Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The North American model SNES.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or SNES, is a fourth generation video game console created by Nintendo and released in the USA on 1991-08-23. Under the hood, it is nearly identical to the Japanese Super Famicom which was released almost a year earlier.

The console uses a 16-bit Ricoh 5A22 CPU, a derivative of the WDC 65C816, essentially a 16-bit version of the MOS 6502. It has a custom GPU called the Picture Processing Unit (SNES)Picture Processing Unit (PPU). The APU is the custom Sony S-SMP which consists of a CPU, DSP, DAC, and RAM. Games are stored on ROM cartridges.

Personal

After seeing my friend beat Super Mario World shortly after the SNES came out, and being a huge fan of Nintendo in general, I requested an SNES for Christmas and got it (I believe it was the winter of 1991). This is probably my favorite video game platform over all. Even if it doesn't have the most of my favorite games, I just think it was the best-constructed of platforms showcasing the largest jump in technology with the ability to put out amazing games. This was also the time in my life when I was most into video games.

I own both an old model and new model SNES. I also have the new model manual (SNN-S-HB-USA-2) and two Consumer Information Booklets (SNS-USA/CAN-2).

Games

See all SNES Games.

Initial Games

The console was released in several packages. The Control Set did not include a game. The Super Set included Super Mario World. The later Mario Set included a dual cart of Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars.

The following games were available at the console's launch: F-Zero, Gradius III, Pilotwings, SimCity, Super Mario World.

Personal

These are SNES games that are important to me:

Hardware

Review

Good

Many great games were released on the platform.
The controllers, though not as tough as those on the NES had the perfect amount of buttons to handle complex games, while still not being overly obnoxious.
The system had a great GPU, and the mode 7 graphics were very impressive at the time.
The audio chip was phenomenal, and blew every other competitor out of the water.
Nintendo again made the wise decision of allowing cartridges to include additional chips for additional functionality, this time to add a 3D chip.
Nintendo released a nice amount of peripherals like the Score Master, Mouse, Super Game Boy, and in Japan, the Nintendo Power Cart and Satellaview.

Bad

The plastic they used in the USA was highly vulnerable to UV light, and caused the boxes to turn a sickly yellow color.
Far too many poorly-designed games were made for the platform.
Although the APU and GPU were both very impressive, the CPU was actually pretty weak for the time, and a lot of games had noticeable slowdown whenever a lot of sprites had to be rendered.