There was just never anything like the Super Nintendo, was there? When Nintendo followed up the NES with the SNES in 1990, it was one of the biggest generational leap forwards in gaming history. This was 16-bit sorcery with colors, music, and depth that made the NES look like a warm-up act.

The SNES took over households, living room TVs, and every single sleepover, giving the world some of the most unforgettable games. Today? We don't need cartridges, controllers, or even the SNES itself to relive its glory. All it takes is any modern device, and that includes our PC browsers, too. Of course, the only proper way to experience the fantastic RPGs that shined bright on the SNES is an emulator that lets you save progress over days, but the Super Nintendo had plenty of masterpieces you can still play in your browser that require low commitment, but deliver all the nostalgia you could possibly feel.

Top Gear 2 is pure racing fun

For when you need to clear your head down the Las Vegas Strip

No car customization screens, no pink slips, no tuning sliders, and no nonsense — just sheer racing. That's what made Top Gear one of the best racing games of the 20th century, and as you hammered the accelerator and dodged opponents, overtaking them like your life depended on it? There was simply nothing like it.

For me, it was the split-screen mode that must have taken a hundred hours off my life as I raced my brother and friends along the Las Vegas highway. Even today, a quick race or two in my browser never fails to give me that mid-90s "one more try" rush. Unlike the races, there's no stress in playing the Super Nintendo's Top Gear 2 in your browser. Just one open tab, and you're golden.

Batman Returns was the SNES' best superhero game

The Caped Crusader in Gotham on Christmas

Before superhero games turned into 200-hour affairs with collectibles all over huge open-world cities and counter-based combat, Batman Returns was once the ultimate superhero game on the SNES. A movie tie-in to Tim Burton's flick, this game came out on multiple consoles through different ports, and yet, each one was vastly different. Chief among them, of course, was the Super Nintendo's beat-em-up which had gorgeous sprites and animations, with gothic streets, eerie snow, and all sorts of goons begging to be planted into the ground.

Where the NES version's combat felt clunky, this one felt chunky, with each punch, kick, and flick of the cape landing satisfyingly. A couple of levels in the next tab over is all it will take to suddenly feel like you're back in '93, and don't blame me if you end up skipping work for hours to get through all the levels in one go.

NBA Live '95 was distilled basketball for the family

Trust me, the matches are still tense

I only discovered the magic of NBA Live '95 in the mid-2000s, so I can only imagine how amazing the game must have felt a whole decade earlier. The graphics were vibrant, the gameplay actually held up pretty well, and every quarter flew by before you even knew it.

Yes, there were no 3D player faces, or deep manager/career modes, but that wasn't even required when the core gameplay was just so damn fun as you nailed buzzer beaters or just stared at the scoreboard in frustration over being cold from the perimeter. Best part? A quick game in your browser very well delivers the same sweaty-palmed excitement. I don't need a save file to play a quick game of NBA Live '95 in the browser, and neither do you.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was the perfect sequel

Nintendo did not need to go this hard for a sequel

Nintendo could have very well made a standard sequel to Super Mario World and watched the money roll in. Instead, they gave us one of the most beautiful, unique platformers ever made. Yoshi's Island had a fantastic art design, with pastel visuals, inventive level design, and gameplay that had you protecting Baby Mario every single second like a worried-out-of-her-mind mama duck.

The stages in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island were immensely creative, and that soundtrack is something I will never be able to get out of my head. You don't even have to replay the whole thing today to get your fix. Rather, just play a few levels on a website like retrogames, and you're good to go.

Super Punch Out was the best fighting game on the SNES

If ever I met Dragon Chan again...

After Super Tennis, this one is my favorite game to play on the SNES, whether through emulation on my phone, or by going Ctrl+T in Chrome to get some uppercuts in. With its improved graphics, sounds, and animations, Super Punch Out really felt out of this world, and every single opponent provided a whole new challenge to get past. It was like a Soulslike boss, where you had to be defeated a few times, learning the opponent's patterns and moves before finally beginning your vengeance.

Even today, Super Punch Out is perfect for a bout or two when you're not in the mood for anything except straight-up haymakers being traded. Step into the ring, knock out a few challengers, eat dust at the hands of some really tough opponents, and call it a day.

Mega Man X

Mega Man X was the SNES flexing its muscles with a fast-paced game that looked amazing and was chock-full of secrets. The wall-climbing and dash mechanics made the game feel extremely intuitive, and it was certainly a huge leap over the NES Mega Man games, that's for certain. The soundtrack was pure action-game fuel, and the boss fights still remain iconic to this day.

It might not be as tough as you remember it from when we were kids, but Mega Man X is still a thrill to play when you fire it up in your browser, blasting through a stage in about five or ten minutes and walking away feeling like you've just saved the world. That's what made it one of the greatest SNES games ever.

F-Zero was a futuristic racer ahead of its time

Pun very much intended...

Arguably the best racing game on the Super Nintendo, F-Zero was a futuristic racer that didn't overdo the neon, and thank god for that. This racer's speed was blistering, the tracks and their tight turns were honestly just brutal (and they still are), and the magnetic roads that punished you for so much as a twitch on the d-pad? Unforgettable.

Having revisited F-Zero by playing it online just now, I can safely assure you that it's still just as much fun as it was on day one, and the ability to blast through a stage in about a few minutes, switch back to work, and then move on to the next set of opponents and tracks whenever you want is the ultimate formula for light-hearted, low-commitment fun.

Street Fighter II was every bit as fun as the arcade game

Until you got to one M. Bison

Street Fighter has always been one of the most influential fighting game franchises of all time, and Street Fighter II has a huge cultural footprint among all its siblings. It's the fighter that basically created the fighting game boom, and on SNES, it was the arcade game you could actually bring to your living room.

Everyone had their own favorite character in Street Fighter II, but they all united to hate M. Bison together. The perfect pick-up-and-play game if you're looking to play SNES games online, Street Fighter II is always ready to give you a few rounds against the CPU and take you straight back to the glorious button-mashing days.

Super Metroid is an SNES G.O.A.T.

Ridley and Mother Brain, both in the next tab

Hands down, Super Metroid on the SNES is one of the greatest metroidvania games of all time, and for damn good reason. The game's eerie atmosphere, massive interconnected map, and sense of exploration were absolutely unmatched in the '90s, and they still deliver immense investment today. Of course, Super Metroid does reward longer play sessions, but hey, nothing's stopping you from hopping into your browser, exploring a section or two, and just soak in the vibes.

The controls? Tight. The atmosphere? Unforgettable. The music? Haunting. Even a half-hour with Super Metroid in your browser is enough to convince you to whip out an old SNES if you have one, or go running straight to RetroArch.

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball

This is what arcade baseball is all about, even today

There's no denying that sports games tend to age really fast, especially in the '90s where developers were still figuring out everything they could do with hardware. Today, games like FC 25 are barely any different from their decade-old iterations, but let's not get side-tracked. Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball is still one of the greatest sports games on the Super Nintendo, and boy oh boy, it is still ridiculously fun today.

No, it isn't a hyperrealistic baseball sim, but rather, an arcade take where you bat, pitch, field, and stay smiling at the visuals and the gameplay. The game's exaggerated animations, the chewing gum bubbles, the broken bats, and the unconscious fielders, all came together to make for an extremely memorable experience that is still on the top of my list when the time comes for some 2-player couch multiplayer action with a friend.