When Sega was tired of losing the race with their Master System, they decided to release the Sega Genesis. Not to be outdone, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo. With it’s 16-bit graphics and Mode 7 power, the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) took off with flying colors. With hits right out the door of Super Mario World and F-Zero, the SNES easily gained ground on the Sega Genesis. With their new controller, consisting of four right handed buttons, along with two shoulder buttons, millions of people lined up to get the next greatest console on the planet.

Super Mario World

Super Mario never looked so good! The graphics were intense. The map system was layed out perfectly. The story line continued from Super Mario Bros. 3, involving what happened to the airships. Oh, and who can forget the introduction of Yoshi! The enemies were larger than usual. The puzzles were harder than ever. The nice thing about World was you can revisit the levels, often times trying to find alternative paths through the world. There were four exclamation switches that were buried deep in the levels that players could find and activate, which allowed certain places to be reached. This game also introduced the hardest level in Mario’s history: TUBULAR. Good luck beating this on your first try!

F-Zero

Nintendo’s usage of Mode 7 scaling made this racer brilliant. At first, the handling was incredibly tricky to master, but once the player was able to embrace it, the game still remained challenging. This game started the series to weed out the weak, and keep the hard core asking for more.

Super Mario Kart

A new franchise is born. Welcome to Super Mario Kart! An interesting twist on the driving genre, Nintendo made a bold leap in mixing their characters with chaos involving throwing banana peels onto the track. The idea of item involvement in a racing game first started with Super Mario Kart.

Super Scope

This was Nintendo’s attempt to make a futuristic weapon come to life. An expansion of the Zapper, the Super Scope was wireless. It was able to shoot from far distances, as long as the receiver was able to pick it up. Such games as Super Scope 6, involving six variations of shooting and puzzle games, BattleClash, a war on future Earth where bots battled it out, to the later Tinstar, a hilarious game where the player is a quick shooter in the old west. This weapon can be found in Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Gamecube.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past

The legend continues… Nintendo has gone back to it’s overhead view for the third installment of the series. Plagued by many a battery backup issue, Zelda:ALTTP remains as one of the best Zelda games ever made.

Mario Paint

This deceptive little cartridge has a huge system behind it. Only on the surface can you create pictures and color as much as humanly possible. What lies beneath the surface is an addictive little fly swatting game, a robust music creation tool (check YouTube for some great stuff!), an animation department, as well as an easter egg hunt. The usage of the mouse is ever so smooth, although some players might find the fill tool takes just a bit too long. This program has been used a lot around the Internet, including HomestarRunner.com

The RPG’s

The Super Nintendo can be remembered as being the greatest RPG system period. Amazing title like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy II & III, Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars, to cult classics like ActRaiser, Romance of the Three Kingdoms III, and Aerobiz.

Mortal Kombat

As SNES’s biggest controversial game, Mortal Kombat was stripped of all the blood and gore that made the arcade game pleasurable. The fatalities were ripped and replaced with silly kills it made a lot of fans incredibly angry. Their outcries made them purchase the Genesis version, complete with every bloody fatality mentionable. This was the first game that needed to be rated, such as movies are rated PG, PG-13, G, or R. The ERSB (Electronic Rating System Board) was created. You can always tell if the game is right for you by looking for “E – Everyone”, “M – Mature”, “T – Teen” and so forth.

Donkey Kong Country

With the switch of upgrading to 32-bit systems and numerous “adapters”, Nintendo decided that hardware wasn’t needed to make a great game. It’s the software that matters. They fought Sony and Sega’s price tags and consumer’s money by stating “Why buy more stuff when you’ve already got what you need?”. They decided to make an amazing game on high end machines, downgrade it to make it playable on
the SNES, and release it to the public. The result: Donkey Kong Country. A 16-bit game that put 32-bit games to shame. The SNES was back! With its slick computer generated sprites, the game looked absolutely amazing. The gameplay was addictive. This game was the game to have for the holiday season.

Star Fox

The usage of the Super FX chip enhanced the system to a brand new level. 3-D battles and flying made the player feel like they were flying an actual starfighter.

Did You Know…?

• Super Mario All-Stars contains the REAL Super Mario Bros. 2 game? It’s called “The Lost Levels”
• The “yellow-ing” effect is not caused by smoking. Rather, it’s caused by certain type of light making the plastic change color.