10 REASONS THE SUPER NES WAS BEST CONSOLE

27/6/2017

They're doing it!

Later this year, Nintendo is releasing a miniature Super NES filled with "20 + 1" games - including the never-before-released Star Fox 2! Of course, pre-orders are already sold out, which suggests that supply-and-demand may be as inexplicably frustrating as it was for the release of the NES Classic last year. But that's okay because, well... never mind, yeah?

If you were unfortunate enough to miss out on Super NES Classic pre-orders, you can "console" - ha ha ha - yourself with the next best thing: ten reminders of why the Super NES was best console.

MARIO and ZELDA and METROID and STREET FIGHTER II

The reason Super NES was best console is as simple as this: the Super NES had the best games. In fact, few consoles since have managed to match it for the number of all time classics that were smeared along the length of its creamy tights.

The vast majority of SNES games - from Nintendo's own first-party titles, to the best versions of third-party multiformat games - still hold up today. Indeed, they hold up a damn sight better than a lot of the games which followed on the subsequent generation of consoles, and their faltering, albeit necessary, experiments with 3D visuals.

The SNES might've not been the first console to make it to the South Pole, but at least it didn't get frostbite and lose its nose, fingers, and Geoffrey. Whatever that means!

Super NES = best console, okay?

RAINBOW BUTTONS AND CURVES

Sorry, Americans, but your version of the Super NES was a tormented rascal. It was all horrible, sharp angles and purple highlights, that made everyone try to eat the controller buttons thinking they were Parma Violets: the soap-flavoured treat.

Our Super NES was all smooth and round, like a jelly lozenge. And best of all: it had primary-coloured buttons, making it appear jolly, like a benign chum.

Also: it felt nice and solid and well-made. The Sega Mega Drive had an interesting design, that caused it to resemble HR Giger's thorax, but the second you picked it up or tapped on it you could tell how cheaply constructed it was. Frankly, there was more air in a Mega Drive than a bag of Walkers crisps.

Just to recap: Super NES was best console.

MODE 7

The Super NES could do this: rotate and scale graphics to create a variety of different effects, which immediately set it apart from everything else. It wasn't just about making games look luscious; Mode 7 meant that the SNES could offer gaming experiences that the poor Mega Drive couldn't hope to match, even if it was forced to scrabble around in a moat filled with distemper.

Without Mode 7 there would've been no Mario Kart, Pilotwings, F-Zero, or Super Star Wars... or the assertion that Super NES was best console supreme.

SUPER FX CHIP

And then this happened: later in the life of the Super NES, Britain's very own Argonaut Software developed the Super FX chip. Thus, with the Super FX stuffed into their guts, games such as Star Fox and Stunt Race FX ensured the Super NES became the first console to do polygons in a proper way.

The poor Mega Drive had a little go at the same thing with Virtua Racing - priced at an eye-watering £70 - but it was too little too late. The Mega Drive remained in the role of "disgraced poltron" next to the Super NES as best console!

BIG WORM

The Super NES cartridge slot was spring-loaded, and big enough to put a large worm in there, if you so desired. Even extra-extra-large worms (XXLWs) could be put inside if you folded them in the middle. Furthermore, the spring-loaded flap meant that the worm would have a hard time escaping, and eventually die!

Worms might not agree, but the rest of us are united in one overriding belief: the Super NES was best console, the khan, the candy solid.

FULL COLOUR MANUALS

Nowadays you don't even get a manual with games. At most, you might get a map, which you'll never, ever, refer to, and you'll unfold it and it'll get damaged and torn. Back in the Super NES days, the manuals were full-colour works of art, with lovely hand-drawn visuals and stuff. Can you imagine such an idea - buying something which had the manners and decency to tell you how to use it?

No wonder everyone thinks the SNES was best console in the land of many humans!

SPORELESS

One thing the Super NES definitely never did was shoot a jet of fungal spores in your face, when you pressed a button on the top, marked "SPORES". In fact, the Super NES didn't even have a button marked "SPORES".

That's just another example of the forward-thinking from Nintendo's designers - the sort of forward thinking which can only lead to one conclusion: Super NES IS best console.

DIDN'T TRY TOO HARD TO BE COOL

One of the most off-putting things about Sega's Mega Drive - and almost every non-Nintendo console since - was that it was trying too hard to be cool.

Let's face it, consoles are two things: toys and consumer electronics goods. There is nothing cool about either of those, which might be why Sega and Sony always tried to trick customers by selling their machines via edgy advertising, featuring exploding babies and cool guys getting haircuts off of skateboarding Morlocks.

We all know that trying to be cool is probably the least cool thing ever. Nintendo knew this, and never even tried to be cool. Which, of course, made it all the cooler.

