After the massive success of the NES Classic mini-console, nobody was surprised when Nintendo revealed a miniature version of the iconic 16-bit Super Nintendo. The Super NES Classic was another home run, and with these two mini machines together selling more than ten million units worldwide, it’s pretty clear that retro gaming is here to stay.
Like its 8-bit predecessor, the Super NES Classic sold out almost immediately (with many buyers being scalpers who planned to sell the consoles at inflated prices on Ebay), but to avoid another sellout fiasco, Nintendo promised to keep these consoles on the shelves. These efforts have been successful, and the Super NES Classic is now in stock pretty much everywhere. Whether you’re a long-time Nintendo fan looking to relive the halcyon days of 16-bit graphics or you’re just doing some holiday shopping, the SNES Classic might be the perfect Christmas gift for gamers of all ages.
The Super NES Classic comes pre-loaded with an impressive lineup of 20 of the best SNES games ever made. Just a few of these include Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, and Final Fantasy III, among many others. There’s a 21st game, too, that never actually launched until now: Star Fox 2 in its first official Nintendo release.
This is exciting because, although there has been an unfinished beta ROM of Star Fox 2 floating around on the internet for some time, only now has Nintendo actually dusted off and completed the game — just for the SNES Classic. Who could have guessed that one of 2017’s most highly anticipated game releases would be a Super Nintendo title?
Unlike the NES Classic, which only comes with one controller, the Super NES Classic includes two of those sweet 8-button SNES gamepads. This could still be the best old-school controller design, and with a pair of them, you can enjoy two-player action with some of the included multiplayer games like Super Mario Kart, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, and Contra III: The Alien Wars.
The Super NES Classic is available right now for its regular price of $80 at Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and GameStop. Amazon also has it available on back-order for Prime members, with stock set to arrive on December 17 – although if you’re willing to spend a few bucks more, you can grab the colorful Buy Now (which is not region-locked, so it will work on American TVs) for around $86.
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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.
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