Twitter was ablaze with excitement after the electronic and video game company Nintendo announced that it would be bringing back the Nintendo NES Classic. The original incarnation of this mini-console is widely considered to have revived the video games industry in 1985, after the video game crash in 1983, during which market saturation caused a large-scale recession in the video games industry.
In 2009, the NES (short for Nintendo Entertainment System) was named the single greatest video game console in history by IGN – a great accolade in a time of high-performance consoles – and the re-release of the NES Classic comes after a previous release in 2016.
In addition to the re-release of the NES Classic, Nintendo will also again be releasing the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). When the consoles were released in 2016, units sold out very quickly due to short supply, and fans in the US are sure to scramble again to get one this time around.
The NES and SNES consoles are set to come pre-loaded with a selection of 30 retro games. These are: Balloon Fight, Bubble Bobble, Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Dr. Mario, Excitebike, Final Fantasy, Galaga, Ghosts’N Goblins, Gradius, Ice Climber, Kid Icarus, Kirby’s Adventure, Mario Bros., Mega Man 2, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Pac-Man, Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream, StarTropics, Super C, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Tecmo Bowl, The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Both the NES Classic and SNES Classic consoles will be available in the US from 29 June 2018. In South Africa, the SNES is available for purchase on the Nintendo South Africa online store, but no announcement about the local availability of the NES has been made yet.
The re-release of the NES and SNES will drench hardcore gamers in nostalgia, but its popularity among today’s teens remains to be seen. Check out a video of teens reacting to the Nintendo NES below.