Now You’re Playing With Power: Happy 35th Birthday Nintendo
It’s the year 1985. A Power year. The year of Back to the Future. The year NC native J. Cole was born…But, what would change the face of the gaming industry invaded homes.
The Nintendo Entertainment System. Yes, on Friday, October 18th, 1985, it made its debut in New York City. It was packaged with the “Deluxe Set,” with two controllers, Duck Hunt, Gyromite, the Zapper light gun and the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) – The toy robot, which would be used for Stack-Up and Gyromite – two “Robot Series” games that had a short lifespan. The other 12 games showcased were Tennis, Urban Champion, Kung Fu, 10-Yard Fight, Baseball, Clu Clu Land, Ice Climber, Excitebike, Golf, Pinball, Soccer, Wild Gunman, and Wrecking Crew.
It sold over 90,000 copies in nine weeks during the 1985 Test launch in New York City. It was met with some skepticism as the video game industry was in shambles as some people hoping Nintendo would “fall flat” and “that they would fail.” There was one retail manager who snickered, “Do I have to sell this crap?” Well, soon enough, he found out it would make him a lot of money!
Well, thanks to a plumber named Mario — Super Mario Bros. — would change that perception. Released in late 1985, it helped the NES become a force in the gaming industry, thanks to its simplistic, yet stunning gameplay, which kept players wanting for more. Super Mario Bros. featured 32 levels of jumping from platform-to-platform, colorful backgrounds, and memorable music. SMB would later be bundled with the popular “Action Set” with Duck Hunt in late 1988, as well as the “Power Set” with Duck Hunt and World Class Track Meet.
In addition to these, Super Mario Bros. showcased tremendous (at the time) graphics and matched what players wanted in the arcade (as the NES set out to do). It became a rousing success, that Nintendo gradually released the NES in Los Angeles in February 1986, followed by other markets as Chicago and San Francisco, then finally releasing it nationwide in September 1986. The bundles came in two sets — one as the fully-fledged “Deluxe Set” and the “Control Deck” — featuring the console, two controllers, and Super Mario Bros.
1987 would become a great year for the console, thanks to games such as Castlevania, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Ikari Warriors, Double Dribble, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and Mega Man were released. The best game that year would be the role-playing game — The Legend of Zelda — Its flip-screen overhead perspective controlling the protagonist, Link, who goes on a journey to defeat the evil Ganon. The Legend of Zelda would go on to sell 6.5 million copies and spawn a series, which continues to this day. 1987 was also the year — the Nintendo Fun Club was formed. It was a predecessor to Nintendo Power, which was released during the following year.
Let’s get to the year before I was born — 1988 — I consider this the best year of the Nintendo Entertainment System, thanks to outstanding games such as Contra, RC Pro-AM, Ice Hockey, Blades of Steel, Blaster Master, Castlevania II – Simon’s Quest, Bases Loaded and Zelda II – The Adventure of Link. The best game of 1988 would be Super Mario Bros. 2 — which was a conversion of the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic (released on the Famicom – the Japanese NES) — featuring characters from Japanese TV’s Fuji’s expo, as the Japanese version of the game was considered too arduous for American gamers.
In Super Mario Bros. 2, you can choose one of four characters — Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess. It wasn’t a true “Mario game,” yet it allowed the ability to play as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess as the SMB2 counterpart models to Doki Doki Panic’s “Imajin,” “Mama,” “Lima” and “Papa.” Nintendo of America president, Minoru Arakawa initially thought it was an odd idea, yet it wasn’t unusual for Nintendo.
Super Mario Bros. 2 would go on to sell over seven million copies, being the fourth-highest selling game on the system. It is still regarded as one of the premier games on the console, being a regular fixture on Nintendo Power’s “Power Charts” from July 1988 to December 1994, the latter of which Nintendo published their last chart for the NES, as it would be discontinued in 1995.
Due to the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, in July 1988, Nintendo would go on and release their bi-monthly (later monthly) publication called Nintendo Power. It featured the hottest games on the market, as well as codes, tips, strategies, top 20 countdowns, letters, etc. It would go on for 24 years before finally having their last subscription in December 2012.
While 1989 had some nice games — Tetris, Tecmo Bowl, Mega Man 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ninja Gaiden, 1990 would become their biggest year yet — thanks to Super Mario Bros. 3, which greatly enhanced the previous two titles, thanks to Mario exploring eight different words ranging from the land, desert, sea, sky, ice, and lava, as well as giving him the ability to fly, be a raccoon or a frog. The game was featured in the 1989 film called “The Wizard,” which starred Fred Savage of the 1988-93 ABC hit sitcom, “The Wonder Years.”
