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Nintendo's Switch is secretly hiding a copy of NES 'Golf'
Much to the joy of its acolytes, Nintendo recently promised to revive the NES Classic Edition in 2018. But, the nostalgia trip doesn't end there. As it turns out, the company's latest console may carry a NES emulator. Hackers have found the system wrapped around an existing game hidden inside the Switch. The title in question is dubbed "FLOG," and it looks just like Golf (the 1984 sports sim for the NES).
Nintendo classics get online multiplayer on the Switch
The Nintendo Switch features a new, paid subscription model that grants players access to online multiplayer features -- and something extra. According to the Nintendo Switch Online Service website, anyone who subscribes will be able to download and play one classic game from the Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Nintendo Entertainment System per month, "with newly added online play."
Nintendo hid a secret message in the Famicom Mini
The NES Classic and its Japanese counterpart are already incredibly cool -- but you know what makes an awesome toy even better? A secret message. Apparently, developers that worked on the Famicom Mini emulator left a short, hidden message in the code: "Please," it says, "don't break everything!"
Nintendo mini NES modders figure out how to add new games
There was no doubt Nintendo's miniature NES Classic Edition was going to be a hit, especially around the holiday season. The affordable retro console hit all the right nostalgic notes, but there's a consensus Nintendo missed a trick by omitting any way to add new games to the system beyond the 30 preinstalled titles. Also, it shouldn't be that hard -- the mini NES is just an emulator in a pretty package, after all. Well, leave it up to the internet to do what Nintendo wouldn't. The modding community has successfully cooked up ways to load additional games onto the system, and all you need is a PC and a micro-USB cable.
Peek at the drawings used to design the original 'Zelda'
To quote one of my favorite video game characters: Greatness, from small beginnings. To celebrate The Legend of Zelda's 30th anniversary, Nintendo has released a handful of drawings that were used to design the first game in the franchise. They're essentially graph paper, with shaded boxes to represent walls and bottomless pits. Careful markings indicate where doors and monsters should be, while a pair of tables explain which colors should be used. Each page offers some wonderful insights into how Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka and others mapped out one of the most iconic video games of all time. Looking at them, I can't help but crack a smile.
NES Classic Edition review: The best and worst of retro gaming
"I don't want to sit on the floor while I play video games," my buddy Josh told me. "I'm not 7 anymore." My friend was parked just 4 feet away from my 40-inch television, playing Ninja Gaiden on the NES Classic Edition -- a tiny re-creation of Nintendo's original home game console. The diminutive game system has everything a nostalgic gamer could want: an iconic design, a built-in collection of 30 classic games and pixel-perfect emulation. But for Josh, the two-and-a-half-foot-long controller cables were a deal-breaker. It's a shame, too: Almost everything else about the NES Classic is perfect.
Nintendo is reviving the NES' hint line for one weekend
When Nintendo releases the NES Classic Edition on November 11th, it won't limit the nostalgia to the hardware you take home. The company is marking the launch by resurrecting its classic Power Line for that weekend. Call 425-885-7529 between 9AM and 10PM Eastern each day (until the night of the 13th) and you can get both hints for "several" games as well as stories from people who manned the phones on the original line back in the 1980s. The tips are pre-recorded, alas, but this could easily rekindle memories of a pre-web era when your best bets at help usually involved calling the Power Line or asking a friend. Our main question: will the phone line stick to the same tips you got as a kid, or offer a few juicy secrets?
Peek inside one of Nintendo's retro gaming vaults
What secrets lie inside Nintendo's offices? It's a question I ask myself regularly at night, clutching my new Nintendo 3DS and dreaming about a Metroid Prime sequel (Federation Force doesn't count.) Well, today Nintendo has drawn back the curtain -- if only a smidge. In a collection of articles celebrating the Legend of Zelda, Nintendo has posted some photos from a storage room at its Kyoto headquarters. It's chock-full of old hardware, including mint Famicoms (released as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES in North America) and Disk Systems.
