The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES for short (which I’ll use from this point on), was released here in the United States on August 23rd, 1991– 35 years ago today, as I write this. I did not get the console at launch, but a few friends did. My time would come in December of 1991.
In August of 1991, I was 19 years old. I was working in my first full-time job at an AT&T call center in Worcester, Massachusetts as a long-distance operator. Call center life meant a lot of 2:30pm-10:00pm shifts, no Saturdays off, and fitting gaming & social life around these schedule constraints. To this point, I was still very much an NES player, buying a few new games when they piqued my interest and renting a few others.
On days off or during “split shifts” when my work day had a few hours of time off in the late morning or afternoon, I would go to a friend’s house where a bunch of us would get together and play games. It was mostly NES until SNES launch day, when Super Mario World and F-Zero captivated us. F-Zero honestly got the most play, as we would take turns on Time Trials to compete for best times. When Super Mario World was in, we watched as one person played, making mental notes on what to do or where to go.
A couple of other friends in our group picked up their own SNES consoles shortly thereafter, but we were still all about our meetups. Someone would bring a new game they picked up, like Super Bases Loaded, Gradius III, John Madden Football, ActRaiser, Final Fantasy II, and others for all of us to check out. I started to build a list in my head of games that I wanted, and, when I got my own SNES later on, I dropped a lot of money on the console and the games that grabbed me.
ActRaiser really won me over because of the graphics and music, which were so far above what the NES could do. It didn’t take long for me to appreciate the rest of the game. The action sequences were challenging between tricky platforming and large bosses. The city-building aspect was a more relaxing foil to that action and remains the only Sim-like experience that I enjoy to this day. I really need to go back and replay this soon.
Final Fantasy II (which is really Final Fantasy IV, but we didn’t know that 35 years ago) captivated me from the moment I saw it during one of our meetups. The story-telling aspect was something I hadn’t personally experienced (as I passed on NES Final Fantasy), and the turn-based fights were interesting to me. After buying the game myself, I spent dozens of hours playing it. As a JRPG rookie at the time, concepts like grinding and setting party formations were not thought of. I was underpowered for the second half of the game, constantly running from battles. The final boss took more than a dozen tries to take down. Working for AT&T meant free calls to Nintendo Game Counselors, who helped when I didn’t know where to go or what to do. Yes, this version of the game is considered the “Easy” version of a game that’s thought of by many as an easy game to begin with, but that wasn’t my experience as a new player. I did finish the game; it took about 3 months, between work shifts, dating, arcade visits, and playing other games. That said, Final Fantasy IV remains the only JRPG that I’ve ever beaten— and I’ve beaten it multiple times, on several different platforms. It remains my favorite game in the genre of all time.
It should be no surprise to those who know me that Super Bases Loaded and John Madden Football were early purchases for me. Super Bases Loaded was picked up just because I wanted to practice for our meetups. The “perfect game” aspect didn’t resonate with me until years later, when I reviewed the game for Pat Contri’s SNES book and did achieve that perfect game. As for John Madden Football? Well… after spending hours with Play Action Football and Tecmo Bowl on NES, O thought I’d like this. Even back then, though, I knew it was a choppy mess. It’s what I had, though, so I managed. This was a popular play on Sundays, as I wanted to play of watch the real thing.
The SNES would later get joined by the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16. While the Genesis was (and still is) the better console for sports games, the SNES was my go-to for pretty much everything else. My experiences with Super Smash TV, Super Castlevania IV, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, Star Fox, and others could (and just might) have their own pieces like this written about them.
As my displeasure with modern console video gaming has been intensifying, it’s been a comfort to go back to simpler, happier times. The decision to rebuild an SNES game library this year was one of the best I made. It’s the “old” console that I’ve been the most excited to get back to playing, even more than the NES.
The fact that it’s been 35 years is a bit… sobering. There’s a lot about that time in my life that I miss. I obviously miss my youth, but it’s the friendships I had… the relatively easy life I had… that first job, which I genuinely enjoyed… the adventures in dating and the social life I led. It’s not that life isn’t better now in many ways, but there are those times I want to go back— just for a day— and relive that waterbed, that TV, and many of those memories.
Pete's Perspective 
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