I'm not sure if this is already out there or common knowledge, but I had an interesting conversation yesterday.

So I was chatting with a TV guy at Best Buy yesterday who's not really into video games himself, but as I am and the TV I buy will be used for video games it was a topic of discussion. We were talking briefly about emulators (to get good resolution on modern displays for older games) and the PS Classic came up (as they have them in-store still). He then let loose that they have a "mini N64" coming out for the holidays this year when I mentioned I have an HDMI modded N64. I was saying that even with the HDMI output it's still never going to be perfect since it's pixels being upscaled rather than the way emulators do it when he mentioned the N64 Classic as a possible alternative. He mentioned it so casually/off-handedly that it took me a bit by surprise actually; this dude isn't in the gaming scene at all, he must have heard it from a Best Buy employee or something (he's actually an employee of the TV manufacturer, not BB itself).

Obviously this is purely anecdotal and dude could be way off, but it's the sort of "insider" info at the right place and time kinda deal that I think the info might be legit. I looked it up just now really quick and I've seen a bit of speculation online but nothing concrete, so hopefully this isn't old news.

Thoughts? 

Interesting, but didn't they announce the NES Classic in the summertime when it released that November? I'm purely going off memory here but those dates should be easy to confirm, when announced and when released. I would think that Nintendo would want a minimum of 3-6 months for hype prior to release. If they haven't announced it by now I don't think it would happen this year.

I wonder if he's just conjecturing. "Well, they made the first two. The third console mini should be along any day now."

I went and rechecked the release dates. Both the NES and SNES Classics were announced in the summer and were available by fall. I think an N64 Classic would be well known to exist by now if it were to be released this year. They may be working on one (probably their engineers in their spare time are messing around with the emulators at least), but it is at least a year away.

A guy at Best Buy told me.........................Super cool story bro. :-)

I'd love to dream this is true but, honestly, I think the hardest hurdle for them will be the controller. A simple PCB with touch-points is easy enough to manufacture, but adding an analog stick is a lot of extra cost. To be "worth it", you'd need to increase the price and to motivate buyers you might need at least 40, maybe even 50 titles to justify a console selling for $120 or more.

Still, I can dream of seeing a mini with 2x controllers and all of the A list titles and maybe some weird port and translation of a game like Doshin the Giant.

It sounds like his dad works for Nintendo

It wasn't some teen working through high school, it was a TV manufacturer employee. He doesn't DO video games. 

My thinking was that he potentially saw an internal email or something talking about it, and didn't know to not let it slip.

While this would be neat, I assume if ANYTHING was formally given to Best Buy or Gamestop or Target it would have leaked by now.

That is a fair point.
 

I remember in the 80s some guy kept calling into a NYC radio show and would say "I'm starting the machine now" and then fire up something that sounded like a lawn mower before the host would dump him.

We're the caller. The machine is Hype.

Anyone remember Diddy Kong Racing being a really secret release, like nobody knew about it until about 90 days before release? I seem to remember as a kid it being around Fall '97 and my Dad picked me up and said something about seeing a new N64 kart racing game in a magazine that was coming out in time for Christmas and I thought he was definitely wrong (most n64 games at that point were first shown over a year before launch) but sure enough a few weeks later I got the VHS in the mail to hype the game, and a month later Diddy Kong Racing was on the shelves

I'm still waiting for that Donkey Kong racing game on the back of my GameCube box.

He most likely referred to the Hyperkin clone. Sorry to bum ya out.

There's always this.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/6988...

With the WORST 3D printed casing I've ever seen.

I just threw up in my mouth.

 

I thought it was a cake for a second. lol
 

I thought it was LEGO for half a second, which would actually be quite cool.

So yeah, that's a terrible print, but I'm usually on the side that... ALL 3D printing looks like that, to a degree. Someone will spend a long time on a project, and end up putting it into a 3D printed case, covered in textured stripes, and I'm like heh, yeah, looks awesome...

Consumer-grade 3D printers are still only for functional objects, not for things anyone is going to look at.

We have multiple 3D printers here, and while they don't print out perfect items on par with molded plastic, none of what they printed was anywhere near as bad as that.

 

What would they even put on an N64 mini?

Smash
Mk64
Oot
Mm
Mario party 1-3
007
Star fox 64
Mario 64
paper mario
Kirby
Megaman 64
Pokemon snap
Pokemon stadium
Diddy Kong racing
Banjo and kazooie

Lots of big games which I assume means it'd be hard to get the rights to for many of them. Not to mention a lot of these came out on other systems and don't hold up well at all. 007, Mario kart 64, and smash are all trash especially compared to later games in their series

There's no way Nintendo is chasing down all the licensing required for Goldeneye.

If they can't get Rare games on there, they shouldn't even try to release one.

I think it depends on if Microsoft thinks Rare Replay still has some gas in the tank. I can see them agreeing to Banjo and Perfect Dark if it means a few more dollars are tossed their way.

The missing Rare titles would certainly suck, but they could go entirely with first party games and still have enough good titles to justify approximately $80 to $100.

The biggest issue would certainly be the controller, and how they would want to realistically handle extra controllers.

I think this is speculation beyond reasonable speculation, but I think the biggest tell on whether GoldenEye would even have a prayer would be to research the numbers on how well GoldenEye did on the Wii. I mean, I bought it but 50% of the reason was because I liked the classic controller and I wanted a gold one. If it sold well enough, and seeing how Banjo and Kazooie have made their way to the switch, I think this title would have a better chance than a snowball in hades.

I'm sure we've all made these, but these are the titles I'd like in no specific order.

First Party Titles
SMB 64
OOT
Majora's Mask
Mario Kart 64
Paper Mario
Super Smach Bros
Star Fox
Cruisin' USA
1080 Snowboarding
Pilot Wings
Doshin the Giant

3rd Party Titles
GoldenEye 007
Perfect Dark
Banjo Kazooie
Jet Force Gemini
Turok
Mischief Makers
Wetrix (so that puzzles are represented that isn't Tetris)
Extreme G
Shadows of the Empire
Rouge Squadron
Quest 64 (Kids need to know how bad it could get!)