On an entirely tangential note, do you know what I found a bit sad? When it was revealed recently that Carrie Fisher had died in part due to decades of drug addiction, and was found to have traces of cocaine, heroin and other nasty "flavours" in her system, loads of people held this up as evidence that she was "cool" and "didn't give a damn".

Here's some information you might like to think about: that isn't cool behaviour. That's just really tragic, and a massive waste of someone's entire life. If the Super NES had been a film star, you can bet it wouldn't have taken loads of drugs and become an addict and died. In fact: the only thing the Super NES was addicted to was being best console for all the boys and girls!

IT'S BETTER THAN ITS SUCCESSOR

Yeah, that's right. The Super NES was well better than the Nintendo 64. Frankly, the graphics on the SNES have actually aged well better than the N64 visuals, due to the latter's stumbling encounters with textured polygons. The N64 had loads of great games, but they were muddy and brown and blurry compared to the glorious, crisp, sprites of the Super NES. They were cataract simulators.

Consequence: N64 games don't look as good today when compared to the simplicity of something like Yoshi's Island; a game that was available on the Super NES - best console.

BRONK'S FUNERAL

A hidden Easter egg in all of Nintendo's first-party games would reveal a scene from Bronk's funeral. Pressing both shoulder buttons, followed by Select and Start three times, would show a digitised image of mourners standing over Bronk's coffin, weeping. Pressing the A button on this screen would cause it to rotate, accompanied by a funny whistling noise, which became known as "Bronk's Laudation".

This is just one of many reasons why most believe that the Super NES is best console, and known the globe over as The Prince Of Infernal Contraptions!

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
SEGA FOREVER: WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
A TRIBUTE TO THE SUPER NINTENDO - BY MR BIFFO
TEN UNDERRATED GAMES WHICH MUST APPEAR ON THE SUPER NINTENDO CLASSIC

101 Comments

Paul

27/6/2017 10:19:47 am

To us BBC Micro users, Mode 7 graphics means Teletext. And with no Teletext there would be no Digitiser.

Chris Wyatt

27/6/2017 03:24:28 pm

I remember the excitement of trying out the various different graphics mode while I was messing about with the BBC computers at school. Simple pleasures.

Starbuck

27/6/2017 09:23:38 pm

As a Spectrum owner I was so massively jealous of the BBC text modes. Stupid but true.

John Veness

27/6/2017 10:24:07 am

A friend of mine was notoriously untidy in his student days and hardly ever washed up. One day in his messy flat we noticed a puff of... something, every few seconds, coming out of the spout of his teapot.

Yes, the old tea bags that he had left in there for months had grown fungus, which was now releasing spores.

SPORES!

Biscuits

27/6/2017 12:27:59 pm

That's amazing, what an image! He had his own little incubator there.

I had a disgusting friend that lived in a notoriously revolting (yet still frequently visited) flat. Two days after he moved out, we were walking past and saw 5 men in biohazard suits (mask and everything) heading in there with binbags

RichardM

27/6/2017 01:38:12 pm

I shared a flat with 5 other guys, and we never once cleaned or emptied the fat reservoir in the George Foreman grill. When we moved out there was a sort of horrendous fat waterfall down the table is sat on, and down the back of the table, and onto the floor. Just like George intended!

Gosunkgugi

27/6/2017 01:00:20 pm

One day I wanted to borrow my dad's Tupperware for lunch, he said it was in his work bag. I should have felt some trepidation as he'd been off sick for around a year, but I must have been distracted by all his shiny tools.

"'ere, dad." I says. "Why are you carrying around a velvet pillow in your lunchbox?"

"Eh?"

"In your bag, the Tupperware, there's a green velvet pillow."

"Eh?"

Conversations with my dad usually went like this, so there was nothing out of the ordinary, or so I thought.

Upon closer inspection the pillow turned out to be a sandwich, which had been in a damp container for so long it'd apparently gained sentience and taken design tips from Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

No, I didn't open it. I threw the whole thing in the bin and bought some new Tupperware from Aldi.

Rhubarb

27/6/2017 07:39:17 pm

We also had a notoriously Untidy Flatmate in our student Days, One night we had a party that he was away for and another house-member wanted to show the state of his room to our guests for their amusement. Upon seeing the bed he had made on the floor out of a pile of his own clothes the other house-member remarked that "he probably doesn't even use his wardrobe", unfortunately upon opening said wardrobe he was greeted with the sight of his own months-lost precious towel hanging up..covered in poo!... POO!

Jareth Smith

27/6/2017 10:27:25 am

The SNES is the best games console of all time - the number of classic games remains phenomenal. Can't wait to get my hands on the SNES Mini!

I also hope younger generations of gamers give this a whirl to find out about this thing called "gameplay". In this era of graphics and specs, it seems to be increasingly forgotten.

Spiney O'Sullivan

27/6/2017 10:37:56 am

I'd argue that the rise of indie games alongside big corporate games means that right now we have a games market that is more diverse in terms of gameplay than it ever was before.

