Summary

• Saturday mornings in the 1990s were filled with top-tier cartoons, with Batman: The Animated Series standing out as the ultimate champion.
• From Mighty Ducks to X-Men, nostalgia for 1990s cartoons runs deep, highlighting memorable characters and impactful storylines.
• Shows like Rugrats and Hey Arnold! brought valuable life lessons to viewers, making Saturday mornings a peak moment for kids in the 90s.

If there was one thing for certain on a Saturday morning in the 1990s, it was that the TV schedule would be jam-packed with brilliant cartoons. In a world of streaming services, thousands of cartoons are available at the touch of a button. However, in the 1990s, viewers would have to wait a whole week to catch the next episode of their favorite shows.

Despite the era only coming to an end 24 years ago, there's a lot of nostalgia for the 1990s. For those who went through their childhood during the 1990s, hours upon hours were dedicated to watching cartoons, growing attached to various wacky characters and their hilarious stories. Catching up with them on a Saturday morning was the peak moment of the week, and while there were plenty of great cartoons from the 1990s, only a few stand out as being the very best.

10 Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series

1996 – 1997

Four years after the release of the 1992 movie The Mighty Ducks, an adaptation was created in animated form, resulting in Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series gracing TV screens. While there are quite a few differences between the two, mainly seeing its main cast change from real people to cartoon ducks, the love for hockey is still very much prominent in the animated series. Adding in sci-fi elements and mystical protective face wear, Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series had plenty of weird and wonderful storylines that kept many a child entertained, even if it only had a 26-episode run.

9 Rugrats

1991 – 2004

Rugrats was a great Saturday morning watch, especially for those who grew up with siblings. Seeing the ongoing adventures of the likes of Tommy (E. G. Daily), Chuckie (Christine Cavanaugh), and Angelica (Cheryl Chase) from their point of view provided an interesting perspective, with each episode teaching a lesson about life, friendship, and growing up. Plus, Rugrats always delivered the laughs, especially in scenes with the kids' exhausted parents.

8 Hey Arnold!

1996 – 2004

Despite being marketed to children, Hey Arnold! had its fair share of darker topics, yet was still a wholesome and enjoyable watch. In between Arnold's crazy hijinks with his friends, Hey Arnold! covered the discussion of childhood crushes, urban myths, and growing up in a big city. The show was so popular during its original run, from 1996 to 2004, it also saw two films based on the cartoon: Hey Arnold!: The Movie in 2002 and Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie in 2016.

7 Pinky and the Brain

1995 – 1998

Pinky and the Brain starred two hilarious mice of the same names, following their weekly endeavors and attempts to take over the world. The show originally started as a segment of Animaniacs, before being spun off by legendary Hollywood director Steven Spielberg. Despite its overly intelligent humor, the show was still easy for children to understand, especially as each episode followed a similar structure. The combination of Brain's (Maurice LaMarche) hell-bent schemes and Pinky's (Rob Paulsen) ineptitude was always guaranteed to be funny, so it makes sense that the two were brought back in the 2020 revival of the animated TV show Animaniacs.

6 Recess

1997 – 2001

Recess: The 1990s cartoon equivalent of The Breakfast Club. Across its 6-season run, Recess showed children the diversity in various groups of friends throughout life, and each episode delved into the ups and downs of childhood. Recess is considered such a classic because of how it represented its target audience through its characters, a group of fourth-grade children. While the show seems light-hearted at a glance, each episode has an overarching theme, often covering issues like social hierarchies and life's disadvantages.

5 Pokémon

1997 –

If there's one childhood interest that seems to transcend generations, it's Pokémon. The animated series, based on the video game series and card game, follows the iconic Ash Ketchum trying to become the Pokémon Master. The show's characters are ed for being in a floating timeline, never aging or changing, and they've been doing so for an incredible 25 seasons as of 2023. While his companions did switch in and out at points, each episode always guaranteed that Ash would continue powering through his journey to the Pokémon League and beyond.

