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Engadget: The SNES Classic is probably the last retro [home] console Nintendo will ma

Piichan

Banned
If they can market it as a good multiplayer machine, I still think it could be big. Smash, Mario Sports games, Mario Party games, Diddy Kong racing,... There is potential there. It's no Star Fox 2, but add in the extra content from Super Mario 64 DS to Super Mario 64, and you have your special exclusive to the N64 mini.
 

c0de

Member
They can't squeeze out the performance of the cheapest arm they can buy to run an N64 emulator on such a machine... Of course it's not gonna happen.
 

Effigenius

Member
I see Nintendo making a new classic 2.0 next, personally. Maybe with more games and longer cords at a higher price to sell to the audience who couldn't get a nes mini the first time.
 
I am very confident they are wrong.

N64 would be the best selling one. It was the best at gamestop, it is the one my Nintendo FB page gets the most hits on and well yeah they are wrong.
 
Now, Sony making a mini Playstation that had like 50 classic PS1 games on it with two original controllers packed in? Maybe even working memory card slots so if you still had old cards/saves you could shove em into a slot and pick up where you left off 20+ years ago or whatever? THAT I would see flying off shelves.

One of the problems in the PlayStation Mini Case would be storage space. 50 games would require considerably more memory than anything found on the NES / SNES Mini.

That's pretty sad considering N64 emulation could use it the most.

Agreed

The real issue with an N64 mini is that to really make it worthwhile, you'd have to sell it with 4 controllers.

Yeah, considering how many games were great in split screen on the N64. It would be very hard to package.

one aspect where Sony might not have the same impact is with the controllers

maxresdefault.jpg


While PS controllers have evolved, they mostly have the same layout. This is obviously not true with the NES/SNES and all other Nintendo consoles

The design was basically the same from Dual Shock 1 - 3 including SixAxis. In terms of design you really has Dual Shock Gen 1 and Gen 2 (PS4)
 
I think they should wait a couple of years. By then the people who grew up with an N64 will be a bit older, nostalgia will be higher and they will have more disposable income to impulse buy something.
 

Alphahawk

Member
If they can market it as a good multiplayer machine, I still think it could be big. Smash, Mario Sports games, Mario Party games, Diddy Kong racing,... There is potential there. It's no Star Fox 2, but add in the extra content from Super Mario 64 DS to Super Mario 64, and you have your special exclusive to the N64 mini.

I would rather them not do this, or at least have it as a seperate option. Super Mario 64DS has a totally different opening hour than Mario 64 does. You play as Yoshi and you have to rescue the other characters which involves going through a completely new level.
 

Snakeyes

Member
Now, Sony making a mini Playstation that had like 50 classic PS1 games on it with two original controllers packed in?

I wonder how profitable and practical that would be. For starters, PS1 games are much bigger than NES and SNES games, which means a much larger storage size. Second, unlike Nintendo's consoles, the most iconic games on PS1 were third party games aside from Crash, Gran Turismo and Spyro, which Sony doesn't even own anymore. Is it really worth putting out a PS1 Classic Mini when half the profit may be going to third-parties?
 

schopaia

Member
This seems like a "Hot Take"

An N64 mini without Rare titles would still be fine.

Off the top of my head, thinking about what you could do

Super Mario 64
Dr Mario 64
Fighters Destiny (Arguably the best fighting game for the N64)
Star Fox 64
Yoshi's Story
Paper Mario
Mario Party
Smash Brothers
Mario Kart 64
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Third party)
F-Zero X
Pokemon Snap
Pokemon Puzzle League
Zelda:OOT
Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mischief Makers
Sin and Punishment

Ehhh dunno about that list. Compare it to the SNES Classic list. All recognizable characters and games, still relevant to this day. But Mischief Makers? Fighters Destiny? Goemon?
 
I wonder how profitable that would be. For starters, PS1 games are much bigger than NES and SNES games, which means a much larger storage size. Second, unlike Nintendo's consoles, the most iconic games on PS1 were third party games aside from Crash, Gran Turismo and Spyro, which Sony doesn't even own anymore. Is it really worth putting out a PS1 Classic Mini when half the profit may be going to third-parties?

