Nintendo Ranks 10 Best SNES Games on Switch Online From 77-Game Library

Q: How does the new Switch 2 hardware revive the quirky, mouse-driven gameplay of 1992's Mario Paint?

Switch 2 revives Mario Paint by restoring the kind of pointer input the 1992 game was built around. The original SNES release came bundled with the Super NES Mouse, and on Switch 2 Nintendo now lets players control it with either a USB mouse or the new Joy-Con 2 controllers in mouse mode. That hardware matters because Mario Paint is not a standard platformer; it depends on precise cursor movement for drawing, stamping, animating, composing music, and playing the Gnat Attack minigame. On the original Switch, the game required a USB mouse. Switch 2 broadens that by turning the Joy-Con 2 into a mouse-like controller, making the experience feel closer to the original accessory-driven design without needing extra hardware. The searched coverage around Switch 2’s mouse features also helps explain why this works now. Nintendo designed the new Joy-Cons to function like computer mice, and that has already been used for other retro preservation cases. In Mario Paint’s case, it means one of Nintendo’s oddest and most tactile SNES experiments can be played in a form that respects how it was meant to be used. So the revival is less about visual upgrades than about input. Switch 2 gives Mario Paint back its defining control style, allowing a modern audience to use pointer-based controls for the game’s quirky creative tools much as SNES players did in 1992.

3 articles · Updated · Polygon · Aug 23

Super Mario World took the No. 1 spot in a new ranking of the best SNES titles on Nintendo Switch Online, ahead of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.
The list draws from 77 SNES games on Nintendo Classics and argues Nintendo's own first-party run on the system outweighs the service's thin third-party lineup.
EarthBound, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country 2 also made the top 10, alongside Kirby Super Star, Panel de Pon and Mario Paint.
Mario Paint comes with a hardware caveat on Switch Online: players need a USB mouse, while Switch 2 owners can use Joy-Con 2 mouse mode.
The ranking underscores both the depth of Nintendo's SNES catalog and the notable absence of major third-party classics such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6 and Street Fighter 2 Turbo.