Fourth generation of video game consoles
Nintendo executives were initially reluctant to design a new system, but as the market transitioned to the newer hardware, Nintendo saw the erosion of the commanding market share it had built up with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo's fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21, 1990; Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours. The machine reached North America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23, 1991, and Europe and Australia in April 1992.
Super Smash Bros. (video game)
Super Smash Bros. (retroactively known as Super Smash Bros. 64 to avoid confusion with later entries in the series) is a crossover fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan on January 21, 1999, in North America on April 26, 1999, and in Europe on November 19, 1999. The first game in the "Super Smash Bros." series, it is a crossover between several different Nintendo franchises, including "Mario", "The Legend of Zelda", "Star Fox", "Donkey Kong", "Metroid", "Mother", "F-Zero", "Yoshi", "Kirby", and "Pokémon". It presents a cast of characters and locations from these franchises and allows players to use each character's unique skills and the stage's hazards to inflict damage, recover health, and ultimately knock opponents off the stage.