Jump to content
IGNORED

Console Debate #26 Super Nintendo/Super Famicom


fox

How do you rate SNES?  

86 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you rate SNES?

    • 10/10 GOAT. Greatest console of all time.
    • 9/10 Bad@$$. One of the best.
    • 8/10 Exceptional. Everyone should play it.
    • 7/10 Superior. More than a few games you like.
    • 6/10 Good. You might occasionally enjoy playing it.
    • 5/10 Average. Smack dab in the middle.
      0
    • 4/10 Mediocre. Not something you will go out of your way to play.
      0
    • 3/10 Inferior. There are better alternatives to this.
      0
    • 2/10 Poor. Barely worth turning on.
      0
    • 1/10 Trash. No redeeming features.
    • Haven’t played, but interested.
      0
    • No interest in it.
      0

This poll is closed to new votes

  • Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.
  • Poll closed on 05/14/2021 at 07:00 AM

Recommended Posts

Probably my favorite console after the original PlayStation.  A lot of it has to do with the excitement and hype of waiting for the sequel to the NES, and the fact that it delivered on that hype.  I know I've told this story before, but my brother and I got one for Christmas the year it came out, but we truly didn't expect to get it.  My parents rarely spent big money on new things (we were very late to get an NES).  So we figured we would get one a few years after it came out.  Christmas came and we opened our presents and had a great day.  Then a few hours later, my parents brought out one last present that had been "missed."  It was for both of us and we opened our brand new SNES.  We couldn't believe it and playing Super Mario World (I was surprised it wasn't called Super Mario Bros. 4) absolutely blew my mind.  

Also, I found out many years later that it technically wasn't brand new.  My Dad had opened it the night before after we went to sleep and played it for a few hours before packing it back up and my Mom wrapped it.  

  • Like 1
  • Love 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9.

My second favorite console, it has lots of amazing games (just not as many as the NES). Many all-time classics here including the best Zelda, best Mario (well, Mario 3 for me on some days is better, so let's say tied for the best), and best Metroid games. Some others I would list as my favorites include Secret of Mana, of course Super Castlevania IV, Yoshi's Island, Street Fighter II Turbo, Mortal Kombat II, Turtles in Time, Super Tennis, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, Actraiser, F-Zero, and many, many more. There are also a plethora of lesser-praised games that are right up there with the best such as Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Uniracers, U.N. Squadron, and SoulBlazer. So no shortage of good and really great games. It just edges out the Genesis in my view, but it's very close.

As for hardware, I've found mine very reliable and still have it all these years later after purchasing one as a kid. It was the first console I actually bought with my own money, some of which came from selling NES games (😱 - something I'd later regret!). Stock controller is excellent. S-Video capability was great at the time.

Some very fond memories of beating every world in Super Mario World on each save file on the cartridge, my sister playing Zelda III so much it remains her favorite game to this day, playing through Secret of Mana 3-player the whole way, etc. etc. Everybody should have a SNES!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think when the time came from the NES/FC I struggled to pick which one I'd put on top between this and that, and well, this one eeks out a 10.

When the SNES arrived in 1991 I had already been neck deep into enjoying 89/90/91 era DOS PC games and well they had quickly caught up and started to shame the NES in some respects.  I figured at the time, it was like game over man, a console wouldn't out-do the quality of the consoles.  SNES proved the home systems not only had life left in them, but the capability among many genres to just utterly embarrass the PC still which was a shock.  For starts to come off what was basically the NES sprite and color limits, or the DOS basic EGA/VGA standard caps along with what worked best/worst on those the SNES was a real eye opener.  Such beautiful tricks of color, transparency, the "3D" style of the MODE7 was just amazing, and yet some games even going over the supposed cap when it came to still imagery or other tweaks.  Then there was the audio, to think you'd have with a good coder and compressor of samples where you could pull off this 33khz gooey ear candy that sounded essentially CD quality, out of a little plastic cart with a board in it was nuts.  Today, not so much, that's MP3s and a USB stick or less (or your phone.)  But in 1991 and a few years after...whoa, and the big early whoa wasn't as much Mario which was shocking against the year befores SMB3, but ActRaiser and Gradius III.  Shocking to say the least.  The first having real symphony pieces in there on loop, and the other with the more spacy scifi and other odd riffs you'd expect more from a high caliber arcade cabinet really.

