Hey everyone. So I know in my last blog I said my next blog would be taking a look at some Donkey Kong levels and themes and what not, but I'm putting that on hold for a bit and am going to do a couple other blogs first. The first of those is obviously this one. I read earlier today that Nintendo is going to be discontinuing the NES Classic Edition in North America and I of course have my own two cents to throw into the big criticism pot. Before I get started I want to throw out there that I personally never had intentions on getting an NES Classic, so this is not a ranting post because of that. I also want to throw out that I by no means hate Nintendo because of this and will continue to blog about their classic games more than anything else. So.... Yeah...
When the NES Classic was announced, just about everyone I know who knows what a video game is was extremely excited. This was a chance for people to get their hands on a miniature version of the console that really started the home video game craze. The console that rocketed Nintendo to the top of the heap and the console that nowadays people seem to crave to play. Now as cartridges are becoming more and more expensive and more and more of them die out, Nintendo seemed to have an answer. They revealed the NES Classic as a way to play thirty classic and certainly highly in demand titles. Hard to find games such as Kid Icarus were suddenly looking like they were going to be easy grabs on the Classic. My only gripe was that the console did not have a slot for NES cartridges like the Sega Genesis Classic has. It would have been nice to be able to use original cartridges, but that's not what this is about. The NES Classic was released and instantly sold out everywhere. Then in a similar fashion to the Super Smash Bros Wii/3DS Amiibos, Nintendo claims they underestimated how popular the console would be. My question then was how and my question now is how?
All Nintendo had to do was open their eyes past the virtual console of the Wii U to see that there is a stupidly high demand for their retro games. Before the NES classic came out games like Mega Man 2 eclipsed the forty dollar mark. We're talking about a game that came out back in 1988, and there are plenty more like it and plenty more that were and are much more expensive as well. The march goes on if you take a look at the price of both Super Nintendo and several Nintendo 64 games as well. Yes there are people out there just collecting and reselling at a higher price, but there are also a ton of people out there playing the games still and wanting to get their hands on them. Another clue for Nintendo should have been the virtual console itself. Between the 3DS, the Wii, and the Wii U, Nintendo has to know how much the games have sold on the virtual console. To think that people who may have just purchased Super Mario Bros. and say Castlevania wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to have twenty eight additional classic titles plus a replica of the original system they were made for plus a remake of the original controller instead of a sideways wiimote is just crazy. If I was bigger into eight bit gaming I would have jumped at the chance to nab them all for just sixty dollars.
I think the choice to release so few of these systems and then discontinue it has everything to do with economics. The price for the NES Classic is sixty dollars. The price of NES virtual console games is four dollars and ninety nine cents. After some math it's easy to see where Nintendo will make the most money. It was nice for Nintendo to throw some of it's fans a bone with the NES Classic, but it was not meant for everyone. If anything it being so scarce led to more virtual console purchases of the various titles. Now I of course have no proof of that being the case at all, but I know if my friend had never played Castlevania or the original Legend of Zelda and suddenly he had it and said it was awesome and I've never played it. My Wii U would have been on and the game purchased.
I'm not big into conspiracy theories, but Nintendo's choices with the Classic, and the Wii U for that matter I think were just poor choices. It was a poor choice to release the Nintendo Classic with no real ambition on having it readily available like Sega and Atari's classic systems. It was a poor choice to then say that more were coming and make the same underestimation again. It was a poor choice to get so many people's hype levels up just to drop them on their heads. Lastly, it was a poor choice to announce the discontinuation of a product that so many people are still looking for among a massive wave of advertisements for yet another console that nobody can get their hands on in the Switch. Nintendo took a great, great idea in the Classic and managed to really mess it up big time.
If you've looked at this blog at all outside of this post you already know I am a huge Nintendo fan and always have been, but I do feel for those people looking for the NES Classic. Many don't want a Switch or a Wii U or anything other than an NES and some games. Many want to be able to go back to the eight bit gaming era without having to throw an arm and a leg into a deal to get a working NES and the original cartridges. The Classic gave those people a chance and Nintendo dropped the ball on all of them. Now rumors are already flying about an eventual Super Nintendo Classic and Nintendo 64 Classic. Those are the two systems I've had growing up and those are two things I'd watch very closely. If anything I hope Nintendo learned (probably not) from the mistakes made with the NES Classic should they move forward with future classic consoles. Retro gaming is alive and well and if Sega can drop a Genesis Classic in 2016 that can stay on the shelves, continue to be produced, and have the same offerings of a cartridge and original controller ports, than I can't think of one reason Nintendo couldn't do the same outside of the money is in the virtual console and not remakes of classic consoles.
Sorry about the rant here, but I really do feel badly for those who were waiting still for the NES Classic. With Nintendo being so concerned about emulators and fan made games, I just don't get why they wouldn't want to take every avenue to try and encourage people to buy their products over using an emulator. That's a side note to the whole rant though... As always, thank you for reading. As I said at the top, I'm putting that Donkey Kong Country blog on the back burner for a bit and am going to go ahead with my Vigilante 8 Nintendo 64 review next.
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