SNES Mini coming Sep 29th with 21 games (including Star Fox 2)
After months of speculation, Nintendo finally announces ther Super Nintendo Mini. The system will launch in Europe on September 29th, with 21 games including Star Fox 2 - which was previously unreleased on the SNES.
The wait is over, Nintendo has finally confirmed the existence of the SNES Mini as it plans to launch the next entry of their "Classic Edition" system range later this year on September 29th. Surprisingly, the system will also bring with it a title that has been sitting complete for over 20 years with the launch of Star Fox 2. Previously Star Fox 2 was going to release on the SNES back in the summer of 1995 but never saw the light of day, until this year when it'll be part of the SNES Mini lineup!
The original NES Mini suffered some shortages with a lack of consoles out in the wild, and those that did manage to get ahold of one may have decided to take advantage of the shortage by bumping up the prices (like eBay sellers had done). It did apparently ship 2.3 million units before production ended though, so the system was quite a popular item and hopefully some gamers who wanted it were happy with it.
What can the SNES Mini do?
The SNES Mini is a smaller version of the original 16 bit console released way back in 1992, it will feature 21 classics from the library of the system and even pack in Star Fox 2 - a title that has been complete for over 20 years but previously was cancelled for release! Everything is recreated in loving detail and each region will have it's respective design, for Europe that will mean the design you see above (and possibly the best looking one).
As with the NES Mini, you will not be able to use your own game carts this time around - but unlike the predecessor the SNES Mini will come with 2 controllers and great news for all, the cables will increased in length as previously it was a pain to play on the NES Mini (unless you were very close to the screen). This time the controllers have been bumped up from 3 feet to roughly 5 feet. Though not quite matching the original length of the gamepads when the console first came out, it's a welcome improvement.
"The controller cable on the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES controller is approx. five feet long, which is about two feet longer than the cord on the Nintendo Classic Mini: NES controller."
One of the biggest complaints from the original system was a lack of comfort with the provided pads, though some took to using 3rd party controllers to make things easier on them and it was even possible to use wireless pads. Hopefully the increased length this time will not suffer the same problem as we had previously.
How much and where can we get it?
UK retailers have been pricing it around £69/79 while the US RRP is only $79 - while the original NES Classic Mini was only £59. Though it's worth noting that the actual UK RRP has yet to be revealed and it's based on retailer estimates (which may go down) and the second controller may be a factor in the pricing. In the UK, the system went up for pre-order last night and within a few hours it was Out of Stock from Amazon, GAME and other retailers. As expected, the system also popped up on Ebay with some scalpers upping the price to around £200-250. Nintendo has promised that we'll get even more stock this time, as the system will only be on sale for a short period (but hopefully longer than the NES Classic). The system itself will be shipping for several months until the end of 2017, but it's possible that we may even see a few extra months if demand warrants it. With the original such a hard to get item, we hope Nintendo has learned from their mistakes.
"Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from Sept. 29 until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year,"
At present the best way to get ahold of one in the UK is to either seek a brick and mortar retail store to dump some money on a pre-order or signup for the Nintendo Store's mailing list) in hopes to get one.
Full Game List for the European SNES Mini
Like the Nintendo Mini before it, the Super Nintendo Mini will pack in various classic games and the lineup this time will also bring with it the unreleased Star Fox 2, which has been complete for over 20 years and was originally going to launch on the original SNES in summer 1995. The SNES Mini will feature 21 gaming gems from the system's library including Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Star Fox, Secret of Mana, Super Mario Kart and much more!
- Contra III: The Alien Wars
- Donkey Kong Country
- EarthBound
- Final Fantasy III
- 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 (Previously unreleased)
- Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting
- Super Castlevania 4
- 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
Star Fox 2 getting released after 22 years!
If you are in Japan the Super Famicon Mini will have a slightly different list, with one example being the lack of EarthBound - though that is made up by the inclusion of Fire Emblem. However both lists are still a great lineup and the addition of Star Fox 2 should please all gamers with the previously cancelled title making it's debut in the new redesigned system!
The Super Nintendo Mini will launch in Europe and the US on September 29th, while the system will launch in Japan on October 5th.