Despite a later release date than the Sega Genesis the Super Nintendo emerged from the 16 bit era as the victor. As a result of its late launch the SNES contained better technology than its chief rival. The central processing unit is actually comparatively slow, however the dedicated graphics, and sound processors allowed the SNES to produce better graphics and crisper sound. The sound chip was actually designed by Sony's Ken Kutaragi the "father" of the Playstation. The SNES' capabilities could be further extended through the addition of extra chips located on the cartridges themselves, this includes the Super FX chip that made Star Fox's and Stunt Race FX's 3D polygonal graphics possible.
Configurations
In different regions and times the Super Nintendo had different external forms while retaining the same internal processing components. A key difference between the different consoles resulted in the cartridges being region-specific. Only North American games could work in NA Super Nintendos, Japanese in Japanese, etc. This limitation could be bypassed through special adapters, however further modification is required to play the games since region encoding is found inside the chips themselves.
In 1997 Nintendo released an update to the SNES imaginatively called the SNES 2. Despite its "next-generation" name, the only differences between the two versions was the form factor. The SNES 2 is smaller than the original Super Nintendo with a curvier look.
SNES in Modern Times
Nintendo ceased production of the Super Nintendo in the late 90s in North America, and early 2000 in Japan; however its significance is still felt through the industry. Emulation technologies allow people to play old Nintendo classics on a variety of devices, including computers, PSPs, and Xbox. Nintendo continues to re-release its old classics on a variety of platforms such as the Gameboy Advance and most recently the Wii Virtual Console. Through the VC system people can download old SNES games onto the Wii's internal memory.
