44 Animated TV Shows That Prove The 90s Were The Golden Age of Cartoons

Growing up as 90s kids, we didn’t have a lot on our plate. Except, of course watching everything that was on TV. And there was so much good stuff. Unlike the stupid cartoons, kids these days are forced to endure.

Here you will get a list of the best 90s and early 2000s cartoons, which will give you nostalgia…

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1. Duck Tales

Even though the show technically stopped airing in 1990, Indian kids got to enjoy it well into the early 2000s. And damn, it was so good and funny. And you all remember the iconic theme song, right?

2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Best freaking show ever, right? I mean, they practically made turtles cool. Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo and Donatello were my freaking heroes growing up.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 90's Cartoons Amino Apps

These superheroes were the first to make geeks look cool.

Check Out: 38 Catchy Cartoon Theme Songs That Every 90s’ Kid Is Still Singing

3. Samurai Jack

The animated series followed ‘Jack’, an unnamed Samurai who after defeating the ultimate evil Aku, was sent to the dystopian future ruled by the shape-shifting demons.

Samurai Jack - 90's Cartoons Comicbook

The show might have been for kids but it was dark. Each episode made you glued to the edge of your seat as Samurai Jack pursues his goal to go back in time to defeat Aku again to stop this future from ever happening.

Watch This: 29 Cartoons From The 90s That Just Cannot Be Replaced

4. Batman: The Animated Series

This is easily the best adaptation of Batman. The show sticks to the Dark Knight of the comics while showing relatable characters and making you empathise with the villains.

Batman: The Animated Series Polygon

It dealt with some very powerful sentiments despite being comic in nature.

5. Powerpuff Girls

This was probably the first and one of the only TV shows of the time that started teaching us about feminism.

Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom were cute little girls who could be fierce warriors when the situation demanded.

Watch: Best Animated movies all time

6. Johnny Bravo

Before the Barney Stinsons of the world, there was Johny Bravo, a boorish, muscular young man who tried to get women to date him but failed often and miserably.

For most of us, the show was our first taste of adult humour with pop culture references.

7. SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

After being discharged from the Enforcers, agents Jake ‘Razor’ Clawson and Chance ‘T-Bone’ now patrol Megakat City as the SWAT Kats, defending it against all its threats.

Their enemies include Dark Kat, the undead sorcerer Pastmaster, the evil genius Doctor Viper, and the robotic gangsters the Metallikats.

8. Recess

The series focussed on 6 elementary school students and their interactions with the other kids and teachers at the schoolyard during recess.

During this time, the students would form their own society, complete with governments and a class structure. The show was and still remains to be way ahead of its time.

Check Out: Best Of 30 Animated Movies You Can Binge-Watch This Weekend

9. Rugrats

The show focussed on a group of babies, namely Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica and their day-to-day lives, sharing common life experiences from the point of view of, well, babies.

It won over 20 awards during its 13-year run, including 4 Daytime Emmy Awards, 6 Kids’ Choice Awards, and its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

10. Dexter’s Laboratory

This doesn’t even need an explanation. The show was so popular that even kids born after the 90s have watched it at some point.

Dexter was a genius and Dee Dee was a pain in the ass. So even if you are in your 20s and haven’t watched it, start downloading.

Also Read: 10 Of Our Favourite Cartoons From The ‘90s We’d Love To See Remade As Movies

11. Animaniacs

The Warner siblings, among the other characters, lived in Burbank, California. That being said, they all had episodes in different places and periods of time, often interacting with famous people and creators of the past and the present.

Add mythological characters and pop culture icons and you had one heck of a show to get glued to.

12. Courage The Cowardly Dog

The horror-comedy series featured Courage, a pink anthropomorphic dog living with an elderly couple.

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In every episode, the trio would go through a series of bizarre misadventures involving the supernatural.

13. X-Men

Unlike the hit and miss X-Men movie franchise, this show gave us what the X-men were supposed to be. They were colourful and diverse in every way possible.

The animated series did not shy away from the comics’ political themes despite never really diverting from its superhero activities.

14. TaleSpin

The show adapted many established Disney characters and gave them a universe of their own.

It is based on the adventures of bush pilot Baloo the bear, whose air cargo freight business, ‘Baloo’s Air Service’, was poached by Rebecca Cunningham upon his default on delinquent bills with the bank run by the tiger Shere Khan.

15. Hey Arnold

Hey Arnold revolved around a fourth grader named Arnold, who lived with his grandparents in a boarding house.

