Six Colors
Six Colors

by Jason Snell & Dan Moren

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By Dan Moren

The original Nintendo Entertainment System rides again

Note: This story has not been updated for several years.

NES Classic

If you’re of an age with me, you probably whiled away a good deal of your childhood in front of a TV connected to that classic gray NES.1 Good news: Now you’ll be able to repeat the experience as an adult. Or with your kids, I guess.

This fall, Nintendo’s launching the NES Classic: a miniature version of its classic console, complete with the same styling. It’ll connect to your TV with an HDMI cord and includes wired controllers modeled after the original thumb-cramp-inducing controllers. (They’ll also apparently connect to Wii Remotes, if you want to use it to play your game on a more modern console.)

Alas, kids won’t need to learn the joy of blowing into cartridges to clean them out: the NES Classic has 30 games burned in, including classics like the entire Super Mario Bros. Series, The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda II. (The Verge has the full list of titles.)

The Classic also includes the capability for multiple save points, so kids won’t have to struggle with the brutality of those games either. (I don’t know: I think it built character!) The NES Classic will run $60 and ships on November 11—just in time for the holiday season.


  1. And, if you’re me, you still have the NES, your games, and your accessories packed away in a drawer. 

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the supernatural detective story All Souls Lost, is out now.]

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