We Played SNES Classic And It Has Rewind Now
August 23, 2017 by admin
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I tried out the SNES Classic, and found that Nintendo has made some small but meaningful improvements to it over the NES Classic. I have no idea why, since the thing would sell out in 30 seconds anyway even if it were covered in rusty needles. Instead, it has a few nice new features, including a pretty smart system to let you jump back in time when you screw up.
To be released on September 29 and with preorders starting any day now (Nintendo says it’ll be before the month of August is out), the $79.99 SNES Classic Edition is a tiny version of 1991′s 16-bit Super Nintendo console that includes quite a few of the games I suggested Nintendo put on it. You got your legendary Nintendo games like Super Mario World, Zelda: Link to the Past, and Super Metroid. Third-party winners like Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Mega Man X. And some of the best RPGs ever, like EarthBound and Final Fantasy VI—appearing here as “Final Fantasy III,” just as it did back in the fast and loose 90s.
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All told, 21 games are built in to the miniature device, and the last one is a real doozy: It’s Star Fox 2, the sequel to Star Fox that was completely finished in 1996 but never released. So while the SNES Classic doesn’t have as many individual games as the NES Classic did, it’s arguable that its lineup has far more gameplay value—especially if you were more of a 16-bit kid than an 8-bit kid.
So all Nintendo really had to do was not screw it up, and as far as I can tell after spending 30 precious minutes with the system, it didn’t. The emulation looks and feels perfect—I didn’t get to spend that much time with any individual game during my half hour of play, but I feel like if something were wrong with Secret of Mana I’d know pretty fast.
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For the most part, the experience is very much like the NES Classic. There’s an attractive menu screen that lets you sort the games by title, release date, publisher, and a few other ways, although with only 21 games in the menu it’s not like you’re going to have trouble finding any of them.
There’s a brand-new menu chiptune as well, although this one is, of course, more identifiably Super Nintendo in its instrumentation, with string samples and otherworldly sounds instead of straightforward beep-boop.
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The display options are identical to that of the NES Classic; you can display the game in 4:3 mode either with or without a “CRT Filter” that adds fake scan lines for that cathode-ray feeling, or you can play in “Pixel Perfect” mode in which each pixel is a perfect square.
New to the SNES Classic is the ability to add frames that take up the black space around the screen. Some of these are static, like a woodblock pattern that has the Super Nintendo four-button logo burned into the corner. Some are dynamic, subtly changing color while you play, like the grid of glowing perspectival lines that was the 1990s’ standard visual signifier of The Future.
Or you could just leave it black.
Another subtle tweak is that you can turn on the “My Game Play Demo” option, so that when the system is idle, it will show an “attract mode” made up of clips from your past gameplay sessions. That’s right: the SNES Classic is recording your gameplay in the background. And that’s all a part of its most useful new feature.
Rewind
Much like the Disney Afternoon Collection and the upcoming Sega Genesis Flashback hardware, the SNES Classic lets you rewind your gameplay, putting you back to the moment before you screwed up whatever it was you screwed up. In both of those other products, Rewind is just a button on the controller that immediately starts playing the game in reverse. The SNES Classic’s implementation is more robust and exact, although you can’t access it from the controller.
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Like on NES Classic, each game has four Suspend Point slots. Press the Reset button on the console, and you’ll jump back to the menu and can save your place in any game, at any time. But now, when you load up a saved game, you have the option of loading it with Rewind mode on. Instead of jumping right to where you saved, you’ll jump in a few minutes beforehand, and you’ll be able to scrub back and forth within that window and pick out the precise place that you want to rejoin the game.
Of course, that does mean you’ll have to reach over and hit the Reset button on the console to rewind, or to save, or to switch games. If you’re like me and you bought very long HDMI and USB cables for the NES Classic so you can keep it right next to you as you play, that might not be as big a deal. But if you want to take advantage of the new 5-foot-long controller cables on the SNES Classic and keep it 5 feet away from you, you might get annoyed at the distance between you and Reset.
[Update 11:23 AM: In a press release Tuesday morning, Nintendo noted that the length of the rewind depends on the genre of game: “Players can go back a few minutes in role-playing games such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, while action titles such as Super Mario World offer around 40 seconds, ideal for re-trying short segments of gameplay.” Interesting!]
