![]() ![]() I'm pleased to say that I'm just as horrendous at Donkey Kong Country on Analogue's SNES as I was on the real thing. Whether it was sprite-scaling pseudo-3D racers like F-Zero and Super Mario Kart or a less-demanding puzzle title like Kirby's Avalanche, the Super Nt delivered a consistently pixel-perfect experience and instantaneous response times. Fortunately, the Super Nt never skipped a beat in our testing. What ultimately matters, though, is how the system handles the games. NES Classic: Which Retro Console Is For You? And for gamers who strive for complete accuracy - not just for what's on screen, but also for all the processes occurring behind the scenes - the FPGA inside the Super Nt is technically more faithful. But every so often, an emulator causes a glitch or anomaly that wasn't present on the SNES. You're not going to notice any qualitative differences between a well-emulated title and its counterpart running on an FPGA, or on the original hardware. To be fair, good software emulators can deliver results that look, feel and play just as well as what you'll get from the Super Nt. ![]() The Super Nt delivered a consistently pixel-perfect experience and instantaneous response times. Because of that, it is theoretically fully compatible with the complete SNES library out of the gate, with no need for occasional patching on a per-game basis and no added input lag. The Super Nt's switches accept the same inputs and produce the same outputs as the original. Analogue has configured the FPGA from the ground up to behave precisely like the Ricoh 5A22 CPU inside the original SNES. Unlike the SNES Classic, Retron 5 or just about any new retro-console you can think of, this chip is not a general-purpose processor with an emulator on it. The Super Nt is powered by an Altera Cyclone V field-programmable gate array, or FPGA for short. That distinction will be especially important to the kind of enthusiasts that Analogue is targeting, who might not be satisfied with the traditional approach of using software emulation to play old games. Still, you can't see what truly makes the Super Nt special from the outside. That's a shame, considering that the SN30 is an excellent little controller that is imperceptibly different from Nintendo's own. However, buyers will have to drop an extra $39 on the peripheral set. Analogue has partnered with accessory-maker 8Bitdo to produce a special series of 8Bitdo's SN30 pad and Bluetooth adapter, themed to match each color scheme of the Super Nt. You may notice that I haven't mentioned the controller that comes packed with the Super Nt. (You can also use the SD slot for whatever wizardry you want to perform on your own - Analogue says it won't judge.) The exterior of the Super Nt strikes the right balance of retro inspiration and modernization. There are Super Nintendo controller inputs (meaning you can use your existing peripherals), a micro USB port for power, an HDMI out and an SD card slot for firmware updates. ![]() There's also a multicolor LED mounted on the lower right - just like on the original console. On the console's face, a pair of big, rectangular Power and Reset buttons reside beneath the cartridge slot. MORE: All 21 SNES Classic Games, Ranked Best to Worst ![]() Our unit looked positively stealthy in all black, although Analogue produces three other colorways that look just as beautiful: gray and purple (like the SNES), gray and darker gray (like the Super Famicom), and a frosted translucent one. ![]()
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