Super Nintendo Entertainment System Celebrates 30th Anniversary

On April 11, 1992, exactly thirty years ago, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released in Europe. The 16-bit console sold over 49 million copies worldwide and became the eighth best-selling Nintendo console ever.

The SNES was the direct successor to the 1983 Nintendo Entertainment System and primarily had to compete with the Sega Genesis during what came to be known as the Console War. The Super Nintendo, like the Sega in question, used 16-bit architecture. This made functionalities such as many more buttons on a controller and stereo audio possible. This computer architecture also provided a great leap forward in the graphics quality and amount of detail of video games.

Super Mario World came simultaneously with the console off and became the best-selling game for the SNES; more than 20 million copies of the platform game were sold worldwide. Super Mario All-Stars, Donkey Kong Country, the first Mario Kart game and Street Fighter II were also massively sold for the console. Nintendo eventually won the console war through popular exclusive games and continued to achieve success with an apparently outdated console even throughout the ensuing 32-bit era. About five years after the Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64 came out, ending the 16-bit era for Nintendo.

Nevertheless, the SNES returned regularly, for example in the form of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Mini. The iconic games of the Super Nintendo are still being ported to new systems, for example via the Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

The international version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Only in North America was a different design used for the console. Image via Nintendo