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Looking Back • Super Nintendo Entertainment System Edition

C

Captain N

Junior Member
The SNES came out in 1991(US) and I want to know if anyone remembers picking that up when it came out or if they got it as a gift soon after. What did you think in terms of graphics, games and the controller.

Also • Looking back now..what are some of your favorite SNES games?
 
I got it as a gift for my first communion I believe this was Easter of 1992 or maybe 1993. I didn't care about graphics back then (still don't). I liked my NES and I just wanted to play more games. I'm not hardcore, yo.
 
Super Metroid

Also, Super Metroid.

Donkey Kong Country 2.

And Super Metroid.

~FIN
 
Well, in euroland, the SNES was released in 1992, and I seem to remember getting it fairly early on, maybe a couple of months? No, it had to be a year later, because I remember renting the system with Zelda, which was released in november that year.

Got it as a gift from my moma. <3

Still my favorite system of all time, I remember being blown away by Super Mario World and Zelda in the early days.

The controller still stands as one of my favorite, much due to the patented cross, but also because the buttons and overall feel of the controller reeked of quality. It was a natural step up from the NES controller, really.
 
I didn't get my SNES until about '94, maybe even '95. I was a Megadrive kid up til then. Been a multiplatform gamer since then :-p

I got my SNES with Super Bomberman and Street Fighter 2 Turbo. What a way to start! And soon moved onto Link to the Past, Illusion of Time, F-Zero and Pop'n Twinbee :D

For sheer nostalia, nothing beats 16-bit for me.
 
I got a Super Famicom from a local import store (there were several in my town at that time, seems unbelievable now!), I think it was early '92. I got Super Mario World and Super Ghouls & Ghosts, I think Pilot Wings too.

I love the Mega Drive more now, but at the time the SNES was the thing to have, I remember everyone migrating from the Mega Drive to the SNES as soon as they could!
 
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country II
Donkey Kong Country III
Yoshi's Island

Best 2D console ever.
 
I was 5, and I don't remember how I got the console, but I do know I had it. I used to play it a lot with my grandmother, who is still in love with those old Mario games of old.

I mainly played Super Mario games (all related games), Street Fighter games, and I had some no-name racing games.

What has survived in my collection is still laying around.
 
I got my SNES on Christmas day in 1991 along with Super Mario World, Final Fight and Final Fantasy II. SMW and FFII simply took my breath away. Probably my best Christmas ever. :D
 
I was a Genesis kid but my friend got one at launch (or that Christmas probably) and I played SMW at his house. I was blown away. Not graphically or anything, but with the awesome level design and gameplay. I stayed a loyal Sega owner until I got my first taste of Zelda: LttP. That's when I went multiplat.
 
All I had was a NES until the PS1 came out, so I kind of missed out on the whole 16-bit generation...although, one of my friends has a SNES and the other had a Genesis, so I just crashed at their houses if I wanted to play something. Although, we were like 6 or 7, so it was the usual Sonic/Mario stuff most of the time.

However, I finally picked up a SNES about four or five years ago, and God, I love that thing. As cliche as it may be, Super Mario World is probably my favorite SNES game, mainly because of how amazing it was back when I just had SMB/SMB2/SMB3, haha.
 
SNES, so many memories:

I remember SMW, when I got stuck in the forest for like months, until I realized there was a another exist in the Ghost House.
Still to this day SMW has an impressive difficulty curve, starting very easy and getting very,very hard in the end (Tubular).

But one of the best moments was playing SFII... after beating every character, you are confronted with a boxer and I though "the boxer is the final boss, how appropriate for a fighting game", then after hadouken his ass and win ... there was another guy!

A fast guy with a claw and mask, who jumped on the background and grabbed me mid-air. "This has to be the final boss... no one do what he does!" After a while, you win, and...

Well, this time I am not fooled. He is tall, has his own hadoukens and shoryuken versions, but fells more like a subboss, like Goro. As soon as I beat him, I know I got to the final boss.

