Arguably, one of the greatest moments in computer games history is the arrival of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System  (SNES to all the cool kids) in 1992, which brought with it some of the best games ever to grace home entertainment. Not only did it bring us Super Mario World, Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country, but it also helped to introduce great fighting games to the home console.

There were a lot of releases over the course of the 1990s - a decade that was as much defined by the SNES as it was by Jurassic Park and Brit Pop - but here’s my pick of the best:

1. Street Fighter II
   While the Turbo: Hyper Fighting edition of the game took things to the next level, it was the first release on the SNES that really captured gamers’ imagination. Battling with the likes of Ryu, Zangief or Chun Li in a bid to destroy M. Bison was an all-consuming task that cemented fighting games into the hearts of many gamers. Sonic? Sonic boom!
2. Final Fight II
   While the opening game in the series was released earlier on the Super NES, it the second outing that did it for us. It was more a side scrolling fighting game, than the Vs. system that has become the norm, but it was a blast to take on the might of the Mad Gear Gang.
3. 
   WWF Super WrestleMania
   This was our first real taste of world wrestling on the console stage and it was brilliant fun featuring the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Undertaker and The Legion of Doom. It’s a shame the exclusivity setup between Sega and Nintendo saw The Ultimate Warrior, British Bulldog and Shawn Michaels going to the Mega-Drive version, but it’s still a great game.
4. Pit Fighter
   This lesser known gem was a no-nonsense beat ‘em up that did well to do something different and make it work. It digitised live-action fighters to make up the graphics, which subsequently inspired the look and feel of the early Mortal Kombat games.
5. Mortal Kombat
   Finish him. Honestly, I shouldn’t really need to say much more than that. It’s the game your mum really didn’t want you to get and when you did get to play, it was epic from start to death knell end. It might not have had as much gore as the arcade version, or the Megadrive port with the cheat enabled, but it was still a thrill to play.
6. ClayFighter
   A pseudo-parody fighting game? Genius! ClayFighter and its Judgement Clay sequel weren’t just funny, though, they also played well with mental characters and moves to get to grips with. The origin story for the game is one of the most random in history with a meteor made out of clay transforming circus attractions into super-powered fighters, but that only added to its charm.
7. Fatal Fury II
   The fighters in this classic fighting game may not have the same kind of enduring appeal as those from Street Fighter II, but looking back they’re still pretty cool. They had some brilliant moves and with a fast-paced gameplay it was a solid port from the Neo-Geo original.
8. Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
   This sequel/update gets a place on our list of the greatest SNES fighting games simply because of the range of characters that it introduced. Throwing Cammy, T. Hawk, Fei-Long, and Dee Jay into the roster made it feel like a much bigger fighting game than we’d ever seen before, paving the way for larger character options in the future. The graphics were also a nice step up on its predecessor making The New Challengers a strong evolution in beat ‘em up history.
9. Mortal Kombat II
   As if getting one bite of the fatality pie wasn’t enough, the SNES actually got three Mortal Kombat titles (four if you include Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3), but it’s the second game that stands out for me. While the original game port was toned down for the family friendly approach taken by Nintendo, the second game unleashed the fatality beast with irreverent delight.
10. 
    Killer Instinct
    If your teenage years were smack bang in the middle of the 1990s then the arrival of Killer Instinct on the Super Nintendo probably blew your tiny mind too. The graphics at the time were phenomenal, the combo moves were off the scale and it had some of the best finishing moves ever.

About the author

Written by Gerard Harris, editor of the computer games section of Tuppence Magazine.