Updated by Gabe Gurwin on 06-26-17: Updated with Nintendo’s statement on console’s availability, as well as information on controllers’ cord length.
Confirming rumors that recently came to a boil, Nintendo announced the Super Nintendo Classic Edition, a follow-up to Nintendo’s incredibly popular plug-and-play NES Classic Edition emulator box, will hit stores September 29. The bite-sized SNES will come loaded with 21 classic titles, including Star Fox 2, which was never officially released anywhere, including Japan.
The Super Nintendo Classic Edition will include an HDMI cable, USB charging cable and adapter, and two wired SNES controllers, enabling multiplayer right out of the box. The cables for the controllers will be five feet in length, up from the three feet from the NES Classic’s controllers — that console also only included one controller per package.
SNES Classic games:
- Contra III: The Alien Wars
- Donkey Kong Country
- EarthBound
- Final Fantasy III
- F-ZERO
- Kirby Super Star
- Kirby’s Dream Course
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- Mega Man X
- Secret of Mana
- Star Fox
- Star Fox 2
- Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
- Super Castlevania IV
- Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts
- Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
- Super Mario World
- Super Metroid
- Super Punch-Out!!
- Yoshi’s Island
The list should have many gamers in their 30s and 40s salivating over the chance to dive back into their nostalgic favorites. The jump from 8- to-16 bits on the SNES was a huge jump in the creative potential of games as a young medium: Many games from the console are still widely played and listed among the best games of all time, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country and Street Fighter II. The role-playing games on offer are also particularly extensive, with hundreds of potential hours waiting in Final Fantasy III, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound, and Secret of Mana.
For many players, though, Star Fox 2 will be the main selling point for many, however. Developed in 1995 as a direct sequel to the original Star Fox, Nintendo axed the release in order to focus on their upcoming Nintendo 64. Various unofficial ROMs and fan translations have circulated ever since, but this will be the first time Nintendo has officially released the sequel in any capacity. Players will need to beat the first level of the original Star Fox to unlock it.
Nintendo also hopes rectify its biggest issue from last year’s NES Classic launch, creating enough hardware to meet consumer demand. The NES Classic sold out almost immediately when it went on sale in 2016, with sporadic units making their way to store shelves before the system was discontinued completely. Nintendo told IGN that “significantly more” devices will be available. Like the NES Classic, however, the system might not be available after its first few months on sale: Nintendo said it will sell the SNES Classic through the end of 2017.
“At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year,” Nintendo said in a prepared statement.
There were nearly 800 games officially released for the Super Nintendo from 1991 to 1998, so inevitably some people’s favorites won’t make the cut. We think that Chrono Trigger is the most glaring absence, for instance. It’s nevertheless an impressive line-up, however, and given its predecessor’s success, we expect it to sell like hotcakes this fall.
