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History
Emulation
Peripherals
Market Share |
Launch
Designed by Masayuki Uemura, the designer of the original Famicom, the
Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000
(US$210). It was an instant success: Nintendo's initial shipment of
300,000 units sold out within hours, and the resulting social
disturbance led the Japanese government to ask video game manufacturers
to schedule future console releases on weekends. The system's release
also gained the attention of the Yakuza, leading to a decision to ship
the devices at night to avoid robbery.
With the Super Famicom quickly outselling its chief rivals, Nintendo
reasserted itself as the leader of the Japanese console market.
Nintendo's success was partially due to its retention of most of its key
third-party developers from its earlier system, including Capcom,
Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Koei, and Enix.
"Nintendo's strongest selling point, however, was the game that came
packed in with the Super NES console—Super Mario World."
"Nintendo's strongest selling point, however, was the game that came
packed in with the Super NES console—Super Mario World."
In August 1991,b[›] Nintendo released the Super Nintendo Entertainment
System, a redesigned version of the Super Famicom, in North America for
US$199. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April
1992 for GB£150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The
PAL region versions of the console use the Japanese Super Famicom
design, except for labeling and the length of the joypad leads. Both the
NES and Super NES were released in Brazil in 1993 by Playtronic, a joint
venture between the toy company Estrela and Gradiente.
The Super NES and Super Famicom launched with only a few games, but
these games were well-received in the marketplace. In Japan, only two
games were initially available: Super Mario World and F-Zero. In North
America and Europe, Super Mario World shipped with the console, and
other initial titles included F-Zero, Pilotwings (which demonstrated the
console's "Mode 7" pseudo-3D rendering capability), SimCity, and Gradius
III.
Console wars
The rivalry between Nintendo and Sega resulted in a fierce console war
in which Sega positioned the Genesis as the "cool" console, with edgy
advertisements occasionally attacking the competition and more mature
titles aimed at older gamers. Despite the Genesis's head start, its much
larger library of games and its lower price point, market share between
the SNES and the Genesis was about even in April 1992, and neither
console could maintain a definitive lead for several years. The Super
NES eventually prevailed, dominating the American 16-bit console market,
and would even remain popular well into the 32-bit generation.
Changes in policy
During the NES era, Nintendo maintained exclusive control over titles
released for the system—the company had to approve every game, each
third-party developer could only release up to five games per year,
those games could not be released on another console within two years,
and Nintendo was the exclusive manufacturer and supplier of NES
cartridges. However, competition from Sega's console brought an end to
this practice; in 1990, Acclaim began releasing games for both
platforms, with most of Nintendo's other licensees following suit over
the next several years; Capcom (which licensed some games to Sega
instead of producing them directly) and Square were the most notable
holdouts.
Nintendo also maintained a strict censorship policy that, among other
things, limited the amount of violence in the games on its systems. One
game, Mortal Kombat, would challenge this policy. A surprise hit in
arcades in 1992, Mortal Kombat features splashes of blood and finishing
moves that often depict one character dismembering the other. Because
the Genesis version retained the gore while the SNES version did not, it
outsold the SNES version three to one.
Game players were not the only ones to notice the violence in this game;
Senators Herb Kohl and Joe Lieberman convened a Congressional hearing on
December 9, 1993 to investigate the marketing of violent video games to
children.c[›] While Nintendo took the high ground with moderate success,
the hearings led to the creation of the Interactive Digital Software
Association and the Entertainment Software Rating Board, and the
inclusion of ratings on all video games. With these ratings in place,
Nintendo decided its censorship policies were no longer needed.
Consequently, the SNES port of Mortal Kombat II was released uncensored,
and this time Nintendo's version outsold Sega's.
The 32-bit era and beyond
While other companies were moving on to 32-bit systems, Rare and
Nintendo proved that the Super NES was still a strong contender in the
market. In November 1994, Rare released Donkey Kong Country, a platform
game featuring 3D models and textures pre-rendered on SGI workstations.
With its detailed graphics, careful game design and high-quality music,
Donkey Kong Country rivaled the quality of games that were being
released on newer 32-bit CD-based consoles. In the last 45 days of 1994,
the game sold 6.1 million units, making it the fastest-selling video
game in history to that date. This game sent a message that early 32-bit
systems had little to offer over the Super NES, and helped make way for
the more advanced consoles on the horizon.
In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned SNES 2 in North America
for US$99, which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's
Island. Like the earlier NES 2, the new model was slimmer and lighter
than its predecessor, but it lacked S-Video and RGB output, and it was
among the last major SNES-related releases in the region. A similarly
redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan at around the same
time.
Nintendo of America ceased production of the SNES in 1999, about a year
after releasing Kirby's Dream Land 3 (its last first-party game for the
system) on November 27, 1997. The last SNES title to be released in the
U.S. was a version of Frogger in 1998. In Japan, Nintendo continued
production of the Super Famicom until September 2003,[26] and new games
were produced until the year 2000, ending with the release of Metal
Slader Glory Director's Cut on December 1, 2000. Some consider the SNES
to embody the "Golden Age of video games", citing its many
groundbreaking games and the perceived focus on gameplay over graphics
and technical gimmicks. Others question this perceived romanticism,
believing the system was just another step in the evolution of video
game technology.
In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the Game Boy
Advance, which has similar video capabilities. In 2005, Nintendo
announced that SNES titles would be made available for download via the
Wii's Virtual Console service. |
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