A blast from the past (Nintendo Super NES)

Member Name: Kodang

Product:	Nintendo Super NES
Date:	06/07/01 (1096 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nostalgia, cheap games, great games

Disadvantages: can be hard to find some games, games look dated

If you have a look at some of the opinions that I have written you will quickly realise that I am into retro gaming in a big way. This is for many reasons - first of all it's a cheap way to get loads of games and secondly I just love those feelings of nostalgia that I get when playing.

The Super Nintendo or SNES has got a very special place in my heart because I have played so many games for it over the years. I never had one until recently (which cost 10 pounds - still boxed) - as I always relied on the use of my brothers and my friends machines and so many of the games bring back memories of times spent with them.

So what is the SNES? Well in the beginning Nintendo had an amzingly popular games console called the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This was a great little machine and had hundreds if not thousands of games made for it. After a few years though it started to show it's age and so in 1990 Nintendo released a new machine which their amazingly original marketing team called the 'Super Nintendo Entertainment System' (it was called the Super Famicom in Japan by the way).

This new 16 bit machine had much better graphics and sound than it's 8 bit predecessor. For those of you who like technical stuff it's processor was a 65C816 chip running at 3.58Mhz. It had a top screen resolution of 512x448 pixels with a maximum of 256 colours on screen from a palette of 32,768. Doesn't sound like much compared to modern PCs and consoles but in it's day it smoked.

Technical stuff aside though - the SNES had some really amazing games produced for it. Games like Super Mario World, F-Zero, R-Type, Super Bomberman, Super Star Wars, Street Fighter II, Mario-Kart and Donkey Kong Country are some of the best that stick in my mind and they are just as playable today as they were years ago.

If you want to buy of these machines then they seem to cost anything from 10 - 30 pounds second hand depe
nding on the condition and if you shop around you can get a great deal. A quick look on ebay will set you off in the right direction. As for the games I've seen unboxed ones selling for as little as 50p right up to 50 pounds for mint,rare items.

Of course these days you don't have to buy a snes to play the games. You can get something called an emulator that fools your pc into thinking that it is a SNES. Of course you can't plug the cartridges into your computer but you can download the games from various sites on the web. Be aware though that if you do this then you are technically breaking the law because the games are still copyrighted and by downloading them in this way you are infringing on that. I beleive that if you own the original cartridge then it's OK from a legal point of view but don't quote me on that.

So what are you waiting for? Check out some of the reviews of SNES games on dooyoo - get on ebay or whatever and have a go. The games are great and cheap - say no more.

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