classic nes series

The Classic NES Series in North America, Famicom Mini Series in Japan, or NES Classics in Europe are a series of Game Boy Advance games that were originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom remade for the Game Boy Advance. A special edition Game Boy Advance SP, which has a similar design to a NES/Famicom controller, was released to go along with these games. The color of the cartridges match the color of the original NES carts. All of these games were released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Famicom in Japan.

List of games

Famicom Mini Series (Japan)

Series 1 (released February 14, 2004)

Series 2 (released May 21, 2004)

Series 3 (released August 10, 2004)

Akumajou Dracula (a part of the Castlevania series)
Famicom Detective Club
Famicom Detective Club Part II
Kid Icarus
Metroid
The Mysterious Castle of Murasame
New Ogre Island
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese version)

Classic NES Series (North America)

Series 1 (released June 7, 2004)

Series 2 (released October 25, 2004)

NES Classics (Europe)

Series 1 (released July 9, 2004)

Criticisms of the Classic NES Series

Some North American gamers have sharply critcized Nintendo for the shoddy North American lineup. Many arguments and pointed criticisms have been fired at all 12 released games:

Bomberman - Not the best version; later released versions are better and more thorough
Donkey Kong - The pie/cement factory level from the arcade series was not implemented. Although that wouldn't make it "Classic NES," people still wanted to play it. It has also been released on the E-Reader
Excitebike - Only one savable track and also released for the E-Reader
Ice Climber - Not a true classic game and also released for the E-Reader
The Legend of Zelda - Many people wanted this game and to be on one cart instead of being released seperately (at $40 retail, it was quite expensive)
Pac-Man - Released on Namco Museum and other games
Super Mario Bros. - Already included in Super Mario Brothers Deluxe for the Gameboy Color (the GBC version also had more extra items)
Xevious - A classic 'arcade' game, not a classic NES game. Many people didn't like the squashed squashed screen and the lack of bombs and other weapons; to sum it up, many people believed that Xevious did not age well.
Metroid - Already included as an unlockable in Metroid: Zero Mission

Many other people also regard the released games as incomplete. They would like other classic NES games like Castlevania 2 and 3, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, and Contra (the most popular and requested) to be released. Since the Nintendo DS has been released, the chances have been diminished that they will ever be released. Other gamers have complained that the retail price, $20, was too hard to swallow for a breath of nolstalga; a bunch of old, short games. They would have prefered compilation carts in which many games were bundled into one cartridge.