Play Populous (Japan) Online

Game Overview

Populous on SNES is one of those games that makes you feel like an actual god—if that god had a weird obsession with tiny pixelated people. You start with a handful of followers on a patch of land, and your job is to terraform the world for them, flattening hills or raising mountains to give them space to build. At first, it’s just about watching them multiply, but then you realize the real fun is in smiting the rival tribe across the map with earthquakes or volcanoes.

The controls take a minute to get used to—this was 1990, after all—but once you get the hang of it, there’s something weirdly satisfying about reshaping the land and nudging your little worshippers toward victory. Just don’t expect modern polish; it’s clunky in that classic early-SNES way. Still, if you’ve ever wanted to play divine real estate agent with a side of wrath, this is where it all started.