{"id":795,"date":"2011-08-22T12:21:11","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T17:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=795"},"modified":"2011-08-22T13:16:59","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T18:16:59","slug":"retro-scan-of-the-week-super-nes-turns-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/795\/retro-scan-of-the-week-super-nes-turns-20","title":{"rendered":"[ Retro Scan of the Week ]<\/span> Super NES Turns 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Super<\/a>“Nintendo Super Levitation Pak (TM) not included.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (“Super NES” or “SNES” for short) 20 years ago this week — way back in 1991.<\/p>\n

As a devotee of the NES at the time, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Super NES when it came on the market. It’s funny, but I didn’t expect it at all. You’ll have to keep in mind I was only 10 years old and my video game market knowledge was limited to what Nintendo Power told me. When I first saw a preview of the Super Famicom hardware (the Japanese Super NES) in Nintendo Power, I thought “why?” Wasn’t the NES good enough?<\/p>\n

I ended up getting a used Super NES in 1992 (in a set with Mario Paint<\/em>), and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But it never felt the same as my NES (in retrospect, this was probably due to simply growing up), and I soon grew jaded by the general software offerings for the system.<\/p>\n

Sure, I kept up with hits like Zelda: A Link to the Past<\/em>, Super Mario Kart<\/em>, Super Metroid<\/em>, and Donkey Kong Country<\/em>, but it felt like every third-party title in between paled in quality compared to Nintendo’s offerings. That trend continues to this day on Nintendo consoles.<\/p>\n

Rose-Colored Glasses<\/h3>\n

After the advent of widespread Internet use, folks began to rediscover hidden gems of the SNES catalog, such as many classic RPGs games that many American gamers passed over (and Nintendo failed to promote) at the time of their release. As I dug through the old SNES catalog in the emulator era, I too began to appreciate the Super NES more than I had during its heyday.<\/p>\n

Quite a few people now hold the Super NES platform as the pinnacle of 2D sprite-based gaming, which many gamers began to sorely miss after the 3D polygonal graphics revolution began. We now clearly see the SNES as a pivot point between two distinct epochs in video games. That reputation will likely continue as the story of Nintendo’s 16-bit home console echoes through history.<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\n

For more Super NES-related stuff on VC&G<\/em>, check out my Why Super Nintendos Lose Their Color: Plastic Discoloration in Classic Machines<\/a> article from 2007.<\/p>\n

If you’ve ever wondered how many Super NES games start with the word “super,” check out Super Game 64 Advance DS: The Nintendo Game Naming Formula Revealed!<\/a>, also from 2007.<\/p>\n

That same year, I wrote about how I put Secret Cartridge Messages<\/a> in certain Super NES games that I rented. I also wrote about how sad I was when I finally finished Earthbound<\/em><\/a> for the Super NES.<\/p>\n

[ From Super NES Instruction Manual, 1991, cover ]<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Discussion Topic of the Week:<\/strong> When did you first get a Super NES? What did you think of it at the time?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Nintendo Super Levitation Pak (TM) not included.” Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (“Super NES” or “SNES” for short) 20 years ago this week — way back in 1991. As a devotee of the NES at the time, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Super NES when it came on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,21,27,26,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video-game-info-and-history","category-news-current-events","category-regular_features","category-retro-scan-of-the-week","category-retrogaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}