
Nintendo re-releases NES as mini console - aeno
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/07/nintendo_entertainment_system_nes_classic_edition_coming_this_november_ships_with_30_games
======
chongli
HDMI out? I wonder if they're going to simulate NTSC TV artifacts such as
colour bleed and dot crawl. These artifacts are important for correctly
rendering NES games according to their original design [0].

[0]
[http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KylePittman/20150420/241442/C...](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KylePittman/20150420/241442/CRT_Simulation_in_Super_Win_the_Game.php)

~~~
fredoralive
Slight rant, but I wish these CRT simulators could simulate decent CRTs, they
always seem to emulate really shit ones with huge curvature and really
exaggerated scanlines etc, can't they emulate a nice Trinitron TV or
something. They always just look fake to me.

(Yeah, I know there is possibly a bit of memory cheating, plus I used RGB
SCART for the later period of CRT use that avoided the composite problems).

~~~
writeslowly
The ones I've seen included with MAME (or maybe it was a MAME front end) are
pretty easy to configure to get the look of a nice CRT display. Maybe because
of the focus on emulating high-end arcade hardware instead of the sort of
television set that the typical NES was plugged into.

~~~
VonGuard
Shovel Knight is the only game that actually gets down and does CRT emulation
correctly is this one:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KylePittman/20150420/241442/C...](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/KylePittman/20150420/241442/CRT_Simulation_in_Super_Win_the_Game.php)

~~~
lerpa
That article has a huge misunderstanding when it comes to ghosting. In normal
CRT TVs or monitors you could not see the previous frame at all.

~~~
groovy2shoes
The whole frame, no. But due to the persistence of phosphors, any pixel which
weren't re-excited in a replacement frame would have some amount of "ghosting"
while the phosphors "cool down" from the previous frame. The effect is more
pronounced on black backgrounds, and nonexistent on white backgrounds, with
other colors being heavily dependent on the contents of previous frames.
Higher-quality CRTs also tended to have less persistence (my VT 520, for
example, has virtually no visible persistence).

------
davb
I'm really interested in the architecture of this thing. I'm guessing ARM
running a NES emulator (rather than ports of the games), since they've got
such great experience doing that on the 3DS.

If it's hackable, this would be a fantastic gadget. As a project box alone, it
looks really pretty. HDMI out, USB power, and controller inputs make it really
appealing. Depending on headers and connectivity inside, hacking a USB port or
SD slot for expansion would be a fun project.

There are already Wii controller accessory to USB adapters available. And at
$9.99 for the controllers, those could be fun too (to be used separately on
other platforms, like the RPi).

That's not to say I won't be getting one purely to play as intended, but I
would be interested in picking one up to hack.

~~~
peatmoss
15 years ago at a dodgy trade show booth in Vegas, I bought a $25 Nintendo
clone controller that had been retrofitted to contain the guts needed to play
a few dozen classic NES games that were pre-loaded.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't emulation, but actual miniaturized Nintendo-clone
hardware running the original (pirated) ROMs. I have a hunch this isn't
emulating, but is instead playing "on the metal." The hardware (as the article
mentions) is easy to clone, and as such should be insanely cheap to produce in
volume.

The profit margins on these consoles is going to be great.

~~~
heegemcgee
Eh, these things are hit and miss. I have one of those $20 clones that accepts
the original cartridges. Performance is pretty bad; the sound is miserable.

------
danso
I'm amazed at the ridiculous pricing for these games. On Wii U, all of these
classic games would cost $5 _each_. $60 for a physical device and 30 games is
extremely generous by Nintendo standards.

Edit: if only it had River City Ransom...

