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Nintendo Classic Mini announced


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I can't see any second how Nintendo would gain any money out of it. That is, unless they took money of the homebrew sales. And given the small numbers of cart sales, they would either take a huge load out of them, which would drive the cost of carts even higher than it already is, or only a minimal amount, and if you accoutn for a homebrew game selling like 200 copies, that's 200$ made of them AT BEST (and taking 1$ from a 40/50$ game is already a large slice....).

 

And I haven't seen any "computer-in-a-cart" game, at least on the NES, but even in general, those are usually more for demomaking than released games. But anyway, the NES was MADE to have add-ons, the SuperFX chip is more powerful than the SNES in many regards, so why is that taboo now?

 

Nintendo have ZERO interest in allowing cart games to be released. At best, politely ignoring them is the best they can do. Leaving solder points for a cart slot in the NES Classic Mini à la Atari Flashback II is the best they will do.

Because the homebrew market is non existant.

No, Even AtariAge, in regard to even small studios that release Z titles for the PSP/DS is no existant. Selling 200 or even 400 copies of a homebrew is not even what a company will send for gaming magazines to review.

 

Don't get me wrong, the homebrew community and physical release are awesome, but what make it successfull is that it's almost entierely made by people on their free time and that you really pay the hardware.

Ask any homebrew programmer how long it took them to program their game, apply the minimum wage of your choice on this time, and divide it by the expected sales of the physical game, and you'll realize that you're facing hundred of $ worth of man-time in most cases.

Any hope of "reviving" it will fall short because only some games will get the money invested back.

I'm not talking about homebrew here, I'm talking about the major video game development studios. Consider how much lower the costs are to develop for a NES today:

 

- radically shorter development cycles compared to current-gen consoles.

- the advantage of modern PCs and emulators for the development process.

- far lower cost for cartridge ROMs as compared to the original era of NES development.

 

With lower development and production costs plus a market that has proven that simple games still sell (e.g. the mobile gaming market), why would you think that they wouldn't make money?

 

Nintendo was one of the last of the video game companies to move away from cartridges -- for a reason. If any company is possibly open to the idea, it's them.

 

Don't forget that homebrew developers don't have the marketing and distribution power of a company like Nintendo. And if you think that doesn't make a difference...

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Totally! I still think that if Nintendo released a machine like this with a cartridge slot and encouraged developers to release new cartridge-based games for it, they'd make a fortune (on top of their existing fortune). They could even stipulate that developers aren't allowed to augment the cartridges with any more tech than the highest tech chips added to the original NES cartridges. That would keep people from making crazy "super-computer-in-a-cartridge" games.

 

They'd make very little in cart sales. What drives the sales of these kinds of systems is nostalgia and that doesn't exist for modern homebrews. The target market just wants to plug it in, switch it on, get the fuzzy feelings and happy memories from their youth and thats all. They don't want to hunt down carts, controllers, ROMz and all the other stuff retro collectors want.

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I really hope this has a real NES hardware chipset inside but I think that is asking way too much. I'll be buying one of the controllers to use with the Wii seeing as they are only $10 and official Nintendo Brand. Hell you can't build them for that price.

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The whole point I'm getting at is they release the same games over and over. How many ways can you sell Mario?

 

Again half the appeal here to many of us is the miniature NES itself that will look cute on a shelf, and of course the box. Can't find those released in the past over and over can you. :)

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I'm not talking about homebrew here, I'm talking about the major video game development studios. Consider how much lower the costs are to develop for a NES today:

 

- radically shorter development cycles compared to current-gen consoles.

- the advantage of modern PCs and emulators for the development process.

- far lower cost for cartridge ROMs as compared to the original era of NES development.

 

With lower development and production costs plus a market that has proven that simple games still sell (e.g. the mobile gaming market), why would you think that they wouldn't make money?

 

Nintendo was one of the last of the video game companies to move away from cartridges -- for a reason. If any company is possibly open to the idea, it's them.

 

Don't forget that homebrew developers don't have the marketing and distribution power of a company like Nintendo. And if you think that doesn't make a difference...

 

The thing is that the people susceptible to buy such games are very limited.

Simple game works because people pay 1.99$ to buy them right on, they can even download them while moving, in the train, in a car, etc. And most of them are free, you just have to deal with the ads (and more than often the sale of your name and phone numbers to other companies... remember, when something is free, it's because YOU are the product).

 

Even if the cart games cost next to nothing to produce (and I have a doubt about that*), there is still making costs, marketing costs, delivery costs, and you'll have to provide a system to play the carts on.

 

* I doubt it because even with forums and the likes today, nobody is trained to program on the NES architecture. Sure, gaming companies might have someone dy that worked on the NES from 20 years ago, or recruit one guy that made homebrews for that. But you still need ideas to do, sprites to draw and animate, etc.