His avatar is showed in the map, he wears a military outfit, a cape, has a cool Stage, the best song of the game and the Psycho Crusher. Yes, this IS the final boss! After some continues, you see the ending and the credits. "Now try on a harder difficulty"...

I tried to describe above my young self playing SFII for the very first time, without knowing anything it, except Ryu.


There are many other moments, but SFII is one of my fondest.
 
Aah, the SNES.

This was my first Nintendo machine, having played the NES for years at a friend's house but never having one myself.

My mom got it for me as a birthday gift in December of 91. It really meant a lot since we didn't have a whole lot of money so she had to save up for quite a while (before launch) to be able to get me one.

I only ever owned one game for the system (Mario World) but rented tons of them. Renting RPGs always sucked since I had to bring them back before I could finish them. I remember staying up all night and playing FFII (IV, nowadays) since I knew it's have to go back the next night. My mom found me in front of the TV at 6 AM and freaked out when I admitted that I hadn't just woken up. :lol

But it was SMW that really defined that system for me. I remember I spent around 2 weeks stuck at the forest castle level (the one with the snaking platform over the lava pit). When I finally beat that part, I threw down my controller and did a little dance in the living room.

To this day, SMW remains the only game (of considerable length) that I've completed to 100%. I got all 96 exits, I got the mario mask koopas, i got it all. Nowadays, i don't have the time or inclination to 100% a game anymore. I'll play through the campaign, maybe some side missions but that's about it. getting 100% in SMW was my first and last hardcore gaming achievement.

extra bonus memory. I remember reading glowing previews for Bubsy and thinking it would be awesome... and then renting it and wondering if the writers of EGM were crazy or liars.
 
We got it a year after it released on Christmas. Naturally the first game was Super Mario World.

I remember always going to Sam's Club to visit my father (he worked there) before we actually got it and spending all my time in the entertainment section playing SMW :lol
 
It was the system that made me fall in love with videogames.

I remember it taking a long time to persuade my parents to get us a computer, or a videogames console. My next door neighbours had a Commodore 64, their cousin had a NES. Then we moved, and my next door neighbours had a SNES. I spent a LOT of time in their house :lol I had to have one. I kept up, longingly, with all the new games and stuff the local stores brought in, wishing one day I could have one. I collected catalogues, the works, imagining what it would be like to have all those games. I was becoming desperate to have some game system or computer.

So I finally managed, after much pleading, to convince my mother to get us a game console for Christmas. I daren't even have hoped for a super nintendo..I told her that even a master system would do!! But then, when we got to the store, my mother (!) suggested we get the super nintendo afterall, in a bundle with mario world..

I could barely contain my excitement and happiness! I scarcely let the box out of my sight until christmas day, when we opened it, I would just sit with it, looking at it, reading the back over and over..waiting and waiting for christmas day :lol And thus was the true beginning of a long long love affair.
 
Genesis made me a multiplatform supporter, but SNES saved me from going to the sinking ship that was the 32X. It was the Christmas of '95 and I had a choice of a shiny 32X with Knuckles' Chaotix or the SNES. At the time the SNES had the Mario Set deal (Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World cart, mail in offer for free 2nd controller) and that had me sold. Later got Zelda, Metroid, Turtles in Time and DKC2 and was beyond happy knowing I had a whole library of good games to dive into, while the 32X turned out to be stillborn.

PS. The Mario World cartoon also sowed the seeds of SNES want. I never felt so left out. :lol

Raide said:
Super Mario World and Spending £60+ on a new copy of Street Fighter 2 in a steel box. :D So awesome! :lol
Click to expand...

Wait? SF2 had a steel box release? What? O.o
 
I got it for Christmas when I was just a kid. I remember that a cried because I wanted a Nintendo, NOT a Super Nintendo :lol :lol ( in my defense, I was like 5 :$)
 
I had only bought a NES recently, iirc, so I didn't get a SNES until a couple of years later...

first time I played super mario world at the store, I got killed by the first giant bullet thing :lol

my favorite console ever, by far. Bought three of them, over the years :D
 
I got the SNES Christmas after I got back from Bolivia so like 1993. I got super mario world. It was a good day. Though, I feel in love with the system because of Street Fighter II.

