Graphically Impressive SNES Games

Even though the SNES is well over 30 years old now, some games that released for the home console are still graphically impressive to this day! Join TVGS as I take a look at some gameplay of the best looking and visually impressive Super Nintendo games the console ever received! Let me know your choice of best graphics down below.
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[@ferreirarq]

Absolutely love this channel, absolutely hate the lack of timestamps 💀💀 keep up the good work!

[@onepieceyamato2901]

1. Yeah, this channel is so awesome I wonder why it doesn't have 250k> subs 2. KZbinrs often do this so viewers can have longer time watching videos

[@Renulph]

I second this.

[@frempy4426]

@@onepieceyamato2901 I watch their videos in full and I think others do too. Better the viewers at least have the option to choose though. They’ll still have to watch midroll ads when they scrub anyway, and without timestamps, many viewers probably just give up with the length of the video.

[@onepieceyamato2901]

@@frempy4426 makes sense. The length indeed discourage a lot of viewers. I heard people usually just name it #1 #2 and so on, as to not "spoil" the content/part and still make people watch them.

[@theminimalisttrainer1288]

Agree. Bad No Time Stamps. I just click the forward button very fast.

[@freddiejohnson6137]

I think there are so many games that remained in Japan that really pushed what the system could do. Games like Star Ocean, Tales of Phantasia and Far East of Eden Zero instantly come to mind. As for Western made games Doom even though it looks inferior to other ports is still a miracle looking game and Super Turrican 2 as it is essentially the precursor to Rendering Ranger but a pixel art style.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Part 2 in the works, so thanks for the suggestions!

[@SkelvinKnight]

I actually am very fond of SNES Doom.

[@freddiejohnson6137]

@@thatvideogamesshow I would also recommend a game called Iron Commando it's a beat-em-up that looks fantastic with large character sprites and has loads going on at times too.

[@miriamalmeida6687]

Snes forever the best console of time .not remaster .arts the best pixel 16 bits snes

[@dvxShoeN]

Ninja Warriors looks awesome

[@chrislaustin]

So many greats on your list, stuff like Yoshi's Island and Axelay were amazing, and I'm still floored SF Alpha 2 made an appearance, as it's an amazing conversion. My favorite on your list, and while not super graphically impressive, would have to be Star Fox. I actually got to play it early at the Winter CES that January before it was released in the states. And I can still remember how cool it was displayed by Nintendo at the time with these HUGE Arwings you sat in, with speakers in the headrest pumping one of their best OST of all time in your ears, while you played on a big screen in front of you. To this day I don't think I've ever had such an amazing experience playing a game at a trade show, oh and I almost forgot the cool ass laser light show that was also shown around the room while you played.

[@ShadowEl]

Star Fox 2, despite not receiving a contemporaneous commercial release, is for my money the most visually impressive SNES game. The stuff Argonaut was able to pull off would have felt magical on the console at the time.

[@greensun1334]

There were so many stunning and beautyful looking SNES games! Back then in the early 90's, alone the SNES' mode 7 with those amazing scaling and rotation abilities was a big thing, just the absurdly expensive Neo Geo or PC were able to provide such graphics at this time - and don't forget about the huge color pallete of overall 32768 colors / 256 colors on-screen, even more with some clever programming tricks, it really was a big deal back then. It's 2022 now and the SNES is still my favourite console with the best game library! Excuse my bad English skills, greetings from an Austrian old school gamer🙋🏻‍♂️🇦🇹

[@Marcus_K]

The Mega CD, released in late '91, could scale & rotate a much larger number of sprites than the SNES. It didn't have as many on-screen colors though.

[@AltairEgo1]

To be fair, Sega needed to release entirely new hardware to achieve that. SNES's cart chip system enabled devs to achieve much without the need of add-ons. that and we're comparing a cart based system with a CD one. Of course you can achieve more if your system supports a medium with larger space. Mega CD was impressive, but also part of Sega's problem with instilling faith in consumers that they won't need to keep spending large sums of cash to get a slight uptick in graphics and performance.

[@davicavalcante5902]

For me, Super Mario RPG is the beauty itself. I remember the moment I got to that stage on the clouds, almost at the end of the game, It felt like heaven. And the soundtrack is also awesome 😎

[@eliyates1691]

100%

[@GraveUypo]

my fav snes game and my second fav jrpg ever (only behind grandia 2)

[@davicavalcante5902]

@@GraveUypo I used to play this game on Dreamcast. Awesome memories. Grandia 2 is also in my heart

[@Sinistar1983]

There are so many impressive game on the snes its insane. stuff like tales of phantasia, trials of mana, terranigma, star ocean and Duel orb ii are just some of many fantastic games.

