You Want the SNES Classic in Your Life

October 06, 2017

Sadly, I still do not own a SNES Classic and I think that says all you need to know for my feelings towards this little box of nostalgia. I wasn’t too interested in the NES Classic mostly because I just don’t think those games hold up as well today as the SNES ones do.1 I also wasn’t interested because for me, gaming began with the SNES. The SNES, with Super Mario Kart specifically, is the first video game console I can remember playing. I don’t think I’ve ever actually stopped playing SNES games either and the other day I was fortunate to have the privilege of trying one out with some co-workers.

The device is surprisingly small actually, way smaller than an actual SNES but I would say it’s a very faithful replica. It comes with two controllers out of the box which is very welcome because the SNES has some great two player games. The controllers are exactly as I remembered them and other than the plug on the end being different I can’t tell the difference. The menus are pretty bare bones but do a decent job of letting you pick between games, choosing display settings and making save states. The games themselves run exactly as you would expect and just how I remember them. I didn’t notice any emulation problems graphical, audio or otherwise for the few hours we were playing. Exactly as it should be.

With the SNES Classic coming bundled with Star Fox, Super Mario World, Contra III, Street Fighter, Link to The Past, F-Zero, Super Metroid and probably one of my favorite games of all time, Donkey Kong Country, it’s really hard for me to ignore.2 Not to mention a bunch more games I haven’t played that by all accounts are great games in and of themselves and $80 seems like a steal. If only Nintendo would make more than 10 of these things.

  1. I actually think the SNES era might be the sweetspot for these “Classic” consoles. I think it’s pretty much a given we’ll see an N64 Classic some day but in the days of amazing modern 3D graphics I think the N64 will look especially bad, even compared to the bright and vibrant SNES. ↩

  2. I’m kind of dissapointed all three Donkey Kongs aren’t on this console because they’re all great but I’m probably biased there. In fact, I think Nintendo should have thought a little harder about how players might get more games onto this box in an official capacity since while the game selection is awesome I do feel like some were left out that I would gladly buy again if I could. Maybe a “cart” that came with 25 more games and fit in the slot up top? ↩

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