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Nintendo appears to be readying a SNES Switch controller
Nintendo may be planning to make SNES-style wireless controllers for the Switch, according to an FCC filing first spotted by a user on the Resetera forum.
Switch Online code hints at potential SNES game additions
To date, Nintendo has handed out NES games as bonuses with Switch Online subscriptions. But what about SNES titles? Thanks to some code sleuthing, you might have a hint of what's in the pipeline. Twitter user Kapu claims to have found references to 22 SNES games in Switch Online's code strings, many of them must-haves for fans. Mario is unsurprisingly well-represented with Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Super Mario All-Stars in the mix.
Dive into the long lost SimCity NES port
SimCity on the Super Nintendo was groundbreaking -- it managed to combine the joy of simulated city building that Mac and Amiga gamers enjoyed into a family-friendly console title that anyone could play. But did you know Maxis and Nintendo also had an NES version in the works, too? Last year, two prototype cartridges of the NES SimCity appeared at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, and Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation snagged a digital copy. As a fitting Christmas gift to the gaming world, he published a deep dive into the history of the long lost game, which also covers the ways it differs from the SNES version we're all familiar with, as well as a NES ROM for emulators.
Nintendo warns it won't make more retro NES and SNES consoles
Just because Nintendo revived the NES Classic doesn't mean you'll have the luxury of buying a retro console whenever you'd like. In a chat with the Hollywood Reporter, the company's Reggie Fils-Aime warned that the NES Classic and SNES Classic will sell in the Americas through the holidays, but will be "gone" once they sell out. If you want to walk down memory lane after that, you'll have to take advantage of the games that come with Switch Online.
The Playstation Classic is $100 worth of '90s nostalgia
All that's old will be new again this Festivus, if the Playstation Classic is any indication. On Tuesday, Engadget headed down to Sony Interactive Studios in San Mateo, California for an early look at what is shaping up to be one of the hottest items of the holidays.
8BitDo’s Bluetooth mod kits put retired controllers back to work
The mini-console trend isn't just a case of repackaging classic, beloved games and cashing in on our shared retrophilia. There's also a practical reason for their existence: Most old consoles are incompatible with today's TVs. Unless you've held on to a CRT, you've got no choice but to seek out special signal converters or, more likely, let your best childhood friend gather dust in a closet. But there is a middle ground. With 8BitDo's $20 mod kits, you can, at least, give those classic controllers a new lease on life by repurposing them for the Bluetooth era.
Analogue's Mega Sg sounds like the ultimate Sega Genesis
Analogue, the retro console manufacturer behind the Nt Mini and Super Nt, excellent modern NES and SNES reproductions, is now bringing back a seminal '90s rival. The company has announced the Mega Sg, a Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and Master System recreation that can play over 2,180 classic cartridges. Unlike other retro console clones, Analogue, as its name suggests, doesn't use emulation methods. Rather, the company opts to use an Altera Cyclone V FPGA chip to ensure 100 percent compatibility -- and so that games can be played exactly how they were intended. It's not the exact chip used in the Genesis, but using an FPGA chip that runs off HDL (hardware description language), it can essentially be any other chip. It's a solution that bypasses emulation through an operating system, to connect and speak directly between game cartridge and motherboard.
SNES Party lets you play classic ROMs with friends online
Nintendo promised online play for the retro games it'll make available via the Switch's online service, but if you'd rather not wait until this September for that, there's an unofficial way to play games of yore over the internet. It's through an emulator called SNES Party. "SNES Party is an experimental way to play SNES games with your friends online all from within your browser using WebRTC," the developers write. It works pretty well too.
Make your classic gamepads wireless with 8BitDo's DIY kits
8BitDo will happily sell you wireless controllers that are vaguely similar to classic gamepads of yore, but it clearly can't sell you the real deal without invoking massive copyright battles. It can, however, offer you the next best thing. The company is now selling mod kits that add Bluetooth wireless to original NES, SNES, Super Famicom and Mega Drive controllers. You don't need a soldering iron or a toolbox -- so long as you're comfortable opening a vintage gamepad in the first place, you'll have everything you need (including a lithium-ion battery) to avoid stringing cords across the room.
Japan-only 'Double Dragon' game comes to the Super NES this summer
It might be time to dust off that old Super NES, especially if you're a Double Dragon fan -- on July 19th, you can check out a version of Super Double Dragon that wasn't available in North America before now.
'Fork Parker's Crunch Out' is an SNES game made for charity
Do you still have an original SNES console hiding in the back of your closet? You might want to dig it out. Devolver Digital and Mega Cat Studios are releasing a brand new SNES game, Fork Parker's Crunch Out, with all profits going toward the Take This charity providing support and awareness for mental health issues. The title has you playing Devolver's fictional CFO as he "motivates" game developers to make it through crunch time and release on schedule, quality be damned.
