Best place to buy a Super Nintendo/cheaper SNES game recommendations

Gaslight

Since I don't gave enough current games that I never have time to play or finish, and because I wasn't allowed to have video games in the system's heyday, I am considering buying a Super Nintendo.

I would be interested in getting advice on what's a good place to acquire an SNES in good condition, assuming I don't want to sift through ebay/craigslist/garage sales. Jjgames.com has systems with a controller and cords for under $50, which seems like a good deal, but are they reputable and can I be reasonably sure I'll be getting a good, working system?

Also, I'd like to hear people's recommendations on good SNES games that may be a bit more 'under the radar' and won't cost a fortune to acquire.

Any help would be much appreciated as I am a total newbie to the world of vintage gaming.

corky842

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/nintendo/snes/2008/02/super-nintendo-snes-101-a-beginners-guide.html

As for getting the console itself, see if there's any local game stores around you. If you get a broken system, you'll have a better chance of getting a replacement if you can complain to them in person.

Gaslight

Thanks for that link, the 'under $10' page was especially good.

There is a local store I go to for used DVDs that also sells old games which had a couple of SNES systems behind the counter last time I was there, I think I will call them up and see what they have to offer as well.

Shadowfire

Also, spend a Saturday or two checking out flea markets and yard sales. It's a gamble sometimes on whether the old systems work, but you're probably gambling $10 and worst case you get a working controller or some of the cables. The SNES is pretty damn hardy.

Riale

I'm not sure how much of this is budget related, but some of the very best SNES games are nearly impossible to acquire now because of how good and limited they are. If you have other gaming systems, or the budget to acquire them, many of them have been rereleased on other systems (mainly the DS/GBA). Two examples of this off the top of my head are Chrono Trigger and Kirby Super Star. There are still plenty of classics that are plentiful, as well as overlooked games that you can find for cheap, but if I assembled a list of my top ten SNES games, the top 3 or 4 would be outside my budget to acquire.

CygnusZ

If you're not a collector, I'd recommend getting one of those SNES clones. I believe the patent on the SNES has run out and they're completely legal at this point. The main reason for this is that it'll effectively give you a region free system, and Japanese Super Famicom carts tend to be way cheaper and there's a bigger selection of games.

Gaslight

I don't consider myself a collector, it isn't important to me to get all my games in-box in pristine condition or anything like that. But it is important to me to have the 'real' system. Can't entirely explain why, maybe because to me the SNES represents all the gaming I missed out on as a kid when I wasn't allowed and if i'm finally going to get one now I want it to be the real deal and not a knockoff.

Plus it seems like most of those clone consoles i've looked at online have some issues with emulation/performance or build quality, although I don't know that much about them and i'm probably generalizing.

They are something to keep in mind for playing any japanese games I ever decide I just have to have though.

Madpanda

You can easily mod the US snes 1 to play super famicom games. All you are doing is clipping or sanding or otherwise removing 2 plastic tabs in the cart slot. You can probably do this without opening the system. I just opened mine to do it because I wanted to see the internals. It took about 15 minutes to mod including assembly.

Get a good set of svideo cables, racketboy.com sells some. This is the best video quality you can get out of snes without spending cash on external convertors to get it to component.

Racketboy.com not only has great lists, they also have a pretty active buy/sell/trade forum. Nintendoage.com also is a great resource and a more focused forum. I would recommend nintendoage if you are buying just because their feedback system is automatic so you can see if people have done a lot of trades.

Videogamepricecharts.com will give you an average idea of what games are going for based off ebay/amazon historical data. Use this to get a general idea of cost for the games you want, that way if you are doing the garage sale/ pawn shop /used dvd store cruising thing, you can spot good deals and ripoffs.

Ebay buying - try to buy local when you can. Usually the shipping will kill most deals on ebay. If you do need to go the ebay route, always look for sellers that do combined shipping. I've gotten a lot of NES stuff where the first cart was ~$3 shipping, and everything after that was $1 or free.

Make sure to get 1st party controllers, unless you find 3rd party really cheap and are in a bind. I don't think I've paid more than $5 for standard first party control pads.

Finding a non yellow snes can take a bit of time, but its worth it. Assuming you don't leave it out in the sun or smoke in the house it should stay pretty clean looking.

Clean cartridge contacts with 91% isopropyl alcohol and qtips before putting them in your system for the first time.

MushroomStick

A lot of snes games are available on the Wii virtual console.

Also, I guess Nintendo let their copyrights on the nes and snes hardware run out or something a few years ago and there are a bunch of 3rd party systems available on Amazon/ebay these days for $20-$50 or so.

