The SNES Thread

[Loki]

Anyone here know much about repairing old consoles?

 I’ve acquired an old NES and a Megadrive but they quickly stopped working.  I think they need some new parts but I’m a bit out of my depth.

[FLips]

41 minutes ago, Loki said:

Anyone here know much about repairing old consoles?

 I’ve acquired an old NES and a Megadrive but they quickly stopped working.  I think they need some new parts but I’m a bit out of my depth.

Depends what the symptoms are.
I’ve found if it’s games loading that is the issue, it’s oftentimes the cartridges themselves. Get some cotton buds and rubbing alcohol and you’ll be surprised the amount of muck comes off them.

In the case of the NES, the dirty cartridges also cause the blinking light issues where the console turns on and off repeatedly trying to load it.

If it’s the power or image it’d be cheaper to just replace the wires than get it repaired.

[Loki]

They turn on and there's a signal to the tv but no real picture.  Reading up a bit it may be that the capacitors burnt out when I turned it on after 30 years.  So they may need replacing.

[Jazzy G]

On 1/11/2023 at 9:15 PM, Twatters said:

Has anyone got one of those RetroN 5 HD consoles. They play several different cartridges including Megadrive and SNES but into HD TVs. Currently debating whether to splash out on one or just get an original SNES. 

I have my Wii modded to play all the games but fancy collecting some boxed SNES games.

I hear they're good. I think you can use some form of SD card and rip the cartridge to a ROM so you only need to put it in once, or sideload the ROMs. I could be wrong. They do look nifty. 

[Bus Surfer]

I vividly remember playing SMB2 after months of playing SMB and feeling like it was a cheap market place knock off. It just feels completely alien to the rest and I never enjoyed it. I only found out about the Doku Doku re-skin probably about 3 years ago.

Very similar to how I felt playing Alex Kidd Lost Stars after Miracle World. Mind boggling for a 8 year old. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Silky Kisser

[FLips]

1 hour ago, Silky Kisser said:

I vividly remember playing SMB2 after months of playing SMB and feeling like it was a cheap market place knock off. It just feels completely alien to the rest and I never enjoyed it. I only found out about the Doku Doku re-skin probably about 3 years ago.

Very similar to how I felt playing Alex Kidd Lost Stars after Miracle World. Mind boggling for a 8 year old. 

I think I liked it more because it felt alien. It was fun and different.

[FLips]

There's only gonna be a few more of these as I'm running out of games!
 

Tiny Toons Adventures: Buster Busts Loose

What is it?

A SNES exclusive Konami developed Tiny Toons platformer to oppose the Sega Megadrive's (also Konami developed) Tiny Toons Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure. Both of them fantastic in their own way (though I prefer the MD one).

How is it?

Well not to beat around the bush, but it's early 90s Konami so it's bound to be good isn't it?
Before they went 3D and got into their Metal Gear Solid/Silent Hill period and long before the company collapsed in on itself like a dying star, they were releasing banger after banger including the Contra and Castlevania series, classic arcade hits like Turtles in Time and The Simpsons, and some unsung tie-ins like Animaniacs and the Tiny Toons games. Not to mention a plethora of other top 16 bit games.

Unlike Buster's Hidden Treasure, this game is smaller and faster paced thanks to the new Dash mechanic which allows you to run up walls, make long leaps and outrun obstacles. The levels are mostly based around this mechanic so whereas BHT was more linear classic designed stages all connected by a world map, this is action-packed bite-sized sections all intertwined into a larger stage. To slow the pace down a little you spin a minigame roulette wheel between stages to earn extra lives, which is handy because you lose a lot in this.
BBL just by design is more trial and error relying on you to maybe die a couple of times before you realise what to do next. It's not frustrating or broken like say a Shadow of The Beast and it's not poorly designed like Bubsy, but it can certainly rub people the wrong way.

It does well with the Tiny Toons license as all the main characters appear in this as either side characters in the minigames or bosses. I can't say personally I was ever too much into Looney Tunes or Tiny Toons but from my experience playing the games of both series, it's worrying how good the spinoff Tiny Toons games are compared to some of the frankly appalling shit Looney Tunes games from this era like Sylvester and Tweety or Daffy Duck in Hollywood.
In fact I would go as far as to say there has never been a Looney Tunes game as good as the Konami Tiny Toons series (I hear the NES one is decent too). The closest they ever really came was the Bugs and Taz Time Travel games on PS1, or Sheep Dog Wolf, but they weren't exactly amazing.

The stages are varied with a combo of classic platforming, auto-scrollers and boss fights that make you think, and the game is short enough to not overstay it's welcome. Definitely worth a go if you can get it at a fair price (I won a copy on Ebay for £8.50) but if you want the better Tiny Toons 16 bit game go for the Mega Drive one as it has a bit more substance and a slower pace. Plus it's a lot easier!

 

Super Ghouls and Ghosts

What is it?

Speaking of 8 and 16 bit developers that could do no wrong, Capcom is up there isn't it? Similarly a collection of solid arcade games, timeless originals and better than they should be licensed tie-ins. I would say Capcom fared better once they went 3D but there was certainly casualties along the way (poor Mega Man).
Super Ghouls and Ghosts is the 3rd in the Ghosts and Goblins series and was made exclusively for the SNES. It's arguably one of, if not the, hardest game on the SNES.

How is it?

Rock hard. I can't do it. Can anyone?

