Widely regarded as possibly the best videogame console ever created, the SNES is a machine that needs little introduction. Released in the early '90s, the machine built on the already solid reputation of the NES and Nintendo gleefully updated many of its best known franchises to the system. With better graphics and sound than its direct rival the Mega Drive/Genesis (although it did have a slower CPU), the SNES was seen by many as the better console, despite the fact that the two machines shared many key licences, such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and NBA Jam.

With games like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Zelda: Link to the Past, Starfox, Secret of Mana and Yoshi's Island, the SNES certainly isn't short of classic titles. The console managed to keep on fighting even when the Playstation and Saturn arrived on the scene, but Nintendo sadly dropped the ball with its successor, the N64.

Read our Super Nintendo hardware focus