The ONE game missing from the Super NES Classic

Don’t you dare argue with me.

The Super NES Classic? Brilliant. If you can get one and you fancy classic games, do it. I received one from Nintendo last week, and it’s been a blast to toy around with. I never beat Secret of Mana, and that’s my goal between now and the release of Super Mario Odyssey.

I digress. The SNES Classic is wonderful, and its lineup is mostly stellar. I’d argue that we could do without Contra III, Street Fighter II Turbo and maybe Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, but the overall lineup is great.

Look. The NES was an awesome system. The NES Classic was more retro, nostalgia cash-in than must own product, despite its rampant success. The staying power of that mini console was limited thanks to the nature of the games on the platform. How many times are you really going to play Final Fantasy? Really? The Super NES? That was Nintendo’s masterpiece, and the caliber of software released for the platform outshines all others. I’ve revisited classics from that catalogue more than any other platform I’ve ever owned.

The truth? It’s missing something. Beyond the roster of largely unbelievable games that are packed into the 21 title lineup (including Star Fox 2) looms the form of a forgotten game that occupied so much of my youth and college drinking life.

Mother. Fuckin’. Pilotwings.

Developed by Nintendo EAD, directed by Tadashi Sugiyama (Director of Super Mario Kart and Zelda II) and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, Pilotwings is a classic.

Players work through different tiers of flight school to earn their license by playing and mastering a host of minigames. You’ll need to fly and land while wearing a jet pack, dive out of an airplane, land a hang glider while jamming on updrafts and taking off and performing minor stunts in an airplane. Do well enough in each category, and you’ll advance.

Then things get weird as the last mission dynamically changes to a top-down helicopter shooter where you have to rescue soldiers from a wartorn battlefield. I’m not even joking; that’s how Pilotwings ends, and my seven-year-old brain never really got it.

The game was backed up by a strong soundtrack composed by Soyo Oka. I still listen to these tunes while I work… because I’m a nerd.

It was even a Mode 7 powerhouse capable of really showing off what the SNES could do very early on in its lifespan. Pilotwings dropped right after the system launched in 1990 in Japan, and the game showed big leaps in the tech used to fake 3D graphics.

Pilotwings is fun. It’s a landmark title. It’s often overlooked by critics and fans. It has a development team of industry legends behind it. It belonged in the Super NES Classic lineup.

Too bad it’s not there.

Hopefully Nintendo rolls out a really good emulatior on the Switch and launches a Virtual Console version of Pilotwings once more. I’d buy it for what’ll probably be the fifth time, no questions asked.

Related posts:

If you desire to give, consider offering intimacy, shared meaning, and shared experience. Allow others into your world, and take time to feel their worlds, share an experience, and elevate their…

Please keep in mind that I’m not a blogger, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t live up to the standards of a “blog”. This is the first time I’ve participated in an online coding competition & the experience was so delightful and smooth...

A lot of new guinea pig owners are understandably nervous about bathing their new pets. A common question asked is “what kind of soap can you use to bathe a guinea pig?” Well, we will answer that…