Square Enix gives 'Chrono Trigger' the PC graphics update it needs
Square Enix came under fire back in February when it released the mobile version of Chrono Trigger onto Steam, and not the anticipated SNES version. Players weren't happy, but now the publisher has made good its promise to fix things by releasing a patch that better aligns the game with its original look.
Square Enix pledges to fix the PC version of 'Chrono Trigger'
Square Enix is going to make it right for Chrono Trigger fans. In late February, the publisher dropped the classic JRPG onto Steam, but it was the oft-derided mobile port from six years ago -- not the original SNES game from 1995. To right that wrong, Square Enix will patch the game with an option to switch between the current visuals and "the original graphical style" of the game.
In search of pixel perfection with the Analogue Super NT
The 16-bit aesthetic is the new vinyl. It taps into a growing vein of '90s nostalgia, and it also reflects a longing for a tactile past world that just predates full-scale digitization. Fat, colorful sprites represent an era when technology was still analog and full of exciting possibilities. The Super Nintendo is as much an emblem of this retro near-futurism as it is a game machine. But boy, is it also a great game machine. Hence, nostalgia for the Super Nintendo is currently at its absolute peak. There are half a dozen or so clone consoles on the market and advanced emulators such as Higan that run with near-cycle perfection on high-end PCs. Then there's Nintendo's own incredibly popular SNES Mini. In short, there is no shortage of ways to play these classic games right now. All options have their strengths and drawbacks, but Analogue's new Super NT retro console easily blows them all out of the water, delivering sprites with pixel-perfect accuracy, zero lag and considerable polish.
8Bitdo's wireless SNES controller is perfect for Switch retro gaming
The Nintendo Switch's controllers shouldn't work as well as they do. That might be why options beyond a Joy-Con in each hand (or the Switch's own Pro controller) are few and far between. 8Bitdo's latest wireless peripheral, the SN30 Pro, might be worth considering for your secondary controller needs. Beside that allure of nostalgia, the SN30 Pro particularly shines with older games and tries to balance a classic design with modern controls. I picked up the (obviously prettier) European / Japanese model, the otherwise identical SF30 Pro, and had a play.
Best Buy will have Nintendo's SNES Classic in stores Saturday
If you still don't own an SNES Classic Edition, you'll have a chance to get one tomorrow, November 25th. Best Buy has announced that it will sell Nintendo's mini, retro console in stores across the US starting at 9AM local time. Not surprisingly, you'll have to be at the door early since stock will be limited. There's going to be a cap of one per customer, and Best Buy said in a blog post that it's going to offer a first-come, first-served ticketing system for customers waiting in line.
The Analogue Super Nt is Nintendo's SNES Classic for grown-ups
Just as the NES Classic Edition broke ground before the SNES Classic, Analogue is also following up on Nintendo's wallet-grab on our childhood memories with another premium, no-compromise mini console that plays the gaming carts of yesteryear, and solves some of our issues with the official miniature SNES. This is all, however, for a premium price. Naturally.
Nintendo’s mini SNES quickly cracked to run more games
It appears that Nintendo really doesn't mind modders cracking open its little retro consoles and using them for more than they were originally intended. Back when the NES Classic Edition was released, it took Russian tinkerer "Cluster" just a few months to figure out how to side-load additional games onto the system. Nintendo doesn't seem to have made the process any more difficult on the new mini SNES, as little more than a week after its release, Cluster has updated his hakchi2 tool to support side-loading extra games onto the latest pint-sized console.
8BitDo brings its wireless controllers to the SNES Classic
The SNES Classic is a cute microconsole with a hell of a selection of games. While it's a pretty accurate recreation of the original number, and its controller cords are indeed longer than the NES Classic Edition that preceded it, the modern convenience of wireless controllers is hard to beat. The good news is that if you ordered up one of 8BitDo's wireless SNES-styled gamepads and have last year's Retro Receiver, it'll work with the miniature 16-bit console in a pinch. Don't have one? Then the company has something new, just for you -- the SN30, a 2.5G wireless controller built specifically for the SNES Classic Edition.
Nintendo's NES Classic Edition is coming back in 2018
Despite announcing it was game over for the NES Classic Edition earlier this year, Nintendo now says that due to demand, it plans to ship the product into 2018. Shipment timings are yet to be announced, but this is big news for fans who thought they were going to miss out after the console began disappearing from store shelves. And in responding to fan enthusiasm, more units of the Super NES Classic Edition will ship on its upcoming 29 September launch day in the US than were shipped of NES Classic Editions throughout the entirety of last year. The system will retail for $80/£80 and features 21 legendary Super NES games such as Super Mario World, Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