Chareth Cutestory

27/6/2017 10:55:27 am

Jareth doesn't like Nintendo as much as he instantly and vocally dislikes anything that isn't by Nintendo. See how he expresses his derision even here, in an article purely about Nintendo being the best.

27/6/2017 11:06:48 am

I'd argue the indie scene is the best thing about modern gaming, that's for sure.

I'd also argue we have a mainstream games market plagued with CoD and GTA clones, as promoted primarily by the PS4 and Xbox One. These consoles do occasionally create gems, but most of the release schedule is generic filler. There's nothing diverse about slapping on a new paintjob and name and pretending it's a cutting edge gaming experience.

27/6/2017 11:11:13 am

Like Mario Kart 8?

27/6/2017 05:07:07 pm

This kind of zealotry belongs on the playground, I'm afraid.

Those samey modern shooters and open-world games seem to give people something they enjoy, so they're not going anywhere. Is that actually a terrible thing if other people are enjoying themselves on something that you've deemed "generic filler"? You still have Nintendo or indies to enjoy, and they're not going anywhere either. The existence of Medal of Warfare Zombies: Modern Duty Calls 3 doesn't stop games like Mario Galaxy or Gone Home from existing as long as there's someone to make and buy them. If that starts drying up, then maybe I'll worry that AAA is actually killing gaming.

Personally, I enjoy Mario games (love most of them except the dull New Super Mario Bros series), and weird indie titles, but also like Assassins' Creed, Watch Dogs, and am surprisingly interested in Far Cry 5 on the strength of its concept (cults in small-town America, oh yes). A big part of what these games offer me are world-building and more adult narratives that are simply not one of Nintendo's areas of focus (yes, I know, still on par with pulp novels at best, but it's something).

Does that mean they see this as license to make a ton more? Probably, but ultimately, when people (including me) get sick enough of these franchises that the money dries up, they'll have to do something new, or work to refine or change the gameplay (which yes, all games actually contain). Or maybe they'll do something totally unexpected (like Beyond Good and Evil 2) with the funds they make from the "generic" games. Remember that even Assassin's Creed was an unusual gamble once upon a time.

Basically, let people play what they like. Nintendo make great games, but they don't actually have a monopoly on fun or gameplay, and are a company like any other that ultimately needs your money to make shareholders happy. There's no need to buy into any company's branding in such a wholesale manner.

PeskyFletch

28/6/2017 02:46:38 pm

I always thought it was chereth?

27/6/2017 11:04:44 am

Chareth Cutestory - Awww, diddums, did I upset uwww? Oh well, I'm sure the relentless barrage of insipid CoD and GTA clones will cheer you up!

27/6/2017 11:30:36 am

Hahaha, I'm betting you wish you'd seen my comment before you responded to Spiney. In any case, thanks for the mature and meaningful response, am I to assume it reflects the attitudes of the company you so staunchly promote?

I would argue we don't need petulant fanboyism or rabid sycophancy here, there's enough of it on other games sites. If you have it in you to discuss things in any other manner, that would be more than welcome to me, of course.

I won't respond to anything else in the interests of maintaining the sanctity of these hallowed grounds.

27/6/2017 12:30:35 pm

Chareth Cutestory - LOOOOOOOOOOOOL! etc. Right, as your opening comment wasn't bathed in sanctimony and belligerence. Nice try at pretending you have the moral high ground, dear. Standard Dunning-Kruger Effect in action there, I'm afraid.

I made a pertinent point. The PS4 and Xbox One ARE renowned for their CoD and GTA clones. Feel free to challenge this opinion. You had every opportunity, but instead you resorted to an intemperate attitude. Stop pretending this is someone else's fault when you're guilty of being obnoxious. Have a nice day. :o)

27/6/2017 01:10:36 pm

I'm not sure how you missed it, but the idea is nobody wants to read our childish bickering on what up to now has been a cordial and funny comments section. I invite those people (who unlike myself in this moment, are truly deserving of that descriptor) to skip this pitiable diatribe:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'll do you a favour and ignore you blowing off steam at the start and the end:

You didn't make a pertinent point, you based your idea of 'pertinent' on your opinion. I don't doubt others have this opinion, but an opinion it remains. I'm trying not to lower myself by responding to such baseless conjecture, but it's proving difficult. Let me give you an example instead: It's as 'pertinent' for me to say 'Nintendo are renowned for recycling the same tired ideas again and again and their games are notoriously childish' - yes, lots of people say this, but then lots of people like arguing in a bombastic manner on the internet, don't they?

Do throw 'obnoxious' out there again though.

And now here I am, dragged down to the level of the kind of risible, insidious specimen that argues on the internet - it's seemingly that easy. At least I resisted emoticons and 'lol' etc.

