of buttons to perform a complex combo automatically. Likewise, Killer Instinct introduces combo breakers, movements that could disrupt your opponent’s combos. In short, Killer Instinct made fighting games more complex, a massive feat for a new series.

1 Star Fox

Star Fox’s 3D rail navigation is a technological miracle in the SNES era. Until its launch, no other game could use sprite-scaling to emulate a third dimension so effectively, which explains why the game soon became one of Nintendo’s most beloved series. The immersion of Star Fox’s sensation of speed and depth was unlike anything else on the Super Nintendo.

Star Fox was so graphically demanding that Nintendo had to create a new Super FX chip and add it to its cartridge. This chip represented a new step in Nintendo’s understanding of polygonal gaming, a journey that would eventually lead to the release of the Nintendo 64.

While voice acting in games was nothing new in 1993, the feature was rare in console games. Its addition to Star Fox helped it stand out as one of the industry's most innovative titles.

Best SNES Games Of All Time

From dramatic nightmare castles to whimsical platformers and groundbreaking stories.