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KOOPA P. GOES TO NINTENDO WORLD
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June 25,
2005 |
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While in NYC visiting family, I was able to spend a day at the
recently-opened Nintendo World store, playing games, buying stuff
and taking these photos. I was once here in 2002, when this
place was a Pokemon Center. A lot has changed since there. Here's a lowdown of the place. |
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Here's the outside of Nintendo World at
Rockefeller Center. It sure has changed since it used to be a
Pokemon Center. Sometimes you could see it shown in the outside
segments of NBC's Today show if the camera's pointed the right way.
Other: [Window
Display] [East View]
BONUS!:
[2002 Photo of
Pokemon Center] |
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Here's the Nintendo AVS (Advanced Video
System), the prototype of the American version of the NES. It came
with a keyboard, wireless IR controllers, tape cassette memory
recorder, a redesigned Zapper, a flight stick, and a musical
keyboard. This was shown only once in the 1984 CES show, which was
mostly passed over by most people, still with the bitter taste of
the videogame crash that ruined Atari's image. Nintendo dumped the
extra hardware and only released the Control Deck by the end of
1985, and the rest is history. Being a big retro Nintendo fan, this
was the highlight of my trip here. ^_^
Close-Up:
[Cassette Drive] [Basic Keyboard] [Music Keyboard] [IR Controllers]
[Prototype Zapper] [Flightstick] [AVS Info Card] |
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Here's
one of 30 Gold Triforce GBA-SP's signed by Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto that
used to be sold at Nintendo World. Needless to say, they were all
sold out. Dunno how much they were, but in a few years,
they'd be worth their weight in gold. :P Close-up: [Miyamoto
Biography Card] |
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A
collection of all the special-edition GBA-SPs sold thoughtout the world,
with the Famicom-SP and the NES-SP right on top. Japan sure does get
a lot of rare GBAs. |
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I
remember seeing this featured in Nintendo Power 15 years ago. This
Game Boy was in the middle of a bombing and melted during the '90
Gulf War, and still works today! |
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An
evolution of the Game Boy series, starting from the Game & Watch to GBA-SP.
It also shows the Game Boy Light, a Japanese-only model of the Game
Boy Pocket with a backlight.
Close-up: [1] [2]
[3] |
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Here's
the Famicom, the Japanese version of the NES released in 1983.
Besides loading games on top, the controllers were hard-wired to the
system, with the 2P controller having a built-in mic. The port in
the front was for external controllers to plug into. Nintendo of
America redesigned the Famicom to the NES because they wanted to
distance themselves from Atari (top-loading "cartridges" were
replaced with front-loading "game paks"), the Famicom's apparent "toyish"
appearance, and preventing the spread of Asian piracy to the States.
Other: [Famicom with NES] [Famicom
Top View] |
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Before Nintendo made videogames, they
made these: Hafunda cards. They made different designs, including
Japanese pictures and Mickey Mouse. To this day, they still make
them. |
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One of many Gamecube kiosks upstairs, loaded with a high
number of full-on demos, including RE4, Starfox Armada, Smash Bros.
Melee, and other Nintendo hits. According to Nintendo Power, these
units are directly networked to Nintendo of America, where you can
instantly download these games to try out. Sorta disappointed that there
weren't any demos from E3 there. XD
Other: [Kiosks
and Retro Display] |
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Here are
three special Gamecube kiosks with "egg-chairs" with built-in
surround sound. These systems had Konga drums for Donkey Konga 2 and
Jungle Beat, which I tried out for the first time. It was very hard to hold the drums between my legs as I
played those games.
Other: [View 2] |
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Being a
store, Nintendo has games, accessories, toys, clothes, gifts and other
stuff for sale, albeit at full MSRP price.
Surprisingly, they actually had the Hori Digital Controller (a.k.a.
the 2D SNES-like controller for GB Player) for sale there for only
$15. I've been looking for this for years and could never find them
locally. They only had it in black, however. Perfect for retro
collections, fighters, and Game Boy Player games. Sadly, I couldn't
find any Koopa stuff on sale. >_<
Other: [View 2] |
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This is
the first floor, with the GBA, DS, and Pokemon Center stuff. The
outer ring of this display has demos of different DS games, while the eight DSs in
the center have a Pokemon Dash multiplayer demo. There is also a bar
with a setup of GBA-SPs connected, with a "bartender" who will load
up a game from a menu of selected GBA games. The Pokemon Center (what's left
from the store before Nintendo World) is to the left of this photo,
with toys, games, movies and cards for sale. There's also a Pokedex
and tables for card battles next to the staircase. Interestingly
enough, if I remember correctly, there weren't any young children
upstairs in the Gamecube floor, mostly teenagers and young adults.
Other: [Single
DS Demo Unit] [GBA/DS Demo Kiosks] [Pokedex Kiosk] |
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And that's it, pretty
much. Apparently, I had such a fun time, I was told I was here for
almost two hours there, taking photos and playing games. XD I just
wished I took more photos of the place. |
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