The show focusses on his experiences as he tries to find his feet in a big city while dealing with the problems he and his friends encounter.

16. The Jungle Book

Of the many adaptions of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, this stands tall as one of the best. The show was just fun to watch.

We used to love watching Mowgli growing up with a pack of wolves while doing ridiculous things with Baloo and training with Bagheera.

17. The Centurions

The 21st century is plagued by the evil cyborg scientist Doc Terror, who plans to conquer Earth and turn its population into slaves.

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But their plans are thwarted by the Centurions, a team of men dresses in exo-frames that show them to fuse with incredible assault weapon systems.

18. Captain Planet and The Planeteers

Gaia, the spirit of planet Earth, sends five magic rings, four with the power to control an element of nature and one controlling the element of Heart, to five young people across the globe known as the Planeteers.

But when a crisis gets out of hand, the Planeteers combine their rings and summon Captain Planet, a superhero with all their powers combined.

The show was educational and promoted environmentalism and was famous for reaching out to the audience on environmental-political and certain socio-political issues. It told the viewers how they could be part of the solution and not the ‘pollution’.

19. The Scooby-Doo show

The show needs no introduction. Scooby and gang use their intelligence among other detective instincts to uncover mysteries that appear to be supernatural at first but always have a human behind them.

Ancient Americans Appropriated

Each of the characters has their own gimmicks but gell well together and form the best investigative team in animation history.

20. Looney Tunes

The show revolves around Bugs Bunny and his roommate Daffy living with their colourful neighbours like Lola Bunny, Tina Russo, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, Gossamer, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Marvin the Martian, Pete Puma, and more.

The show has become has a worldwide franchise, spawning multiple TV series. films, comic books video games etc. Bugs Bunny even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

21. Tom & Jerry

The series features a sequence of fights between natural rivals Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse.

The plot revolved around Tom’s devious and inventive ways to capture Jerry and the mayhem that follows his failure to do so.

22. The Flintstones

The show is set in the pre-historic times in the town of Bedrock. And although the characters use Stone Age technologies, their lives resemble the lives of 20th century urban America.

In this version of the past, dinosaurs and other long-extinct animals co-exist with cavemen, sabre-toothed cats, and woolly mammoths.

23. The Jetsons

While The Flintstones is set in the Stone-Age with modern urban problems, The Jetsons is set in a comical version of the future with robots, aliens and some amazing inventions.

Life is extremely easy with the robots and other technological instruments doing most of the work but everyone still complains about how tough life really is.

24. Popeye The Sailor

Everyone has heard of Popeye, the sailor who eats spinach and gets stronger.

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Originally introduced in a comic strip in the newspapers, Popeye had already become a household name by the time the series came out. Each episode, Popeye find himself in some weird situation full of adventures.

25. Batman Beyond

The plot starts in 2019 when Bruce Wayne realises that he is getting too old to fight crime and pursue life as the dark knight.

20 years later in 2039, Bruce Wayne meets Terry McGinnis.

After they stop the Jokerz gang together, McGinnis finds out Wayne’s secret identity. Later that night he finds out that his father had been murdered.

26. The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest

The series features the teenage adventures of Johny Quest, Hadji Singh and Jessi Bannon as they follow Dr. Benton Quest and his bodyguard to investigate strange phenomena, legends and exotic local mysteries.

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All the action happens in the virtual realm of a three-dimensional cyberspace called QuestWorld.

27. The Addams Family

Aimed at children, much of the macabre nature of the family was toned down in the 1990s TV show.

The characters now lived in a bright cheerful town of Happydale heights and were always facing some threats from a series of recurring villains who wanted to throw them out of the house or capture one of them.

28. The Mask: Animated Series

The show adapted many elements from the movie but dropped multiple characters and changed the persona of other characters. Despite the absence o Jim Carrey, the show managed to keep you giggling throughout.

It’s absolutely brilliant with its absurdity and more importantly with the absurdity of its villains. BTW, unlike the movie, Stanley can use the mask during the day as well.

29. The Road Runner Show

The Road Runner was a high-octane bird who ran so fast that he left a trail of flame and caused pavements to ripple, distort or roll up like a carpet.

On the other hand, was hungry Wile E. Coyote, who although thought himself to be a genius would always fail to catch the bird despite his endless supply of dynamites, gadgets weapons etc.

30. Pokemon

After he turns 10, Ash Ketchum starts his journey as a Pokemon trainer with the dream of becoming a Pokemon master. But having overslept, he rushes to Professor Oak to realise that the only Pokemon left for him to have is a Pikachu.

