The Nintendo Lineage 2: SNES

My review of the SNES on the road to Switch 2

This time I’ll be reviewing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: the ‘snezz.’ Nintendo’s direct sequel to the classic NES and competitor to Sega’s Megadrive/Genesis console. I hope you enjoy the post.

Once again I’ll be judging the console based on 4 main categories:

Hardware

Software

Impact

Sentiment

A deeper explanation can be found in part 1 of this series but if you’re just joining in now, I think you’ll get the idea.
—————————————————————————————————————-

HARDWARE: ***** 5 Stars

This might seem like an overreaction at first: the SNES, while slightly better looking and sounding than the Megadrive/Genesis, doesn’t perform significantly better enough for it to really disadvantage the competition and the Turbo Grafx-16 was superior to the SNES in these regards too, so why have I awarded it 5 Stars?

My first justification is plugged into the front of the console. The SNES gamepad, in my opinion is the most influential design of all time and to this day I don’t think a better controller has ever been designed for 2D games. Look at the PS1 gamepad, the button layout for the Dreamcast gamepad, the version 2 original Xbox controller, the industry fell in line and began to follow the general layout of the SNES pad because it’s just the best.

Another big reason I’m awarding it the full 5 stars is the form factor and aesthetic of the SNES. The NES is extravagantly huge and its only redesign, for asinine reasons, cut out component video support whereas its successor has a much slimmer, more appealing form factor and was even made smaller with its own redesign; I prefer the PAL/Japanese design for the SNES and its gamepad but all regional colour schemes are far better than the NES’s grey, slightly-less grey and red palette.

I also want to say that I adore the accessory for the SNES that lets you play Game Boy games: the Super Boy, I discovered that thing was only £15 last year and binged Gen I and II Pokémon on my console, it was great.

The only thing that really annoys me about the SNES is that the PAL and Japanese cartridges don’t have end-labels like the North American ones, those look so much nicer and the PAL NES library had end labels so I’m not sure why this decision was made.
——————————————————————————————————————

SOFTWARE: **** 4 Stars

SNES games exist in this beautiful sweet spot where the hideous, early 3D games and their terrible controls weren’t the norm yet but unlike on the NES, save systems that respect the player’s time, fair game design and beautiful 16-bit graphics were the standard. In short? The SNES library is mostly timeless in my opinion; if you hand your parents a Switch controller and put them in front of Super Mario Odyssey then they’ll struggle but I think even your granddad could work out Super Mario World quickly.

So why only 4 stars?

To be honest, as fun and as timeless as SNES games are, as beautiful as they look and as much as I can throw on Super Mario World, Super Metroid and A Link to the Past anytime and enjoy it… I don’t think these games offer a particularly new playing experience. Super Metroid, at its core, is the original Metroid but bigger, prettier and with all the mistakes fixed. A Link to the Past is a very needed course correction back to the path the original Zelda laid out, Super Mario World is a lot like Super Mario Bros. 3 but better. I think this library of games is very iterative, not innovative.

There are also a few shockingly terrible ports of PC and arcade games on the SNES too, like DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D but the SNES version of Sim City is awesome.

An improvement over the NES and a lot of all-time greats in this library but not quite enough to get 5 stars for me.
——————————————————————————————————————

IMPACT: **** 4 Stars

The SNES has had a massive impact on gaming: 80% of indie games to this day are cheap knock-offs of the SNES library, or cherry-pick its best ideas, Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, A Link to the Past and many others are still lauded as some of the greatest games ever made and a lot of popular franchises today really picked up traction and became household names in this era like Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy.

So why not 5 Stars?

I think the NES is more classic. I said the SNES existed in a special space of time and that has disadvantages too. I get the impression a lot of the time from older gamers that they acknowledge the SNES was better and yet the NES nostalgia is stronger due to it being the first, not only that but a lot of the retro gaming tat you see on shelves tends to be for consoles that aren’t the SNES. I think the Super Nintendo is a real gamer’s game machine, in the public consciousness and in sales (especially here in Europe) it was really on equal footing with the Megadrive/Genesis but among older gamers and developers who grew up with these systems? I think it’s pretty clear the SNES won. When you see an indie game with pixel art, it’s almost never following in the footsteps of a Sega game.
——————————————————————————————————————

SENTIMENT: ***** 5 Stars

I absolutely adore the SNES.

Other consoles that dominated the first half or so of the 1990’s like the PS1 and Sega’s Megadrive are very situational for me; I can’t boot them up all the time, I really have to be in the mood for those, but the SNES is different, something about the quality of the games released on it, the higher prevalence of saving and the higher complexity compared to the NES games really hits that sweet spot for me where I get all the challenge and pick-up-and-play appeal of the 8-bit era but without having to replay the entire thing because I lost all of my lives to Hammer Bros.

It also helps that this is the oldest console I have childhood experience with. I didn’t own it myself but my first exposure to the SNES was on holiday at my grandparents’ who moved to rural Spain from the UK, staying up long past my usual bedtime playing Donkey Kong Country and slurping away on a carton of milkshake while the adults played cards. To this day Donkey Kong Country 1 is still probably my favourite game on the system.

As I’m typing this, my own SNES now sits beside me: a gift from a few years ago when I was newer to retro gaming and rediscovering my childhood classics, its plastic is a bit yellow, the controller squeaks like a rat when I’m deep into a session but I know that whenever I next choose to hook that thing up to my CRT, it will be a good day.
——————————————————————————————————————

FINAL SCORE: 18/20 Stars

My posts get significant engagement but the majority of readers are not subscribed, if you enjoy reading my reviews, analysis and occasional exasperated thoughts, please consider subscribing, I’d love to see you in the comments below.