Super Mario World Classic
12,817 retro games · 30 systems · 100% free
Stuck on what to play?
Let the Matrix pick.
Answer five quick questions and get retro game picks matched to your mood, your time and your crew, from the Atari 2600 to the Dreamcast and Nintendo DS.
- 12,000+
- games
- 30
- systems
- 135+
- hand-written takes
Just for you
Picked for you
Based on the games you've beaten, rated and are playing. The more you track, the better these get.
Open My GamesStart here
What are you in the mood for?
Pick a vibe and the quiz takes it from there.
On this day
Happy birthday, retro games
More anniversariesCheat codes
Cheats for 6,545 retro games
Infinite lives, invincibility, level select and more. Game Genie, GameShark and Action Replay codes, with how to enter them on the console or in an emulator.
Popular: Super Mario 64 · Pokémon Red · Super Mario Bros. · Metal Gear Solid · Sonic the Hedgehog · All cheats
How it works
Your next game in under a minute
- 1Answer 5 quick questionsMood, time, players, era and whether you want a classic or a deep cut.
- 2The Matrix matches12,817 games are scored against your answers. No AI, no tracking.
- 3Save, track & playSave picks, mark games played or beaten, and read our take before you start.
Our take
Written by people who play them
The most popular games get a short, hand-written note: what makes them special, which version to play and what to know before you start.
Chrono Trigger
SNES · 1995
The game people point to when they say 16-bit RPGs were special. Fights happen right on the map, characters team up for combination attacks, and the time-travel story moves quickly from era to era.
Read our full take →
Streets of Rage 2
Genesis · 1992
Many people's favourite beat 'em up of the era. Four characters with very different styles, big detailed sprites, plenty of enemy variety, and another club-ready soundtrack from Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima.
Read our full take →
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Game Boy · 1993
A handheld Zelda that never feels cut down. Link washes up on Koholint Island, and the dungeons are some of the best in the series.
Read our full take →
Hall of fame
Each system's most celebrated game
See all top lists 
Sonic the Hedgehog Classic
Grand Theft Auto Classic
Super Mario 64 Classic
Super Mario Bros. Classic
Pokémon Emerald Classic
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Deep cuts
Hidden gems worth your time
Hand-picked games that never got the spotlight, and why each one deserves yours.
See all hidden gems
Switch between four heroes with different powers. A tiny print run made the cartridge rare, but the game itself is a joy.
Demon's Crest Classic
Capcom's moody Gargoyle's Quest spin-off. Play as the demon Firebrand and collect crests that change your form.
Rocket Knight Adventures Classic
A jetpack-wearing opossum in a Konami platformer packed with set pieces. One of the best games on the Genesis that Sega didn't make.
Klonoa: Door to Phantomile Classic
A 2.5D platformer with lovely art and a story that hits harder than you'd expect. Grab enemies, then use them to double-jump.
Treasure's oddball platformer where you grab, shake and throw almost everything, enemies included.
A puzzle game with Shigeru Miyamoto's name on it, where a mole digs between the surface and the tunnels underneath.
Better together
Best co-op games to beat together
All co-op picks
Mario Bros. Classic Co-op
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Classic Co-op
Donkey Kong Country Classic Co-op
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Classic Co-op
Ice Climber Classic Co-op
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Classic Co-op
Golden Axe Classic Co-op
Battle City Classic Co-op
Crash Bash Classic Co-op
Double Dragon Classic Co-op
Secret of Mana Classic Co-op
Streets of Rage Classic Co-op
Guides
New to retro games? Start here
All guides Retro Games That Are Still Brutally Hard (and How to Actually Beat Them)Ninja Gaiden, Contra, Battletoads, Ghosts 'n Goblins and more: why these classics are so tough, the specific traps that end most runs, and the tricks and codes that get you to the credits.PAL vs NTSC: Why European Retro Games Ran SlowerWhy Sonic, Street Fighter II and countless other games ran slower in Europe and Australia, what 50Hz and 60Hz really mean, and which version to play today.Why Your Old Cartridge Lost Its Save (Save Batteries Explained)Why Pokemon, Zelda and other classic cartridges forget your progress, how long save batteries last, which games are affected, and how to protect or replace them.CRT vs Modern TV: How to Make Retro Games Look (and Feel) RightWhy old consoles can look blurry and feel laggy on a flat-screen TV, what 240p means, the cables and upscalers that fix it, and whether you really need a CRT.Region Locking Explained: Can You Play Japanese Games on a US Console?How each classic console stopped imported games from working, which handhelds were region-free, and the adapters, mods and alternatives people use to play imports.The Best Games on Every Classic HandheldThe essential games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color and Atari Lynx, and what makes each one worth playing.
Systems
Explore by console
All 30 systems
Top lists
Popular rankings
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About
Why we built Matrix Picks
Retro gaming has a strange problem: too much choice. There are tens of thousands of classic games across the Atari, Nintendo, Sega and Sony consoles, more than anyone could play in a lifetime, and yet most "best of" lists recommend the same twenty. If you've ever opened an emulator or a subscription service, scrolled for half an hour and then closed it without playing anything, you know the feeling. Matrix Picks exists to fix that.
We built a matrix of every notable game from the Atari 2600 through the Dreamcast and Nintendo DS and tagged each one by genre, era, player count, how long it takes and how famous it is. The five-question quiz uses those tags to suggest games that fit how you want to play tonight: a quick arcade blast on your own, a co-op brawler with a friend, or a long RPG for the weekend. There's no AI and no tracking, just the data and your answers.
Data only gets you so far, though. A database can tell you a game is a 1994 platformer for two players; it can't tell you that the mine cart levels in Donkey Kong Country are a rite of passage, or that Super C ignores the famous Konami code. So for the most popular games we write our own notes, and we hand-pick lists like our hidden gems and check co-op tags by hand, because "two players" and "two players together" are not the same thing. Our guides cover the practical side: getting started, choosing a console, why light guns need an old TV, and more.
We're honest about how we rank things. Our "best" lists are ordered by fame, measured by how widely a game is covered across Wikipedia's language editions, not by our personal taste, and we explain the method in how Matrix Picks ranks games. If you spot a mistake or think a game deserves better, let us know. Save the games you like to My List and come back when you're ready to play.