My early days in gaming were pretty much confined to the local arcade, Atari 2600, and Commodore 64. It wasn’t until I married that I was introduced to what I had been missing all those years: the home of Mario, Nintendo. My wife had ’em all, from the 8-bit NES, Gameboy and GameCube, to more recently the Wii and Wii U (we’re not sold yet on the Switch).
While they’re all fun, with Nintendo systems, two things really standout: 1) all the great games we played, and 2) the controllers we used to play them. From numb hands gripping the blocky NES controller to waving Wiimotes around like a loon, Nintendo’s controllers played a huge part in building our gaming memories.
Tapping that nostalgia, Tomy of Japan has produced a capsule series celebrating five of Nintendo’s classic controller designs. These are being brought to the U.S. exclusively via UCC Distributing. This evolution of Nintendo controllers includes the Famicon (1983), SNES (1991), N64 (1996), and black or white controllers for the Wii (2006).
Each counter display contains 24 blind packed capsule toys. Of the 24 I opened, I received almost five complete sets, the Famicon controller being the rarest of the bunch.
Each controller is packed in a red capsule that contains the polybagged controller replica, along with a paper checklist. Measuring a little over 2-inches long, each controller features a ball key chain attachment for hanging on display or toting around with your keys.
Construction is a very durable high impact plastic and the sculpt for each is dead-on. I really appreciate the attention to detail, from the colorful array of buttons to the tiny text that is still legible, such as the micro “Power” button on the Wiimote.
My favorites are the SNES and N64. I love the design of the classic NES controller, however I’m not familiar with the red color scheme. According to this interesting article, red controllers were included with the Japanese version of the console, while Westerners, like myself, were introduced to the gray and black. Seeing how these controller replicas are made by Tomy of Japan, it makes sense that they’d choose red.
Other than that, my only small complaint with this series is that there’s just not enough controllers! Four distinct designs to collect is a rather small number for a blind bagged series (the Wiimote’s two color schemes is almost cheating, though black was a big deal). The GameCube controller had a nice visual design and adding some handhelds, such as the Gameboy and Nintendo DS, seems like a no-brainer.
Regardless, Nintendo fans are going to love these small, detailed replicas. Fun and easy to collect, this blind capsule series is sure to bring back fond memories of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, Super Metroid, Mario Galaxy, and more.
The UCC Distributing/ Tomy Mini Nintendo Capsule Toy collection is in stores now priced at a MSRP of $4.99 each..
Review and Photos by Jeff Saylor
Review Samples Courtesy of UCC Distributing
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