In case it's not clear, I don't take umbrage with your opinions, but in the petulant, pugnacious manner you choose to display them. It's detrimental to the board, in my opinion. Hopefully this has cleared things up for you a bit.

27/6/2017 02:12:08 pm

Chareth Cutestory - My dear, all of this could have been avoided if you’d simply been able to overcome your evident narcissistic personality disorder and respond to my initial comment in a civil way. This you singularly failed to do, yet here you are attempting to make it out as my issue. I made a comment on the state of the modern mainstream gaming industry, which is notorious for its repetition and insipid titles. Your response was to throw a wobbler; ad hominem, essentially, rather than address what IS a pertinent issue for anyone passionate about this glorious industry. The rest of what you’ve written is simply prolixity - you, desperately, trying to claw something out of a non-issue. But yes, it is immature, but this is what you’ve made out of this situation. Perhaps now you can learn from this. Tooddle pip, dear. :o)

27/6/2017 03:24:25 pm

Just read the last bit again. Respond to it if you want, or don't, but I'm not responding to conjecture and opinion as though it's fact again. It certainly explains your mindset

27/6/2017 03:35:45 pm

Chareth Cutestory - I refer you to your opening comment, verbatim: "Jareth doesn't like Nintendo as much as he instantly and vocally dislikes anything that isn't by Nintendo." That is conjecture, dear; I support the industry as a whole (which, consequently, is why I am so disappointed by the stale formula the PS4 and Xbox One promote). Don't make petty presumptions, please, from a handful of comments you've seen me make on this site. This is for your sake, in particular - you're nullifying your argument with your hypocrisy. That last comment is the final nail in your vacuous "debate", which has been entirely incapable of challenging the pertinent issues I have raised. So drop your tedious hubris. You've just been pwned. Totally, and utterly, pwned.

Have a good evening, dear. :o)

27/6/2017 04:05:36 pm

You now read like a parody of an actual human. It's depressing that you seem to take pride in your actions here, I'm not sure how but this must be how you find your energy, I presume. Good lord. Is this the infamous "trolling" I've been hearing about, and you are just pretending to be this way? Do answer.

27/6/2017 04:09:27 pm

I have no boat in this race, but you haven't actually made a point yet Jareth, just ejaculated a lot of bluster about Chareth without backing yourself up at all. #teamchareth

28/6/2017 02:51:25 pm

I must say Jareth, on other articles i've seen you do the same, and you questioned the integrity of some one for disagreeing with you( Think it might have been spiney)

27/6/2017 12:26:41 pm

Chareth Cutestory - Mario Kart isn't a CoD or GTA clone, dear. Also, the last time I checked, Mario Kart 8 received near perfect scores across the critical consensus - internationally. So, yeah. It's kind of exceptional, dude.

observer

27/6/2017 01:12:35 pm

"There's nothing diverse about slapping on a new paintjob and name and pretending it's a cutting edge gaming experience."

"Like Mario Kart 8?"

27/6/2017 02:53:39 pm

observer - You’ve missed the point. Mario Kart 8 is a major overhaul in the series. It's also exceptionally good. What it also doesn't do is pretend to be an entirely new gaming experience – the clue is in the name: Mario Kart 8. There are 8 of them. This isn’t, for instance, Titanfall, which is CoD clone 4,051 masquerading as a new gaming experience. That's the point: Titanfall isn't a new gaming franchise, it's an old one we've seen thousands of times before with a different name and a new paint job.

PrincessPoppy

27/6/2017 03:11:29 pm

Pfft. If it weren't for GTA,and the games that followed it's template, there'd never even have been a Mario Kart!

27/6/2017 03:38:26 pm

PrincessPoppy - I agree, although if there hadn't been the Parappa the Rapper then rap music wouldn't exist. So it's swings and roundabouts.

27/6/2017 03:59:49 pm

Isn't GTA V also:
a) a numbred entry in a series
b) a major overhaul in the series
c) not pretending to be an entirely new gaming experience
d) received near perfect scores across the critical consensus - internationally
e) kind of exceptional, dude

Can't believe I'm joining in...

Nick

27/6/2017 10:28:08 am

That didn't "console" me at all. In fact it just made the whole not getting a pre-order thing worse.
Why would you do this?
Why?
What have I ever done to you?

David W link

27/6/2017 10:34:15 am

Smyths Toys still have Click & Collect orders open.

27/6/2017 10:35:24 am

Right, I'll try that link again.

27/6/2017 10:51:15 am

Thanks for the head's up David. Unfortunately the for me, they are out of stock everywhere except Bangor and Derry.

27/6/2017 10:56:25 am

27/6/2017 10:57:17 am

Cheers, guys! Got a pre-order for Belfast thanks to your commenting. Much appreciated.

David W

27/6/2017 11:34:24 am

They're back!

Smyths seem to be releasing them in batches. I had no luck last night but got one this morning.