~~~
CaptSpify
Weird. I thought it was ridiculously high. But I also think $5 per game is
crazy high. Especially considering how easy/cheap it is to make something like
a retro-pi

~~~
danso
Maybe digital-as-the-status-quo has made me think that creating physical items
is so extraordinary that they command a premium price. I'm not even one of
those people who cares about owning a physical copy of a game (in the sense of
how Kickstarter projects will promise physical media as a stretch goal). And
apparently, Nintendo has made a killing with their Amiibo toys, which is even
more bizarre to me than the recent Pokemon Go craze.

But a cute little Nintendo replica? I would never buy one just as a nostalgic
paperweight. But if it plays games, even if it may not have much expandability
or interoperability with Internet systems? That's very appealing to the kid in
me, even though my Wii U has been collecting dust for the past year now.

~~~
CaptSpify
I didn't even think about the actual physical cost to create one of these. I
was just thinking that it's mostly IP.

When I order something off Kickstarter, I don't care at all about physical
copies, because I just won't use them. If I get a book/comic/etc that's not
readable on my tablet, I just won't end up reading it. It's not that I'm
against physical media, but it's so convenient for me to go digital that I
just won't end up using physical

------
joeblau
It seems to be missing some critical features of the original.

\- Can't start a game and have the game loading screen distorted until the
7-8th attempt.

\- Can't blow in the cartridge until it whistles before playing

\- Can't stick 2 games in on top of each other

Getting the game to work was half of the fun.

~~~
rasz_pl
you do realize blowing on the cartridge works just as good as not walking
under the ladder and avoiding black cats? As a matter of a fact it contributes
to connector oxidation (moisture in your breath).

~~~
wingerlang
I was under the impression that blowing into it caused some moisture to get
there and improve the .. conduction?

~~~
mikejmoffitt
It improves surface contact. That it works isn't a myth at all. Many people
mistakenly put the blame on dust, thinking that blowing on it remove the dust
which made it work.

It's not great for it in the long term, though, but hardly as damaging as much
of the smug internet would want people to believe.

------
kriro
I own an NES and quite a few games but this seems like an instabuy for me.
Solid list of games. Metroid, Castlevania 1+2 and both Zeldas. Tecomo, the
Mario games, and Ghost 'n' Goblins to keep you frustrated. Pretty cool
actually that they chose to go with the small form factor.

~~~
spilk
It's almost as if they priced it so every 35-ish year old in the USA would buy
one instantly. I know I'm in that camp.

~~~
baby
27 here and that would be an insta buy for me if only I owned a TV :(

~~~
tdy721
Yeah, too bad your MacBook Pro doesn't allow HDMI in.

~~~
baby
Wait does that mean I can use my laptop's screen as a hdmi screen?

~~~
tdy721
HDMI ports can work that way, if the software is in place to support that kind
of functionality. However piracy concerns or laziness seem to have trumped
that option on the market today.

Yes you _should_ be able to, but no you probably can't

------
iuguy
I'm amazed noone here has mentioned RetroPie[1]. A model B Raspberry Pi or
even a Zero (if you can get one) should play NES games perfectly fine. You can
get USB NES controller adapters pretty cheap or some knock-off USB NES
controllers instead. I have a SNES-USB adapter for my setup that takes two
SNES controllers.

