More Thoughts From Me #104: SNES Classic Hands-on Impressions

I tried and failed to get an NES Classic. Then the SNES Classic came out and I failed to get that too. I thought I’d never get either one of them. And then early last week, Amazon had a Lightning deal on the SNES Classic. I managed to finally buy an SNES Classic! Now that I’ve played with the system some, is the SNES Classic worth all this trouble? How are the games on the system? How do they play? Here are my hands-on impressions of the SNES Classic.

I never thought I’d own an SNES Classic. Now, don’t get me wrong: I still have my original Super NES from back in the day. All my original games too. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good SNES controller to play them with though. So its not like I’ve never had an SNES. I have my memories. I didn’t have to have an SNES Classic, but I really wanted one.

I finally got my hands on the system. When I first saw the SNES Classic, in the flesh, well, it was a bit of a shock. I knew that the system was small but it is so much smaller than I realized even. It was very easy to hook up too. And after it was all hooked up, of course I had to play it!

I have played most of the games on the SNES Classic before. I think theres only two games on the system that I hadn’t played previously: Secret of Mana and Star Fox 2.

I was really impressed by Secret of Mana. It plays a lot like a Legend of Zelda title, although its main character looks more like Crono from Chrono Trigger. I’m really looking forward to playing this game more. I think I’m going to enjoy it a lot.

As for Star Fox 2, this game was unavailable right away. I had to beat the first level of the original Star Fox first. That was pretty easy to do. After that, I tried out the second Star Fox. I can’t say I’m impressed with the game though. The graphics don’t look as good as the first game in my opinion and I’m not a fan of the first person viewpoint. I will try the game again, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be playing it much.

Then there’s the rest of the games on the system. I still own some of these games, like Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Earthbound, Final Fantasy 3, and then there are others I don’t own and never did like Super Ghouls and Ghosts, Contra 3, and Mega Man X. There is a really good variety of games on the SNES Classic. I love that there are games I played a lot and games I had previously only played a little. I look forward to playing all of these games more.

You know what the best part of the SNES Classic is? Its the controller for this system! The controller is exactly like it was in the SNES days. It feels like an SNES controller: the button layout is the same and the look is the same. I have played some of these games on other systems like the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS. The games play good there, but with the SNES Classic controller, the games play great. It just feels amazing to be playing these games with this controller. Its the way the games were meant to be played.

When I was playing Donkey Kong Country on the SNES Classic, I was especially taken back to being a kid. I played that game a ton on the SNES. I even entered a contest where I had to play Donkey Kong Country. I didn’t get far in that contest but I had fun and playing the SNES Classic brings back memories like that.

The SNES Classic was definitely worth the wait. The system has 21 games, some I’ve played a lot and some I haven’t, plus plenty of suspend play slots, and the games look and play great on an HD TV. The nostalgia is there for someone like me who played these games back in the day, but the system also is just pure fun. I feel like a kid again!

I hope Nintendo does an Nintendo 64 Classic next. I never did own one of those systems…

Next week: The Importance of Demos. Recently I saw a developer talking about demos and about some indies wondering if more demos should be on the Switch eShop. Next week I’ll tell you why demos are important and even share with you a couple of my recent favorite demos.

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. I wonder how many more classic systems Nintendo will do!