Gaming’s worst kept secret!

We all knew it was just a matter of time after the wild success of the NES Classic last year.  There’s been retailer talk and such for the last few months as well.  But now its official!  The SNES classic brings 20 twenty 16-bit classics in one small package for the small sum of $80.  As an added bonus the cancelled Star Fox 2 is also part of the deal.  Long time gamers will remember Star Fox 2 being heavily previewed around 94-95 before it was cancelled in favor of Star Fox 64.  This was despite the game being complete.  An almost complete version has been kicking around the internet for the last decade or so but now we can play the real deal.  Or at least the lucky fans who get their hands on the system.  Nintendo has promised a greater supply of systems but we all know this thing is going to sell out fast.  Hopefully they will allow preorders and avoid last year’s debacle. 

The full list of games are:

• Contra III: The Alien Wars
• Donkey Kong Country
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy III
• 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
• Star Fox 2
• 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!!
• Yoshi’s Island

Its a nice spread that covers most genres.  I’m sure we all have our preferences and games that we wish were there but I will say they’ve curated it well.  Personally I would have chosen Donkey Kong Country 2 over the original and Super Street Fighter 2 over Hyper Fighting.  I also find the inclusion of Kirby’s Dream Course a bit dubious.  I would have included Kirby’s Dreamland 3 as it is still a bit of an under the radar release but I digress.  The Japanese Super Famicom mini has a different lineup with the standouts being Legend of the Mystical Ninja and Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem.  Can you imagine if they had localized that for the West? Oh man….