SNES - Super Nintendo® Entertainment System®

Our First System purchased

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was one of the big players in one of the most heated console wars of all time and remains as one of the most treasured consoles of all time. Its robust game library and high nostalgia level make it commonplace in a classic gaming collection. This guide should help classic Nintendo newbies jump right in and long-lost SNES owners find their way back to their former love.

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• Nintendo’s second console (known as the Super Famicom in Japan) was designed by Masayuki Uemura, who also designed the NES.
• Nintendo did not originally intend to make a successor to the successful NES, but as Sega’s Genesis/Megadrive started picking up steam and Nintendo saw its numbers slip in the market, this sparked the planning of a new console.

Historical Impact

• The release of the Super Nintendo started one of the greatest console wars in history between Nintendo’s Super Nintendo System and Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis.
• The Super Nintendo has some of the greatest pack in games of all time, starting with the American launch title, Super Mario World. Super Mario All-Stars was also included with the system at a later date.
• Even with the launch of 32 bit systems SNES still proved it was a strong contender in the market. Nintendo of America didn’t stop producing the Super Nintendo until 1999. In Japan the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003.
• Nintendo continued to innovate with controller designs by having four face buttons and two shoulder/trigger buttons. This design served as the primary inspiration to nearly every modern console controler after the 16/32-bit era.
• Nintendo took a firm stand on the type of content in SNES game with its censorship standards. The most famous example was the SNES version of Mortal Kombat, which did not contain its tradmark gore. Nintendo eventually loosened its censorship standards once the ESRB rating system was implemented.
• Nintendo started development with Sony for a CD add-on for the SNES (similar to the Sega CD) which was code-named Play Station.

Variations In Hardware

The Japanese Super Famicom and the PAL Super Nintendo Entertainment system share the same design while the American release is a bit bulkier (and more sturdy)

Historical Impact

• In October of 1997 Nintendo released an SNES 2, this version was slimmer, stripped of the S Video connection and RF output. It came bundled with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island at a price of US$99. A similar Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time.
• In recent years, there have been a number of SNES clones reaching the market, so of which play both NES and SNES games. These clone are affordable, but reliability may be a concern.

Strengths

• Well-Rounded Game Libary: with particular stengths in RPGs, platformers, and racing games.
• In addition to an obvious plethora of great first party titles, Nintendo had an extremely strong third party showing including but not limited to strong support from: Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., and Enix.
• Arguably the strongest RPG library In the history of gaming. (Right up there with the PS1 and PS2)
• The system was able to, in most cases, was able to reproduce more accurate arcade experiences (primarily Street Fighter 2) that the Sega Genesis.
• The console hardware is extremely durable and has a long life span.
• The Super Nintendo’s powerful graphics, sound, and add-on processors made up for its slower primary CPU.
• The video PPU (Picture Processing Unit) allowed the use of Mode-7 effects and 32768 colors.
• The audio subsystem is almost completely independent from the rest of the system and produced some impressive soundtracks and sound effects during its lifetime.
• Games that required more graphic processing power were shipped with internal chips, such as the Super FX ship in Starfox, Stunt Race FX, and Yoshi’s Island.
• The Super FX was the most famous add-on chip, but there were many others that were implemented in a variety of games.
• Easy to play imports (With devices such as the Action Replay or a simple mod )
• The Super Nintendo can use AV and S-Video cables from the N64 and Gamecube, and vice-versa.

Weaknesses

• Slow CPU meant little bits of lag on earlier games upon start up and sometimes while playing, specifically in fighters and shooters.
• Strange specialized video hardware meant inconsistent performance
• The SNES 2 model lacked S-Video output.
• The machine little pricier than you would expect when searching on eBay or Amazon (however finding them at a thrift store, pawn shop, etc is pretty common).
• The console’s plastic shell is infamous for becoming highly discolored. While many machines still look as they originally did, there are a relatively high percentage of machines that have a strong yellowed tint.
• Due to the cardboard boxes used, games can be a challenge to find complete and in excellent condition. Be prepared to pay a premium if you want to collect complete games.