The Peak Of Nintendo's Dominance And The Start Of Nintendo's Downfall - The Super NES

Ask anybody today what the greatest gaming system of all time is, and you're likely to hear one of these three systems: The Sony Playstation, the original NES, and the Super NES. All three of these systems were key to shaping video games into what they are today. And deciding which system is ultimately better is like deciding between Sprite and 7-Up. However, instead of debating which of these systems is the "best of the best", I'm going to take an honest look at one of them (the SNES) and what made it great in the first place.

The SNES is a textbook definition of the old saying "hindsight is always 20/20." When the system first launched in 1991, that new-fangled Sega Genesis system was making some waves thanks to the release of Sonic The Hedgehog. While the Nintendo brand name alone was enough for the SNES to make equally large waves at the time, many were concerned about whether Nintendo would be able to maintain that same momentum for long. The SNES was technologically superior to the Genesis in every respect... except processing power. This gave ole' Genny a pretty distinct advantage, and Sega exploited it for all it was worth. Nintendo's image as a "kiddie game" developer was born thanks to Sega's more aggressive and irreverent marketing strategy, compared to Nintendo's more laid-back and family-friendly strategy (not to mention the company's ludicrous censorship policies - removing the word "blood" from the US version of Final Fantasy IV???). Fortunately, Nintendo persevered in a way nobody (even Sega) predicted they would. Releasing quality game after quality game, and ultimately winning the 16-bit war, despite some rather fierce competition from Sega. Today, the SNES is looked back upon as one of the greatest gaming systems of all time. Meanwhile, the Genesis (while regarded as a very good system overall) is seen more as a fad than anything else.

Okay, thanks for the history lesson. But what was it that made the SNES so great in the first place?

For starters, the SNES showed everybody how to successfully follow-up a great system. It took virtually all of the NES's most popular franchises (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc) and not only updated them for the 90's, but also breathed new life into them, without ridding them of their core identity. Super Metroid, one of the most critically acclaimed and influential games on the system, took the original Metroid and upped the scope, cinematics, and atmosphere 10-fold while still retaining the look and feel of a Metroid game. No other video game at the time had that game's level of atmosphere or storytelling. And its impact in this regard is felt even today. Meanwhile, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past took what made the original Legend Of Zelda successful, and upped the challenge, graphics, diversity, and depth to extremes never seen before in a video game at the time. While Super Mario Kart almost accidentally created the now-lucrative kart racing genre, and has been constantly imitated ever since. With the SNES, Nintendo showed everybody how to properly update a popular franchise for a new generation. And many follow-up systems, such as the Playstation 2 and X-Box 360, have followed the company's example.

Of course, the SNES also gave birth to many new franchises. Some of the most popular include Starfox and Donkey Kong Country. These two franchises in particular illustrate how the SNES was able to technologically revolutionize the game industry. Starfox was arguably the first console game to successfully use 3-dimensional polygon graphics without sacrificing great gameplay. Virtually every 3D game released within the last thirteen years owes a lot to Starfox in this regard. Meanwhile, Donkey Kong Country took things a step further by introducing 3-dimensional CG rendered graphics to mainstream console systems, while still delivering a darn good game. Many other games on the SNES, such as Super Mario Kart and F-Zero, took advantage of 3D-perspective through a graphical technique called Mode 7 scaling. While the SNES wasn't the first game system to use 3D-ish perspectives, it was probably the first system to actually do it without sacrificing game quality. Plain and simple, if it weren't for the SNES, 3D gaming either would not exist today or would be much more limited.

Similarly, the SNES's soundchip was revolutionary in that it was the first on a home console system to use the then-new wavetable sound system. No longer was game music relegated to a series of tinny bleeps and bloops. Actual instrument samples were used in the SNES's sound system, so that the music would sound almost like something you'd buy at a commercial CD store. Even today, games like Final Fantasy III/VI, Chrono Trigger, and Starfox have some of the finest video game soundtracks of all time.

Finally, the SNES was a very durable and well-built system. I remember many people complaining about how breakable the Sega Genesis was. Fortunately, the SNES was durable enough that it could easily withstand years and years of playtime. And, even today, many SNES systems work like a charm.

There's a very good chance video games wouldn't be what they are today if it weren't for the Super NES. The system pioneered many of the things we now take for granted in video games, while having a strong enough library to still hold its own against pretty much anything on the market today. Unfortunately, it was also during this generation that Nintendo's "kiddie image" was born, and Nintendo's reluctance to produce a CD add-on for the system is a major factor in what led to the company's downfall a generation later. Regardless of Nintendo's dubious business decisions, however, the SNES is easily among the most significant gaming consoles of all time. And now that many of its greatest games are being released for the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console service, you owe it to yourself to see why (if you haven't already).