Console of the Month (September 2022) - Super Nintendo

[BoneSnapDeez]

Nice (former?) collection and write-ups Ziggy. Fun reads.

I'm gonna level with y'all. I'm too lazy to take nice laid-out pics like that. Here's a general pic of the collection though (I have a few boxed games on another shelf).

[Ziggy]

Nice (former?) collection and write-ups Ziggy. Fun reads.

Thanks. Actually, just that first pic was from 2020 before I started selling stuff. The front facing pics I just took today, that's what I still own!

I'm gonna level with y'all. I'm too lazy to take nice laid-out pics like that. Here's a general pic of the collection though (I have a few boxed games on another shelf).

Nice! That's a lot of SFC carts. But how do you find a SFC game with no end labels?

Awesome pic, thanks for posting!

[BoneSnapDeez]

The games are alphabetized so I can generally find anything quickly.

Also, I dumped all the ROMs onto my RetroFreak.

[Ziggy]

You can see some of my N64 carts in the first pic. Back in the day, I printed out the game titles and used Scotch tape to fix them to the top of the carts. But then I eventually got a P-Touch labeler and have been using that ever since, including my SFC carts.

[bmoc]

During my early years, my family was on the lower end of middle class. There was always food on the table and toys to be had for Christmas and birthdays, but there was certainly a strict budget to follow. My family was relatively late on purchasing an NES compared to my classmates. We finally got an NES for Christmas in '88 and I distinctly remember getting laughed at when a random kid overheard me talking with one of my friends at school about beating Super Mario Bros. Pretty much everyone else had had an NES for at least a year or two so he thought I was just terrible at video games.

Fast forward just 3 years to Christmas '91 and my parents purchased a SNES and 13" tv for me and my sister. It was a complete surprise to me. I had no idea that we could afford that but they made it happen. I'm pretty sure they just wanted us to stop monopolizing the living room tv with video games that they had no interest in. We only Super Mario World at that point and we played the hell out of it. The next game I remember getting was Contra III. I played it at a kiosk at Toys R Us and quickly informed my parents that this game was at the top of my wish list. The first game that my sister got was Mario Paint. I think Jurassic Park came next. Beating Jurassic Park with my sister back in the day is legit one of my greatest gaming achievements. It is a travesty that that game did not have a save feature.

Renting video games was far more common in my household than buying games outright. My parents had a strange hangup about buying things used so that never happened. There was a mom-and-pop video rental store next to the grocery store where we shopped. Weekend video game rentals are some of my favorite childhood memories. That list of games is far more extensive than I can remember but some of the ones that stood out are: Batman Returns, Castlevania IV, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Earthworm Jim, F-Zero Joe & Mac, Krusty's Super Fun House, Mega Man X, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, Pilotwings, Primal Rage, Robocop vs the Terminator, The Rocketeer, Maximum Carnage, Separation Anxiety, Street Fighter II, Super Double Dragon, Super Godzilla, Super Metroid, Super Off Road, Turtles in Time, and Zelda.

There was one time shortly after Mortal Kombat came out when the clerk at the rental store was talking to a mom. They were going on and on about how awful and violent Mortal Kombat was. It just so happened that I had Mortal Kombat in my hands ready to check out. I marched right up to both of them and plopped that sucker on the counter with the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster. They got quiet real fast and the clerk rang it up. She was doing all she could to not start fuming and I was doing all I could not to laugh.

Shortly before the N64 came out, a friend of mine was determined to get me into RPGs. She finally succeeded with she loaned me Final Fantasy III. I was absolutely hooked. This was the first game I can remember playing where I completely lost track of time. At one point, I think I played it for 6 hours straight (something I wouldn't do again until MMO addiction took hold of me years later). I ended up raiding my N64 fund to buy a copy. I raided it again for Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. Luckily, the N64 was so delayed that I had plenty of time to save up again. Those are probably my top 3 SNES games to this day. I ended up purchasing my first video game soundtrack CDs with FFIII and Chrono Trigger. I think that was one of my first internet purchases too. I had to get my mom to write a check and mail it!

Sadly, I made the mistake of trading in my SNES and games during the PS1 and N64 era. I ended up getting Final Fantasy Tactics during that trade. In hindsight, it wasn't worth it, even if FFT is a great game. Eventually, I amassed a new SNES collection as an adult only to sell it off again to fund other video game purchases. The SNES games that remained on my wishlist were far too expensive for me to justify buying. This time I didn't regret it because I got an Everdrive and kept the games that had enhancement chips that the Everdrive couldn't do.

