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Thread: Nintendo Entertainment System Control Deck Sets

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Default Nintendo Entertainment System Control Deck Sets

    When the Nintendo Entertainment System was first released in late 1985 or early 1986 depending on what region in the U.S. you were living in, the first bundles included the basic Control Deck and the Deluxe Set.

    The Control Deck set bundle had two variations: one had no game cartridge included (console and two controllers only), while another with Super Mario Bros. included had retailed for $10 more. The one with the SMB cart was dropped after 1987, and in its place was The Official Nintendo Player's Guide. After the Player's Guide had been superseded by the now-defunct Nintendo Power magazine in July 1988, it reverted back to the original $10-less version.

    The other set to come out in 1985-86 was the Deluxe Set, which included both the Zapper Light Gun and the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) and their respective game paks, Duck Hunt and Gyromite.

    My question is: was the version of the Control Deck set with SMB included the more common one, since people bought that set specifically for this groundbreaking game? To put this another way: did the Control Deck set with SMB outsell the one without it? Thank you!

    ~Ben
    Last edited by ColecoFan1981; 06-13-2015 at 01:02 AM.

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    Pear (Level 6) retroman's Avatar
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    You are not even saying anything about sets that came out before the SMB sets. I know what you are asking but just saying you forgot the other sets before.
    Last edited by retroman; 06-12-2015 at 11:54 PM.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by retroman View Post
    You are not even saying anything about sets that came out before the SMB sets. I know what you are asking but just saying you forgot the other sets before.
    Added the Deluxe Set info to my original post!

    ~Ben

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    Cherry (Level 1) Flojomojo's Avatar
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    I have no data or evidence, but I strongly suspect the big set with two controllers, the zapper gun, and super Mario bros/Duck Hunt was the biggest seller in the USA. I wonder if you could write to Nintendo or ask them on Twitter to get a real answer?

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flojomojo View Post
    I have no data or evidence, but I strongly suspect the big set with two controllers, the zapper gun, and super Mario bros/Duck Hunt was the biggest seller in the USA. I wonder if you could write to Nintendo or ask them on Twitter to get a real answer?
    After 1988 it was, but before then it's anyone's guess. . .

    ~Ben

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Umm it came out in 1985 and it was only (at the time unbranded) Deluxe Set. It was not until later on they had the action set and the marked Deluxe Set at retail.

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    I never saw a control deck for sale without SMB until the Player's Guide version came out. It's news to me that they sold such a thing for $10 less simultaneously.

    Almost everyone I knew had the SMB version, including me. The one kid I knew of that time that didn't had the Deluxe Set. He was also the first person I ever knew who had a Nintendo, and his parents kind of spoiled him and bought him a lot of the black box games along with the system. Oddly, his copy of SMB was cart only, since they were sold out and so they had to settle for the display copy (see it's not a Gamestop invented thing )

    Later on I knew lots of people with the Mario/Duck Hunt set, sure, but in those early days the Mario set was definitely the norm.

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