1996 Nintendo Classic, Where Mario Went 3D for the First Time, Turns 30

The Nintendo 64 hit North American stores 30 years ago today. Officially, anyway.

The launch date was Sunday, Sept. 29, 1996. By then, more than half of KB Toys’ stores had already sold out.

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It Went on Sale 3 Days Early, by Mistake

At 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, Sept. 26, “a bunch of stores, including K-B, by mistake, put Nintendo 64s on the shelves for customers to buy,” KB Toys vice president Tom Alfonsi said the next day.

He took the clerks’ side. “What’s a poor sales clerk, who’s making $4 to $5 an hour, going to do?” he said. “I mean they see the boxes being loaded in front of the store that morning, and customers are going to see them, too.”

By noon, Nintendo had called KB to say it was okay to sell them. Other chains piled in. Electronics Boutique and Toys R Us got Nintendo’s approval, and some Sears, Walmart, Kmart, Best Buy and Circuit City stores followed.

“Retailers are obviously bending to customer demand, and the system is hot. There’s nothing we can do about it,” a Nintendo source said at the time.

Mario Went 3D

The console launched in the U.S. with two games: Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Japan had gotten both the console and Mario three months earlier, on June 23, 1996.

Super Mario 64 was the first 3D Mario game, according to Guinness World Records, and it eventually sold 11 million copies.

At KB, Mario was selling “very close to a one-to-one ratio with the unit,” Alfonsi said.

Nintendo Put It Up Against Tickle Me Elmo

Nintendo had planned to charge $250 for it. In August 1996, it cut the price to $200, and it sold for $199.95.

By the end of the year, Nintendo expected to have sold at least 1.6 million. “Easily the fastest selling system ever,” Nintendo executive Peter Main said.

The company even compared it with the holiday’s other hot item, Tickle Me Elmo, which had shipped about a million units by published reports.

Two of the console’s games are being remade now: Star Fox 64 for the Switch 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.