| R.I.P. NES by Manny LaMancha (GamePro, May 1995) -- We lost a dear friend recently. At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show this past January, Nintendo announced its plans for 1995, including the upcoming Ultra 64 console, the Virtual Boy 3D portable system, and continuing support for the SNES and Game Boy. Nintendo also announced, however, that it had officially "retired" the venerable NES from its lineup and has no plans to released new games, something most licensees had decided long ago. Virgin's The Jungle Book was the last third-party game released for the NES. Nintendo will continue to support the NES with phone tips, but it has stoppedmanufacturing the 8-bit console. This move serves as the final nail in the coffin of a dedicated servant that lasted nearly ten seasons: as with canine companions, that's an eternity in video game years. Nintendo can take heart in the fact that it sold 34 million NES systems in the U.S. since the product's launch in 1985, and that millions more were sold worldwide in addition to the Famicom (the older brother of the NES) With all the competition that's taking place in the video game industry, it's not likely that any hardware producer will post numbers like that for some time. The NES appeared at a time when electronic gaming was down in the dumps, and it rekindled a fire in the industry. GamePro takes this opportunity to bid a fond sayonara to this veterain game platform. As we look forward to the 32- and 64-bit systems, look back on this ground-breaker and relish the memories. |