[1] - [https://retropie.org.uk/](https://retropie.org.uk/)

~~~
ashark
I'd personally recommend Lakka[1] (Kodi's distro modded to boot straight to
Retroarch) over it, having used both. Worth it for fewer problems with
controller mappings, if nothing else. Boots to a usable GUI in ~3-4s on a Pi2,
which is nice. If you're using a Pi it's easy to try both before deciding, so
may as well check it out.

Anyone in the market for hardware, I've found that the abilities of various
devices tend to be overstated. Pi2 was _in fact_ good enough for close-to-
perfect NES, _almost_ good enough for perfect SNES (fine for many games if you
can tolerate the occasional slowdown or audio glitches), could play Mario64
acceptably but pretty much no other N64 games. Bizarrely decent at
Playstation.

I'd imagine the Pi3 is pulls off SNES very well, just judging from the specs,
though I don't have one yet. Be aware that these games _will not look right_
without beefier hardware that can handle CRT shaders to (sort-of) correctly
fuzzy-up the image. So, not a Pi. I now run Lakka on an Asus chromebox, which
was about double the price of a Pi with a decent power adapter and not-hideous
case, but can do the CRT shader thing and handles later consoles much, much
better. Emulation on x86 tends to be more stable and better supported (faster)
in general, so know you'll be on second-class (though rapidly improving!)
platform if you go ARM.

Try out several controllers before settling. I found that the easiest solution
(XBox360) failed my usual test of Punch Out and Super Mario. Couldn't block or
dodge worth a damn in Punch Out (unsurprising given the 360's Dpad's
reputation) and kept running into bottomless pits in Mario (I found switching
between the "A" and "B" face buttons to be too slow). The 360 controller made
it _feel_ like the emulator input was lagging, but it in fact wasn't. PS3
controller works well for me. Wii Classic Controller Pro is even better, but I
have yet to find a to-USB adapter that isn't messed up in one way or
another—last one I tried would periodically register a bunch of wild analog
stick input for no obvious reason, making it useless for N64 and Playstation.
A big Retroarch-specific benefit of a PS3 or Wii Classic Controller is that
you can use their home/menu buttons to bounce to the Retroarch menu, saving
you from configuring a button combo for that—IIRC the 360 controller wouldn't
let me use its home button for that purpose.

[1] [http://www.lakka.tv](http://www.lakka.tv)

~~~
bsilvereagle
> (Kodi's distro modded to boot straight to Retroarch)

A little pedantic, but Lakka is based on OpenELEC (and may have switched to
LibreELEC by now). OpenELEC/LibreELEC are buildroot based OSs that boot
straight into Kodi. Neither are affiliated with the Kodi project - but the
devs get along and communicate.

~~~
ashark
100% correct, my mistake. I've not run Kodi, but I used a mix of Kodi and
OpenELEC docs/forums setting up my Chromebox for Lakka, so I tend to confuse
the two. I should have googled it first.

------
Tiktaalik
This is a bit of a desperation move from Nintendo as they have pretty much
nothing for the holidays for the Wii U with the NX still in development on the
horizon.

That said, at that impulse buy price point, I'll definitely pick it up and I'm
sure it'll be incredibly popular with those that grew up with the system. This
isn't the sort of product that really grows Nintendo's market with a new
generation.

I wouldn't be surprised if it outsells the Wii U this holiday.

~~~
apozem
This is what worries me about Nintendo. With the possible exception of Pokemon
Go, they aren't capturing new users. They make money off of loyal fans who
grew up with Mario and Zelda. Do kids today care about Nintendo?

~~~
bsharitt
My kids(8 and 6) each have a 2DS and we have Wii and Mario and Zelda are among
their favorites. Many of these are re-releases of old Nintendo games on either
the virtual console or things like Mario 64 DS or Ocarina of Time for the 3DS,
but also newer games like New Super Marios Bros and LoZ Twilight Princess.
They enjoy these games right up there along size Minecraft and what ever that
bear game my daughter plays.

~~~
Nexxxeh
Have they played Zelda: Skyward Sword? It's not as good as TP or OoT, but it's
still really good.

------
boulos
Aww no Contra at launch. (They do have non Nintendo titles though like Megaman
2, so it's not just a first party issue)

~~~
throwaway2048
Super C is Contra II

~~~
strictnein
Slightly different Konami code for that one too:

    
    
        Right, Left, Down, Up, A, B
    

Gets ten guys, if I remember correctly.

~~~
danielweber
And "Fire" changes from the weakest weapon to the OP weapon.

------
scott_s
For kinda the opposite of this - super expensive, plays all NES games as carts
- check out the Analogue NT: [http://www.analogue.co/products/analogue-nt-
information](http://www.analogue.co/products/analogue-nt-information)

It's apparently sold out now, but it was a $500 NES built using clones of
hardware, and with modern video and audio output. Jeremy Parish has a writeup
over at USGamer: [http://www.usgamer.net/articles/analogue-nt-review-for-
the-r...](http://www.usgamer.net/articles/analogue-nt-review-for-the-rich-
niche-of-retrogaming)

~~~
ilitirit
There's also the Retron 5 that plays NES, SNES and Genesis carts.

