Being a Sega fan, or even “fanboy”, in the 90s was quite the thing. The Console Wars had begun, though such debates had raged since the time of home videogame systems began, with C64 vs Spectrum vs (at least by the time I was engaging in such things) CPC464 raging in the playgrounds.
While the battle wasn’t quite as fierce as it was in the States, the Sega vs Nintendo squabbling was certainly a frequent occurrence.
The thing was, despite the NES never gaining a fraction of the success in UK that it had enjoyed in America, Sega still felt like the underdog brand to me against the Nintendo establishment.
Part of that was how the SNES was hyped and received, which made it seem as of it was a machine sent from god itself. Magazines like Mean Machines (before the brand split) had heralded the coming of the new Super Nintendo, feverishly coving its overseas launches.
And post launch, the house of Mario always appeared to get preferential treatment. As I mentioned in my Street Fighter 2 post, Mega Drive ports were judged more harshly, Sonic was reviewed in UK mag GamesMaster with that unforgivable low score for Sonic 2, and a low 80s review for Sonic CD proclaiming Sonic would never be as good as Mario.
Yes, that’s why it felt like Sega was the underdog. Nintendo fans, most I knew never even owned a NES, seemed as self satisfied then as PlayStation fanboys do today. I remember I’d had my Mega Drive only a few months when a friends older brother scoffed and asked me why I didn’t get a SNES, then howled with laughter at when I said I thought the Sega system was better.
As someone who bled Sega blue at the time, it did all create a degree of enmity within me. Given I’ve mentioned it a few times already, it will come as no surprise that such reviews and jibes felt almost hostile. Writing it now, it seems ridiculous, but then, I was only nine years old.
I like to think that the level of annoyance is a drop in the ocean compared to the console wars antics grown adult Xbox and Sony fanboys engage in today, especially since I was just a child.
But more than that, I wasn’t so blind that I couldn’t enjoy the rival system or recognise its strengths.
The first time I played a SNES myself, it was on a friend’s system with Street Fighter II. Suffice to say, I loved the game instantly. I actually played it before I had a Mega Drive of my own, and if it weren't for a certain blue hedgehog that I loved even more on the Master System, I may have been asking for a SNES and a copy of the World Warrior instead.
But my love affair with the Master System and Sonic in particular pushed me towards a Mega Drive, the console that had blown me away years prior. Fate always led towards the Mega Drive for me and I loved everything about it that much more than what I'd seen on SNES, with the exception of Street Fighter II, but then, I hadn't seen much of Nintendo’s console.
When another school friend moved away, I would stay at his during school holidays. We’d play a lot of Street Fighter II, but he’d introduce me to others. Super Probotector (aka Contra 3), Sim City and A Link to the Past, and all amazed me in an early visit.
Then later in 1993, Star Fox blew me away with its polygonal graphics and became an instant favourite, the After Burner influence was obvious and meant the game resonated with the Sega fan in me instantly.
Street Fighter II Turbo came that same year, whetting my appetite for the upcoming Mega Drive port.
Others such as Turtles in Time and, one of my personal favourites, Super Mario World also showed me the benefits of the Super Nintendo.
Then it sort of faded away from my consciousness.
The SNES would go on to outsell the Mega Drive worldwide, and most of the lead was attained post 1994. By 1995 I’d amassed enough Mega Drive games that I hadn’t given the SNES much thought. In fact, aside from a few deals on games like Theme Park and Comix Zone, I was saving for what was initially a 32X, then later a Saturn.
In 1995 Sega themselves were focused on Sony and other fifth gen rivals, taking their eye off the Mega Drive (or Genesis) market allowing the SNES to sneak past. I was kind of the same, all eyes on the next generation, so the SNES fell off my radar completely.
But only for a few years.
In 1998 a friend was buying an N64, completely sold on Goldeneye and Zelda, and having been a SNES owner beforehand. He needed funds, and so was selling his SNES. He only wanted £30 for it and, after some thought, I took it.
At the time I was working a paper round, so had a small income, that money would have been spent on a single import Saturn title, but a SNES with Mario World, Japanese versions of Sim City and F-Zero and several more with a region converter was too much to ignore.
And for a week or two, it pulled me away from my beloved Sega Saturn as I relived those holidays at my friend’s, whilst discovering a few new gems that I hadn’t tried before.
The SNES became only the second console I’d bought with my own money, and the first non-Sega console to enter the Driver household.
It absolutely deserved that honour, as while my Saturn purchases slowed in order to save money for a Dreamcast, the SNES found itself played in rotation with that and the Mega Drive.
Even in 2000, I’d play it occasionally. The classics providing that nostalgia fuelled dopamine hit on my 16 year old mind. And it wasn’t just me.
I was in a long distance relationship at the time with a girl in Birmingham. I lived in Borehamwood, a 2 hour journey away, so I’d stay over on weekends. Naturally I brought some consoles over to hers, and one those was my SNES, the appeal of Mario could not be denied.
Unfortunately, when we split I left the console and games (as well as a Dreamcast and a number of now expensive games) at hers.
It stings, thinking about it now, but it wasn’t the end of my SNES journey, rather a new beginning.
In 2003, in my first full time job, I bought myself a laptop, and that’s where I’d go in heavy on emulation.
Whilst I’d initially focus on Sega emulators (of course), the SNES wasn’t far behind. It’s via emulation that I discovered Chrono Trigger, Final Fight 3, Super Mario RPG and many more.
From there it’s always been a console I’ve gone back to. Initially through various means of emulation, up until I got myself a Super Famicom a number of years ago, building a new library of games in the process.
So where does that leave my relationship with the old SNES?
I still see it as the rival console. Whenever I watch the Console Wars youtube channel, I still root for Sega, even though I try to watch it objectively, those old feelings are still there.
However, the console isn’t anything short of an all time great in my eyes. I knew it then and I know it now. It is handily my favourite Nintendo console and is an all time top five console of mine, one that jostles for position with the Dreamcast.
The Mega Drive is my preferred system. I feel the library is more diverse, the games feel slicker and more responsive for the most part, but the MD feels like an arcade based console – which i prefer – whereas the SNES leans more into narrative driven epics
And that’s why the fourth gen was so incredible. Two systems with different approaches and different experiences.
I love the SNES, for me it represents Nintendo at the peak of their powers, when they were still competing at the top table technologically and commercially, before the financial giants Sony and Microsoft changed the game. Nintendo’s third party approach was irksome as a Sega fan, but it created a curated library of amazing quality.
There’s only one other time a console battle would ever be so close, and even then there are caveats. Having Sega as a worthy opponent lit a fire under Nintendo and pushed both companies towards what are arguably their respective golden ages.
For those of us that lived through the era, it truly was magical. In a way the magazines were right, both the SNES and the Mega Drive were gifts from the gods, and I’m glad to have love in my heart for both.
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