Super Nintendo Classic Mini: Should you buy it?
Nintendo announced its Super NES Classic Mini, which will allow nostalgic gamers to relive some great hours of the console. At the moment with all the retro emulators, it is not necessary to own such a console to play retro games, so is buying the new Nintendo console really worth it?
Firstly, buying the console will allow you to play retro games legally. The price of $79.99 is quite high, but not excessive given that you get 21 games pre-installed on the console. The list of games to come pre-installed on the Super NES Classic Mini can be found below:
- Contra III The Alien Wars (Originally released in Europe as Super Probotector: Alien Rebels)
- Donkey Kong Country
- EarthBound
- FINAL FANTASY® III (Originally released in Japan as FINAL FANTASY® VI)
- F-ZERO™
- Kirby Super Star (Originally released in Europe as Kirby’s Fun Pak)
- Kirby’s Dream Course
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Mega Man™ X
- SECRET of MANA®
- Star Fox (Originally released in Europe as Starwing)
- Star Fox 2
- Street Fighter™ II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
- Super Castlevania IV
- Super Ghouls’n Ghosts™
- Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Super Mario World
- Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
- Super Metroid
- Super Punch-Out!!
If you buy the normal console as well as all the games, you will end up paying much more. Especially as some cartridges can be worth hundreds of dollars, as is the case for EarthBound which is worth an average of $ 300, or Final Fantasy III and Super Castlevania IV which can be worth a little over a hundred dollars on some sites . Concerning Contra III: The Aliens Wars, on Amazon, it can be worth up to $ 700! Madness right!?
We can also note the presence of a totally new game: Star Fox 2. This game, which was never released, is the direct sequel to first Star Fox game . It was canceled by Nintendo because the firm wanted to concentrate fully on the Nintendo 64. Finally, thanks to the Super NES Classic Mini, you can play Super Nintendo’s flagship games on a real console.
Although $79.99 is not overpriced, it is not affordable for everyone. It all depends on how you want to use the console. No need to buy the Super NES Mini if you only plan to play some of the pre-installed games. In this case you will be Better off buying a second hand console and the few games you want to play. This will probably be cheaper (if the games you are interested in are not among the most expensive).
Also, since the list of 21 available games is not infinite, the player may get bored after a certain amount of time. Despite the fact that all the games on this list offer a good lifespan, there is a time when one will see the end.
Why bother to pay a mini console with a limited number of games while emulation exists? While playing on an emulator does not have the same effect as playing on a real retro console, it may seem absurd for some to waste that money.
Higan, Snes9x or ZSNES, there are many Super NES emulators to play for free on your PCs. The software RomStation also offers a large library of retro games and is very easy to use, it includes many games on many consoles.
Images: ©Nintendo