A Fantastic SNES Classic Alternative is Super Cheap Right Now

We’ve seen stock for the SNES Classic pop up a little more frequently in recent weeks, but Nintendo‘s adorable nostalgia box remains elusive. If you haven’t been able to get your hands on one, the good news is that there are alternatives out there that have the advantage of not being locked down to a small selection of pre-loaded games. Indeed, these versions are capable of playing actual Super Nintendo cartridges, so you can revisit the SNES games you have in your attic, and pick up “new” ones on eBay, GameStop, thrift stores and yard sales, etc.

At the moment, you can get one of these systems – the Gamerz Tek 16-Bit HD Entertainment System – for only $49.99 – which is 17% off. For that price, you can play both North America and Japanese SNES games in HD (720p) with a 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio switch. You can even swap out the included controllers for genuine SNES versions if you want.

This is Gamerz Tek’s HD version of their original SNES clone, which I’ve actually spent time with. I can confirm that it works brilliantly, so this HD version is pretty exciting (though the standard definition setup does add extra authenticity to the experience). There’s something extra special about popping in your old version of Super Mario World and finding your saved games from the early ’90s intact. Amazingly, the battery inside the cartridge still worked after all these years.

We should also point out that the Hyperkin SupaRetroN HD has a similar set of features as the Gamerz Tek version, and is available to pre-order now for a release on January 8th. Of course, you can also go the DIY route and build your own supercharged SNES Classic. You’ll need a Raspberry Pi 3 to get started, and you can even make your build extra authentic with one of these SNES-inspired cases.

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