Don't get all mad

by Wildfire 

I know that a lot of people aren't going to like this, but this to me is as true as anything can be. The best system of all time is the SNES. Right now, people are reading this editorial and thinking "Whoa! Could this guy have it any more wrong!" while others are thinking "Well... I do believe I can agree with him," but everyone has a right to their own opinion, which means what I say to you through this has to be taken seriously. The reasons I know that I am right are the games, the era, and the system itself. You will soon see why the SNES, yes, a Nintendo system, is the best system ever produced by any company.

I remember many days where I first got home with a new game, whether it be rented or bought, and raced over to its system to play it. These times included Final Fantasy 2, Final Fantasy 3, and Super Mario Cart. I played those games for hours on end, having completed FF2 over 6 times, FF3 over 8 times, and played Super Mario Kart every day for about 2 months (which, all put together, is over a month straight in game play). But, now with my Playstation, there have been only 4 games in which I raced home to play, these being BOF3, BOF4, FF7, and Digimon World. Right now there are people saying "So he has only four Playstation games!" Sorry to disappoint you, but I have a library of over 23 Playstation games (almost exclusively RPGs). With the exception of just those 4 Playstation RPGs, I have not once raced home to play a game on Playstation, whereas almost all games on my SNES were ones I rushed home to play. Also, it may just be me, but the RPGs for SNES are, on average, better than what Playstation has been able to put out. Who else reading this can remember playing great SNES RPGs such as Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire 1 + 2, and 7th Saga? I sure can, seeing as how I have spent most of my life playing RPGs. Some of these games were so cherished by fans that they later have been re-released on Playstation because of their replayability.

The SNES, in its time, had to deal with competition from the Sega Genesis, which in my mind never had a chance of beating the SNES. But with a couple good RPGs on the system (such as the Phantasy Star series), Genesis stayed around on the map, instead of instantly disappearing when up against the SNES. Also, in this time, it was crucial that Nintendo make its name known, and known well, because if they made the SNES the best system of its time then any system that they would come up with afterwards would be a huge success. Not only did SNES dominate the market, but it did it in style, releasing many games that people play even today. Because of this, many people who bought a SNES went on to buy an N64 because of the great time that the SNES that gave them. I sure as hell did. And, when I finally broke down and bought a Playstation to see what FF7 was like, I was surprised that I would have more fun playing some SNES games than a Playstation one. But with N64 out on the market, there weren't any more SNES games being made, so I had to upgrade to something that would give me RPGs, at least good ones. If Nintendo didn't make the N64 system, right now I would still be playing my SNES, playing a great deal of games that would have been made for the system. I'm not saying that Playstation is a bad system, but a lot of games on SNES are of better quality than something put out on Playstation (if you just take out the cinematics, that is).

The system itself is one of the best designs I have seen, ever. The controller for the SNES is my favorite controller for any system, since with its six buttons it could port most arcade games, as well as having a design for it that would allow any person to use it. The core has reset and power buttons, and although it isn't as important as say... FOOD, it sure beats Playstation's design. Ever notice that when you press reset on a Playstation that it is like pressing power on and off really quickly? With the SNES, if reset is pushed it isn't like pressing power; it gets past the load up screen and gets back to the game play as quick as possible. Also, and I am sure that few with disagree with me here, it is the sturdiest machine ever. So many things happened to my SNES (several threats of the machine being driven over by my father, several fights over the machine with my brother, and several times moving with the machine to a new house) that I am surprised that the machine I got 7 years ago is still up and running to this day.

As I am looking at the SNES right now, I realize that some good things never die. Right now the Game Boy Advance is going to try to be a Super Nintendo, albeit a handheld one, with many of the games of the SNES getting ported to the GBA. The GBA, as I see it, is pretty much SNES2, since they share basically the same capabilities. Right now, a few people are thinking "Would you trade your SNES for a PS2?"... which I admit I would do, since PS2 costs a lot more, and I can easily find another SNES to buy, but if I had to choose between PS2 and all its games vs. SNES and all its games... well, I bet you have already guessed that I'd pick the SNES.