Super Nintendo Entertainment System

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Super Nintendo entertainment System

 

Maker(s): Nintendo

Date: 1990 (JP), 1992 (UK)

On display: Yes

Object number: SHEVG.2025.3

Credit line: National Videogame Museum

How do you capture videogame nostalgia in one object? In a way, that’s impossible. To some it will mean a specific game, an experience unique to them or a range of different consoles. But to many, nostalgia takes the form of a Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

 

The 16-bit Era

This video console, also known as the SNES or Super-Famicom, introduced something revolutionary when it was released in the early 90s. Its predecessor, the NES, was Nintendo’s first programmable console and boasted 8-bit microprocessors.

That number indicates the amount of data you can store which did mean that videogame graphics for 8-bit games were limited…yet had that pixel art charm that we still love so much today! But the SNES arrived with double that amount and brought in an era of 16-bit games with more elaborate graphics and sound. Enhancement chips also allowed some of the games to have added features.

 

Interesting Facts

  • Super Mario World was the first game to feature Yoshi, Mario’s dinosaur companion. Shigeru Miyamoto had wanted Mario to ride a dinosaur since the NES days, but the SNES’s upgraded hardware finally made it possible.

 

  • Some SNES games had built-in anti-piracy measures that would make pirated versions almost unplayable—like increasing enemy difficulty or causing the game to crash at specific points.

 

  • The SNES featured a graphics mode called Mode 7, which allowed background layers to be rotated and scaled, creating the illusion of 3D effects in games like F-Zero and Super Mario Kart.

 

 

Our Collection

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This is a key part of managing a Museum’s collection and is essential for many of our activities such as research, conservation and exhibition development.

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