Trademark filing suggests the Nintendo 64 Classic Edition could be coming soon

Shawn Knight

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Nintendo last summer sparked excitement among retro gamers when it filed a trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for a controller for the Nintendo 64, a console it discontinued way back in 2003.

Given Nintendo’s recent success with its nostalgia-inducing NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Edition consoles from 2016 and 2017, respectively, most assumed the filing was proof that Nintendo was indeed working on a miniature version of its beloved N64.

Nintendo never publicly addressed the matter but now, we’ve got some additional fuel to add to the fire.

Japanese Nintendo recently uncovered a trademark filing for the N64 in Japan for purposes that include “video game program, controller for game machine, joystick for video game machine, TV game machine and more.”

Nintendo announced earlier this month that it will be bringing the NES Classic Edition back from the dead on June 29. It’ll join the SNES Classic Edition on store shelves through at least the end of the year and will retain its original $59.99 asking price.

Nintendo said during its most recent earnings report that it has sold more than five million SNES Classic Editions.

With E3 2018 just around the corner, the timing would be perfect for a Nintendo 64 Classic Edition announcement. Having all three miniature systems available to purchase this holiday season would be a retro gamer’s dream come true. Here’s to hoping Nintendo can secure the licensing deals needed to deliver the console with the games people actually want.

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Yay Conker's bad fur day makes an epic return! (I think we all already knew the N64 classic will be sold at some point...)
 
"Nintendo last summer sparked excitement among retro gamers when it filed a trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for a controller for the Nintendo 64, a console it discontinued way back in 2003."

I hope this means nintendo will be making new controllers, hopefully with a gamecube joystick instead of the classic plastic stick. The controller is the only major weak point of the N64.
 
"Nintendo last summer sparked excitement among retro gamers when it filed a trademark application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for a controller for the Nintendo 64, a console it discontinued way back in 2003."

I hope this means nintendo will be making new controllers, hopefully with a gamecube joystick instead of the classic plastic stick. The controller is the only major weak point of the N64.
There's lots of improvements they could have made to the NES and/or SNES and they chose to keep them exactly as they were before. I give it a 0% chance they will release the N64 with a redesigned controller unfortunately. Only 3rd party companies may provide that to us.
 
I don't really get these classic consoles, they are just emulators, all of which I can do for free and have far greater control over on my ancient laptop if I choose.
 
Pretty sure they are just renewing per usual. There isn't a one stop shop N64 emulator that can do it all. Also the available emulators include those that are Closed Source so unless they all of the sudden attempt to slap copywrite lawsuits and most likely they won't be able to then they will be hard pressed to put together a competent product. The problem with most people that get all excited about this is that they do not understand the underlying architecture to make things work. The ONLY reason why Nintendo was able to make the other mini consoles so far is because they used opensource emulators in the wild which also allowed them to sell them as cheap as they did. The only ARM based board out there that does N64 emulation worth a damned that isn't on Android is the Odroid XU4 and that sells for $60 without WiFi or BT. That is just the board itself and it is running a high heat Samsung Octacore CPU with a dedicated GPU. If an N64 mini does come out expect it to run at least $100 and definitely won't be with more than 1 controller. One of the biggest draws for the console is 4 player local action. Now I am sure there that will be those that argue, but but but FPGA. Even that won't help with keeping cost in check. Then there is the fact that 90% of any games worth playing are licensed by other parties like Microsoft. Good luck with that especially at a reasonable price.
 
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Yeah I also doubt they'll be able to bring this out this year, maybe next year. Also N64 emulation is hit and miss.
 
Remember Nintendo doesn't like money, they blow every chance they have to create neat little things and then squander it or spoil it by dumbness. Also their build quality is pure garbage anymore, I remember when I had my original Nintendo grey brick Gameboy that was practically indestructable, now I flip a 3DS XL to insert an SD card on a table and the top lid gets scratched up. Too many cheap soft plastics they are using these days, somewhow my piano black Wii was scratched up just from cleaning......
 
Remember Nintendo doesn't like money, they blow every chance they have to create neat little things and then squander it or spoil it by dumbness. Also their build quality is pure garbage anymore, I remember when I had my original Nintendo grey brick Gameboy that was practically indestructable, now I flip a 3DS XL to insert an SD card on a table and the top lid gets scratched up. Too many cheap soft plastics they are using these days, somewhow my piano black Wii was scratched up just from cleaning......

So are your 3DS and Wii broken now because their finish was easily scratched??
 
Yay Conker's bad fur day makes an epic return! (I think we all already knew the N64 classic will be sold at some point...)

Unfortunately no as Rare owns the rights to Conker, among other great N64 games.

Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo games, Donkey Kong 64....
 
