Nintendo could have supported Super FX long before the SNES Classic

"It's the difference between looking at a picture and being there." (credit: Stone Age Gamer)

Since launching the Virtual Console in 2006, Nintendo has officially re-released dozens of Super NES games for play on modern consoles. As that emulated library has grown, though, many have noted an important gap: Nintendo hasn't re-released any SNES games that made use of the 3D-focused Super FX chip (or the improved Super FX2 follow-up).

The Super FX chip was only used in a handful of released games, and that list includes well-remembered classics like Star Fox and Yoshi's Island (which was actually re-coded with new, non-FX-powered graphics for its Game Boy Advance re-release in 2002). But while we've been able to buy and download games like SimCity and Kirby's Dream Course on the Wii for about a decade now, Nintendo has been effectively ignoring these Super FX-powered classics for just as long.

That streak of Super FX disrespect will finally end in September when Yoshi's Island and Star Fox will show up on the Super NES Classic Edition. They'll be joined by the previously unreleased, Super FX2-powered Star Fox 2, which was completed in the mid-'90s but cancelled to avoid the shadow of more powerful 3D games on the likes of PlayStation and Nintendo 64.

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