What is the SNES?
Short for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the SNES (also known and released as the Super Famicom (SFC) in Japan on November 21st, 1990) is the 16-bit home console successor to the NES, releasing in America on August 23rd, 1991, and internationally elsewhere throughout 1992. Released as a successor to the NES, the SNES ushered in a new era of gaming with improved graphics, audio, and gameplay. Nintendo had released it with over 1,700 games on the fourth generation of video game consoles and loosened its previous strict licensing requirements as it competed fiercely with Sega’s Genesis in the Console War.
The SNES’s video game library greatly exceeded the NES’s collection, becoming quickly famous with its massive collection of games such as Super Mario World (the SNES’s launch title), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger. The SNES also introduced the iconic and recognizable controller design with four face buttons (A, B, X, and Y) in a diamond formation and two shoulder buttons on the top left and top right (L and R).
The SNES had sold 49.1 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling fourth-generation console of all time, leaving a lasting influence on the gaming industry and remaining very popular even after its discontinuation in 2003, especially for collectors and through modern-day emulation.
Toys & Accessories
Like the NES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System featured several accessories that enhanced gameplay for some of its impressive library of games and introduced new ways to play and interact with some of its games. Here are some examples of the SNES’s add-ons and accessories:
- 1.) SNES Super Scope: The Super Scope was a wireless, shoulder-mounted, bazooka-like light gun released in 1992 as the successor to the NES Zapper. It functioned by using an infrared receiver and required a CRT TV to function, requiring 6 double-A batteries, and featured two buttons: a fire button and a cursor button. It was bundled with the Super Scope 6 game and was compatible with several others, such as Yoshi’s Safari, Metal Combat: Falcon’s Revenge, and Operation Thunderbolt. Unfortunately, it was considered a failure by 1997 due to its awkward size, limited game library, and high battery consumption.
- 2.) SNES Mouse: Also called the Super NES Mouse or model SNS-016 (also called the Super Famicom Mouse in Japan), the SNES Mouse was a mouse peripheral released in 1992, designed to imitate the feeling of PC mouse controls for the SNES. The mouse was launched to support creativity and precision-based games that required more accuracy than a SNES controller’s gamepad, most notably Mario Paint, which the mouse was initially bundled with. Over 130 SNES games that were released are compatible with it, but very few were actually designed with the mouse in mind, such as Sid Meier’s Civilization, Cannon Fodder, and Lamborghini American Challenge.
- 3.) SNES Multitap: The SNES Multitap was a peripheral that plugged into the Super Nintendo’s second controller port and effectively added four extra ports for five players to play with each other at once for the SNES. While it was primarily known for Super Bomberman, it could be utilized for many other games, including Super Bomberman 2, Secret of Mana, NBA Jam, WWF Raw, and Lord of the Rings. The Multitap also included a switch for 2P or 5P mode, allowing it to stay connected without causing issues for 2-player games.
SNES Fun Facts
- As mentioned earlier, the Japanese version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is the Super Famicom, which was very similar to the SNES, but is smaller and lighter in design, with rounded edges instead of the angular ones the SNES has.
- The SNES has a unique graphics mode called Mode 7 that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled, along with supporting warping effects like translation and reflection, simulating 3D effects in a way that was very rare for home consoles at the time. These were used for games such as Super Mario Kart and F-Zero.
- The SNES’s game library is still considered among the best gaming libraries of all time, with this library considered the “Goldilocks” era of 16-bit pixel art that holds up to this very day, along with third-party companies like Capcom and Square developing high-quality masterpieces for the console along with Nintendo.
- Even after new consoles had been released by now, the SNES still had games developed for it well into the late-90s. This is supported by the fact that the SNES was relatively affordable and had an amazing gaming library and quality for players who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, upgrade to a new console yet.
- The game cartridges for the SNES contained additional hardware and special chips that could improve graphics, enable new gameplay features, and increase processing speeds. These allowed developers to truly push beyond the limits of the SNES and create more advanced and visually impressive games at the time.
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