[@FrankyMangal]

Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma both pushed the system and were full of detail.

[@JMFSpike]

Yep, and let's not forget Lufia 2.

[@SovietMig]

secret of evenmore :)

[@ArcaanSX]

your content is so well put together. Amazing work

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks Arc, that means a lot man 🙂

[@kojarart3184]

You forgot to mention megaman and bass .. it was incredibly amazing

[@chronology556]

Seiken Densetsu 3 and Dragon Ball Z Hyper Dimension look really good for a SNES game.

[@delta8518]

0:00 Intro with Cool Music :3 Games 0:14 Rendering Ranger 2 (1995) 1:57 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island 3:37 F-Zero 5:35 Axelay 7:13 Street Fighter Alpha 2 9:00 Chrono Trigger 10:41 Kirby's Dream Land 3 12:09 Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars 13:45 Star Fox 15:24 Donkey Kong Country 2

[@maverick12070]

I think you should've mentioned Seiken Densetsu 3 aka Secret of Mana 2 and Terranigma. Two of the latest JRPGs on the system, unique in its way of storytelling and gameplay and ABSOLUTELY STUNNING in terms of visuals. Especially Terranigma, since it came out when the N64 already was released.

[@DFX2KX]

one of my earliest gaming memories is playing Starfox in a Target SNES display. it was pretty mindblowing. The SuperFX chip was one of (if not the first) dedicated 3D accelerator chips, it almost got added to the US version of the console as standard equipment..

[@shootermcgavin1208]

There would have been no need to add it to the console since the SNES allowed for special chips in the cartridges themselves, like the FX, DSP, etc.

[@amerikaOnFire]

Terranigma is a game that isn't talked about a ton, but it's at least known these days. Its graphically very impressive.

[@jtrevor99]

Demon's Crest would have been on the list for me. If we are including Japan-only releases, Bahamut Lagoon and Tales of Phantasia would have been as well.

[@cherokeefit4248]

F zero, super castlevania, super contra, un squadron, Gradius 3, final fantasy 3, and even final fight are all pinnacle snes games. F zero and super castlevania really made the super in Super Nintendo at launch.

[@humansrants1694]

The first game to really blow my mind on the SNES was Final Fight it really showed off it's ability to do the arcade look.

[@GameCubeGalaxy]

Another superb episode! So many excellent picks here that I nodded my head in agreement with. Rendering Ranger R2 I’ve never heard of until recently, and it looks really cool! As always man, keep up the awesome work. One of the best channels on KZbin for sure!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks mate!

[@jamesburchill7522]

It's a Super Famicom game, rather than a SNES. Just FYI if you are looking for it.."any which way you can."

[@magicbufo4277]

Awesome list you had me sold on Rendering Ranger 2, just bought a copy and im stoked to play it.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@GuiltyBystander8]

love that tekken 2 intro tune in the beginning of your videos

[@Sceptera]

I am impressed you didn't mention the original Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2) the characters and aesthetics were very colorful and detailed for its time. As well Megaman X2, X3 games ended up at the end of the SNES era where the cartridges had special CX4 chips, many animation and explosions running much faster frames then most SNES titles at the time and 3d wire models for some scenes.

[@Xefortanzo]

Nice video! I'm sure I recognise the tune that opens the video - What is that from again?

[@Jhonnywmr]

Nice work! Donkey Kong country 2 got nice graphics and one of the best OST ever

[@Antonio_Ortiz]

I know I say this every so often on retro game videos, but man, it completely blows my mind how many games with such mind-blowing graphics I am only just now hearing about for the first time. It's genuinely one of the pleasant surprises that make me thankful for KZbin channels like this one. Keep up the good work!

[@mikeg2491]

I feel sorry for alot of these devs who put insane work into games that just went unnoticed, hopefully it was good resume builders for them to get hired at larger studios

[@grimnir7749]

I love your channel, very concise, to the point, enough to get an overview of what games you want to showcase as well as sometimes putting in your own input without sounding opinionated. And very, VERY relaxing! Your intro sets the proper mood for a proper gaming channel :) Subbed for years now :D

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks for sticking with the channel Grimnir! I really appreciate that 🙂 plenty more videos on the way!

