It’s already been over 2 months since Nintendo announced the NES Classic, and though we’ve
seen it in person a time or two, we haven’t actually been able to try it out for ourselves...that
is, until now.
Or rather, a couple days ago--but I can talk about it now!
Okay, so you probably already know most of the main mains points.
The NES Classic Edition is a small and adorable replica of the original Nintendo Entertainment
System from the 80s--except this one connects to your TV via HDMI, and instead of using
cartridges, comes with 30 games built-in, including classics like The Legend of Zelda,
Super Mario Bros 3, and Kirby’s Adventure--all of which are laid out for you to select from
immediately upon booting up.
But if you’re having trouble finding just the game you want, you can tap the Select
button to sort them in various ways, including Alphabetically, by Release Date,, by Publisher,
or in order of which you played most recently, which you’ve play the most, or even which
ones have 2-Players.
And if you’re still having trouble deciding which game to play, you may want to just sit
back and relax, as Mario & Luigi will soon appear to take you on a tour of all 30 games--offering
a quick preview of what to expect from each one.
We actually posted a 10-minute video showcasing this demo mode, so be sure to check it out.
Of course, I wasn't able to try out all 30 games--I mean, I didn’t want to keep the
Nintendo reps there all day--but the ones I did play looked and played almost exactly
how I remember, featuring a bright and vibrant image with no input lag from what I could
tell.
In fact, the NES Classic Edition’s emulator may Nintendo’s best yet, easily beating
the one found on the Wii U eShop.
Here’s a side by side example using Kirby’s Adventure, with the NES Classic on the left
and the eShop on the right--notice how much better the contrast is in the NES Classic
version.
And beyond that, the emulator here has another feature sorely lacking from the eShop one:
a display setting, with 3 different choices.
Pixel-Perfect,which is closest to how the developers saw it when creating the game,
4:3, which is closer to how the games actually appeared on most TVs back in the day, and
finally, an actual CRT mode that attempts to mimic exactly how it would appear if played
on a TV from that era, for that maximum old-school effect.
It’s a neat feature--even if it’s really hard to go back to.
Now if you grew up with the NES, like I did, then you probably remember that most games
couldn’t save your progress, forcing you to either start from scratch every time, or
write down a long, cumbersome password to start from where you left off.
Fortunately, the NES Classic makes both of those options a relic of the past by featuring
Save States, allowing you to save your exact spot up to 4 times for every single game.
Yep, not only finally save your custom track in ExciteBike--but four of them!
And you can even lock specific States so that you don’t accidentally save over them them
later.
And creating a Save State is as simple as hitting the Reset button on the front of the
console to return the Game Selection menu and then choosing the slot you want to save
it too.
But since hitting Reset is the *only* way to return to that main menu, this does mean
that you’ll have to get up out of your seat every time you want to save or change games--just
think of it as adding to the old school charm.
Beyond all of this, there are a few final options for you to play around with, such
as turning on or off, Demo mode, Auto-Shutdown, and Screen Burn-in Reduction.
You can also change the system’s language, but this only applies to the menus and doesn’t
change the games themselves.
There’s also the every-exciting Legal Notice tab, and finally, a Manuals option--which
curiously, doesn’t actually contain the manuals themselves.
Instead, it contains QR codes that you can use to load up the manuals via your phone,
which I was told, would be fully-scanned versions of the NES originals.
So there you have it--that’s the NES Classic in a nutshell...which probably can’t be
much bigger than the miniscule NES Classic itself.
I mean, look at that thing--it’s just so gosh darned cute.
I just want to pinch its cute rosey red Power light.
The NES Classic Edition goes on sale November 11th, at the suggested retail price of $59.99,
with a 2nd NES controller costing 9.99.
Alright guys thanks for watching and make sure to stay tuned to GameXplain.com for more
on the NES Classic and other things gaming too.