Nintendo's new NES commercial will toy with your nostalgia
Between the incredible popularity of Pokémon Go, game-themed sneakers and the NES Classic Mini console, Nintendo's nostalgia bombs show no signs of stopping. The gaming juggernaut is fueling that fire with a decidedly retro-style trailer for the new-old system, replete with the familiar "now you're playing with power" tagline from the '80s. It's a fun look at the analog past in our digital future. But upon closer inspection a few things pop out. For starters, folks who've played anything reissued via Virtual Console on Wii U or otherwise can attest that the games look dingy and dull.
Nintendo's Classic Mini costs £50 in the UK
As if Pokémon Go wasn't playing havoc with our nostalgia receptors already, Nintendo yesterday announced the Classic Mini: A palm-sized Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) clone complete with 30 preinstalled 8-bit titles. We know this future Christmas hit launches November 11th, but UK pricing wasn't immediately available. Several retailers have now opened up preorders, however, pegging the price at £50 (with savings of a few pence to be had here and there).
Nintendo won't offer additional games for the Classic Mini
Bad news, Nintendo fans: The Classic Mini that was announced earlier today won't be able to play R.C. Pro-Am, Stadium Events, Little Nemo: The Dream Master or anything else beyond what's in the NES-themed box. Nor will it be able to connect to the internet to download additional games beyond the 30 that come packed with it, according to a report from Kotaku. Nintendo won't sell additional games for micro console, either, nor does the Chamber Lid (that's what it's called!) open for a nostalgia-fueled look-see. In that sense, this isn't much different than similar offerings from Sega and Atari.
Happy Birthday! The NES is 30 years old today
Well, on its American birth certificate at least. Yep, to the groans of middle-aged gamers everywhere, it's been three decades since Nintendo's home console first landed: 18th October 1985. Arguably the advent of console gaming, the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived with 17 games, including Mario Bros., and other not-so-much memorable titles like Hogan's Alley (not the wrestler) and Stack Up -- all in often ridiculous box art we've already covered in detail. It had a rich life and to celebrate we've embedded a video that includes every NES title screen. You've got three hours and a box of Kleenex, right? And if you're still nostalgic, there's always that aluminum model.
Early Nintendo brochure shows us the childhood we could have had, the knitting we never did
We all know what the Nintendo Entertainment System looks like, right? Well, if a butterfly had flapped its wings in a slightly different manner, things could have apparently been quite different. Former Director of Game Creative at Nintendo America, Howard Phillips, has recently uploaded some images taken from a 1985 brochure for a precursor to the NES called the AVS (Advanced Video System). While a glance at some vintage-looking hardware that never came to be -- such as the wireless controller -- is a retrospective tease, it was the marketing material from a couple of years later that really snags the attention: an advert for a knitting machine peripheral. The image shows the NES we know and love, with a controller in a dock, attached to a knitting device turning-out what we can only assume are some leg-warmers. Not wanting to alienate its largely male audience, however, the tagline reads "Now you're knitting with power." Given that it never came to market, though, we guess that not quite everything was acceptable in the eighties.
Legend of Zelda prototype cartridge goes to auction: $150,000 proves your loyalty to Hyrule (video)
And you thought that Nintendo World Championships gold cartridge would make a nice start to the retirement fund. An eBay auction from tjcurtin1 is offering a prototype NES cartridge for the US release of The Legend of Zelda at a Buy It Now price of $150,000, or roughly ten times more than the typical final bid that Price Charting quotes for a typical NWC cart. While it looks like an unassuming yellow chunk of plastic, it's actually a Nintendo of America copy from February 23, 1987 -- half a year before the definitive action adventure reached the US market. The game still plays and can even save its game on the still functional, industry-first battery backup. Just remember that it's not necessarily going to reveal any design secrets from Shigeru Miyamoto or Takashi Tezuka: the seller warns that he can't see any practical differences between the early copy and the (also included) shipping version. Anyone well-heeled enough to buy the prototype is therefore going solely for the collector's value. But for those determined to be the coolest kid on any block about 25 years late, there's only one way to go.
