How Many US SNES Games Are There?
Possibly one of the best home consoles ever released, the Super Nintendo, or SNES, was the perfect successor to Nintendo’s NES. The 16-bit era ushered in some of the most memorable games to date with titles like Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island, and Chrono Trigger still having active fans to this day.
History of the SNES
After the insane success of the NES worldwide, Nintendo knew they needed an amazing follow-up console. Released in 1991 during the fourth generation of home consoles to American audiences, the SNES featured upgraded video and sound capabilities. The console was sold for $199 (the equivalent of $373 today), making it relatively inexpensive compared to computers or other home consoles sold during the 1990s.
A major advancement in gaming technology was a pseudo-3D visual effect packed in with the SuperFX chip. This allowed game designers to simulate 3D environments that are best shown in Pilotwings or F-Zero.
During this console’s lifetime, some of the best games in videogame history were released, kickstarting many franchises that are still supported to this day. Notable new series on the SNES were F-Zero, Super Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong Country. All of these titles were best-sellers on the SNES and were supported throughout the next generations of consoles.
After its long tenure as one of the best consoles ever released, the last consoles were sold in 2003. While game support and availability petered out as the N64 became the new console, its legacy has lived on. During its lifetime, the SNES sold a whopping 49.1 million units. It is still regarded as one of the greatest consoles ever released, with some of its best games getting re-releases to this day.
The SNES’ Massive Library
Over its extremely long life-span, the SNES library grew quickly. In North America alone, a total of 718 titles were released for the console. 110 of these games were exclusive to North American audiences since the SNES featured region-locking. The last SNES title to ever be released was Star Fox 2, which released for the SNES Classic Edition system in 2017.
Worldwide, a total of 1756 official titles were released – almost one thousand more than the Sega Genesis. Japan had the most titles released in the region, with America in second, and Europe in third. The support of third-party developers significantly increased this number, with developers at Koei, Tecmo, Square, Capcom, and Konami releasing some fantastic titles exclusively for the SNES.
Some of these games are still played today. Titles like Yoshi’s Island, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and the Donkey Kong Country trilogy are regarded as some of the best games ever made. These have seen plenty of releases on later consoles like Nintendo’s Virtual Console or the SNES Online service featured on the Switch.