Yeah, I think a PSClassic is impossible to make at this point. Even if it had only 10 games that would be at least 3 or 4 gigs of HDD space needed, plus they'd have to work out a bunch of licensing deals with Square, Konami, and probably some companies that don't even exist anymore.
 

cvxfreak

Member
I think an N64 Classic could be well-received. Even if it's not as popular as the SNES one, it'll probably still sell out and command a high premium.
 

SMattera

Member
I know a lot of people that still play N64 smash Bros and Mario kart 64 to this day.

Even without the Rare games, a N64 classic would do very well.
 
They can't squeeze out the performance of the cheapest arm they can buy to run an N64 emulator on such a machine... Of course it's not gonna happen.

You can run some n64 games on a $5 raspberry pi. Nintendo could get a deal and for the same or similar price to what they pay for the mini nes sand do it easily. Especially since the tech will only be cheaper by then.


(Edit) also lol what? Some of these people thinking ps1 and gcn games taking too much space would be an issue? Flash chips are super cheap! Even a cheapo 8gb chip could hold 10-20 ps1 games, more with any sort of light compression (such as psp used).
 
The other problem a Gameboy Classic has in addition to the weak(er than you remember) library, is price.

Even if they got it down to $50, in 2018 you're almost certainly going to have a $100 3DS, maybe even with a game included. The products are going to be competing with each other.
Combine it with GBA.

GB: Mario Land, Mario Land 2, Link's Awakening DX, Metroid II, Donkey Kong 94, Tetris, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, Wario Land 1-3, Kirby's Dream Land, Donkey Kong Land 1-3
GBA: Mario & Luigi, Minish Cap, Fire Emblem, Metroid Fusion, Zero Mission, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Wario Land 4, FF Tactics Advance, Aria of Sorrow, Advance Wars, Golden Sun, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, Mother 3 (lol)

Bada bing bada boom.
 

Hubble

Member
I wholeheartedly disagree. I think a N64 classic is possible and will sell like hotcakes. Nintendo wont be able to meet demand.
 
Imagine thinking Rare Replay will be a hindrance.
If Nintendo get the ok from MS to put Rare games on, the only issue is going to be the licensing cost. People won't care about Rare Replay, and a lot will never even have heard of it.

Even if not, getting the requisite number of quality games is not even an issue (the only problem would be consumer assumption that they would be there, especially for goldeneye), and arguing in terms of genre is ludicrous. Yes, there are barely any RPGs of substantial length, but the NES classic didn't have issues selling with just StarTropics and Final Fantasy. Drop in Paper Mario and Ogre Battle which are both great games, and other genres are pretty rounded, the N64 has great platformers, racing games, sports games, FPS games and a healthy supply of oddball stuff.

First party candidates:

Super Mario 64
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
1080° Snowboarding
Wave Race 64
Animal Crossing (in Japanese market)
Star Fox 64
Yoshi's Story
Pokemon Snap
Pokemon Puzzle League
Super Smash Brothers
Paper Mario
Mario Party 1/2/3
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Mario Kart 64
Excitebike 64
F-Zero X
Pilotwings 64
Sin and Punishment
Mario Golf
Mario Tennis
Donkey Kong 64

Notice they could equal the SNES Classic tally with first party IP alone.

Third party candidates:

Mischief Makers (do treasure or nintendo own the IP to this?)
Hybrid Heaven
Ogre Battle 64
Tetrisphere
Body Harvest
Turok
Turok 2
Fighters Destiny
WWF No Mercy
WCW/nWo Revenge
Quake II
Snowboard Kids
Snowboard Kids 2
Mega Man 64
ISS 2000
Goemon's Great Adventure
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Star Wars Episode I: Racer
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron

Rare games:

Banjo Kazooie/Tooie
Diddy Kong Racing
Blast Corps
GoldenEye 007 (the most complicated)
Perfect Dark
Jet Force Gemini
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Killer Instinct Gold

I agree, I don't see N64 Classic really being a thing. It was a great console, and I loved the shit out of mine, but I just don't see it.

Now, Sony making a mini Playstation that had like 50 classic PS1 games on it with two original controllers packed in? Maybe even working memory card slots so if you still had old cards/saves you could shove em into a slot and pick up where you left off 20+ years ago or whatever? THAT I would see flying off shelves.

