In August, The Verge reported that the NES Classic topped the US sales charts in June. It beat the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and the Xbox One. The SNES Classic followed suit, topping the US sales charts in September. The article also reported that despite its bargain price of US$59 and the fact that the NES Classic first debuted over 35 years ago, it is clearly still in demand today.

So why would a device that originally debuted over 35 years ago be in such high demand when its modern successors offer so much more?

One obvious reason would be nostalgia. While some may enjoy the modern devices and what they offer, nothing can beat childhood joys and memories that came with older devices.

While nostalgia would most likely be the main reason for the high sales, an interesting difference to note between the NES Classic released a few months ago and the originals released in the ‘80s is the effort made to re-create the device to both invoke nostalgia and embrace the technological expectations of today.

According to the article, today’s NES Classic comes loaded with 30 games, including but not limited to Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man. While original NES cartridges can’t be inserted into today’s NES Classic, the modern version is capable of game saves and connects to TVs via a HDMI cable.

The article also stated that Nintendo was yet to announce the release of their other classic devices such as N64 and Game Boy in a modern form. However there are now rumours floating around that Nintendo may be announcing the release of a new mini N64 console this week. It will be interesting to see whether there are truth to the rumours and if this trend of modernising classic consoles will continue.

Did you own an original NES Classic? What do you think of modernising classic gaming consoles? Feel free to comment below.