Nintendo airline entertainment systems

[phreak97]

I've been googling around and searching the forums here but I've come up empty.

A few years ago I saw some photos of a super nintendo which was built into the seat of an international airliner, the controller had all of the normal buttons for the various things you can do on a plane plus it had the snes buttons.
I believe there was a central "server" with a bunch of snes games plugged into it, and each of the seat units would get the rom from the cart in the server and temporarily store it locally while youre playing it, that way one cart could be palyed by multiple people at the same time.

I also heard there were other nintendo systems used in airliners, but I cant remember what they were.

I'd like more photos and information on these if anyone has anything?

ultimately I'd like a controller from one of these to add to my collection, I have emailed an aircraft graveyard but I dont have particularly high hopes.

[badinsults]

There is several articles about this system in various game magazines of the time. There is an in depth look at it in the February 1994 issue of Nintendo Power.

[phreak97]

oohh.. Any chance of some scans?
I've got lots of nintendo magazine system mags but thats all

[rimsky82]

I also remember this sort of ordeal in hotels, I remember staying in a Holiday Inn as a kid, and they had a controller hooked up to the cable box (I think), and you could order a snes game to play for a limited amount of time the same way you would a ppv movie. I remember playing a kirby game this way.

[rimsky82]

And for scans you can try retromags.com (http://retromags.com)

[betamax001]

I also remember this sort of ordeal in hotels, I remember staying in a Holiday Inn as a kid, and they had a controller hooked up to the cable box (I think), and you could order a snes game to play for a limited amount of time the same way you would a ppv movie. I remember playing a kirby game this way.

I remember there being something like this for Nintendo 64. I always wanted to play it, but I never could : (

[badinsults]

Probably the best resource is the archive of the original Gateway system website:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060109124343/www.nintendogateway.com/

At some point, I intend to do an article on this thing, but I would like to at least get information from someone who has the setup. I have never met anyone though. I know that DreamTR has one of the Gateway System's exclusive games, Noughts & Crosses.

[dra600n]

I remember there being something like this for Nintendo 64. I always wanted to play it, but I never could : (

There was one of those in a hotel I went to in 2003 in Massachusetts when I went to see Metallica and one down in Alabama last year when I went there for work. They wanted $10 I believe for an hour. I thought it was a ripoff and didn't bother.

There is a drive in movie theater near me that has an arcade cabinet with 4 SNES games in it, with arcade controllers - one of the games is Super Mario World. I thought that was pretty interesting.

[dendawg]

know that DreamTR has one of the Gateway System's exclusive games, Noughts & Crosses.

SFC Tic-Tac-Toe??? ROFL

[Cauterize]

These systems we're fantastic, but incredibly annoying at the same time. The one and only time I got to play one of these was when I came to visit the US for the first time in 1996 (IIRC). It was on Virgin airlines.

The system I played, from what I can remember definately featured Super Mario World. Prior to this, I hadn't played a SNES, so needless to say the excited 10 year old I was spent a LOT of time playing this while flying.

However, annoyingly every time an announcement came over the plane (Turbulance, landing, etc) the game would cut out. Once the announcement was finished, the game would come back on, but the system would be reset. There was no save battery either, so come every dreaded announcment I was back to level 1 :(


The SNES pad was on the back of the handset that was used to control the Television and call the attendants with. And if i remember correctly too, F-Zero was also available to play.

[PSony]

I remember playing Super Mario World, F-Zero, Super Tennis, and Super Bonk on one of those Super Nintendo Gateway Systems back in '98.

[badinsults]

These systems we're fantastic, but incredibly annoying at the same time. The one and only time I got to play one of these was when I came to visit the US for the first time in 1996 (IIRC). It was on Virgin airlines.

The system I played, from what I can remember definately featured Super Mario World. Prior to this, I hadn't played a SNES, so needless to say the excited 10 year old I was spent a LOT of time playing this while flying.

However, annoyingly every time an announcement came over the plane (Turbulance, landing, etc) the game would cut out. Once the announcement was finished, the game would come back on, but the system would be reset. There was no save battery either, so come every dreaded announcment I was back to level 1 :(


The SNES pad was on the back of the handset that was used to control the Television and call the attendants with. And if i remember correctly too, F-Zero was also available to play.

Check the Gateway site I linked, it has a full list of games:

Blackthorne
Boxing Legends of the Ring
The Brainies
Claymates
Dr. Mario
F-Zero
Final Fight
Hagane
Hangman
HAL's Hole in One Golf
Kirby's Dream Course
The Legend of Zelda --
A Link to the Past
The Lost Vikings
Lost Vikings II
Mega Man X
Noughts & Crosses
Panel de Pon
Postcard Puzzle
Prehistorik Man
Pro Mah Jong Kiwame
Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye
Street Fighter II
Super Adventure Island
Super Bonk
Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Super Mario All-Stars
Super Mario World
Super Play Action Football
Super Punch-Out!!
Super Soccer
Super Solitaire
Super Tennis
Tetris Attack
Tetris & Dr. Mario
Vegas Stakes
Wario's Woods

[rbudrick]

Holy crap, they had GB gateway systems?

Damn, I wonder what year those came out, If before 1994, I would have died to play GB on a TV screen.

-Rob

[DreamTR]

Damn, at least I know where my game came from now. I had no idea this even existed! That's what I get for not reading Nintendo Power while I was in college and playing too many arcade games. Yay for Noughts and Crosses.

[Noise]

The first time I played a Nintendo 64 was at a hotel. I played a game where you flew around in a plane and was was rather cartoony. That's all I remember. But yeah, those controllers sound really neat. How much are they worth do you think?