But the N64 was just an ungainly thing that it's hard to have the sort of clean, universal nostalgia for along those lines.

Problem with that is Sony would make bugger all money off it as they barely own any super popular PSX IP. I think Gran Turismo, Ape Escape & Wipeout would be the biggest ones they actually own.
 

Branduil

Member
I think they'll make an N64 Mini and a Game Boy mini. I also expect them to cycle back around and release "NES mini 2" afterwards, so no, I don't think we're anywhere close to the end of the Minis line.
 
I wonder how profitable that would be. For starters, PS1 games are much bigger than NES and SNES games, which means a much larger storage size. Second, unlike Nintendo's consoles, the most iconic games on PS1 were third party games aside from Crash, Gran Turismo and Spyro, which Sony doesn't even own anymore. Is it really worth putting out a PS1 Classic Mini when half the profit may be going to third-parties?
There's a lot more 1st party franchises people have nostalgia for or are quality than the three you listed.

Twisted Metal
Jet Moto
MediEvil
Ape Escape
Syphon Filter
Legend of Dragoon
Warhawk
Cool Boarders

I don't think a physical PSX classic will ever exist but there is a non-3rd party library that exists if you wanted it to.
 
NO SHUTUP I WANT N64 CLASSIC AND GB/GBC/GBA CLASSIC

I WANT IT ALL

I'm okay with no GCN Classic though, to be honest. As cool as it would be.
 
If sony does it they need to simply allow for all PS1 games to run on it. If you are going to do it, do it big and bold. But they would really need to have ps1 working on ps4 around the same time. A nice little ps1 would likely sell really really well and they could do it for a couple of years or just keep it on the market as long as people want to buy it. It has one of the best and biggest game libraries there is in gaming. There is a lot of potential there.

To me, it makes a lot more sense than N64 since it lacked games in the opposite way but it doesn't mean an N64 shouldn't be made, it should but if they are always limiting games in this manner it really sours it to me.
 
Never played the Rare games on the 64 minus DK64 and never played Goldeneye so the lack of Rare games wouldn't bother me.

I have Rare Replay anyway.
 

devonodev

Member
If they can work magic and get Goldeneye on it, then a N64 classic will sell heaps.

Otherwise, don't bother. There'll be outrage, the mass market doesn't care about licencing reasons, all they'll know is they won't be able to play the game they have the most memories with.

Same goes with other Rare games, but I reckon to a slightly lesser extent.
 

Madao

Member
That's great and all but there's tons of people that didn't buy an N64 so they wouldn't really feel nostalgia for it which means it would only sell to Nintendo enthusiasts.

that's true for japan but in America and Europe the N64 sold almost as much as the SNES. i'd say nostalgia is just as strong these days.

approximate sales breakdown:
SNES: 17 million Japan, 22 million America, 8 million Europe.
N64: 5 Million Japan, 20 million America, 6 million Europe.

as you can see, the difference is only massive in japan.
if nintendo still values their home market above all others, that could be what kills the N64 classic from happening but it has sales potential in the west.
 
N64 has like pound for pound the highest quality library for as small a library it has. Although personally, I wouldn't touch that era of 3D graphics with a ten foot pole.
 

Snakeyes

Member
There's a lot more 1st party franchises people have nostalgia for or are quality than the three you listed.

Twisted Metal
Jet Moto
MediEvil
Ape Escape
Syphon Filter
Legend of Dragoon
Warhawk
Cool Boarders

I don't think a physical PSX classic will ever exist but there is a non-3rd party library that exists if you wanted it to.

None of these can compete with the likes of Tomb Raider, MGS, FF7, Tekken 3, THPS, Resident Evil, Spider-Man, GTA, etc... These are the games most people will want to see on a PS1 Mini, not Medievil and Sony's other B-list exclusives that rarely even make it past one generation.
 

D.Lo

Member
N64 sold as much as the SNES in the US basically. And the collector market is even more fierce so I think demand is there.

Japan and Europe would be much less enthusiastic.

The stick would likely be modernised somewhat.

The only issues I see are:

1) It would probably need the games to be bumped to solid 30FPS and 640p to be well received.
2) An N64 Mini, even if it only had around 10-15 games, would be extremely good value. Could be $100.