Also the Retro Freak:
[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-cyber-...](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-cyber-
gadget-retro-freak-review)

Each of these devices have their own issues though.

------
mastazi
Sega tried something similar with mixed results [1], the two main differences
being that:

1- Sega went for a "clone" rather than emulation (even accepts Genesis
cartridges)

2- Nintendo's IP in the classic gaming space is unmatched

[1] [http://www.gamestop.com/genesis/consoles/sega-genesis-
classi...](http://www.gamestop.com/genesis/consoles/sega-genesis-classic-game-
console/124933)

~~~
mikejmoffitt
The most recent Sega units by ATGames are emulated, and they do an absolutely
terrible job. Many of them have the FM sound channels out of tune with the SSG
sound channels. It's a great way to get a terrible impression of the games
offered for it.

The older TV Plug and Play ones, however, had a Genesis-on-an-ASIC, a native
licensed silicon clone of the original chipset. These were super accurate, and
could even have a cartridge slot wired to them by the enterprising modder.
They ran at 3.3v, though, so things get quirky with a real cartridge without
proper transcieving logic.

------
smaili
> Sadly you can't use your original NES carts with the console - something
> even the most basic "Famiclone" offers - and there doesn't seem to be any
> means of getting new games onto it.

Would it really have been that much extra effort to make the console backwards
compatible?

~~~
spydum
Don't you recall how unreliable that media/interface was? I don't think most
carts aged well.

~~~
fzzzy
The ZIF connector on the original NES was unreliable. The carts are perfectly
reliable. The NES 2 does not have the ZIF connector and doesn't have issues.

~~~
msbarnett
> The carts are perfectly reliable

Depends on the cartridge. Any of the ones with a battery save (like Zelda or
Final Fantasy) need to be opened up, have the _welded in_ battery clipped off
the board, have a CR2032 socket soldered on instead, and then put a new
battery in and reassemble.

It's a LOT of pain to get a NES cart with a dead battery working again. That's
probably why they opted not to put a slot in this thing -- many people's dusty
old carts are dead, and not knowing any better, they'd blame the new console.

~~~
mikejmoffitt
Replacing the battery takes a couple minutes. Many of those carts are still
running. The number of decent NES games that used battery saving can be
counted on your hands, so to call it a LOT of pain might be exaggerating a
little.

~~~
msbarnett
A "couple of minutes" for a confident, competent solderer, which excludes
about 99% of the target market for this thing. (Here's how to do it, if
anyone's curious: [http://www.retronintendoreviews.com/nes-cartridge-battery-
re...](http://www.retronintendoreviews.com/nes-cartridge-battery-
replacement/))

And while overall most NES games didn't use a battery, many of the most
popular ones (many of the ones included in this thing, in fact) do _need_ a
working battery. Final Fantasy, both zeldas, startropics, tecmo bowl,
crystallis, kirby's adventure...

~~~
ashark
If Crystalis has a battery-backed save system it's news to me. And I've beaten
the game on the original hardware.

~~~
msbarnett
Crystalis absolutely has a save/continue system. You can see some guy
demonstrating the save system in crystalis in this video, complete with save
functionality:
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=73za3LHWzwk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=73za3LHWzwk)

Are you thinking of some other game?

~~~
ashark
Incredible. I owned the game for years, played it a lot, beat it once, and
never noticed a way to save, so I assumed you couldn't. I even had the manual!

------
uptown
Reading these game names just tickled a part of my brain that hadn't been
activated in quite some time. Can't wait to play these again.

------
mistermann
Please have Super Sprint, please have Super Sprint......nooooooooooooooo!

Oh well, I'll probably buy one to play games with my kids, most mainstream
games today are too complicated to learn and I don't really find them fun
despite how technically amazing they are.

~~~
strictnein
Used to play Super Sprint with a friend for hours and hours. To keep racing,
only one player had to come in first, so we'd take turns, with one player
trying to win the race, and the other running interference. Fun times.

