Nintendo seized control of the otherwise slow summer news period following E3 by announcing the SNES Classic Edition, following up on the explosive success of its predecessor, the NES Classic Edition. This plug-and-play retro mini console will come loaded with 21 classic titles, covering a lot of the platform’s essentials. What counts as essential will vary depending on who you ask, however, and Nintendo has taken that into account regionally, since the Japanese version (the Super Famicom Mini) comes with a slightly different lineup of games, including Panel de Pon (known here as Tetris Attack) and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.
In addition to those two, the Super Famicom Mini also adds The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, and Super Formation Soccer. Apart from Fire Emblem, the other three titles were all released in the United States as well. In order to maintain the cap of 21 games, however, sacrifices had to be made. From the western version, but not included in the Super Famicom Mini, are Super Castlevania IV, Super Punch-Out, Kirby’s Dream Course, and EarthBound.
These differences will no doubt send some dedicated non-Japanese fans down an online rabbit hole searching for the Japanese version. Tetris Attack and the prospect of a new (to us) Fire Emblem game are certainly tempting — Tetris Attack is actually included on our list of titles we wish were added to the list. By our estimation, however, the four titles missing from the Japanese version would be more sorely missed. Regardless of which region you buy your retro console in, one of the main draws for all versions is the never-released Star Fox 2, which unlocks after users beat the first level of the original Star Fox.
The SNES Classic Edition will launch on September 29 in the United States for $80 (or whatever exorbitant price you manage to find it for on eBay subsequently). It will be produced in a limited run, though Nintendo promises to do so at higher volumes than the NES Classic, which has been notoriously difficult to find. It also comes with two wired controllers instead of one, which will sport five-foot cables instead of the stumpy three-foot ones on the NES Classic’s controller.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.