In the early ‘ 90s, when Russia had just discovered the world of 8-bit games thanks to a Taiwanese clone of the Nintendo Famicom called Dendy, the rest of the world gamers are being enjoyed a wonderful 16-bit games. At that time there was a fierce battle between the Sega Genesis (Sega Mega Drive in Europe) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (for simplicity – simply SNES). Japanese company Nintendo has decided to give fans a video game ticket for the time machine to the past, and announced that the fall will release a modern version of its 16-bit console with a great set of built-in classic games, as well as a completely unexpected surprise.
16-bit game console in the original Nintendo was called the Super Famicom (continuing the tradition of the original Famicom) and appeared on the shelves of Japanese stores in 1990. The Americans and Europeans received two externally different console called the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (legacy 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System), made in different form factor and color palette. The American SNES was a angular body with a gamepad in gray and purple tones, and the European was reminiscent of the original Super Famicom with a bright-colored buttons on the gamepad and smooth lines of the body. Cartridges with games for the two consoles had different shapes and were compatible only with your home iron. Sales in the U.S. began in 1991, while Europe got the console only in 1992. today, worldwide, there are about 50 million boxes sold with these consoles. In my collection are still preserved two fully functional instance.
Specifications consoles SNES for its time was incredible. Powerful 16-bit processor Ricoh 5A22 running at the frequency of 21.5 MHz, 24-bit bus with variable frequency, 128 KB of RAM, a unique graphic system consisting of two integrated circuits and containing 64 KB of VRAM memory. The console gave an image with a resolution of 239 x 512 pixels, and progressive scan, was able to display colors 32 768 (15-bit RGB space), and handle up to 128 sprites 64 x 64 pixels and up to 4 background images of 1024 x 1024 pixels. Have completed the picture incredibly advanced for its time, 16-bit sound system Sony SPC700, which was developed for the SNES, the “father of PlayStation” Ken Kutaragi. The picture quality and sound in the SNES games were left far behind its direct rival, the Sega Mega Drive.
Nintendo has announced that a remake of the classic 16-bit console for the fans and collectors will go on sale September 29 for the price of 4999 rubles (79,99 dollar in the United States and 7980 yen in Japan). The US will get the console in the usual American form, and the start of sales in Japan will be delayed until October 5. The console will come bundled with two game controllers joining the connectors hidden behind the front cover on the housing console. Let us remind you that last year on sale the reissue of the 8-bit console, the Nintendo Entertainment System priced at 3,999 rubles, which is almost instantly swept from the shelves, and now you can buy it only from dealers for the fabulous price. Nintendo knows how to “catch the hype”, whatever you say.
Console by default will contain such legendary games like Contra III: The Alien Wars, Donkey Kong Country, EarthBound, Final Fantasy III (known as Final Fantasy VI), 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, 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!! and Yoshi’s Island. But the biggest surprise for fans of Nintendo is the fact that the console will be hidden behind another game — Star Fox 2. Strange things, but it never went on sale at the time, and you can play it will be the first time. The list of games for different regions varies slightly. For example, the Japanese get exclusive Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, Panel de Pon, Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers, Super Formation Soccer and The Legend of The Mystical Ninja. But they will not get EarthBound, Kirby’s Dream Course Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting, Super Castlevania 4 Super Punch-Out.
Nintendo promises that I will try to avoid shortage of consoles, not to encourage dealers and gangbangers that make a lot of money on the collectors. The console will be sold until the end of 2017, and then the Japanese company will decide whether to curtail its production or to produce a new batch. Something tells me that not far off is the release of the legendary video game consoles such as the Nintendo 64 and Game Cube. Let’s wait and see.
Fall Nintendo will release a reissue of the 16-bit SNES console
Sergey Grey