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The European SNES Classic Mini is better looking than the US one, but you might prefer the Japanese version's game list

Brenna Hillier avatar
News by Brenna Hillier Contributor
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Three SNES Classic Mini models to in the darkness bind them. That's how that meme works, right?

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SNES Classic Mini comes in three regional variations, so if you're scurrying around making pre-orders you might want to consider picking up another territory's variant.

According to A Lot Of People On Twitter, the US version of the SNES Classic Mini is vastly inferior in the looks department to the Japanese and European one. Take a look at the images to compare the European (above) Japanese (below) and North American (bottom) variants.

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If this confuses you, welcome to the wonderful world of 1990's video games, where all sorts of weird localisation decisions left us with a lasting legacy of nonsense to sort through. At a guess, Nintendo of America was going for something futuristic when it decided to implement the chunky, purple-highlighted design of the SNES way back when. Japan's Super Famicom and the SNES released in PAL territories shared the same simple, cheerful base design. Your mileage may vary.

Hey, speaking of localisation differences: Nintendo of America is calling its hardware the Super NES Classic Edition, while Nintendo Europe has plumped for the far more unwieldy Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I think we'll combine and shorten to stick with SNES Classic Mini, hey.

Anyway, in addition to cosmetic differences between the US and PAL versions, the Japanese version of the SNES Classic Mini (which rejoices in the name Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom) also boasts different games to the other two SNES Classic Minis. Here's what it comes with:

  • Contra 3: The Alien Wars
  • Donkey Kong Country
  • Final Fantasy 4
  • F-ZERO
  • Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
  • Kirby Super Star
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Mega Man X (Rockman X in Japan)
  • Panel de Pon (Tetris Attack in the West)
  • Secret of Mana
  • Star Fox
  • Star Fox 2
  • Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
  • Super Formation Soccer
  • Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  • Super Mario World
  • Super Metroid
  • The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
  • Yoshi's Island

That's the actual Final Fantasy 4, by the way; it was released in the west as Final Fantasy 2. Did we mention a lot of annoying things happened due to 90's localisation? Anyway, here's a quick comparison of the catalogues:

    Super Famicom Classic Mini exclusive:
  • Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
  • Panel de Pon
  • Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers
  • Super Formation Soccer
  • The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
    SNES Classic Mini (US, EU) exclusive:
  • EarthBound
  • Kirby's Dream Course
  • Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting
  • Super Castlevania 4
  • Super Punch-Out

Nintendo has said that it will have "significantly more" SNES Classic Minis to sell than it did NES Classic Minis - but also that it only expects to sell the hardware through the end of 2017. Don't sit around wasting time if you want to secure this one; you know what happened last time.

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