In the world of video games, everything old is new again. At least that is the vibe being generated by the popularity of retro in both game titles and hardware re-imagining. The 25th-anniversary celebration game “Sonic Mania” for the Nintendo Switch has been hailed as revitalizing the brand for one of Sega’s most enduring mascot franchises from its Genesis console days. Speaking of Nintendo, they certainly have the hang of reviving old goodies for both nostalgia fans and new generation gamers. Following their reissue NES Classic Mini from last year, the company is getting ready to release the next step in the SNES Classic Mini a few months from now.
They even revealed a new feature in the retro system.
Rewind your game
Most unlicensed video game emulator software online may have done a similar trick already, but now Nintendo’s emulation capabilities for the SNES Classic Mini will make the “rewind” feature legitimate. Like the NES version before it, the SNES Classic enables a player to save several “states” of a game in its library, to resume playing it at a later time from that point. But the new save-state mechanic also allows a player actually to rewind the course of a game from a save-state, the duration depending on the game you’re playing.
The potential of Nintendo’s game rewind feature on the SNES Classic Mini is rather versatile. It can aid a player in backtracking to a previous area to pick up ay missed item, for instance.
Or they could return to a particularly difficult section of gameplay to replay it until the gamer has mastered it (by, say, getting through without damage). Each game in the SNES Classic library can have up to a maximum four save states, so that means four instances in a game that a player can rewind as he wishes.
Unreleased title included
There are so many new things to do with the emulation platform designed by Nintendo for the SNES Classic Mini. These range from the purely aesthetic to the “what-could-have-been.” When choosing to play a game on the original 4:3 aspect ratio setting, a gamer can now fill the black spaces on the sides with custom art.
The game library, with 21 titles, includes the unreleased sequel “Star Fox 2,” a rare gem of video game aficionados, which will be available to play (officially) for the first time.
As always, some of the available games depend on the SNES Classic’s territory (five spots are reserved for exclusive US or Japanese titles). Nintendo prices their latest retro console at $79.99, and it will be available (while supplies last) starting on September 29.