27/6/2017 10:33:57 am

I look forward to being totally unable to get one of these things because Nintendo is either really bad at marketing or is just using these to drive hype for the Switch and doesn't really care whether anyone gets one.

Anyway, I never owned a SNES, but consider my N64 to be one of my favourite consoles ever, so all I can really say to this article is this: HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Col. Asdasd

27/6/2017 07:45:37 pm

hisssssssss

The idea that the N64 hasn't aged well is a popular meme but it smacks of received wisdom to me. The games may not look incredible anymore but they still play great. It was the console at the forefront of the generation that completely changed gaming as the transition to 3D was made. Anything seemed possible for games in 1998.

Not saying that the SNES wasn't a good console, or didn't have great games, but as a 2D-limited system it's susceptible to the argument that it was just a turbocharged NES with weirdly muddy sprites.

Boswell

28/6/2017 07:46:18 am

"It was the console at the forefront of the generation that completely changed gaming as the transition to 3D was made." Does not contradict "The games have not aged well"

OoT has sections that truly look so bad as to be unplayable now, I couldn't get past the fish stomach level when I tried playing for the first time due to migraines, and that was 10 years ago.

28/6/2017 12:35:12 pm

Some allowances for time have to be made. I mean, while 2D games with distinct sprite art look good (Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, and Link to the Past, for example), you could argue that most Mode 7-heavy 3D-ish games on the SNES are a hideous mess. Without the rose-coloured glasses, even the mighty Mario Kart looks pretty horrendous now, but what it did was technically amazing.

Also Mario 64 is still pretty much a perfect example of a 3D platformer. It still looks fine, and plays surprisingly well.

29/6/2017 09:49:58 am

I actually think Super Mario World's sprites for Mario look a lot worse than Super Mario Bros. 3's. The shading around the brim of his cap is too thick and the colours for his face and shirt/cap seem to have too much overlap. Mario 3's sprites are a lot cleaner despite the lack of colours and detail.

Yoshi's Island remains a beaut though.

And I always thought the mode 7 stuff looked awful. Pseudo-3D I can forgive because they were pushing the envelope with the available tools, but in strictly 2D games you'd often find sprite rotation blatantly deployed as a lazy animation shortcut. The blur transition, while natty, was also overused by developers.

29/6/2017 10:24:11 am

I think Tiny Toons Adventures - Buster Busts Loose is a fine looking game, and they used mode 7 sparingly and to good effect.

Quality game!

Diamond

27/6/2017 10:36:46 am

Bronk's Laudation used to terrify me as a kid. I remember that my brother used to make fun of me by wobbling around the room in an elongated oval, yelling "FWEEP, FWEEP, FWEEP" (he couldn't whistle) and when I'd tell him to stop, he'd write 'Bronk' on my legs in felt-tip pen.

Kara Van Park

27/6/2017 10:40:52 am

Our Snes looked like a benign chum, while the US version looked like a canine bum.

Jim Leighton (Future World Darts Champion) x

27/6/2017 10:43:53 am

What had a button that said 'SPORES'?

Bruce Flagpole

27/6/2017 10:52:43 am

The MegaShroom. The worst console.

27/6/2017 03:13:08 pm

EA Origin's got about three of them.

27/6/2017 10:47:34 am

Written from the perspective of an irate fanboy who missed the pre-order (my perspective): why the fuck don't Nintendo make enough of these so that everyone can buy one? They must be printing money, selling hardware that costs £5 about for more than 10 times that. Relaunch the NES mini! SNES minis for all!

27/6/2017 10:54:33 am

It's weird innit? Maybe there is some sort business angle I can't see but people are falling over themselves to give them money and they just don't seem to want it.

27/6/2017 11:01:08 am

I suppose if the rumours about there being adequate stock for the SNES are true, maybe the NES was just a test case to assess demand. But it's not like it would be impossible to crank out another ten thousand NES models: they're selling on eBay for like £150. Madness!

(I am now a less irate fanboy having managed to purchase a pre-order from Smyths Toys.)

DEAN

27/6/2017 11:11:27 am

Hype. Makes more people more likely to buy a Switch or 2DS XL.
Everyone wants one and you're *lucky* if you can get one.
Then there's the eventual launch of the Switch Virtual Console and market cannibalism - it makes sense.

These little buggers are selling like hot cakes and they're £30 (or 60%) more than the NES Mini.... it's working.

27/6/2017 11:39:19 am

Good points. I hadn't even noticed the price increase. The hype is working.

I guess it does get the name out there and talked about more so could lead to greater take up of the Switch and whatnot.

I'm not so sure about the virtual console stuff. I want the product but I'm not so likely to download the games separately. Although, they wouldn't need me to buy many games though to make the same profit, seeing as their essentially cost free to Nintendo.

I think on balance I'm still going to view it as a personal vendetta, by Nintendo, against me. Bastards!

Congratulations on the order RichardM.