Project Unity stuffs 20 classic consoles into one: if you can't play it, it's probably too new (video)
Most gamer who want to play with more than one or two vintage console platforms often turn to software-based emulators that may or may not be above-board. How about stuffing all of the authentic hardware into one controller and one base unit? Modders at Bacteria's forums have developed Project Unity, an attempt to natively address 20 consoles across 17 actual platforms folded into a single device. The gamepad, arguably the centerpiece, includes two each of analog sticks and directional pads, along with multiple shoulder buttons and a central button grid that can either be used to steer an Intellivision or fill in for otherwise missing controls. Stuffing the unique controller hardware into one gamepad obviously presents problems with board sizes and the laws of physics, so much of the relevant circuitry sits in modified NES cartridges. Our only dismays are the lack of original Xbox support and the slightly imposing challenge of aggregating and modifying that much classic gaming componentry in one place -- if you're more concerned about convenience in your retro gaming than preserving the original feel of that Sega Master System or SNK NeoGeo, though, you've just found Utopia.
Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View
Well, it appears that April Fools is in full effect -- at least if you ask Google. Today the company introduced its "latest" build of Google Maps, dubbed Google Maps 8-bit version, tailored specifically for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Google, this Dragon Quest spoof version of Maps will come in the form of a special NES cartridge that can connect to the internet via dial-up. This apparently allows most of the heavy lifting to get done on Google's servers, where the maps are rendered to 8-bit form "in real-time." Better yet, it even supports voice search. Naturally, there's no word on a release date, but you can currently check out the "beta" by visiting Google Maps in your browser and selecting "Start Your Quest." That said, that company warns that "your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations" -- something tells us it'll still be less resource-intensive than Crysis, though. We've checked it out and found some goodies, including an alien at Area 51, so let us know what you come across during your journey in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
NES controller lets you stomp Koopas, save Princess Peach in capacitive fashion (video)
Is your NES controller in another castle? Maybe you're just pining for your smartphone's capacitive game controls for some reason. Regardless, here's a little piece of tech that just might put the fire in your flower: the capacitive touch NES controller. This sucker is milled from a copper board using a device called the MezzoMill, which -- besides making turtle-stomping peripherals -- also can be used to produce guitar effect pads, virtual keyboards, bicycle rim lights and all sorts of circuits that might tickle your fancy. Unfortunately, the creator isn't as well-funded as this inkjet-based control circuit project so he's trying to raise money through Kickstarter to make the mill in a large enough run to lower costs. Given how Kickstarter generated nearly $100 million in funding last year, maybe he's got a fighting chance. See the buttonless controller work its capacitive magic after the break.
HandyNES mod shrinks console, makes light gun look like light cannon
Vita schmita. This red mushroom-themed portable NES is the latest gaming tribute from modder LovableChevy, combining the original Entertainment System's innards with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, built-in controls and a rechargeable battery. The tinkerer has taken the time to include an AV out, headphone jack and an extra USB port for either a light gun or a second controller. However, the old tech involved takes its toll: the whole thing weighs in at around one pound (sans game) and offers up only three hours of play from a single charge. Think you can handle this portable heavyweight? Then check out the video after the break.
Arduino hacker conjures NES and Etch-a-sketch wonderment (video)
You never know when that creative spark will ignite in your brain and compel you to sketch out some ideas. But when that genius moment finally arrives, you might consider grabbing your original Nintendo controller, quickly wiring it up to an Arduino board, connecting that to some motors and then using those to drive the dials on an Etch-a-Sketch. Modder Alpinedelta32 tries it in the video after the break and it turns out to be a breeze -- and so much more tactile than other idea-capturing devices.
Hyperkin SupaBoy portable SNES console hands-on (video)
Sure, all the morning's news may have been surrounding a vowel-augmented console from Nintendo, the Wii U, but a certain other Nintendo console that has fewer vowels is also seeing some well-deserved love here at E3 2011. It's the classic SNES, and its been reborn as the SupaBoy, courtesy of Hyperkin. It's a handheld version of the console that's basically intended to fulfill a gamers' desire for portable classic gaming but without having to ask for advice in the Ben Heck Forums. Click on through for some impressions of this handheld wunderconsole. %Gallery-125688%
