SNES vs N64: Which Nintendo Console Was Better?
By Console Codex Editorial Team · 8 min read ·
SNES vs Nintendo 64 compared: game libraries, RPGs, platformers, legacy, and which Nintendo console ages better. The definitive comparison.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo 64
💡 Quick Facts
- → Super Nintendo Entertainment System: released 1990, 49.10 million units sold
- → Nintendo 64: released 1996, 32.93 million units sold
- → Our verdict: Super Nintendo Entertainment System wins
- → 95 games compared across both libraries
SNES vs N64: Nintendo’s Two Golden Ages
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990-1998) and Nintendo 64 (1996-2002) overlap in their production years but represent entirely different eras of game design. The SNES is the peak of 2D game design — the hardware on which 2D platformers, RPGs, shooters, and fighting games reached a state of refinement that has never been surpassed. The N64 is where Nintendo chose 3D and rebuilt everything.
Both consoles produced games widely considered among the best ever made. The disagreement between them is partly philosophical: does a perfect 2D game age differently than a pioneering 3D game?
Hardware
The SNES featured the 65C816 CPU at 3.58MHz, a dedicated graphics processor with Mode 7 scaling, and the SPC700 sound chip that produced the era’s best console audio. The N64 ran a 93.75MHz MIPS R4300i CPU with a custom 64-bit Reality Signal Processor, producing real 3D polygon rendering at a quality the PS1 couldn’t match.
The N64’s cartridge format was a deliberate choice against CD-ROM — faster load times, no load screens, but expensive manufacturing costs that limited storage and third-party development.
RPG Libraries
The SNES had Final Fantasy IV, V, VI; Chrono Trigger; Secret of Mana; Super Mario RPG; Earthbound; Secret of Evermore; Breath of Fire I & II; Shadowrun; Ogre Battle; Tactics Ogre; Illusion of Gaia; Soul Blazer; Terranigma; Tales of Phantasia; and dozens more. The deepest RPG library of any console before or since.
The N64 had Paper Mario, Ogre Battle 64, and Harvest Moon 64. The cartridge format and N64’s hardware orientation toward 3D action games essentially lost the JRPG genre to the PlayStation for an entire generation.
Platformers
The N64 wins this category handily. Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64, Mischief Makers — the N64’s 3D platformer library defined what 3D platformers could be.
The SNES had Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Yoshi’s Island, Kirby Super Star, Mega Man X, Super Castlevania IV — exceptional 2D platformers whose design depth the N64’s 3D equivalents arguably never surpassed, only replaced.
The Verdict
The SNES wins on library depth, RPG catalog, music quality, and how well its best games age visually. Early 3D graphics have aged poorly; Mode 7 and sprite-based 2D have not. The N64 wins on its best individual titles — Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time are arguably the most influential games ever released — and on 3D platformers specifically. For library breadth and genre variety, the SNES remains the stronger platform.