6 Greatest Super Nintendo RPGs, As Ranked By Screen Rant Readers

Published Oct 16, 2026, 10:11 AM EDT

Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.

Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System may be best remembered for its incredible output of platforming titles, but its slew of RPGs are easily its greatest games. From Chrono Trigger to Earthbound and beyond, there are so many amazing RPGs on the platform that are not only fondly remembered to this very day, but continue to have a meaningful impact on the industry and development within the genre.

Whether it's inspiring indies like Sea of Stars or helping legacy franchises like Dragon Quest keep innovating, the greatest SNES RPGs remain a big partof our lives in one way or another. Recently, a Screen Rant poll gave our readers the opportunity to vote on which of these important and amazing RPGs were the best, and the answers, while not shocking, reveal rather a lot. From expected juggernauts to close calls, this ranking is packed full of fantastic games.

6 Dragon Quest V

Ranking at the bottom of Screen Rant's reader's best SNES RPGs of all time was Dragon Quest V. It managed to get 6.5% of the vote, a rather respectable amount considering the steep competition it was facing. It's no surprise that Dragon Quest 5 is as close to the top of the list as it is, its excellent narrative and phenomenal combat making it a turn-based SNES RPG still worth playing today.

Indeed, Dragon Quest 5 is so good, and so beloved, that it got the phenomenal animated film adaptation, Dragon Quest: Your Story, which plays into just how important a game it was and the emotional effect it had on all those who enjoyed it. Dragon Quest V's deeply moving narrative paved the way for more mature and ambitious storytelling in the series and delivered some of its most memorable characters, resulting in an RPG that Screen Rant readers understandably love.

5 Earthbound

The gap between Earthbound and Dragon Quest V was incredibly close, with less than a percentage point between them. Yet, Earthbound just managed to sneak into fifth place with 6.8% of the votes. Of course, anyone who has played Earthbound (known as Mother 2 in Japan) will understand why it ranks so highly for Screen Rant's readers, its eschewing of genre conventions, stunning pixel art, magic realism, and, best of all, immense impact on the indie RPG scene, putting it squarely in the pantheon of some of the greatest RPGs ever made.

With its undeniably fantastic soundtrack, heartwarming coming-of-age narrative, and hilarious writing, Earthbound has captivated fans globally for years. So much so that many are still eager to see its sequel, Mother 3, ported to the West, a seemingly impossible task considering Nintendo has elected to leave it and the rest of the series buried deep in the pit of obscurity. It's refreshing to see so many people flock to its defense and rank it so highly, as it means the spirit of Earthbound is very much still alive.

4 Secret of Mana

Once again, it was a close call between Secret of Mana and Earthbound, but the title practically synonymous with RPGs on the SNES pushed ahead and triumphantly claimed fourth place. Getting 7.2% of the vote, Secret of Mana proved to be a popular choice among Screen Rant readers. I have personally cited Secret of Mana as one of the worst-aged SNES games, which is why a list like this is so important, as it ensures it isn't just our voices that are heard.

Of course, even someone as curmudgeonly as myself can appreciate why Secret of Mana is such a popular choice among SNES RPG fans. Its gorgeous pixel art continues to be some of the best in the entire genre, its real-time combat proved to be incredibly innovative for the time, and its soundtrack is one of the all-time greats. Secret of Mana also helped popularize the series, pushing it to new heights that have ensured it lives on in new entries being released today.

3 Super Mario RPG

The close calls are very much over, as Super Mario RPG shot ahead in the rankings, getting a whopping 14.9% of the vote, more than double that of Secret of Mana. The Nintendo-produced title ended up becoming one of the greatest Square Enix SNES games of all time, taking what worked so well about Mario and its cast of colorful characters and transposing them into an RPG context.

The legendary title ushered in a new wave of spin-offs for Nintendo, garnering fans the likes of Mario & Rabbids and Paper Mario, both of which ended up being surprisingly phenomenal titles, the latter especially. Super Mario RPG is a clever, colorful, and creative turn-based title, whose remake served to remind us all just how great SNES fans had it back in the day, and to illustrate once again that Nintendo shouldn't be so afraid of veering more into the RPG genre.

2 Final Fantasy 6

Is it at all surprising that of the six games in this list, Square (now Square Enix) developed five of them? Probably not, especially considering that even today the studio remains the master of JRPGs, the likes of which were popularized thanks to the SNES. Of course, ranking high amongst said titles is Final Fantasy 6, a game many regard as one of the best in its series, and that 27.7% of Screen Rant readers believe to be the best SNES RPG ever made.

There's no skirting around it: Final Fantasy 6 is incredible. Its incredibly dark narrative was a breath of fresh air among the more colorful fantasy-focused JRPGs at the time; its maniacal villain paved the way for equally unhinged villains in future games across all genres; its incredible soundtrack, best-in-class pixel art, and striking visual ambitions made it one of the most memorable titles in the entire series. Final Fantasy 6 is amazing, a severely underrated game merely because it was the last of the pixel art FF games, but one that understandably resonated with our audience.

1 Chrono Trigger

Of course, the greatest SNES RPG according to Screen Rant readers (and let's be honest, the rest of the world) is Chrono Trigger. It managed to get 36.8% of the vote, over five times as many votes as Dragon Quest 5 and more than double that of Super Mario RPG. Chrono Trigger is widely believed to not just be a great SNES RPG, but one of the best of all time, with its timeless narrative, phenomenal and memorable cast of characters, beautiful art by Akira Toriyama, and stunning visuals holding up to this very day.

There really is nothing else quite like Chrono Trigger, an RPG so ahead of its time that it feels as if it could have been made today. It's not hard to see how so many indie and AAA developers have been so inspired by it and attempted to recreate its ineffable magnificence. We understand why you all chose Chrono Trigger and wholeheartedly agree. It really is the greatest SNES RPG of all time and worthy of such high praise.