After a series of events, Pikachu finally trusts Ash, as they embark on their journey together while making both human and pokemon friends on their way to making Ash a pokemon master.

31. Thundercats

The series begins with the dying planet Thundera, forcing the Thundercats to flee. Their fleet is attacked by the enemies, forcing the eldest of them, Jaga to volunteer to fly the ship as others sleep in capsules. But after he dies, the Thundercats wake from their suspended animation on Third Earth after 10 ‘galacto years’.

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Together the ThunderCats and the friendly natives of Third Earth construct the ‘Cat’s Lair’ and fight mutants and the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra.

32. SpongeBob Squarepants

The show revolves around the life of a talking sea sponge who lives in an underwater pineapple in the town of Bikini bottom, works at a fast food restaurant and attends a boating school.

The show lives to this day in the form of memes and gifs and more importantly in our hearts.

33. Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z starts 5 years after the end of the Dragon Ball anime with Goku as a young adult. A humanoid named Raditz then arrives on Earth and tells him that he is Goku’s long-lost big brother and they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans.

Goku also finds out that he had been sent to conquer the planet but a traumatic brain injury made him lose his memory of the mission as well as his true blood-thirsty nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz complete the mission and chaos follow.

34. Pingu

Pingu is a penguin who spends all his days with his parents and his baby sister, Pinga, in a town where everyone speaks ‘Penguinese’.

He regularly finds himself in tricky and troublesome situations but then he always learns a lesson.

35. Timon & Pumbaa

The famous characters who raised Simba start get into their own misadventures.

Fortunately for us, they are funny AF.

36. Aladdin

Aladdin is a street dweller who lives in Agrabah and continues his adventures with the help of Princess Jasmine, his pet monkey Abu, the magic carpet, Lago, the parrot and his best friend, the Genie.

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37. The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

Winnie, Tigger and Piglet were some of our favourite cartoon characters growing up. And this show is honestly where it all started.

Watch these quirky animals live their daily lives while educating you and making you laugh at the same time.

38. Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget fights the forces of M.A.D with the help of some fascinating gadgets like pop-up rollerskates, extensible arms, a helicopter hat among other things.

But despite these gadgets, he constantly fails to catch Dr. Claw, while his niece Penny and her dog do the real investigations and solve the cases.

39. Kochikame

Each episode begins with Kankichi ‘Ryo-san’ Ryotsu coming up with new money-making schemes by inventing a new gadget or capitalising on trends. He becomes extremely successful but losing all the money as the trend runs out of steam or gets out of control.

40. The Transformers

During the great Cybertronian War, the Autobots and the Decepticons crash land on Earth. Millions of years later, it is discovered that the Decepticons plan to strip the planet of all its energy resources. The Autobots, however, seek to protect the inhabitants of Earth from that fate.

41. Mr. Bean

Life can be difficult if you’re Mr. Bean. Despite being a fully grown adult, Bean struggles to complete even the simplest of tasks.

Fortunately, his perseverance never goes to waste as he always finds an ingenious way around the problem.

42. The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show

Bugs Bunny and his friend Tweety Bird and all their cartoon companions with the exception of Speedy Gonzales are part of this long-running cartoon series.

Mind you though, it was a bit mature for the crowd it was catering to.

43. Beetlejuice

Loosely adapted from the movie of the same name, the show features the adventure of ghostly con-artist and his 12-year-old pal, Lydia.

Beetlejuice take his moral companion on many adventures in his home of Netherworld.

44. Garfield & Friends

Garfield is a lazy feline whose only desires in life are eating lasagna and taking naps. In his spare time, he enjoys kicking his hapless canine friend, Odis off the table.

45. Naruto

The story revolves around Naruto Uzumaki, a teenage ninja who seeks recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village’s leader and strongest ninja.

46. The Wild Thornberrys

Eliza Thornberry is special. and not just because she travels the world in an RV with her famous parents, who are nature hosts. But because she can talk to animals.

Along with her sister Debbie, her pet monkey, Darwinand her wild-boy foster brother Donnie, she gets involved with many different wild adventures.

47. Teen Titans

Batman’s former protege, Robin leads a team of superheroes that include the dark Raven, the powerful Cyborg, princess Starfire and Beast Boy. Together they fight the evil and protect the city they live in.

If you think there was some other show that you used to love and we should include it here, do let us know.