What Made The Super Nintendo Super?!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's greatest Game System..without question. But What exactly made the Super Nintendo So Super? Today, We're gonna find out.   

Brief History 

During the Late 80's, in Japan, the Famicom's reign was threatened by NEC's {then} New Game Console, the PC Engine (Turbo Graphix-16 in the U.S.). While Sega, who also released the Mega Drive, was not a huge threat. Nintendo CEO, Hiroshi Yamouchi, worried about Nintendo's future, announced the Super Famicom. 

However, thanks to Super Mario Bros. 3 being such a big hit and the Famicom out preforming The PC Engine in popularity, the Super Famicom's release was delayed. But that victory was crushed in 1989, when Sega was quickly closing in on Nintendo in the North American market with their American Mega Drive, the Sega Genesis.  By early 1990, Sega would gain a slight lead in the market due to having a really good selection of 16-bit hits. 

Yamouchi had to act, so in 1989, the Super Famicom was revealed to the public and a year later, in 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, with Super Mario World and Pilotwings as Launch titles.

Then a year after that, in 1991, The Super Famicom released in North America as The Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Super NES was bundled with Super Mario World. Pilotwings and F-Zero were the other 2 Launch titles for the region.   

Eventually, more games would come in that year including Final Fight, Final Fantasy II (IV), Super Castlevania IV, and Actraiser   

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Advantages Over Competitors

So..what are the advantages of the Super Nintendo over it's various Competition? Let's have a look.

The Super NES v. The Turbo Graphix-16 - While the Turbo Graphix was a superior system, tech-wise, to the NES and was very close to beating it in Japan, it became a non-issue for Nintendo after the Super NES hit the market. NEC's machine couldn't compete. Even With their CD-Rom Add-on, they couldn't Touch Super Nintendo. Though...NEC Did conquer Sega in Japan. The Turbo Graphix just didn't have a strong enough library to challenge the SNES. Plus, The Super NES was superior tech-wise.

The Super NES v. The Sega Genesis - The Super Nintendo's Greatest Rival....well, only in America and Europe. In Japan, it was the reverse. While the 2 Systems were almost equal in power, with the SNES being slightly stronger, the Genesis was faster. However, the big advantage, tech-wise, the Super NES had was that it was Smarter. Meaning it's capabilities Could be pushed beyond it's limits without Any Add-Ons (see Donkey Kong Country and Starfox). That and it's Library of games was slightly better than the Genesis'.

The Super NES v. The Sega CD and Sega 32X - Despite being slightly more powerful than the Super NES, the Library for Both Add-Ons were lacking, with very few good games. Plus, they were Add-Ons for the Sega Genesis. The Super Nintendo didn't need them to be strong...or Cool.

The Super NES v. The Neo Geo AVS System - SNK's system was superior in every way...except in 2 Areas - The Price and lack of strong 3rd Party Support. The System and games were very expensive and lacked strong 3rd Party support. These factors hurt this Console's chances in the Market. 

The Super NES v. The Philips CD-I - 1. The CD-I was never supposed to be a full game Console in the first place. 2. It had terrible games. and 3.it was too lame to even put up a fight against Sega and SNK, let alone Nintendo.   

The Super NES v. The Panasonic 3DO - Panasonic's CD-based System suffered in a similar way to the Neo Geo. While it was more powerful than the competition, the Console itself was too expensive and had very little 3rd Party support. While the 3DO's games Were cheaper than the competition, the lack of great titles made Panasonic's system a mostly ignored one. 

The Super NES v. The Atari Jaguar - Atari planned on throwing Nintendo out of the Video Game Market by releasing a 64-Bit System. Atari was sure that they Would succeed and that they couldn't wait too hear the news of Nintendo's Big loss to their new, more powerful system. That day never came and the Jaguar was a failure. Y'see, Despite being a more powerful system than the SNES and Genesis, The Jaguar lacked the 2 Biggest things that made a Video Game Console great - Good Games and 3rd Party support. Atari's system had None of that. So, instead of Atari throwing Nintendo Out of the Console Market, They though Themselves out. 

The Super NES v. The Sega Saturn - The Saturn, despite being a more powerful (32-bit) system and having a really good library of games, The Saturn's popularity both in Japan and in America, was eclipsed by Nintendo's 16-Bit System. And, unlike with the Sony Playstation, the Saturn would Never be more popular than the Super Nintendo.

The Super NES v. The Sony Playstation - Despite being more powerful than Nintendo's hardware, The Sony Playstation was never as popular as the Super Nintendo....until Final Final Fantasy VII came along. And Because of that one game, The Playstation became the Worlds most popular System. The Super Nintendo had an advantage in the early going, but when Final Fantasy 7 hit the market, it was all over for them as the #1 Console in the World.....at least it held on to the #2 spot in Japan, until it's death in Late-2000.      

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The Library

What makes a Game System Worth Playing? The Games! And the Super Nintendo had a Great Library of Legendary titles.  You have Excellent 1st Party games like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda - a Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, Mario Paint, Super Mario All-Stars, Kirby Super Star, Super Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Star Fox, and Super Metroid.

Great 2nd Party games like Earthbound (aka Mother 2) and Awesome 3rd Party Titles like Final Fantasy II (IV), Super Castlevania IV, Street Fighter II Turbo, Mega Man X, Mortal Kombat II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time, Mega Man 7, Final Fantasy III (VI), and Chrono Trigger 

Plus theirs the Nintendo/Square collab - Super Mario RPG. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I'll be listing My Top 10 games soon. But first, let's talk Peripherals.

