The Nintendo Console Launches, Ranked From Worst To Best

By the time the SNES rolled around, Nintendo had millions of loyal young American fans, and it could do a proper build-up and launch in the States for the first time. Our hype was fueled by that commercial starring Paul Rudd—we didn’t know he was Paul Rudd at the time, of course, but he looked awesome playing and enjoying those games, and we, too, wanted a taste of this “Super Power” the new console promised. For many parents, meanwhile, the SNES seemed like a scam, an effort to extort even more money from their Nintendo-addled kids. (For an incredible, time-capsule glimpse of what the period surrounding the SNES launch was like as many parents lamented the hold that video games had developed over their children, you simply must watch this video of a local news report from 1991.)

But for those of us who were firmly in Nintendo’s grasp, the arrival of the SNES was cause for excitement, not concern. Today, game console launches often feel incremental; the PS5 felt like an important technological step up from the PS4, for instance, but not an awe-inspiring one. In the SNES era, however, new hardware could still inspire genuine awe. Oh my god, look at that 3D effect on those tracks in F-Zero! Look at all that color in Super Mario World! Sega’s Genesis had arrived two years prior, stepping up the technology that powered the games we played. Here, with the release of the SNES, Nintendo was firing its own salvo in the 16-bit wars, and once again, Mario was leading the way. The launch bundle included Super Mario World, maybe the best console pack-in of all time, giving players hours and hours of wonderful SNES gameplay right out of the box in a game that remains an enduring classic to this day. Now that’s how you make people feel good about their new console purchase, and eager to seek out the many wonderful new experiences that will be arriving for it in the months to come. — Carolyn Petit