Super Nintendo. SNES. Super NES. However you call it, one of the best consoles to date (Nintendo Super NES)

Member Name: Geneson

Product:	Nintendo Super NES
Date:	04/08/02 (3856 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You'll find any kind of game on this console, the possibilities are endless, these games were made during the peak of Nintendo's developing skills, along withstrong 2nd and 3rd party support, has lasted 7 years to prove the classics never die, this system won't either, it's durable as it can get

Disadvantages: In some ways, you could say the Sega Genesis was the better 16-bit console, did not push the system to it's max capabilities, weren't enough truly graphically beautiful games, game cartridges were too big

Pefection is impossible. There is no perfect society, no perfect man, not even God is perfect. But with the Super NES, we witnessed near perfection, even near it's waning days we realized this is as good as it gets.

I hate gamers today who's first console was the Playstation. Heck, I'm not even too happy if your first console was the Super NES. To be a true gamer, you have to have been around during the golden age of video gaming. Mario, Pac-Man, Pong, all classics that will live in our hearts forever. When Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System, it set the building blocks for what would be the biggest video game developer for over a decade. The NES was a huge success in the post-arcade era, if you didn't own a NES, you weren't cool like everyone else.

How was the NES so revolutionary? For starters, most gamers only knew the shooters, simple arcade games where you tried to best your own score. Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. gave you a more concrete new goal, to finish the game.

At first glance Mario was such a simple idea, two brothers named Mario and Luigi defeating an evil turtle to save the princess. The mastermind behind the game Shigeru Miyamoto gave us that, and so much more. The truth is, Mario belongs along such huge kid icons like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, and Homer Simpson. Mario is still the face of gaming. Mario is still who Nintendo turns to when they need a big seller. Yet, we sometimes fail to realize the brilliance of the Mario games. Over the course of history Mario has undergone changes, we were amazed with each of the new Mario games. Yet, he still remains that lovable pudgy little Italian. Super Mario Bros. saved gaming. If Super Mario Bros. were never made, you can kiss goodbye to Resident Evil, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and every single other game. In truth, Super Mario Bros. has in some way influenced every developer out there.

Feeding off the success of Super
Mario Bros, Nintendo released two more Mario games on the NES, all equally successful. Mario eventually even got his own multiple cartoon shows and a movie. Along the timeline of the NES, more classics such as The Legend of Zelda, Kirby's Adventure, and Metroid lay the building blocks for Nintendo's future franchises.

So this is where Nintendo is now before the release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Could they pull it off? Could they upgrade one of the most revolutionary pieces of hardware of all time and continue their dominance in the gaming industry? For many, the NES still remains the favorite of hardcore Nintendo fans. For this generation however, we pick the Super Nintendo.

The Super Famiconm (Japanese name) was released in Japan shortly before the North American release of the Super Nintendo in 1990. It was time for Shigeru Miyamoto to cook up some more masterpieces. He delivered Super Mario World at the launch date, thinking of the game now I still marvel at it. I wouldn't be surprised if this would be voted the greatest launch title EVER. Miyamoto continues the recipe for success with Mario, using old elements but folding nwe ones into it at the same time. It would be a crime not to put this into a list of one of the top 10 games of all time.

Nintendo experienced a short shortage after the release of F-Zero, a futuristic racer, but then came the third-party support. Capcom and Konami proved their power with games such as Fight, Castlevania, Actraiser, and Super Ghouls N' Ghosts, setting up the release of the third Zelda.

The Zelda series is widely regarded as maybe the best of all time, because of it's epic gameplay and memorable events. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past can be considered the best of the series. Again, Miyamoto took the formula from the original game, and used the power of the Super NES to restore the world of Hyrule in all it's glory, and change about everyt
hing else. Things were good for Nintendo, until a little company named Sega came along...

Though most will regard the Super Nintendo as the superior system to Sega's Genesis, there is no doubt it was a very close call. For a long period many did not call playing games as playing 'Nintendo', but as playing 'Sega'. Sega's head mascot Sonic challenged Mario, Sega went with a bolder approach with their character and it succeeded. What if Nintendo put down Sega before they even started? No Genesis, they would control 100% of the gaming market instead of 50%, and their empire would be strengthened today. But no, Nintendo did not do that and Sega has hurt their sales even up to the 32/64-bit era. Nintendo needed more guns against Sega.

