ON SEPT. 29, A NEW TICKLE ME ELMO ARRIVED IN ONLINE
stores—and then quickly vanished. That same day, Nintendo’s
new Super NES Classic, a Lilliputian version of the ’90s-era
game console compatible with today’s television sets, sold out
in minutes. The wee machine proved popular partly because
it comes with some 20 classic games built in, including a
never-released version of cult favoriteStar Fox. But mostly it
went so fast because retro game boxes are like fidget spinners
for nostalgic grownups.
The $79 Super NES Classic isn’t the first throwback game
device by far. A line of plug-and-play set-tops crammed
with Atari’s iconic games has been around since the early
2000s. And so-called virtual consoles have allowed players
to download halcyon hits to modern Nintendo, Sony and
Microsoft platforms through software emulation for years.
But it took last year’s impossible-to-find, heavily scalped
$59 NES Classic—a mini Nintendo Entertainment System
with 30 built-in games, including the firstSuper Mario and
Legend of Zelda—to jolt the category. There’s more to come:
Atari announced what it calls an Ataribox, a new console
styled after its 1977 Atari 2600 that is designed to run both
old and new games. A pint-sized C64 Mini laden with classic
Commodore 64 games will go on sale for $69 early next year.
At this rate, a miniature Apple II and TRS-80 seem inevitable.
Part of retro gaming’s allure stems from a preservationist
impulse, like remastering classic music albums or releasing
“definitive” editions of beloved films. Vintage video
games have it rough by comparison, though. Lo-fi graphics
optimized for old-school TVs look garish on today’s ultra-high-definition screens.
Retro consoles ease that
translation with modern
perks like HDMI support.
More interesting is
why you might want to
play a classic game at all,
especially if you don’t harbor
fond memories from their
particular era. Sure, Nintendo
mainstays likeSuper Mario
WorldandThe Legend of
Zelda: A Link to the Past may
look crudely basic at first
glance. But playing one in
2017 is a reminder of not
only how much they got right
about game design but also
how much they influenced
contemporary titles. The
experience is not unlike re-
engaging a superlative jazz
solo or a half-century-old
abstract painting.
Whether you view a
system like the Super NES
Classic as a portable library
of bygone times or just a
reminder of how tortuously
difficult some of those games
were, its popularity makes
one thing certain: the game
with the longest odds, at this
point, is finding one. □TRENDThe new Zen of playing old video games
By Matt Peckham△
TAKE ME BACK
Nintendo’s retro console,
the $79 Super NES
Classic, isn’t the first of
its kind. But it may be the
most popular yet, selling
out in minutes on Sept. 29.109Time OffVideo Games
SNES CLASSIC: NINTENDO; ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL KORFHAGE FOR TIME