System: SNES
Trivia: Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to create a dinosaur companion for his main character for Super Mario Bros., but the NES' hardware limitations forbid it. Luckily, 16-bit graphics got the job done just fine. Say hello, Yoshi!
Year: 1991
One of the reasons why Super Nintendo was able to overtake Sega Genesis in sales and eventually put them out of business, Super Mario World was a simple pack-in game that turned out to be the next generation of platform games after the 8-bit era. The game featured an open world that captured the attention of gamers everywhere, eventually selling 20 million units and often being voted the best SNES game of all time.