My favorite games are pretty common ones though: Link to the Past, Super Metriod, Mario RPG, Super Mario World.

But I was also a fan of the crappy platformers like Bubsy lol
 
I remember my dad took me to Babbages and bought it for me. I want to say it was in 92 that I got it. I do remember that it was 300$. SNES is by far my favorite console with the best collection of games. I have Super Metroid, LTTP, Chrono Trigger, FF4 and 6, Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia, 7th Saga, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, DKC 1 and 2, SMW, Lufia 1 and 2, Super Mario RPG, SimCity and a handful of other games.

IMO, nothing can top the SNES library.
 
i remember back in 1989 or 1990... gaming magazines were showing "super famicom" with "super mario 4" -- and it blew my 7 year old mind. it was all i ever thought about day-in and day-out. to make matters worse, there was some kid in my class who lied about everything, said that he had owned the console. so i went nuts and begged my mom to find one at toys r us or whatever, and of course they didn't have it. it got so bad to where my mom finally called nintendo themselves to affirm that this thing wasn't out yet.

so then a year later it comes out here as Super Nintendo... my family isn't doing too hot financially, so i can't get it - though the rich kid down the street did. i was simply blown away by Super Mario World. it looked cool in magazines, but in motion it really blew my mind (though today i consider it one of the uglier mario games). that and Final Fight made for some ultra-nostalgia.

so fast forward a few months later, after i finally got a snes for x-mas... my fondest memory was with Castlevania 4. at the time there was nothing like it in terms of production values (even to this day i'm impressed by the effort put into every level). strangely though, i never owned a copy until it came out on wii VC. but to this day it's probably my favorite game.

so yeah, 1991 was a great year. honorable mentions:

pilotwings
f-zero
 
I loved the SNES. I mowed a whole ton of lawns and sold my NES along with 15 games to get one. Super R-Type at my friends house was all it took for me to desire the system.
 
I love the SNES, easily the best console ever made (the PS1 is a close second).

Super Mario World\Super Mario World 2
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Super Metroid
Final Fantasy II\III
Donkey Kong Country 1\2\3
ActRaiser 1\2
Mega Man X\X2\X3\7
Super Mario Kart
F-Zero
Secret of Mana

just to name a few.

We got ours Christmas 92 (I believe) and I totally loved both Mario World and Zelda.
 
v4gr4nt said:
I got it for Christmas when I was just a kid. I remember that a cried because I wanted a Nintendo, NOT a Super Nintendo :lol :lol ( in my defense, I was like 5 :$)
Click to expand...

:lol :lol :lol

Kids are so simple...
 
i got the snes around when it came out. my dad had to work for someone that got fired at his job when we were supposed to go on vacation in sept 1999, instead dad used the money to buy the snes. :lol he played it more than i did, i'm pretty sure there is a home movie floating around at his house with him beating bowser.
 
I first played the SNES when my uncle rented it with Gradius 3 and Final Fight. The first game we played (uncle, me, cousin) was Gradius 3, and it was pretty slow and boring, not a great first impression considering the Genesis had games like Thunder Force 3. But then we put in Final Fight and it blew our minds. Couldn't believe how huge and detailed the sprites were. I'd never played the arcade version, so the downgrades didn't bother me.
 
Hell yeah I remember. I worked all summer to earn the money to buy one and made it just barely with tax. My mom came home one day and told me she saw them at Hills and told me she'd pick it up for me. This was about two weeks prior to launch, even. It was also one day before my friends birthday so I took it to his house and we played that instead of whatever crap he got. :lol I only had the money for the system so I'm glad it came with Mario.

funny extra part: the first time I played the game I didn't push the game in far enough because I didn't want to break it. I was upset that the game didn't work. :/

Oh yeah, favorites: Mario, that Yoshi puzzle game, NCAA Basketball by Nintendo, Zelda.
 