The only good game and will be worth it is that James Bond game that came to N64. When I was young it blew my mind and got me into gaming and technology.
 
Pretty sure they are just renewing per usual. There isn't a one stop shop N64 emulator that can do it all. Also the available emulators include those that are Closed Source so unless they all of the sudden attempt to slap copywrite lawsuits and most likely they won't be able to then they will be hard pressed to put together a competent product. The problem with most people that get all excited about this is that they do not understand the underlying architecture to make things work. The ONLY reason why Nintendo was able to make the other mini consoles so far is because they used opensource emulators in the wild which also allowed them to sell them as cheap as they did. The only ARM based board out there that does N64 emulation worth a damned that isn't on Android is the Odroid XU4 and that sells for $60 without WiFi or BT. That is just the board itself and it is running a high heat Samsung Octacore CPU with a dedicated GPU. If an N64 mini does come out expect it to run at least $100 and definitely won't be with more than 1 controller. One of the biggest draws for the console is 4 player local action. Now I am sure there that will be those that argue, but but but FPGA. Even that won't help with keeping cost in check. Then there is the fact that 90% of any games worth playing are licensed by other parties like Microsoft. Good luck with that especially at a reasonable price.

That's why I have two real N64s.
 
The only good game and will be worth it is that James Bond game that came to N64. When I was young it blew my mind and got me into gaming and technology.
N64 had many fantasic games besides Goldeneye; The World is not Enough, Turok, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Super Mario 64, Zelda, Clayfighter 63 1/3, Star Wars Episode I racer, etc etc.
 
I'm happy with Project64. Not going to spend money for a rehash designed to milk money from mindless gamers, who go ooh-aah for these so-called classic editions..
 
Yay Conker's bad fur day makes an epic return! (I think we all already knew the N64 classic will be sold at some point...)

Doubt this would be on there to be honest as this was RARE which Nintendo don't own. There was a partnership but many games such as Banjo Kazooie, Conker, Killer Instinct where not intellectual property rights of Nintendo. Even games like Golden eye I don't think are owned by Nintendo.

Games more likely to be seen on this console would be Mario 64, Waverace, Yoshi, Paper Mario, Zelda Ocarina of time and maybe majoras mask, meteroid. Then you may then get things like Quake even though this would be id software its the sort of title you maybe see add then the rest be lesser titles.

Unfortunately no as Rare owns the rights to Conker, among other great N64 games.

Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo games, Donkey Kong 64....

99.9% sure that Rare don't own the rights to Donkey Kong infact I am 100% sure. But yes the other games like I mentioned aren't Nintendos

I don't really get these classic consoles, they are just emulators, all of which I can do for free and have far greater control over on my ancient laptop if I choose.

True you can do for free ...illegally that aside though yes emulators are better. I have a snes classic mini and some of the games have abysmal frame rates at times where as snes9x will play them perfect. For me though it was cheap to buy (like 80 quid) and just convenient to have in the living room.

Also N64 emulation is hit and miss.

Remember UltraHLE that played mario 64 and Ocarina of time more or less perfect using Glide. Nowadays its even better and rare you can emulate without any issues for nearly all titles ... even on phones.
 
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So are your 3DS and Wii broken now because their finish was easily scratched??
Does it matter? Would you buy a car and expect scratches and chipping of the paint in the first year you own it? Looks like crap but because it still runs it's ok?, Right.
 
Does it matter? Would you buy a car and expect scratches and chipping of the paint in the first year you own it? Looks like crap but because it still runs it's ok?, Right.

I do have a new car, and guess what? It does scratch easily. Everything is made cheaper these days, its the nature of business and maximizing profits.

Remember our parents washer and dryer that lasted 30 years? That will never happen again, my brother has been through 2 Samsung washers in 4 years. Its all plastic junk inside, make of poor materials and built to eventually fail.

Know anyone with a German car? Ever go to a VW/Audi dealership? The service center garage has a line into the parking lot of cars waiting to be “fixed”
 
The only good game and will be worth it is that James Bond game that came to N64. When I was young it blew my mind and got me into gaming and technology.

For a game that blew your mind I would figure you would remember the name.

Its called Goldeneye 007 :)
 
And there is no way it gets released with this rumored N64 classic

It won't because Nintendo doesn't own the rights for that game Rare does and they are now owned by Microsoft. There are a few games on that platform with the same issue so it is a problem for those of us that want to see a full lineup of games.
 
It won't because Nintendo doesn't own the rights for that game Rare does and they are now owned by Microsoft. There are a few games on that platform with the same issue so it is a problem for those of us that want to see a full lineup of games.

Ya, thats what I said, I figured everyone knew Rare has been owned by Microsoft. They have for like 15 years now, I figured that was implied...
 
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