Taking the difficulty out of the equation for a second it's a wonderful game. It's animated beautifully, the controls are a little stiff but easy enough to work around and the complexity of the platforming and mechanics behind it is second to none for this type of game. Not to mention the soundtrack is ace.
On paper it sounds simple. Run left to right as a knight throwing his projectile weapons at zombies and ghosts and that, dodge obstacles and traps, collect better weapons and armour. That's really all the game is.
Your enjoyment of all of that though will entirely depend on how much you like being fucked.
Are you happy playing Stage 1 over and over again until you memorise the whole thing and even then barely get through? If so then welcome to Stage 2 which is a corpse-slow auto-scroller and even harder than Stage 1. If for some reason you get through all the stages, you have to do it again and then finish the last boss with a specific chest-dropped weapon to get the actual ending. It's insane.

That being said, I do enjoy it. The positives do outweigh the negatives and if you ever spent much time playing games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring then this gameplay loop will be familiar to you. Stiff but not bad controls, large bosses with patterns to work out, basic enemies than kill you in two hits. All that demoralisingly difficult gameplay is wrapped up in a package so nice that you just learn to love it. It's not the game that's bad, it's you. Get good.

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Bonus Writeups!

The Super Gameboy Adapter

What is it?

A Sonic & Knuckles-style cartridge that allows you to plug original Gameboy games, and those not-quite-yet-colour black cartridge Gameboy games into the top of your SNES and play them on the TV with the controller.

How is it?

A double edged sword. The games look great on the TV and using the controller is easy. It completely eradicates the issue of no backlight and glare that the Gameboy and Gameboy Colour had. I've no personal experience of it but a quick lookup shows that a good collection of Gameboy games got SNES exclusive improvements when using this such as improved sound or adding 2-4 players.
On the other hand the lack of full Gameboy Colour support is a dissapointment as you miss out on some great GBC games like the Oracle of Ages and Seasons Zelda games, Metal Gear Solid, and Pokemon Crystal; though that is purely as someone going back now as they obviously had no means to at the time.
Also some games lose their point when playing on the SNES instead of the Gameboy, for example why would anyone want to play Donkey Kong Land 2 when you can play the proper Donkey Kong Country 2?

Me and a mate have been hammering Pokemon Blue on it the last week or so and that works a dream (it has a unique border too which some games get). My wife finished Super Mario Land on it too. If you have a SNES and some Gameboy games lying around it's definitely worth a go as they're still fairly cheap (I paid £20) but I probably wouldn't rush to get one if you don't already have the games as stuff like the original Pokemon games that benefit most from it are extortionate to buy now.

Look at this border with it's gross Gen 1 sprites!

 

The Competition Pro 3rd Party Controllers

What are they?

The shite pads your mates had to play with when they came round because you're player one. I have the two above but there were also other variants including a translucent one.

How are they?

Well they're shite aren't they? The one shaped like a SNES pad feels wrong. The buttons are clicky, the d-pad protrudes too far out and the whole thing feels cheap.
The one shaped like a Mega Drive pad is somewhat better. The d-pad and buttons feel a little more accurate to the SNES and it has the nifty Turbo, Slow and Auto options which are great for cheesing games. That being said it's a SNES controller shaped like a Mega Drive controller so it never feels right in your hands. I scoured the depths of every CEX within a 5 mile radius for second official SNES controller just so I could stop using either of these.

Edited January 16, 2023 by FelatioLips

[Arch Stanton]

I remember my mate having one of these controllers for his SNES and I had to use it whenever we played two player. The D-pad was touch sensitive rather than using physical buttons and it was absolutely fucking rubbish, pretty much unplayable!

[FLips]

1 hour ago, Arch Stanton said:

I remember my mate having one of these controllers for his SNES and I had to use it whenever we played two player. The D-pad was touch sensitive rather than using physical buttons and it was absolutely fucking rubbish, pretty much unplayable!

Jesus wept that looks awful. Never seen one of those before!

[westlondonmist]

We had a competition pro as a 3rd controller, basically the one I had to use when playing my brothers at Bomberman. Bastards. 

Suppose it could have been worse, thst turbo touch looks shite. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by westlondonmist

[Jazzy G]

I picked one of these up on eBay a few years ago which works with my SNES & my Multimega. It's got a round gate for the stick, but it's still a decent piece of kit and I could still do SRK motions. Think it was about £30.

[Surf Digby]

I had a Competition Pro controller for my N64 and I actually preferred it to the Nintendo one. It was a bit heftier, and the analogue stick had more resistance to it.

[Spud]

On 1/12/2023 at 1:04 PM, FelatioLips said:

Super Mario Bros 3

What ranks as the best Mario game for a lot of people, and I can see why, SMB3 is the proper sequel to SMB and the amount it adds and the improvements it makes are quite honestly astounding.

Having a Mario game with so much variety in worlds, items and secrets and so much choice in how to play it too makes it clear to see why this one is held to such a high standard. To think it was a NES game is even more impressive.

This really brought back memories. I had a NES, then a Game Boy and then migrated to PC for a few years before getting a PS2.

SMB3 was my favourite game for quite a while and probably the first game I ever completed more than once. It never got old for me so I agree with you about the choices in how to play.

I also had a few other games - Gremlins 2 and Rainbow Islands being another two favourites - SMB3 was the most popular go-to choice for me.

I really need to dig out the NES and Game Boy to see if they still work.

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

I remember my mate having one of these controllers for his SNES and I had to use it whenever we played two player. The D-pad was touch sensitive rather than using physical buttons and it was absolutely fucking rubbish, pretty much unplayable!

I had this for the Amiga. I can confirm this was absolutely awful to use.

[Jazzy G]

They missed a trick not having the shoulder buttons next to the face buttons as well as on the shoulders with that Megadrive pad shaped SNES pad.