Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES or Super NES) was a 16bit gaming console developed by Nintendo and launched in Japan on 21st November 1990 and in the US a year later. While the Americas, Australia and Europe knew it as SNES, it was called Super Famicom (SFC) in Japan or Super Comboy in South Korea where it was distributed under Hundai Electronics. Due to regional variations of the console, the games weren’t compatible so the games bought in Europe or in the US weren’t supported by the Japanese version.
SNES was only second console by Nintendo. NES and SNES were available at the market until 2003. However, SNES stood out among both, NES and other competitors, thanks to advanced graphics and incomparable sound outputs. That might be why it became the best selling console of the 16bit age. Even thought it entered the market quite late, it was still one of the top selling products even at times when 32bit consoles were introduced.
Genesis console by Sega was the main Nintendo and SES console competitor. There was a tough competition between both companies. But Sega was 2 years ahead of Nintendo, its console was cheaper and it offered a wider range of titles. The final milestone in this “console war” was most likely the remake of Street Fighter II arcade game which Sega released a year later than Nintendo.
There were over 62 mil. NES and 49 mil. SNES consoles sold worldwide. A number of gaming magazines labelled SNES the best gaming console of all times.
It would be shame not to mention the video games‘ father and producer, Shigeru Mijamoto, who has been working for Nintendo since 1977 and has been the creator of the best selling and most popular games. He has been involved in development of over 100 games (to mention some of them: Donkey Kong, Super Mario series, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, Metroid Prime, Pimkin 2, Splatoon etc.)
Final Fantasy (Square – 1987): The player was placed on a small map of an unnamed world. The player’s task was to explore towns and places and to fulfill given tasks.
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Super Mario Kart (Nintendo EAD – 1992): Over 100 mil. copies were sold.
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The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (Nintendo EAD – 1991): Third part of the series was of paramount importance. It introduced a world full of secrets, locations and characters.
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Super Mario World (Nintendo 1990): 20 mil. copies sold.
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Secret of Mana (Square – 1993): By creators of Final Fantasy.
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Super Metroid (Makoto Kano/Gunpei Yokoi – 1994): One of the best platform games ever. It was an inspiration for many developers.
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To mention more: Super Tennis (Tonkin House – 1991), Cybernator/Assault Suits Valken (NCS Corp – 1992) etc.
1/ NES console was popular to counterfeit. It was possible to buy fake NES consoles at almost every Vietnamese market in the 90’s.
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2/ The first launch of the console in Japan on 21st November, 1990 was a great success – 300 thousand units load was sold out in just a few hours.
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3/ Nintendo was very careful about the content of the games for its consoles. The rules clearly stated – no sex and minimum violence. Yet there was a turn with release of Mortal Kombat 2 after Sega had significantly higher sales of its unaltered version compared to the SNES version.
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4/ The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is in charge of issues concerning violence in games. It sorts the games into categories depending on the level of sex and violence.
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5/ Nintendo was founded on 23rd September, 1889 as Nintendo Koppai and it was a producer of playing cards for Hanafuda game.
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