Wasting Time With SNES Nostalgia

Welcome Time Wasters!

Listen, I’m going to be frank about this. This week isn’t so much of a review as it is a look back at my childhood. That may seem strange to some, but it’s been a busy week. On top of family obligations, I’ve also been spending lots of my time playing a game for a traditional review here at GiN (Yeah, it’s been awhile).

All of this left me with very little free time this week to spend on the small type of games that I typically review for the Time Waster. So Friday comes along and I’m trying to find a browser game to kill some time with. Unfortunately, each game I chose to play crashes on me before loading all the way. I don’t know if it was Chrome or the fact that they were all made in Unity. It could have been a combination of both, but it was frustrating.

With all this in mind, there was another thing this week that I did in connection to gaming. My mom let me know that she recently found the SNES in the basement. It was stored away with one of my older sister’s things from college. I’d been trying to find it for years and picked it up the next day while I was already over visiting with her.

SNES
Behold my childhood!

All in all, just about everything was still with the console. The first-party SNES controller was missing, but the third-party Super Pad was still with it and works well enough. I spent the next few hours making sure it was still in working order. This also includes testing out each of the games for the system.

Here’s a quick list of the SNES games from my childhood (in no particular order).

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World
  • Monopoly
  • The Lion King
  • Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
  • Super Pinball: Behind the Mask
  • Scooby-Doo Mystery
  • Paperboy 2
  • Aladdin
  • Kirby’s Avalanche
  • Mega Man X
  • Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge
  • Jurassic Park
  • Super Godzilla
  • Super Empire Strikes Back
  • X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse
  • Vortex
  • Earthworm Jim

I’ll also note that there’s a SNES cartridge for Super Mario World by itself, but I remember that being gifted to my sister by one of her friends even after we already had the All Stars + Mario World collection. Unfortunately, the one game I couldn’t find anywhere was Super Punch Out.

So with all this said, what was my experience like? Well, it was a little frustrating. While each of the games are in working order, it took more than a few tries to get some of them working. It was nostalgic the first few times, but lost a little of the magic after awhile.

SNES
Fun Fact: I didn’t know this wasn’t the original SNES design until years later when playing my friend’s in high school.

The next thing worth noting was the state of the SNES controller. When I say it works well enough, what I really mean is that it worked fine if the cord was in the right position. Move it the wrong way and the whole thing ceases to function. To be fair, the cord is stiff after all these years and couldn’t move much anyways. Meaning it wasn’t much of a problem. Even then, I’m planning to buy a couple of replacements so Alia and I can play some of these older games together.

I was happy to find that some SNES games were just as good as I remember them being. That includes the likes of Mega Man X, Aladdin, the Mario games, TMNT IV and a few others. However, I can’t deny that there were some I don’t care much for as an adult. That includes Earthworm Jim, Jurassic Park and (while I don’t like to admit it because I’m a big fan of the series) Super Godzilla.

Where am I going from here? Well, my hope is to whip up a batch of Retr0Brite one of these days and give the SNES a restoration. I’ll also be going over the cartridges with some rubbing alcohol to clean up the connectors. It’ll make for a fun evening when I find the time. I’ve never been much of a handy man, but working on electronics is my cup of tea. It’s a hobby for me, just like playing video games. This little project will let me combine those hobbies together into something that I hope I will enjoy.

I’ll be back with a normal Time Waster next weekend. Until then, enjoy yourselves!

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2 thoughts on “Wasting Time With SNES Nostalgia”

  1. I want to get back into collecting retro games myself, not just Super NES but other systems as well. The catch though is like what you are going through with how some games might not work without getting them cleaned out successfully, especially if you get your games second hand from like a flea market or, God helps us all, eBay. Then there is the price issue. While some of the more common games (I’m talking like Mario/Duck Hunt on the NES) are very cheap, other games can get to be quite expensive. Even a simple common game like Contra is going up in price (a loose copy according to Pat the NES Punk’s Ultimate NES app goes for $22, while a sealed copy goes for over $500!) I would love to go back and get me a Sega Saturn again but those are also insanely priced, not just the games but the system itself, especially if I want to get one that also plays the better Japanese imports. Guess that’s why I stick with emulation and my emulated NES/SNES Classics.
    As for Retrobrite, I’ve seen a lot of restoration projects that use that quite well and I hope it works out for you. I recommend you check out the 8-Bit Guy on YouTube because I know he does a lot of restorations and it might help you out with your SNES.

    1. Yeah, the games possibly not working is a big barrier for me. I though about picking up a few games like Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger for the SNES, but its a lot of money to pay for something that might not work. Plus, I already own them by other means, so its hard to justify the second purchase.

      Thanks for the heads-up on the YouTube channel. I’ve never done any restoration projects before so I’m sure that will be a big help.

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