Neat. Which Mario 2?

I assume it's Super Mario USA and not the Lost Levels?

I think I would buy it too, and like Jeff some of these games aren't the best of the catalogue choices, but a quick Nintendo game once in a while with little effort plugged into a monitor would be nice.

I'd love to see a review for the controllers. That's what would probably push me over the edge for this thing. If we get some "Nintendo-ass" quality controllers then I think I'd be on-board.

No Bionic Commando? Bummer.

The rest is a good collection, though.

To the games already mentioned I'd most want to add the Lolo games, Solomon's Key, Faxanadu, Rad Racer, Milon's Secret Castle, Wizards and Warriors, Life Force, Defender II, and Millipede.

The problem is that only two of the games in your list are even owned by Nintendo, the rest would have to be licensed.

I find the absence of Wrecking Crew disheartening. Still love that game.

It's adorable. I love this so much, that I wish they went farther with it. Such as regularly releasing tiny little cartridges with new game collections on them. But even if it's nothing more than it seems, it's pretty rad that the controllers are Wii compatible. Can't wait to see what the UI looks like.

This sums up my feeling pretty well towards this thing.

Hell yes put Rescue: The Embassy Mission and Ice Hockey on there. Throw in Phantom Fighter and you got a stew goin'.

Nintendo hit it out of the park, but Jeff, you also hit on a lot of the ones I'd like to see too. Here are a few others:

• Baseball Stars
• Batman
• Blades of Steel
• Double Dribble
• Duck Tales
• Life Force
• Nobunaga's Ambition
• Pro Fucking Wrestling
• Strider
• Tetris (probably the Nintendo one, but it'd be kind of awesome to see the Tengen one)

Castlevania II is a real inspired choice.

hey Nintendo, shut up and take my money.

Basically just missing Hydlide.

To me this looks like an attempt at Nintendo trying to put in a trojan horse and drive people to buy a Wii U which is a device that lets you buy other NES games. Given that the controllers are compatible with the Wii, and the NES Mini is compatible with classic controllers, that's an incentive to get people on board with their service, or at least drive themselves to buy this small device that is cheaper than buying these games on VC individually.

Also those controllers are $10. So even if you don't care for the console itself, the accessory is already valuable on its own. Its the NES controller we wanted on the Wii for over a decade.

I'm getting one since that'll make it easier for people like me to get these games without dealing with DRM and is likely to put other similar devices to shame. Too bad the games are likely going to look slightly blurry and darker, like NES games currently do on Virtual Console...

Somebody will figure how to make that play roms.

Oh man, I would buy this thing if the list of games was Jeff's.

I'm sure Vinny is chomping at the bit to play Simon's Quest again.

That would be cool but I bet Sega would have to jump through a lot more legal ownership hoops to put that out than Nintendo would.

I had no idea anyone else would put Rescue: The Embassy Mission on their list. I was given 2 or 3 games a year, so I had lots of time to master this weird little game. Was it the original FPS?

I've never owned a NES (I wasn't born when it was first released) and I do not own a Wii, Wii U or any other Nintendo platform/handheld. I do love games and their history and would seriously consider this product if I had money left around.

Got to love that River City Motherfuckin' RANSOM! Definitely one of my top 3 NES games. That game's just too thug to be on this minines though..

@reverendhunt:

Glad I'm not the only one! NES Galaga was my jam growing up. XD

I'm in the same boat as Jeff on this, no practical use case for me, but will likely get one anyways.

Hoping it does well and we get a SNES as well. I'm also super interested to find out what the guts are.

I want it I want it I want it

If you have never played any of these games, I think this package is easy to recommend for that price as long as the emulation and controls are solid.

Jeff's list is spot on especially the inclusion of the greatest NES game of all time....MIGHTY BOMB JACK!!!

This would be cool to have just hanging out in my living room, but maybe not $60 cool. Also no River City Ransom... maybe if I find one down the road for dirt cheap.

I also really enjoy Jeff's writing style. It's almost like he's been doing this for a while or something.

@mcp: yea, nindendo isnt even trying anymore. I'm looking forward to the unboxing.

Tiny Classified Nintendos.

Solomon's key is boss

Nicely written article Jeff!

This is a great gift to anyone who skipped out on the NES or wasn't alive to experience these games back in the 80s and 90s. It also makes a neat collectible or something to display on a shelf (like an Amiibo).

With this and the popularity of Pokemon Go, Nintendo really needs to leverage the media attention they are getting and tell everyone what this NX thing really is. Nintendo had a rough past few years in the dedicated game console business it would be nice to see them have some success next year when the NX comes out.

I already own most of these games on my 3DS, at least the ones I want to play. What I don't have is an easy way to play SNES-games, as they are New3DS exclusive on VC. I would pay a lot of money for a tiny SNES.

Smart move on Nintendo's part. This is priced to sell. I hope we see the Mini SNES next year.

I honestly would've prefered a mini SNES but this seems great too. $60 is also an inoffensive pricetag that might get me buying one just for the novelty.

If they sold that with just Blades of Steel and Super Dodgeball I would pay like $200 for it.

If they release a SNES system then I'd definitely get that. I was planning on getting a SNES but Id have to build a library from scratch. I already have a nes hooked up to an old crt and a fair amount of carts. Playing it on a hd tv via hdmi seems kinda sacrilegious.

Never had an NES before, now's my chance!!

They should have said "no thanks!" to Simon's Quest and just asked for Castlevania 3 instead.

This thing is neat, though I think I own most if not all of those games on my WiiU and would rather just play them on the gamepad.

The one thing I feel like the Virtual Console is really lacking is access to some of those games from my childhood that were based on licensed properties. Games such as The Flintstones: The rescue of Dino & Hoppy , Tiny Toon Adventures and Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers. This doesn't have those either so it's a wash for me.

I own a couple of those games, but if the device isn't junk, I'll probably get one. Those Atari Flashbacks sell decently well around the holidays and this would probably sell even better for the price.

If they would have just made it connect to the VC store and let you download to a MicroSD card or something, I'd be into it. I can't imagine why they wouldn't have done that to begin with.

I'm actually interested. The problem is, like every other package goods Nintendo comes out with I'm certain they will make a fraction of what the market demands and we will see them on eBay for exorbitant prices. Looking at you Pokemon go plus, amiibo.

I'm with Jeff on the "how's it play?" question. I'm really curious what possible latency it might have via HDMI to a modern TV, since that's sometimes an issue. Hell, Dan was set up w/ a CRT just to take a shot at Punch-Out!! once on the site. That said... I might give it a look.

Cool

Nintendo playing smart!

it's so cute i might have to buy one just to put on my shelf

Desperately want Dragon Warrior 1-4 on that thing. I'm still going to buy it though, because I hope it leads to other mini nintendo consoles.

Would kill for a mini N64.

This is neat! It's sorely missing Ice Hockey (or Blades of Steel), RBI Baseball, RC Pro-Am, Super Sprint, and River City Ransom though! I will probably pick one up for the holidays. At least I can use the controller on my Wii and play my VC games with it.

Speaking of the controller, anyone know how long the cord is? If you can connect it to a Wiimote I can't imagine it being very long.

When I read about it over my lunch hour, I was on board. Until I read that it doesn't take cartridges.