In short, I have a lot of love for the SNES. It started my addiction to JRPGs and made me a fan of game music. It has given me so many great memories over the years - far more than this brief synopsis would let on.

[Ziggy]

Awesome posts, guys! Even if I didn't specifically reply to any on the last page, I have read all of them! (We need a like button LOL).

We finally got an NES for Christmas in '88 and I distinctly remember getting laughed at when a random kid overheard me talking with one of my friends at school about beating Super Mario Bros. Pretty much everyone else had had an NES for at least a year or two so he thought I was just terrible at video games.

Haha, man, I have a similar story. My family was not unlike yours. Although we had a SNES, and my parents got us the odd game here and there, they couldn't afford to outright buy us an N64 when it came out. My brother and I had to save to buy our own, and we weren't able to get one until the first price drop. So I can remember bringing the N64 home for the first time and unboxing it, and... Not know what the hell to do with those RCA cables LOL. The SNES came with an RF adapter. The SMW bundle also came with composite cables, but we always just used the RF. I knew to turn to channel 3 and my SNES would magically appear on the screen. But now the N64 only had the composite cables, no RF. Luckily we had just recently got a newer TV for the livingroom that had composite inputs. We only had that TV because my dad won it from his job, otherwise we'd still have an older console TV that was RF only. Anyways, I knew to plug the RCA cables into the respective color coded inputs on the TV. But we couldn't figure out how to make the game come on. Turning to channel 3 doesn't work, what the hell do you do? So it kind of sucked getting a new console home and not being able to play it. I had school the next day, and I had friends at school that already had an N64, so I thought I'd ask one of them what the hell to do. So I ask my friend on the bus the next day, but as soon as I bring up the N64 his older brother interjects and says "I GOT ALL 120 STARS IN MARIO 64!!!!" I felt ::this big:: and after hearing that exclamation I couldn't bring myself to admit to them that I JUST got an N64 AND I have no idea how to use it LOL. Well when I got home from school that day, my brother was already playing it. Someone had clued him in to input button on the TV.

I think Jurassic Park came next. Beating Jurassic Park with my sister back in the day is legit one of my greatest gaming achievements. It is a travesty that that game did not have a save feature.

That IS impressive! Even today, since there's no passwords or save feature. I like that game, but never beat it myself. Maybe one day. But someone actually made a save feature patch for the game...

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6605/



Your overall post made me remember a SNES story of my own... We had the one SNES hooked up to the TV in the livingroom. After a while, my brother and I would fight over who would get to use it. There were games we'd play together, or have fun switching off playing, but eventually there were games he wanted to play and different games that I wanted to play. My mother would sometimes have to assign time slots for us to use it. For example, my brother would get to use it for an hour, then I would get to use it for an hour. Man, my hour went by fast but his hour took forever! I guess my parents got sick of us bickering over it, and I suppose the SNES had a good enough price drop, because one year for my birthday I unboxed my very own SNES! That was definitely an awesome surprise. I had no idea I could have MY OWN SNES. That thing got hooked up to my crappy little 13" TV in my bedroom and gave me many, many hours of happiness.

[alienjesus]

I miss it when everyone was posting pics of their collections in these threads.

POST PICS OF YOUR STUFF IF YOU CAN !

Ask and you shall receive! This is my current SNES and SFC collection:



List of the game in case the image is too small (just noticed they're not in alphabetical order too!):
Row 1: Actraiser, Axelay, Bishoujou Senshi Sailor Moon, Super Castlevania 4, Cybernator
Row 2: Demon's Crest, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy V, FIFA 96, DoReMi Fantasy
Row 3: Donkey kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3, Fire Emblem: Monsho No Nazo, Fire Emblem: Seisen No Keifu
Row 4: Fire Emblem Thracia 776, The Firemen, F-Zero, Ganbare Goemon 2, Ganbare Goemon 3
Row 5: Ganbare Goemon 4, Goof Troop, The Great Circus Mystery, Illusion of Time, Kiki Kaikai
Row 6: Kirby's Dream Course, Kirbys Dream Land 3, Kirby's Fun Pak, Kirby's Ghost Trap, Legend of the Mystical Ninja



Row 1: Zelda: A Link to the Past, Live a Live, Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse, Marchen Adventure Cotton 100%, Marvelous: Another Treasure Island
Row 2: Mega Man X, Mickey No Tokyo Disneyland Daibouken, Pilotwings, Plok, Pop'n Twinbee
Row 3: Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Starwing, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Striker
Row 4: Super Adventure Island, Super Aleste, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario RPG
Row 5: Super Mario World, Super Metroid, Super Probotector, Super Punch-Out, Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix



Row 1: Super Tennis, Super SWIV, Terranigma, Tetris Attack
Row 2:Tiny Toons Adventures: Buster Busts Loose, UN Squadron, Unirally, Wonder Project J
Row 3: Yoshi's Island, Super Game Boy, Super Game Boy 2

[bmoc]

So I can remember bringing the N64 home for the first time and unboxing it, and... Not know what the hell to do with those RCA cables LOL. The SNES came with an RF adapter. The SMW bundle also came with composite cables, but we always just used the RF. I knew to turn to channel 3 and my SNES would magically appear on the screen. But now the N64 only had the composite cables, no RF.

Ha! I had a similar moment. I got my N64 close to launch and there were no RF adapters to be had in my area. Luckily, I remembered that we had a broken VCR in the garage and used as an RF adapter.

That IS impressive! Even today, since there's no passwords or save feature. I like that game, but never beat it myself. Maybe one day. But someone actually made a save feature patch for the game...

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6605/

That's awesome. I need to give that a try one day. That's way more efficient than making graph paper maps like we did back then.

Your overall post made me remember a SNES story of my own... We had the one SNES hooked up to the TV in the livingroom. After a while, my brother and I would fight over who would get to use it. There were games we'd play together, or have fun switching off playing, but eventually there were games he wanted to play and different games that I wanted to play. My mother would sometimes have to assign time slots for us to use it.

Dang that's rough. I don't recall ever fighting with my sister over that. I think we were both content to watch each other play and trade off. Currently, I think my family could use another Switch. I'm still holding out for a revised Switch that is better than the Switch OLED.

[marurun]

I have very mixed memories of the SNES. I got my own NES because of the SNES (a friend gave his NES to me because he had a SNES). I loved some of the early games. I have very fond memories of SMW, Pilotwings, Super R-Type, EDF, Joe & Mac, Actraiser, and FFII, but I also found myself cooling on the system as it grew and developed and more and more developers signed on and failed to capitalize on the capabilities and work around the weaknesses. The system was like a breath of fresh air until, suddenly, it wasn't.

In some ways it was a portent for the difficulties Nintendo would face later on. The NES was fiddly but was a success because the compromises it made ultimately left it more powerful, flexible, and capable than its competitors. The SNES was an extension of this. Nintendo was focused on key hardware capabilities and low costs, and that meant the system was compromised in many ways. Good developers could get great results from the system but poor developers would reliably stumble over the drawbacks. Everything the SNES did well had a caveat. Every console manufacturer made compromises between cost and performance, but the SNES in particular was both empowered and oddly constrained at the same time.

The trends of the SNES were enhanced in the N64, a system which did well enough in the US but poorly in Japan. It was an extension of the design philosophy of advanced features paired with stark constraints, and also a further demonstration of Nintendo's attitude that good developers would put in the work to get good results and poor developers would simply fail to achieve (and unspoken went the message that Nintendo was only so interested in helping them). This same design philosophy was, oddly, shared by Sega earlier in the same generation, until there was a dramatic shift in Sega's assessment of their situation. Sony gained so much headway that generation in reaching out to developers and aiding them with robust and powerful libraries and developer support that when Nintendo finally changed their tune for the GameCube it was too late. There was too much ground to make up and Nintendo didn't have the partner relationships any longer to compete with Sony's developer support machine or Microsoft's level of investment.

[Ziggy]

Ha! I had a similar moment. I got my N64 close to launch and there were no RF adapters to be had in my area. Luckily, I remembered that we had a broken VCR in the garage and used as an RF adapter.

That reminds me of when I got my first Genesis, the Genesis 3. It came packed with composite cables, but my 13" bedroom TV was RF only. I hooked up the Genesis to the livingroom TV for a while, but one day it dawned on me that I could use a VCR for the composite inputs.

Dang that's rough. I don't recall ever fighting with my sister over that. I think we were both content to watch each other play and trade off. Currently, I think my family could use another Switch. I'm still holding out for a revised Switch that is better than the Switch OLED.

I think we got along together sharing the SNES for a few years. It must have been later in the SNES life that we starting fighting over what game to play and who's turn it was to play. I say "must have been" because my parents wouldn't have bought me my own SNES if it didn't have price drops.