Nintendo 64 Classic Edition not being made, says Nintendo

There will be no
re-creations of the Nintendo 64 holiday freakout this
year.
YouTube

• With the massive success of the NES Classic Edition and
  Super NES Classic Edition consoles, it was widely expected that
  a Nintendo 64 Classic Edition was next in line.
• Nintendo even trademarked images that look an awful lot
  like the imagery used for the NES and Super NES Classic Edition
  consoles.
• But Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé
  threw cold water on the idea in a recent interview. “I would
  not ever rule something out, but what I can tell you is
  certainly that’s not in our planning horizon.”

Sorry, fellow millennials: It looks like a miniature version of
our generation’s iconic Nintendo console, the Nintendo 64, may
never come to pass.

That’s according to the president of Nintendo of America, Reggie
Fils-Aimé. “That’s not in our planning horizon,” he
told Kotaku in a recent interview. Notably, he couched his
response with the preface, “I would not ever rule something
out.” 

That’s a pretty big surprise, given the overwhelming success of
Nintendo’s two miniature “Classic Edition” consoles — the NES
Classic Edition and the Super NES Classic Edition. Both consoles
re-create the look of the original game consoles, albeit in a
smaller size, and pack in a bunch of classic games.

The NES Classic Edition
(left) and Super NES Classic Edition (right).
Nintendo

More than just a logical conclusion, the idea of a Nintendo 64
Classic Edition first popped up in trademark filings from
Nintendo itself. 

In the filing, a distinctive image is shown:

Look familiar? That’s because it’s an illustrated
outline of the Nintendo 64 gamepad.
Nintendo

The trademark image isn’t just notable because it’s the
outline of the Nintendo 64 gamepad — it’s notable because it’s
the same outline of a gamepad that appears on the retail branding
of Nintendo’s other “Classic Edition” consoles. 

For example:

Nintendo

That silhouette of the NES Classic Edition gamepad on the top of
the box? It’s identical to another trademark filing image from
Nintendo:

Nintendo

This close-up really highlights how similar the image is:

Nintendo

Nintendo filed the same logo trademark in Europe for the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System gamepad silhouette, and that same
silhouette appears on top of the Super NES Classic Edition box.

Thus, the logical conclusion was that Nintendo was working on a
miniaturized Nintendo 64. But it’s been a few months since that
trademark popped up, and Nintendo has yet to announce a Nintendo
64 Classic Edition. 

And now, Fils-Aimé says that such a console is unlikely — a
measure of Nintendo’s business calculations around the “Classic
Edition” line.

“For us, these were limited time opportunities that were a way
for us as a business to bridge from the conclusion of Wii U as a
hardware system to the launch of Nintendo Switch. That was the
very strategic reason we launched the NES Classic system,”
Fils-Aimé said. 

Nintendo’s Wii U was the biggest hardware failure in
Nintendo’s history.
Nintendo

More clearly: The NES and Super NES Classic Edition consoles were
created to keep money coming in while Nintendo transitioned from
the Wii U (which bombed) to the Switch (which is a resounding
success). And now that’s Nintendo’s doing well again, the need
for more Classic Edition consoles may no longer exist.

It’s a major bummer of an explanation that seemingly ignores the
massive consumer interest in Nintendo’s classic games library,
but it’s a logical decision for a company that’s regained its
foothold in the ever-finicky video game hardware business. 

Regardless, if you were holding your breath for the Nintendo 64
Classic Edition, it may be time to exhale.