Star Fox 2
Nintendo never re-released any of the SNES games that used the Super FX coprocessor chip on any Virtual Console, meaning that this is the first time you can re-buy Star Fox or the original Yoshi’s Island. But the big draw is Star Fox 2, which was originally planned for release on the Super NES in 1995 but canceled when Nintendo decided it wanted to keep the Super NES library in 2D to contrast with the 3D graphics of the upcoming Nintendo 64. Sales of N64 consoles no longer being a concern for Nintendo, we finally get to play this lost 16-bit treasure.
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Well, those of you who didn’t play the ROM of it that leaked years back, that is. While that leaked version wasn’t quite 100 percent finished, the version I played on SNES Classic didn’t seem to differ too much, if at all. Star Fox 2 combines the first game’s shooting action with a light strategy board. The map shows Emperor Andross’ forces in one corner and the planet of Corneria in the other, and you’ve got to take down his missiles and carriers and such before they do too much damage to the planet.
Some of these levels are in the free-roaming all-range mode, in which you typically dogfight against a member of the Star Wolf team. Another level, one of the Carriers, is a more linear route in which you fly through barriers and enemies to get inside the ship. Once you gain entry, you can fly through in Arwing mode or drop down into the Walker mode (which was used for last year’s Star Fox Zero) and make your way through the inner corridors to find, and destroy, the ship’s core.
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You can choose to play as Fox, Slippy, Peppy, or Falco, or new characters Miyu and Fay. Each has different attributes. The game will also randomly select a wingman for you; if you die, you can keep playing as that character.
I couldn’t go too in-depth with any one game during my brief window with the SNES Classic, and Star Fox 2 is no exception. We’ll have to save the judgment for our review next month. But our worries about the SNES Classic were never about whether or not the product would actually be good or not—the question is, will you be able to buy one? At Target and not eBay?
Nintendo reps at our interview repeated the line that the company plans to make “significantly more” SNES Classics than it did of the NES version. Of course, it’s possible that demand for this will be significantly higher than demand for the NES version and there’s a sell-out again. “Significantly more” is nice, but for something as beautiful and desirable as the SNES Classic, I’d rather hear Nintendo commit to making “enough.”
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Floyd Mayweather bets big, just not on himself
August 23, 2017 by admin
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At this point, after months of over-the-top promotion, it’s difficult to separate reality from hype for a fight that will almost certainly be the most-heavily bet boxing match ever.
Floyd Mayweather stoked the fire last week, telling late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel that he plans to bet on himself against Conor McGregor in Saturday’s mega-bout in Las Vegas.
It’s long been rumored that Mayweather bets on himself, either directly or through members of his entourage. UFC president Dana White told reporters in 2013 that Mayweather bets on himself, but some folks in Las Vegas aren’t buying it.
“He’s never bet on himself,” a source with direct knowledge of Mayweather’s betting history told ESPN. “He’s very superstitious and that’s the one thing he doesn’t bet on, his own fights, ever. His friends and crew bet small on him, but he has never done it.”
Will that change this week?
Mayweather, boxing’s biggest star, remains one of the biggest sports bettors in Las Vegas, and in the past hasn’t been shy about showing off his wagers — the winning ones, at least.
For a while, a stretch from around 2012 through 2015, he regularly sprinkled in pictures of six- and seven-figure betting slips among photos of stacks of cash, gaudy jewelry and luxury cars on his Instagram and Twitter accounts:
• $1.1 million on Oregon -7.5 over Arizona State in October 2012.
• $800,000 on the Denver Broncos -7.5 over the New York Jets in October 2014.
• $200,000 on the Golden State Warriors over the Houston Rockets straight-up in May 2015.
The tickets Mayweather put up on social media were almost all winners and almost always posted after the fact. There was a running joke that not only was he unbeaten in the ring, but he was also undefeated at the betting window. ESPN has confirmed that Mayweather has indeed made losing bets at one time or another.
Why Mayweather-McGregor is alarming Vegas oddsmakers
Mayweather-McGregor will be the most-bet boxing match ever in Nevada, but even veteran Las Vegas oddsmakers have been surprised at the betting patterns — and where the line might still go.
In May, he posted a picture of himself sitting in a jet with bundles of money, claiming that he bet on his buddy, point guard Isaiah Thomas, and the Boston Celtics against the Washington Wizards. Thomas scored 53 points, the Celtics won 129-119 in overtime and Mayweather ended up with cash on his lap. For the most part, however, the pictures of the actual betting slips have dissipated. It’s not because he’s stopped betting.
Mayweather still routinely bets five and six figures on NBA, NFL and college football and basketball. He doesn’t bet baseball, sources said, and no one recalled him ever betting on a boxing or UFC match.
