Nintendo NES mini coming!

[Digi.k]

Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System  Bring back memories and make brand new ones with Nintendo's ultimate retro gaming experience, launching 11th November!  Relive the 80s when the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System launches in stores on 11th November. The classic NES is back in a familiar-yet-new form as a mini replica of Nintendo's original home console. Plugging directly into a high-definition TV using the included HDMI cable, the console comes complete with 30 NES games built-in, including beloved classics like Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN and Kirby's Adventure.
The Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System comes packaged with an HDMI cable, a USB cable for powering the system*, and one Nintendo Classic Mini: NES Controller. And whether it's rediscovering an old favourite or experiencing the joy of NES for the first time, the fantastic collection of NES classics included with each and every system should have something for all players.


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™


I guess all those games will be emulated and the controller ports looks like wii ones.

[Medic_wheat]

What I don't get is this. Why emulation?  Isn't technology at a point where they can just recreat a OLD systems architecture with in a single chip or something? There by excluding the need for emulation which is prob to glitching and not replicating the hardware as goodb

Then just have some sort of optimizer so it will output on a modern HDMI the or some such thing?

[NecroPhile]

It sure is cute and there's something to be said for the roms being legitimate (if you care about such things), but I'd stick with emulation on a PC, modded original xbox, etc.

And why emulation?  Because why not emulation.  Most people that'd buy this won't notice emulation inaccuracies or care, so why bother with the added expense?

[Medic_wheat]

It sure is cute and there's something to be said for the roms being legitimate (if you care about such things), but I'd stick with emulation on a PC, modded original xbox, etc.

And why emulation?  Because why not emulation.  Most people that'd buy this won't notice emulation inaccuracies or care, so why bother with the added expense?

You are probably on point with the rational as to why.

It's just dang it. It's Nintendo. Lol don't they have some engenders with access to their NES hardware plans and what not that could go ok. We recreated everything including the CPU and PPU on a board the size of your hand. And we will release bundled collection games on DS sized cards.


EVRYONE run out and buy this.

I guess it is because we are the minority when it comes to hard ware. This is just like those Genesis mini things. Quick cheap cash ins for people to buy with a lose $80 bill and enjoy for a weekend then forget toss in the garage and then resell for $20 at the next garage sale the following summer.

[Medic_wheat]

I guess it will take a week and modern will have found a way to slide a SD card with all the roms on it to play on this mini system since it can't play original cartridges which even the sega flash back what ever can do.

[sirhcman]

I don't see myself picking this up but it would have been a no brainer for me if they would have made it where I can play my actual carts on it. Is there going to be a SD card slot or something for future titles? I would like to get more info on it!

[Medic_wheat]

I just looked up an article and there is something interesting no one seems to have jumped on.


The controllor it comes with.


If it feels like the original which it looked exactly like there is a lot of potential for new OEM controllers. The cable is for the WiiU pro kind so it has the benefit of being used in the WiiU as a NES style NES eshop controllor.


And if it can be modded or available as a Bluetooth controllor it would pair nicely with the 8 but USB NES controllor stick that just came out by retro 8 bit.

[Medic_wheat]

I don't see myself picking this up but it would have been a no brainer for me if they would have made it where I can play my actual carts on it. Is there going to be a SD card slot or something for future titles? I would like to get more info on it!

There isn't much out apart from sizzle promo articles with almost no real info. They are just fluff articles based on what Nintendo gave them to publish. So far there is just the mock up pictures of it fitting in the palm of a hand and of the packaging for the systems and controlor.

I am sure once it is out to market someone will open the system up to see if a sd card reader can be put in it or what have you so you cans use the emulator it is using to dump the roms onto it. It's be interested to learn what type of emulator they are using or if it is the same one used for Wii and WiiU. Most likely the same.

[Medic_wheat]

I feel they should have made the controllor a to be Bluetooth. The system is so tiny there is probably next to no weight to keep it in place with a cord and controllor yanking the system like clothes on the cloths line on a windy day.

[esteban]

I just looked up an article and there is something interesting no one seems to have jumped on.


The controllor it comes with.


