I managed to get my hands on the new NES Classic Mini and I cannot wait to give it try! As you know, all the Nintendo gamers were excited for this little beauty to come out, since it’s a nostalgic console for the gamers of the 80’s who grew up with it.
The NES was released after the ‘Video Game Crash’ of the early 1980’s, where many adults had regarded electronic games as being a passing fad (lol). In other words, if it wasn’t for the NES you wouldn’t have the Xbox or the Playstation brands. We salute you Nintendo! Now let’s unbox this little bad boy!!!
The Box
So the front of box states ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’ however if you’re from the good ol’ US of A, then your box will look completely and utterly different. First of all, yours will have the wording ‘Nintendo Classic Edition’ while our says ‘Entertainment System’. On top of the box, us Brits have the words Nintendo Classic Mini along with the retro Nintendo logo along with the wording ‘Entertainment System’ and on the right hand side with have a picture of the NES console, while in America the top of your NES box is completely red with some graphics of the controller. The back of the boxes are also completely different in the USA to ours. I think both boxes have examples of what games you can play on the NES classic mini but the way it’s designed and set-up is different.
The Console
The NES console is authentic to the original NES, which makes a lot of people who used the original in the 80’s very happy but obviously it’s a lot smaller, almost miniature in comparison. It fits perfectly in the palm of my hand. Differences to the original NES include the ports on the classic mini are the same to the Wii remote, and the back of the console has a HDMI to connect to your telly instead of rf and phono which is what the original had. Other components include a ‘power’ and ‘reset’ buttons which, of course was on the original, and on the top, we have a grill to prevent overheating. Because you do not put games in it anymore (since the games are built into the console) the cartridge lid on top doesn’t open.
The Nintendo Classic Mini (or the NES Classic Edition in America) comes with it’s own controller (only one) but it’s capable of having two controllers plugged in to the console for those two player games. One design error is that the controller cord is way too short. The cord is 30 3/8 inches, which is really short in comparison to the original NES controller cord which was 91.5 inches long, so it’s worth investing in a extension cable for your controller. However there is a translucent piece on the extension cable that blocks the second controller port but I unscrewed it so it’s easy to take off.
The Games and Display
There are 30 retro games in the console which is the same in whatever country you buy it from. It includes games such as Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pacman and Mega Man 2 as well as the original Final Fantasy. Even though the images do not do it any justice, the graphics are sharp and clear. You can put the games in three different display modes which include CRT Filter which displays the games as they were in the 80’s (with scan lines and all), 4:3 which is super clear with no scan lines, and pixel perfect which makes every pixel on the screen a perfect square. I have found that the 4:3 is the best display mode since pixel perfect is a bit too small on screen while the CRT Filter are for those who really want to go down the nostalgic route.
All in all I’m really enjoying the console! Favourite games include Pacman because who doesn’t like Pacman?! Kirby’s Adventure since I used to play as a child. Dr Mario is also a favourite since I do like a good game of Tetris. I’m sure I will enjoy more but I’m going through them slowly, enjoying each game as they come.
What are your thoughts on the new NES? Leave your comments below and happy gaming!
