Topic: SNES Mini

@ThanosReXXX No SNES back in the day? SEGA man aye? 😉 I was too - had Master System, Game Gear and Mega Drive but once the SNES settled in the UK and STREET FIGHTER II hit, I ventured to taste the delights of the other side. Little did I know that would seal my future purchases as I went N64 over the Saturn (wish I had got both now ☺️) and have pretty much kept a Nintendo system as my main platform ever since. You never forget your first love though and that for me will always be SEGA and the arcade era.

@Lroy Tsssk, tsssk... Assumptions, assumptions. In sales, we say assumptions are deadly...

So no, not even a Sega: I was completely into home computers until I broke that habit when the N64 arrived. Before that, I first had an MSX and after that several Commodore Amiga's (A500/500+, A1200 and CD32). Had a real blast with all of them, and the Amiga was far superior to anything consoles could do then, so especially in the multi-platform versions of games, I always had the superior version.

But then one day, I walked into a game store and saw an N64 running Wave Race, which completely blew me away. And the rest is history...

Been with Nintendo ever since. Doubled down to also get a portable in the shape of the purple clear Game Boy Color, and the only side trips I've ever made since then are a Sega Dreamcast (which also blew me away, the first time I saw one in a store, running SoulCalibur), an Xbox 360 and now the Xbox One S. Other than that, I have almost all of Nintendo's consoles and handhelds, other than a Switch, a Game Boy Micro, a 2DS and a New 3DS.

So, the collection is almost complete, and I'm really happy that, by means of the Minis, I can still complete my collection quite easily, compared to buying the actual consoles and having to hunt and pay a veritable fortune for all the games that I would like to play on them. Could of course go for Everdrive cartridges, but still. I'd rather have new gear, so the Minis are perfect for me.

Yosheel's recommendation of the month is Tetris Attack.

Because every SNES needs some extra Yoshi.

@ThanosReXXX Ha! Ha! Fair play. I was big into the Amiga myself. Had 500/600/1200. Was a regular accompanying means of gaming along side my 8Bit and 16Bit consoles. Perhaps due to perceived 'hassle' I seem to have settled exclusively with console/handheld gaming in terms of revisiting my retro gaming past. I know you can emulate the Amiga but I've never tried as yet. So many games to play just sticking with the arcade games and aforementioned 8/16 Bit consoles. One day, I need to watch some YouTube Amiga coverage. Sure the memories would come flooding back.

@Lroy If you still have a Wii or Wii U connected, then it's quite easy to add an Amiga emulator to it, once the homebrew menu is installed. Of course, the "hassle" of having to switch discs will still be there...

And the Amiga versions of The Chaos Engine games and also all of Sensible Software's games were second to none. The audio was far more advanced than anything a console could put out back then.

Something that was also perfectly demonstrated by all the great music demo discs that circulated back then. Some sources say that this scene was partially responsible for influencing quite a few of the later dance, trance, house and acid music artists or at the very least a breeding ground for future artists and producers. And besides the music, the demos were also often graphical effects showcases, to give people an idea of what the humble A500 was actually capable of.

If you're interested in getting a taste of that, check these A500 demos out:
Spaceballs - Nine Fingers
LSD - Jesus On E's
Spaceballs - State of the Art

And the fond memories that I have from playing all of those Team 17 and Psygnosis games.... Great times...

And if you want to something to watch that'll make you relive some of those Amiga memories, then you should watch RetroManCave's "Amiga 500 Trash to Treasure" series. Here's the first part of it:

As for the best emulator: it's called UAE (Ultimate Amiga Emulator) and it is available for just about any platform or smart device out there. There's even a version for the Wii and Wii U, and you could also install it on your PC (on PC, it's called WinUAE). You will have to search for kickstart rom images, though.
But that's not too difficult to do...

EDIT:
And a good YouTube channel for Amiga gameplay videos is LemonAmiga. They also have a website, that functions as an online encyclopedia of all Amiga games and programs ever released.

@ThanosReXXX Yes, when I finally got around to (soft)modding my Wii last spring I did download the Amiga emulator. I still have the files somewhere, I just never went too deep researching it as by then I had more than enough retro games to play with all the 8/16Bit and Neo Geo emulators etc.

Thanks for those links. Always fun to take a trip down memory lane. Retro Gamer magazine actually had a feature on CHAOS ENGINE an issue or so back. Speaking of which, the folks behind Retro Gamer Mag also have a great little SNES dedicated bookazine. Been re-reading it of late, full of great games and coverage of the machine.

@Lroy I modded my Wii into the ultimate retro box. This is all I have on there:

• NES
• SNES
• Game Boy (Color)
• Game Boy Advance
• N64
• GameCube (Nintendont and DIOS MIOS)
• Atari 2600
• Colecovision
• Turbografx16/PC Engine
• Sega Megadrive/Genesis
• MSX
• Amiga
• Neo Geo
• PSX

And besides that, Wii conversions of Doom, Quake 1 & 2, BoR Engine, ScummVM, Abuse (old PC game), Kobo Deluxe (PC space shooter) and Alien Breed 92 remake.

@ThanosReXXX Nice, Wii is a brilliant emulation box indeed.