 

Surely today you could take a team of 5 guys and make a NES game in a month, or even a week if all you wanna do is a Tetris remake. But that's still 5 guys that does this and nothing else. And you'll probably have to teach them to make good looking 8 bits graphics because this isn't taught anymore. Same for the music, no video game musician today knows hos to use a NES chip, at least in a professionnal context.

I might be wrong but you might consider that NES games are easier to program because the console is well know. I'm quite not convinced this is true.

 

So you're comparing a 1.99$ or a free game on your phone (than can do OTHER things) and buying a 60$ console AND a (at best) 20$ game.

And in both case you'll play Flappy Bird.

Except that for one you paid zero, for the other you busted 80$.

This won't work.

 

And Nintendo didn't moved from carts because they were blinded by their view of video gaming, which resulted in them losing their place as a leader of the market to a second then third rank competitor.

Unfortunately for them it wasn't the Flash memory era. The biggest N64 cart is 64Mo. That's 10 times less than a standard CD-ROM. And by 1997 they were games on 4 CD already on the PS1 and on 7 CDs on PC (even if those were msotly FMV games or filled with FMW; this was the trend of the days, and Nintendo couldn't compete).

 

Most people today have no care for hardware support. It's likely that the next generation of console won't even have a physical media drive. So people going back to bulky and coslty cartridges to play Flappy Bird and Candy Crush? Having to sit in front of the TV, using a dedicaced system and inserting carts in?

There is probably a market for this, but certainly NOT the mobile gaming market.

The retrogaming market might certainly be interested in the NES Classic with a SD port or a cart port? surely, and if there is even the possibility to add either of those, I'll blow 60€ in that thing in no time.

 

But paying even 20$ for a game on cart, especially if it's an arcade style play 5 minutes type of game? I do'nt even bother looking at Nintendo's Virtual console because I think that 6€ for a Super Mario Bros is a sad joke for a game that sold 100 millions already... Of course I'm not representative of msot people but outside of the collectionners I do'nt see a huge profit to be made from NES cart games.

Edited by CatPix
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cimerians, on 14 Jul 2016 - 09:23 AM, said:

 

Oh yes, I was 21 or 22, had family and friends over almost every Saturday night with six packs of nasty Old Style beer (only thing we could afford). Stayed up playing till at least 3am or until most people past out or got tired or lost their voice. Its a tradition around the world. Those were great times! :thumbsup:

 

As soon as I saw this post, I knew I had to comment! This reminds me of being in the dorms at the University of Wyoming in 1989. We had an NES and Tetris, Tecmo Bowl, ...plus Dragon Warrior, Faxanadu, Deadly Towers, Contra etc,..And we'd always have people over drinking beer and playing NES until the wee hours of the morning. Curiously our dorm ceiling had bottlecaps stuck in it, spelling out "OLD STYLE # 1", even though that beer wasn't available in WY. We always speculated that maybe the previous tenants were from Chicago...

 

P.S. Looking forward to the Classic Mini!

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I was happy to see this in the news. However, I have a feeling Nintendo is going to include all the roms built into the board, leaving no ability to hack the hardware. That was the great thing about the Neo Geo X, with the whole sd card thing. Even the atari flashback 2 could be hacked to play real carts. It should be interesting to see how this unfolds.

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This thing is so cool that I'll probably buy one, even though I have an original console with an Everdrive, The box, the form factor, the surprisingly good list of games, the HDMI out, the controller that can be used with a Wiimote ... all great. It's perfect for putting on the shelf, or hooking up to a secondary TV. Heck, maybe I'll even just keep it around to future-proof for a distant future when my NES dies and/or when I don't have a TV with composite in.

 

I understand where the people are coming from who are complaining that it's emulation (judging by the save states), or that it doesn't have an SD card or cartridge slot. Yes, having the original chipset and SD card/cartridge functionality would have been cool, but I don't think any of those things were realistic. a) they would likely have added bulk and expense to something that is meant to be small and inexpensive, for the purpose of adding things that the majority of customers wouldn't care about; and b) it's Nintendo. I'm surprised Nintendo is even making this.

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A quite excellent selection of games there, if perhaps small compared to the Atari Flashback library we get these days. I might perhaps get it mostly for the cool design and easy access to some fast NES gaming.
This unit will by all certainty be simple and completely closed up. It's not too far fetched that it might even be a simple NOAC in a official package and nothing more.

Considering Big N's previous aversion to things like these, and almost furious reluctance to see their IP in devices like this i can't help to wonder... Is Nintendo in a bad financial shape after the U debacle and the NX being some time away and they do this as a pure cash-grab, trying to reel in as many new customers they can or are they really softening up a bit in this area for real and do this more as an honest fan-service? Who can tell. Pokémon GO must surely fill their pockets enough for the time being.

I tell you one thing though, i might try to import it... i saw that the speculated US retail price will be 60$... Here in Sweden the first preorders at major retailers starts out at a little bit over equivalent of 140$.

Ouch.