Plus, villainous Team Rocket's campiness and their weekly attempts to kidnap Ash's Pikachu were nothing short of hilarious. Pokémon as a franchise was such a big part of the 1990s, and its ability to animate and give more voices to the hundreds of pocket monster creations introduced over the years always kept viewers engaged. Filled with bright colors and plenty of action, Pokémon has been teaching children the meaning of perseverance and kindness since 1997.

4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

1987 – 1996

Many '90s kids are able to identify New York's four most famous turtles: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo. Based on the comic book series of the same name, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brought these characters to life in cartoon form in 1987, following their weekly adventures in the sewers. Known for their love of pizza and ninjitsu skills, the Turtles quickly became an audience favorite. Over 30 years after its beginning, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise still continues to appear worlwide, including multiple TV spin-offs, video games, and most recently in the 2023 Seth Rogen film Mutant Mayhem.

3 X-Men: The Animated Series

1992 – 1997

X-Men: The Animated Series kicked off in 1992, loosely inspired by the early 1990s X-Men comics by Jim Lee. Revolving around Charles Xavier's (Cedric Smith) team of mutants, some of Marvel's most iconic characters were brought to life, and the show was so popular that it spanned out into further comics, as well as video games. X-Men: The Animated Series was praised for its intricate details, in both its art style and physical design of its character, and the development of their individual personalities and storylines.

Despite being targeted to a younger audience, X-Men: The Animated Series saw action-packed episodes that covered some complex topics, such as genocide and discrimination, all while trying to protect the wider public from world-ending threats. In an interesting piece of X-Men: The Animated Series trivia, the show was originally supposed to run for only 65 episodes, but was so successful that its production company, Saban Entertainment, directly paid for more installments, rather than Marvel. Even nowadays, the show is still well ed by its audience, and even saw a revival, X-Men '97, released on Disney+ in March 2024.

X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men '97 are both available to stream on Disney+.

2 Spider-Man: The Animated Series

1994 – 1998

Marvel's Spider-Man franchise has seen an incredible number of various films, games, comics, and TV shows over the years, but the 1992 Spider-Man: The Animated Series stands out. Some storylines from the series were loosely adapted by the original comics and some were new ideas, but each week would always see Peter Parker (Christopher Daniel Barnes) tackle yet another supervillain while trying to maintain his personal life. Spider-Man: The Animated Series was also the first Spider-Man project to introduce the concept of the "multiverse," which would go on to be a core storyline in several other Marvel projects.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series featured some iconic enemies, including the likes of Kingpin and the Green Goblin, but also saw some great crossovers with the world of the X-Men. One notable episode, "The Mutant Agenda" saw Peter Parker cross paths with the X-Men and Dr. Herbert Landon (David Warner), and while the crossover between the two franchises was exciting enough, Peter's first meeting with them proved that the show was as funny as it was dramatic. Spider-Man: The Animated Series is still well ed by '90s kids, so much so that its entirety was added to Disney+ in 2019.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series is available to stream on Disney+.

1 Batman: The Animated Series

1992 – 1995

While there were many amazing Saturday morning cartoons in the 1990s, the true champion of them all is 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. Easily considered the most famous adaptation of the iconic D.C character, Batman: The Animated Series saw Kevin Conroy lend his voice to the legendary billionaire, alongside Mark Hamill as the crazed Joker. The show used a darker, more noir art style for its animation, and despite being a children's show, this worked brilliantly, building anticipation and drama for viewers.

It also took this approach with its content too, and while still ensuring it was appropriate for younger viewers, created developed storylines and complex, layered characters. During its run, the show bagged an incredible four Emmy wins, including Outstanding Animated Program in 1993. Batman: The Animated Series is a staple in nostalgia for the 1990s, and not only established a standard for future superhero projects, but also for children's television as a whole.