Best SNES Games
List of All SNES Games Based on Movies
Here are the best SNES Games of all time. Check out our picks for the best SNES games!
3 Ninjas Kick Back
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $60-$70
This is an action-platformer with co-op gameplay and great sound design. The graphics and controls are a little lackluster.
The Addams Family
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $14-$17
Mediocre SNES platformers can often be saved with great mascots, and this is no exception. You only get to play as Gomez, and the only levels are in the family’s mansion, but it’s worth a play if you’re a fan.
Addams Family Values
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $14-$17
This is A Link to the Past, but with Uncle Fester and friends. The password system is infuriating, but the game itself is solid. Bonus points to the developers for making an action RPG with the license instead of a platformer.
Aladdin
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $15-$17
Aladdin is often considered one of the best licensed platformers of all time. The SNES version and the Genesis version have obvious differences, but they’re both masterpieces.
Alien 3
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $18-$20
Ripley makes her way through a passable run-and-gun adventure. This port is leagues ahead of the NES version, which was only released a few months earlier.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $70-$75
Fievel gets to take down some 16-bit bosses with decent gameplay variety. The colors are sharp, and the levels aren’t too long are hard; this title is very kid friendly.
Batman Forever
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $8
This is a truly terrible game that’s great fun to watch during speed run conventions. Notably, there is a “training mode” that attempts to be a fully-fledged tournament fighter, but it fails miserably.
Batman Returns
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $18-$20
Unlike Batman Forever, this is a creative side-scrolling action game that uses the Animated Series’ aesthetic effectively.
Beauty and the Beast
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $40-$45
This side-scrolling game is rather generic. You play as Beast and try to save Belle, but there’s little to separate it from other games in the genre.
Bebe’s Kids
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $33-$37
This is the slowest beat-em-up of all time. Walking is slow, attacking is slow, and enemies have seemingly infinite health. Stay away.
Beethoven: The Ultimate Canine Caper
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $8-$10
A simple platformer where you can play as a dog that barks at enemies for damage. No, it’s not about the composer.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $8-$10
This is a semi-sufficient replacement for gamers that crave more Castlevania. The graphics are a little gaudy, but you came to fight Dracula, and fight Dracula you shall.
Casper
Release Year: 1996
Current Value: $85-$100
This plays kind of like A Boy and his Blob, with Casper tethered to Kat Harvey. Oddly, the Japanese Super Famicom Casper is different, with the roles reversed in an isometric perspective.
Cliffhanger
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $5-$7
There’s less cliffhanging and more bad-guy punching. It’s a simple brawler based on a simple movie. Missed opportunity for a cliffhanger ending, of course.
Cool World
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $10-$13
Although a mediocre adventure game, this stays pretty close to the source material. It’s a lot more kid-friendly, though, and appropriate for Nintendo.
Cutthroat Island
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $8-$10
Lukewarm swashbuckling action is backed up by nice graphics and music. It’s button mashing, but hey, swords are cool.
Demolition Man
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $15-$18
Mediocre platforming sometimes switches to decent top-down shooting. Don’t you wish it was one or the other? This could have been a decent Contra clone.
Dennis the Menace
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $8-$10
You have to collect all of Mr. Wilson’s coins and find two of Dennis’ friends. Notably, there’s a timer; it’s just as anxious as the movie.
Dinocity
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $13-$15
It’s based on the movie Adventures in Dinosaur City. The graphics and worlds are fun to explore, and the dinosaurs you choose actually affect gameplay.
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $9-$12
Bruce Lee gets a well-deserved tournament fighter, but almost every aspect of the game is poor. At least Bruce Lee was given recognition by getting a character in every other fighting game series.
The Flintstones
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $10-$13
This game uses its overworld as a sort of board game, where landing on a space decides the level you play. Sometimes it’s shops, sometimes it’s bosses, sometimes it’s a normal platformer.
Home Alone
Release Year: 1991
Current Value: $8-$10
Not only does it not follow the movie, but this game can be completed in less than half an hour. Even Macaulay Culkin hates it.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $6-$8
There’s powerups, and this has a little more going for it than the first game, but it’s not a significant improvement. It’s a bit nice to powerslide into enemies.
Hook
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $23-$26
The gameplay is standard platforming, but the graphics are outstanding for the time period. It almost looks like modernized pixel art made with decades of experience.
The Hunt for Red October
Release Year: 1991
Current Value: $6-$8
There’s side-scrolling and underwater action, with Super Scope bonus levels. If you enjoyed Jaws on the NES, this might catch your fancy.
Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $30-$35
Few movie games effectively used the Mode 7 functionality on the SNES, but this game is a joy to look at. It’s the second most iconic sidescroller featuring whip-based combat.
Judge Dredd
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $7-$9
Run-and-guns don’t often give you the option to arrest the enemies instead of blasting them to bits. There’s hard bosses to make it worth strolling through the brightly-covered comic book levels.
The Jungle Book
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $5-$7
This game picked up where the original Pitfall left off. It’s platforming with vine-swinging, so of course it’s satisfying. Is there any game with vine-swinging that isn’t?
Jurassic Park
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $5-$7
Grant has a chibi sprite in this game that utilizes alternating perspectives. Top-down shooting with explosives and tranquilizers switches to first-person gaming when entering a building. No continues and no passwords; you have to beat the whole thing in one go.
Last Action Hero
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $8-$10
Most of the Arnold Schwarzenegger games are shooters, but this one is a beat-em-up. The final boss of the game is the final boss of the movie to boot.
