30th Anniversary of the Super Nintendo

Alana looks back at the SNES.

- Alana Dunitz

It’s amazing how fast time goes by, how is it possible that it has already been 30 years since the Super Nintendo made its debut? Back in 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan and South Korea, to be followed by the SNES a year later. This 16-bit system was not the first to be released, the TurboGrafx-16 was released over three years earlier. Despite its late release date, the Super Famicom went on to become the best selling console, even with tough competitors like the Sega Genesis.

If you were like me and started gaming on the original Nintendo, jumping from 8-to a 16-bit system was a big change. Not only were the graphics significantly better, but the music was great, I still have game soundtracks from Super Nintendo games in my car. Nintendo had also integrated enhanced chips like the Super FX chip right into the cart. There were a variety of chips used that would do different things like make the AI in the game smarter, allow for cool wireframe effects, let the game have a real-time clock, and the Super FX, which acts like a graphics accelerator program that allowed for the creation of games like Star Fox and Stunt Race FX.