Super Mario 64
Star Fox 64
Yoshi's Story
Paper Mario
Mario Party 1-3
Smash Brothers
Mario Kart 64
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon 1/2
Castlevania
F-Zero X
Pokemon Snap
Zelda
Zelda: Majora's Mask
Mischief Makers
Sin and Punishment
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Goldenenye (I think they can get this one, Nintendo owns it, not Rare, they just need a Bond licence)

That is a killer little machine.
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
It would be too expensive to make an N64 version, they are worlds away in technical requirements from NES and SNES
 

wrowa

Member
Definitely disagree. It's easy enough to get a line up of 15 games together (SNES Mini has less games than NES Mini, so I assume the same would ring true for an N64 Mini) and while the N64 wasn't as successful as the SNES or NES it was still pretty big among kids -- and these kids are now in their mid-20's to early-30's. An N64 Mini wouldn't have any problems with a lack of nostalgia surrounding it.

If they can make a deal with Microsoft to put a couple of Rare's games on it, then it'd be pretty much perfect. The existence of Rare Replay is also utterly irrelevant to that discussion, since that collection caters to a different audience.

N64's analog stick had horrible build quality, so that might pose an issue. They could either redesign the stick - wouldn't be much of an effort, really - or just stick with it, knowing that most people aren't going to use these Mini consoles for years anyway.

I'm really not seeing much of a potential issue here. N64 Mini might not arrive next year -- it wouldn't surprise me if Nintendo plans to rerelease one of the Minis each year with a slightly modified selection of games --, but I'm sure it will come sooner or later.
 

nubbe

Member
I would hope for a GameBoy classic that includes both GB and GBA games after SNES and maybe a Gamecube one after that
 

Alphahawk

Member
Ehhh dunno about that list. Compare it to the SNES Classic list. All recognizable characters and games, still relevant to this day. But Mischief Makers? Fighters Destiny? Goemon?

When I said "Off the top of my head" I truly meant it, I did not consult any external resources to make my list, so yeah the titles could be me more memorable. Still I hold that Mischief Makers and Mystical Ninjas are very good game that deserve to be played by more people.
 

Danneee

Member
I was surprised to see a SNES Mini and I'll be even more surprised to see another Mini from Nintendo. Well maybe a Gameboy Mini but that seems more plausible as a smart phone app than a portable.
 
Honestly I think they're done with these for a while after this one. Feel like they want to make as many Switches as they can (something they're struggling to do right now)

The main issue with the Switch right now is securing the components (especially DRAM and NAND chips of particular capacities).

As such, they might have excess manufacturing capacity they could put towards something else that won't require complicated chips. If they continue to suffer from component shortages, they might come up with something else.
 

cHaOs667

Member
As for not as nostalgic? The person working the article is likely in his early 30's and grew up mostly on nes/snes... Ask a 20 something about n64 (i work with several) and you'll get a very different result
Maybe in the US but not for Europe - for example in Germany, Sony had such a huge impact that literally no other console existed than the Playstation 1.

Same goes for the PS2.
 

Acidote

Member
I think I'd fit into some of the people described by Engadget. I've never liked 3D Mario or Zelda games (And yes, I've tried almost all of them, didn't like Mario 64 back in the day and I don't like them now) and besides one or two games, everything N64 game I liked was Rare's. My brother on the other hand would buy it instantly just to have another device to play OoT.

There's also the little thing the previous user just posted. In my social circle there were no N64. Only my brother and one of my cousins had it. Meanwhile EVERYONE had a PS1.

What I'm thinking about right now is that the SNES has enough catalogue to make a second or even third version with different games.
 

D.Lo

Member
Next year is NES Mini 2.

The year after that will be Switch Mini:

Breath of the Wild
Mario Odyssey
Arms
Mario Kart 8 DX
Pokemon A/B
Monster Hunter XX (Japan exclusive)
Splatoon 2 (Wii U port)
 

Zalman

Member
Here are the biggest N64 sellers for people to make lists:

From: http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=963700
From the top 20, the following would be an issue: GoldenEye, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie, Star Wars, Perfect Dark.

And even first-party wise, Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2 would require Transfer Pak functionality.

Those games are all pretty significant. They can still pick 20 solid games fairly easily, but it'd be a huge shame to leave out those.
 
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