World-renowned collector Steve Lin posted on Twitter this weekend that he’s acquired an original copy of Nintendo’s Press Release and market research data for the NES, some of that data may be fairly surprising as well. Back in 1986, this was the data and records used as the NES had its wide release across North America (primarily the US).
Just arrived: Early Nintendo press release announcing the nationwide rollout of the NES! Dated March 20, 1986 pic.twitter.com/GqDKIkSPBY
— Steve Lin (@stevenplin) October 31, 2015
First off, what a fantastic way to get people’s attention! Opening up a new and honestly risky video game hardware press release with,
Whatch out, America! Space Invaders beware!
Is just amazing in my eyes. Nintendo’s release maintains its confident and positive vibe throughout while also stating that R.O.B. (your friendly robot gaming companion!) was a major reason why kids in the US market wanted an NES in their homes. We all know now how R.O.B. wasn’t necessarily the greatest success or piece of hardware, but at the time it was a unique approach to getting the gaming systems into homes, and kids ate it up.
Within the release are some very interesting market research numbers, including those aforementioned reasons why both children and adults wanted an NES. You can see in the 1985 Nintendo data below, that not only was the system earning an overwhelmingly positive reaction in testing, it was also recommended to friends 89% (yup, 89!) of the time by adults while the 7-11 age range did the same thing 83% of the time. Then there was little ol’R.O.B. who was the #1 reason (19%) the younger generation wanted to have the NES, stating that the robot was even more intriguing than graphics and even the Duck Hunt ‘Zapper’ Gun.
Nintendo funded research in Jan/Feb 1986 showed the main reason kids wanted an NES was ROB & 90% sell through in NYC pic.twitter.com/dS16dM0QQ0 — Steve Lin (@stevenplin) October 31, 2015
The documents are fascinating on a number of levels to me. Lin also promises to be scanning and posting even more photos as the days go on, including ones like this that mention the “top” US TV markets for advertising:
Just arrived: Early Nintendo press release announcing the nationwide rollout of the NES! Dated March 20, 1986 pic.twitter.com/GqDKIkSPBY
— Steve Lin (@stevenplin) October 31, 2015
How are you celebrating and what is your favorite memory? Let us know in the comments below!