Take the ear and eye candy out of the mix though, look at the games, not just the unique ones, but the sequels and spinoffs of the NES giants.  In PC terms it was like a jump from 286 EGA level computer up to like a 386/486 V/SVGA on there, it was that big of a gap in quality.  The system set such an insane high level of quality benchmark not only in the period did it really fire a console war and shame a few others badly, it kept a capability to still seem fresh and relevant even into the earlier 32bit era competitors stuff with smart moves like the ACM visuals in DKC1-3 and KI, the crazy compression shenanigans that got SF Alpha 2 going, Kirbys Dream Land3/Super Star, Mario RPG and more...they looked and sounded like a 2D level PS1/Saturn style thing in a lot more ways than not.  This same system and specific games set such high quality levels, for over a decade now IT has been the barometer if you didn't go 8bit style, for how indie types have designed their games to kind of be like...and even some of the very games have been converted and re-releases as is on mobile devices and steam too being so well done.  That's a real testament if there ever was.  There's no denying the NES/FC was shocking and great for all it pulled off in an amazing amount of years, yet the SNES hit that higher bar yet.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing console, but I have a couple of issues with it.

First, many early games tried really hard to find functions for all the different buttons on the controller because they thought they had to, and this waters down the gameplay of a good many games.

Second, the bottom 80% of the library can't touch the NES.  The top 100 SNES games can stand up against any console, any time, but once you start to explore further, it starts to become a real derivative mess.

And third, like @DefaultGen said in another post a while back, the move to cartoony Hanna-Barbera graphics really hampers the direct connection and immediacy I feel with most non-Mario platformers.  When I've got a NES controller in my hand and I'm playing an action game, there are no questions in my mind about anything, I am in the game.  With the SNES, I'm not always sure... why did I die?  Why can't I go through that part?  Is that a door? I thought that was the background/foreground, wtf!?!  Etc, etc.  The SNES is the beginning of the graphics over gameplay mentality that is still affecting the video game industry to this day.

Best sequel console of all time, but for the full library it's only a 7/10 for me.

Edited by Dr. Morbis
  • Like 3
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nintendo's iterative console, really feels like the high water mark for many series and games in general.

Colorful graphics are easy on the eyes, full midi sound makes it sound like an orchestra is playing inside your system, and enough buttons to cover your arcade fighters with no extra controllers or compromises.  It even punched way above it's weight class with some technical wizardry of extra chips to allow for polygons (Starfox) and pre-rendered graphics (DKC) that even put later consoles to shame.

It is home to so many all time classics in its deep library: Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Chrono Trigger, Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Final Fantasy II/III, Earthbound, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Mario Kart, Secret of Mana, Super Castlevania, Contra III, Mega Man X, Actraiser, Super Mario RPG, Turtles in Time, Super Bomberman 2.  Tons of great hidden gems like Mystical Ninja, Sunset Riders, and King of Dragons that are just as exciting to play now as ever.

darlgif-72688119-6132-4226-a26e-3ba20f92
SNES rocks! Greatest console hands down.

