Are Classic Consoles a Good Product?
In the age of remakes, sequels, and all things nostalgic, gaming console giants Nintendo and Sony have begun selling official emulators of a handful of games that represent that generation of games. The trend of official consoles started with Nintendo’s NES Classic, but the process of preloading a “console” with a number of emulated classics is nothing new. From mall kiosks to Plug N Plays at your local Walmart. Their legality always seemed like a gray area because they were always made by third party companies. That all changed in 2016, when Nintendo released the NES Classic.
The NES Classic was a compilation of 30 Nintendo games from that console. The 60-dollar console did a fair job to represent its library and fans flocked to the stores. It was quick to sell out and stay that way for quite a while. This financial success had executives and gamers thinking alike. “What’s going to be next?” For the Nintendo, the choice was pretty obvious. The SNES was their next entry in the console wars, so it’s the obvious choice to get a nostalgic styled rerelease.
Sony announced their PlayStation Classic for late 2018. Similar to what Nintendo was doing, the PlayStation classic included 20 games that summed up the console’s run. People were quick to point out that the Classic included less games and even fewer classic titles. The disappointed was evident among fans as sales were so bad that the console went on sale, slashing its 100-dollar price tag, down to 60 at major retailers. The system sits with ratings right in the middle. The lackluster response was so easy to avoid. It should have been a console that sells itself, promoting classic nostalgic goodness. And yet, Sony still managed to mess it up.
So, why make a classic console? For many older systems like the NES, younger gamers never got a chance to experience them. The NES was also released in 1985, meaning most hardware is aged at best and broken at worse. With every year that passes, it becomes harder and more expensive to get that retro experience. It’s a lot simpler and convenient, easily accessible to even the most casual of gamer. The SNES is also old enough to justify having something like this. This is not the case for the PlayStation. Production of them continued into 2006, long after the game changing PlayStation 2 hit shelves. PlayStation One games are fairly easy to find in retro game stores and thrift shops. Not to mention, online. Since PlayStation still has a respectable corner of the gaming market, they’ve got many ports of their older titles on their online store. Priced at varying ranges of cheap, consumers could buy and download classics to their next-gen console and play blasts from the pasts without ever leaving the comfort of their homes.
Online rereleases on Nintendo’s and PlayStation’s networks show how easy it is to package these classics. Both companies have huge libraries online and can sell gamers the same games, just maybe at a higher price point. With the ability to buy the games easily already, what’s the point of making it? The obvious answer is money, but the systems are great gifts for casual gamers. If someone didn’t have a next-gen console, but they wanted to play some classics, this would be a great choice. Another downside is the controllers the system comes with. Not only is the player forced to use a classic controller, but for at least the NES Classic, the wire was too short. It was possible to buy better controllers, but that would be money needlessly spent fixing something that shouldn’t have been an issue. Wireless controllers have been the norm for over a decade and there’s no reason to offer the alternative to consumers from the start. Another drawback is the limited features. Since the games are preloaded and the hardware’s locked off, they can’t be updated. There can never be a more games added to these machines. They can’t be legitimately hacked into an upgrade. This is bad for business if consumers hate the library. If Sony could have promised new games to be released, then maybe more people would have bought it and been more content.
Obviously, there’s no objective to answer to the question proposed here. To some, classic consoles provide a nostalgic trip to the past. For some, it’s like time traveling. They pay tribute to a simpler time, a time that made them so memorable, that people keep thinking and playing them. To disappointed fans, there’s always the rereleases. Sony and Nintendo both do a great job of providing online stores that keep the past well preserved. The truth is, as long as a game brings you joy, then it’s a good game. If these classic consoles can create treasured memories with you and the people you share them with, then they’re worth the money. It’s no different than spending that money on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to play with your friends. You, the consumer, always has a choice and how you vote with your wallet speaks louder than words in the corporate world.
