Saturday, the final day at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, meant the opening of the exhibition created by the good folks at The Video Game History Foundation that focuses on the Nintendo Entertainment Systems history. From Nintendo’s beginnings creating board and card games to the NES Classic and other hardware emulators, the very long history of the NES was all on display for attendees of the show to enjoy.
The middle of the room contained transparent shelving that alphabetized the complete NES library thanks to the coordination of multiple collectors donating their games and cases to the Foundation for display. As noted by The Video Game History Foundation’sSteve Lin, this may be the only time the complete library is put together in one place due to the cooperation and planning that was required to make it happen.
Several unreleased NES games appeared as playable titles, includingSim CityandEarthboundamong others. Some classic NES games were playable as well, includingSuper Mario Bros.andMetroid: a specialBalloon Fightcabinet was set up as well. Oddly, the instructions on it were forExcitebike,but it playedBalloon Fighton either side.
The main feature of this exhibit were the displays of numerous NES ephemera, games, promotional materials, and other miscellaneous related items that were laid out in a timeline complete with text commentary. Displays includedDonkey Kongand its related merchandise, the original Famicom prototypes with square buttons on the controller, aGame & Watchunit, displays showing the NES launch in New York City, a complete collection of the black box NES cases, copies ofFun Club News, unlicensed games and ROM hacks, remakes of NES titles on other systems, fan translated ROMs, plug and play systems, and bootleg cartridges. Everything is covered.
[pullquote]“From Nintendo’s beginnings creating board and card games to the NES Classic and other hardware emulators, the very long history of the NES was all on display for attendees of the show to enjoy."[/pullquote]
During a panel for the exhibit held on Sunday, October 14, the Video Game History Foundation’s founderFrank Cifaldigot to speak about the exhibit. He began with how Nintendo is a 19th century company that got its start by selling playing cards made in Japan to the West, and was the first Far East company to distribute in the United States. They eventually created roulette boards, a love test toy (that showed Frank and his wife weren’t compatible), and theGame & Watch. He stated howDonkey Kongwas their first arcade hit, and that the museum included a hand-drawn animation cell fromthe commercial for the Donkey Kong cerealthat was broadcast in the early ’80s. Cifaldi added thatGame & Watchwas the first instance of the d-pad being implemented on Nintendo hardware.
Due to the Famicom being marketed as a family computer, it was sold with a keyboard for basic so people could program their own games, as well as a cassette data recorder to save their work. Some early marketing to the West included the VS system for arcades. In 1983, there was the great video game crash in the US and UK, during which Nintendo pitched Atari to distribute their Famicom system. Another early marketing attempt by Nintendo was as a video system focused on video accessories, but this also failed. Finally in 1985, it was sold as a toy in New York, with a t-shirt from that launch party included in their exhibit. A register card included with the NES led to theFun Club Newsmagazine that reached 3 million readers in circulation, and would eventually becomeNintendo Power.
[pullquote]“Where the NES will go from here is unknown, though it will probably continue to stick around like it already has for the past 35 years."[/pullquote]
Emulation, homebrew, fan translations, ROMhacks, and plug & play systems paved the way for things like the Atari and Intellivision Flashbacks, which were just reprogrammed NES consoles. People have even mademusic on NES cartridges, and Nintendo themselves hired an NES emulator engineer to help them create the first emulator that appeared inAnimal Crossing, and then on the GBA with its rereleases of NES games. Cartridges have been reissued, previously unreleased games have come out, and even things like the mini-game inGolf Story, “GALF,” is sold on an NES cartridge. Where the NES will go from here is unknown, though it will probably continue to stick around like it already has for the past 35 years.
Most of the “35 Years of the NES & Its Games” exhibit can be viewed in the image gallery below from the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, and the work that The Video Game History Foundation does can be found, and supported, on theirwebsite. For more from Portland Retro Gaming Expo, you may check out our previous features fromDay 1,2, and3from the show.