Edited by Raticon
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While I had some initial excitement, reading the whole announcement destroyed any intention I may have had of buying one of these units. Purists see this for exactly what it is. However, the average person who grew up on this stuff & does not know better will buy them until they are completely sold out. For us here, we have been fortunate to have a Flashback unit that did not use emulation, so I am sure we are all smart enough to see through the smokescreen: save states means emulation. Emulation in these units has, historically, been pretty crappy.

 

About the only real positive I see here is that the powers-that-be did a masterful job re-licensing some non-Nintendo titles for inclusion. Just a quick glance revealed Konami, Namco & Taito titles. People will always complain about "Why isn't GAME X included?" in these packages, but I would have to think most people will agree that Nintendo has assembled a varied and strong mix in this collection.

 

The community does not need anymore AtGames-like emulated garbage thrown our way. Buying crap does nothing but send send a message that people will buy crap. I'll pass.

Edited by mstulir
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I was thinking about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is basically a modified Wii. Hence the controller compatibility and the selection of games (all of which I believe are available on the Virtual Console). If they are using those emulators, expect an experience about as close to the original console as you can get without original hardware.

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......I wouldn't be surprised if this is basically a modified Wii.

 

The same thought ran through my mind as well. It would explain a great many things. It will be interesting to see what exactly is inside it as soon as someone buys one & tears it down. I wouldn't say the Virtual Console emulation in the Wii is bad, bit I certainly would not call it great. Regardless, all indications point to emulation, and there will be baggage to go along with it.

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When I first heard about the NES Mini this morning and read the list of included games I thought that it had to be a joke, because I didn't think there was any way that Nintendo would not only release a plug and play console like this but also go through all the trouble and expense of getting Capcom, Konami, and Namco on board for the project. But then I found out that it wasn't a joke, and suffice it to say my mind was blown.

 

The game lineup is just awesome in every regard and the only standout title really missing is Tetris, but then again the Game Boy version of Tetris is much better known by the masses than the NES version so maybe they're just saving Tetris for a Game Boy Mini if the NES Mini turns out to be a big success. I also love that they made the controller and ports compatible with the Wii Classic Controller, since that means I'll be able to use the included NES controller with the NES emulator on my Wii and my wife will be able to play the NES Mini with her custom Wii Classic Controller arcade stick. The HDMI output will also make it nice to play on modern TVs, so all around I think it's just a fantastic little package and will definitely be picking one up. :)

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I'd be curious to compare the game list of this new device to the Virtual Console game list on the 3DS. Considering the form factor of the new unit, it would not shock me if they made some engineering changes to the 3DS hardware rather than a shrink of the Wii hardware.

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I'd be curious to compare the game list of this new device to the Virtual Console game list on the 3DS. Considering the form factor of the new unit, it would not shock me if they made some engineering changes to the 3DS hardware rather than a shrink of the Wii hardware.

As I was looking at my Playstation TV (Vita Console basically) I was thinking the same thing... the PS TV has HDMI and can play many of the Vita games that aren't dependent on the touch screen... and it uses PS3 Controllers. Would make sense as the 3DS is plenty powerful enough to do this, and is already engineered/proven technology.

If this is a modified existing technology, at least the hardware is very powerful compared to the Flashback hardware... of course what Nintendo does with that power, is yet to be seen.

 

I would like to believe that if Nintendo is actually making this system, that it is a bit beyond the AtGames/Flashback/Sega systems as far as delivering a gaming experience. I will find out. I am anxious to see reports for when these get into the hands of reviewers.

 

MrBlackCat

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I'll wait for a sale and then I'll consider. I haven't had a functioning NES for awhile and no longer have the games, either, so it's a good bargain, assuming the emulation makes use of ROM images and is of high-fidelity. I just need to see it drop below a magic price-point, before I cave in. What might that be, you ask?

 

"Under 50 bucks?!?"

"Yesiree."

"It's the NESClassic from Nin-Ten-Do!"

 

I need to see that happen, for some reason.

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I'd be curious to compare the game list of this new device to the Virtual Console game list on the 3DS. Considering the form factor of the new unit, it would not shock me if they made some engineering changes to the 3DS hardware rather than a shrink of the Wii hardware.

 

Most of the games are available in the NA store.

Bubble Bobble and Final Fantasy are only available in the JP store,

Excitebike, Kid Icarus, and Kirby's Adventure are not available in their original form, but are available as 3D classics.

 

Dr. Mario and StarTropics are the only games which do not seem to be currently available as 3DS Virtual Console downloads.

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Do you guys think that Nintendo will now start suing clones/nesAV/flash cart maker etc...etc.... for IP infringement or alike?

I am not even sure the rights still apply to their HW but nonetheless it is know that the big N is pretty litigious when it comes to its property.

.

 

They have no legal grounds to do so. If they do, it won't be good PR, and they risk being counter-sued for harassment.

 

I don't see it happening.

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