User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:02 pm

Hi All,

I recently was in a Best Buy in my area and while I was there checking out with some tech for my office, I asked the cashier if they happened to have any of the Super Nintendo Classics in stock. He looked over and said "surprisingly we still have a few". Ben heck called these things, and the NES classic Unobtainium because Nintendo dropped the ball on these and didn't make enough for demand. Anyway, I bought one because I have been in Best Buy and other stores that sell them many, many times and they are *always* sold out. The last time I missed it by a mere hour. Well this time i got lucky and brought one home.

I still have a Super Nintendo with about 20 games, some of which are on here so why buy one at all? Well it is a cool little mini console and really has some features above and beyond the other retro classic consoles, IE the Sega and Atari consoles by At Games. Those are pretty cheaply made and the emulation is pathetic for some of them. Nintendo did these right and as far as I can tell, comparing the games that I have, directly, they are spot on. It has a nice menu selection system, plus save states, in addition to the save game feature built into many of the games. The two games that I really wanted to play on this were the ones I don't own anymore. Secret of Mana was one that I had and I think I either traded it in during the PS1 days or I loaned it to someone and never got it back. It has to be one of my all time favorites. The game itself usually sells for well over $80 - $100+ depending on condition and if it has the box and manual.

The other game I wanted to play was the official version of Star Fox 2. Yeah, a pre-release Star Fox 2 ROM has been in the wild for a while but it is nice to have an official version here in the US.

As for emulation I am pretty impressed with the output of the games. They have options for keeping the proper 4:3 aspect ratio, which I appreciate and an option for square pixel. They also included an option for scan lines which I don't use.

The only negative I can see is the ridiculously short controller cable.

All in all a neat little retro console. If you were around during the SNES era this is a good purchase to relive some fun. If you weren't and you are into games, then you really want to try this out as the 16-bit era was truly an amazing time. Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and of course, the Amiga. I was playing games on all of those systems at the time, and still am today.

Nintendo has stated that next summer they are going to bring back the NES classic again because they made far too little. Now that the stock of the SNES seems to be climbing up there, we will have another chance to get an NES classic.

Sorry for not posting pics but my phone is dead. There are plenty of pics on the Nintendo and other gaming sites.

What are your thoughts on these retro systems?

User avatar
Oojaplonk
Willenhall UK

Posted Fri Dec 22, 2017 8:41 am

I do like these little systems, I never managed to get my hands on an original NES but I got a SNES one.

The main thing that I love is that it has HDMI out so I can just hook it up to a modern TV and play away without it looking like rubbish using the original AV. The controller is lead is quite short but as I have the TV I use for gaming close to me I can just keep the system close and have the HDMI as the main length of lead.

From what I have seen online these can be jail broken and people put more roms on there. I've not tried or looked into it but if they look good over HDMI then that's another plus from me :D

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:34 am

Yeah I have done the same with the HDMI cable as a lead. I plug the usb cable into my TV uSB port, which is right next to the HDMI port so it makes it easy to power it without the brick.

I have seen the hacking procedure and it is super simple as the SNES and NES classics are basically the same exact board with perhaps more flash on the SNES variety. Ben Heck did a tear down and comparison. I am happy with the games that are built in for now so I won't be attempting it. When the Classic NES gets re-released next summer I may hack that one though.

I still have a regular SuperNES and a Super Everdrive cartridge for playing ROMs that don't have special chips. The games that do have special chips, I usually just buy the original cart. So I don't really need to alter the SNESmini.





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