Thanks to some connections (and the fact that I actually wanted one at launch) I was able to get one of the highly sought after SNES Classic Edition consoles – a small stand alone plug-and-play style console which contains 21 built in games from the 16-bit Super Nintendo, a top tier gaming console back in the early 90’s.
This system comes a year after the equally sought-after NES Classic from last year, and follows the same basic idea – well, not just idea but clearly uses basically the same core software with a few upgrades, and in actuality uses the same core hardware as the NES Classic did!
The system has fewer games this time around (as I said, 21) compared to the NES classic (which had 30 games built into it) but honestly I feel the game selection is better this time around – I feel like I really could just sit down and enjoy the games on here, while the NES Classic edition felt a little hit or miss.
That could partially be just because of the generally advanced nature of 16 bit games though – Super Nintendo games tended to just have more “going on” than their NES counterparts, and with the way I game today, they may just appeal to me more – who knows, but in the end, both consoles are nice at what they do.
Focusing back on the SNES Classic Edition for a moment, the system comes with 2 controllers, instead of single controller the NES Classic Edition did. Of course, you get an HDMI cable, USB cable and power supply, and the console itself, which looks quite nice – it even features covers for the controller ports to make them look more like proper SNES ports when you don’t have a controller plugged in.
You could buy an SNES console and the cartridges for these games, but that certainly would cost well more than the SNES Classic Edition does, and not contain Star Fox 2!
The games play fine, and everything seems solid – I do think Star Fox runs slightly better here than it does on the actual Super Nintendo, but that’s not a bad thing – most of the time it has the “correct” kind of slowdown and regardless plays just fine, so no complaints here. Sound quality is good, visuals look crisp and scaled properly, and the controllers, while looking different by being made from a “different” type of ABS plastic than the originals, feel proper enough – not as good as the NES Classic controllers did, but still, these feel better than most 3rd party Super Nintendo controllers you could buy for the real console.
All in all, I think a solid little machine. Is it perfect? Nope. Does it have enough games? Never (the modding scene is working on it). Is it worth the $80? It depends on what you want it for. If you like classic games, especially if you enjoy the games on it, it will be a nice addition. Do you want to have an HD SNES experience that’s ready to go? Again, this might well be what you want. Do you want to save money compared to buying all of the games on the console individually for the real SNES? Oh yeah, since Earthbound alone breaks over $100, this is an easy way to get quite a few expensive games for relatively cheap.
All in all, I like it. We will see how I feel in a month, but for now, I’m enjoying myself.
In the event you want to see my unboxing of it, here’s the video. Enjoy!