SNES Games That Are Fun from the Start

For me personally, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the greatest home consoles of all time. The catalog of games was nothing short of amazing and, man, there were a lot of them. In fact, in its lifetime over 700 games were launched for the US version. And many of them are bangers.

And since this was an era of instruction manuals, many games skipped the tutorial features and got you right into the action. There were so many games that just dropped you into the fray immediately and let you start having fun. These are just some of the best SNES games that get you playing and smiling as soon as you boot them.

10 Contra 3: The Alien Wars

Running and Gunning

Starting off with a literal bang, Contra 3: The Alien Wars threw players right into the fray. This iteration of the legendary Konami side-scrolling shooter franchise cranked its difficulty up to 11 and had everyone hoping that they’d get a spread-shot power-up to help them out. And who could forget the weird turtle with the long neck that you fought at the end of the first level. It was magnificent.

The original Contra was one of the best action games on the NES and its SNES sequel was able to improve upon everything thanks to an extra 8 bits of processing power. And the challenging gameplay gave it plenty of replay value.

9 Uniracers

One-Wheeled Wackiness

If you’re only going to play one unicycle-themed racing game in your entire life, you should make sure it’s Uniracers. From the moment you dropped into your first race there was a real sense of speed and a need to get the timing down on your tricks in order to win. The race tracks were surreal and featured twists, turns, and even a few courses where you had to flip out of half pipes.

Uniracers is really a one-of-a-kind game that never really caught on, but it aged amazingly well and is still a fun cart to pop in and fool around to this day. If you’re looking for a SNES game that you can just turn on and get rolling with, definitely check it out.

8 Actraiser

Mana from Heaven

From the moment you swirled down from the heavens to the battlefield below in fancy Mode 7 fanfare and started hacking away at monsters with your sword, Actraiser was a blast. Sure, this type of adventure game had been done before, but there was a certain balance of speed and controller responsiveness that made it play like a dream. The RPG-light city building sim features also gave Actraiser a special combination of genres that gave it a depth not seen before.

Actraiser ended up getting a sequel released on the SNES as well as a more recent one on the PC, but neither of them was able to catch lightning in a bottle like their forefather did. It still stands as an iconic classic to this day.

7 Super Metroid

A Veritable Morphing Ball

The grandaddy of all metroidvanias, Super Metroid threw you onto the planet Zebes and told you to go have fun. You were free to follow whatever path you saw fit at first, although you would end up backtracking quite a bit, as is the nature of the beast. Still, the sensation of stepping foot into an unknown environment full of alien creatures for a new adventure with Samus was as thrilling as could be, particularly on that first playthrough.

There’s a reason that Super Metroid shows up on so many lists and has a genre named after it. It is by far one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences ever.

6 Super Mario Kart

Plumbers Putting the Pedal to the Metal

As soon as you got your motor revving in Super Mario Kart, it was too late. It had already sunk its teeth into you, and you weren’t getting away. Cruising along courses like Bowser’s Castle as you jumped over lava pits and avoided getting smashed by Thwomps while tossing turtle shells left and right is still fun to this day.

The battle mode where you could throw down against your friends to be the last man standing made for a number of amusingly enjoyable moments. Super Mario Kart is still a fun title to bust out when you get together with your old pals.

5 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

A True Cowabunga of a TIme

Technically, TMNT: Turtles in Time was a port of the arcade beat-em up sequel to Konami’s original classic TMNT brawler. But it did something really cool and added new levels exclusive to the SNES version, making fans salivate even more for its release than they thought possible. It’s a truly amazing port that throws you into the fun immediately due to its arcade heritage.

There really isn’t too much to the gameplay beyond your standard punches, jumps and kicks, but I can’t really explain how cool it was when you threw a foot soldier towards the camera. And if all that wansn't enough, the soundtrack is a total banger as well.

4 Star Fox

The Game That Gave Us Slippy Toad

At the time of its release, Star Fox was a visual revolution thanks to the Super FX Chip. The polygonal 3D rail shooter threw you into the role of Fox McCloud as he led his squad against the forces of the evil Andross and became an instant hit. Doing barrel rolls and getting bogeys off of your squad’s six made Star Fox thrilling from start to finish.

While it may look rudimentary now, Star Fox showed off what was visually possible on a 16-bit console back in the day and felt ahead of its time. It’s still considered one of the greatest SNES games of all time to this day.

3 Super Mario World

A Near-Pefect Adventure

The flagship title for the SNES, Super Mario World introduced the world to so many amazing new features. For starters, it gave us everyone’s favorite green dinosaur-like creature, Yoshi. It added new power-ups like the flying cape. And there were secrets upon secrets to discover that would lead to things like hidden levels on the star world.

It’s hard to not have fun playing a Super Mario game, but World somehow found a way to elevate one of the greatest video game franchises of all time. Super Mario World is what I would consider a timeless game that’s always enjoyable.

2 Mega Man X

A New Era for the Blue Bot

Capcom really had a heyday during the SNES era and the evolution of the Mega Man series through the launch of Mega Man X is one of the more noteworthy. Mega Man X picked up the pace and added mobility features like a dash ability and wall slide. It also had you hunting down armor parts to upgrade X on top of the usual enemy skills you accrued by defeating bosses.

Mega Man games on the NES had always been an enjoyable challenge and Mega Man X doubled down on everything that made the series a classic. Fortunately for all of us, we’ve now got the Mega Man Legacy Collections so we can all experience X in all its glory on modern consoles.

1 Donkey Kong Country

That Funky Monkey

You start off Donkey Kong Country by busting your monkey sidekick out of a barrel and then jumping on the back of a rhino to ram through enemies. And that’s all within the first 30 seconds. Once DKC got going, it never stopped. From its mellow underwater levels to its Indiana Jones-inspired mine cart rides, it offered its players something new and fun around every corner.

Visually, it was another testament to what the SNES was capable of, thanks in no small part to the genius devs at Rare. Truly, this is a game that’s B-A-N-A-N-A-S and non-stop entertainment.