Gaslight

Not interested in any virtual console (don't own a Wii) or emulation stuff. And yes, I know about the 3rd-party systems, I mentioned up above it's important to me to have the real deal.

Madpanda, lots of good info there, thanks.

HeraldS

A caution on some of the fake SNES offerings- they won't play all SNES games. Something to do with the chip/copy protection in the carts that came out towards the end. Super Mario RPG is one of these, as are a few other kickass games. You can find a complete list with a little googling. Plus things like the RetroDuo just feel cheap and poorly made. You can get a real SNES for $40 on Amazon. Just do that. All cords and whatnot are sold there as well. Also remember that an N64 composite cable is the same as the SNES one, if you have trouble tracking them down. I got an SNES off of Amazon last year and it works great. Only thing you've got to worry about really are carts with dead batteries; my first copy of Secret of Evermore was like that. Amazon seems to have less scammers & counterfeiters than ebay too, which is nice. Good luck and happy hunting.

TNTrooper

If you got a DS there is some good ports/remakes on that and the GBA. Goozex also let's you trade SNES games if all you want to do is play games and not worry about having a giant stack of carts collecting dust on a bookshelf then you can go that route. Avoid 3rd party controller they are all pretty much keep Chinese knockoffs. Like HeraldS said the N64 and Gamecube used the same AV cable as the SNES so if you can't find a SNES cable look for a GC or N64 instead.

MushroomStick

TNTrooper wrote:

If you got a DS there is some good ports/remakes on that and the GBA. Goozex also let's you trade SNES games if all you want to do is play games and not worry about having a giant stack of carts collecting dust on a bookshelf then you can go that route. Avoid 3rd party controller they are all pretty much keep Chinese knockoffs. Like HeraldS said the N64 and Gamecube used the same AV cable as the SNES so if you can't find a SNES cable look for a GC or N64 instead.

Snes only supports upto s-video, so component plugs wouldn't work if they exist for the multi out.

Madpanda

Snes and genesis and a few others output rgb without modding, component is slightly compressed rgb. You can connect the snes to an external scart/rgb-> component convertor via a custom made cable.

You are looking at ~$100 minimum for this kind of setup which is why I recommended the svideo cable.

And yea the multiav cables for snes/n64/gc are interchangeable if you are just using svideo.

EggyToast

You might save a pretty penny, at least on shipping, by looking for lots on eBay. If you make sure to read listings, it's not hard to find ones that state "Tested and working, this is my system" or "Played great for 3 years until I stopped two years ago, still works, clearing out my closet." Typically they include controllers, some key games, and the cables you need. It may not be as guaranteed as buying a system from a local shop, but paying local prices may be worth the risk of getting a system that a seller lied about. Of course, if a seller on eBay lies and sells you a dud, you simply dispute via Paypal and you can do a return that way, too.

MushroomStick

Madpanda wrote:

Snes and genesis and a few others output rgb without modding, component is slightly compressed rgb. You can connect the snes to an external scart/rgb-> component convertor via a custom made cable.

You are looking at ~$100 minimum for this kind of setup which is why I recommended the svideo cable.

And yea the multiav cables for snes/n64/gc are interchangeable if you are just using svideo.

My bad, it was just the smaller snes that was released towards the end of that generation that didn't have all the video stuff hooked up.

Whippy

Where do you live?

Gaslight

Alright, I went ahead and ordered a system and a couple of controllers from JJGames. Also bought a small handful of games from various places, mainly stuff with personal appeal and well-regarded classics that won't break the bank, like Star Fox.

(Star Fox is possibly the very first game I can ever remember seeing on a display unit in a store. I didn't even get to play, I just watched another kid play (badly) until my parents said it was time to leave, and I was in awe of the graphics. Those polygons!)

While waiting for my order to arrive I've begun the task of finding a smaller old TV to hook the thing up to...from what I've been reading the effort of setting the thing up to work with the 32" LCD in the living room will not produce worthwhile results. Craigslist and thrift stores, ahoy! (Going to be hitting those places more frequently anyway as I continue to get into this aspect of the hobby, I think.)

Thanks much once again for all of the advice, everybody, keep it coming if anybody has anything else to share!

Madpanda

Old CRT is the way to go if you have the space for it.

I got my wega flat crt for $50 on craigslist, and it is awesome for old stuff. Finding a stand that could support a 100+lb crt was tricker and more expensive.

Shadowfire

MushroomStick wrote:

TNTrooper wrote:

If you got a DS there is some good ports/remakes on that and the GBA. Goozex also let's you trade SNES games if all you want to do is play games and not worry about having a giant stack of carts collecting dust on a bookshelf then you can go that route. Avoid 3rd party controller they are all pretty much keep Chinese knockoffs. Like HeraldS said the N64 and Gamecube used the same AV cable as the SNES so if you can't find a SNES cable look for a GC or N64 instead.

