Feel free to check what today is. It’s not April Fool’s Day. This is legit. Announced by Nintendo themselves, the Mini NES is in production to be released on the eleventh of November this year, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The Mini NES is similar to the plug-and-play devices we’ve seen over the years for Atari and Sega systems of old, however, this Mini NES will NOT support cartridges and comes packaged with thirty classic games.
That and I assume the sound quality will much better than the Sega Genesis knock off I bought a couple years back. I cannot unhear a horribly compressed Sonic theme song. I just can’t…
Connecting via HDMI, the Mini NES is more than likely an attempt to test the waters of a market hungry for games of the past. As a retro enthusiast myself, the want seems to be there, but I’m no expert in marketing so I have no idea how something like this will sell in the open market. As for myself, this looks like a great move by Nintendo, as releasing a reboot of their older hardware is something I’ve wanted since the days of the Wii when it was called the Nintedo Revolution. Look it up, the Wii had some interesting aspirations.
Unfortunately, the cartridge slot on the Mini NES doesn’t actually open to allow play of older collections, but if anything it’s a step in the right direction. Nintendo also claims that the system will not be able to connect online for further improvements, updates, or downloads.
So what games will be on the system? Actually, quite an interesting array from staples like Super Mario Bros and Legend of Zelda to more obscure classics like Star Tropics. Below is the full list as seen on Kotaku.
- Balloon Fight™
- BUBBLE BOBBLE
- Castlevania™
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest™
- Donkey Kong™
- Donkey Kong Jr. ™
- DOUBLE DRAGON II: THE REVENGE
- Dr. Mario™
- Excitebike™
- FINAL FANTASY®
- Galaga™
- GHOSTS’N GOBLINS®
- GRADIUS™
- Ice Climber™
- Kid Icarus™
- Kirby’s Adventure™
- Mario Bros. ™
- MEGA MAN® 2
- Metroid™
- NINJA GAIDEN
- PAC-MAN™
- Punch-Out!! ™ Featuring Mr. Dream
- StarTropics™
- SUPER C™
- Super Mario Bros.™
- Super Mario Bros. ™ 2
- Super Mario Bros. ™ 3
- TECMO BOWL
- The Legend of Zelda™
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link™
These games will come at the moderate price of $59.99 for the system with a slightly remade NES controller to boot that will even work on the Wii and Wii U. The controller uses that same port that Wii controllers utilize to connect things like the Nunchuk and the Wii Classic Controller. My problem with this is that those accessories are notorious for having a short cable, which is unfortunate when these could be wireless via Bluetooth like the Pro Controller for Wii U. However, that would increase the price as well as create input lag, so maybe this isn’t so bad.
It will be interesting to see how the Mini NES sells and if Nintendo continues support of their retro enthusiasts. If anything, maybe it could bring forth some of the independent developers who continue to create new experiences on older consoles. Not gonna lie, I’m disappointed that the Mini NES has no way to expand at all, at least not on the surface. The possibility of picking up cartridges at retail or even selling them at my day job seem like righting the wrong of being born in the wrong time.
Even if this is more or less a marketing experiment by Nintendo, I’ll be sure to pick one up for myself later this year. Maybe the thirty games listed will play super well on this thing, can’t say for certain, but I’ll be one of the first to try. Some of the games on that list are harder to come by and expensive to pick up, so it could save some cash in the long run.
Here’s hoping this goes well enough to warrant a mini SNES or an mini N64.