If it feels like the original which it looked exactly like there is a lot of potential for new OEM controllers. The cable is for the WiiU pro kind so it has the benefit of being used in the WiiU as a NES style NES eshop controllor.


And if it can be modded or available as a Bluetooth controllor it would pair nicely with the 8 but USB NES controllor stick that just came out by retro 8 bit.

OK...but I am worried that all the controllers (first-party and third-party) will be of low build quality.

[jlued686]

I'm gonna buy this thing simply for the neat-o factor.

Oh, and I'd like to steal a quote from a friend of mine:

Somewhere, Mike Kennedy is figuring out a way to put a Coleco sticker on it...

ZING!

[ToyMachine78]

Raspberry pi is the way to go. Emulates just about everything very nicely.

You can even get a NES housing for the pi.

[NecroPhile]

Oh, and I'd like to steal a quote from a friend of mine:

Somewhere, Mike Kennedy is figuring out a way to put a Coleco sticker on it...

ZING!

Ha!  That's pure gold.

[Groover]

I think I would get it for the novalty. I will still play NES games on my NES. I have a nice setup with the NES being RGB modded and connected to the XRGB-mini.

I don't think this will give you the best results but it could be convenient enough to use. I want to see the controller. If it uses standard classic controllers then I am ok but the controller is not great I should get a pro controller. Also the cable is not very long.

[xcrement5x]

Looks neat but the emulation quality will be the big question.  I'll wait for it to come out and hardware hackers to mess with it before I make a decision to buy.  But it seems pretty unlikely. 

[csgx1]

Definitely looks cool.  It's a shame that there's not a cart slot.   I'd still be interested on how well this thing works.

[esadajr]

They should make the damn carts, and don't tell me they can't do it because it's too expensive. The chinese bootleggers are making great quality repros of all those crazy ass expensive collectard tities.

I maybe interested in getting a controller if it works on the Wii but that's about it.

[Psycho Punch]

I'm gonna buy this thing simply for the neat-o factor.

Oh, and I'd like to steal a quote from a friend of mine:

Somewhere, Mike Kennedy is figuring out a way to put a Coleco sticker on it...

ZING!

Wow the coleco chameleon really did send a statement to console manufacturers all right. I want to buy one just to get my ass owned by Ghosts and Goblins again but as Nulltard said, it is more logical to buy a NES + Everdrive/PowerPak.

[CrackTiger]

The shell might be neat to use for something like a consolized GBA.

[SignOfZeta]

I'm getting it because I'm dying to see how well engineered a Famiclone can be. Nintendo doesn't make substandard stuff like Neo Geo X (which, for all the hate, is by far the nicest system of its kind that I've ever used) or the 35 different mini Genesis systems with garbage controllers and the same 8 games in them. I'd expect the pad to be extremely authentic.

As for emulation...seriously, you probably can't even get Energy Star complied with an actual NES and if you don't tell people they'll never know. Fancy FPGA type stuff isn't much different than software emulation in the grand scheme of things assuming the power is there. I expect the emulation will be very good. While I rarely buy NES ROMs I've had zero problem with the emulation quality of other systems on Virtual Console. I have Super Mario Bros for Wii U and I've never noticed garbled sound or any other problems really. I'm not saying it doesn't occur, just that I've never noticed it. My NES fandom is very casual.

Btw, what a nice game list.

Also, I have the TvC Wii stick and it looks like it will work with this, maybe, so that will be the nicest NES controller I've ever used.

[bob]

i am surprised as well by the licensed games being included.
the sega one was junk, but i have hope nintendo themselves will put at least a little bit of quality behind it.
they actually care about their brand and reputation.  would be awesome if it played carts too.  doubt i will buy one since there is no need, but kudos to them for reaching back.

[NecroPhile]

Agreed on the games list quality.  No filler and lots of classics.

[Psycho Punch]

Agreed on the games list quality.  No filler and lots of classics.

Yeah, all games are excellent and worth the $60. I'd pay the same for a "NES Classics" discs for my PS4 if it had all those titles, that's for sure.