Edited by fox
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will never forget Christmas 1994 when I FINALLY got a SNES of my very own (I wanted one since it came out but my parents used that lame "you already got a Nintendo" excuse 😛 )...the one with two controllers and five complete Mario games standard! 😄 

Seriously, when 11 year old me first saw this in fall 1991 it was love at first sight 🙂 

And I'll never forget 8th grade me in late 1994 seeing this during Channel One News 🙂

Little did I realize though that in the future (2016) and with the SD2SNES allowing virtually every SNES game in one, my fantastic experience (and sometimes shocking!) with Tales of Phantasia (tied with Star Ocean for biggest SNES game at a whopping 48 megabits or 6MB) as well as being able to do all that BS-X stuff and also some neat non-game SNES content...wow I had no idea back then just how Super the Super Nintendo can really be!  It's like Sonic said in that guide...I already thought in the 90s the SNES was pretty Super but little did I realize that "in a future time" (no really, the animated COPS takes place in 2019) that with the help of the SD2SNES it could be much much more super! 🙂

Now in my school days it seemed like the Genesis was the "cooler" more popular console but it was obvious to me which 16-bit system was the best.

Edited by Estil
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite console of all time, to me this is the height of Nintendo. This is the one console that I wish I could own the full set for. This was Nintendo at it's absolutely finest. Their first party line-up was a thing to behold, giving us some of the best games ever created and they still maintained strong partnerships with third party companies to back up their lineup with an amazing catalog of games. You get into any serious discussion about the best games of all time any many SNES games will be part of that conversation. In addition, the system itself is built like a tank and even today it these consoles still hold up with little need for repairs. This console also gave us the Game Boy Player, a concept that was only revisited once again that opened up an entire second library of games to play. This console is an absolute 10/10 for me, not question. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Graphics Team · Posted
20 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Amazing console, but I have a couple of issues with it.

First, many early games tried really hard to find functions for all the different buttons on the controller because they thought they had to, and this waters down the gameplay of a good many games.

Spot-on. Two shoulder buttons are great. Four face-buttons are great. But two shoulder buttons AND four face buttons is overkill for most games.

On 4/30/2021 at 2:57 PM, DefaultGen said:

SNES music all sounds like it's played through a mattress, but otherwise 10/10 console.

That may be the case, but to be fair its major competitor sounded like robot-farts...

-CasualCart

268958243_GenesisRobotFarts.jpg.111c99bffbcc25f9a84e560604332de2.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Love 2
  • Haha 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Spot-on. Two shoulder buttons are great. Four face-buttons are great. But two shoulder buttons AND four face buttons is overkill for most games.

That may be the case, but to be fair its major competitor sounded like robot-farts...

-CasualCart

268958243_GenesisRobotFarts.jpg.111c99bffbcc25f9a84e560604332de2.jpg

SNES used low (mattress) quality midi samples which allowed for more real instruments sounds.  While the Genny used an FM synth which produced a particular sound front, usually the dance bass or crunchy guitars which kind of fit the system imo.  The fart sounds came from programmers who weren’t really composers using GEMS as a shortcut.  But even Comix Zone used GEMS and that had a fantastic soundtrack.  Each was its own beast, but in the right hands made magic.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Spot-on. Two shoulder buttons are great. Four face-buttons are great. But two shoulder buttons AND four face buttons is overkill for most games.

That may be the case, but to be fair its major competitor sounded like robot-farts...

-CasualCart

268958243_GenesisRobotFarts.jpg.111c99bffbcc25f9a84e560604332de2.jpg

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, fox said:

SNES used low (mattress) quality midi samples which allowed for more real instruments sounds

Not really sure what you mean by "midi". Tracks could be stored in midi format I guess, but the same goes for the MegaDrive, and it's probably not very likely for either of them.
Both consoles still required developers to develop their own music engine/driver from scratch, and the SNES even had its own unique assembly language for it.

MegaDrive is based on FM synthesis, while the SNES is more like a sampler, using PCM samples stored in audio RAM as instruments. So in theory it's much more advanced and can replicate FM sounds as well, if that's what the developer wants. But there's a pretty tight bottleneck in the amount of audio RAM you have available at any time, and a hard cap on the sample rate you can use even if you did have unlimited memory.
Some sounds suffer more from those limits than others, and the fact that so many SNES games tried hard to replicate real/symphonic instruments, and had no idea how to apply proper frequency separation, definitely helped result in the "mattress sound". I wouldn't say that apply to all the soundtracks on the system though - in the hands of a talented programmer and composer, some games were able to get really clear sounds (or use the sound of compressed samples in more fitting manner, where it didn't sound unintended)

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, CasualCart said:

That may be the case, but to be fair its major competitor sounded like robot-farts...

