Retro is back. There is no denying that. Many players are seeking their childhood games and are willing to pay for that kind of nostalgia boost. No wonder game companies are looking to gain a buck or two in that niche market. Nintendo did a good job in revamping retro gaming, but it is not always sunshine and rainbows.

November 2016, Nintendo released the first retro console: NES Classic Edition. Not long after, five months to be precise, the company pulled the plug and discontinued the production. The NES got 30 games installed with eight exclusives depending on your region. Fans of old games were overflowing with nostalgia and this created a huge demand for the small thing.

Nintendo learned their lesson and didn’t want to upset the fans and soon came with a successor, which became SNES Classic Edition. This time, it comes equipped with a whopping 21 games installed with five regional exclusives. No doubt, this new mini console will sell like hotcakes as Nintendo hasn’t announced for any cancellations in production.

So you might think what is the big idea for the skeptisim against Nintendo. You see, I am not against Nintendo playing the retro gaming card to appeal to their fans, but it is just so obvious that Nintendo is actually diving into the retro market with the intentions of making big bucks instead of doing it for the fans.

The first fact is that successor SNES is more expensive than NES AND having less games. Sure, it could be argued that SNES got features and includes a never released Star Fox. Second fact is that the console only holds the installed games. Let’s say you have old Nintendo cartridges from way back then. They have no use as there is no way for you to play them on this classic console.  Chances are you would only the well-known games and you won’t care that much for the majority of the selection. I foresee that Nintendo will release more of these consoles (Nintendo just registered a new Game Boy trademark actually). Just for the fact that Nintendo has more retro games in their database. I assume the company is testing waters to see if this retro console is sustainable for future releases.

Why do I sound so negative about this whole business? My two cents is that the retro market has always been around. There are shops that sells old consoles and games. (e.g. Super Potato, which by the way, is an amazing store name *wink*) They solely exist because old gamers just want to have fun for a small price, so in other words the market was never exploited in a way to get more money out of consumers just for nostalgia reasons. I believe that people are still looking for the NES Classic Edition and the prices must have become astronomic by now.

I am happy to discuss this topic more broadly. So let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree or neither. I am all ears.