Ever since Nintendo unveiled the NES Classic Edition in July, fans of the retro console have been looking forward to its release in November. Nintendo has now revealed more details that will further heighten the anticipation for the upcoming mini-NES.
A retro-themed video released by Nintendo UK on YouTube revealed three features of the NES Classic Edition that will look to provide players with a nostalgic but upgraded gaming experience.
The first feature revealed by the video is a save state option, which Nintendo is calling suspend points. Through the feature, players will be able to save their game at any point, be it in preparation for a boss fight, before starting a part that you want to play over and over again or because it is simply time for you to get some sleep. The concept will be familiar for gamers who have played on emulators and the Virtual Console, where the save state option has been present.
Players are allowed to save four suspend points for each game in the NES Classic Edition, with the saves showing screenshots to make it easier to remember the point in the game that they were made.
The second feature is the capability to switch the internal refresh rate between 50 Hz and 60 Hz. This is for gamers who felt that PAL games ran slightly slower compared with NTSC games, and for European gamers, they might struggle with the controls on 60 Hz.
Lastly, the NES Classic Edition also comes with three display modes. The first display mode is the pixel perfect mode, which displays the graphics in square pixels. The second option is the 4:3 mode, which stretches the graphics similar to how NES games looked like on old school TVs. The third option applies a CRT filter, which on top of stretching the display to a 4:3 ratio, adds a filter that tries to simulate how the CRT TVs from the 1980s looked like while playing NES on them through an analog connection.
A hands-on review on the NES Classic Edition by Wired also revealed that the console has a retro-themed menu displaying all 30 games upon powering it up, with the Options menu offering an auto-shutdown timer and a burn-in reduction setting.
The mini-NES also has a legal notices section, which reveals that the console has an open-source license. There is no indication, however, on what emulator the NES Classic Edition is running.
The NES Classic Edition is set to go on sale on Nov. 11 for a retail price of $59.99, making it a perfect gift for the holidays.
