There’s been a lot of talk and speculation surrounding the N64 Mini. Will it be, won’t it be? We’re going all in and saying yes (eventually)! If Nintendo were to announce the Nintendo 64 Mini tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to shovel money at them fast enough. I can safely assume that I wouldn’t be the only one either.
Despite some flaws, the N64 was a glorious console. For many, it allowed for the first proper taste of 3D gaming. With exclusive titles such as Super Mario 64, Smash Brothers, Goldeneye and oh so many more, it ingrained heavily in so many of our hearts. The NES and SNES Mini were such a resounding success, it’s hard not to imagine Nintendo rubbing their hands together in anticipation for the next announcement. If the N64 Mini does become a reality there are a few things I’d like to see announced amidst the release.
The N64 Games You Loved
What will make or break the N64 Mini is the games Nintendo finally chooses to include with it. There’s been much debate surrounding the absolute mess of licensing issues Nintendo will encounter if they want to feature the very best games. Some may argue that developer Rare, played an integral role in the Nintendo 64’s rise to glory. Rare made Goldeneye, Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, Conkers Bad Fur Day & many more adored 64 games.
Unfortunately, Rare is no longer loyal to Nintendo and was instead scooped up by Microsoft. This means that Microsoft now owns the IP to many games we enjoyed on the N64. Games like Diddy Kong Racing and Donkey Kong 64 won’t be much of an issue to feature, but others will be much more difficult to acquire.
Remember Rare Replay which launched on the Xbox One back in 2015? Microsoft owns the rights to that entire compilation of games. That means Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Blast Corps, Conkers Bad Fur Day and more are going to cause Nintendo problems. With that said, there’s still room for a fair few solid titles on the N64 Mini. There’s definitely some we’ll miss though. Who knows? Nintendo may make it happen still.
Feeling Funtastic
It’s not just the games we loved, it was also the cosmetic side of the Nintendo 64. The N64 had an abundance of unique special edition consoles, something which was relatively new to the home console scene at the time. There was the Pokémon Stadium set, the Pikachu set, but none better than the Funtastic set. This series of translucent, colourful beauties came to us in red, blue, purple, green and orange. They didn’t do anything special, but they looked incredible! It would be great to see Nintendo release a series of Funtastic N64 Minis in homage to the old ones.
4 Player Madness
The N64 was also Nintendo’s first home console which readily featured 4-way play. You could buy an adapter for the SNES and enjoy a game or two on it, but this was different. We really want to see 4 player capabilities on the N64 Mini, if not for Mario Kart alone. With that said, please don’t send us on a wild goose chase looking for controllers, this time! 2 controllers with the bundle and easy access to extras would be awesome.
Supply and Demand
Speaking of the elusive, Nintendo has a tendency to limit the supply of their much-wanted products (I’m gonna go ahead and dub that as a Nintendency™). This appears to be a sales ploy to drive up the demand for their products. And, it’s really nothing new to us. With that said, let’s leave the games to the consoles this time shall we? If I want to buy an N64 Mini, I want to easily be able to. We shouldn’t have to turn to eBay to pay the inflated prices there.
Update 20/09/2018: New Development on the N64 Mini!
There have been some exciting developments regarding the N64 Mini! Sadly, still no full confirmation on a release, but there’s a new glimmer of hope! Back in July 2017, Nintendo filed a trademark request with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. That trademark was for the N64 controller. Guess what? It’s finally approved!
Now you may be thinking “So what? Nintendo’s just protecting their intellectual property”. You’d, of course, be right, but it is worth noting that Nintendo filed a very similar trademark request before the announcement of the NES Mini.
We still don’t know for sure, but the possibility of an N64 Mini announcement is more likely to be on the horizon after this development. With the recent announcement by Sony about the PlayStation Classic, Nintendo may feel under more pressure to make an announcement sooner rather than later.
It would be pretty surreal to once again see both of these iconic consoles battling it out together on store shelves. Here’s hoping for an announcement soon!
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