Earlier this week Nintendo UK ran a live stream to show off the NES Classic Mini (we know that's not the official name, but it's better), in which the presenters showed a direct comparison with an old NES, had a look at the UI and then played some of the included games.
The live stream has now been uploaded to YouTube so that you can watch it at your leisure; it starts for real at about 3:50.
As someone that's pre-ordered one of these your humble writer is still quite excited, and the UI + screen options are neat. That said, the controller cables are rather short; bluetooth would have been a nice feature. The appeal of sitting on the floor near the TV - or having a HDMI cable trail across the room - is less enticing when in your 30s.
In any case, let us know what you think of this in the comments.
Comments 45
Very excited for this. Can't wait!
it's actually prefect honestly. the only thing missing is a little store to download more games from.
@plug313 If it had Bluetooth controllers and a special eShop it'd be the best thing ever, pretty much
Can't wait hope there's enough stock about.
Yeah, those cables are super short, somebody needs to sell 6' extenders, I have 4 extenders for my Dreamcast, even those were too short.
Anybody wondering about in store marketing of these, I noticed yesterday in Target the video game section is now home to several of the other retro consoles, which in the past were always with the toys, not video games.
Even Sony and Microsoft are getting in on the retro craze with games, not consoles.
It's a very nostalgic Christmas.
@A01 Well this and 2/3DS. Target had several each of that New Style New 3DS XL and the Mario bundle New 3DS. So I expect a lot of marketing for each. None for Wii U - Paper Mario is out today, can you tell? - and no NX. Hopefully they'll reveal it soon, but they they'll be quiet again until after the holidays. May even have a presence at CES in January as they market NX as the next Sony Dash.
that's quite a good point it could make sense there holding back on the NX till after the xmas blitz if they really want to push some big sales with this 'New' mini console
For the authentic experience while watching this stream you need to imagine the chat. To do this get open up a blank word document and type the letters "NX". Then copy and paste. While you're watching the video? Slowly scroll down this document.
wait, the cable is only wiimote accessory length? Bahahaha, good job Nintendo. Glad I didn't preorder one
Even with a long HDMI the cables will still be nuisance. Everyone will be tugging the console with the controller getting into their gaming position unless they are using all their brain power to carefully not do just that. Nuisance. The first thing you may as well do is put the darn console right on you lap and go from there. Enjoy the couple of bucks extra profit, Nintendo.
Love idea of this console, but if the cords are that short, I'll be using the controllers for virtual console games on the Wii. May buy a super long HDMI cable and just put the console next to the couch or something.
Seems the colours are still significantly less vibrant than the original. Why can't nintendo sort that out?
@skywake I assume a good chuck of the chat will also involve the release date of Kirbys Adventure getting posted over and over.
The cable's so Damn short, would it have killed Nintendo to include a cable length like the GC or N64 controller if they wanted to replicate the old cable experience?
Ah, well, there is time before I get it, so I'll just order an extra long HDMI cable from China.
Purist nerd here, recently switched from LCD gaming to CRT and I gotta say I'm never going back to flat screens.
I've preordered my on Amazon first day possible I'm more excited about this than NX will play it over the Christmas and New Year season and put it on eBay Jan or Feb.
When I was a kid me and my brother were at a car boot sale late 90's we picked up a NES with at least 50 games boxes and a truck load of accessories. For 20pounds
@plug313 @ThomasBW84 Except that wouldn't be the point of reliving playing on a classic NES, now would it? The menu is already somewhat disrupting that illusion, but putting an eShop in it and providing it with wireless controllers would be completely missing the point.
True classic gaming is no online and wired controllers. It is indeed perfect just like it is now.
And how much better do NES games look on the NES Classic Mini?
(compared to Wii U Virtual Console) Well, THIS much better:
Nope, wired controllers are the way to go for retro. Unless you can change the channel like on a Wavebird, I don't want any possibility of that nasty wireless interference that's so common these days in my retro gaming!
@ThanosReXXX Edit: WAIT, there it is! My Firefox settings miss out on video links sometimes, works fine on default settings.
@Meowpheel
Yes. But also "1993, but where is NX?"
@chansey I got that beat (sorry!). Car boot sale in late-90s. Action Pack NES in mint condition, with packaging... £2. I sold it several years later for £58 on ebay, but to this day I've regretted it as the the condition was just unbelievable. Sadly jumble sales are no longer what they used to be because of the internet.
What worries me the most is how bad the video lag may be.
It's already a pain in Wii U thanks to both HDMI (video) and Bluetooth (input), making some NES games such as Mega Man and SMB nearly unplayable on my newest Smart TV, even with the Game Mode on. On the gamepad it's fine though.
Maybe the wired controller should help a bit? Most HDTVs today, specially Smart TVs, have several problems with games that need a fast response time, specially music/rhythm games that need a perfect sync between what you see, what you hear and what you press. Guitar Hero and Rock Band, for example, became unplayable in my TV without a few turnarounds in the "calibrate lag" feature. Most rhythm games sadly don't have that.
Mega Man Legacy Collection on XOne is simply unplayable due to the considerable lag...
@Frank-The-Tank Was just thinking the same, thought I was the only one who noticed that.
The games do look vastly better than Virtual Console, but looking at the Super Mario Bros comparison, there are still differences. I know it's being picky but I just don't get why they can't emulate the colours 1:1.
"bluetooth would have been a nice feature"
If I've understood correctly, bluetooth is handled by Wiimotes. If the cable is too short, pair up a Wiimote and connect the NES controller to the Wiimote.
