So I finally got a chance to try out my SNES Classic yesterday, and I'm here to tell you about my thoughts about the hardware, the controller, and the interface.
In terms of the hardware, this thing is extremely nicely designed. The build quality is obvious from the second you pick it up. The power switch flips up delightfully, and the reset button is even spring loaded, just like the original. There's an LED light on the front that tells you the system is on, and the ports on the front look just like an SNES. There's a hidden catch on the bottom of the ports that let you flip it down to actually insert the controllers, but if it's just being displayed, you'd never know it was there. While it would be nice to have the controllers use original SNES ports, it's probably better in the long run to have the Wii inputs so you can use pro controllers, insert bluetooth dongles, etc. The thing is also SO tiny. Like, I've seen pictures comparing it to other things, and I simply wasn't prepared for how adorably tiny it is. I adore it!
The controller functions extremely well, and it's pretty much perfect to the original SNES controllers. If anything, this controller is better, as the shoulder buttons are much more solid, as the original shoulders were notoriously loose and weak. It's also great that the system ships with two controllers, unlock the NES classic that shipped with one. This is great for that playthrough of Secret of Mana I've been meaning to undertake with my wife, as well as for Contra III, and head to head SFII and Super Mario Kart. The one downside of the controllers is the short wire, rather than using bluetooth or a longer wire. They are not as short as the NES Classic controller, however, so it's not quite as bad. You'll also need to sit close to the system anyhow, as you need the reset button to return to the menu and establish save states.
This is the main weakness of the system. I'm not necessarily upset that they included wired controllers, nor really that the wires are short. They give a nice retro feel to the system, and minimize input lag as much as possible. It also helps keep the costs down, as $79.99 for 20 good to excellent games and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts to go with two controllers in a very appealing package is a very reasonable price point. Assuming you bought all of these titles on the virtual console at 7.99, you'd need to pay nearly $168, so the bargain is an excellent one. This is made even more notable by how pricey some of these cartridges are, including the massively expensive EarthBound, and a ton of games that range from $20-$40. I'd bet purchasing them all at full eBay value would be north of $500. Sure, you could emulate them all (note to the NSA, I own EarthBound and would never, ever, ever consider emulating extremely high priced games like Little Samson or Aerofighters ;)) for free, but this is an extremely appealing package, a way to give the developers some money for their hard and excellent work on these classics, and a way to signal to Nintendo that we want more utilization of the classic libraries for their systems!
So it's not that the wired controllers are bad. I get it. But I wish they had included some more emulation functionality into the controller/UI. A button, or even a programmable shortcut, to get back to the home screen would have been nice, as would save state buttons or programmable shortcuts. As it stands, you need to hit reset to save your state, which is obnoxious when you have to get up and walk to the system in order to do so. Including this programmable option would have been very little work, and would have been an extremely nice option. More advanced functions like a rewind option would be nice for practicing the tough sections in games like Mega Man X, for example.
The user interface is absolutely fantastic. The load screen music is very reminiscent of the excellent music on the Wii, and is positively joyous. I've literally been humming it all day at work. The presentation is minimal, but appealing. You get the box art for each game, and can cycle through each game to select which one you want. It also shows you how many players are in each game, and how many save states you currently have. There are options to switch to CRT mode, 4:3 mode, and Pixel Perfect, which are nice touches, but nothing super special. One very nice piece of the interface is the demo screen. If you leave the system alone on the home screen, Mario and Luigi begin running around picking games, and it plays the loading screen for each, with a brief demo. This is a nice touch that they didn't have to include, but adds to the charm of the system.
I absolutely love that they made it so that you need to beat the first level of Star Fox to unlock Star Fox 2. I love unlocking things, and only wish that they had done more of this, and perhaps dug a bit deeper into the catalogue to make this less of a box of ROMs and more of a distinct product. For example, in order to unlock Super Mario World 2, you'd first need to complete Super Mario World. Or to have hidden unlocks, like having DKC 2 for beating the first game. I'd also have loved to see a challenges system with leaderboards for it, much like in the brilliant Mega Man Legacy Collection. Imagine speedrunning Mega Man X to make it on the leaderboard, or having a boss rush mode of the same game that you'd need to complete in order to unlock Mega Man 2 on the box. This would have been the nice kind of touches that would have made it an enduring staple in the Nintendo library, rather than a holiday distraction for nostalgia fiends. I realize that this kind of work and additional network functionality would have increased the price, and I would have been more than glad to pay $120 for a bells and whistles style of the SNES Classic, but that probably would have priced out a lot of the market here.
So is the SNES Classic perfect? No. But it's a great selection of games, in an attractive and loving package, that absolutely nails the market to which it is intended to sell. If you like the SNES, and are missing even a few of the games in the box in your collection, this is really a must buy. And kudos to Nintendo for producing enough this time around! I'll give it a 9.5/10.
-TRO
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