------
em3rgent0rdr
Part of me wants to say cool, thanks for paying tribute and making accessible.
Part of me wants me to say ugh, for being unoriginal and milking old products,
while using incompatible controllers, especially considering Nintendo used to
sue people in the emulator/ROM/clone community, who are the real heroes for
keeping the magic alive. I'd rather people just spend $30 for a raspberry pi
and a USB NES controller.

~~~
Nexxxeh
>using incompatible controllers

Aren't the new controllers specifically compatible with the Wii and WiiU?

~~~
em3rgent0rdr
Ok, compatible within the newer nintendo universe. But not compatible with
regular usb nes controllers, probably for the only reason is to make you pay
for the nintendo variety instead of utilizing the already supplied market of
cheap usb nes controllers.

It's not even compatible with the old nes controllers. At least with a pi, you
could rewrire a nes controller to the GPIO or SPI.

~~~
tracker1
Speak for yourself... I'd love to see controllers with the build quality from
the SNES and Sega Saturn with a true USB interface. By that I mean, most of
the aftermarket controllers suck, and the USB adapters are less than ideal.

------
jason46
What are people going to do when they find out these games are "hard". and OMG
those are some great games.

------
tootie
Playing Tecmo Bowl with a roster of late 80s players is like double nostalgia
for football fans. The legend of Tecmo Bo Jackson will live forever.

~~~
paulcole
Was Bo in the original or just Tecmo Super Bowl?

~~~
boha
Most definitely the original.

~~~
brebla
No. Tecmo Super Bowl (also for NES) is the one with Bo. First to have
licensing to support it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecmo_Super_Bowl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecmo_Super_Bowl)

Shame they used Tecmo Bowl - is far inferior to Super Bowl.

------
hoodoof
God I hate being nickle and dimed.

It should include everything needed - two controllers and a power supply FFS.

~~~
delecti
The power supply is USB. I'm more than okay with not getting yet another USB
brick with every new device.

Not getting the controllers to me is a separate issue, but it does include
one, and as far as I can tell, only the original NES, 30 years ago, ever came
with more than one controller.

~~~
kalleboo
Especially if this thing is going to sit under your TV - I think most TVs
these days have a few spare USB ports you can steal some power from.

------
syphilis2
The title and even the image made this sound like a re-release of the NES
hardware (2A03/6502 and all) with a slot to put in actual carts. That would
have been a neat way to address limited functioning NES supply. Instead this
is just a novelty item like so many other "Plug and Play" arcade packs that
have been coming out for the past 10 years. A used Wii costs under $30, but of
course people value these things differently. There are emulators that accept
SNES and NES carts and plug into a TV, reading the cart data into memory.
There are also emulators that try to fully emulate the hardware timings
correctly such as puNES and BNES.

------
vblord
I'm actually really excited about this. I just wonder if my kids will be as
addicted to the old school games as I was.

~~~
Haul4ss
I played a bunch of old NES games on an emulator in the early '00s. Two things
stood out: (1) the graphics really were pretty lame, and (2) games I was
addicted to as a kid seemed a lot more tedious as an adult.

Not saying the classics don't stand the test of time, but some of those old
games are better as a memory.

~~~
Kurtz79
For me there has been huge leap between the NES and the SNES in terms of
graphics and game complexity.

