From A to Wii – SNES

S – SNES

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the greatest consoles to ever grace the video gamer. It came along riding the fame of the original NES, and managed to exceed the quality of that console, both in terms of power and functionality and in quality of the games.

It was a simpler time back then. Back when games were stuck in two dimensions. Until Mode7 anyway. Console wars were a thing to be enjoyed and had to be fought on the playground instead of the intarweb. What drove the SNES to the top was the games; there were a multitude of games that could help you scratch any itch you may have acquired. Some of these games are now so ingrained in our memories that the mere thought of them brings back wonderful childhood memories.

As the generation of children who grew up with the SNES turn into money wielding consumers, it would certainly be beneficial for Nintendo to entice older gamers back into the hobby with the prospect of reliving their fondest memories of their old video games.

What determines the success of any video game console is the games. Sure, there were a lot of bad games on the SNES, but alongside the bad games there were many games that would go on to inspire future games for generations. You had the some of the best platformers; from Super Mario World to Mega Man X to Donkey Kong Country. New installments of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Final Fight raised the bar on the classic beat ‘em up. Star Fox was one of the first console games to experiment with adding a third dimension. Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat 2 were both great advancements the fighting game industry. Oh, and the RPGs! The SNES was the definitive console for the RPG. I don’t think any console since has been home to the caliber of RPGs the SNES had. Titles like Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy V and VI, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Seiken Densetsu 3, Lufia I and II, etc. All of these great SNES games remain fun and playable even after a decade’s time.

What can the Wii learn from the SNES to help it succeed? First and foremost, Nintendo must realize that the games are what made the NES and the SNES so great. Many of these games also happened to be third party games. Nintendo cannot continue to rely on first party games to get them through; sure they are good games, but it just simply isn’t enough.

The reason Nintendo has been superseded in the past two console generations is partially because they lost the amount of third party support they enjoyed back in the SNES era. And while Nintendo seems to be doing great at making quick pick-me-up games, they seem to have placed less emphasis on the hardcore gamer. Sure we enjoy playing these quick fun games, but every now and then we just want to be totally immersed in a game, spending countless hours in front of a television set wasting our lives away.

The SNES had one of the strongest game libraries of any system in video game history. Any and every genre was available on the system and every breed of gamer could find something to entertain them. With the Wii it looks like the Nintendo of the SNES era might be coming back. The Wii has already garnered copious amounts of third party support and interest and the delineation between WarioWare type games and massive hardcore adventures like Zelda seems to be pretty even. Add in the fact that classic SNES games will be available through the Virtual Console system and suddenly it seems like we are getting the true successor to the SNES, both in terms of games and in terms of corporate strategy. Now give me my Earthbound and Super Mario RPG!

Until the Wii comes out, I would encourage every one of you to play an old SNES game and relive all those moments I know you haven’t forgotten. And then rebuy them on the Virtual Console… because you know you will!

Editor’s Note: Cleaned up some grammar and punctuation that was missed the first time around.