Nintendo Mini?

Richard Kain

Richard Kain

CAGiversary!
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/277097/Nintendo_wants_players_to_turn_back_time_with_the_NES_mini.php

Nintendo is apparently going to be putting out a miniature version of the original Nintendo system, with around 30 games pre-installed. The current news is that there won't be any on-line connectivity, and there is still no word on whether or not there will be any external media for purchasing additional games.

This is a bit of an odd move, and a bit difficult to understand from a forward-thinking perspective. From a more backward-facing perspective, the entire ploy makes perfect sense. This might as well be aimed directly at nostalgia from the older generation of gamers. No one's going to purchase these things for their kids, but I could easily see people purchasing them for their parents.

Also, as a long-time Nintendo fan, shut up and take my money!

 
I'd honestly much rather have a SNES... I personally don't think most NES hold up well. And that classic NES controller honestly feels atrocious to hold these days (would have preferred the dogbone controller). I have no idea how I played the NES as a kid but maybe having smaller hands made it easier to hold or something. 

 
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Vinny said:
I'd honestly much rather have a SNES... I personally don't think most NES hold up well.
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I think most people would agree with your first statement. Not so much the second statement. While some NES games don't hold up that well, there are plenty that are still quite playable. Contrast the NES with the Atari 2600 before it. The NES has actually aged more gracefully than some people realize.

That said, pretty much everyone would want to see a SNES version of this. Of course, if this thing sells well, you can be certain that Nintendo will very seriously consider such a proposition. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they launch a SNES version in time for holiday season 2017. For 2018, perhaps an N64 version.

I'm just wondering if there will be ANY way to get additional games for it. The word is that there won't be any on-line connectivity. That pretty much just leaves cartridges as an option. Obviously not original cartridges, that forward port is clearly just for show, and can't open. But something along the lines of DS-style cartridges would be a possibility.

 
As a fan of those silly Flashback Systems, I think this is awesome! I just wish it included more games and a cartridge slot.

The SNES version will probably hit in a year or two.
 
Agreed on the cartridge slot. They really need to provide SOME means for people to acquire more games for this thing. I would love to be able to pick up new cartridges for it, perhaps in the same case and cartridge format as the DS/3DS? (to save on production costs)

One thing I find encouraging is the number of third-party games on the built-in games list. There are a lot of them. While Nintendo's internal catalog is well represented, there are also a considerable number of licensed titles from other companies. Prominent games, as well. Hopefully this is an indication that Nintendo will be interested in allowing for more games on it in the future.

 
It's very encouraging, but since the current iteration doesn't appear to have expandable storage, Internet connection or a link to the Wii U, I suspect they'll add new games by releasing a new version of the console. Hopefully Nintendo makes the next one more expandable and links to the NX.

My hope is that they listen to suggestions and add games that are either rare or didn't come out in the US. Like Little Samson (super expensive Square-Enix game), Mr Gimmick (PAL) and Mother (Japanese Exclusive).

As a fan of NES, this is awesome. Even more so since TVs are starting to have no analog inputs.

 
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I just wish I could pre-order one! Really love the idea of this and the packaging is very well done. I think this could have been done better and Nintendo could have instead released a model with Wi-Fi that could connect to the eShop and allow you to download Virtual Console games for the NES. The 30 included games are some of the systems best though and for $60 this is a stroke of genius from Nintendo as this thing will clearly sell like crazy for the Holidays. I think we will see a similar demand to the Wii U due to the low price point and nostalgia factor, I run into people constantly who aren't gamers, but had a NES growing up and will go out and buy a used system only to find out that many of the games they want to pick up are either hard to find or expensive. 

 
Nintendo has confirmed that there will be no physical media for this device, and no future game releases for it. Also, no internet (already announced) and no wireless controller support.

This limits the appeal somewhat. Building bluetooth support into it wouldn't have cost that much extra, and would have allowed for WiiMotes to be paired with it. I was really hoping for a system that could have additional games released for it, but that seems to not be the case here.

I'll still probably get one for my collection, but the utility isn't what it perhaps could have been.

 
I have all the games, but I think it has lots of appeal to people who love the NES, but don't really want to spend the money to get a bunch of games. They picked some very good titles and quite a few of them are $20 games. The cost of entry into the NES isn't cheap and here they get everything they need for $60. You can't get original hardware for $60 much less 30 games. 

 
I'll probably get it. It has a bunch of games I haven't played and the console itself looks super neat.

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Kind of expected all of the Nintendo E-reader titles to be on there. No Tennis, Golf, Donkey Kong 3, Baseball, Excitebike, Pinball,  and Urban Champion.  They  all would have been good fillers for the list.

No Contra, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and Super Mario Bros. 2 the Lost Levels is kind of a bummer. 

Honestly, I would have liked all the rare expensive titles.  I'll still probably going to buy this thing.

 
anotherpoorgamer said:
No Contra, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
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These two omissions were the ones I was hoping for the most. You mentioned Excitebike, but that is actually on the list. They also have Super-C, the sequel to Contra, which is often considered to be better than the original. But I would still have liked to see original Contra. It just has a lot fans, myself amongst them. Castlevania III is a no-brainer, it is widely regarded as the best Castlevania title on the NES.

Despite these omissions, I do have to commend Nintendo on the selection they settled on. While I am still disappointed that I won't be getting some manner of cartridges to go with this thing, they did pick a very impressive line-up of titles for this stand-alone box.

Here's hoping for a SNES-style mini next. What do you think the line-up for that would look like. They would HAVE to get Act Raiser. Just too iconic to pass up.

 
Oh yes, I see it there now. 

No Clu Clu Land is probably what I should have said. 

Also, no Adventures of Lolo.  I suppose that title/series wasn't mainstream enough.

 
So no way to buy additional games, no online support, and no word on a successor. Guess Nintendo just wanted to print some money for fun. 

I would seriously love for Nintendo to make a standalone set top box for their classic games. I don't know why I never wanted one before but seeing this makes me want one... would be so cool to fire it up, select a game, and start playing. 

 
Given the reaction of the mass market (i.e. the people who have no idea what video games are out there besides Mario, Madden, and Call  of Duty), this will probably sell really, really well this holiday season. There have been tales from all around the country of people calling GameStops and other video game stores asking if they are going to carry it and if they can pre-order it.

I think that Nintendo could have easily bumped the number of games up by 10 by including their various sports titles, Pinball, and, even though it was never actually released back then, Earthbound Beginnings. That game, plus Pinball, Ice Hockey, one of the baseball games, Tennis, NES Open Championship Golf, Mega Man 3, Dragon Warrior, River City Ransom, and Soccer would have topped things out perfectly.

 
DNukem170 said:
Given the reaction of the mass market (i.e. the people who have no idea what video games are out there besides Mario, Madden, and Call of Duty), this will probably sell really, really well this holiday season.

I think that Nintendo could have easily bumped the number of games up by 10
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Let's be honest with ourselves. Classic NES titles take up so little storage room, that they could easily have crammed hundreds of those games onto this device for pennies on the dollar. The ONLY real expense for Nintendo on this thing is the physical unit itself, and the licensing for games they do not personally have the rights to. The physical costs are easily offset by the price they're quoting. (NES-capable hardware, even at 1080p, is cheap as dirt) The mark-up on this device is going to be great for Nintendo. The licensing is the only real cost to them, and even that won't be nearly as bad as you might think. Most of those games haven't been profitably sold for decades, and the companies that do own them have handled them fairly incompetently. You wave a sizable enough check, or offer some manner of profit sharing, and they'll be on board.

Bottom line, this entire venture is ALL about Nintendo making mad money off of older gamer's nostalgia. It is a very transparent cash-grab. And if they wanted to they could have crammed way more content in, and still made a profit. And yes, it will almost certainly work, and sell like gangbusters this holiday season.

They are saving additional games for when they release the version 2 of this thing, that will look like the top-loading NES. Then will come the SNES, (most likely with 30 games) and then the re-designed SNES (with another 30 games). And then they will release special Famicom and Super Famicom editions with the same game line-ups, but with the Japanese versions instead of the US versions of those games. And then they will release a mini N64. All of this will take place over the course of the next four or five years. Instant additional revenue stream on games that haven't been sold physically in 15+ years. Insurance in case whatever the NX ends up being doesn't hit it big.

 
I'm pretty stoked about this system. My NES has been long gone since the early '90s and I never bothered to buy another one with all the games I had. My only wish is that it had more two player games on it. Blades of Steel and RBI Baseball (or Baseball Simulator 1.000) would have been fantastic additions and made the collection nearly perfect. I feel like it needs a car racing game too.. maybe Rad Racer. Rygar and Dragon Warrior would have been icing on the cake. 

The controller cables are going to be short as hell though. I'll either have to get a super long HDMI and USB cable, or some Wii classic controller extension cables to play this thing. I won't be sitting on the floor right under my TV like I did in the '80s. Too old for that nonsense.  ;)

 
redline said:
I'm pretty stoked about this system. My NES has been long gone since the early '90s and I never bothered to buy another one with all the games I had. My only wish is that it had more two player games on it. Blades of Steel and RBI Baseball (or Baseball Simulator 1.000) would have been fantastic additions and made the collection nearly perfect. I feel like it needs a car racing game too.. maybe Rad Racer. Rygar and Dragon Warrior would have been icing on the cake.
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RBI Baseball is...complicated. RBI Baseball was created by Namco/Namcot for the Famicom as Famista (or Family Stadium) Baseball. Tengen imported it to the US, added the MLBA license and changed the name to RBI Baseball. If you don't know the history of Tengen's relationship with Nintendo then I would suggest putting some time aside and reading up on it; it's quite fascinating. Tengen may still have the rights to distribute the NES Famista games in the US, though a SNES sequel was released here as Super Batter Up by Namco while Tengen released a separate game for the NES called RBI Baseball 2. Tengen parent company, Warner Bros Interactive (formerly Atari Games) did release Super RBI for the SNES with Nintendo's approval. Sooooooo, even if Warner Bros retains the rights to the name, and still has a positive relationship with Namco, and everyone has Nintendo's approval, then the game would....certainly still not get released. Since none of the players in the game are still represented by the Major League Baseball Players Union, each player (or his estate) would have to be individually contracted to appear in the game. Or they would have to be removed and that's already more effort and time than Nintendo is going to put into a cashgrab product.

Jaleco is unfortunately a legal mess of its own creation, so the Bases Loaded series is out of the question as well. But I'm surprised that Nintendo's Baseball isn't in there. The same for Ice Hockey.

Rad Racer was developed by Square. I'm not sure if they wouldn't have to strike a deal with them to include it. Agreed that Rygar would make a good choice and since Tecmo Bowl is in this one, maybe would see it in v2 with Super Tecmo Bowl.

 
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