The same day preorders came and went in a blink, Vice writer Patrick Klepek argued that Nintendo’s inability (or refusal) to meet demand for an official retro product - leaving the ROM gray market as the only viable option - absolved people of copyright infringement. Prospective buyers overwhelmed sites trying to nab the thing, only to be left empty-handed as listings with 200 percent markups began to populate eBay. Almost without warning, sites went live for preorders beginning overnight on August 22 and regularly throughout the day. Walmart’s preorders accidentally went live early and the company canceled all of them. The SNES Classic’s scarcity (Nintendo insists it will be regularly restocking the device in 2018), coupled with a bungled preorder period, has frustrated gamers. At a press briefing a few months ago, asked which of the many versions of Star Fox 2 floating around the internet would be included on the SNES (“ hypothetically, what if we’ve already played this game?”), Nintendo’s only response was that it was the official version. The practice exists in a gray area, where companies don’t fight hard to protect their aging intellectual property but also refuse to condone piracy. Most classic games can be run on PC emulators at a cost of precisely zero dollars, though it is blatant copyright infringement. In-progress versions of the game have floated around online for years, among the thousands of retro game ROM files that are available for download on certain sites.
But there are, if you’re feeling a little nefarious, unofficial ways to play the game. If you want to play an official version of Star Fox 2, your first chance to do so is on the SNES Classic, which - having sold out on its release last Friday - you can’t find anywhere.
At the time, Nintendo was forging ahead with its next console, the Nintendo 64, and decided to scrap Star Fox 2 to focus on the future. Included in the collection of 21 games is Star Fox 2, a title that was fully designed and developed for the SNES but never saw an official release. Tucked away in the SNES Classic, Nintendo’s best-selling revival of its beloved console, is a small piece of gaming history.
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