Compiling SNES 101 Information

Post by **racketboy** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:29 pm

Some of you may remember some of the "Retro Gaming 101" posts we've done in the past. The basic idea is to have a basic run-down of the historical impact of a given console and the information a newbie would want/need to know when shopping around for the console in question and things to make the best use of the machine.

Instead of long paragraphs of information, I prefer to have concise, but useful sentences arranged in bullet points. You can find examples of this in our previous posts:
http://www.racketboy.com/guide/retro-gaming-101

I'm going to post this same info for different consoles, so forgive me if some of the questions are obvious for this given console.

To help out, just write up sentences (or paragraphs, I guess) of useful information. I'll compile them up here and we can keep going until we get a useful guide. Sound good?

Points of interest include:

Background Info: This stuff is what you would typically find in Wikipedia, but if you have anything interesting to add, that would be great

Historical Impact: What innovations did the console bring to the table? what makes it relevant today?

Different Variations of the Hardware

Accessories: What are the essential and unique accessories that didn't come standard with the machine?

Video Connections: What connections are availible for the machine?

Strengths and Weaknesses: This can be for both at the time of its release and in regards to its current relevancy (current perspective preferred)

Emulation: What are the best emulators for PC, Mac, Linux, other, if availible... If there are two good ones, does one have advantages over the other?

Playing Imports: How do you play imports

What other unique things should people know about the machine, what to look for when shopping for one, etc....

Post by **The Apprentice** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:43 pm

+Extremely durable
+Wide line up of "deep games" and platformers
+Easy and cheap to get systems and games
-Hard to find 1st party controllers
-Lack of action titles
-Super Scope a huge waste of money

Post by **racketboy** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:47 pm

The Apprentice wrote:+Easy and cheap to get systems and games

Not really as cheap as the Genesis.
Nintendo stuff usually has good resale value considering it's common.

Post by **systemreactor** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:45 pm

SNES Innovations: Mode 7 scaling and Rotating, shoulder buttons on controller (a first, but now standard on all controllers), an array of enhancement chips (like Super FX, there is an exhaustive list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Su ... ment_chips)

Video Connections: RF, Composite video

Weaknesses: slowdown in early games. From what I remember, the SNES had different BUS speeds on their CPU, and early heavy-sprite games caused the BUS speed to drop causing games to slow down. Super R-Type and Gradius III are notorious for this.

Playing Imports requires a simple mod for NTSC systems: http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/snescon.htm

Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:15 am

We cannot leave out the worst lightgun evar...

Post by **D.D.D.** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:44 am

The Apprentice wrote:+Extremely durable

I too agree with that however, the Japanese version of the console feels extremely light and fragile compared to the SNES.

Post by **extrarice** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:16 pm

SNES2 does not output S-video.

Post by **racketboy** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:17 pm

Strong game genres would include RPGs and Platformers.
What else was it good at -- especially in comparison to the Genesis?

Post by **Niode** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:41 pm

Racing? As in Mario Kart, F-zero?

better at fighting games out of the box (IE doesn't need an additional controller to get the most out of the genre)

Post by **racketboy** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:46 pm

devilmyarse wrote:better at fighting games out of the box (IE doesn't need an additional controller to get the most out of the genre)

But at least the Genesis 6-button had the better button placement