[@grimnir7749]

@@thatvideogamesshow 🥰🥰🥰

[@sidearmsalpha]

When the Turbografx-16 came out, that truly started my love for 2D pixel art. I had an Atari 2600 and a NES but I was never really blown away by the graphics. I still have my SNES and all the 16-bit consoles I got after that eventually moving on to the newer generations of consoles. While I do like 3D polygon games, they just don't capture the beauty of 2D pixel art and animation. I'm glad that there are developers still making games with those graphics for newer consoles as well as the older consoles.

[@PaKePo]

Great video, thank you

[@user-nr3dt9qw8n]

I had Axelay back in the days, great memories

[@alexanderfox1870]

I'd add 'hagane', 'rise of the robots' (even though the gameplay and animation weren't the greatest, I still considered it to be visually ahead of its time), 'asterix & obelix' and the mortal kombat series, namely 2 & 3! There's probably plenty more I'm ignoring/forgetting but you included most of the ones I thought of!

[@GXSCChater]

Awesome video! Nice list of games you put together!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂

[@themegajediOBVM]

Thank you for a wonderful video.

[@Bootyhunter1971]

Awesome video as usual! The SNES library is amazing, could have just it and never run out of good games to play. And they still look great too!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Couldn't agree more!

[@Sarcophagus74]

I can tell you put a lot of work in to this video. Good job!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks man 🙂

[@vianns]

*Cybernator* was graphically impressive too. 🔥🔥

[@blusky75]

Doom should be on this list. Its a damn miracle it was not only ported to SNES but quite playable

[@ClarkPotter]

I've always loved shmups and was a SNES connoisseur, but never encountered Rendering Ranger until just now. It looks great. Don't know how I missed it.

[@76_SPZL]

Very great list, I'd also throw in Cybernator/Assault Suit Valken into the mix. Gorgeous side scrolling mech shooter with varying levels/visuals.

[@KC-bg1th]

The bosses in Joe and Mac looked great and had their own style if you end up making another video on this.

[@SolCresta3405]

Axelay is quite possibly my personal favorite shmup on the SNES.

[@fabiodossantos4884]

I'm glad that you mentioned Axelay, thanks.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Glad you enjoyed the video 🙂

[@TheGrittyUrbanSaga]

Incredibly well worded and focused!

[@Tasuke]

Another great video! I have Chrono Trigger on DS but I never finished it. One of my childhood friends showed me a bunch of the boos fights when we were kids though! Donkey Kong Country 2, I have a lot of memories with. Played it with my sisters a bunch.

[@vglegends9004]

This video is awesome man!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks VG!

[@CarlosBehrens3D]

Great list! Also, Tales of Phantasia, wow that game had some beautiful graphics and great mechanics

[@alexanderfox1870]

Yes mate! ToP was a such a brilliant game in every aspect! That and chrono trigger are probably my all time favourite jrpgs!

[@zenicehero9154]

Super Mario World 2, Donkey Kong Trilogy, Batman & Robin, Batman Returns, Nosferatu, Super Castlevania VI, Demons Crest, Super Metroid, Megaman 8, Megaman X n Vortex are also graphically impressive SNES games!

[@athrunzala5337]

I remember playing this first linear aircraft fighter shooter brings back child memories, it was a very tedious game especially that there was no saves whatsoever

[@ZenithfilmsUK]

There is a rom out there of a different version of Rendering Ranger that forgoes all the Pre-rendered graphics for traditional pixel work, it's the same game overall but main character looks slightly different. And don't forget Yoshi Island also used the Super FX chip to get all those wondering Sprite Scaling effects into the game ;)

[@gabrielsandoval8713]

I love the intro music!

[@iretro969]

Kirby Dreamland 3 .. had never played it before but man it really got me in the feels and i was so absorbed. Great graphics and gameplay and glad you rated it enough to include.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

One of the greats!

[@kaypete8471]

Donkey Kong country is an amazing graphically game I wish rare still makes game for Nintendo

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Such a great platformer!

[@kaypete8471]

@@thatvideogamesshow ah yes

[@ssabykoops]

very good vid,wish i seen it sooner

[@rekkoha-dk1nh]

Kirby’s Dreamland 3

[@tamerkoh]

Dragon Quest III on the Super Famicom deserves a mention too. Easily one of the best video game remakes ever; the insane leap in graphical quality from the NES original, as well as all the polish added is insane! The characters and environments get taller with the larger sprites, and more detailed, to begin with. And, most even more gloriously, the monsters are fully animated in the battles now, giving the fights that much more immersion and life; we're no longer fighting cardboard cutouts! The GBC version was a port/demake of this and still has all the same improvements :)!

