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alienjesus
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Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by alienjesus Sat Sep 03, 2022 3:13 am

Whoops, sorry I'm a bit late with this month's thread!

This month we'll be taking a look at Nintendo's successor to it's hugely successful NES, the Super Nintendo! Known as the Super Famicom in Japan, the console sold around 50 million units worldwide. It was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America and 1992 in Europe.

There's no underestimating how impactful the console's library is with some all time classic game such as Super Metroid, Starfox, Donkey Kong Country and F-Zero, to name just a few.

Lets talk Super Nintendo this month!

Edit from racket:
For reference, here's a rundown of some of our SNES guides:

Defining Games: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-ga ... d-the-snes
Beginner's Guide https://www.racketboy.com/retro/super-n ... ners-guide
Hidden Gems (at least by 2007 standards) https://www.racketboy.com/retro/best-un ... tendo-snes
Epic Shmups guide: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-sup ... ps-library
Light gun games & FPS: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/super-n ... n-shooters
Games That Pushed the Limits: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/super-n ... phics-soun
RPGs Guide; https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-bes ... -snes-rpgs
Best Fighters: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-bes ... in-the-usa
Worst Fighters: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/bad-snes-fighters
Mario Paint Retrospective; https://www.racketboy.com/retro/mario-p ... nged-lives
Rare & Valuable: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-rar ... snes-games
Super Famicom Import Exclusives: https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-bes ... exclusives
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RobertAugustdeMeijer
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by RobertAugustdeMeijer Sun Sep 04, 2022 5:41 pm

Still the console the closest to my heart. Is it my age (I was 10 when it was released), or is it never having gotten used to analog sticks, or is just that it has Super Metroid?
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TheSSNintendo
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by TheSSNintendo Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:31 pm

My favorite system of all time. Plenty of memories and stories.
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Ziggy587
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by Ziggy587 Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:43 pm

Busy weekend, so I didn't have a chance to make a nice post. I will when I get the chance. But for now, I'll just say that the SNES has got to be my favorite retro console.

What should I play this month? Something I've played a zillion times before? Or try to tackle something from my backlog?
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by racketboy Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:55 pm

I was, for the longest time, a dedicated Sega fan and the 16-bit wars fell right into my 10 year-old to early teen years.

I occasionally played some SNES at my cousin's house, but that was about it aside from the store demo units (which usually were pretty good and rotated out games nicely)
So most of my 90s exposure was Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Super Punch Out and Final Fight plus some other random stuff my cousin had, like Home Alone (lol)

Even in the decades to follow, the SNES always became a secondary platform in my normal rotation. Sure, I'd occasionally fire up a random game here and there but didn't really dedicate much time to it compared to some of my other favorite consoles -- or even other Nintendo platforms like the Game Boy (which I actually had around the same time as the Genesis), GBA and Gamecube.

This is going to sound absolutely crazy, but the SNES Mini and using it with my kids actually got me to play more SNES these last 10 years than anything else.

My son and I have built a strong fondness for the 2D Metroid games as a result. We went through Super Metroid together, which was such a wonderful experience. It also made me appreciate how great of a game that is. It holds up SO well to this day. I had played most of Metroid Fusion on the GBA back when that came out, but then we also played through that and finished it together. Not SNES, obviously, but I still think that's a great game, but it obviously handles things in a different way than Super Metroid. (He also went on to play Zero Mission -- I was a little jealous he did that without me, but I got to watch a lot)

Anyway, we have also tinkered with a lot of other SNES games that came on the Mini and I added quite a few others. I really enjoyed Super Megaforce a lot and have had fun tinkering with a lot of the other shooters as I worked on my SNES shmup guide ( https://www.racketboy.com/retro/the-sup ... ps-library )

Both my kids and I also spent a lot of time with Turtles in Time and now we're digging into the Cowabunga collection.

So even though I still lean more towards the Genesis personally, I've grown more appreciation for the SNES over time and it really does have one of the best libraries out there!
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Ziggy587
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by Ziggy587 Mon Sep 05, 2022 3:03 pm

Nice post, Racket!

Has anyone heard of Smash TV? This game was a hidden gem for me personally. I only just discovered it in the last year. Reading about it, it seems like a fairly popular arcade game that got a ton of console ports. But I don't ever remember seeing it at a rental store, or in any game magazines, and I didn't have any word of mouth knowledge of it either. Anyway, if you haven't heard of it, it's a sort of top-down twin stick run and gun where you go from room to room clearing enemies. It's an absolute blast to play, and I'd imagine it being a lot of fun with a second player.

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racketboy
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by racketboy Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:07 am

Smash TV got a decent amount of exposure, but I could see how a lot of people missed it.
I didn't personally play it much, but it's always kinda been on my radar.

Another thought -- so I never got much into the original F-Zero back in the day, but I fell in complete love with F-Zero GX on the Gamecube and also went back and spent a decent amount of time enjoying F-Zero X on the N64. Of course, then I went back to the original on SNES. However, I still feel like it's hard to get into. Perhaps not as awkward (sorry if I'm being blasphemous) as the original Mario Kart, but I feel like the skills from the 3D ones don't translate back to the SNES too well. How has other people's F-Zero experiences been?
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by Ziggy587 Tue Sep 06, 2022 3:16 pm

I feel like F-Zero and Pilotwings are classic examples of Nintendo doing more or less tech demos for their new hardware. Not to put either of those titles down, I think Nintendo only knows how to make fun games. F-Zero was a launch game, and was graphically impressive at the time. Going back to it now though, with no nostalgia, I don't know how good of a game it really is.

I never owned F-Zero back in the day. I might have rented it once or twice, or perhaps played a friend's copy. But since I never owned it back then, I have no nostalgia for it. So I'm completely unbiased when I play it now (I do own a copy now a days). I think it's a fun "pick up and play" racer, but that's about it. I can play it in short bursts every once in a while, but there's nothing there that keeps me playing for hours on end. Still, I think it's a must-play for any SNES enthusiast. It's quintessential SNES, even if it hasn't aged as well as later entries.

Since you brought up Super Mario Kart, now I'm wondering the same thing. This is a game that I DO have tons of fond memories for. So my opinion would be completely biased. By how has it aged? If played it today for the first time, what would you think of it?
I'm parting with some duplicate Blu-Ray and DVD movies. Check out this thread if interested.
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opa
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by opa Tue Sep 06, 2022 5:38 pm

f zero has horrible rubberbanding for the AI
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Re: Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

by racketboy Tue Sep 06, 2022 6:47 pm

For what it's worth, I think I prefer F-Zero over Mario Kart on the SNES.
Although perhaps I should do longer sessions of both in close relation to each other for a better test.

Much like you, I thought SNES F-Zero is kinda fun to tinker with on occasion, but I don't feel compelled to do more than a few races in a sitting.

But with Super Mario Kart, just a bit into a single race and I'm wondering why I'm playing it. It just feels really flat and awkward.

I loaded it up with my kids and they were kinda confused by it. It was an interesting disussion as we talked about how they tried to make something that kinda felt 3D before the hardware could do much of that thing. Even at 7 and 9 years old, they kinda appreciated that, but they also didn't feel like playing much more of it. And these are kids that play retro games (mostly 16-bit) quite regularly.

I have no nostalgia for either SNES either (and obviously my kids don't either). Perhaps lack of nostalgia but an appreciation of the era is the best combo for reviewing these games. They were highly influential and foundations for greatness, but do not hold up well, IMO.
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