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The Peripherals

Now..let's talk about the various Accessories for the Super Nintendo.  

The Super Scope (1992) - The successor to the NES Zapper. Came with a 6-Pak of games, with a few more sold separately. Never owned this or it's games.

The Super Game Boy (1994) - This cart allowed you to play Your OG Game Boy games on tour TV..in Color. You can customise the colors of each game you play, and even make custom borders too. A 2nd Version of this peripheral (The Super Game Boy 2) came out in 1998...though it was Japan only. The biggest reason for this was that in America, the Super NES was on it's last legs.

The Super Advantage (1993) - An Arcade stick by ASCIIWare.

The SNES Mouse (1992) - Came bundled with Mario Paint. A cool little accessory that's only comparable with a small handful of games...most being Japan Only.

The SNES Multi Tap (1992) - This baby allowed SNES players to play 4-Player Games.

The X-Band (1994/1995) - An American Creation. This thing allowed players to play games "Online" via phone line.

The Game Genie (1992) - The Legendary Cheat Device...now on the Super Nintendo. Place in pre-made Cheat Codes from the Codebook or create your own, and have fun. 

The Action Replay (1993) - The Action Replay is similar to the Game Genie, but you can do a few more things, such as create save states.

NP Flash Carts (1997) - A Re-writable Flash Memory Cart that allows players to download Games from a Kiosk....But only in Japan.  

The Broadcast Satellaview (BS-X; 1995) - A Japanese-Only Add-On that allowed Players to play games and read news though the Systems Paid Satellite Service by St. GIGA, a Digital Satellite Radio Station. Had a bunch of exclusive games too. I'll talk more about this interesting thing another time. 

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Recommended Games.

Now time for the games that I would recommend players check out.

Super Mario World (Action Platformer; 1991)

F-Zero (Racing; 1991)

Final Fantasy II/IV (Traditional Role Playing; 1991)

Super Castlevania IV (Action Platformer; 1991)  

Gradius III (Shoot 'Em Up; 1991)

Sim City (Simulation; 1991) 

Final Fight (Beat 'Em Up; 1991) 

Actraiser (Action Platformer, Simulayion, and Action Role Play; 1991) 

Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past (Action Role Playing; 1992)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (Beat 'Em Up; 1992) 

Mario Paint (Misc; 1992) 

Super Mario Kart (Racing; 1992)

Street Fighter II Turbo (Fighting; 1993) 

Super Mario All-Stars (Action Platformer; 1993)

Cool Spot (Action Platformer; 1993)

Final Fight 2 (Beat 'Em Up; 1993) 

Star Fox (Shoot'em Up; 1993)

Mega Man X (Action Platformer; 1994)

Super Punch-Out (Sports; 1994)

Super Metroid (Action Platformer; 1994) 

Donkey Kong Country (Action Platformer; 1994)

Super Street Fighter II (Fighting; 1994)

Mortal Kombat II (Fighting; 1994)

Final Fantasy III/VI (Traditional Role Playing; 1994)

WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game (Fighting; 1995)

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Fighting Edition (Fighting; 1995)

Mortal Kombat 3 (Fighting; 1995) 

Kirby's Avalanche (Puzzle; 1995)   

Earthbound (Traditional Role Playing; 1995)   

Castlevania: Dracula X (Action Platformer; 1995)

Chrono Trigger (Traditional Role Playing; 1995) 

Killer Instinct (Fighting; 1995)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Action Platformer; 1995) 

Mega Man X2 (Action Platformer; 1995)

Mega Man 7 (Action Platformer; 1995)

NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Sports; 1995)

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Action Platformer; 1995) 

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Fighting; 1996) 

Kirby's Super Star (Action Platformer; 1996)  

Final Fight 3 (Beat 'Em Up; 1996) 

Mega Man X3 (Action Platformer; 1996) 

Super Mario RPG (Traditional Platformer/ Traditional Role Playing; 1996)

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The Legacy 

And finally, the Legacy.

The Super NES has the Greatest Legacy in All of Gaming History. It lasted from 1991 to 1997 in America, and 1990 to Late-2000 in Japan. And it's all thanks to the Great Games and Fond experiences that they gave us. 

Classic NES franchises like Mega Man, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Punch-Out, Metroid, Battletoads, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior, The WWF Games, and Kirby, were all greatly improved when they moved to the SNES....and not just technologically, either. 

Also, Legendary franchises like Mega Man X, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, and Chrono Trigger, all got their start ON the Super NES.

And lets never forget the Quality Arcade Ports. We got - Super Ghouls n Ghosts (an enhanced port of Ghouls n Ghosts), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (an expanded port of teenage mutant ninja turtles: turtles in time), Street Fighter II Turbo (called hyper fighting in the arcades), Mortal Kombat II, and Saturday Night Slam Masters.

Now, there Were Bad games for the System, but those terrible titles were always overshadowed by the good ones. 

Though, long past, the Super NES is Still beloved today by Gamers from around the World. Years ago, Nintendo released the SNES Mini, which contained many of the Consoles best games. Sadly, That Item was in limited suply and Nintendo refuses to re-release it.

Thankfully, The Switch and Switch 2's Online Service has a bunch of great SNES titles for players to play.     

So, What made the SNES Super? All of what You just read.

And that's gonna do for this Editorial. I have Zero idea how to end this, so...I'll end thing here.

Until Next Time, Punch Nazi's, Kick Commies, Resist Modern Attitudes and Stay Gold.