It was Christmas morning, 1991. A hyperactive, super-excited, greedy little version of myself crept down the steps of my childhood home after my father had given the go-ahead. He always had this annoying ritual of setting up the video camera before my sister and I could come to claim our rightful cornucopia of presents.
After opening what seemed like hundreds of lesser presents including action figures, hygiene products, movies, and unwanted clothing, the two of us were like two starving puppies wondering why the top item on both of our Christmas lists, the Super Nintendo, was nowhere to be found.
In what seemed at the time to be a heartlessly cruel jape, my parents exclaimed “Oh, it looks like you guys missed one!” and proceeded to produce a nondescript box covered in reindeer wrapping paper. As we hastily tore the useless adornments from the magically mysterious final gift, we realized it was what we had always dreamed of. Finally, the glistening gray and purple rectangular prism of infinite awesomeness was presented to us. As our eyes glazed over and our mouths gaped open in wide wonder, we realized that we were now official owners of a SUPER NINTENDO.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (aka Super Famicom, Super NES, SNES, Super Nintendo, or Jesus Christ incarnate) is a 16-bit video game console that was unleashed upon the adoring Nintendo-centric public in North America in 1991.
