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Playing With Super Power: Nintendo Super NES Classics
The Console A nostalgic celebration and exploration of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in all its 16-bit glory.
The Games Discover everything you've always wanted to know about some of the most beloved SNES games, including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2!
The History Learn about the SNES development and the visionaries behind this groundbreaking console.
The Legacy An in-depth look at how the SNES has left its mark on the gaming industry, and how its legacy continues.
The Memories Featuring a plethora of fan art, music, and more, this book is a love letter to playing with Super Power!
Speedrunning Tips Some of the best speedrunners around share their tips and strategies for getting the best times in these beloved classic games.
Exclusive Foreword Written by Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO of Nintendo of America.
Paperback version.
The Games Discover everything you've always wanted to know about some of the most beloved SNES games, including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2!
The History Learn about the SNES development and the visionaries behind this groundbreaking console.
The Legacy An in-depth look at how the SNES has left its mark on the gaming industry, and how its legacy continues.
The Memories Featuring a plethora of fan art, music, and more, this book is a love letter to playing with Super Power!
Speedrunning Tips Some of the best speedrunners around share their tips and strategies for getting the best times in these beloved classic games.
Exclusive Foreword Written by Reggie Fils-Aime, President and COO of Nintendo of America.
Paperback version.
320 pages, Paperback
Published September 29, 2017
7 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2018
If you grew up playing the Super Nintendo (SNES), you will get a lot out of this book. Loved the classic artwork and game map walkthroughs. For those lucky enough to have the recent Super Nintendo Classic Edition (like me!) with 21 built-in games, you will probably want this book as a nice companion volume. (GameInformer magazine recently named the Super Nintendo game, “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past”, as number one on a list of 300 best games of all time. Many other Super Nintendo games also made their list and are also available on the Classic Edition system that was released in Sept. 2017.)
January 23, 2019
Playing with Super Power is Nintendo's endorsed book from Prima that shipped alongside the SNES Classic in 2017. It is vastly superior than its predecessor, Playing With Power that shipped a year prior around the launch of the NES Classic. While the NES book consisted primarily of scans of Nintendo Power's maps and strategies of the Nintendo published games on the NES Classic, the SNES book is almost entirely new features and strategies. There are pictures of Nintendo Power scans, but they are tucked inside the new coverage and are more supplementary instead of the main focus like before.
The new coverage is nicely laid out for each Nintendo published game. Each game has several pages of general strategies and tips, and then there are a few pages dedicated to factoids and nods to other games of the franchise and then in a nice touch for each game is a couple pages of interviews with a pro speed-runner from each Nintendo published game featured on the SNES Classic. Almost all the pro speed-runner tips went right over my head, but it was still fascinating to take in their wisdom and fandom of titles like Super Metroid and Super Mario World. The only Nintendo game that got shorted on coverage was Star Fox 2 since it was officially released for the first time on the SNES Classic and thus only has four pages of overall coverage in this book.
The last section of the book was a nice ode to the Nintendo fanbase from around the world where it showcases and interviews various artists, composers, cosplayers and community website leads about their works and projects dedicated to their passion for Nintendo. My only gripe is that like the last book is there is no coverage dedicated to the third party games featured on the SNES Classic. I kind of get it, but it seems only fitting for this to have equal coverage to all games on the SNES Classic, and not just the Nintendo published ones. Other than that qualm, this is a great coffee table book to get nostalgic all over again with as you wait your turn rotating between levels with your friend in Super Mario World.
The new coverage is nicely laid out for each Nintendo published game. Each game has several pages of general strategies and tips, and then there are a few pages dedicated to factoids and nods to other games of the franchise and then in a nice touch for each game is a couple pages of interviews with a pro speed-runner from each Nintendo published game featured on the SNES Classic. Almost all the pro speed-runner tips went right over my head, but it was still fascinating to take in their wisdom and fandom of titles like Super Metroid and Super Mario World. The only Nintendo game that got shorted on coverage was Star Fox 2 since it was officially released for the first time on the SNES Classic and thus only has four pages of overall coverage in this book.
The last section of the book was a nice ode to the Nintendo fanbase from around the world where it showcases and interviews various artists, composers, cosplayers and community website leads about their works and projects dedicated to their passion for Nintendo. My only gripe is that like the last book is there is no coverage dedicated to the third party games featured on the SNES Classic. I kind of get it, but it seems only fitting for this to have equal coverage to all games on the SNES Classic, and not just the Nintendo published ones. Other than that qualm, this is a great coffee table book to get nostalgic all over again with as you wait your turn rotating between levels with your friend in Super Mario World.
December 10, 2017
This was great! A retrospective on 13 of the 21 games in the SNES Mini console that brought back a lot of memories and makes me want to play the whole thing now. There was also a 40-page section at the end featuring super fans from around the world, including art, cosplay, and fan sites. Games from the SNES Mini not featured in this book were mostly the third-party ones (Street Fighter II, Super Castlevania IV, Mega Man X, Final Fantasy III, Contra III, Secret of Mana, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and strangely Super Mario RPG).
May 9, 2018
It is an extremely interesting coffee table book about some of the classic games from the Super Nintendo that just so happened to be on the Super NES Classic. I only have a few issues with this book. One, I kinda wish they would have covered all of the games in the Super NES Classic. Yes, that would have made the book a lot longer, but it just feels slightly incomplete to me. Two, I wasn't a fan of the speed-run tips, but I know that is just my opinion on it and it is still really cool to see that community get this kind of representation. Despite that, it is still worth a read.
December 18, 2018
Pese a que he leído la versión en inglés, debo reconocer que me ha encantado. Está lleno de pequeños detalles y conocimiento, con una presentación brutal y un diseño alucinante. Por ponerle una pega, el apartado de Gameplay por Jugadores Pro me sobraba. Había muchos muy curiosos pero otros, como por ejemplo los atajos o cómo ahorrar tiempo en una vuelta de MK, me sobraban. Por lo demás, una pasada.
July 18, 2025
Great book for those who grew up with an SNES in their hands. Reading through the titles made me feel nostalgic and learned new facts and insights about the games. My only nit is the omission of iconic 3rd party titles like Street Fighter 2, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Chronotrigger, and Killer Instinct (which was also from Rare, same developers as Donkey Kong Country), which can be a rights issue or content for Volume 2.
March 30, 2019
El libro me encantó desde que lo abrí debido al increíble diseño y textura de la portada que emulan a un cartucho de SNES. En el interior se pueden apreciar con gran detalle imágenes de muchísima calidad, además de leer datos curiosos de juegos importantes que nacieron y se consolidaron en esta gran consola.
February 23, 2020
This could easily have been a throwaway tie-in with the SNES Classic, but they really put in some effort on this, with sharp writing, thorough research, and a wealth of art from Nintendo’s archives. If you had a Super Nintendo, you’re basically guaranteed to enjoy this book.
May 22, 2022
Great little guide of all the SNES games and how their games are released to today.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews