Light fog ahead - and a handful of new Nintendos

Hello our friendly companions, stay a while and listen!

You've hopefully noticed that you're no longer reading an email. Instead, you've just arrived at our wonderfully quaint new blog. For those of you who don't know where this all got started, let me quickly brief you in.

Once upon a time there were four boys, working at the same parish (in Ruoholahti, Helsinki), who quickly discovered they all shared a love for video games. Often not knowing a thing about the games the other guys were going on about, they thought it would be nice to read a bit more about them, perhaps see the occasional article or two from the interwebs, maybe even a video. So, they decided it would be nice to write articles to each other via email (it was that or smoke signals, but we thought digital was the future). At least, none of them objected to the idea. The mailing list grew over time, slowly but surely. Then, on one sunny day, at one meaningful and decisive moment, one of the friends suggested we made a blog. After MUCH deliberation, here we are.

And we owe big thanks to you, the readers and writers, because even though the write-ups don't always lead to conversations face to face, I keep getting signals that people are indeed reading them. It means we're actively gathering around a common topic, and I think that constitutes a friendship. Some of us have moved on from the Workplace, sure, but that's all the more reason to keep making the noise. So write down your comments or upload your own articles - there's plenty of room here! Even if you just want to keep mum, we hope you'll stay. Stay a while, stay forever!


But I do have some actual news to share with you, of course. Exciting ones. If you're even half a Nintendo-nerd, you'll love this. I'll start with the good news, then bad news, then switch back to reservedly-really-good ones. The great news I'll save for another day - weekend, I should say.

The story starts with Nintendo announcing rather a simple device, a low-cost all-in-one console based on the original 8-bit NES. It comes with 30 pre-installed classic NES titles and an original controller for a fair price of 80 €. It really is a simple, clever thing to do for Nintendo. But for you, dear 30-something games enthusiast, it's a love letter or symbol for the times in your life when things were manageable and orderly, when christmas started on the first advent and was filled with nothing but pure magic (and Panda's chocolate confections, but they're magical as well, so...).

I hoped people would show their love for Nintendo, and oh they absolutely did. They fell in love with it, they pre-ordered it like it was about to run out.

That was the good news. The bad news was that the things ran out. There simply were not enough Classic NES consoles to go around for the christmas season. People were left waiting. Then, out of the blue, Nintendo announced that they're stopping the production. A friend of mine got a notice from the local store, just two days after, that his NES will never arrive. That console was his fond childhood memory, he had no ties to other gaming systems. Bummer.

But then Fils-Aimé says "... we don't have unlimited resources", and you can't really argue with that. Shame, though.

Personally, my brother and I were never going to buy one. The original NES did have Duck Tales, yes, but the Classic Mini version didn't. The early Marios didn't have the warmth, the grip to make us crave for them 25 years later. Ultimately, we were always more deeply attached to the successor, the 16-bit Super Nintendo. The new games simply were that much more capable and well-rounded, not too simple, not too complex. Should I say better? Yes, I should. :o)

Now, just two weeks ago reports started coming in suggesting that we will see a Classic SNES this year! Now, this one would be the perfect totem for our childhood gaming memories. This one would (probably, hopefully, barring any licencing troubles) have all the classics we loved so dearly. Super Mario World, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country with all the sequels, Super Metroid, and so on... Chrono Trigger that we never knew existed back then might also feature (having played it on Nintendo DS handheld recently I've got to admit it's still relevant, still very, very good).

And then, only some days ago, something even better came up. The New Nintendo 2DS XL. It's another new Nintendo console you can hold in your hands, but it's not the Switch that Olli has been touting here. That's a completely different creature.


I shall leave you pondering, for a while, why such a thing is even brought up in relation to these retro games and SNES in particular. Let me get back to you in a day or two. :o)

All the best,
Janne

PS: The other elephant-in-the-room of a puzzle being the name. What on earth is a New Nintendo 2DS XL? How does it slot between Nintendo's 3DS, 3DS XL, 2DS, New 3DS and New 3DS XL (and I'm not making these up, you know).