Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, abbreviated to SNES, Super NES and often known as Super Nintendo for short, is a 16-bit video game console created by Nintendo. It was the successor to the original Nintendo Entertainment System and the North American counterpart of the Super Famicom. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released in America on August 23, 1991, in Europe in April 1992 and in Australia in July 1992. It rivaled in performance to the (known as Sega Mega Drive outside of America). The Super Nintendo spawned several popular titles such as Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The Super Nintendo is the last Nintendo console to have a different design and name outside of Japan.

North America received a revision of the home console titled the Super NES Control Deck, also known as the New-Style Super NES, which is the Japanese equivalent of the Super Famicom Jr., and it has the same differences. The Super Nintendo in PAL regions is designed after the Super Famicom but retains the Super Nintendo Entertainment System title.

In 2017, a dedicated console designed after the Super Nintendo, the Super NES Classic Edition, was released. It came with 21 pre-installed titles, one them being Star Fox 2, which never saw an official release until the Super NES Classic Edition was released. As of 2019, several Super Nintendo games are being released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online service.

History
During the 16-bit console wars, Nintendo and Sega were at the peak of their rivalry, so in many of the Mario games there were elements that mocked the Sonic the Hedgehog series and vice versa. In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Sonic's boots and the plasma gun from  are seen next to a bin and labeled "no hopers".

They were discontinued in 1999, followed by the Famicom model and the SNES/Super Famicom games which discontinued in 2003. It remained popular throughout the 32/64 bit era, selling 49.10 million units during its lifetime.

The Super NES Control Deck was released at the same time as the Nintendo 64. It was smaller and lacked the eject button. It could not output the S-Video and RGB signals.

Cartridge forms
Only the North American Super Nintendo has a different design from other regions. It is possible to play games from other regions as internally the hardware is region free, but one would have to cut out tabs, use a New-Style Super NES, or get an adapter that would otherwise prevent the cartridges from making contact with the cartridge slot. The pin configurations are the same and compatible, unlike the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges.

Many early Super Nintendo cartridges had a long crevice spanning the cartridge. This was to prevent people from pulling the cartridges out when the system was turned on. These were produced as late as March 1993, as some early Star Fox cartridges were manufactured with this mold. Later cartridges opted into a different design because people were possibly breaking their Super Nintendo, at the very earliest of June 1993, as no Yoshi's Cookie or Mario is Missing! cartridges have this mold. The older cartridges will work on the redesigned Super Nintendo with no issues. It even lacks the tab to prevent people from pulling the cartridges out.

SNES Controller
The SNES Controller is the main controller for the Super Nintendo. It has the, , , and  buttons and the  from the Nintendo Entertainment System, plus four extra buttons: , , and the  and  shoulder buttons. The controller is more round-shaped instead of rectangle-shaped from the NES controller.

The American controller is slightly different from the Japanese and the PAL controllers. Instead of having each button be a different bright color, the and  buttons were purple and the  and  buttons were lavender, tying into the mechanical color scheme of the Super Nintendo's American model.

Super Game Boy
The Super Game Boy is a cartridge adapter that allows play of all Game Boy games, as well as Game Boy Color games that were made backwards compatible to work on the original Game Boy, on the Super Nintendo. Some Game Boy games are "Super Game Boy enhanced," such as Donkey Kong.

Super NES Mouse
The Super NES Mouse is an accessory which mimics the appearance and action of an actual computer mouse, and was compatible with select Super Nintendo games. The Super NES Mouse was originally bundled with Mario Paint and a mouse pad for $59.95.

Super Scope
The SNES Super Scope is a light gun accessory. It has one "fire" button for shooting, either in single bursts or a constant stream, depending on whether or not its on/off switch is set to "turbo". It also has a second "cursor" button and a "pause" button. It was used for very few games, including one Mario title, Yoshi's Safari.

Super Multitap
The Super Multitap is a peripheral created by by Hudson Soft. It turns the player 2 controller port into four controller ports, allowing for up to five simultaneous players, but only if the game supports it.

Satellaview
A Japan-exclusive add-on for the Super Famicom was the Satellaview. It was the earliest known, commercially available, licensed product by Nintendo to connect to the internet and download games. The Super Famicom Jr. is incompatible with it because it does not have a port underneath unlike the original model.

SF Memory Cassette
Only in Japan, the SF Memory Cassette is a rewritable version of regular cartridges, through kiosks at retail stores between 1997-2007.

Cleaning Kit
Over time, pins inside the SNES and game cartridges would get dirty. Nintendo released an approved cleaning kit to improve the condition of the contacts so games would play without interruption.

SNES CD
The SNES CD was a planned add-on that would rival the. The deal fell through, so the SNES CD was moved to Philips for a short time. The projects resulted in the Philips CD-i and the.