Super Nintendo Entertainment System

We never had it so good…

Everything is relative. That's something I've learned the older I get. That's why everything seemed easier when you were a kid. Compared to your problems today, worrying about missing the bus, getting detention, or trying to snog your girl behind the bushes all seem, literally, like child's play when worrying about taxes, bills, and not getting fired. The same is true for videogames, every step of the way. The first time I saw real 16-bit graphics after playing Spectrums, C64s, and Amiga 500s, next week welcomed me with open arms as I was knocked clear into it.

Hi there. From last week myself. And you?

I was mesmerized by the SNES. It had such mystery surrounding it. At that age, few could afford it, so you had to have a rich mate until Father Christmas dropped it down the non-existent chimney, or you saved enough of your slave labour pocket money. I remember going to Toys' R Us an seeing it along with the Mega Drive behind a glass case, as if they were the Crown Jewels themselves. Mocking us. Teasing Us. Letting us know “hey boy, you can't afford me! Ha! You're lucky if you get me before you have to start worrying about your pension!”

They're 32-bit. Twin processors. Loads of RAM. One owner. Honest.

Being that it was the time of the launch, Super Mario World was the drug of choice. Still riding the high of SMB3, I heard rumours of what SMW contained. “I hear he rides a dinosaur!” “I hear you can fly with a cape!” “I hear there are TWO secret worlds!” “I hear we're going to win the World Cup this year!” Ok, maybe that last one was just made up… every four years. But all rumours would be put to the test when my Mum said that we we're going over to her friend's house “whose son has that new Nintendo”. And of course, when we got there, the telly was broken. But the lad with the “hey-I've-got-what-you-so-desperately-need” attitude did fill me in on what was real and what was rumour. But all would soon be revealed.

For too long you had had eluded my grasp, but oh, did I get sweet, sweet revenge.

An old mate of mine got a SNES a few weeks later and let me play it for a few bliss-filled minutes, before the standard, “Nah let me show you how to do it” line came traveling through my eardrums. Still, I had tasted the nirvana and was about to overdose. I had just changed schools, and one of the lads I got along with really well had not only a SNES, a Mega Drive , a PC Engine, an NES, a treehouse, and a snooker table, but the biggest television I have ever seen. His game of choice couldn't have made me happier - Super Mario World. We beat the shit out of that game. When I got my SNES a little while later, not only did this become my most played game ever, but my favourite.

Not only because of the fine balance of gameplay and the wealth of secrets that, even now, provide you many hours of pure joy, but because of what it took to get it.

THE SON OF YESTERDAY, October 2004.

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