Most of SNES games have aged much better than their NES counterparts, Super
Metroid, Zelda, Chrono Trigger are still terrific games that I could play even
today, while I agree that most NES games feel too old.

~~~
jerf
Yes, I've thought that the SNES, and to some degree, the Genesis, is where you
can go back and find a lot of stuff in the "normal" line to play that holds up
pretty well. I've gotten my kids (7 & 5) to respond to some SNES stuff, but
anything earlier they find uncompelling.

I can't entirely disagree.

For context, my first console was an Intellivision, so, no, this is not
because my first console was a SNES. I did own one for a while... in the early
21st century, long after the PS2 was established.

I think some of it is just that the limitations of the medium were just so
shocking prior to that. The Atari era basically couldn't have text; every text
you see on the 2600 is freakishly expensive. The Nintendo era was still
counting every letter. The SNES era may still be terribly constrained by
modern standards, but at least you could make pictures that were recognizable,
play recognizable sounds, use text without too much fear, include more
variations in play without too much effort, etc. There's a handful of games
prior to that that work miracles with the resources they have (Super Mario 3
isn't "just" a classic, it's legitimately amazing for the hardware).

I'd point out that even the people putatively writing Indie games with "old
school aesthetics" almost never hold themselves to the limitations of the
Nintendo era or before. There are some games that come reasonably close to
SNES aesthetics, though.

------
satysin
So great to see Nintendo do this! I loved the NES. I hope this sells well (I
will be buying one no doubt about that) so we see a SNES mini some time. The
SNES is, and always will be, the greatest console for me.

------
jonnycowboy
This will be a great alternative for the kids instead of a complex PS4 or
Xbox. Especially considering the controller size is much more in line with
their hand sizes.

------
fhood
You know, if the controller or lack of some game really bothers you just get a
raspberry pi.

------
rasz_pl
RIP Hi-Def NES
[http://retrorgb.com/hidefnes.html](http://retrorgb.com/hidefnes.html)

Dude spend two years developing this product and literary launched last week
[http://www.game-tech.us/blog/2nd-day-of-packaging-hi-def-
kit...](http://www.game-tech.us/blog/2nd-day-of-packaging-hi-def-
kits/#more-1294)

price was somewhere around $150

------
pkamb
I'm most excited to see a Wii NES pad as an official and widely available
product. Hope they do the same for the SNES pad.

------
Karunamon
I'm curious to see how accurate the emulation is. If you grew up on these
systems, even small variations in things like timing and sound will stick out
like a sore thumb.

Normally you'd expect Nintendo of all people to get it right, but from what
I've seen of the Wii virtual console titles, they frequently don't.

------
thisisandyok
Launches Nov 11. This should be some nice competition for those knock offs you
see at the mall around Christmas time.

~~~
mpg33
Emulators/knock-offs is probably a large reason why Nintendo is releasing
this. Just wished they had went a little step further and released a version
that came preloaded with every NES/SNES game. They probably could have gotten
away with charging $150+ for something like that while simultaneously killing
the knock off market.

~~~
imtringued
Those might not all be NES/SNES games
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHepjitYJmM&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHepjitYJmM&feature=youtu.be&t=311)

------
bitlax
Good luck playing StarTropics without the submersible letter! :P

~~~
petetnt
The Virtual Console version (which I assume this device runs too) contains the
letter in the manual. See this video on how it works:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g_u4KUlW9A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g_u4KUlW9A)

------
sur5r
Am I the only one to miss Tetris from the list of games?

~~~
mathgeek
You should look up the history of Tetris on the NES. It's an interesting story
and probably still why it can't be included here.

~~~
ethagnawl
This article gives a nice 10,000' history. The Rights to Tetris Were
Originally Owned by the Soviet Union -
[http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/02/the-
rights-t...](http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/02/the-rights-to-
tetris-were-originally-owned-by-the-soviet-union/)

------
kup0
Would have appreciated if they had provided more information about this. What
about games that aren't pre-installed? Is there any kind of save-
states/additional functionality, aside from HDMI and controller compatibility
with Wii?

------
Jyaif
I hope they didn't just bundle the games and called it a day.

They have such a big catalog of games they could do things like "Complete game
X and Y, and unlock game Z". Things like that are super cheap to do, but add a
lot of value to the product.

~~~
jabbernotty
I am not sure how actively limiting access to part of the game catalog would
be added value.

~~~
rasz_pl
Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of launch day DLC.

------
ilitirit
As someone that just shelled out $200 for a PVM CRT monitor to support retro-
gaming, this device doesn't appeal to me _at all_. I'd wager I'd get a better
gaming experience via a low-lag emulator with the appropriate shader plugins.