Mayweather’s preferred bookmaker in Las Vegas is CG Technology, which operates the sportsbooks at The Venetian, The Cosmopolitan, Palms and several other casinos. It’s believed that he currently bets exclusively with CG Technology.
Citing company policy that prohibits discussing individual customers, CG Technology declined comment for this story.
Mayweather and his crew bet most often at the CG Technology sportsbook at M Resort, a casino located roughly 12 miles off The Strip. They’re not hard to pick out.
“They’re the guys in the TMT hats (The Money Team associated with Mayweather), sitting in the VIP section,” a source said.
Sources familiar with Mayweather’s betting insist that he’s not a complete square and, at times, has passed on games if he doesn’t like the point spread. But, at the same time, competing bookmakers have courted Mayweather’s action, which may be the most-telling detail about his level of success.
“They’re lucky to have him,” one Las Vegas bookmaker quipped with a chuckle.
Mayweather has been known to chase losing wagers by doubling up the size of his bets on later games and regularly gravitates to popular public favorites. In the past, those familiar with his day-to-day bets could almost predict which teams he was going to back during an NBA slate: The Miami Heat during the LeBron James years, the San Antonio Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook were staples on Mayweather’s past betting cards.
There was a period of time, around 2013 and 2014, in which Mayweather suddenly started betting more random games — $50,000 on a Harvard basketball game or $100,000 on an odd first-half bet, for example. Strangely, Mayweather’s bets during that time began mimicking some of the sharper accounts that were playing at CG Technology. Buzz began to build that someone was in his ear, telling him which teams to bet.
In 2013, Mayweather was spotted on a TV broadcast, sitting courtside for a Sacramento Kings game against the Dallas Mavericks. Isaiah Thomas was still with the Kings at the time and was seen interacting with Mayweather during the game. At halftime, a $50,000 bet on the favored Mavericks in the second half was placed from Mayweather’s account. The Kings pulled away from Dallas in the third quarter, and the bet lost.
No ticket appeared on social media.
If he chooses to place a wager on himself, Mayweather won’t be violating any rules.
Neither the Nevada Athletic Commission nor Nevada Gaming Control has regulations addressing the ability of contestants to bet on themselves to win a fight. The NAC “expects all contestants, licensees and other persons associated with unarmed combat to comply with all state and federal laws regarding contest wagers,” a spokesperson told ESPN in a statement. If a fighter were to bet against themselves, however, federal law — the Sports Bribery Act of 1964 — would likely come into play, according to legal sources.
While apparently legal, betting on himself doesn’t make much financial sense for Mayweather. As of Tuesday morning, he was around a -400 to -500 favorite to beat McGregor at sportsbooks around the world. At the best odds, Mayweather would need to bet $4 million just to win $1 million. ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell estimates Mayweather is in line to make $220 million on the fight.
“The guy’s got $200 million he’s trying to make on this fight,” Chris Andrews, a veteran Las Vegas sportsbook director, now at the South Point casino, said. “What’s an extra $150,000, $200,000 to him?”
On Friday, more money, £2.5 million ($3.2 million), was staked on Mayweather-McGregor on the United Kingdom betting exchange BetFair than any other day to this point. The flurry of action — most of it on McGregor — came in the wake of Nevada Athletic Commission’s decision to allow the fighters to wear eight-ounce gloves. It also coincided with a tweet Mayweather sent out, informing followers that he would be “partying the entire week before my fight” as part of a promotion of his Las Vegas strip club “Girl Collection.”
“I doubt Floyd’s twitter messages mean much,” said Art Manteris, vice president of race and sports for Station Casinos and longtime sportsbook director in Las Vegas. “He keeps really unusual hours normally and is seen around Las Vegas at all hours of the night. But, to my knowledge he doesn’t drink, smoke or do drugs. He has never entered the ring unprepared as a professional, or in anything other than top shape in my opinion. Win or lose, it won’t be because he is unprepared.”
Mayweather’s odds to win the fight reached a low point over the weekend in Las Vegas, as public bettors continued to flock toward McGregor, increasing the liability on the underdog that’s already reached millions of dollars at multiple sportsbooks in Las Vegas.
“Don’t forget, we had a guy bet us $880,000 on the favorite,” Andrews of the South Point said. “And it’s still being overpowered by the public. It’s unbelievable.”
The price on Mayweather dipped to -490 at CG Technology on Sunday, which was cheap enough to attract an additional six-figure bet on the favorite.
It was not placed by Mayweather, sources said.