Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Japanese:  Super Famicom or SFC), often abbreviated as the SNES, is Nintendo's third home video game console and the successor to the Nintendo Entertainment System. EarthBound was released on this system, being the first game in the series officially released outside of Japan. The console's best-selling titles are ' and '. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was succeeded by the Nintendo 64.

Many games for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System were re-released as Virtual Console titles on the Wii Shop Channel and later the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U.  Among these titles is EarthBound, which was released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013. Several Super Nintendo Entertainment System titles are included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as Masterpieces, including EarthBound in both titles (omitted from the international release of Brawl).

Hardware
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System supported 16-bit graphics, an improvement from the 8-bit graphics of its predecessor. It supported two-player games, which EarthBound utilized only in battles.

A CD Add-on for the Super NES was codeveloped with Sony and was planned to be released. However, this failed to materialize, and Sony turned the add-on/console into the Sony PlayStation, which became one of Nintendo's fiercest rivals in the Fifth generation and each subsequent generation since with the following consoles in the PlayStation lineup.

EarthBound/Mother games for the SNES

 * EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan)

Trivia

 * Ness's name is an anagram of SNES. This is similar to how the protagonist of EarthBound Beginnings is named Ninten, which is an abbreviation of Nintendo and a nod to the Nintendo Entertainment System.