-CasualCart

268958243_GenesisRobotFarts.jpg.111c99bffbcc25f9a84e560604332de2.jpg

Ok that wins the argument right there.  All these years I've never seen that used to describe that tinny muffled riffing sound of Genesis games on the whole, robot farts.  That fits too well, the image brings it home. 😄  I'm also envisioning Bender from Futurama with his 'bite my shiny metal ass' snark, this time in robot pants, and crop dusting Zoidberg or something.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I rated it an 8/10 for a few reasons.

-1 points = I did not have a lot of options when I finally had the opportunity to buy one used.

-1 points = Mother 3 was a Japan exclusive, and I did not have the chance to get Earthbound.

- 1,000,000 points = Dragon Quest I.II (remake), III (remake), V, and VI were Japan exclusives.

+500,000 points = It was a far better experience than the time I had with the N64.

+500,000 points = For my top 5 favorite domestic games, regardless of ownership or whatnot.

In the end it is #4 out of every Nintendo system I either owned or wanted to own. And what makes me not have it be higher is the fact I had/am having better experiences with my top 3.

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Editorials Team · Posted
2 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

-1 points = I did not have a lot of options when I finally had the opportunity to buy one used.

🤔

2 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

-1 points = Mother 3 was a Japan exclusive, and I did not have the chance to get Earthbound.

🤷‍♂️

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

- 1,000,000 points = Dragon Quest I.II (remake), III (remake), V, and VI were Japan exclusives.

So what if they were Japan exclusives; they exist, and that's all that matters.  I own less than 50 SNES games, and all four of these are among them (translated, of course) because they are AWESOME!!!  Why would you subtract points for four top tier AWESOME GAMES?!?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:
7 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

-1 points = I did not have a lot of options when I finally had the opportunity to buy one used.

🤔

I should point out that I never had an opportunity to be a SNES new. And that after I traded in my Sega Genesis (and games) for a used one, I very rarely had the money to buy games. Because of that, I only penalized it a point is because the only game I still have an itch to beat is Earthbound.

49 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:
7 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

-1 points = Mother 3 was a Japan exclusive, and I did not have the chance to get Earthbound.

🤷‍♂️

Earthbound = Mother 2.

Every time I think about hunting down a new/unused copy of Mother 3, I am reminded of the fact I never beaten Earthbound. Then I am reminded that even when it was on clearance at Best, I was too broke to buy it. So I deducted another point because that copy was the one that included the strategy guide.

2 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

So what if they were Japan exclusives; they exist, and that's all that matters.  I own less than 50 SNES games, and all four of these are among them (translated, of course) because they are AWESOME!!!  Why would you subtract points for four top tier AWESOME GAMES?!?

It's because I am a hardcore Dragon Quest fanboy who loves the Japanese version of the franchise. Plus I also used zation's collection as a means to rebuilding my collection. In the end I know that Dragon Quest VI was expensive in Japan. But now knowing that it was going to be ported here has me wondering how different my score would be if I got to play it on the SNES (as Dragon Warrior V). 🤔

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m likely to be heavily influenced by nostalgia, but who cares! Best console EVER!

Mario World, F Zero, Mario Kart, Super Metroid, Zelda Link to the Past, Starwing.. So many Nintendo flagship games that have stood the test of time. 

Then you have the support of third party companies in their prime with Capcom, Konami, Rare etc. (Streetfighter 2, Contra 3, Castlevania 4, Gradius, Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct and Mystical Ninja being some of my faves).

The best blend between simplicity and complexity!

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...