The SNES Thread

[air_raid]

I could wax lyrical about the Super NES at length, but my favourite part of my own story was as a child that always fell behind - I was playing a Philips Videopac when all my friends had proper consoles, I was the last to even get a Game Boy - a particular Christmas I'd been dropping hints to my parents that I'd love a second-hand NES to finally play Mario in colour on my telly. They bought me a Super NES with Mario World pack in, plus Super Soccer and Super R-Type. I nearly cried with happiness.

[westlondonmist]

12 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

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. 

There must have been pads that did offer thst for the SNES as some would have preferred that style. 

Back then I just remember 3rd party stuff generally being lame. I've got a hori pad for my Switch and it's awesome. What happened, did companies start working harder on stuff for PCs and then put that work and quality over to home consoles? 

[Jazzy G]

1 hour ago, westlondonmist said:

There must have been pads that did offer thst for the SNES as some would have preferred that style. 

Back then I just remember 3rd party stuff generally being lame. I've got a hori pad for my Switch and it's awesome. What happened, did companies start working harder on stuff for PCs and then put that work and quality over to home consoles? 

Presumably it's that, or they started making controllers etc for pro gamers, and realised that they can make decent money selling them to the general public. I've got a Hori Fight Commander for my PS4 and its great. It'd be handy if it had a touch pad as well, but for fighting games and beat em ups it's brilliant. 

[Jesse]

I think the internet & global commerce has also made the good ones more accessible. HORI have been officially licensed by Nintendo for going on 30 years now but they're a japanese company afaik so you weren't likely to find their controllers being sold down your local Eclipse Computers.

[FLips]

Generally there are two types of 3rd party controller, the specialised ones and the budget ones. Specialised are things like Hori which are generally made well and for a specific thing like fightpads, and then you get the budget ones like Competition Pro, or these days ones like PowerA or Gioteck.

From my experience working in games retail, you get what you pay for. Yeah Switch Joycons are grossly expensive, but if you’ve used the £30 3rd party ones you’d know it’s worth the extra. 
3rd party controllers are the same now as they were then, only useful as a cheap backup if you rarely do 2 player.

[Jesse]

I got the HORI split pad for my Siwtch because the joycons were giving me hand cramps and I love them so much - probably my favourite gamepad since the Xbox One

[FLips]

29 minutes ago, Jesse said:

I got the HORI split pad for my Siwtch because the joycons were giving me hand cramps and I love them so much - probably my favourite gamepad since the Xbox One

My mate had one of these back in the day and it was cumbersome and virtually useless at everything. That being said for some reason I got inexplicably good at Mario Kart Double Dash with it, to the point I would deliberately use it.

[Jazzy G]

I picked up a Powera controller for my XBox and it was great. I got a third party controller for my PS4, I can't remember who made it now, and apart from it not having a speaker and motion control it was more reliable than any of the Sony controllers I had. 

[Surf Digby]

It's just me and the boy tonight, so it's a perfect excuse to rig the SNES up to the big TV (which was a massive ball ache to tune in).

 

Wonderfully commented by our miniature tram museum.

*Sigh*

[FLips]

13 minutes ago, Nostalgia Nonce said:

It's just me and the boy tonight, so it's a perfect excuse to rig the SNES up to the big TV (which was a massive ball ache to tune in).

 

Wonderfully commented by our miniature tram museum.

*Sigh*

Wonderful!

Make sure to stick your tv in Game Mode if possible because when I tuned mine in it had unplayable input delay and I had to move it to my older smaller tv!

Make the boy use the competition pro, it’s tough love!

[DavidB6937]

28 minutes ago, Nostalgia Nonce said:

It's just me and the boy tonight, so it's a perfect excuse to rig the SNES up to the big TV (which was a massive ball ache to tune in).

 

Wonderfully commented by our miniature tram museum.

*Sigh*

I find myself wanting to know more about the miniature trams..

[Jazzy G]

13 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

I find myself wanting to know more about the miniature trams..

Likewise. 

[FLips]

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

What is it?

Also known as Diddy Kong's Quest by me until I was in my twenties and learned to read, DKC2 is the universally loved sequel to DKC in which Donkey Kong isn't even playable.

How is it?

In DKC2 you play as Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong in an attempt to rescue Donkey Kong from Kaptain K Rool (He's a King in 1 and a Baron in 3 but it's the same guy).
The game is guilty of what a lot of platformers are and that's cramming the sequel with gimmicks. DKC1 had a few, notably the minecart and water levels. DKC2 is loaded with them and for the most part thankfully they work as this is before the PS1-era minigames phase, so the gimmicks are all just extra challenges and obstacles in levels rather than games of ice hockey. But there is still in my opinion too many of them.
That being said the worlds themselves are gorgeous and so incredibly varied from start to finish, it lends itself well to a lot of the gimmicks they do put in. The forest levels blow you around with the leaves in the wind, the hot air in the lava levels keep your balloon afloat and the ghosts chase you on a haunted rollercoaster in the theme park levels. Rare really knew how to incorporate a level hazard rather than just tack it on.

The levels also incorporate the soundtrack just as smoothly. Each track matches the level you're on without fault and it really makes the whole thing engrossing.
Stickerbrush Symphony, Donkey Kong Saved, Jib Jig and Forest Interlude are all personal favourites from the classic OST but you could honestly pick them out of a hat and they're all brilliant. DKC1 and 3 have great tracks among average ones, and eventually Tropical Freeze one-upped it, but for a long long time this was the pinnacle of David Wise's work.

It's the hardest of the SNES trilogy and gets difficult really early compared to them too. The later levels they intend to be the hard ones are near impossible without practice, especially if you get the secret world. It's easy to see why it's regarded as the best DKC game and one of the best SNES games of all time. It looks and sounds beautiful, the worlds and levels are full of variety and most importantly the controls are faultless. I still personally prefer 3 and Tropical Freeze but that's just me. DKC2 is a must-own SNES title.

Also here's a link to the OST:

 

[gmoney]

Despite being a former SNES owner, and count myself as a fan of the console, I'm not sure I knew that existed. We certainly didn't have it, and I didn't know anyone else who did. I was spending any pocket money on Match or Shoot magazine then, so wouldn't have read about it, and I guess it's always just passed me by. I must have a bash of the ROM, as I loved the first. That's exciting. 

[Guest]

Fans of Donkey Kong Country looking for more could try Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (a 2D sequel based on DKC, whereas the 3D original was based on Banjo-Kazooie). Also the overlooked Nintendo DS title DK Jungle Climber adds a unique twist to the gameplay.