Best Uses of SNES Features

Sometimes it’s useful to study the various ways that some of the many different and unique capabilities of SNES were used in old games as a way to stimulate your own new indie/homebrew SNES game ideas. So here are some nice examples of novel graphical effects in existing SNES games that use a few of these features (and sometimes even combine multiple of them), in the hope that they may inspire you in your own current or future SNES creations:

Best examples of window/shape masks in SNES games

How my eye-melting SNES mockup could be done

Here’s how I would probably do all the elements found in the mockup, which would run in Mode 0 on SNES:

Background 4, 2bpp, about 16 colours in total. The coloured stripes are made to look like they are scrolling vertically using palette cycling and/or HDMA to change palettes as required. The line scrolling effect might look slightly different to the clip above, as I’ve changed how I’m now doing this, but it will basically be the same.

The completely underappreciated possibilities of Mode 0 on SNES. . . .

So, I was [very roughly] messing about and trying to see how close I could get to matching one of the boss battles from Shinobi III on Genesis by using only two of the four available background layers in SNES’ Mode 0 (it’s actually the underground boss at the end of Round 3, which the video should automatically jump to), and it turns out that the SNES can get pretty dang close indeed:

Is Gunstar Heroes Possible on SNES?

Continuing with my idea for a series of articles looking at both old and new Sega Genesis games and analysing whether they could run on SNES or not–I’m here to prove they can by providing examples of similar feats being achieved in actual SNES games, both old and new titles, plus any modern demos and the like where necessary–the next game I want to look at is Gunstar Heroes.

Is Xeno Crisis Possible on SNES?

Continuing with my idea for a series of articles looking at both old and new Sega Genesis games and analysing whether they could run on SNES or not–I’m here to prove they can by providing examples of similar feats being achieved in actual SNES games, both old and new titles, plus any modern demos and the like where necessary–the next game I want to look at is Xeno Crisis.

Is Castlevania: Bloodlines Possible on SNES?

Continuing with my idea for a series of articles looking at both old and new Sega Genesis games and analysing whether they could run on SNES or not–I’m here to prove they can by providing examples of similar feats being achieved in actual SNES games, both old and new titles, plus any modern demos and the like where necessary–the next game I want to look at is Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Is The Cursed Knight possible on SNES?

I’ve heard a lot of people claim in recent times that the SNES couldn’t run this Genesis game or that Genesis game because it’s too complex for the system or it would just suffer slowdown on SNES because of its “slow” CPU, etc, which simply isn’t true in 99% of cases. And, not only are these assertions coming from hadcore Genesis fans, they’re even coming from SNES fans at times too, which is just very disappointing.

So, here’s an idea for a series of articles looking at both old and new Sega Genesis games and analysing whether they could run on SNES or not–I’m here to prove they can–by providing examples of similar feats being achieved in actual SNES games, both old and new titles, plus any modern demos and the like where necessary.

The first game I want to try this with is The Cursed Knight, just because I was watching a playthrough of it when this idea popped into my head.

Modern SNES Games and Demos

Note: Some of these examples may be a few years old, but they’re still new games for SNES that came out decades after it was no longer officially on the market. And some of them may be barely more than simple concept tests, or possibly just glorified ROM hacks, but I still think they’re worth covering here.

So, without further ado, let’s begin:

Nintendoes . . .

Note: This article exists because I think we’ve seen the spreading of a false narrative around the SNES/Super Famicom and Genesis/Mega Drive consoles in recent times, which basically conveys that the SNES really only has more colours than Genesis but is otherwise just very slow, and that the Genesis basically does everything else better and/or can simply duplicate anything SNES does anyway through pretty much sheer CPU power alone, which simply isn’t the objective truth at all.

What I’d like to see in a SNES Mini 2

So, if Nintendo was to make a SNES Mini 2, I’d like it to be pretty much the same as before with a bunch of classic SNES digital titles pre-installed, although maybe with the SNES Jr. model this time to easily differentiate it from the first one (I guess):

Along with one major addition, which would be a working [mini] cartridge slot that actually takes [mini] compilation carts of classic SNES games in a similar vain to the Evercade VS: https://evercade.co.uk/vs/

This would mean publishers like Nintendo, Capcom, Konami, Square-Enix, Namco, Atari, etc, could release their own compilation carts of classic SNES games in modern times and possibly even make some brand new games for it too.

And, in an ideal world, Nintendo would actually release proper development documentation, finally, and maybe even some kind of simple and very user-friendly software developement tools to go along with this, so indie developers could also build their own SNES Mini titles relatively easily too, which could be via a website or even built into the system directly in a similar vain to the Pico-8: https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php

At the bare minimun though, just having a working [mini] cartridge slot allowing additional physical [mini] games to be plugged in could be a game-changer in the Mini category imo.

I think that could take a new SNES Mini 2 from being another cool little stocking filler to something potentially very special, and maybe even give birth to a modern SNES Mini console/game market category in its own right.

Note: An important caveat here is that I think any new games made for the SNES Mini 2 would have to be designed to work to/within the original SNES’ technical limitations (enhancement chips are allowed though), purely so these new SNES Mini 2 games could also be released in large cartridge size for the normal SNES as well. That way there’s an instant larger potential market base for any new developers without any need to design and create totally different versions of the game (outside of the different cartridges for each model).

Edit: And I’ll just add here that I think the unreleased SNES version of Killer Instinct 2 could be a perfect +1 game for this SNES Mini 2:

Here’s the original arcade version of Killer Instinct 2 for reference:

Edit 2: Or, since this came up in my recent discussion online, how about just a new release of the original SNES basically, with maybe a bundled compilation cartridge that includes say the original SNES Classic Mini’s 20+1 games as well as Killer Instinct 2 as the exciting new +2 title, and also now with the ability to play all region cartridges as well. This means you’d still be able to play all the original SNES games, any new compilation cartridges, and also any brand new physical indie SNES games on it as well. Job done. I would go out and buy that in a heartbeat, as I know millions of other people would too. 😀