Why Do the NES and SNES Classic Editions Have So Few Games?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on April 9, 2018, 9:30 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Nintendo's NES and SNES classic editions have been amazingly-popular, but they contain only 30 and 21 games, respectively, and I am wondering why that is, as that hardly seems to make them worth their fairly high prices ($60.00 for the NES mini and $80.00 for the SNES mini, which averages out to $2.00 per game for the NES mini, which is acceptable, and $3.81 per game for the SNES mini, which is very high for games that are so old, in my mind).
I understand that some games for those consoles were developed by third parties and thus would require expensive licensing fees, and that some games simply are not popular, but each of those systems had hundreds of games produced during their lifetimes, and, given how much technology has progressed since the 1980's and 1990's, there is no reason that each of those systems could not have had at least 100 games each. It seems to me that Nintendo is attempting to take advantage of the nostalgia of older players while spending as little money and effort as possible; at the very least, they could provide an official method for adding new games to a system after it has been purchased.
What does everyone else say about this? Why do the NES and SNES classic editions contain so few games, each?
Matt_The_OGRE says... #3
A link to the past is about 12-15 for a cartridge.
Super ghost and ghouls is sound 14.
Super Mario world is around 15.
They may be old games but the value of buying the old system with just some off the games that come with it would cost more than the classic system.
Also, the are ways to hack each system so that you can put even more games on them. I've seen nes classics with hundreds of games on then from nes,snes,sega and n64.
April 9, 2018 11:32 p.m.
You don't even NEED the new systems to play all the old games.
Buy a raspberry Pi.
Download the relevant software, and all the old NES and SNES games on it.
???
Profit.
Cheap as chips way to do things.
April 10, 2018 12:15 a.m.
Rabid_Wombat says... #5
You can actually skip the Raspberry Pi.....just hack the SNES mini and put 100+ games on it ;)
April 10, 2018 4:40 a.m.
Except the Raspberry Pi is SO much cheaper.
Hence 4. Profit
April 10, 2018 5 a.m. Edited.
Matt_The_OGRE says... #7
If you already have a computer, all you need is to download an emulator and the roms you want. This is even cheaper.
April 10, 2018 2:10 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
Matt_The_OGRE, yes, I have emulators for numerous systems on my computer, which have enabled me to play games that I otherwise would not have been able to play, but some players simply like having an actual physical console, especially one that is officially produced by the company that makes the games, and I imagine that they would wish to have a greater selection of games than what the consoles currently have.
April 10, 2018 10:22 p.m.
UrbanGirlScout says... #9
i have a mod snes classic....fudging love it. But the initial release product is not that deep numbers wise.
For example, Why not offer Donkey kong 2 or 3 as well.
Also they are nintendo, they cant get the license....because the alternative is that people like me hack it and then get the game regardless lol.
Now randomly my friends and i did a youtube video on what if for a N64 classic. If you search Urban Girl Scout media on youtube youll find it.
April 24, 2018 10:28 p.m.
Rabid_Wombat says... #10
Argy the raspberry pi does NOT work out to be cheaper once you add the 2x Nintendo Joypads to the equation :)
Argy says... #2
If you really like NES and SNES games then you can just get those older systems.
I don't think the new versions were meant to replace them.
They are just a quick fix for anyone who doesn't want to go to the trouble of tracking down older systems, refurbishing them, and cleaning them up. Then hunting down the games they want to play.
That's what people like me have done.
April 9, 2018 10:18 p.m.