Looking for a little shock? Nintendo has announced plans to bring back its iconic Nintendo Entertainment System.
The Nintendo Entertainment System, unarguably one of the most iconic game consoles of all time, is relaunching this fall, the game company announced on Thursday. Dubbed the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic, the console will ship to stores on November 11 and come in at a retail price of $60.
If you’re already drooling with nostalgia, it gets better. The console is designed to be a miniature version of its old self, complete with a gray finish, ports for controllers, and everything else you loved about the good old days of gaming. Indeed, while it will fit into a hand, the miniature console looks strikingly similar to its predecessor and even comes with a controller that Nintendo says, was “patterned after the iconic design of the original NES controller.” Best of all, additional NES Classic Controllers will cost just $10.
The Nintendo Entertainment System, or Famicom as it was known in Japan, is arguably the reason console gaming is alive today. At the time, Atari had all but failed and most game companies thought the boom of the 1970s and 1980s was over. But Nintendo thought differently and in 1983 launched the Famicom, or Family Computer, as a home game console in Japan. Before long, it became a smash hit and launched in the U.S. In 1985 as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES.
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While the console didn’t come with much firepower—it was an 8-bit console, after all—it single-handedly revived in-home gaming. It was also an early home to some of Nintendo’s most iconic franchises, including Super Mario Bros. And The Legend of Zelda. Over its lifetime, Nintendo sold nearly 62 million NES units and 500 million software units for the console.
As time went on, the NES was eventually replaced by higher-powered consoles, like the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo 64, and other successors. But for old-time gamers, it’s been one of the go-to devices for reliving classic games.
Nintendo, which kept producing the NES until 2008, apparently realizes that. In addition to the console and controller, the NES Classic will ship with 30 NES games built in, including Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3. The console will also take gamers back to the days of TECMO Bowl, PAC-MAN, and Donkey Kong, among several others.
As this is a new era where HDTVs are the norm, however, Nintendo had to make some changes to the console. For one, the console comes with an HDMI port and HDMI cable, so users can plug it directly into their high-definition televisions. In addition, the NES Classic Controller will connect to a Wii Remote and can be used on the Wii or Wii U to play games in Nintendo’s repository of old NES classics in its Virtual Console. Gamers who remember all too tragically the pain of losing progress will be happy to hear that the games now feature multiple suspend points, “so you can start where you left off at a later time, no passwords needed,” Nintendo said in a statement.
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It’s unclear whether Nintendo will be adding more games as time goes on. But it’s possible this holiday season, Nintendo might have another hardware winner on its hands.