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the best game of the 90s.

Megaman X is still my favorite Megaman.

Super Mario World is tied with Mario Land 2 for favorite 2D Mario.

I could go on and on... The system was a showcase of Nintendo's best 2D efforts ever.
 
I forget when I got my SNES. I remember waiting for FFVI, staring at the tiny screens in a french magazine, and reading the article over and over again, and Nintendo Power's. Never waited for a game with so much anticipation. Then Chrono Trigger. Two were pretty much THE two games I loved on SNES (along with FFIV but I did not own it).
 
Somehow my mom managed to find someone who was willing to trade their SNES for my TurboGrafx 16• So that's how I got my SNES and I still remember seeing it for the first time and being blown away by Super Mario World•

My favorite game on it was probably A Link to the Past, which is strange because I never liked any Zelda games prior to or since that one• I was pretty young so I never got into the RPGs or the Metroids or what have you so SNES has a warm place in my heart but not as warm as others•
 
*cue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time boxart*

It was my first video game system ever and I still adore it to this day. I jumped very late to it during its lifetime (Christmas of 1994), but what was there was enough to make me a video game fanatic for a long time. I was mainly into action games back then (Mega Man X, Gradius III, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in FUCKING Time...), and stupidly left it ignored after the jump to 3D. It wasn't until after the start of the GCN/PS2/XBOX era that I discovered its JRPG catalogue, which made me fall in love with the genre and never part from my SNES again.

I ponder if the reason I love my DS so much is that it feels like a hybrid of the SNES and the N64 in terms of library. Both of those were the systems I grew up with during my childhood.
 
I got mine in March of 1992 for my 5th birthday. I had no idea there was even another Nintendo System outside of the GameBoy, so it was a big surprise to know that one existed and that I had it. I remember just being hooked on SMW for a looong time, and my relationship with the SNES was a fairly good one. Ironically I don't really like SMW anymore, and can barely stand to play it for like a half hour before getting bored. I still prefer the NES Mario games, but at that time 16-bit Mario was cool as shit.
 
I don't really remember that much but It was that SNES Bundle with Donkey Kong Country. The greatest game I played was Yoshi's Island. I also loved Kirby, Metroid, DK, RPGS, other mario games, SF, etc... :D
 
Coming off the awesome that was the NES, picking up the SNES was absolutely a no brainer.

Was working for a landscaping company at the time, the menial work that is assigned to grunts, and I used that to pay for my 'toys'. I remember that Toys R' US was within walking distance of my home, no more than 20 minutes or so, and so in late Nov. '91, I walk to and from with my new 'toys' in hand. What did I purchase with the system? Final Fantasy II. That, along with Super Mario World, were the best gifts I had ever received, or shall I say, I ever bought myself at that time.

My goodness, the fun times my pals and I had with the system.
 
Got it when SF2 came out. I was already a graphics/sound whore when I was a kid so there was no way that I was going to get a Genesis.

I remembered reading GamePro and noticed that Super Valis was coming out and was listed in the ads from one of the stores. I was a huge Valis 3 (PC Engine) fan so I wanted to play it so badly. Little did I know that it was not released yet and they didn't tell me that when I ordered it either. So I waited 8 months for it to finally show up at the door. After that I beat the game 100% everyday for a good 6 months. There were a lot of great games on the system.
 
I first got my SNES for Xmas '92. My parents thought it would be funny to get my sister a bunch of nice stuff(she was 4). They got her all these sweet toys and junk. For me they wrapped a bunch of really crappy stuff(candy bars, notebooks, cans of soup) in big boxes so it looked like I was getting good stuff. So by the time we were done opening presents I was pissed off because my sister got all this awesome stuff and I got shit. So after about 20 minutes of me pouting my dad told me to go to bed. He had snuck off while I was sulking and hooked up my new SNES in my room. Laying on my bed was F-Zero, SMW, Zelda:LttP, and Madden '93. Was so awesome. :D
 
Super Metroid
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
A Link To The Past
Super Metroid
Castlevania IV
Super Metroid
Street Fighter 2
Super Metroid
Donkey Kong Country (1+2)
Super Metroid
Mario Kart
Super Metroid
Earthworm Jim
and my favorite game of all time, Metroid 3

Best Console EVAR.

