Topic: NES Classic Edition

@ThanosReXXX : The whole "sitting in front of the TV" argument doesn't really fly because it is no longer necessary (or practical) to do so given the general nature of TVs nowadays, most of which are jumbo sized and/or wall-mounted, so it would be quite unusual for somebody to sit so close to the television given that sitting from a distance would result in a better and more comfortable viewing experience (plus my neck would hurt from having to look up at such a large TV if I were to play with the NES Mini with the supplied cables).

If there were still small and/or CRT TVs on the market available today, I could see where you're coming from, sure, but the "quaintness" of sitting in front of a TV like the days of old is lost with currently available technologies. Nintendo could have rectified this by supplying controllers with longer cables to account for the differences between TVs then and TVs that are available now in order to recapture that "retro" feel. The fact that they didn't is a flat-out bad design choice, plain and simple. That was what I was trying to point out. The only circumstance in which I could see myself using the NES Mini is via a PC monitor, really, which somewhat defeats the purpose (and novelty) of the device.

Now, the Switch on the other hand does a better job of harking back to that era, at least in tabletop mode, as users will need to be seated closely to the screen and gathered together, which also replicates that sense of intimacy, I guess, of playing games together like the "old days". I would much rather prefer to have these Mini consoles in the form of a Switch cartridge instead. Perhaps then they would get some use.

@Silly_G No, that's not it. You're missing the point, which is very simple: these Minis exist to recreate nostalgia. That is also the reason why they're not online-enabled, or why they don't have wireless controllers. We didn't have all that back then.

And the Switch doesn't even come close to recreating that. It's like saying a smart phone or a tablet comes close. Sure, you can emulate/run these older games on there, and on the Switch you have the instant two player option, which is nice, and you can also all sit, huddled around a small screen (which, on a side note, actually reminds me more of N64 days... ), but it's still not a true representation of how NES games were played and how it felt to play them, back then.

As for the TV's: we had a pretty big CRT screen back in the day, so the whole "having to sit in front of the TV because it's so small" thing doesn't apply for me at all. That's also not what it was about. It was about sitting next to your console, either on the floor, a cushion or a legless chair (yes, these things do/did exist) so you were able to easily swap cartridges, instead of having to walk over to the console all the time.

For the true retro gamer, the experience needs to be as close to the real thing, as possible if the actual thing isn't an option, so every single thing you change about that, breaks the immersion/illusion of playing on an "actual" NES/SNES.

The on-board menu of the Minis is already one step too far for some purists, probably...

Now, I'm not THAT much of a purist, but I can still appreciate having the actual, correct controller in my hand, and looking at a box, that's connected to my TV and looks like the real thing, so that at least most of the boxes of recreating the illusion are ticked.

But as I already said in my previous comment, I most definitely do agree with you on the cables being FAR too short. That's why I bought extension cables for the SNES Mini, and I'll do the same for the NES Mini. The softmod/hack will do the rest, so I don't have to get up from the couch, to reset the console and select another game...

Yessss. That's why the RF/Power cables were so long! Then after playing it, you had to put the console back near the tv, nice and neat.

@HobbitGamer Indeed, you get it. Does sound like we actually need a longer HDMI cable, instead of longer controller cables, though...

I played at 5age mario contra/ and tsubasa at 6

just take code from my oldnote

I'm still adding games to my NES Classic on those rare moments I get the chance. Hoping to have a nice expansive but curated set of games on there when I'm done. Then it can stay connected to the TV for the long-term.

For anyone else having fun devising lists of games to add and tweaking their NES collection, this book looks a valuable resource: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/books/hg101-presents-nes-cul...

^ oh geez I forgot about the nightmare of curating what games to put on the thing. I might have to binge watch some lets plays or something.

@Lroy So, yesterday evening, I finally found the time to hook up the NES Mini.
Haven't modded it yet, just wanted to give it a quick run over, to see what's what, and the extension cables finally arrived, which also helped a bunch (man, I thought the SNES Mini cables were short... ), so I hooked it up to the TV, and tried out a couple of games.

Considering your question about the display settings, I'm not quite sure what you thought I might see or notice, but the only thing that occurred to me, is that the CRT effect was a little more subtle than the one on the SNES Mini, but other than that, I actually really liked it, so just as on the SNES Mini, it will become my default setting. I'm not very interested in pixel perfect setting anyway, since that also wasn't how I played the games back then.

I hope to find some time this coming week to mod it and put my list of games on there. I will probably use the latest version of hakchi, but I'm also thinking about re-hacking my SNES Mini with that one, because it somehow feels kind of strange to have the NES Mini running on a newer version than the SNES Mini...

@ThanosReXXX What 'latest' version of Hakchi do you intend to use? I used Hakchi2 as you suggested on both my SNES and NES minis but am aware Hakchi CE something or other has vocal support for being the one to use?

As for the CRT filter, on my intial impressions with the NES Classic I found it to be noticeably less appealing than the same filter option on the SNES Classic. I suggested it may have had something to do with sitting closer to the TV due to the shorter cord length for the controller but alas, I've not had any more time to play with my NES Classic recently.

I'm still building up my list of games to add. Got about 200 titles and hope to be done soon. Compiling and adding the games to the system is building my anticipation to play it for months and months (years) to come once it is all done and permanently hooked up to the telly.

I intend to return to my SNES Mini and do the same - well, I'll keep the games installed at any one time to a far smaller number but at least have 200 - odd ready with artwork in Hakchi to swap on and off as I please.

Just need to make the time to finish these two little projects 😎

Anyway, best of luck with the modifications and look forward to hearing of more of your experiences with both the NES and SNES classics in the future 👍

The only controller worth getting for these systems is a wireless one

I really wish I had bought the snes style controller instead of the nes one back then when I bought my wireless controller. Amazon had them both for like 5 bucks each and I though "well it's the nes I won't need the extra buttons".