Snes only supports upto s-video, so component plugs wouldn't work if they exist for the multi out.

You can modify your SNES to output RGB, and convert that to component. It will look better than S-Video, but depending on your TV, you may have to move the image around the screen to center it right (and possibly have to move it back when you switch to another input. Annoying, but the picture is nice).

There's all sorts of fun things you can do to old systems if you're handy with a soldering iron. ;-)

Gaslight

Can anybody offer some specific advice on acquiring a Super Advantage controller? I love the look of those things and it seems like it would be a huge mercy to have one for games like Street Fighter II (I am bad enough at fighting games on modern controllers, let alone with the little SNES controller dpad). How much is a reasonable amount to pay for one? There are sellers on Amazon and eBay selling ones in "good" condition for anywhere from $10 to $30, and other sites with "like new" ones for $40. I don't need one that's pristine so long as it looks alright and works well.

Esh

Gaslight wrote:

While waiting for my order to arrive I've begun the task of finding a smaller old TV to hook the thing up to...from what I've been reading the effort of setting the thing up to work with the 32" LCD in the living room will not produce worthwhile results. Craigslist and thrift stores, ahoy! (Going to be hitting those places more frequently anyway as I continue to get into this aspect of the hobby, I think.)

Thanks much once again for all of the advice, everybody, keep it coming if anybody has anything else to share!

I have my SNES hooked up to my 40" LCD via composite and it looks and works just fine.

MushroomStick

Gaslight wrote:

Can anybody offer some specific advice on acquiring a Super Advantage controller? I love the look of those things and it seems like it would be a huge mercy to have one for games like Street Fighter II (I am bad enough at fighting games on modern controllers, let alone with the little SNES controller dpad). How much is a reasonable amount to pay for one? There are sellers on Amazon and eBay selling ones in "good" condition for anywhere from $10 to $30, and other sites with "like new" ones for $40. I don't need one that's pristine so long as it looks alright and works well.

The way the L and R buttons are laid out on the Advantage leads me to believe that it'd be terrible for Street Fighter. A little browsing on ebay came up with a snes fighter stick that looks like it'd be much better for fighting games, with the traditional Street Fighter button layout and all. A bit pricey at $32 on ebay though.

HeraldS

I also have my SNES hooked up to my 32" LCD and it's plays great. Ran it through my receiver too so now I get all my old favorites in 5.1. Earthbound especially sounds amazing.

MushroomStick

Guys, the maybe problem with playing snes games on an lcd is that the games were designed using the crappyness of SD crt as a design tool. It was basically poor man's antialiasing. The picture on an lcd is actually too good and can make graphical flaws obvious. That's why some prefer to retrogame on crts.

Gaslight

MushroomStick wrote:

Guys, the maybe problem with playing snes games on an lcd is that the games were designed using the crappyness of SD crt as a design tool. It was basically poor man's antialiasing. The picture on an lcd is actually too good and can make graphical flaws obvious. That's why some prefer to retrogame on crts.

Yes, this is basically what I was getting at.

Gaslight

So it seems like the Super Advantage may not be the best way to go. I'm thinking this may be a better alternative, in spite of its generic look. Don't suppose anybody has any experience with it?

Of course, the Super Score Master seems like the best of both worlds, with a cool look and good button layout, but damned if I can find one of those things that doesn't cost a relative fortune.

amateurhour

If you can find a copy of it, get Mario Paint and the SNES Mouse, it's what got me into graphic design before my Shar Pei chewed through the mouse cable...

Gaslight

Resuscitating this thread because I just got my SNES and I'm having a little trouble. The console is plugged in to the power outlet, the multi-out is connected to the red/white/yellow (RCA) jackets on the front of the TV, the TV and the console are both set to channel 3, and there's a game in the console...but nothing is happening. Clearly I am missing something. What is it?

kuhlmeye

You'll have to change your TV's input (probably something like "Video 1") if you're using RCA R/W/Y jacks. If you were using one of the old RF adapters it would be on channel 3/4 on the normal TV input.

Gaslight

kuhlmeye wrote:

You'll have to change your TV's input (probably something like "Video 1") if you're using RCA R/W/Y jacks. If you were using one of the old RF adapters it would be on channel 3/4 on the normal TV input.

Yep, just figured out that was the issue. I was stumped by the fact the TV didn't seem to have any input selection in its menu, had to put batteries in the old remote and use the "input select" button on that and then it worked like a charm. Thanks.