A Nintendo Entertainment System next to a pair of Wii remotes
A Nintendo Entertainment System next to a pair of Wii remotes

Today’s photo of the day comes from my living room in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood, where old Nintendo and new Nintendo sit side by side. But where is the original Nintendo Entertainment System console, you may ask? It’s that weird thing on the left hand side of the photograph sitting alongside the Wii remotes.

Referred to as the NES 101, this redesigned original Nintendo was released in the early 1990s as a last-ditch attempt to sell 8-bit units after the release of the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). I purchased this one when it first came out at Toys R Us and the game currently inside it is Bases Loaded.

 

NES 101

 

From the folks at Wikipedia:

The NES-101 model (HVC-101 model in Japan), known informally as the “top-loader”, uses the same basic color scheme, although there are several subtle differences. The power switch is colored a bright red and slides into the on and off position, similar to the SNES, instead of the original push-button. Also, there is no LED power indicator on the unit.

The NES-101 model is considerably more compact than the original NES-001 model, measuring 6″ by 7″ by 1.5″. The NES-101 model also offered only RF outputs instead of the RF and RCA (mono) outputs offered on the original NES-001 model.