Does anyone here miss the old SNES console?

dyigirl4help

I was born in the early 80s and moved to the US in very early 90s, so just in time for SNES. Compared to today's gaming, SNES ...well there is no comparison. But I believe there is more to gaming than how powerful the system is, I think it's the experience that matters, and as a young child in the early 90s, a SNES was like a diamond is to a new bride or a block of cheese about to be rolled down a hill ( yes I have been doing some research about Ireland and I must say I am impressed with your culture and history ) I am of Eastern European descent, but I spent most of my life in the US, but I do not consider myself American even though I am a citizen there. Nor do I insinuate that I speak *English*, I speak *American*, for proper English and American are two very similar yet very different in many ways. Anyway back to the topic at hand ( I tend to think 10 things at once and I apologize ). I REALLY miss games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong and my all time favorite Legend of Zelda, a link to the past. I reminisce about the hours I spent in front of a small TV ( we did not have much money when we first got there as immigrants ) playing those games, so you can imagine the impact it made on me as a child. Sure I have emulators with those games now ( I hope that is okay to speak of such things, if not I will delete this part right away ) but it is just not the same thing. I have actually bought 3 used SNES systems on Amazon in the US but sadly none of them worked A fun fact, a new version of SNES Super Mario Bros goes for over 1 thousand American dollars on Amazon! Same goes for all the other great games of the past. Sad this makes me Any of you gals/guys feel this way about our past consoles?

Myrddin

dyigirl4help wrote: »

A fun fact, a new version of SNES Super Mario Bros goes for over 1 thousand American dollars on Amazon! Same goes for all the other great games of the past. Sad this makes me Any of you gals/guys feel this way about our past consoles?

That's brand new & still sealed, & possibly VGA kinda prices though. It's very cheap to re-live the days of the Snes. I bought a Super Mario World cart there w while ago for €6, the consoles themselves are still cheap & while I'm not sure what's wrong with the ones you bought, are usually incredibly reliable. There's a pretty thriving retro gaming scene actually

cloud493

I do miss the days of putting a cartridge/disc into a console and just playing instead of faffing about with patches and online connection and all that.

Eh, no.

RobbingBandit

Miss the fact that a cartridge based game with feck all memory could last months trying to finish it whilst today you can beat a multi gb disc based game in hours.

Star Lord

Bam Bam Mickey wrote: »

Eh, no.

Great contribution bra.

If you've nothing to contribute, then don't. Consider this a warning.

o1s1n

The three American super nintendos you bought, did you plug them into a European wall socket?

We have voltages in Europe that will blow a US snes power supply.

You need to use a step down transformer to bring the power down to American voltage levels.

On the subject of the Snes, I still play mine regularly. The snes and Megadrive arestill my two favourite consoles, 20+ years later!

dyigirl4help

o1s1n wrote: »

The three American super nintendos you bought, did you plug them into a European wall socket?

We have voltages in Europe that will blow a US snes power supply.

You need to use a step down transformer to bring the power down to American voltage levels.

On the subject of the Snes, I still play mine regularly. The snes and Megadrive arestill my two favourite consoles, 20+ years later!

No, I resided on the east coast for a decade and a half, the other half was spent on an amphib going from port to port sampling beers in the Naval forces:)

Retr0gamer

A SNES and its games should be pretty much indestructible, I think you just got some bad luck there or else the cartridge contacts were dirty.

dyigirl4help

Retr0gamer wrote: »

A SNES and its games should be pretty much indestructible, I think you just got some bad luck there or else the cartridge contacts were dirty.

You know what else I miss the most too, the *blowing inside the game slot trick*, this was mostly for NES but some SNES games needed a good blowing into the cartridge. And yes I agree with you guys, perhaps I did get bad units but the sellers I bought from had all excellent sellers marks. I did use an old TV I had laying around which wasn't a current tv so it wasn't a matter of old technology vs new hardware. The TV does work, I checked it with an old VCR so it is not the TV that did not work. Luckily I was able to return the units. Perhaps I should look for a *New* SNES unit, I wonder what the pricing goes for one of those. I would love a SNES next to my PS3, sort of old/new perspective on my gaming. I grew up with the NES/SNES, Sega Genesis and they hold a dear place in my heart. And I did notice that SNES games were a lot harder to beat than any of the current games. Sometimes it took me months to beat a game, yet today I can purchase a game and after 2 coffees and few hours of gaming I have beaten the game. Disappointed I am.:(

OwaynOTT

Don't blow into the cart! Use a cotton ear swab.

CiDeRmAn

Yup, blowing just causes colonies of bacteria and corrosion to set in, further ruining the hopes of the game working!
A regular Super Nintendo with a few games should be available for $50 or so, check out "yard sales" for games, car boot sales here, and your laughing.
The consoles of the early 90's, with solid, reliable hardware and carts is a great place to collect and have fun again with videogames.
We have a forum here devoted to just this sort of thing, the Arcade & Retro Forum, and is well worth checking in there, here's a link, click me now!!
Be wary though of rose tinted glasses, as folk only remember the best the consoles had to offer and not the reams of pitiful dung that appeared on Megadrive and Snes, there really hasn't been a gaming generation that has been immune to the ravages of terribly arcade ports and lazy clones of more successful games.
I would also suggest, in addition to a Snes and Megadrive, you might invest in a TG-16 and an Everdrive, and a PS2, I think you never have to buy a console again with all the gaming goodness those consoles alone are capable of delivering to your front room!

Avoid clone machines, modern remade consoles, they inevitably have compromises that cause even original carts to run poorly, these factors may not me apparent immediately but they will eventually break your heart.
That said the Retron5 is looking interesting, going with a software emulation instead of a console on a chip solution, though schools out on how effective this will be.
Once again, the original hardware is relatively robust and for the price of two Xbox One games you could own a Snes, Genesis, TG-16 and a PS2, with a couple of games each.

dyigirl4help

o1s1n wrote: »

The three American super nintendos you bought, did you plug them into a European wall socket?

We have voltages in Europe that will blow a US snes power supply.

You need to use a step down transformer to bring the power down to American voltage levels.

On the subject of the Snes, I still play mine regularly. The snes and Megadrive arestill my two favourite consoles, 20+ years later!

I used to reside in the US and I purchased them there. No voltage/amperage issues were of concern. I reside in the EU now and I am MUCH happier here, even the food isn't chemically altered. At least now I don't have to worry about my potato growing legs and eating my carrot.

dyigirl4help

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Don't blow into the cart! Use a cotton ear swab.

I was a kid back then, I am in my mid 30s now and my area of expertise is electronics, so no, I would not blow into my cartridge:eek: