NES Classic is a throwback to Nintendo's best days

By Phil Nickinson
published

Once upon a time — say, a couple hundred years ago — we didn't have smartphones or tablets for gaming. I'm talking life before Mirror's Edge. Before Pokémon Go. Way before the new Super Mario Run. Instead, those of us of a certain age were born into the era of the earliest consoles. When 8-bit was king. And while Nintendo wasn't the first to crack that market, it absolutely became the hottest thing an '80s kid could have.

I, however, was far from a hot '80s kid. And it's probably because I never owned a Nintendo. ... Until now.

The NES Classic is a reboot of the classic console. It's a little smaller than the original. And we don't need cartridges any more to get our game on. And we now know just how bad those boxy controllers were.

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But, man, this is some serious fun. And for $59, it's priced just right.

Music credit: "Sweet Self Satisfaction" by RoccoW

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson
27 Comments
  • 1. Very disappointed no Contra 1
    2. Very disappointed no Double Dragon 1
    3. Forgot how damn frustrating Castlevania was.
    4. Super Mario still can get the extra men from the turtle walking down the steps. Wife didn't know you can get over 100 extra men with this trick. Love.
    5. Disappointed that Punch Out doesn't have Mike Tyson. I love every bit of this nostalgia!
  • haha agree with all your points above. Doing that turtle trick is really hard... not sure I've ever successfully pulled it off!
  • Yeah I had messed up the first time. The trick is to be super mario and it's always easier that way. Love this thing so many old memories.
  • Super C and DD 2 are both great games as well, but I do agree the 1st ones should've been in the mix.
  • They also left out paper boy, super spike v ball and blades of steel! DOH!
  • I am missing Dragon Warrior as well.
  • Agreed on many of the exclusions, I really wanted Punch-out! , not whatever "other" boxing game they included.
    I blew through Castlevania (love that game), what I could play (level 4 before my sister had to play Mario) I still remember where all the secrets were. The biggest disappointment though: The stupid 3 foot controller cord, making the extension a mandatory purchase! At that point, give me wireless and charge me $10 more for the dang thing.
  • You will never see a re-release of Mike Tyson Punch-Out in all likelihood. Tyson was signed for a three-year deal in 1986 -- before he won his first-ever title, so Nintendo (like everyone else) expected that a title was coming -- and the three years started in 1987 with the release date of the game. In the last year of the deal, Buster Douglas upset Tyson in Tokyo, and Nintendo elected not to renew, and that was that. Knowing Nintendo's standards and practices of being family friendly, even if they renewed, they probably would have utilized some out clause anyway, given Tyson's arrest for rape and subsequent conviction were just around the corner.
  • I tried to get the NES classic. Several times from several places for several weeks. But since Nintendo pulled that limited quantities crap I wasn't able to, so I put an emulator on my Shield TV and now I can play all the NES games I want. It lacks the nostalgia of having a replica console and controllers, but the games are still the same and the Mrs loves it and the kids don't even know what the original console was like and they love the games too.
  • I need to find an alternate solution like this as well. I don't want to buy the Shield TV just for this, but I'm sure there are other ways...
  • Emulators and a USB controller on your laptop work just the same. Plus it is more portable.
  • I want to get one but I'm not paying to absurd Craigslist prices.
  • just wait a month or two and these things will be available everywhere.
  • Exactly. That's what I'm doing, for sure. Sent from my Sony Xperia X Compact
  • Why pay that much when the emulators and ROMs are out there? Before people want to get into the legalities, if people want to buy the item and price gouge, then screw them. I will go a more effective direction that is way more versatile.
  • The only reason I could think of buying one rather than just using an emulator was the possibility a zapper-like gun could be created/included to work on HDTV's. No such luck, no such purchase made on my end then.
  • Ever since November 11th, I've been trying to track one of these down. Nintendo is a bunch of FOOLS for not having stock in time for Christmas.
  • Sometimes things are announced and they become such a must-have that the demand exceeded the produced supply. I get the idea that you don't want to make too many and lose money on unsold product, but I also think Nintendo should have done a tad bit more research and then they would have realized it needed more supply to meet the demand.
  • I quit trying to look for one. If Nintendo is going to pull this limited quantities crap, I'm going to spend my money elsewhere.
  • I was initially excited about this. Should have pre-ordered. I like nostalgia, but come on Nintendo. Is it just me or does Nintendo rehash classics over and over? And I'm waiting on the new 3Ds XL Extreme reloaded or whatever they will call it! I still have an original Xbox in the house. Maybe I should put an emulator on it and move forward!!
  • Me too cowboys, The original xbox is sitting downstairs. I am getting the HDMI converter for it then I am going to mod the crap out of it.
  • Throwback... Or nostalgia cash in.
  • A bunch of mediocre games. I hacked my Wii years ago and have played every game I wanted to for Nintendo, super Nintendo, and N64. This thing is a cash grab by Nintendo, preying on suckers who don't know any better.
  • Legality aside, as some will argue that... The thing is, you can do a lot more such as control save states, and easily play imports to games never released in the US. Prime example for me: Final Fantasy IV, the REAL version, that was deemed to be too hard and so a watered down Easy Type version was released in the US in what we know as Final Fantasy II on the SNES. Quite honestly? The real version of the game was EASIER than the so-called Easy Type version. Emulator for free and a nearly unlimited library of games? Or pay for this system that has select games, and a lot of consumer complaints such as having to use power and reset and needing a long HDMI cord and it goes on and on. It is not rocket science to even get an emulator running on your PC and use a USB controller like even from, say, your XBox 360 or XBox 1. Just sayin'...
  • Have one more unit (not used / not opened) that I dont need, want someone for normal price ?
    Shipping in EU.
  • Yes sir.. I am interested (if you are serious about it) (Never mind.. You are not in the US, Just read that, sorry.)
  • (Never mind.. You are not in the US, Just read that, sorry.)