IMO, they should create a cheaper version of something similar to the Analogue
NT[1], with built-in network connectivity that you can use to purchase and
download legal roms.

[1] [http://www.analogue.co/products/analogue-nt-
information](http://www.analogue.co/products/analogue-nt-information)

~~~
gambiting
It already exists. It's called a Wii U.

~~~
ilitirit
The Wii U only supports Limited RGB, and playing on a Wii U misses the entire
point of Retro Gaming.

~~~
mattl
> playing on a Wii U misses the entire point of Retro Gaming

So does having a TCP/IP stack and a download store :)

~~~
ilitirit
You're missing the point. Retrogaming is about creating the familiar feeling
of _playing_ the games. A WiiU controller is not the same as a NES controller.
HDMI is not the same as CRT + Scanlines.

Retro gamers generally play on the original hardware with CRT screens. If they
can't do that, they play on emulators with using controller input converters
and shaders or scanline generators. Gaming on a WiiU does not recreate that
experience.

Watch the videos on this channel for more info:

[https://www.youtube.com/user/mylifeingaming](https://www.youtube.com/user/mylifeingaming)

~~~
gambiting
I absolutely agree that retro gaming is about the "retro" feel, but I don't
see how you can have that and have an internet store for legal roms. Would a
raspberry Pi with an authentic NES controller + CRT screen connected through
composite input fulfill your retro requirements for example?

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ilitirit
No, the Raspberry Pi doesn't support RGB without additional external
components that introduce lag.

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Al-Khwarizmi
Definitely going to buy. I'll miss RC Pro-Am and Solstice, it would be nice to
have a way to add more games to this thing, but the 30-game selection is very
good anyway (the NES had a lot to choose from...)

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bdz
It's a pretty good deal for $60 but I hope there will be some way to add more
games through emulation or download or whatever.

Also I want to see a Nintendo Classic Gameboy once. Please!

~~~
peatmoss
Given the relatively poor screen quality of the Gameboy (my memory is foggy,
but seems to remember ghosting and generally bad refresh), I wonder about
creating an E-Ink Gameboy Classic...

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sorenjan
This would probably work great as a Raspberry Pi case. Too bad the connectors
on the front aren't USB, although I'd probably use Bluetooth for controllers
anyway.

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sdegutis
SNES was the golden age of video games. I wish people would make more games in
that style. Super Metroid will never be topped at this rate, and that's pretty
sad. You don't have to make games look realistic to make them addictive and
fun. Give me a world I can explore, with secrets I can discover, where my
character can grow and gain new abilities and combine them for unique new
experiences. Stuff like that.

~~~
douche
Have you not seen the Cambrian explosion of retro-style indie games on the PC?
Quite a bit of it is RPGMaker shovelware, but there are a lot of real gems in
there as well.

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tracker1
Not sure why they didn't go SNES controllers, and enough hardware to support
SNES and NES games... add download purchases (to a login account) and that
would be gold.

The SNES controller wasn't too much over NES, and the layout comparable... for
example, I prefer the updated graphics versions of the Super Mario Bros series
released on SNES to the original... not to mention a lot of other great games.

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camelNotation
I can't wait to pick one of these up and play it with my daughter. She's
almost 4 and plays games on my cell phone all the time. She gets the basic
concepts behind simple games like these already due to the ease of using a
touchscreen interface, so I'll be curious to see how quickly she can pick up
on a tactile input like this. Maybe we will start with something small like
Pac-Man.

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scolfax
One word: Bionic Commando

~~~
fs111
that's two words :-P

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janvdberg
I understand the aesthetic value but to be really useful/fun a wireless
controller would be better.

