10-24-2007, 11:59 AM
Set the Flux Capacitor to '83
24 years. That’s how long it’s been since The Big N released the Famicom out in Japan. The NES then came to North America by ’85 (and the PAL version in ’86). The console practically pulled the entire video games industry out of the huge rut it had gotten into. The first party console has been dead for over a decade now but the cult following of retro gaming is stronger than ever!
Life before NES
Before the 3rd generation of video games (we’re on the 7th right now) video games were far from where they are today. You might see Pac Man or Pong in an arcade or a bar, but nothing more advanced than that. Nintendo set about changing that with their 8-bit powerhouse! They succeeded where Atari and Magnavox failed by landing some AA titles, the home version of Donkey Kong hugely outperformed Atari’s home version of Pac Man and the gap just kept getting bigger as Nintendo powered ahead. Within a couple of years, the NES was the only viable choice; even Sega only took a small chunk out of sales.
"Now You're Playing with Power!"
The NES pulled a lot of, now high profile, franchises into existence such as Mario Bros, Final Fantasy, Metroid and Zelda! If you step back and think about it, those franchises alone drastically shaped the world of video games, and that’s not mentioning the other important franchises that also debuted on the NES. Nintendo also used the NES to release a lot of futuristic hardware on the system such as the Famicom Disk System and the Famicom MODEM, both only actually released in Japan, but they were extremely futuristic things at the time.
The death of a legend
When Nintendo released the SNES the NES became a bit of a budget option with popularity decreasing as developers stopped writing games for it. The last games were released in 1994 and then Nintendo America stopped producing the NES in ’95. Nintendo Japan saw the niche for Retro gaming and kept producing the Famicom up until 2003! As of now there is no official way to buy a new NES or Famicom to play your cartridge games. But then there's always eBay
Wait, Phoenix Down!
If you want to relive the NES glory, you still have a few options! Firstly, you have The Wii’s ‘Virtual Console’ that I’m sure you’ve never heard of. Basically, for Wii Credits you can re-buy the NES classics and play them with occasionally updated graphics over the Wii’s component cables for a nice image. However, it’s not the most cost effective option, because you need the Wii and then have to re-buy all the games you might already have in cartridge form. Nintendo also seems to have its aversion to getting the rights to put all the games on the VC so it’s a slightly limited selection.
The other main option is to purchase one of the new generation of ‘Famiclones’. Essentially a few companies have actually reverse-engineered the original NES to create their own console that will play the original cartridges. My favourite is the amazingly small Generation NEX by Messiah entertainment; I tried the hands-on demo at E for All and was surprised by the responsiveness of the console. Another plus for the NEX is the ability to play any NES (or Famicom) game from any region! You can even use the official NES accessories and the Famicom Disk System! The best thing about the NEX is that it runs 97.25% of all NES games ever released. If you want to pay a little extra, you can shell out for wireless controllers that feature a few nifty touch buttons. Overall, I’d buy this if it retailed in Europe, but they are still planning that phase of their release. Still, for $60, it’s a steal. Also talking to the guy at the EfA booth he let slip that something pretty awesome is heading our way so if you like the idea of a NES/SNES combo, then you might want to wait it out whilst they hammer out the finalities.
All in all the NES was without a doubt an integral part of video-game culture and the world would be a very different place without it.
Written by: John Sanderson
Life before NES
Before the 3rd generation of video games (we’re on the 7th right now) video games were far from where they are today. You might see Pac Man or Pong in an arcade or a bar, but nothing more advanced than that. Nintendo set about changing that with their 8-bit powerhouse! They succeeded where Atari and Magnavox failed by landing some AA titles, the home version of Donkey Kong hugely outperformed Atari’s home version of Pac Man and the gap just kept getting bigger as Nintendo powered ahead. Within a couple of years, the NES was the only viable choice; even Sega only took a small chunk out of sales.
"Now You're Playing with Power!"
The death of a legend
When Nintendo released the SNES the NES became a bit of a budget option with popularity decreasing as developers stopped writing games for it. The last games were released in 1994 and then Nintendo America stopped producing the NES in ’95. Nintendo Japan saw the niche for Retro gaming and kept producing the Famicom up until 2003! As of now there is no official way to buy a new NES or Famicom to play your cartridge games. But then there's always eBay
If you want to relive the NES glory, you still have a few options! Firstly, you have The Wii’s ‘Virtual Console’ that I’m sure you’ve never heard of. Basically, for Wii Credits you can re-buy the NES classics and play them with occasionally updated graphics over the Wii’s component cables for a nice image. However, it’s not the most cost effective option, because you need the Wii and then have to re-buy all the games you might already have in cartridge form. Nintendo also seems to have its aversion to getting the rights to put all the games on the VC so it’s a slightly limited selection.
The other main option is to purchase one of the new generation of ‘Famiclones’. Essentially a few companies have actually reverse-engineered the original NES to create their own console that will play the original cartridges. My favourite is the amazingly small Generation NEX by Messiah entertainment; I tried the hands-on demo at E for All and was surprised by the responsiveness of the console. Another plus for the NEX is the ability to play any NES (or Famicom) game from any region! You can even use the official NES accessories and the Famicom Disk System! The best thing about the NEX is that it runs 97.25% of all NES games ever released. If you want to pay a little extra, you can shell out for wireless controllers that feature a few nifty touch buttons. Overall, I’d buy this if it retailed in Europe, but they are still planning that phase of their release. Still, for $60, it’s a steal. Also talking to the guy at the EfA booth he let slip that something pretty awesome is heading our way so if you like the idea of a NES/SNES combo, then you might want to wait it out whilst they hammer out the finalities.
All in all the NES was without a doubt an integral part of video-game culture and the world would be a very different place without it.
Related: Messiah Entertainment
Related: Wikipedia List of NES Games
Related: Buy NES games from PlayAsia
Written by: John Sanderson
