Remember back in 1991, when the Super NES first was released? The Super NES took the NES's place as Nintendo's main home system. The same thing happened last year with the release of the Nintendo 64. But unlike the NES's "death" which took three years from when the Super NES was released, the Super NES's death has so far taken only one year. Hopefully the Super NES can last into 1998, but nothing is for sure.

In 1994, I could see the NES "going out". There were only a few games released in the first half of the year and only two (Beauty and the Beast and Wario's Woods) were released in the second half of the year. The Virtual Boy died out because of financial reasons, if you're just wondering. Nintendo didn't let that system die out by itself, like the NES did.

But now, in 1997, I can see that the Super NES is dying. The same pattern from the NES's death is being used here, only it is accellerated (by a lot). The only Super NES games that were released in the first half of this year were Harvest Moon and The Lost Vikings 2. That was it! Just two. There are, however, nine more games coming this fall plus the recently-released Brunswick World Tournament of Champions. But it stops there. Many people already know of at least sixty Nintendo 64 games that are going to be released next year. But how many games are being released for the Super NES next year? So far, none. (But I will keep a very close eye on ANY Super NES information.)

Nintendo always seemed to have at least two big games released each year for the Super NES, one in the spring and one in the fall:

• 1991: Super Mario World, in the fall.
• 1992: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, in the spring. Super Mario Kart, in the fall.
• 1993: Star Fox, in the spring. Super Mario All-Stars, in the fall.
• 1994: Super Metroid, in the spring. Donkey Kong Country, in the fall.
• 1995: EarthBound, in the spring (actually it was more towards summer). Donkey Kong Country 2 and Super Mario World 2, in the fall.
• 1996: Super Mario RPG, in the spring. Tetris Attack and Donkey Kong Country 3, in the fall.
• 1997: Nothing in the spring. Kirby's Dream Land 3, coming this fall.

Even though there are a lot less new games being released this year than previous years, there are re-releases including the re-release of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island coming in October. If you missed these great games, don't miss them this time.

The Super NES is obviously dying and there really isn't anything that you can do about it. The Super NES had its time (six years to be exact) and in about a year from now it will most likely be dead, just like the NES and Virtual Boy. If you want to see more Super NES games, though, e-mail Nintendo at nintendo@nintendo.com. I'm sure that if you e-mail them enough, they'll listen to you.