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vlunkr
It says you can use the wii Classic controller, which is wireless

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DSMan195276
The Wii Classic Controller is wired. The port on the front of this console is
the same port on the bottom of a Wii Remote, which makes it pseudo-wireless in
a way, but there's no Wii Remote in this case so it is just wired.

~~~
happycube
Yup, it's I2C with a 1394-ish connector (which makers have taken advantage of
before), so it is very easy to implement... with the added side benefit of
selling a few of the standalone controllers for Wii[U] virtual console use.

The console itself is probably a simple ARM chip - the BCM2835 in the first-
gen Raspberry Pi would work perfectly, among tons of other possible SoC's. It
will probably be under a plastic blob, but someone will find out sooner or
later ;)

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DominikR
As a collector I will buy this anyway, but I also must admit that the games
included are actually very good ones.

For example some great games like Final Fantasy 1 were never released in
Europe.

Also the controller can be useful for those that want to play games from the
Wii Virtual Console.

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chrisabrams
No duck hunt!? What gives?

~~~
thisisandyok
Light guns aren't super great on modern TVs:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5128407](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5128407)

~~~
jandrese
It seems to me that it should be possible to mount an actual camera in the gun
now and have the system simply compare what it sees on the gun camera vs. what
it is displaying on the screen. We have the computer power to do stuff like
that now.

It won't work for retro-gaming, but it's a possible path forward for gun games
on modern consoles.

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overcast
Wow, this is going on my christmas list :) I REALLY hope they expand on this
by offering game packs in the future. Such a good idea. $30 game packs full of
games, would sell like crazy.

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emodendroket
Pretty cool. It'd be nice if you could add games somehow.

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Zardoz84
What I need is a 700-in-1 cartridge for my 1990s NES clone.

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ekianjo
Well NeoGeo released a new handheld portable a few years back running a bunch
of classic NeoGeo games, and it failed miserably on the market.

~~~
ascagnel_
The NeoGeo was always much more of a niche system than the NES. The sales
method (collections of games on memory cards) and initial piracy holes (you
could load up all the ROMs onto an SD card and never have to buy any
collections.

Also, the hardware was crap. Even though the games were made for 4:3 monitors,
the system shipped with a 16:9 phone screen (likely because 4:3 screens are
harder to source cheaply nowadays).

~~~
ekianjo
the screen was not appropriate but the hardware was not crap. the controls
used very high quality click-joysticks, that you find nowhere on portable
consoles.

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peterwwillis
If they had lowered the price and networked it, could have allowed us to buy
new games online... weird that they didn't go that route

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littletinman
BEST NEWS EVER!!! Since I only have old cartridges on a wall for display, I'm
actually pretty happy I won't need to use those.

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josh_carterPDX
Wait, but if there are games included does this mean I won't have to blow into
the box to get them to work!?! I call shenanigans!

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EGreg
I would buy it if it allowed downloading new games into it. Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game! Who's with me??

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D_Guidi
I wanna buy only to help nintendo make this stuff a success, so maybe they can
replicate with snes...

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throwaway2016a
It would be fun if they release a developer kit for this and allow homebrew
games and firmware.

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fragsworth
If enough of these sell, some game developers will have good reason to make
NES games again.

~~~
coldpie
I can't imagine any good reason to create an NES game today. Even if you want
to go for that aesthetic, there are far, far easier ways to make games.

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mpclark
Looks great, but I won't be able to get very far without a Game Genie...

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shultays
I was pretty exited but huge disappointment. Huge You can pretty much buy a
raspberry pi and rest of the equipments to play NES games for same price. No
cartridge slot or ways of playing other games? They obviously didn't try to
make a good equipment.

~~~
vlunkr
This is legal way to play all those games if that's any consolation. And it's
got a nice aesthetic

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awesomerobot
> there doesn't seem to be any means of getting new games onto it

Typical Nintendo "75% right" and "25% how did they screw this up"

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agumonkey
Haaa Bubble Bobble. Infinite Levels.

ps: no cartridge, no blow. sad ;)

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skrowl
That's a cute idea, but my NES classic edition is my phone / tablet -
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalph...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.NesEmu)

That said, I'd buy this thing from Nintendo if you could add games to it. I'd
give them an extra $1 or $2 per game. Gotta have Tetris & RCR!

