Super Nintendo

When Sega announced the MegaDrive/Genesis in 1988, there was no reaction from Nintendo. However, it did not take long before Sega challenged Nintendo's dominance, and forced them to replace the ageing NES with a console that could match the MegaDrive. November 21, 1990, Nintendo launched a new console in Japan, under the name Super Famicom. When it arrived in the US almost a year later, under the name Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), it already had great support from NES veterans Square, Capcom and Konami. With this, Nintendo secured its success right up until Sony's PlayStation took over in 1995, but still battling fiercely with Sega for supremacy during the entire generation.

Technically, the Super Nintendo is built around a WDC 65816 main processor, with a variable frequency of only half of what the MegaDrive could deliver. But the Super Nintendo was also equipped with a SPC700 from Sony, dedicated to handling all audio, as well as a special graphics chip, capable of showing up to 256 of 32'000 possible colours and a number of special effects such as sprite rotation and sprite scaling. At that time, such a set-up - with a weak main processor and two powerful special chips - was unheard of, and had the effect that many of the early third party games were technically very poor. However, with time, Nintendo was not alone delivering technically impressive games.

The support from third party developers was very strong during the entire life span of the console. With titles such as Chrono Trigger, Secret Of Mana and not to forget Final Fantasy, Japanese developer Square has a lot to do with the fact that Japanese RPGs even today enjoy popularity throughout the world. Capcom delivered quality conversions of their arcade hit series Street Fighter, while Mega Man continued his success in the X series. Outside Japan, British developer Rare created a hit with the technically impressive Donkey Kong Country. But even with such great support, it is still Nintendos first party games that are best remembered by the masses. Super Mario World, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, StarFox and Super Metroid are all games that make the critics of today refer to the Super Nintendo generation as the golden era of the industry.