I think I saw someone theorizing that it could be a butchered NDS inside since all games from the announcement @ Nintendo site points to the 3DS shop equivalent. Wonder if that's what's going to happen.
Then again I don't even know if any of that is true so bla bla grain of salt bla

[bartre]

I'm happy the controllers work with other stuff.
other than that, It's probably going to be no better than a raspberry Pi.

[SignOfZeta]

Agreed on the games list quality.  No filler and lots of classics.

Yeah, all games are excellent and worth the $60. I'd pay the same for a "NES Classics" discs for my PS4 if it had all those titles, that's for sure.

I think I saw someone theorizing that it could be a butchered NDS inside since all games from the announcement @ Nintendo site points to the 3DS shop equivalent. Wonder if that's what's going to happen.
Then again I don't even know if any of that is true so bla bla grain of salt bla

That seems like more work that it's worth. It's probably ARM based but more powerful.

[TR0N]

Looks neat but the emulation quality will be the big question.  I'll wait for it to come out and hardware hackers to mess with it before I make a decision to buy.  But it seems pretty unlikely. 

This if it ends up like a atgames clone console id pass on it.

[SuperDeadite]

Considering that this is announced only for NA and Europe with no Japanese release even hinted at, I'd be a bit skeptical of the quality... either way not buying one as I already have RGB fami and all the games I want. 

Probably the best feature of this thing is that if it is heavily advertised with commercials aimed at young kids, we could see a revolution in the game development world.  If kids put down their parents smartphones and really eat this up, Sony and Microsoft will surely take notice.

[geise]

...so it's about the size of a PC-Engine.

[Medic_wheat]

Seems Nintendo answered a few questions


Systems doesn't open up to accept physical media

Is not designed to accept a SD card.


Is a stand alone unite so no updates firmware or internet connect ability.

No plans to allow the system to accept new games


No plans to release additional games

No comment if they are planning anythjng similar for the SNES or N64

No comment if they plan to release any revisions of this system with additional games.



Seems like it has some missed opportunities out of the gate. However this is most likely just to test the waters before hey release anything more substantial.

[cr8zykuban0]

they should have replaced castlevania 2 with castlevania 3 instead. Plus with today's technology, i think they could have added quite a bit more games than just 30 but still looks cool anyways.

[SuperGrafx]

This is the best gaming news I've heard in a long time.
Totally stoked and planning to buy one on launch

[geise]

No new games is going to kill sales.

[TheClash603]

Are the games going to be in original aspect ratio or stretched?

I think the quality of the games is good, but not as great as people are saying.  Tecmo Bowl and not Tecmo Super Bowl?  Castlevania 2 and not 3?  Super C and no Contra?

They should've made it so it could accept a cartridge and sold 30 game volumes for $40.  Or made it so each amiibo was a NES game, so you basically paid $13 per game and got some nice plastic with it.

Will I buy it?  Absolutely.  Could it have been much better fairly easily?  You bet.

[Gredler]

Will I buy it?  Absolutely.  Could it have been much better fairly easily?  You bet.

I've drafted about 5 posts to this thread and deleted them all because I couldn't properly describe my issues and intentions for this, thanks for taking the words out of the mouth I couldn't put them into... wait, what?

But yeah, it could've been better but I don't own any "all in one" or whatever you want to call these things (atari flashback, the genesis that DOES take carts, etc)

I think this will be good for just having in a spare bedroom for guests, and for when I dont want to supervise kids with a stack of 30 games and a nes but they want to play games.

will it be amazing, I doubt it, will it be a cool nick nack to have around and play a few times, probably.

The wii controllers seem like the best value - use that bad boy on my wii u for dracula x on my hdtv? yes please

[SignOfZeta]

Are the games going to be in original aspect ratio or stretched?

I think the quality of the games is good, but not as great as people are saying.  Tecmo Bowl and not Tecmo Super Bowl?  Castlevania 2 and not 3?  Super C and no Contra?

They should've made it so it could accept a cartridge and sold 30 game volumes for $40.  Or made it so each amiibo was a NES game, so you basically paid $13 per game and got some nice plastic with it.