27/6/2017 03:03:44 pm

Jim Sterling has a video analysing what their business model might be. It's an interesting watch, though the URL below gives a pretty strong hint at the tone:

http://www.thejimquisition.com/the-jimquisition-nintendo-a-shit-distributor-and-fuckheaded-toymaker/

Biscuits the marketing bore

27/6/2017 11:46:18 am

The somewhat tedious answer is that this kind of thing shows there is still demand for Nintendo products...they can go back to their stock holders and say "We sold out in seconds! There was no way for us to keep up with demand, it was so popular! Make more? why would we, these are 20 year old games! We had no idea!" hence not enough Switches too. They ARE making money off the minis, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to what limiting them does for their brand. This way the next time a stock holder sees 50 Wii balance boards in a charity shop they won't poo their pants...

Plus, more generally, it keeps up the idea that Nintendo products are very popular. Even someone that doesn't follow video games could see a headline about their stock constantly selling out.

PLUS the fact that they don't make enough is a massive driving force for their existing market, the fear of missing out means every new announcement whips the fans into a frenzy and increases their loyalty, strengthening the brand that way

27/6/2017 10:59:48 am

All good stuff and it looks terribly cute but..... Super Tennis.

I think it's fairly safe to assume that we're going to be here again next year for an N64 Mini. Goldeneye.

------------------------------------------

Yeah, I think we always did get the best looking Nintendo gear. Not Sega, though - our Megadrive was the worst (white details) and the Japanese Dreamcast looked way cooler with the red swirl.

27/6/2017 11:08:28 am

It would be nice, but wouldn't it only be first party Nintendo titles? Same as that shit about GoldenEye not making it to XBLA or Wii Virtual Console, rights management and all that. I could live with Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Lylat Wars, Mario Tennis...

But how much is too much? Would anyone buy a GameCube Mini?

27/6/2017 01:12:09 pm

Or a Wee Wii (he he hee)

27/6/2017 01:31:13 pm

You win this round, Nick. You win.

27/6/2017 03:43:00 pm

Nice one, Nick!

Choppy Dander

27/6/2017 12:02:07 pm

I still don't get it! These join Funko Pop figures in the realms of 'branding as product'...I'll never understand the appeal.

And what of all the whinging about still owning the carts and not wanting to pay for something a bunch of times, as with the thread yesterday? Bah!

Neptunium

27/6/2017 12:21:23 pm

I literally cannot wait to get one of these in my grubby mitts, even though I KNOW it will be relegated to a cupboard and hardly ever played with - like my NES Mini, C64 joystick, the Namco arcade joystick, the dodgy Atari all-in-one where all the Activision logos have been removed from the games and the woeful megadrive handheld I played once before turning it off in disgust because of the dreadful screen quality and woeful sound emulation which immediately made my ears bleed.

I'm a complete sucker. However where I think this one differs is that the game line up is nothing short of amazing - almost no filler, and a bunch games that never made it over here officially like FF3 & Earthbound. Three Super FX titles as well. Phew.

27/6/2017 12:22:58 pm

Agreed, that is a stellar line-up. I'd switch Punch Out for Chrono Trigger but that's it

27/6/2017 12:35:39 pm

Yeah, I was hoping Chrono Trigger would be included, but there's a stellar selection there. I resorted to getting CT on my iPhone and it works surprisingly well.

27/6/2017 12:40:29 pm

I somehow missed CT on iPhone. £9.99 is a bit of a big ask, but hmmmm... Dare I face the might of Zombor again?

27/6/2017 02:50:49 pm

It's a very good port. Much as Squeenix's mega-premium iOS pricing is a suicidal strategy, £10 for one of the best RPGs ever is a fair ask.

Carlos Nightman

27/6/2017 12:49:40 pm

I was never cool, but all my friends in Primary school were. I had a SNES. They had a Mega Drive. I passed my 11+ but they all FAILED. They dropped out of school at 16 while I went to University for three years. My degree was meaningless in the search for a 'job' but all those cool kids who dropped out at 16 suddenly had a wealth of working experience and with zero qualifications had become my boss.
You win some and you lose some. Ka is a wheel. Does this mean that all the cool kids are going to die before me? Success noise!

27/6/2017 01:35:45 pm

Yeah, I had a SNES when I was a kid too, and everyone else had a Mega Drive (rural Northern Ireland). Deep down I always knew the SNES was the better system - despite loving Sonic 2 et al. when I played them occasionally - and then the Internet came along and confirmed that I was right all along. Fuck you Mega Drive losers! Nintendo isn't for babies!

(Same for the N64, better than PlayStation!)

29/6/2017 01:11:29 pm

I was townie Northern Ireland growing up - Ards, now more rural. Once I get a Switch I'll be cool.

