Platform guide
All Mario SNES games
Ten Mario cartridges came out for the Super Nintendo in Europe between 1992 and 1995. Two of them cannot be played without a peripheral that was sold with them, two are educational games by a different publisher, and one famous Mario SNES game never reached Europe at all.
The short answer
Start with Super Mario World (1992), then Super Mario All-Stars (1993) for four more games including The Lost Levels, then Super Mario Kart (1993) for two players. Mario Paint needs the SNES Mouse and Yoshi’s Safari the Super Scope. Super Mario RPG was never released here on cartridge.
Every Mario SNES cartridge, in release order
| Game | Year (EU) | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Super Mario World | 1992 | 2D platformer |
| Mario Paint | 1992 | Creative tool — needs the SNES Mouse |
| Super Mario Kart | 1993 | Racing — the first one |
| Mario Is Missing! | 1993 | Educational — third-party |
| Mario's Time Machine | 1993 | Educational — third-party |
| Yoshi's Cookie | 1993 | Puzzle |
| Yoshi's Safari | 1993 | Light-gun shooter — needs the Super Scope |
| Super Mario All-Stars | 1993 | Compilation — four NES games remade |
| Tetris & Dr. Mario | 1995 | Puzzle — two games in one |
| Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | 1995 | 2D platformer |
Game by game — the buying notes
Super Mario World (1992)
The SNES launch game in Europe, on 11 April 1992, and still one of the best 2D platformers ever made: ninety-six exits, Yoshi, a cape, and a map you can cross in a dozen ways. The most common Mario cartridge of the generation and therefore the cheapest way in. Later reissued on the Advance and in All-Stars — the SNES original is the one collectors want.
Mario Paint (1992)
Needs the SNES Mouse, which it was sold with. Drawing, animation and a music composer that people still use to make covers thirty years on. A cartridge on its own is nearly useless — check that a listing includes the mouse and, ideally, the mouse pad. That single item is most of what a complete copy is worth.
Super Mario Kart (1993)
The one that started thirty years of kart racing, on 21 January 1993. Two players split screen, twenty tracks, and Mode 7 doing the heavy lifting. Harder than any Mario Kart since — the AI cheats openly — and worth playing for exactly that reason.
Mario Is Missing! (1993)
Not a Nintendo game: an educational geography title by The Software Toolworks in which Luigi walks around real cities. Widely mocked, and precisely because of that a curiosity people collect. Also came out on the NES the same month.
Mario's Time Machine (1993)
The follow-up from the same publisher, this time about history rather than geography. Scarcer than Mario Is Missing! in Europe, and bought almost exclusively by collectors completing the set.
Yoshi's Cookie (1993)
A falling-block puzzler where you shuffle rows and columns rather than drop pieces — closer to a slide puzzle than to Tetris. Also on NES and Game Boy, which reached Europe a year later, in April 1994.
Yoshi's Safari (1993)
Needs the Super Scope, the shoulder-mounted light gun. Mario rides Yoshi and you shoot from a first-person view — the only Mario game that works this way, and unplayable without the peripheral. A Super Scope also needs a CRT television; it does not work on a modern flat screen.
Super Mario All-Stars (1993)
Super Mario Bros., The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, all rebuilt with SNES graphics and — crucially — a save function the originals never had. The Lost Levels is the reason to buy it: that game had never been released outside Japan in any form. Out in Europe on 16 December 1993.
Tetris & Dr. Mario (1995)
Both puzzlers on one cartridge plus a Mixed Match mode that alternates between them. Never released in Japan at all, because the Tetris console rights there belonged to someone else. Europe got it on 25 July 1995.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
The crayon-drawn prequel where you play Yoshi carrying Baby Mario, out in Europe on 5 October 1995. It uses the Super FX 2 chip inside the cartridge, which is why it looks like nothing else on the system — and why the cartridge board is different from a normal one, something worth knowing when you judge authenticity.
The one Europe never got
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars — Square and Nintendo working together, and one of the most sought-after SNES games there is — came out in Japan and North America in 1996 and never on a PAL cartridge. Nintendo pointed at the work of adapting it for PAL televisions and translating it into several languages. Europe first played it on the Wii Virtual Console in August 2008, twelve years later, and again in the Switch remake of 2023. So there is no European SNES cartridge to hunt for. An American one exists but will not fit a European console: the cartridge shapes differ and the console has tabs that block the wrong one.
Or buy one that has already been checked
Every SNES cartridge we sell is play-tested on real hardware, and where the game has a save we write one, power the console down and check it again — so you know whether the battery still holds. We have been doing this since 2019, with 1400+ verified reviews at 5.0★, and we ship tracked to all 27 EU countries.
Browse tested Nintendo gamesQuestions we get asked
How many Mario games are there on the SNES?
Ten cartridges in Europe: Super Mario World and Mario Paint (1992), Super Mario Kart, Mario Is Missing!, Mario’s Time Machine, Yoshi’s Cookie, Yoshi’s Safari and Super Mario All-Stars (1993), and Tetris & Dr. Mario and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1995). Donkey Kong Country is not counted — it is its own series.
Which Mario SNES game never came out in Europe?
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and never on a PAL cartridge — Nintendo cited the work needed to adapt it for PAL televisions and to translate it. Europe first got it on the Wii Virtual Console in August 2008, twelve years later, and again in the 2023 Switch remake. There is no European SNES cartridge to look for, and an American one will not fit a European SNES without an adapter.
Which ones need extra hardware?
Two. Mario Paint needs the SNES Mouse, which it was originally packaged with — a cartridge without the mouse cannot be played. Yoshi’s Safari needs the Super Scope light gun, which additionally needs a CRT television: light guns of that era do not work on flat screens. Check what a listing actually includes before you buy either.
Which Mario SNES game should I buy first?
Super Mario World. It is the best game on the list, the most common and the cheapest. Super Mario All-Stars next, because it carries four more games including The Lost Levels, and then Super Mario Kart if two of you are playing.
Will the save still work on a used SNES cartridge?
It depends on the game. Super Mario World, All-Stars and Yoshi’s Island save to memory kept alive by a coin cell, and after thirty years some of those are flat — the game plays but forgets everything at power-off. The cell is a standard CR2032 and replaceable. Games without a save, like Super Mario Kart’s time trials, use a different arrangement. We write a save on every cartridge that has one, power the console down, and check it again before listing.
Are SNES cartridges region-locked?
Yes, and physically: European and American cartridges have different shapes and the consoles have plastic tabs that block the wrong one. A European (PAL) cartridge belongs in a European SNES. Everything we sell is the European version unless the product page says otherwise.
Do you ship Mario SNES games across the EU?
Yes — tracked shipping from the Netherlands to all 27 EU countries, no customs charges inside the EU, and 30 days to return an order. Your country’s exact rate appears at checkout before you pay.
One console on: all Mario N64 games — on a handheld: Game Boy Advance (where Super Mario World returned as Super Mario Advance 2) — or the whole series in order.
Dutch reader? Super Nintendo-games — het hele aanbod in het Nederlands.
