First posted to NeoGAF, Nintendo applied for trademarks for: the NES controller, the SNES controller, the Nintendo Switch controller, and, most curiously, the Nintendo 64 controller. All four trademarks were filed on July 18 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
The Nintendo 64 controller trademark noticeably stands out among this group. The NES Classic launched to immense fanfare in November, but was abruptly discontinued earlier this year — well before everybody who wanted an NES Classic could find one. Nintendo soothed those disappointments some by revealing the SNES Classic in late June, alongside a star-studded lineup (really, it’s phenomenal), with a promise that more units would be produced to avoid another NES Classic debacle. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch is Nintendo’s current console, one that is still without a Virtual Console to play NES, SNES, and (ahem) N64 classics.
So the N64 trademark filing seems to suggest a Nintendo 64 Classic Edition could be in the works. If Nintendo continues on its current trajectory, the N64 Classic would likely be released in 2018 — that is, if this trademark inadvertently revealed the console’s existence in the first place.
Admittedly, it’s somewhat odd that trademarks for the other three — the NES controller, SNES controller, and Switch controller — were filed so recently. One would think that those would have already been filed. Even so, it’s more than a bit weird that the N64 controller joined that group of trademarks.
It’s important to note that the N64 controller trademark doesn’t include any language that hints at a ROM-based system. That would come in the form of a separate trademark, one like the SNES trademark filed earlier this year that was riddled with language about ROMs.
While it’s way too early to start figuring out your attack strategy for picking up an N64 Classic, we’d forgive you if you began making a mental list of games you’d like to see on a potential N64 Classic. We’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment, and we’ll update if we hear back.
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