Happy 35th anniversary to the Super Nintendo, one of gaming's greatest consoles

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: It's been 35 years since Nintendo released its first 16-bit home gaming console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A follow-up to the wildly successful NES, the SNES was Nintendo's answer to Sega's 16-bit Genesis console and saw the company through the early 90s to the eventual launch of the Nintendo 64.

The Super Nintendo debuted in North America on August 23, 1991, after having launched as the Super Famicom in Japan a full nine months earlier. Nintendo was technically late to the 16-bit fight considering Sega's next-gen gaming machine had been around since the tail end of the 80s, but made up for lost time in a big way.

The SNES was vastly superior to its predecessor in terms of graphics and audio performance, but hardware is only part of the equation. Nintendo had committed to turning out quality games with the original NES in a bid to avoid the same fate as Atari, and that really became evident with the SNES.

Also see: Against All Odds: How Nintendo Made It

Nintendo's 16-bit machine shipped with Super Mario World as its pack-in title. Following Super Mario Bros. 3 was a daunting task, but Nintendo hit a grand slam with Super Mario World. Other brilliant games would eventually follow, including Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, TMNT: Turtles in Time, and Star Fox, just to name a few. Many of them still hold up well today.

Nintendo even had plans to launch a CD-ROM add-on for the console, but that never came to be as its partnership with Sony soured. That snafu ultimately led to the creation of the PlayStation, forever altering the home console landscape. Can you imagine what gaming might look like today without Sony as the leading player?

Nintendo sold 49.1 million SNES consoles before the machine was officially discontinued in 1999. That is only good for 16th all-time and pales in comparison to more popular platforms like the PS2 and the Switch, but the system's impact remains undeniable even all these years later.

Image credit: Evan Amos

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Happy 35th anniversary to the Super Nintendo, one of gaming's greatest consoles

 

[BobDolesGhost]

The only consoles I ever owned were the original NES and then Sega Genesis. The Genesis of course stomped the NES flat in graphics and I loved me some Sonic games. But one day, I went over to a friends house and he had a SNES. He loaded up Star Fox and ohh man - the green envy was oozing out of my pores. He eventually wanted to show off other games, but I wouldn't have it. Hours later I finally relented and next came Mario Kart. Well.. I don't think we slept but 2 hours that night.

Nintendo's gameplay, at least in those days (I'm not familiar with any modern systems), was a thing of beauty.

 

[lonetac]

TBH, the SNES to me will always go down as the greatest console of all time.

I started out with black and white pong, atari, intellivision, nes and future consoles but SNES was like peak. Maybe PS1 era could compete but so much nostalgia over SNES games that I still play to this day.

Happy Birthday SNES!

 

[NumberNine]

The only console I spent more time on growing up was the PSX. I have countless ways to enjoy the games now, including a highly modified 1-Chip SNES Jr. When I want SNES these days though, I use my Analogue Pocket - docked and handheld. FPGA is king.

 

[Axeia]

The only console I ever owned myself (aside from the gameboy).
Played a ton of Super Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat 3. My parents might have dropped the ball letting me the play the latter, but hey I only ever been in one fight in real life (self defense) and didn't try to pull a 'fatility!' so it's not like it did any harm.

Been on PC ever since though, no regrets.

 

[OortCloud]

TBH, the SNES to me will always go down as the greatest console of all time.

I started out with black and white pong, atari, intellivision, nes and future consoles but SNES was like peak. Maybe PS1 era could compete but so much nostalgia over SNES games that I still play to this day.

Happy Birthday SNES!

For me it's the Genesis/Megadrive. Yes I know the SNES was more capable but it released over 2 years after the Sega machine which, back then, was like releasing in a different epoch. By that time Intel had released the 486 and Doom etc was just around the corner... I guess that time difference coincided with me leaving university getting a job etc so I could suddenly afford a PC so I'd moved on.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

For me it's the Genesis/Megadrive. Yes I know the SNES was more capable but it released over 2 years after the Sega machine which, back then, was like releasing in a different epoch. By that time Intel had released the 486 and Doom etc was just around the corner... I guess that time difference coincided with me leaving university getting a job etc so I could suddenly afford a PC so I'd moved on.

It's ironic, given the SNES uses a 16 bit version of the NES CPU, but the SNES was truly a next gen system, whereas the Genesis was more of a 16 bit NES competitor. It was most obvious int he audio chip. The Z-80 wasnt bad for FM synth, but it didnt hold a candle to the SNES sony audio chip.

The SNES started a long tradition of Nintendo having an incredible software library relative to the number of titles released, something that lasted until the end of the GameCube. I do prefer the genesis controller.