Fast forward a year or so and the snes mini came out and the same controller was like four times more expensive.

I have this one.

It's quite good, it comes with a built in button combination to return to the home menu, and while it works on AAA batteries, they last a long long time.

(Though seeing the reviews in the Amazon US page I'm not sure if that's a popular opinion...?)

@DarthNocturnal I see a lot of people just short of betting their right arm on the next Mini being a Game Boy, but personally, I think that's HIGHLY unlikely. Considering the proportions of the Minis, the screen will be even smaller than that of the Game Boy Micro, and the controls would become equally minute, making it all but unplayable.

Seeing as the previous ones were all home consoles, I think the chances of an N64 Mini are FAR more likely, and that will probably be the next Mini, provided that Nintendo actually will release another Mini, because regardless of the success of the current two Minis, that's still no guarantee.

@Lroy hakchi2 CE indeed. Which IS the latest version. It is better, more compatible, has more options and has another couple of advantages over the older version, so when I do find the time, either this coming week or the next, I'm going to give that a go.

I still don't quite understand what you mean with less appealing, since that is of course on one hand also a personal and/or taste thing, and for me personally, the only thing that I noticed, is that it seemed a bit softer, but that can also be the combination of the filter with 8 bit graphics, versus how the filter would display on 16 bit graphics. I would have to hook up the SNES Mini again to see if there actually IS a difference, because there may not be any at all. And I'm sitting just as far away from the screen as with the SNES Mini, thanks to the EXTRA long extension cords I ordered this time, so that also doesn't influence my impression of it.

The best way would probably be to do a side by side, but unfortunately, that's not an option for me, since I only have one HD TV, and only one TV with HDMI inputs. So, the best thing I could do, is just do a comparison by eye, by booting them up, one after the other.

As for the SNES Mini: that's done and dusted. My list is complete, and I'm going to leave all the games on there, so no swapping out for me. All I'll probably do, is update it to hakchi2 CE, but no changes will be made to my games list.

@Yosheel Wireless controllers for retro systems? Blasphemy, absolute blasphemy, I tell you...

Nintendo markets these as classic editions. Not minis.

Bear in mind though, if they released a Gameboy Classic with built in battery (a) the battery would likely be bespoke and therefore difficult to replace in the future and (b) the device would be less likely to have a USB port, so how would Nintendo enable us to fill out with ROMs as they've so kindly done with the other Classics?

@DarthNocturnal Well, the name of the current two consoles is Classic Mini, and so far, we've had two 1/4 sized consoles, so I'd say it's pretty safe to say that this miniaturizing is the gimmick of them, so I'm not expecting there to be any full-sized one, much less a handheld, since we've only had consoles so far.

So, my money is on the N64 being next. And I wouldn't even be surprised, if that will be the last for some time to come as well, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens, I suppose. I'll publicly eat my words, and some humble pie, right here on NLife, if it somehow DOES turn out to be a Game Boy Mini...

@Yosheel They're called Classics in America, Minis in Europe and in Asia. Classic Minis, to be exact, so they very much ARE marketed as Minis. And seeing as they are also physically miniaturized, I'd say that the question about what is more likely to come next, is quite easy...

@gcunit I don't think that this will ever be a concern or a goal for Nintendo, so we can more than likely cross that one of the list of "reasons why they wouldn't do a Game Boy Classic/Mini"...

But, having said that, you just pointed out yet another very good reason, why there probably isn't going to be a Game Boy Classic Mini...

@DarthNocturnal You're right. I completely overlooked the need to charge the battery...

I've had a busy day.

They could easily miniaturize the original game boy design to be more the size of the Gameboy color or even a bit smaller.

It would still be "mini" compared to the original. And to be honest the screen could be way smaller if they used better, backlight screens.

Anyway all this mini talk made me return to my playthrough of final fantasy 1. Got the class change at level 15, I heard the earliest you get it the better.

@ThanosReXXX So you've changed your mind about Hakchi CE? That was the software version I originally suggested I may use back when I got my SNES Mini but you strongly advised against it as you said it was 'a fork' and not an official revision?

It doesn't really matter now as the Hakchi2 software seems to have worked for me - touch wood - with very little issues thus far. However, I am now curious as to what brought about the change of heart on your estimation of the CE variant?

Be good to know what IS the most recommended software to use going forward as I have had friends ask me my advice on what software to use and would rather pass on the best recommendation. I had been suggesting Hakchi2 as you and others had suggested previously.

@Lroy The change of heart mostly comes from the fact that CE seems to be the version that keeps getting more updates, so apparently, the standard version has been surpassed, and I keep hearing good things about it. I'm not completely sure yet, but when I have the time, I'm going to dive into the available info to get a clear picture of the pros and cons of each version over the other.

And of course, the standard version also works; it's what's currently still installed on my SNES Mini (which I've re-modded three times in total, after every hakchi2 update), and I would dare to wager a bet that even an older version of hakchi2 would also still work just fine, but newer is usually better, but I want to be 110% sure, so once I have all the info, I'll give you an update.

Might take a while, though, so if you're pressed for time to find out, then I would advice you to look up some info or comparison videos, and make up your own mind on the matter.

@ThanosReXXX Thanks for getting back to me fella. That all makes sense. I think for the time being with my own minis I will stick with the version of Hakchi2 I have. If then in future it is evident CE is now the way to go, I may look into migrating over.

As for advice for newcomers, I'll suggest they look into both Hakchi2 and CE to make up their own mind - as you surmised.

Best of luck with the tinkering if and when you do it and here's to playing some great NES and SNES games on these adorable little machines 👌