Nintendo Just Dropped a Massive Clue That the N64 Is Coming Back

Start blowing off those cartridges

May 23, 2018 9:00 am

While some of us still fight the good fight against retro video games, the elders have spoken.

The kids can have Fortnite; the adults prefer the classics.

With the sold-out success of the NES Classic and (now back in stock) SNES Classic gaming systems, Nintendo seems to be planning another old-school revival: this time, it’s the Nintendo 64. The video-game giant recently filed a trademark for the N64, including information on software, controllers and a new console (like last year’s NES, this would most certainly be a miniaturized version).

The Nintendo 64 was the company’s third console, released in 1996 and retired in 2003. The cartridge-based player won Time’s Machine of the Year award right after its launch (in a “year of Internet-TV terminals, PDAs and cell phones,” no less!). Estimated total sales of the N64 were somewhere between 33 and 50 million units, although it trailed the Playstation in overall popularity during its eight-year shelf life.

Nintendo Life brings up a few worthy issues about this possible new/old release — licensing problems, the original console’s bulky controllers, the inability to access these games on more modern consoles (like the Switch), etc.

But to play GoldenEye in its original form just one more time? That’s a blast from the past we can deal with.

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