Super Mario Bros. 3 would keep the NES competitive for the next half-decade, even when newcomers such as the Sega Genesis and Nintendo’s own Super Nintendo Entertainment System would hit shelves. Its impact has been on many “best video games of all-time lists” and spent five years on the Nintendo Power Charts from September 1989 to December 1994. In 1992, it would be packaged as “The Challenge Set,” with two controllers and the console.
Other than Super Mario Bros. 3, 1990 showcased several more fine games for the aging NES, such as Double Dragon II – The Revenge, Super C, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II – The Arcade Game, Chip N’ Dale – The Rescue Rangers, Batman, Castlevania III – Dracula’s Curse, Final Fantasy, Mega Man 3 and Dr. Mario. By that time, Nintendo surpassed Toyota’s as Japan’s most successful company and broke the Atari 2600’s record set in 1982 as the most successful console in America.
Between the years of 1991-94, the NES’ user base declined significantly, due to the rise of Sega Genesis and Nintendo’s own Super Nintendo Entertainment System. However, it didn’t prevent the fact that there were still great games for the system, such as Battletoads, Tecmo Super Bowl, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III – The Manhattan Project, Tecmo NBA Basketball, Kirby’s Adventure, Megan Mans 4-6, Tiny Toon Adventures, Monster in My Pocket and Zoda’s Revenge – Star Tropics II.
Kirby’s Adventure is one of the “late” NES releases’ that stands out the most. Released on Saturday, May 1, 1993, it pushed the aging system to the maximum graphics and contained great gameplay. These features helped the NES to gain whatever momentum it could, despite being pushed aside by two 16-bit systems.
The final game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System was Wario’s Woods, which was released on Saturday, December 10, 1994. It holds the distinction as being the only game with an ESRB rating – “K-A – Kids to Adults,” which was replaced by “E – Everyone” during early 1998. Wario’s Woods is a puzzle game, reminiscent of Tetris and Dr. Mario, where Toad goes on a mission to defeat Wario – to regain control of the peaceful woods.
In 1995, Nintendo finally discontinued the NES, with more than 60 million units sold around the world. Despite the discontinuation of the console, there were many cartridges still being available. As the years progressed, many titles grew popular with collectors and could be found at thrift stores, flea markets, rental stores, and packaged games sold at K-Mart. Many people re-discovered the system during this time. You could still find some “new” games for the system as late as 1998!
In 2004, Nintendo released a series of NES games – “Super Mario Bros.,” “Donkey Kong,” “Donkey Kong, Jr.,” “Castlevania,” “Excitebike,” “Ice Climber,” “Metroid” and “Zelda II – The Adventure of Link” for the Game Boy Advance. A year later, Nintendo announced several titles would be available to download on the Wii.
In November of 2016, Nintendo released the NES Classic Edition, where it was a miniature replica of the NES, containing 30 built-in power games. It was well-received, where it sold very well, before discontinuing it in December 2018.
The Nintendo Entertainment System may not have the “bells and whistles” and the “eye candy” of X-Box One and PS4, but it is still an outstanding console, where there are plenty of legendary titles are still fun to play.
I may have been born in the late 1980s (1989, to be exact), but I still love the Nintendo Entertainment System. It brings back memories of playing it with my brother — who was born in 1982 and grew up with the system, as he owned it from 1988-94. In fact, I remember asking for one in my Christmas lists as late as 1996 – even when PlayStation 1 and Nintendo 64 were dominating the gaming industry. I did eventually get one for my 9th birthday in 1998 from a store called “Buy-Rite Video Games,” located in Raleigh. I own the original one and the NES Classic Mini, which is modded with plenty of great power games, including the ones I mentioned. Its legacy and the outstanding games, as well as the impact on the gaming industry, makes it one of my favorite systems of all-time, along with the PlayStation 2, Super Nintendo, PlayStation 1, Sega Genesis, and Dreamcast.
Here are some of my favorite titles:
Super Mario Bros. 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i9omPUt9iQ
Tecmo Super Bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0occ0FRZZE&t=26s
Tecmo NBA Basketball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSdJ_bz11WI&t=10s
Tecmo Bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9vp9TkSSWw
Double Dragon II – The Revenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzWPADIe1SY
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoZqd2v0rXw
Captain America and the Avengers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnKM5Wso2Nk
Pro Wrestling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqZ9d0cPACc
Dragon Spirit – The New Legend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOGwiRKI-ZU
Super Mario Bros.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx5–eK2k6Y