Super NES Classic Edition Review: Playing With Super Power

Few entities in the video game industry have a history as rich and celebrated as Nintendo’s. One of the Kyoto-based company’s most cherished inventions, the 16-bit Super Nintendo, pioneered new franchises while refining others. Now, assuming you can find one in stores, the recently-released Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is available to allow you to indulge in nostalgia.

SUPER NES CLASSIC EDITION REVIEW

Following in the footsteps of its older sibling, the NES Classic Edition, the 16-bit memoriam has some of the most emblematic titles of its era preloaded onto it. 21, in fact, including a title that has infamously never been released before: Star Fox 2. Notably, the original Super Nintendo iteration of Yoshi’s Island has never been re-released, as Nintendo instead opts to re-release its Game Boy Advance version. Of course, since the games are the most important component in a gaming machine, here’s the entire roster:

• Contra III: The Alien Wars
• Donkey Kong Country
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy III (Final Fantasy VI)
• F-ZERO
• Kirby Super Star
• Kirby’s Dream Course
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Mega Man X
• Secret of Mana
• Star Fox
• 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 Metroid
• Super Punch-Out!! 
• Yoshi’s Island

While it would be impossible to please everyone, especially when the device is limited to only 21 titles, this is a very solid lineup from Nintendo and some of their third-party partners. Of course, some titles will age more poorly than others, but there’s still a lot of quality here. Moreover, the Super NES controller replica, two of which are included in the package, are just as comfortable as the originals.

The Super NES replica inherited many of its features from its predecessor, such as the ability to leave save states and apply different filters to your display. You can also rewind your play session, allowing you to retry a challenging segment. Sadly, one annoyance from the NES Classic Edition remains – you need to physically get up to reset out of a game, wherein this functionality could have easily been applied to a menu button on the controller. This isn’t a deal breaker, however.

Ultimately, you know what you’re getting with this package – 21 Super Nintendo games, including one that has never officially seen the light of day. So, imperfections aside, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is a solid buy if you enjoy retro gaming. Let’s just hope Nintendo will produce enough supply to meet our demand this time.