Former Nintendo of America president admits NES and SNES classics were made "to sustain our business": "the Wii U was on life support"

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
• Email

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has admitted the NES and SNES Classic mini consoles were made to help the company as the Wii U struggled.

As spotted by Nintendo Everything, Fils-Aimé spoke at the NYU Game Centre Lecture Series and explained Nintendo was making efforts to make things work during the Wii U era, including killing the 8GB model of the console. "The other thing we did is, in two successive years, we launched those micro legacy devices. If you remember those, right? The small NES and then the following year the small SNES," he explained, "We did that to sustain our business because we needed something to sell at volume come the holiday season. So it was a series of commercial ideas, knowing full well that… you know, the Wii U was on life support."

Of course, many had speculated this to be the case, especially with the NES Classic, given it was released in 2016 when the Wii U had almost nothing going on, but now we have a somewhat official word. It had already been a weak year with the likes of Star Fox Zero and Pokken Tournament disappointing, and then the only game released during the holiday season was the decent at times Paper Mario: Color Splash.

Latest Videos From

The SNES Classic had a bit more company with 2017 being a landmark year for Nintendo – which released two of the greatest games of all-time with Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey – but Nintendo likely wanted a contingency plan in case the Switch didn't pop off.

This also explains why the series never continued and Nintendo didn't bother with a Game Boy Classic, N64 Classic, or Virtual Boy Classic (maybe not the last one). Although 2018 also marked the launch of Nintendo Switch Online, the company probably saw a potential cross-contamination… even if N64 games wouldn't arrive on Switch for another three years.

Zelda: Twilight Princess did what Ocarina of Time couldn't because Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto really "wanted to see Link fight on horseback"

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Scott McCraeContributor

Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

View More

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Logout LATEST ARTICLES

1. 1Devil May Cry and Bayonetta creator says he'd rather have a game cancelled than release "something subpar"
2. 2Dishonored co-creators were working on Thief 4 and a Bladerunner game before Bethesda let them make an imsim classic
3. 3Anime VA Sally Amaki praises the enduring legacy of Neon Genesis Evangelion's classic opening theme
4. 4World of Warcraft was a "savior" for the creator of Journey
5. 5Rotta the Hutt is my Mandalorian and Grogu MVP, because he perfectly deepens the movie's fatherhood themes