The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, and Australia. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in Europe and large parts of Asia the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in South East Asia and North America - due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era but only after its competitor Sega had pulled out of the 16-bit market to focus on its 32-bit next generation console.
Even as the original NES/Famicom was at the height of its popularity, several companies were launching their own consoles. In 1987 and 1988 respectively, NEC and Sega launched their contenders, the PC Engine and the Mega Drive, one of the first 16-bit home gaming systems. Although the NES would continue to dominate the video game industry for years to come, Nintendo's hardware was beginning to show its age, and though Nintendo executives initially showed little interest in developing a new system, Sega and NEC's growing market share soon forced Nintendo to reconsider.
Masayuki Uemura, the man responsible for designing the Famicom several years earlier, was put in charge of the design of the console and the Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000. An instant success, Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units quickly sold out. The system was so popular that it was said to have attracted the attention of the Yakuza, leading to the decision to ship the devices at night in order to avoid robbery. In Japan, the Super Famicom easily outsold its chief rival, the Mega Drive, and Nintendo retained control over approximately 80% of the Japanese console market thanks, in part, to Nintendo's retention of most of its key third party developers from the Famicom, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Ltd., Koei and Enix.
Nine months later, on August 13, 1991, Nintendo released the Super Famicom in North America with a new redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Initially sold for a price of $200 USD, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labelling.
Nintendo's Japanese market dominance was not repeated in the American and European markets. By the time of launch the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis had already became firmly entrenched in the US and European marketplace, helped by the lower cost of the Mega Drive/Genesis console and games and Sega's aggressive marketing in North America. In addition many US gamers had come to expect backwards compatibility from console developers (as was the case with the Atari 2600 and 7800), but the SNES was not designed to play NES cartridges.
