Finally got my hands on this thanks to a couple of friends who work at Walmart. Just to summarize it up, the NES Classic is a tiny little replica of the original NES console that comes preloaded with 30 games. I haven't played through all of them yet, but have played most. There's a nice mix of arcade, adventure & action games. I'll have the full list at the bottom.
So let's get right to it:
Pros-30 classic games,$60 retail(not the scalper $160+ retail). Now to be honest, I haven't played a lot of these games....ever. So having these available in one little console is pretty sweet.
Setup is very simple. You connect the HDMI cable to the console/TV, You plug in the power cord & controller & you turn it on. Boom! Done!
I dived right in with the first Castlevania and it's every bit as fun and maddening as it was when I first played it. I played a couple levels & then moved on to Super Mario Bros., then Punch-Out, then Dr. Mario. I found myself hoping to die in the games just so I can move on to another game. Nostalgia factor through the roof! Finding I remember how to get to some of the hidden levels in Super Mario Bros. for example, is a plus for the old brain. Graphics translate well on the big screen and some of these games have never looked better. Pick up right where you left off with four Suspend Point slots for each game. Just press the Reset button while playing to return to the HOME menu and save your progress to a slot. Have a perfect run going? You can lock your save file and resume at a later time so there's no danger of losing your progress.
Cons-The controller cable length is ridiculously short. Forcing you to buy an extender cable( $8.99+ on Amazon) does suck. Also...like every gaming system, just one controller. I know that's standard but would've been nice to have 2.
No Duck Hunt. I would totally sacrifice a second controller feature to have the light gun and this game.
The limited availability of the system. Nintendo pretty much dropped the ball on this. 3 months after release and most places still only get in 6 or less systems(My Walmart only got 3). Should've been a no-brainer to dump a gajillion of these things on the market with a release date of a month before Christmas at the $60 retail price. Instead you get 6 to a store and are at the mercy of scalpers for the most part. I do think this will change once the Switch hits the market and more will clamor after the new system and not care as much about this one. I expect by summertime, there will be more of the NES Classics to be found.
That's pretty much all I got. If you want to relive some fun moments of your youth and you can snag one, I very much recommend the NES Classic.
Al's rating:
/10
Here's the game list as promised:
Balloon Fight
Castlevania
Donkey Kong
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Dr. Mario
Excitebike
Galaga
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Gradius
Ice Climber
Kirby's Adventure
Mario Bros.
Mega Man 2
Metroid
Ninja Gaiden
Pac-Man
Super C
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Bubble Bobble
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Donkey Kong Jr.
Final Fantasy
Kid Icarus
Punch-Out!!
StarTropics
Tecmo Bowl