The Lawnmower Man
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $8-$10
Nothing to do with the movie, and nothing to do with the book. Yet, it’s just as weird as both. This is a first-person platformer, a first-person shooter, a sidescroller, and a shoot-em-up (with two different perspectives and three distinct styles) all at once. Each level is different.
Lethal Weapon
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $8-$10
It’s a platformer with shooting elements where you can play as Riggs or Murtaugh. Oddly enough, the developers opted for a more cartoony style than what you’d expect for an adaptation of the movie.
The Lion King
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $8-$10
One of Disney’s best games, this sold over a million copies in the U.S. alone. It’s really hard, but not terribly unfair.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $18-$20
Thank goodness you get to play as the monster and not some boring human. You can attack all of the vengeful townspeople to your heart’s content; the plot closely follows the 1994 film it’s based on, rather than the book or the old-school Universal movie.
The Mask
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $35-$40
Gamers would pick this up for the humor and goof factor, and The Mask delivers. It’s a side-scroller with whacky attacks and ammo meters to manage.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $40-$50
Beat-em-ups suit the Power Rangers cast. Much like other games in the genre, it’s repetitive, but great for fans of the series. There’s six characters, though they do play relatively similarly.
No Escape
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $11-$13
No Escape’s graphics are really, really good, and it has awesome cutscenes to boot. Unfortunately, it controls really poorly. Something good got lost along the way.
Outlander
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $10-$12
Outlander was originally developed as a Mad Max game before the developers lost the rights. There’s driving and shooting, and walking and shooting. It’s a bit repetitive, but maybe it would have sold well with an actual license.
The Pagemaster
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $7-$9
Another Macaulay Culkin game with platforming, this time with magic combat and literature worlds. It’s not bad, but he hates this one too.
Pinocchio
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $13-$15
Old-school platforming with an emphasis on puzzles. There’s storybook cutscenes too, which are a nice reward for finishing each level.
RoboCop 3
Release Year: 1991
Current Value: $13-$15
He’s slow in the movie, but does he have to be so slow in the game too? It would be funny if it weren’t so hard, though fans will get a kick out of it regardless.
The Rocketeer
Release Year: 1991
Current Value: $6-$8
Like many other games on this list, Rocketeer tries to mix genres; it’s half flying, a quarter shooting, and a quarter brawling. The flying segments would be interesting, but it asks you to look at a tiny camera window at the bottom of the screen instead of the big landscape that takes up the rest.
Snow White: Happily Ever After
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $23-$25
Targeted at casual gamers, this sidescroller has three difficulty levels. Though the gameplay isn’t extremely unique, you have to give credit to developers that knew their audience.
Stargate
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $10-$13
Though it controls decently, this is a run-of-the-mill platformer. They played it super safe with this one, considering Stargate lends itself to any number of genres.
Super Godzilla
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $12-$15
Super Godzilla is hard to classify; half of it is a slow one-on-one fighter, and the other half is tactical tile movement. The bottom half of the screen shows tiles you can move Godzilla to, while the top half shows the actual actions Godzilla is taking. It’s methodical and appropriate.
Super Star Wars
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $10-$12
Luke starts off with a blaster, and eventually upgrades to a lightsaber! There’s even more action than the movie for this sidescroller, plus a playable Han and Chewbacca. Even though it’s not subtitled, the game is based on Episode IV, clearly preparing for sequels. Don’t worry, there’s vehicle combat too.
Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $11-$13
Episode V follows the gameplay of its predecessor, adding new weapons and special moves for the characters. Plus, there’s double jumping and a final boss fight with Vader. However, the story isn’t finished…
Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $14-$16
Once again, this follows the Super Star Wars formula, but adds Leia and Wicket as playable characters. There’s more content and action-packed levels, and this is about as good as it gets for licensed games of the 16-bit era.
T2: The Arcade Game
Release Year: 1991
Current Value: $9-$11
This is a conversion of the lightgun arcade game; don’t bother playing without a Super Scope or a SNES Mouse. If you have either, this game is a super fun novelty.
The Terminator
Release Year: 1992
Current Value: $32-$35
Difficult side-scrolling with no continues are punctuated by fun driving segments. It’s harder than it is long, but you’d wish it was all driving.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $32-$35
It’s a sidescrolling adventure game, but half of it is escort levels. Plus, it’s not always easy to tell what you’re supposed to do. In short: quite frustrating.
Toy Story
Release Year: 1995
Current Value: $10-$13
Believe it or not, this is one of the best platformers on the system. It has awesome graphics, controls nicely and has fun levels. It sold so well, they ran out of chips to make more cartridges.
Toys
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $5-$7
This game is seriously unimpressive. You have to collect toys to fight the enemy with, but most of the screen is covered up by isometric tiles coated in eye-straining blue paint.
True Lies
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $30-$35
Reviews for this are polarized. It’s a top-down shooter almost reminiscent of modern games like Hotline Miami. It’s short, but very sweet.
Warlock
Release Year: 1994
Current Value: $10-$12
It’s repetitive and you won’t want to finish it, but the puzzles and spells of Warlock are impressive for a couple hours.
Wayne’s World
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $10-$12
It’s hard to be accurate to a movie like this, but the Wayne’s World game is goofy and fun. The graphics are pretty good, but it’s hard to pay attention to them with the game’s difficulty.
We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $6-$8
It uses the movie’s characters, but has a new plot to follow. The graphics are nice, but it’s a rather simple platformer. Great for kids.
The Wizard of Oz
Release Year: 1993
Current Value: $20-$25
It’s got some cool ideas; the main cast is all playable and there’s new locations to visit in the World of Oz. Unfortunately, the platforming is broken and the foreground and background blend together.