Alan Travelocity

27/6/2017 12:53:31 pm

I can still remember the day i bought my snes, way back in summer 92, my friend(George Heathrow) had one and as soon as i saw him fire up Super Mario world i knew i had to get one. I only owned a gameboy and speccy+2 so this was a quantum shit, i had just left big school and birthday and xmas was just too long to wait, the only thing of any value i had was my saxophone, without telling my parents i took my sax down to my local music shop and i sold it,i got enough for the snes(Mario world bundle),super tennis and final fight. When my parents found out they went ballistic, they re-bought my precious saxophone but made me pay them back over time(plus a lot of house hold chores!)but i do owe them a massive debt of gratitude as that sax has done me proud as ive been lucky enough to play on many records and even toured the world with many artists such as Duran Duran, Robbie Williams,the brand new heavies and dodgy.

27/6/2017 01:28:02 pm

Now cap it off with how you used to beat the Durrans at Mario Kart on the tour bus!

'Wow, check out the skills on Carlos in Bowser's Castle Nick!'
'Tell me about it John! How is he beating my best lap, but he can also play the full solo from Come Undone?'
'Right, off the bus lads, I've found a cracking copy of the Sport with most of the pages still in it and fancy one off the wrist'
'Aw come on Simon, we're playing Mario Kart here!'
'Simon says get off the bus, so shift it'
'Simon's so mean, why do we have to do what he says the whole time?'
'Because he's the singer, that's just the way it is'

And so on. Must've been mental!

what are the lads from Dodgy like?

27/6/2017 04:05:57 pm

+1
I lol'd

27/6/2017 05:29:37 pm

Ha! I wish it was like that,the Durans were all old men when i toured with them,they didn't really hang out with us,they didnt really hang out with each other very much either but at least i can say that i played that famous sax solo from Rio. Dodgy on the other hand were great company and certainly knew how to let their curly hair down after a gig,Matt(sticks) was a top bloke.

27/6/2017 11:01:21 pm

Playing the sax solo from Rio actually with Duran Duran on stage is...well, that's quite an achievement, sincerely. Nice one

Detective Inspector

27/6/2017 04:14:43 pm

I reckon I can find out who you are....

detective inspector

27/6/2017 04:31:24 pm

Is your first initial 'S'? Does 'W' bring up the rear?

27/6/2017 12:57:49 pm

Hee hee... quantum shit...

CaptainWacky

27/6/2017 01:44:14 pm

My SNES still works and yet my N64 does not: more proof that the SNES was better and indeed the best of consoles.

Or it could be because I once attacked my N64 with a hammer in a frenzied attack brought on by the false belief that the character "Trigger" from Only Fools and Horses was hiding inside, ready to strike.

Snigger

27/6/2017 04:13:40 pm

Trigger is clearly labeled, he can be found on the underside of the N64 controller

27/6/2017 05:59:27 pm

So that's why it softly moans "Dave" every time I press it...

Darren link

27/6/2017 04:10:28 pm

Yup - Carrie Fisher was a filthy, dirty junkie...

And that's what the SNES made you feel like when you were stuck on a level of Super Mario World and at it was 3:17am on a work day.

Voodoo76

27/6/2017 04:47:37 pm

Have Jareth and Chareth finally got a room together as its nice and quiet down here! On a less trolly note I had both the MD and SNES and can honestly say i loved them both. Yes the SNES was the better machine with technically better games. I played a lot of 2 player games on the MD such as NHLPA and Madden and had such a great time. We were all a bit less cynical back then and accepted games the way they were, warts and all. Nowadays everyone demands perfection and won't touch a game unless its received 110% by some random internet reviewers who don't know their sonic booms from their shoryukens.

colincidence link

27/6/2017 05:34:50 pm

Call me someone who hasn't even confirmed that this is true of it yet but my interest in this is hugely impaired by its lack of a cartridge slot for, y'know, all the other SNES games ever.

27/6/2017 05:46:28 pm

For that you could just buy an original 2nd hand SNES, without the 'mini' part?... I think the cartridges would be too big for this..the console itself being a large-pack-of-ham sized.

I think the novelty comes from it being super-wee (which should have been the name for the wii-U imo).

27/6/2017 08:47:14 pm

Yeah, got one; I keep my worm in it. I think I'll file this as a Thing I Just Don't Get, and its scarcity will keep that literal. I have most of those games, just with dead batteries.
Even some kind of official SD card-ish game bundles or something would give it longevity... just seems a glaring missed trick. That and avoiding Super Street Fighter 2.

27/6/2017 11:47:14 pm

Having long donated my old snes to my ungrateful nephews (along with the NES , N64 and Gamecube I really want one of these.. but missed out on all the preorders (seriously who is that on the ball to swipe these within minutes?).
My thinking is it's small enough to duct-tape to the back of the telly so that My Partner would never even know I'd frittered away good eating money on it.