[@FabBrigade]

Man, I remember Baby Bowser's big form being on quite a few 'Top 10 scariest bosses' lists in the early 2010s.

[@arcovius6175]

Does anybody know what that song is at the beginning of his videos with the cool electric piano?

[@linkthehero8431]

That is some impressive bomb avoidance at 4:28!

[@jmcomes6621]

I did think you were not gonna speak about DK2 in the end but you did;)

[@sem_skywalker]

For some strange reason STAR FOX still looks and feels High-End graphics to my eyes and brain. It is like it was locked-in through space and time for me in 1993, when I got it. Just love that game! And play it every now and then. Just as cool *every single* time! Now I play it on my 120'' projector on the SNES Classic Mini. SUPERB experience every time!!

[@Thewolfguys.cartoons2000]

How can you forget Super Off Road the Baja, Dirt Trax FX, Vortex, Super Turrican 2, Final Fantasy III? The graphics in these games are mind blowing 🤯

[@retromtg1834]

I think it was Alpha 2 but we used to rent one of the later Snes Street Fighter games all the time, that version if you played it long enough the cartridge would get really warm

[@jasonz7788]

Great work

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Cheers Jason!

[@Ben-fx5pb]

Starfox 1st time I played it the begging sequence where the ships first come out was well impressive

[@grinbrothers]

My memories of the SNES in general are filled with vibrant and pretty graphics, so it'll be interesting to see what counts as truly impressive graphically amongst it's library... according to your fair judgement at least. 0:42 - Never heard of Rendering Ranger R2, but it's bosses and rocky landscapes truly do look impressive. Funny to see a fair few shoot em ups make this list, but each shown did warrant their place on this list. As per usual, games I own include Yoshi's Island, F-Zero, Kirby's Dreamland 3 (lovely to see here given it's distinctive and charming look; I saw a kickstarter shoot em up with a similar crayon style that sadly never came to be), Super Mario RPG and Star Fox, (thank you SNES Mini).

[@Tenpouin]

R2: Rendering Ranger really is a graphical showcase. I'd put the first Star Ocean and Tales of Phantasia as well. And Terranigma.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll add them for part 2!

[@starliteinn5397]

Picking DKC2 instead of DKC3 was a huge mistake

[@ShadowEl]

Your feature on Axelay actually reminded me why I don't love many hyped 16 bit shooters - I feel they focused more on the visuals being presented, to the detriment of easily understood gameplay. If I'm so distracted by the busy backgrounds, I'm going to lose the action; which maybe the developers intended, as an increase to gameplay difficulty.

[@jonathan2950]

Can’t agree more about Yoshi’s Island. It still looks great to this day, and has some of the best bosses of any game ever. Also, if that’s you playing F-Zero then good skills! 😀

[@commondrops25]

8:49 whos your video editor?

[@gamebriz4163]

Axelay was one of the first games that I bought on the SNES I my jaw hit the ground when I played it for the first time 👀

[@BeaNoodl3]

I've actually been curious about this for awhile, what music is used in your intro?

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Tekken 2 intro song 🙂

[@BeaNoodl3]

@@thatvideogamesshow That's why it sounds so familiar

[@moonbeam54321]

Yoshis island feels like a game that if it was released today as a brand new game, it could still sell a tonne and be seen as a modern title.. has a timeless style of graphics

[@Mr.Foxhat]

Drakkhen and Dragon View I feel should be mentioned. They give of a proto Elder Scrolls vibe (particularly Drakkhen.)

[@javiersaenz1040]

I am surprised you didn't mention Megaman and Bass.

[@pacocarrion7869]

I never had a SNES, but the SNES was realized in 1990. Street Fighter 2 Arcade version in 1991, and SNES version 1992. I can say without doubts, that SNES was the beginning of the end of Arcade Machines. Absoluty amazing home machine.

[@JoeCole_social]

Alpha 2 still amazes me on the snes. With the start game lag, the MVG channel hacked the rom and showed that the initial lag on the match starting was due to the music loading not the graphics. Just incredible to think about that.

[@gizaha]

"Torturus amount of loading" the 2 seconds time. I wanna see a playstation 1 game with so little loading. Every psx and saturn game has long loading (i know it's cd based smart ass) but everybody is bothered with the 2 seconds of sfa2.