Most of these games are on the front channel-page of my wii.
 
I didn't buy mine at launch, but it was pretty close. When I saw Super Mario World for the first time in EGM, I knew I had to have one soon, though. It was cool that the system had built-in hardware scaling and rotation, which were a big deal to me since so many arcade games utilized this.

ActRaiser and Super Ghosts'n Goblins were my first two games. I liked ActRaiser's RTS-ish levels more than the platforming/action ones, and was pissed that they took them out in ActRaiser 2 (although that game had some really nicely done graphics). Super Ghosts'n Goblins was pretty cool, but the slowdown... OMG, it was really bad.

Smash TV was the first game I remember where developers had figured out how to do away with almost all of the slowdown, and from that point forward, it seemed like very few games ever had performance problems like early gen stuff such as Super R-Type, which was also plagued by horrendous slowdown.

Super Mario Kart was the first and last game in the series that my friends and I put a lot of time into. I've played them all, but there was something about that first one that did everything right.

SF2's release was an amazing time, as was the tail end of the SNES lifecycle with Yoshi's Island and Chrono Trigger. 16-bit era is still the benchmark for me.
 
everyone will say a link to the past, chrono trigger, final fantasy vi, super metroid, super mario kart and super mario world so i won't have to (oh wait...).

to that list i shall also add super tennis which is the best multiplayer tennis game ever. better than virtua tennis, mario tennis, whateverthefuck tennis, wii sports tennis. super tennis: THIS GAME DESERVES YOUR RESPECT

and to make my last impassioned point void to most people who bothered to read this, i also liked donkey kong country 1 a lot, not so much 2 and 3.

ps. super ghouls n ghosts is the best drinking game ever (if you die, you drink)
 
First system I saved up to buy on my own, though in fairness it probably wasn't much "saving" due to birthday and Christmas money. :P I'm not sure exactly the order of things, but my first games in some order were Super Mario World (packaged in), Final Fantasy IV (which I believe was the first non-computer RPG I bought), Gradius III, Thunder Spirits, and SmartBall (the latter three all being gifts).

Still my second favorite system, and with Virtual Console and certain GBA/DS releaes helping me find stuff that I couldn't afford or that wasn't released for English audiences back then, my opinion of the SNES has only kept improving to this day. (Prime examples of the latter would be Final Fantasy V Advance and Dragon Quest V and VI DS.) Top picks for games would be:


Chrono Trigger - Yep.

Final Fantasy VI - This was the FF that struck the best balance for me in terms of not letting every character be able to do everything (FFV, for example) while also not being too simplistic (FFIV). FFIX also handled its balance well, but unfortunately suffered ludicrous loading times.

Kirby Super Star - My favorite sidescrolling game anywhere ever for reason of its manic pace, enormous diversity of abilities, sublime soundtrack, creative worlds and genre satire, and vibrant and beautiful visuals. (The DS version is a whole lot better, though.)

Super Metroid - My second favorite sidescrolling game, this is another one like KSS that does absolutely everything right, albeit in a different way: Samus doesn't have nearly the moveset of Kirby, but the world itself is designed more effectively to maximize each. It's a darker and moodier game than KSS, though, and it lacks co-op.

Yoshi's Island - Third favorite sidescroller, first favorite pure platformer--as in, not many action elements to speak of. This game screams fun from every orifice, and frankly I'd take it over every 2D and every 3D Mario game combined. One of the best gaming experiences anywhere, though I do prefer the GBA version's controls.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Twelve dungeons. What I wouldn't give to have twelve unique dungeons in a 2D Zelda these days. A bit easy, but that's okay since so is every other Zelda past the NES era.

