The Super Nintendo has officially turned 30 years old. It’s a birthday that’s definitely worth celebrating, as the system remains one of the greatest gaming consoles ever made.
Nintendo marked the event today by asking gamers what their favorite SNES games and memories were. Those undoubtedly include countless hits that range from Super Metroid and F-Zero to The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country.
Star Fox also earns a spot for being the first title to leverage the Super FX chip. This chip gave console gamers an early taste of the 3D experiences that would later become ubiquitous courtesy of systems such as the PlayStation and N64.
Initially released in Japan on November 21, 1990 as the Super Famicom, the Super Nintendo featured a Ricoh 5A22 with a nominal clock speed of 3.58 MHz, 128 KB of general-purpose RAM, and 64 KB of VRAM for video and audio subsystems. It also featured an Nintendo S-SMP processor for audio.
The Super Nintendo launched at a price of $199, a relative bargain compared to the fancier consoles of today. It ended up selling over 49 million units worldwide, with the majority of sales stemming from the U.S.
On this day 30 years ago, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America! What are some of your favorite #SNES games and memories? pic.twitter.com/NjpZqPi9U9
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 23, 2021
Source: Nintendo