10 Ways SNES Changed the World 35 Years Ago Today

On August 23, 1991, a little less than a year after its release in Japan as the Super Family Computer, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System officially hit American shelves. Nintendo had managed to get itself firmly situated in the then-burgeoning home game console industry thanks to the success of the NES, but if it wanted to stay in the game, it needed a haymaker. The SNES was that haymaker, and boy howdy, did we all feel it right in the kisser. In a good way, I mean.