I love the SNES -- it's my favourite console of all-time. This largely depends on the kind of genre you prefer, and I'm a JRPG guy in my heart of hearts. It didn't have much in the way of first-person shooters, but it had great RPGs, sports games, platformers and other action titles. It had some great puzzle games, fun adventure games, etc.
To celebrate video games, I'm going to celebrate the SNES. This will consist of multiple articles because I can't do it justice with just one. In this article I will talk about the more technical aspects of it like graphics and sound, and maybe even drop dime on something more personal.
What Is It?
The SNES is the prime of Nintendo. While the N64, Gamecube, Wii and Wii U are all fine systems (regardless of what haters say), the SNES was Nintendo firing on all cylinders. They made some of their best games as a company -- though to be fair Nintendo makes great games most of the time -- and they had a lot of support from other companies... something they lack these days.
Nintendo had Squaresoft back when they could churn out classic RPGs whenever they wanted. They had Enix while they were creating great games as well. The marriage of Squaresoft and Enix back then was kind-of a "super studio" type of deal.
There were fantastic strategy/historical simulation games, which is something that North America doesn't see a lot of these days. There are still games in the genre being made, but we never hear about them anymore. Koei was a beast back on the SNES.
Though sports games have gotten more complex, there was a simple fun to be had with some of them. We had a good mix of more realistic (relatively speaking) sports games and more extreme, less serious ones.
Platformers were on-point, and they were incredibly popular then. Sure, there were too many because at some point genres get oversaturated. We live in the era of the first-person shooter now, but back then we had a lot of platformers.
You get the idea... though games have evolved and we've gotten more genres and innovations since, some of the finest examples in a lot of genres were on the SNES. The main theme of the SNES is that we had legendary companies creating legendary games more often than not. That's an incredible feat.
It Sounds So Good
Audio back then was different, because they all used the same chip. And what a sound chip it was. Compare how music sounds on the SNES to how it does on the Genesis -- it's night and day. The quality, at least back then, was absurd. Not only that, but we had a lot of talented artists using the chip in fantastic ways, creating some of the best video game music of all-time.
Since then, we've obviously adopted a more modern, technically complex way of producing music, but if you're a fan of retro music, then the SNES is as good as it gets. It was to the point that I'd set up a tape recorder and hold it up to the TV to record the music. I'd have to be extremely quiet so it didn't pick me up, but I wanted to have the music so bad I'd do that.
It Looks So Good
Obviously graphics have gotten more detailed, with motion capture, more artists at work, more processing power, etc, but there's a charm to the SNES that hasn't gone away. Pixel art is still in. I think the NES also has a certain charm to it, but I feel like it's mostly just a nostalgia thing. With the SNES, it was the highest point for this type of art. There are a lot of SNES games that still look legitimately good today. Take a game like Chrono Trigger for example -- it's gorgeous. Companies had figured out how to best use this style, and the SNES was complimentary to that.
Take for example a system like the Playstation 1. I love the system (it's also a big RPG system), but they were going through an awkward transitional period during this point in time so games can look a little silly. They don't age as well as the SNES games do. The SNES isn't as complex, but the graphics looked beautiful despite that.
I Want It In My Bed
Um... never mind that one.
So this was just a little article of me praising the more technical aspects of the system, but over the next parts -- I don't know how many yet -- I will delve into what matters: the games. I'm not sure yet if I will sort them into different genres and maybe do a couple genres per post, or if I'll just pick a bunch of games and write about them, but check back over the next few days because I'm going to try to unleash that beast.
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