They are crazy with that short cord length, if that is indeed the final product 😳. With everything else being legit, how could they possibly even think that this short cord length was a good idea? 🤔🙄
@Mahe From what I understand, Player 1 must always have the NES Classic Controller connected directly to the NES Classic system at all times. Only Player 2 is allowed to connect to a Wii Remote.
@plug313 I will never understand why this wasn't included. Wifi to do this would have cost pennies and potentially sold many more eshop titles. If there had been a netflix style service where, for a few bucks a month, I could play a large library of classic games, I would have done it. The insular nature of this device is so confusing.
@90sRetroGaming Huh. This matter requires a lot of testing to set the record straight, but if it really works that way, it's on par with Wii U Gamepad weirdness.
Looks nice, but not interested.
That was a crappy review. I wanted to see the difference of the filters. Not just some guys playing it and talking. Whatever...
Was interested in this not for myself, but my brother. However, after showing him games on my tablet, he said what he really remembers is the ColecoVision we had growing up. So, I'm no longer concerned about being able to get one of these for Christmas as I am now going to pick up a ColecoVision Flashback for him instead. Of course, if he comes back after that and suddenly remembers the NES we later had (he was probably too busy with life at that point which is why he doesn't remember it as fondly) I can always pick him up one for his birthday. Surely the shelves will be stocked between Christmas and his birthday.
@rushiosan I thought smart TVs were supposed to be getting better with input lag. Heck, my LG from 2013 only has two frames of it. You should have gotten a Sony, apparently they're the best as far as input lag is concerned.
The NES classic mini is going to be good for the intended audience - but the short controller cords and lack of controller commands ( i.e. Change game, save state) at the controller have backed me out of wanting one though. My money instead is going towards an AVS console and everdrive cart.
And to think people defended the Wii U VC lol
It looks so good! I also like the startup screen that shows the game boxes.
Its a shame that Nintendo are not selling extension leads for the pads, I remember reading snes instruction manuals that you had to play a game at the length of the leads distance between yourself and the TV. As an adult I dont really wanna sit on the floor playing this.
Also I know it's not a biggie but I still wonder if Nintendo will sell an official usb plug for the nes mini, it's a potential money maker for the big N. Can't wait for the release of this console!
@Pj1 "As an adult I don't really wanna sit on the floor playing this."
Thing is, it's not really a distance thing, TVs have gotten much bigger. When I was a little kid, I played games on either a tiny monitor or a small TV. A video game, especially a NES game doesn't need to take up your entire viewing area; in fact it's detrimental to the gameplay.
@LemonSlice Smart TVs have horrible lag compared to older, regular HDTVs. That's because they have a firmware/software or whatever running in the background. They take a while to turn on, take a while to recognize the input signal... well, maybe that's just my particular TV set, I hope the companies are doing something to get around this. Mine is like 2 years old. Maybe things got a bit better in newest sets? I don't know.
@rushiosan Well as i said my LG smart TV from 2013 has but two frames of lag, and as far as I know with Sony you should never have problems. Maybe in lieu with switching to game mode you could try going further in the menu and switching off everything there is to switch off, but indeed there are still problems with input lag in many TVs. Before purchase you should always scour the web for available info on input lag for the set in question.
@LemonSlice Mine's Samsung. I'm glad it at least have some game mode at all, some of their TVs don't even have that. It sucks even with that mode turned on... it was easier to me to move my Wii U to another TV when I needed to play games with some pixel-perfection movement like NES VC.
@rushiosan Are you running latest firmware on the TV?
Cannot wait to get my hands on one of these. I don't know about the rest of you, but $59.99 seems like a huge steal for this wonderful device!
@rushiosan That is a known problem with LCD TV's ( vast majority of TV's sold today ). They suffer from severe input lag and when watching Movies with fast scenes they give the "infamous" ghosting effect.
That is why we still have a 50inch Panasonic Plasma FullHD TV and haven't jumped on the 4K TV bandwagon yet.
Plasma TV's have zero input lag! Fantastic. A real shame Panasonic stopped making plasma TV's couple years back.
Will have to see what LG's OLED TV's do and if they are similar to plasma TV's when it comes to no input lag. Then I might buy one of the new LG OLED TV's.
@Jeronan Input lag and response time are two completely different things. Input lag is how much time it takes from when the TV receives the frame to when it is displayed on the screen. It depends on how fast the TV processes the images. When it's significant, you can miss jumps, dodges, turns, have trouble aiming and the like. Generally the lesser the input lag, the better your gaming performance. This has no bearing on watching TV, movies, anime and the like, outside of having to synchronize audio with video when using external speakers.
Response time is how much time it takes for pixels to change color. In general the less difference in color and luminance the faster they change (hence why lowering contrast on a TV improves response time). Black shapes traveling over a white background, for instance, are a challenge for every HDTV, since pixels have to change all the way from one extreme to the other. This is where the term ghosting comes from, it's when the response time is so bad, in motion everything looks like a blur. Response time can be measured in milliseconds, but also in motion resolution. The greater the motion resolution, the faster you can move pixels across the screen while they maintain their sharpness and color.
@ThomasBW84 I know this is 5 days later, but Gamestop US is selling a 6' cable for the NES Classic Mini from Nyko.
http://www.gamestop.com/accessories/nes-extendlink-extension-cable/136452
Is there something special about thee cables that other Wii extension cables won't work?
https://smile.amazon.com/Cinpel-Extension-Cable-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B00KZLHZGQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476307193&sr=8-1&keywords=wii+extension+cable
Edit: 6', not 6", sorry. But I'm guessing you probably already figured out that was a typo.
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