Super Mario Games on the Super Nintendo (SNES)

Masayuki Uemura, the engineer behind the Famicom, also led the design of its 16-bit successor. The Super Famicom runs on a Ricoh 5A22, a derivative of the WDC 65C816, at up to 3.58 MHz, with 128 KB of work RAM plus 64 KB each for video and sound. Its graphics hardware draws from a palette of 32,768 colours and adds Mode 7, which rotates and scales a background layer to fake 3D perspective, while Sony’s Ken Kutaragi designed the eight-channel audio system built around an SPC700 processor and a DSP. Cartridges could carry their own co-processors too, from the DSP-1 to the Super FX family.

The console reached Japanese shops on 21 November 1990 at ¥25,000, launching alongside Super Mario World. North America followed on 23 August 1991 at US$199 with Super Mario World in the box and a boxier Lance Barr design with purple switches; the United Kingdom and Ireland received the rounder Japanese-style shell on 11 April 1992 at £150, and Australia on 3 July. Its great rival was Sega’s Mega Drive (Genesis), and the console war between them was fiercest in the US and Europe, with NEC’s PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) also in the fight. Nintendo’s final tally was 49.10 million consoles: 17.17 million in Japan, 23.35 million in the Americas and 8.58 million elsewhere.

The hardware outlived its successor’s launch. The Nintendo 64 arrived in June 1996, yet a slimmer New-Style Super NES (SNS-101) appeared in North America in October 1997 for US$99, and Japan got the matching Super Famicom Jr. on 27 March 1998 for ¥7,800. Add-ons widened what Mario could do: the SNES Mouse drove Mario Paint and Mario & Wario, the Super Scope light gun powered Yoshi’s Safari, and in Japan the Satellaview modem broadcast exclusive episodes such as BS Super Mario USA while Nintendo Power kiosks rewrote flash cartridges, which is how Wrecking Crew ’98 first appeared. Super Famicom production finally ended on 25 September 2003.

Super Mario World set the tone. Directed by Takashi Tezuka and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, with music by Koji Kondo, it introduced Yoshi and sold 20.61 million copies, more than any other SNES game. Super Mario Kart (27 August 1992) leaned on Mode 7 and a DSP-1 chip to invent kart racing and sold 8.76 million. Super Mario All-Stars (14 July 1993) rebuilt the NES adventures, Japan’s Lost Levels included, in 16-bit and sold 10.55 million, while Mario Paint, bundled with the mouse, turned the console into a sketchpad, animation desk and music studio and passed 2.3 million.

The late era was just as strong. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (5 August 1995) was the first game to use the Super FX2 chip and handed the lead to Yoshi, with Baby Mario riding on his back; it sold 4.12 million. Square’s Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars followed on 9 March 1996, one of the few Western releases to use the SA-1 chip. It sold 1.47 million in Japan alone but never had a PAL release, so European players waited until the Wii Virtual Console in 2008.

Licensees and Japan-only projects filled out the list. Bullet-Proof Software made the SNES version of Yoshi’s Cookie, which reached North America in June 1993, a month before Japan; Game Freak built the mouse-driven Mario & Wario for Japan; and the puzzle collection Mario no Super Picross (1995) also stayed at home. The Software Toolworks brought its PC edutainment across with Mario is Missing!, Mario’s Time Machine and the Mario’s Early Years! trio of Fun with Letters, Fun with Numbers and Preschool Fun, whose SNES versions work with the mouse.

Almost all of it is easy to play today. The Game Boy Advance remade Super Mario World and Yoshi’s Island as Super Mario Advance 2 and Super Mario Advance 3, the Virtual Console carried the originals on Wii, Wii U and New 3DS, and the Super NES Classic Edition mini console followed on 29 September 2017. Nintendo Switch Online’s SNES library opened on 5 September 2019 with Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Yoshi’s Island, later added Super Mario All-Stars and Mario no Super Picross, and on 9 October 2025 brought Mario & Wario to the West for the first time. Super Mario RPG also received a full Switch remake on 17 November 2023, which sold 3.31 million by 31 March 2024. Our NES hub and Nintendo 64 hub cover what came before and after.