It’s star date 11.4.1992 after using our ship the UK SS Enterprise we have managed to sling shot round the sun and arrive at Nintendo HQ as they release their answer to the Sega Megadrive…
Nintendo wanted to capitalise on their highly successful NES and needed to bring something special to the fight as Sega had struck a massive blow with the Megadrive. The Super Nintendo was a grey sleek looking console with a unique controller of 4 coloured buttons and circular edges making it comfortable to hold the console was an immediate success.
Super means awesome!
Games often had the word super added to the title which was more of a gimmick but I see it as more of a reference because the titles that came to this console were nothing short of super. A distinct point of reference is the Super Star Wars trilogy graphically brilliant with varying levels of difficulty and level design the sound and music immersed you, and the fact you were playing key scenes from the movies from the sand crawler right up to Jabba’s palace using almost all the heroes from the film.
Another brilliant marketing move by Nintendo was acquiring the rights to Street Fighter 2 as we all know was a highly popular game and Super Nes had it a whole year before it would appear on the Megadrive (told you it was a good move didn’t I) and then of course along came Mario Kart one of the best multilplayer games ever made and again exclusive to this console, with its brightly coloured graphics, well known characters and the just one more go addictiveness (if that ain’t a word it is now) the game flew off the shelves.
One sweet games lineup
The games just kept rolling out for Super Nintendo, Super Probotector, Killer Instinct, Super Mario World I really could go on and on but rest assured these games will receive the outstanding review treatment on this site in the coming weeks.
Nintendo constantly altered their marketing strategy by altering console packages to keep things fresh you could purchase the console with Street Fighter 2, Mario Kart, Mario All Stars, Donkey Kong country again the list goes on brilliant marketing for the time from a Company that was ahead of the game.
The SNES ceased production in 1999 and had established it self as the definitive selling 16 bit console selling 49.10 million units helped a little way a long by a terrible decision by Sega to move forward to quickly (and we all know how that turned out)
Star Struck Gaming rating
The SNES is still very popular today amongst retro gamers and the games live on in Nintendo’s virtual shop and like the Megadrive is a worthwhile purchase for new gamers with no Internet no expensive games but a lot of fun on your own and with friends around as long as your parents don’t mind 3am shouting matches of DO NOT FIRE THAT RED SHELL AT ME!!.
So SSG fans that is the SNES wrapped up for this week’s review as we board the UK SSG Enterprise with numerous joypads and copies of Mario Kart we leave behind a legend in consoles hoping that we inspire future generations to embrace a golden age of gaming.
