Video game collectors, as a kind of purist rule, don't like emulators...that is unless Nintendo wants to sell us one, then we're cool with it.  The recently announced NES Classic Edition will be here before you know it and I suspect that most Nintendo fans out there will do their best to pick one up.  Let's take a look at some of the details.




The NES Classic Edition (NESC for the rest of this article) will be available on November 11th for $59.99.  You can add one more controller for $9.99.  From collectors and Nintendo enthusiasts who will scoop up this first party piece of nostalgia juice, to the casual player who hasn't touched a Nintendo in years, this (very) little system is going to sell like gangbusters.  Even the most vocal "anti emulator" crowd will still pick one up eventually, even if it just sits on a shelf to look good.  For $60 plus $10 for player 2, how could you go wrong? Sure, it would be more authentic to pack your NES and a bunch of games if you are traveling, but this thing may fit in your pocket.  The game selection is very solid, even if there is a little head scratching depending on who you talk to.  Opinions, as always, will vary, but let me give you my take on the games and you can tell me why I'm right in the comments.

The Games

The games are what really matter, right?  I mean none of us would remember the NES fondly without countless memories of amazing and mostly original gameplay.  At the risk of coming across a little snarky, I wanted to go through each game with a quick 1-2 sentence reaction.  Feel free to disagree, it's all in good fun.

Balloon Fight - The game that your wife will play with you until you stop letting her win, then you can play by yourself.  At least that was my experience.

Bubble Bobble - Does it ever end?  No? OK, I can listen to this music forever.

Castlevania - Great game that never seems to get old.  With so many awesome soundtracks on the NES it's hard to call out the one that is best but Castlevania has a strong arguement.

Castelvania II Simon's Quest - We get 2 Castlevania games on the NESC and they aren't the 2 best Castlevania games that were released on the NES.  Do the math.  #WhyNoCastlevaniaIII?

Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr - Solid port of a solid arcade game that you will almost never fire up given the opportunity to play the other games available.

Dr Mario - The reason your sister is buying one.

Excitebike - Simple little crowd pleaser that will definitely see regular play as a warm up game until the sound of your engine overheating scares your 9 month old into a crying fit.

Final Fantasy - The game that everyone buying the NESC will swear to play.  "This time, it's gonna be different, I'm finally going to complete this game.  (It's not going to be different, you aren't going to finish this game).

Galaga - That's the one with the space invaders, right?  Or was that Space Invaders? I can't remember, let's just play Mario 3.

Ghosts N Goblins - A so so port of a phenomenal arcade game.  Will make you sad that you aren't playing the coin-op version, but it's a good kind of sad, like the end of Return of the King, only not so emotional.  Unless you get REALLY emotional about Ghosts n Goblins, then its the same.

Gradius - Aw, I kind of wish it was Life Force.  Oh, wait, it is Life Force kind of?  Oh, OK, that sounds good.

Ice Climber - A game that proves there is no problem that cannot be solved by hitting the problem with a hammer/pickaxe thing.

Kid Icarus - Good game with a decent difficulty curve and really unfortunate sound.

Kirby's Adventure - Kirby has been around forever and you either get the appeal and love him or you are me.

Legend of Zelda - Arguably the best game of the bunch.  The biggest gaming phenomenon of my youth and a classic that everyone who plays games should play through from start to finish. So do yourself a favor and play with the Playcast crew next month! (no, singlebanana did not add this last sentence while editing this article...)

Mario Bros - Great game spoiled by the superior jumping mechanics of Super Mario Bros.

Mega Man 2 - Seriously?  Mega Man 2?  They had a golden opportunity to put Mega Man 4, the greatest Mega Man game of all time into the hands of millions of people this November and they squandered it. 

Metroid - The best Metroid game being released this year is the Origninal Metroid.  #FederationForceBurn

Ninja Gaiden - Lovers of action platformers and gluttons for punishment everywhere rejoice!

Pac-Man - See Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr. above.

Punch Out!! - Would have been great if this was Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!.  I wonder if 007-373-5963 is the passcode for Mr Dream?  #MTForLife

StarTropics - One of those games that you see quite often and don't know that much about.  Would be harsh calling it a Zelda clone, solid RPG that deserves a look.

Super C - Really? Not Contra?

Super Mario Bros 1, 2, 3 - You would expect to have at least 1 Mario Bros. game on the NESC but 3?  Bravo.

Tecmo Bowl - Even though it's a personal favorite, its hard to wonder why this isn't Tecmo Super Bowl.  Still. Bo Jackson and you win.

Zelda II The Adventure of Link - Do you know anyone who finished this game as a kid?  I don't. 

I'm not going to dive too deeply into the list of games that weren't included but should have been.  Off the top of my head, I would have loved to have seen Bionic Commando, Battletoads, Blades of Steel, RBI Baseball, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles included, but overall, the included games are great.

The Hardware

There aren't many gripes to be had with the hardware. The few I have are admittedly small, but lets explore them anyways.  The only output the unit has is HDMI.  This is perfect for any modern TV and even better if the NESC has some sort of method of selecting aspect ratio so that you aren't forced to play games originally designed for a 4:3 screen on a 16:9/10 screen.  However, it means that you will not be able to connect your new, little friend to the old CRT in the basement or playroom for some original NES vibes.  Not the end of the world for those of us who have at least 2 NES systems in the house, just would have been nice to see composite A/V outs as well.  This leads into my only other hardware gripe: The length of the controller cord. 

It's short.  Like really short...

[img width=700 height=485]http://i.imgur.com/fezn926.png[/img]

You see the original NES controller cable on the left side of the above image?  Compare that to the length of the cable on the Classic Controller.  It looks to be about the length of the cable on a Wii Nunchuk.  This means that you will probably have to pull the system out to the floor for it to be close enough to accommodate the short controller cable.  In turn, this means that you will likely need either a longer HDMI cable than the one included with the NESC or resort to third party controller extension cabels.  Wait...THIRD PARTY?!  The whole reason the NESC is cool is because it's FIRST party!  If you are going to desecrate your NESC with Third party accessories, you might as well be playing ESWAT: City Under Siege on your AtGames Flash Genesis.  OK, I got a little carried away there.

The last hardware gripe is arguably the biggest one: The cart door doesn't open.  Almost a dealbreaker but I will Keep Calm and Nintendo On.

So what do you think?  Getting one? Not getting one? Am I right about my observations or REALLY right about them?

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