Comment by hedora
2 days ago
I’d be curious to know when they said that. It sounds like revisionist history to me.
Based on the switch launch video, the delta between the NES and SNES was much higher than Switch -> Switch 2.
Here’s an analogous snes ad, which spends most of its time showing off 3d and increased sprite counts:
At the time, at least, I don't recall seeing SNES as a "revolution". It had better graphics etc, but the form factor was the same, and games were broadly similar, so it was more of a luxury option.
The SNES was, objectively, a huge jump over the previous generation (NES, Master System, etc.). Much better sound, 16-bit color, pseudo-3D with Mode 7, support for much much larger carts, support for coprocessors within the cart... An expansion port for a hypothetical CD-ROM addon (spoiler). I think that the revolution>evolution>revolution is revisionist, or at least something they said much later on. SNES might have started as a luxury option, as all consoles do, but it was obviously intended to compete with whatever Sega put out for that generation (and compared to the Genesis, Sega pulled out a few tricks so in the end the SNES wasn't a huge step above the Genesis either).
It was the first taste of (sorta) 3D, at least in Nintendo’s lineup. Games like Pilotwings and Mario Kart were a big change.
Sorry, tried to find the interview and failed. It would most like have come out around the Wii's release/development since it used the code name Revolution.