Jenny Lock

27/6/2017 06:17:48 pm

I got my SNES in July '92 with some money my Grandad gave me after he won on Spot the Ball. I'd had a Master System and NES before that, but this was different.

I loved that machine, like nothing I ever did before, or since.
Every big game was amazing, even average ones like Alien 3, or Super Soccer, I would play for hours at a time.

I still have my SNES, but I've preordered one simply because of Starfox 2. It's the first opportunity I've had in 20 years to buy myself a brand new SNES game.

Erol Rice Cosford

27/6/2017 07:29:52 pm

Wow,you have/had a very generous grandfather, did he have many other grandchildren to spoil or just lots of winners? Ahh, super soccer, what a amazingly average game that was

Jen

27/6/2017 08:00:59 pm

I was one of four grandkids, and he was a generous old bloke. I believe he won a small fortune. I was the only one he passed money onto though. On account of my three brothers being little bastards and always playing in his greenhouse when we went to visit. Despite repeated warning to leave his toms abye (tomatoes alone).

Lemonapple

27/6/2017 09:38:03 pm

Over-rated console, Mega Drive was much better because of blast processing. Also biffo try getting real mega drive pad instead of a third part one, you keep bringing up this "cheap" feel but it means nothing. Your SEGA bashing was funny 20 years a go but now it just looks a bit sad, time to stop beating that dead horse.

Pick on sony instead, they're still relevant

27/6/2017 10:33:15 pm

Haha is this serious??

28/6/2017 09:52:17 pm

I know when I play games what I'm looking for is "blast processing"!

28/6/2017 10:15:59 pm

Yeah! SNES didn't have that did it! Nintendon't,eat your hearts out.

Jol

27/6/2017 10:07:18 pm

Having been an MD owner and only playing SNES games at friends' houses I've never been a massive Nintendo fan. Well, I say that, I have owned a Gameboy, Gamecube, N64, a Wii and a DS, so they probably don't mind that I'm not a massive fan. On reflection I do seem to have given them quite a lot of money, so yeah fuck Nintendo.

However. Nintendo are really good at making games. Stupidly, consistently good. They've made some of my favourite and most-played games. And whenever I read these retrospectives or get a chance to give an old SNES game a whirl I can't help but think I missed out on a massive part of gaming history. Not just for history's sake, but for the fact there're a load of great games that completely passed me by.

I get that it's super easy to be cynical about Ninty's limited supply approach to their marketing of this. It's also difficult not to see it as a blatant cash grab using decades old games, that preys on the nostalgia of those that have paid for them already, possibly more than once. But for somebody who didn't get to do the SNES thing first time round it does offer a chance to jump on a bandwagon that rode into the sunset long ago. So yeah fuck you Nintendo. Here's my £80.

Nikki

28/6/2017 12:31:30 am

You are this: correct.

Alex link

28/6/2017 10:56:00 am

It's true: the controllers were better than the MD, it had more fantastic games than the MD but... I still prefer (and at the time preferred) the Megadrive.

Had launch models of both, and spent lots more on MD games. To this day I regret trading in a huge pile of MD games to get my SNES, perhaps that's what tarnished it for me.

28/6/2017 12:40:31 pm

I'm surprised the SNES controller is better. I can't remember the last time I picked up an MD controller (long time ago), but I assumed they were similar to Saturn controllers, which are one of the best controllers (IMO).

But everyone seems to disagree about controllers, it seems.

28/6/2017 03:08:48 pm

Depends on the Saturn controller. There's the big chunky 1st gen one that's quite similar to the MD pad, or the smaller and curvier 2nd gen version. The 1st gen pad was a bit awkward unless you had massive hands. The 2nd gen Saturn pad was a bit more curved and sat in your hands more easily.

I've found that the real clincher for a good pad isn't so much the button layout - assuming you can reach the buttons comfortably and it doesn't look like the Jaguar pad - but how the back of the pad is moulded. Both the MD and SNES pads were quite flat, so holding either for extended periods got kind of crampy. It probably wasn't until the N64 pad came out that a pad felt properly comfortable, even though it's apparent requirement for a third hand made it look ridiculous.

As for the MD vs SNES pad: I was always envious that the SNES had more buttons, as it gave the impression that you could simply do more stuff in SNES games. The MD buttons felt a bit better as they had more travel in them, but I'm getting into real nit picking territory.

Super fun exciting page with pictures of Saturn pads:
https://www.consolevariations.com/sega/sega-saturn/sega-saturn-controller-variations/

Captain Jupiter

28/6/2017 11:49:53 pm

There's no air in a bag of crisps, they're sealed in nitrogen. That's the best I can do in the old Megadrive vs. SNES argument these days.

Keep it one hundred

29/6/2017 10:35:15 am

post one hundred

100 baby

keep it 100 baby

100

10 REASONS THE SUPER NES WAS BEST CONSOLE

Leave a Reply.

Archives