Will I buy it?  Absolutely.  Could it have been much better fairly easily?  You bet.

I hope that stretched comment was a joke. Have you ever played a VC title before? They run on systems that are naive wide and always run 4:3. Stretching games is for shitheads. Nintendo is not shitheads.

Of course, things are completely upside down in video game land so who knows? Maybe I'm mega wrong. Pretty much every game company I've ever liked is dead or worse. Maybe Nintendo is next, but I don't think so. When I saw this thing anounced I assumed it would be extremely well done since Nintendo is a company that (unlike many others) knows how to make money off their past while protecting it at the same time. A farmed out Neo Geo X kinda thing would shit can all that. It wasn't until I checked this place and Twitter that I found most people making the default assumption that this is going to be some glop topped FOC with shitty d-pads and all the other shortcomings of the 1000 or so of garbage all-in-one systems. When has Nintendo ever outsourced hardware this important and this much of a potential earner? Assuming a world wide launch this is easily a $1B bill that Nintendo has printed themselves, but not if it's junk. Hype dies down when it's junk and so will sales. I'm pretty sure this is in-house all the way short of actual manufacture. They even made the Pocket Pikachus and shit like that. I don't think it's going to be bad at all. I was assuming a totally new ARM based system that they made themselves running a special version of their in-house emulators which are extremely good, IMO. I don't expect a text based front end with 1000 games listed with 960 of them being duplicates.

Castlevania 3 is idiotic, btw. If you're going to have one CV game, 3 should not be it. It's the weird fucked up one with the pirate suit and shit, right? I'm sure it's fine for some people but it's not the representative CV game.

[ToyMachine78]

Castlevania 3 is idiotic, btw. If you're going to have one CV game, 3 should not be it. It's the weird fucked up one with the pirate suit and shit, right? I'm sure it's fine for some people but it's not the representative CV game.

Now I am absolutely covinced that you've either suffered head trauma in the past, are on drugs, need drugs, or just try to be asinine.

[Gredler]

Have you played the 3 NES Castlevania? I am of the openion that the third one is the best. It's very similar to the first game but much longer and much better overall presentation. You do get multiple characters but they are completely optional, and none look like a pirate suit to me; maybe you're thinking of the theif character that looks like a hunchback enemy?

[esteban]

Have you played the 3 NES Castlevania? I am of the openion that the third one is the best. It's very similar to the first game but much longer and much better overall presentation. You do get multiple characters but they are completely optional, and none look like a pirate suit to me; maybe you're thinking of the theif character that looks like a hunchback enemy?

I love all the Castlevanias on NES.

I played them as they were released...

And Castlevania 3 is definitely awesome.



Zeta will give Castlevania 3 another chance, don't worry.

[CrackTiger]

Castlevania 2 is a good choice to balance out the genres. They should have licensed a couple more RPGs (at least a Dragon Warrior). Castlevania 3 would have been a better choice than the original. Contra should be included before Super C.

What's missing and included makes it look like they plan to re-release it each year with a different set of 3rd party games mixed in.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, that's maybe a schedule made to dovetail with something else. Hopefully something with Earthbound Zero, Clash at Demonhead, RC Pro Am, Donkey Kong III, Pinball, River City Ransom, and Master Blaster.

See? I have taste.

As for CVIII there *is* a fucking pirate, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Fuck you.


But I will give the game another shot. To me it seemed like...the same thing that's wrong with Somic Adventure 2. Too much distraction and not enough forward movement. Maybe the first game like this. I didn't play it until maybe 10 years ago since I was not on the NES in 1991. I never really was but my then neither were my friends so it was Genesis mostly.

[TR0N]

Contra should be included before Super C.

What's missing and included makes it look like they plan to re-release it each year with a different set of 3rd party games mixed in.

I'm puzzled by that as well no contra but super c instead,why not both !? Then again contra never came to the virtual console either.I wonder what konami problem is for licensing that game out.

[Gredler]

Contra should be included before Super C.

What's missing and included makes it look like they plan to re-release it each year with a different set of 3rd party games mixed in.

