Since July 15, 1983, the NES has been a legend in its own right. Originally called the Famicom, in Japan, the console went down in history as one of the most influential gaming consoles in history. For those looking to get their hands on one, it’s now becoming possible. Nintendo’s NES Classic will return to stores on June 29 in the US and is set to be available until the end of this year, according to Nintendo.
Nintendo found huge success when they released the SNES Classic Edition last year and sold over four million units since late 2017. According to Nintendo, the console should only cost around $60 which is relatively cheap when you consider the gaming market today.
Microsoft and Sony consoles can cost up to $600 if not more, for the Xbox One X and Sony's PlayStation 4 PRO that were both released last year.
Comparison: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft
The specs of the original console are vastly different from what we see from other consoles today like Microsoft’s Xbox One X and Sony’s PlayStation 4 PRO which were released last year. The NES Classic is a more compact version of the original NES console and comes with 30 games pre-installed including:
- Legend of Zelda
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- Megaman 2
- Super Mario Brothers 3
The original NES had these specs:
- CPU: 8-bit 6502 NMOS (1.79MHz)
- RAM: 2KB (16Kb), 2KB Video RAM
- Colors: 52 (24 on screen)
- Sprites: 64
- Sprite Size: 256 x 240 pixels
- Sound: PSG audio
This was vs.
Xbox One X specs:
- CPU: 2.3GHz 8-core AMD Jaguar
- RAM: 12GB GDDR5
- GPU: 6.0 TFLOP AMD Radeon (40CU, 1.172GHz).
And vs PS4 PRO specs:
- CPU: 2.1GHz 8-core AMD JaguarRAM: 8GB GDDR5 + 1GBGPU: 4.2 TFLOP AMD Radeon (36CU, 911MHz)
Pay close attention to the MHz and GHz when it comes to comparing the CPUs. Another notable difference is that the original Famicom used a 60-pin connector, a vast difference from today's HDMI cables.
The controllers came with an integrated microphone where the start and select buttons go normally on a gaming controller and they were wired directly to the console. Luckily, Nintendo has made significant improvements to their soon-to-be-released NES Classic system by beefing up the specs a bit.
Here is the run-down on the specs revealed by The Verge:
- SoC: Allwinner R16(4x Cortex A7, Mali400MP2 GPU)
- RAM: SKHynix (256MB DDR3)
- Flash: Spansion 512MB NAND flash, TSOP48
- PMU: AXP223
So what can you expect in the box?
- NES Classic Edition System
- One NES Classic Controller
- HDMI cable
- AC adapter
- 30 pre-installed games
It comes with some pretty unique features that differ from the original console including how the games display. You can choose to use the CRT filter, which looks like an old TV, 4:3, which gives you the original NES look, and then there is Pixel Perfect which is a feature that makes each pixel square so you can see how the games were intended to look. These features really set the console up for success, but you have to remember that Nintendo already has a big-time seller, the Nintendo Switch. It is unclear whether the NES re-release is to drive more sales to Nintendo Switch, or if there are other motives involved.
