Fans have learned that Nintendo’s Mini SNES Classic is exactly the same as the Mini NES Classic, in a hardware sense, with only the casing and the game-based software having changed. The decision to re-launch 1985’s NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) console, in a less-space-consuming guise, proved to be a major hit for Nintendo last year. The tiny version of the NES launched in November 2016, before promptly selling out.

Nintendo promised to release more Mini NES Classics next year, and also announced that 1990’s SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) – the original successor to the NES – will also be getting a miniature revamp and rerelease. The Mini SNES Classic will come with over twenty games, and it will officially be released on September 29, 2017.

This hotly anticipated launch has garnered plenty of attention, with fans looking forward to playing some classic 1990s games on a tiny new console. As the hype builds, Eurogamer decided to take a look inside the Mini SNES Classic, which is when they realized that it has an identical internal kit to the Mini NES Classic. For readers that understand the insides of games consoles, here is Eurogamer’s breakdown of the similarities:

“Confirming that the internal mainboard is the same, the corners - carved out to fit within the NES mini shell - remain the same on the SNES model, even though there is no real need for them to be touched at all. As a result, the new piece of hardware looks slightly less elegant internally. Hardware-wise, we're looking at the same off-the-shelf Allwinner R16 SoC (system on chip), featuring four ARM Cortex A7s paired with an ARM Mali 400 MP2 GPU. Hynix provides the single memory chip - a 256MB DDR3 module - and there's a generous 512MB of NAND storage.”

Nintendo NES Classic Mini

Indeed, even with only a beginners understanding of tech and wiring, it’s clear that the SNES Classic’s mainboard has been recycled from the NES Classic. As Eurogamer notes, the corners have been cut away, just as they were inside the NES Classic. With that and the other pieces of identical kit, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that Nintendo fans have been ripped off here: they’ve essentially been sold the same piece of kit twice, with a different shell on it.

However, although the hardware remains the same, it’s vital to remember that 20 full games have been added on the software side. That amount of retro fun will ensure that the Mini SNES Classic sells just as well as its predecessor, despite the fact that they’re essentially the same thing from a hardware perspective. Perhaps, if they had wanted to be a bit kinder to their fans, Nintendo could have combined the Mini NES and the Mini SNES into one product.

Perhaps, if they had wanted to be a bit kinder to their fans, Nintendo could have combined the Mini NES and the Mini SNES into one product. Alas, that's not really how corporate minds work, so, instead, they've sold two very similar consoles in the space of a year.

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MORE: Nintendo Will Release More NES Classics In 2018

Source: Eurogamer