I have some questions though. First, since these consoles are all solid state, meaning no moving parts, I assume they either work perfectly or dont work at all, correct? I'm asking because this obviously had one, if not more previous owners. The console turns on and games work on it, so I assume I'm all good? I got it on eBay that's why and I'm mostly worried about things like the AC port, cart connector, and things like that. Secondly, what are some absolute must have games I should get? So far I have: super metroid, Mario world, link to the past, street fighter 2 turbo, maximum carnage, final fantasy 2, star fox, Mario all stars, f-zero, earthworm Jim 2, and Kirby dream course. A lot of these I got from a friend. Thirdly, are these things built pretty sturdily? How much maintenance should be done?

Congratulations on getting the SNES!

The games I'd recommend adding to your list would be Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Chrono Trigger, Kirby Super Star, Pinball Dreams, and Yoshi's Island.

They're built very sturdily. Since it's booting and running games I think you can expect the system to keep working for a long time. Our system has been dropped multiple times while playing games and at least the last time I set it up it was working properly. Looking at getting a framemeister so I can set it up again but man they're expensive.

I think in terms of maintenance the only thing that's needed is to keep it looking presentable. Stuff collects a lot of dust in our house but since it has the trap doors covering the main connector there's really not anything to worry about in my experience.

You might have to clean the contacts on the carts/console if something starts acting weird, otherwise you should be fine. You have several must have games already, excluding Maximum Carnage and Earthworm Jim 2 those are all great games. Mario World is one of the best of all time and I adore Kirby's Dream Course. I'm going to recommend a few but I don't know how easy they are to find or how cheap:

Blackthorne

Demon's Crest

Act Raiser

Joe & Mac

Wild Guns

U.N. Squadron

Have fun dude, there are so many good SNES games.

@citizencoffeecake:

Thanks. I think my main worry was wether this thing was working like it should. But since it's bopting games I assume it's fine

Also, I assume I made a good choice picking the SNES over genesis? It just seemed like SNES had better games to me

@ravensword: That's a can of worms you don't want to open. It's just a matter of preference, and Genesis guys can and will defend their system and back it up quite well.

Also, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy III (VI), Earthbound, Super Castlevania IV, and Super Ghouls and Ghosts to name a few. I have no affinity for the DKC and StarFox games but people seem to love them.

@hippie_genocide:

Ha ha, yeah, don't want to start some debate. The problem with a lot of these SNES games is that there, well, expensive. Chrono trigger I saw on eBay for like 90 dollars.

@ravensword: Yup and when they're that expensive they tend to not be on Virtual Console which is a bummer. For Chrono Trigger I personally prefer the release they made for the DS. They also released it for iOS which is the cheapest but also has a terrible rendition of the interface.

Shadowrun is great. Its a cyberpunk adventure action game that has a cool vibe to it.

Fixed.

Also, Nigel Mansell's World Championship is a great racing game. Someone already said Act Raiser but that's dope too.

@koelsh: yeah, I was worried about wether it's been dropped also. I personally haven't dropped it, maybe put it down on my floor a little hard one time, but that was it

So silly question but I figured I would ask it here since I am kinda in the same boat. I got a SNES at a garage sale a few years back and it works perfectly it just that it's that gross nicotine stained yellow color that happens to those consoles and I was curious if anyone has any advice on how to custom paint one? I'm torn between going the typical gold Legend of Zelda color scheme or going yellow and purple ala Wario.

As for game recommendations I haven't seen listed yet:

Tetris Attack, X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, Uniracers, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Lost Vikings 1 and 2.

Turtles in Time will probably cost ya a few bucks but its the best beat em up of all time.

All of you bases have pretty much been covered in this tread.

Megaman X does deserve a mention. 2 and X are tied for best megaman games.

If you do want to check out the DKC games and you should and this ones actually have amazing soundtracks. DKC2 is the one you should go for.

The Lion King game is also pretty good.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can clip your tabs and pick up a super famicom cart of Tetris Battle Gaiden. Which you do as it is the best local multiplayer game possibly ever.

so i also was able to track down super mario kart, donkey kong country and tetris attack. problem with the mario kart was the back label is ripped, but otherwise seems ok outside of a tear in the front label, paid 40 bucks for that (might have paid too much considering the condition) donkey kong seems perfectly fine, paid 30 for that, and tetris attack had a giant ass block buster sticker on it that I'm trying to take off, but I only paid 5 dollars for that.