The Sega Genesis featured the gripping RPG Phantasy Star, while Nintendo was slow behind with the RPG's. Gamers know that you can't make a console without RPG's (one of the big reasons the N64 was such a failure), so they looked to Squaresoft. Over the years, Squaresoft has delievered huge hits such as Final Fantasy 2 and Final Fantasy 3 (my person favorite game of all time), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario RPG. These games ensured Square's place as one of the elite developers. Capcom helped Nintendo's act by releasing Street Fighter II, which was at the time a SNES exclusive, however, many developers were drawn towards the Sega Genesis. Few developers were completely Nintendo loyal anymore, hurting the SNES even more.

For several years Nintendo planned a SNES CD-ROM which would completely overwhelm the Sega Genesis' capabilities, however, it was never completed. Nintendo worked with Sony on the project for a while, however, that did not last long as Sony pulled away and eventually started work on their own console the Playstation. Again, what if Nintendo kept Sony? What if they stopped them from making the Playstation? Nintendo would be completely do
minant in the industry today. But did they do it? No. Goes to show you the history of some of Nintendo's arrogance.

Nintendo released a graphically powerful game called Star Fox in 1993. This game used the FX chip and pushed some of the capabilities of the Super NES to the max. However, this wasn't the big story of 1993. That was the year of Mortal Kombat, and the congress hearings on the gory and violent games. Nintendo had always been kid-friendly games everyone could play, but after Mortal Kombat, things changed. The blood flowed everywhere, ushering in a new era in which Nintendo looked at the more mature games.

Super Metroid, Super Punch-Out, and other different franchises were updated in the following years. However, the biggest improvement on a character was by far Donkey Kong Country. The first installment in the series amazed everyone with it's graphics that looked too good to be on the Super NES, and this game sold consoles. Meanwhile, Nintendo continued to re-define themselves when they released Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island which featured not Mario, but his loveable dinosaur Yoshi. Another gorgeous game that pushed the limits of the console.

Slowly, Sega began to slow it's pace down, and Nintedo managed to catch up with the release of Donkey Kong Country. Until Sega released the Saturn, forcing Nintendo to develop what would eventually be the Nintendo 64. However, the Super Nintendo was far from dead. In it's final few years the system released an RPG classic named Earthbound, Kirby Superstar which was widely considered the best Kirby game ever, made one of the most addcting games ever called Tetris Attack, Rare's fighting gem Killer Instinct, two new Donkey Kong Country games from Rare, and a few more games from Squaresoft. However, Square did not stay with Nintendo for long. The Nintendo 64 did not appeal to the company and they left Nintendo to develop Final Fantasy on Sony's Playstat
ion because the N64 was still using cartridges. What if Nintendo used CD's instead? They would still have Square among other developers and may have killed off Sony and Sega. But again, we see Nintendo's arrogance. The Super Nintendo died shortly after.

What did the Super Nintendo not have? You could find something for every gamer. It had the big name action platformers such as Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid, and Super Mario World. It had the epic adventures like Zelda and Secret of Mana. It had the racing games with Super Mario Kart and F-Zero. There were games for the sports fans, NBA Jam and the major sports franchises from Electronic Arts. Fighting games were aplenty, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and Killer Instint getting the job done. There were unique games such as Tetris Attack which surprised everyone. And then of course the RPG's, Square's Final Fantasy, Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, and a gem from Nintendo called Earthbound. The Super Nintendo showed what a real system was supposed to be have, games, power, and longetivity.

Do I rank it ahead of the biggest consoles such as the Playstation, Genesis, and NES? Yes. Do I rank it as THE ideal console? Maybe. Did it do everything it could do? No. There were so many things Nintendo could have done to ensure it's place as the best console of all time, but they didn't. I doubt we will ever see a console as great as the Super NES, if it were to be done though, it would come from Nintendo. Because of the Super NES, I grew loyal to Nintendo. My Super Nintendo will always be next to my N64, Gamecube, and whatever consoles Nintendo brings out next.

Summary: