There were plenty of memorable games that came out on the Super Nintendo. From Chrono Trigger to Mario Paint, you had plenty of amazing titles to choose from in a variety of genres. For those racing fans out there, the SNES offered a large selection of fun and creative games. Today, let’s take a look at some of the best racing games the SNES had to offer.
Super Mario Kart
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, Mario games were king. Outside of a few bad apples, (looking at you Mario is Missing), buying a Mario game was a guaranteed good purchase.
What really set this game apart from it’s competitors was that it was good across the board. From a phenomenal soundtrack, smooth controls, and a variety of tracks, you were pretty much guaranteed to have a blast.
The option to also choose the character class that fit your play-style was a really cool feature. You were able to choose a heavy and high-speed but low turning, to a more middle ground, to a fast acceleration and quick turns but lower top speed characters. Items were also a blessing. They gave the game that final touch to make it from just a simple racing game, to a competitive challenge.
Uniracers
It can be forgiven if you’ve never heard of Uniracers before. Developed by DMA Design (that later became Rockstar Games), the game barely got off the shelves before they were sued. It turns out Pixar thought the main unicycle was too close to their red unicycle from one of their shorts.
If you were a part of the lucky 300,000 that managed to grab a copy, it was a real treat. This game was extremely fast paced and the level designs were clever.
This game pretty much had everything you could want from a racing game; two-player races, leaderboards, a good soundtrack, and high replayability.
Top Gear
If you’re looking for the racing game that hooks you with it’s music this is the one. The first stage theme just hits all right right notes and will hook you into the game.
As another 2P game, this was great growing up as my siblings and I would practice racing each-other and trying to (unsuccessfully) beat the main game.
Graphics wise, this definitely felt like an arcade game ported right to your home console. It’s replayability unfortunately isn’t too high but Top Gear is definitely a game you should try.
F-Zero
The speed king itself, F-Zero is known for it’s incredibly fast-pace racing action and difficult courses. Although we haven’t had a F-Zero game since 2004, the series is still fresh in a lot of gamer’s minds (mostly from Captain Falcon).
What made this game stand out from the other great SNES racing games was the speed and ferocity of its gameplay and courses. With a health bar mechanic that punished you for hitting the walls too much, you had to maintain a good balance of speed and control.
This game also offered 2-player capabilities and a really catchy soundtrack (seeing a pattern?) which meant replayability was both easy and fun.
Super Off Road
Although it was originally an arcade game, Leland Corporation’s Super Off Road was released on the SNES in 1991 which was pretty much at the beginning of the console’s life.
The game was a significant improvement over the NES version released the year before with double the tracks. The controls might be a bit more difficult to use nowadays but it had a very unique upgrade mechanic. As you won races, you received funds to improve six different parts of your vehicle to make improvements.