The Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in 1991 in North America. While I don’t personally remember the year or if we got it the first year it came out, I know our home had this piece of Nintendo history. I remember a particular Christmas at my grandparents’ house where my brother and I fired it up and played Super Mario World most of the day. It was incredible to see our hero Mario in a brightly colored new world with all new abilities such as his cape and his faithful companion Yoshi (who happens to be one of my favorite Mario characters) conquering the massive side-scrolling levels. This was my first taste of what the SNES would have as far as games go and it did not disappoint.
The first game that I remember being my own for the SNES was Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest. Being the younger sibling, I had enjoyed countless hours of the original Donkey Kong Country playing as Donkey Kong’s nimble nephew Diddy Kong because the youngest always is player 2… Always. Now, the hero of younger siblings everywhere gets to star in his own game with his adorable girlfriend Dixie Kong. Surely this will allow me to hold the coveted player 1 controller!! Not so much, I get to play as the girl who conveniently is player 2. Mild moment of disappointment, until I see how kick awesome she is! Not only does she make a splash to the fashion world (that probably doesn’t exist on Donkey Kong Island), but she knows how to work a pony tail to save her life! I was proud to be a girl gamer and player 2 because of this game. I did finally make it to player one because Dixie was the star of Donkey Kong Country 3, and also player 1.
This console had a line-up of great games both from Nintendo and third party developers. I’m sure you can remember hours spent playing your favorites. The controllers had a nice addition 4 new buttons for more play options, not to mention they were now rounded and the corners no longer hurt our hands after intense play.
Every console from Nintendo has seen a controller evolution for innovative ways to play games. As we anticipate getting our hands on the Nintendo Switch next month, it is easy to see how the huge library of previous SNES games could be brought over to a virtual console for the Switch and the adaptable Joy-Con controllers can be turned on their side for play with NES and SNES games along with options for developing original games. Let’s hope it has a huge line up from the beginning with all of our favorites, but if you’re like me, you’ll be playing through Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild for quite some time if we have to wait.
If you missed the previous article on the NES, click here.