Nintendo has been having a lot of ups and downs lately, with a recent massive spike upward thanks to Niantic’s Pokemon version of Ingress, Pokemon Go. One of the things Nintendo is backing on with staying in the green is the power of nostalgia.
For good or for bad, Nintendo is preparing to launch a miniature version of their “Nintendo Entertainment System”, also known as “NES”. This will, in my opinion, add to a boost of sales as too many people will be pulled in by nostalgic times of playing the original NES when they were younger. Current parents are going to want to introduce their children to the “games back in our day”, and have date-nights of old school Mario or Punch Out.
The Impact:
This could be a massive boon in sales for Nintendo, leading them to be able to fund other projects. The return of these classic games too are a great way to ‘legally’ play games from the past and aid in software archiving for classics from a previous era.
Also, depending on how well it’s received, we can expect that, if any classics who’re currently obscure become popular, that we’ll see those character re-imagined into modern titles and markets – such as my man Little Mac and Doc kicking butt in Smash.
But keep in mind, with many people already playing these classic games be it from emulators or say custom rigs using a Raspberry Pi, will this be able to steer people away from those enough to possibly start a new market of bringing up other classic consoles? A miniature Sega Genesis? Further more will this be expandable to add other classic games other than the ones listed?
The Fear:
While I’m for the idea in theory, because what do we have to lose? Nothing, I am a bit concerned that the only thing that I’m personally seeing from Nintendo that’s working consistently for them is that sweet sweet power of nostalgia.
Nothing is wrong with nostalgia, or even using it to bring in cash. Use your assets. However, with Nintendo – who’s shown many times that they’re adamant about sticking to their guns about their traditional ways – may aid in enforcing/enabling the notion of playing it safe by pushing first party products with very little of anything else.
“But Zane, isn’t the NX going to be more friendly to Third-Party devs?” – in theory, yes, but we’ve had information (not solid confirmation) that devs are told to work without properly knowing the hardware – which is dangerous territory.
The new-age mini NES can also be a way for them to try and fluff their numbers in case the NX isn’t received well – which is a smart move either way the cookie crumbles, it just worries me as I’ve personally have been let down by Nintendo to the point of lost almost every connection I’ve had with them as a consumer.
Keep in mind, the games that come with the classic mini NES are as followed:
- Balloon Fight
- Bubble Bobble
- Castlevania
- Castlevania 2
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Double Dragon 2
- Dr. Mario
- Excitebike
- Final Fantasy
- Galaga
- Ghosts `n Goblins
- Gradius
- Ice Climbers
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby’s Adventure
- Mario
- Mega Man 2
- Metroid
- Ninja Gaiden
- Pac Man
- Punch Out
- Star Tropics
- Super C
- Super Mario Bros
- Super Mario Bros 2
- Super Mario Bros 3
- Tecmo Bowl
- The Legend of Zelda
- Zelda 2
Also the mini console’s controllers utilize the Wii-mote ports, which I would have liked those to be USB, but of course Nintendo would go proprietary.
Never the less, what are your thoughts on the matter? Excited, don’t care, hate it? Well one thing is going to determine the majority’s opinion, and that’ll be displayed by the number of sells and consumer satisfaction.