Overview

Super Nintendo Entertainment System logo

After the success the NES had worldwide and the pressure of better consoles in the market as the Sega Genesis, Nintendo decided it was time to introduce a new home console; the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), it debuted in Japan on November 21, 1990 and in august 1991 in the rest of the globe (North America, South America, Europe and Australia).

It was essentially a 16-bit console and a direct competitor of the Genesis. As with the NES the SNES proved to be the best console in the market as it out sold its competition. The SNES saw its success thanks to some of the games that were released for it; Super Mario World (best selling game) and Donkey Kong Country all of its releases. The SNES era was arguably the golden era of video games.

Nintendo's first trial into CD-ROM games was with the SNES in Japan, releasing games such as Secret of Mana and several Legend of Zelda games. Ultimately, the project did not bear much fruit and did not get ported elsewhere. As a result, games such as Secret of Mana had to cut content in order to fit a standard SNES cartridge.

The SNES also had online capabilities by way of the Satellaview add-on. It connected to Satellite via a modem and was released in 1995 in Japan only. It allowed the user to download and play games in weekly or daily installments, and only broadcast at certain times. It was pioneering in both downloadable game media and episodic content on consoles and is viewed as a precursor to services such as the Wii's Shop Channel and Xbox Live Marketplace.

Technical Specifications

• CPU: Custom Nintendo processor running at 21.47727 MHz
• Memory: 128 Kb main RAM, 64 Kb video RAM, 64 Kb audio RAM
• Video: 256x224 or 512x224 or 256x239 or 512x239 progessive resolutions, 512x448 or 512x478 interlaced resolutions, 32,768 colors (256 colors max on screen)
• Audio: 2 Sony audio processors (1 8-bit, and 1 16-bit DSP) 8 channels, 32 KHz, 16-bit stereo output

SNES - Recent Games

		Name	Platforms	Developer
		DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure released on March 10, 2008	SNES, WSHP	Hudson Entertainment, Inc.
		Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer released on March 4, 2008	SNES, DS	Chunsoft
		Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting released on Aug. 2, 2006	SNES, ARC, WSHP	Capcom
		Tales of Phantasia released on March 6, 2006	GBA, SNES, PSP, PS1	Namco Tales Studio Ltd.
		Frog Feast	GEN, SNES, CDI, JAG, SCD, NGCD	Rastersoft
		Disney's Magical Quest 3 starring Mickey and Donald	GBA, SNES	Capcom
		Mega Man & Bass	GBA, SNES, WSC	Capcom
		Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder	GBA, SNES	Pronto Games, Inc.
		Dragon Warrior I & II released on Sept. 27, 2000	SNES, GBC	Chunsoft, TOSE Co., Ltd., Armor Project
		Super Bowling	SNES, N64	Athena Co., Ltd.
		Puyo Puyo 2	GB, GG, GEN, SNES, PS1, SAT, TGCD, WSC, NGPC, WSHP	Compile
		Final Fantasy V released on Sept. 30, 1999	GBA, SNES, PS1	Square Enix, Square Co., Ltd.
		Wrecking Crew '98 released on May 23, 1998	SNES	Nintendo R&D1
		Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together	SNES, PS1, SAT	Quest Corporation
		Super Famicom Wars	SNES	Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd.
		Famicom Tantei Kurabu Part II: Ushiro ni Tatsu Shoujo	GBA, SNES	Nintendo
		BS Super Famicom Wars	SNES, BS-X	Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd.
		Heisei Shin OniOni Shima: Kouhen	SNES	Nintendo
		Heisei Shin OniOni Shima: Zenpen	SNES	Nintendo
		Kirby's DreamLand 3 released on Nov. 27, 1997	SNES	HAL Laboratory, Inc.

SNES - Upcoming Games

		Name	Platform	Developer
		BioMetal	SNES	Athena Co., Ltd.
		Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 expected release 1996	GEN, SNES, PS2, SAT, ARC, XBLM	Midway Games, Avalanche Software LLC, Williams Electronic Games, Inc.
		Big Sky Trooper expected release 1996	SNES	LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC
		Breath of Fire II expected release 1995	GBA, SNES, WSHP	Capcom
		Castlevania: Dracula X expected release 1995	SNES	Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
		Super Street Fighter II expected release 1994	AMI, GEN, SNES, CD32, ARC, WSHP, PC	Capcom
		Mega Man Soccer expected release 1994	SNES	Capcom
		Mega Man X2 expected release 1994	SNES, PS2, GC	Capcom
		Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City expected release 1994	SNES	Electronic Arts
		The Hurricanes expected release 1994	GEN, SNES	Arc Developments