I wish I didn’t want the recently announced SNES Classic.
I already own too many games, including several that are packaged with the little console. I know it’s going to sell out immediately because Nintendo has an irritating habit of not actually releasing enough product when they make something that is in demand. I don’t need more cords running across my living room - while wireless controllers are now the gold standard, in their quest for retro verisimilitude (and, to be honest, cost savings) Nintendo isn’t actually including them on the console.
I want to be happy to let the little console slide by, ignoring it like I ignored the previous NES Classic. Of course, it was easy to ignore the NES Classic because it was never actually in stock at any retailers, leading to the assumption that the little console was never actually produced, but was an elaborate con by the famous game developer.
Except Nintendo has done something very irritating and shoved a game you can’t buy anywhere else on the console. Star Fox 2 was cancelled 22 years ago. Nintendo thought it might lead to consumer confusion with their soon-to-be-released N64, so they canned it, re-used most of the concepts for Star Fox 64, and let the game languish in a vault somewhere. A mostly complete version did leak onto the internet, but one assumes that Nintendo’s version is more complete, an actually finished version of a famous unreleased game.
There’s other good stuff on there, of course. Yoshi’s Island is one of the best games Nintendo ever made, and the only easy to find version of it is a lesser Game Boy Advance port. Earthbound is a cult classic, Super Metroid is the template for a good half of the indie games I’ve played, while I doubt I’ll ever have the time to get all 96 exits in Super Mario World again - to have the endless free time of a child once more - it’s the kind of game that leads to obsession. I like the idea of finally having the chance to do a co-op game of Secret of Mana, plus it’s nice to see I’m not the only person who appreciates Kirby’s Dream Course.
Still, I don’t want to buy this thing. I don’t want to connect more stuff to my television, or have to hunt down a piece of hardware which, inevitably, will be impossible to find and hopelessly overpriced by con artists who snap up every copy in hopes of making a quick buck. I want to ignore it.
However, the SNES was my childhood, the same to me as any favorite toy someone happily discovers in their basement. To release a new game for it, even one developed decades ago, is like adding a tiny piece to my childhood again. Something I was happy to ignore is suddenly something I want to spend a bunch of money to buy.
