Nintendo has updated its collection of console-inspired keychains in Japan. The collection originally only featured NES and Famicom-inspired options, but has now expanded to N64, GameCube, Super Famicom, and the Super NES.
The original “Controller Button Collection” was initially released in 2021, during the middle of COVID. Nintendo only offered them through a pop-up shop they hosted in Japan, and the piece of the controller you received was entirely random.
Capsule toy machines, often called Gacha machines, still have a relatively strong adoration in Japan. Here in America, they remain figments of a collective nostalgic past with few still existing around the nation.
NES and Famicom-inspired “Controller Button Collection” set 1
These new ones, however, are available directly at Nintendo’s stores in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, and the visitor service center in the Narita Airport.
The original release of the NES and Famicom version of the collection features six total options: the D-Pad, the select and start buttons, and the two A-B buttons split across the two controllers. The new collection brings six new designs by limiting the Super NES and Super Famicom to their color-themed buttons but splits the GameCube and N64 into their button layout and joystick.
SNES, SFC, N64, GC inspired Controller Button set 2
The inclusion of N64, GameCube, Super Famicom, and Super Nintendo-inspired variants furthers Nintendo’s efforts to bring more attention to its long-running and highly respected history.
Good Luck Getting These in the States
A little over two months ago, Nintendo re-released their GameCube hit, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, onto the Nintendo Switch. Throughout the past three years, Nintendo has been slow-drip releasing popular retro titles spanning across all of their consoles up to N64 onto their Nintendo Switch Online membership service. Currently, the Switch houses the entire Pikmin and Luigi’s Mansion series and has a remastered version of the original Metroid Prime.
For decades, Nintendo has dedicated itself to creating lasting gaming memories. These keychains will give players the option to carry those memories with them every day. The second edition of the “Controller Button Collection” keychains is currently only available in Japan for 500 yen, but nothing is stopping anyone from procuring a set or two from your favorite online second-hand marketplace.
Are you going to try and purchase any of the keychains? Do you have nostalgia for one specific Nintendo console? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!
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