I think I have a lot of those same systems installed. Mainly use my Wii for backed up Wii and GC games and then all the SEGA platforms up to SEGA-CD as well as Neo Geo and MAME (however, I'm Switch all the way now with Neo Geo, Arcade Archives, Psikyo, Johnny Turbo's Data East titles and likewise I do prefer using my Raspberry Pi for MAME/FINAL BURN ALPHA emulations over my Wii. I have a specific image with built-in bezels and scanline filters, no save states and it really scratches my Arcade nostalgia itch along with Switch).

Also have NES on my Wii (but I am going to get a NES Mini further down the line), SNES (but now going to play that platform exclusively on the Mini), N64, GB/GBC/GBA as well as PC-Engine/PC-Engine CD and PS1. Not too sold on performance of N64 and PS1 though on Wii.

Think that's it? I got to a point of just thinking this is enough for my limited gaming time, lol!

@Lroy Yeah, I feel you...
Got similar problems here myself. But in all honesty: all the modding and tweaking is already more than half the fun for me. Getting it to work in the first place, and then tweaking it to such an extent, that it is as good as it is going to get on that specific platform, in this case the Wii.

Never had any issues with N64 and PSX emulation on the Wii, so I've no idea what issues you've come across. The only niggles I myself came across with N64 games, is that some simply don't work or have graphical glitches in various degrees, also making some titles virtually unplayable, but most of the popular titles work just fine for me. I do use two versions of the emulator: Wii64 (USB-modded version) and Not64, for the more difficult to emulate games, such as Conker's Bad Fur Day, and for PSX emulation, I use WiiSX (also the USB modded version). Those USB modded versions are also slightly tweaked for performance, so you could still give them a go, if you're interested. Just Google them...

Now, I have to say that I'm not such a nitpicker as some, who put every single pixel and missing frame under a microscope, so perhaps I just focus more on simply enjoying the games, which should be the most important thing to do...

As for those Minis (have to get back on topic, after all, no?), I went to my local game shop today, and pre-ordered the NES Mini, paid in full, so that I'll be sure to get one, once they arrive over here on the 29th of June.

@DarthNocturnal No pre-order up yet on Amazon? Nintendo Life had links up in their latest NES Mini article for Amazon UK, so I'd imagine that the same would count for Amazon US.

@DarthNocturnal Ah, okay. Bummer. Is the release date the same, though? Over here, it's the 29th of June.

@DarthNocturnal I often use this site:
http://www.nowinstock.net/ca/videogaming/consoles/nesclassicm...

Nintendo tweeted:

#NESClassic Edition will return to stores on June 29! This system and the #SNESClassic Edition system are expected to be available through the end of the year. https://t.co/LclbG5m4ta pic.twitter.com/1PcXBI5qJC

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 14, 2018

So, even aside from pre-orders, it seems that we shouldn't have to worry about availability.
And they offered some advice as well:
For those outside the US, make sure to follow the Nintento Twitter account that’s relevant to your country.

@DarthNocturnal I don't have a Twitter account either, but we don't need one to be able to keep tabs on Nintendo's Twitter account. It's a public account, so everyone can access and read it.

As for pre-ordering: why not pre-order at Amazon USA? I don't think there would be any problem using an American SNES Mini in Canada, unless there's something I'm overlooking...

As for that extra controller: you can already get those online from just about any game-related web shop, so I don't think that this should be a problem, even in your neck of the woods.

N64 Mini rumour has arisen and been discussed again. Loads of folks seem to want to impress upon you the hurdles and flaws with such a system. Limited library of quality games (many apparently unobtainable now for Nintendo), hardware intricacies, controller considerations, higher price point. Or how they don't think it will ever happen.

However, I for one would be absolutely delighted if they announce this is happening at E3. Even if it isn't launching until next year, even if it has less games than the NES/SNES Minis, even if they feel they have to change the controller to a modified design.

Bottom line is, if Nintendo can somehow figure out how to near-perfect N64 game emulation, I'd be willing to pay £100 or whatever the inevitable increased price is as some report it will be.

Yes, the N64 hails from an era of gaming where many of the early 3D games have aged poorly in an aesthetic sense compared to previous generations but there's still enjoyment to be had with many of these titles. Man, I miss my N64.

If people who grew up with the Atari can feel attached to those graphics, N64 kids have nothing to be ashamed of.

I think they should do a Game Boy Mini instead

Hey, I'd buy both 😉

If Nintendo do indeed do a Game Boy Mini (and at this point from a demand and financial gain perspective, why wouldn't they?) I'd really like it to feature titles from across that family of systems - e.g. have Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games on it. The latter of which had some incredible games which definitely can stand up today.

While I wouldn't say no to a GBA Classic, I'd rather they just enable GBA games on the 3DS.

@DarthNocturnal Really? The official controller can quite easily be pre-ordered over here in stores, and they cost around 15 euros, which will probably be around 20 dollars. No fear for scalpers over here. I've also already secured a NES Mini, so I'm not losing any sleep over these anti-social backstabbers...

@DarthNocturnal Well, it'll be up eventually. And if it's any consolation: it was up here for well over a week, and I was STILL able to quite easily pre-order it, so it was definitely not the same situation as when it launched the first time.

And as that official Tweet said, both Minis will be available throughout the rest of the year, so I'm pretty sure you'll be able to secure one in the end, unless you're living in an area with very little outlets or options to get games and consoles.