[@LeDoomfistJames]

Literally one of the best channels on KZbin 😊

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thank you so much 😀

[@ajmohawk2993]

Your videos are always fun to watch, TVGS!

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thank you!

[@loungejay8555]

Something to bare in mind is that the graphics on these games look even better on the CRT television sets (big back tv's) of that era; they were not designed to be displayed on HD TV's or laptop's.

[@Beateau]

This video got me hooking up my SNES classic....

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Have fun!

[@Verbalaesthet]

Fun fact: the long loading time on SFa2 is due to a bug with the music. I think there is even a hack that fixes it and it runs super fast like SF2.

[@nothingnessinitspeak2086]

Love ur contents

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks for watching!

[@timf4006]

I just ordered illusion of Gaia. Terranigma will be got as well. And definitely the Mario games

[@udaaz]

Very nice 👍

[@Markde9876]

I love the look / artwork of bosses in Lufia II, Secret of Mana and Yoshi’s Island. And Super Metroid had an amazing look too. So many great artists at work on the SNES.

[@Steve.Cutler]

I was there in the side stroller days. When snes was the best anyone could do up till then.

[@thatvideogamesshow]

The best days!

[@Christian-rn1ur]

Should check out Gundam Wing Endless Duel. Still can't believe they got that running on the SNES - doesn't seem possible.

[@armand4116]

Street fighter alpha 2 for the snes was a true miracle.

[@UnrealVideoDuke]

F-Zero was amazing with Mode 7 don't forget to mention Mario Kart and Pilot Wings! That first game you showed looked like a Super R-Type knockoff. Might be an interesting one to try. You looking for a more visual 3D effect than StarFox without the advanced FX chip? Try Wolfenstein 3D it even had bitmapped TEXTURES! Think there was only 2 or 3 games that were made to use the FX chip unfortunately. DK Country for SNES was designed with 3D modeling but you will not find the 3D models anywhere in the final game. More or less they were frames/pictures of the final model animation.

[@TheJetJONES]

There was also another SNES game with astonishing graphics: Plok (1993)

[@TheDutchGhost]

I had hoped that Front Mission Gun Hazard had made it to the list as it had some really nice graphics and effects here and there. Probably because it was only released in Japan it missed out.

[@kopfnuss53]

Batman Returns looked stunning aswell!

[@mariopolaitalia]

First time i watch your video..tekken 2 intro music made me subscribe

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Thanks for subbing

[@Andrew-qu7lq]

F-zero was an amazing game, especially as an early title in the SNES library without as much of the extra graphical performances that later titles enjoyed. It was such a fast paced and technically difficult game that made actually completing the hardest difficulty a real challenge. I had been playing games for over 10 years, and this was the first one that actually made me want to do as much of a 100% of the game as possible, max difficulty and getting 1st place not just on every track, but on every lap of every track. I even wanted to be able to get to a point where I could just pick it up with no warm up and get all 1st places on every lap on the first playthrough of the day. It was such a great game.

[@M_CFV]

Do you like the gba f-zero games

[@Bootyhunter1971]

Never knew there was an F zero 2 on SNES until last night. I have my wii modded and have the full SNES library on it with box art. Always finding new stuff to play, so was just scrolling the games last night, played some F-Zero (because I love that game) and saw F-zero 2 on there. Thought maybe it was a rom mod or something, played it and it was awesome. So I went to Wikipedia and found it was a legit game. Learn something new every day. Still find amazing games to play on the SNES all the time. You could have just the SNES library and never run out of fun games to play no doubt.

[@anrymarchen]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Winter Gold. It looks like 32 bit title

[@flavien4717]

I would probably have add Bahamut Lagoon, but still very good video 👍

[@thatvideogamesshow]

Part 2 in the works!

[@sammy61187]

Rendering Ranger legit looks like an Amiga 500 game on the snes that's actually really impressive beacuse the Amiga is an absolute powerhouse

[@molotovmutt3365]

street fighter alpha 2 had a lot of slowdowns on SNES, at least for the PAL version in Europe

[@sodothehivesonhisleg]

For me its the scope game Metal Combat, and Starfox 2

[@larrymitchell6470]

Crazy recently they discovered why Street Fighter Alpha 2 had the loading. It was the audio, was coded unoptimized as dev has a deadline and probably needed 1 more week. Hell they patched it on a hack where they flashed the ROM and the actual board was no loading AND able to run the arcade soundtrack.

[@cruiedcruz8335]

So many good songs! Can you please share what they are ❤️