I'm puzzled by that as well no contra but super c instead,why not both !? Then again contra never came to the virtual console either.I wonder what konami problem is for licensing that game out.

I am ignorant about this but I assume they had a budget and had to secure licenses, and for some reason I think the cost of super C vs "contra" lol.

Fucking konami, that's who I blame.

[ClodBusted]

On the Wii, all the VC games I played so far (NES, TG-16) run extremely faithful to the original. Heck, Nintendo even included the PAL gameplay+music slowdown in games which were affected, e.g. Castlevania 1, if you live in Europe, since they just used the crusty old PAL roms there instead of NTSC ones. Thankfully any title non-native to EU still runs at 60Hz on the PAL region VC, like all Turbo ones. Later PAL games often had less-to-now slowdown.
I play them on a 4:3 aspect ratio CRT, where there's no stretching involved and the pixels are sharp as a butcher's knife.

I know the original Wii had some scaling issues when set to 16:9 and playing Konami's Rebirth WiiWare titles, where the screen got blurry. Setting the console to 4:3 in the system's menu was mandatory.


I think that Mini NES might be worth even just for those seemingly Wii-Mote compatible controllers, if the price is right.

[SignOfZeta]

A friend of mine hypothesized that the system might be Wii based. That would explain a lot of things.

[TheClash603]

As for CVIII there *is* a fucking pirate, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Fuck you.


But I will give the game another shot. To me it seemed like...the same thing that's wrong with Somic Adventure 2. Too much distraction and not enough forward movement. Maybe the first game like this. I didn't play it until maybe 10 years ago since I was not on the NES in 1991. I never really was but my then neither were my friends so it was Genesis mostly.

Yeah, there is definitely a pirate and I remember how awesome it was the first time I used him.  That bastard can almost climb walls, but he slips around.

The game holds up really well and I will have to give it another play after all this talk.

Maybe NES Mini 2 will have a new set of games and be designed like a top loader?  That's something I would be okay with.

[poponon]

this would be so much cooler if they were attempting to recreate the original hardware. 70$ for an emulator and some roms ... no thanks

[geise]

Is this actually nintendo manufactured or are they contracting out to another company to make this?  Since SuperDeadite said there's nothing about a fami mini then I think someone else is making this, just it's licensed by nintendo of america.

[poponon]

Is this actually nintendo manufactured or are they contracting out to another company to make this?  Since SuperDeadite said there's nothing about a fami mini then I think someone else is making this, just it's licensed by nintendo of america.

damn, that would be even worse. i think it's pretty clear we  are not the target market for this thing

[bob]

Is this actually nintendo manufactured or are they contracting out to another company to make this?  Since SuperDeadite said there's nothing about a fami mini then I think someone else is making this, just it's licensed by nintendo of america.

Reggie himself did a press release on it.  So I am hoping they are behind it more than just farming it out.

[SignOfZeta]

So far I see no evidence that it's farmed out. Everyone is assuming that...not sure why. This is Nintendo. They made the thing that is being emulated. It's worth it for Nintendo to do it right here as nolstalgia pays the bills that Pokemon won't.

A few years ago Nintendo went to amazing lengths to remanufacture Game in Watch Ball with the end result being more or less perfect. While Ball is not a technically amazing thing on its own, it's worth pointing out that electronics like that aren't being made anymore and creating the remake required some interesting ways of doing things. There is an article about how they made it floating around somewhere. Anyway, that was for a Club Nintendo freebie, not anywhere near as important as this.

Like I said, all the cool companies are turning shitty and dying so maybe now it's Nintendo's turn but I don't see any reason to assume this. They've been aware of Famiclones since the 90s. Now it's their turn and I think they're going to do a good job.

As for why there hasn't been an anouncement of a Famicom Mini, I don't know. The NES/FC GBAs were not anounced at the same time either so maybe it' just hasn't been revealed yet. Also, Japan...just isn't as important as it used to be, frankly. The days of everything debuting in Japan, selling millions of units there and then going worldwide are over. Also, this would certainly not be the first US-only Nintendo product.