What the NES CLassic did for the 8-bit era, the Super NES Classic does even better for
the 16-bit era--which is to say, it kicks a lot of ass.
By Bringing together 21 of the finest Super Nintendo games ever released, or never released
in Star Fox 2’s case, and strapping on a few modern-day features, the Super NES Classic
breathes new life into a library of games that have largely withstood the test of time.
Oh, and it’s all contained within the adorable shell of a mini Super Nintendo.
Dawwwww
But before we get too carried away, let’s go over some bad news furst: The Super NES
CLassic only has 21 games as compared to the NES Classic’s 30.
But here’s the good news: Nearly every game here is fantastic.
I mean, you have classic RPGs like Fi nal Fantasy 6, Earthbound, and Secret of Mana,
one of the best 2D Marios, one of the best 2D Zeldas, the best Yoshi game, an awesome
Kirby game that’s like 8 in one, the original DKC, the Mario Kart that started it all, and
even the original Star Fox--before it got rebooted to death.
And on top of it all, the never-before released Star Fox 2 makes its first official appearance
ever--which we even reviewed seperatly.
This is truly an all-star collection--with almost no filler--except for maybe Kirby’s
Dream Course.
Sorry Kirby.
And in my opinion, these games, on the whole, hold up far better than the bulk of the NES
Classic’s library.
THere is so much gaming greatness here that you might be tempted to jump around from game
to game just to try them all out as soon as possible--which unfortunately, is still a
bit of a pain since the only way to switch games is by physically pressing reset on the
system itself.
Annoying.
Although if you have a Wii Classic Controller lying around, you can use that and its home
button instead.
Now full-disclosure, I obviously haven’t played every all 21 games all the way through.
But based on the portions that I have, nearly every one of the games, looked, sounded, and
played almost EXACTLY as I remembered--but even shaper thanks to the HDMI output.
Almost too sharp in the case of Star Fox, as the use of dithering which was imperceptible
on the original hardware, is now plain as day--although the optional old-school CRT
does help to hide it.
Even the Super FX games, which are the first time they’ve ever been officially emulated,
ran nearly flawlessly.
The only exception I noticed was a flashing background whenever Yoshi would get Dizzy
in Yoshi’s Island--but unfortunate, but also only affects a handful of levels in the
game.
Those exceptions aside, I’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the Classic
and a real Super Nintendo...unless maybe you had one of the new borders turned on, which
fills in the black bars with a stationary image, some of which change color to match
what’s happening on-screen.
As one who prefers to keep them black, I found them pretty pointless.
Besides a sharper images, the Super NES Classic also provides some other tangible benefits
over playing these games on the original system.
And one of the biggest ones is a feature that returns from the NES Classic being the ability
to create up to 4 Suspend Points for every game, allowing you to quit at any time, and
then pick right back up from where you left at later But the SNES Classic goes one step
farther, now giving you the option to rewind each Save Point by up to a minute or so, allowing
you to resume playing from any point therein in case you screwed up, such as during a boss
battle or something--or you can just watch it like a replay instead, in case you wqant
to relive that sweet turn I pulled off in Super Mario Kart.
The Suspend Points and Rewind features alone makes the entire library even more accessible
than ever before.
Hardware wise, the SNES Classic feels sturdily built--I’ve already accidentally pulled
it off its shelf a time or two with no damage once so ever.
But I do have some qualms when it comes to the controller--or should I say controllers,
since it thankfully comes with two of them packed-in this time.
On the upside, the cords are 2 feet longer than the pathetically short NES Classic--but
they still feel a little on the short side, coming up two feet shy of the of the original
Super Nintendo.
Secondly, while the Classic controller looks the part, it doesn’t exactly feel the part.
Instead of the slippery smooth plastic of the original controller, the imposter features
a rougher, sandpaper-like texture.
It’s not uncomfortable, but it will definitely be noticed by those who grew up with the system.
Otherwise, the Super Nintendo Classic is a fantastic piece of hardware, offering instant
access to some of the best games ever created.
Yeah, it still has a few annoyances, like the inability to return to the Home Menu from
the primary controller.
And more games would always be preferable--with the lack of DKC2 or Chrono Trigger being especially
notable.
But everything else about the system is sublime--and I love it for that.
Whether you’re just looking to rekindle an old flame with games you grew up with,
or looking to create new memories with games you’ve never played before, the Super NES
Classic offers some of the best experiences in an adorable and easy to use form factor.
Oh, and if you want even more, make sure to check out our full review of Star Fox 2--just
click on the card or the link in the description below.
Thanks for watching and make sure to stay tuned to GameXplain for more on the Super
NES Classic, and everything Nintendo as well.