I'm a big fan of Plok. Plok was the business. You should get Plok.

Tactics Ogre! Yes, I am biased towards turn based strategy rpgs... But I still love them.

Someone started, so I'm gonna say it: you should have gotten a Genesis. GET ATTITUDE!

Kidding aside, properly clean your contacts and you should be good to go, as you can chunk the cartridges around and they'll still be fine. Contra III is a lot of fun, so is Smash TV.

To go against the grain, pick up Flashback. It's probably quite cheap and is unlike most other 16-bit titles. Prince of Persia/Another World style gameplay with a heavy Cyberpunk vibe.

The SNES version is my least favourite to be honest, as it can be a little sluggish at times. That...and it sounds terrible in comparison to the Megadrive and Amiga versions. (Had to get my dig in there!)

The only SNES I have is my family's SNES that they got around the time I was about 4 (this is going back over 20 years now). I have never had any hardware issues with that thing. I think even all of the cords are still pretty great, compared to Genesis control cords which are mangled in comparison. Proper storage / not dropping the console / not hitting it with a hammer and the console should last a very long time. The only real issue I can think of is the battery life on the cartridges themselves may become an issue if it isn't already getting to that point, although I haven't done the research on this myself.

You mentioned both Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World, so you got my essential games for the SNES. It's getting to the point where I'm having a hard time remember what else I had for the system, since 1) I didn't have a ton of games for it; and 2) Those are the only games I played consistently at the time and down the road. I also remember I really enjoyed Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Kirby Super Star but some of those may not hold up as well as the Mario games.

@clagnaught: Yeah, I've never really dropped the console before. Maybe once when I was setting it down it slipped a bit and part of the console maybe fell an inch or so on hardwood. But these things are all solid state so I'm sure that didn't do anything

To add to the list of recommended games, if you want shooters I'd recommend Axelay and Cybernator. Cybernator was featured on here recently so you can see what that's like. If you want your side-scrolling brawler fix, some of Capcom's arcade ports are pretty decent. King of Dragons and Knights of the Round incorporate a lot of mechanics seen later in Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystara. Knights of the Round has an experience system and your character changes appearance while you play. King of Dragons has a class-based character select, each character being either melee or ranged with stat variations. I'm not particularly keen on Final Fight for the SNES or Final Fight 2, but Final Fight 3 is pretty cool: the game incorporates super moves you can perform when the appropriate meter fills and each character has a combo for a specific weapon pickup.

So now my SNES is having a random issue where it will not power on if I unplug and plug the ac adapter back in sometimes, But sometimes doing that it works fine. Any ideas?

EDIT: eh, nvm, I tested it a few times (unplugged and plugged in from the back a few times) and it seems to be working now. Hope it stays that way though

Anyway, I'm gonna leave it completely unplugged over night(unplug ac adaptor from power strip and unplug cables from the back of the SNES) and give it a bit of a power cycle I guess. Hopefully that will solve any issues. I'd hate to get this thing repaired or replaced since it's pretty clean and a lot of other SNES I see are yellowing.

This won't do anything, you are better off just plugging it in and leaving it alone. Stop messing with it.

If you are going to use the console now, I would just leave it plugged in and leave it alone. I have vague memories of the SNES can sometimes not start up properly, but all you have to do is either switch it off/on again or eject the cartridge and turn it on again. I have never heard of anybody having to unplug the console for a period of time before starting it up again. The issue you have could be nothing, or maybe it is a sign that one of the cords doesn't have the greatest connection in the world. Whatever it is, I would plug it in, leave it alone, and see how it works.

@mike: well apparently the issue was the power brick (it wasn't a official one, it was third party apparently) I took it to a place and when they plugged it in it worked fine. On my ac adapter it didn't work at all. So I bought a replacement adapter (third party) and that should solve the issue I think

So right now here's my SNES collection:

Super Mario world

Super metroid

Donkey king country

F-zero

Star fox

Super Mario all star

Zelda link to the past

Maximum carnage

Kirby dream course

Super Mario kart

Tetris attack

Final fantasy 2

Battletoads double dragon

Earthworm Jim 2

Street fighter 2: turbo

I'm still on the hunt for ff3, chrono trigger, secret of mana, ultimate MK3, Mario RPG, NBA jam tournament edition, earthbound, castlevania 4, and act raider.

So I've been able to track down all but these 4 games :

Super castlevania 4

Act raiser

Secret of mana

Ultimate mortal kombat 3

I gave up on earthbound.