Donkey Kong Country 2 - This is my second favorite platformer, but if I say much more I'm going to start sounding redundant. Again, it just does everything correctly.

Secret of Mana - Now here's a game which has bugs all over the place and a truly broken balance between spells and melee attacks, but I really really don't care because it's awesomely enjoyable even on your own and only gets better still when you factor in three-player co-op.

DoReMi Fantasy - I never knew about this game's existence until Virtual Console, but blang if it didn't swoop in and put an end to my mind's "Super Mario Bros. 3 vs. Super Mario World" debate for third favorite platformer by destroying both of them with its pitch-perfect controls, and magnificently charming and creative worlds.

Super Mario World - Yeah.



I could go on, but let's stop there and name drop a few others without summaries: Earthbound, Final Fantasy V, Illusion of Gaia, Lufia II, Mega Man X 1-3, and Terranigma were some other great, great games.
 
Seeing my cousins playing Super Mario and Duck Hunt on their NES introduced me and my brothers to video games. Our mother eventually took us to the store when we were 4 or 5 to get a console, and we ended up getting an SNES. I wanted an NES, but my mother and brother picked the SNES because there were more games for it (actually, more shown on the back of the box). Super Mario World was the first game we played, even though we were never very good at it. I've never owned most of my favourite games for the system until recently, since we either rented them or played at friends houses. Still don't have Zombies Ate My Neighbours (hopefully it will reach the VC eventually).

As a side note, I would love to go back to the 16-bit era and tell a bunch of kids that you can now play Sega's games on a Nintendo console. :P
 
diss: I'm with you on Super Tennis and DKC1. GAF tends to favor DKC2, but I preferred the first one. I didn't discover Super Tennis until the mid-'90s, but yes, it was great fun and very simple/responsive. I love me some Virtua Tennis, Minna no Tennis and Smash Court, though!

Oh, and for those lucky enough to have played it, Pop'n Twinbee was awesome. Graphics, music, gameplay... they were all classic Konami.

Speaking of Konami, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is still a fantastic game. Some slowdown, but so much variety, fun co-op, and great humor.
 
Got an SFC with mario world, final fight & area88 soon after launch. Most likely the best console memories ever. screw this gen btw.
 
I got it for Christmas with Star Fox, and it must have given me motion sickness or something because an hour later or so I vomited all over the floor :lol

I'm one of those guys who really didn't appreciate the system until years later though. It was fun at the time but I didn't realize just how goddamn good it was until well into the N64 years.

Favorite game for the system is Super Metroid, of course.
 
I got it from my dad. It just sat there in a stupid corner for months (or week, I dunno but it felt LONG) because my parents didn't really know how to hook it up. It was the Mario All Stars bundle, with that AWESOME artwork on the system box. I was staring for so fucking long until my uncle came and hooked it up for me.
 
Gah, I have no idea how long after its release I finally got one... I know my brother and I had been saving our allowance for a *long* ass time... I think we were up to 150 bucks or something when my mom finally broke down and bought it for us. It was supposed to be a surprise, but she had me get some groceries out of the back of our van, and there it was, so... there.

I had a pretty good number of games from what I can recall... Don't know how I afforded them on 5 bucks a week allowance when they were up to 70 bucks a pop for Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana and crap.

Oddly enough, I think the game I want to replay the most (Mostly since most of them are on Virtual Console now) is B.O.B. I can't find a Youtube or a picture of it, but you were a yellow robot with a wide variety of gadgets and weapons to help navigate through these huge levels.

Game was pretty hard, as I recall...

EDIT: Found the boxart, at any rate.
B.O.B._Coverart.png


EDIT EDIT: Crazy, the Wikipedia page has some almost verbatim descriptions of the game as I just said...

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Apparently I didn't try hard enough to find it on Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zm9g2P_u74
 
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