Nintendo's
SUPER NINTENDO |
|
Although
both NEC and Sega were able to get their 16-bit machines out before
Nintendo in 1989, the Snes here still looked amazing enough to help
it stand out from the crowd when it finally arrived in the Fall of 1991.
Yeah, I'm angry for making me wait but see why Nintendo's 16-bit machine is still of one my favourite gaming
system's of all time. This Snes system is loaded with all the features you would expect.
The Snes has over 32,000 colours and improved screen resolution so everything
looks cleaner compared to older 8-bit systems like the previous Nintendo
Entertainment System. OK, then doesn't sound like a big deal but Nintendo
didn't stop there. Nintendo was once good friends with Sony believe it or not (before they
became bitter rivals) and if you open the system itself you'll see Sony
sound chips inside. Because of all this attention to the system's sound
the music was really incredible in a lot of the great games like in
Act Raiser and Super R Type for example and some it is
almost as good as the stuff you'll hear on CD's. Also Nintendo added
some 3D hardware to the Snes as well called Mode 7 (3D sprite scaling).
An example of this would be that cool pixel fade in effect on Super
Mario World, to the landscape scaling effects in Pilotwings.
With all these features it was clear that the Super Nintendo was offering
something different to the average game nut out there. If you are sick of the Snes games then why not play some older Gameboy
games on the TV? The Super Nintendo also has a cool adapter called the
Super Game Boy that's lets you do that. Although the Super Game
boy won't let you play any of the newer "Color only and Advanced"
games, you still have over 400 other GB games to pick from. Nintendo
would also release special FX games with enhanced 3D graphics like in
Star Fox and Yoshi's Island, you can look and see the
bottom of cartridge for two extra side circuit panels to know if the
game has a FX chip (like Stunt Race FX) or a C4 chip (like Mega
Man X2). If there's any downside it's the system's overall speed (Almost half less than the Sega Genesis and the TurboGrafx-16) which caused a lot of showdown effects in many top games plus who could forget the system's weak sports line-up compared to the Sega Genesis games (I'm not a game sports fan anyway so I don't care). Another weak thing about the Snes was that stupid Super Scope 6 light gun thing and all the crappy games that worked for it (like Battle Clash).  If this system is remembered for one thing it's that the SNES paved
the way for the Role Playing games to be more widespread. For example: RPG games like Final
Fantasy III, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, and Chrono
Trigger were not really huge hits on the Snes but did
receive a good cult following and are unfortunately quite uncommon now
of days because of this. Heck, even with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy
II (or 4) being re-released on Playstation, the Snes versions don't
have those annoying load times found on the CD format. Sadly these games are well known to be quite pricey as well especially when they become more vintage. Nintendo also released a more compact and much lighter Super Nintendo
in 1996 (nick named the Snes 2 of course). Othen then being smoother
and sexier it's really the same as the old one but now there no pointless
serial ports and no eject button either (also kind of pointless). The system is more collectable and the plastic rarely yellows like the many original Snes units.
Even though this system died a long time ago in 1998 (Frogger being the final game released) and it didn't survive as long as the Genesis, this system is still one of my all time favourites with over a massive 700 games available like the awesome Wario's Woods, Donkey Kong Country 2 and Final Fantasy III that always keeps me playing for hours on end. The Super Nintendo is highly recommend to any body ranging from casual to hardcore players looking for some the best games ever made. I was sold on this new Nintendo back then and it hasn't disappointed since. Overall SNES Rating: 93/100 Find Super Nintendo on eBay here! Japanese name of Super Nintendo: Super Famicom European name of Super Nintendo: Super Nintendo Pal Version Rare Scale: 3/10 Even the SNES2 is fairly common still, well some what. The regular 1991 SNES is still highly available online. COOL SNES TOYS |
THE FACTS:
|
CPU Processor |
65816 (16-bit) |
|
Resolution |
514 X 448 |
|
On Screen Colour |
256 |
|
Max Colours |
over 32,000 |
|
Sound Channels |
8 |
|
Games |
700 |
|
Sprite size |
64 X 64 |
|
Closest Rival |
Sega Genesis |
GOOD POINTS:
*Very large collection
of games to pick from.
*Excellent sound capabilities that rivals CD's.
*The Super Gameboy lets you play the Gameboy games on the SNES!
BAD POINTS:
*Still not that different from the Sega Genesis.
*Slow speed processor.
Below is a list of common and
rarer SNES games and my personal top ten too (please don't be too mad?).
| Common SNES games: | Rarest SNES games: don't leave this in the discount bin! | eBay! |
| Most
sports games Battle Clash Donkey Kong Country Final Fight F Zero Killer Instinct Mortal Kombat Sim City Star Fox Street Fighter II Super Mario World Super Scope 6 |
Aerobiz Super Sonic Aero Fighters Bazooka Blitzkrieg Bronkie the Brachiosaurus Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge Dracula X (Konami, 1995) Entertainment: Mountain Bike Rally/Speed Racer Combo EVO (Enix) Final Fight Guy (Capcom/BlockBuster, 1994) Hagane (Hudson Soft, 1996) Harvest Moon (Natsume, 1996) Metal Warriors (Konami, 1994) Ogre Battle (Enix, 1993) Ren & Stimpy Fire Dogs (THQ, 1993) SOS: Sink or Swim Super Star Fox Weekend Cartridge (Nintendo, 1992) Super Turrican 2 Wild Guns |
Most Disappointing:
NHL 95
Runner up: Pit Fighter
The Worst:
MARIO'S FUN WITH LETTERS
Runner up: Pit Fighter
Most Underrated:
GRADIUS III
Runner up: Mystical Ninja