KYOTO, JAPAN–Nintendo Co. Ltd. today announced the recall of 120 million NES consoles manufactured between 1889 and 1991. The recall included Nintendo Entertainment Systems sold in North America and Europe and Famicom consoles sold in Japan. The company did not explain why they were recalling the relic consoles, saying only that company engineers had finally come up with a solution to a niggling problem and that they wanted to set things right with consumers. When asked if the problem had anything to do with the console’s penchant for attracting dust to the connector contacts where game cartridges (or Game Paks) were inserted, a company spokesperson just smiled and said that Nintendo did not respond to speculation.

“I think they may have a difficult time getting people to send those units back,” noted game industry pundit, Viggo Tasman. “I suspect that there may be a more disruptive motive being revealed here. If I were to make a guess, I’d say they were looking to corner the eBay market on classic NES consoles.”

“Ridiculous,” countered game editor John Smathel (33) of GameSlam magazine. “Someone at Nintendo realized that a close inspection of Wii will reveal that it uses the same architecture as the NES–that’s how the Virtual Console works. Duh!”

Although it is commonly thought that the first Famicom consoles were introduced to the Japanese market in 1983, IGNN has learned that early “beta” models began being distributed during the late 19th century in parts of western Japan, where they were often used as miniature silk worm farms. Only later in the 1960s did users, and Nintendo’s engineers, discover that the units could be useful for creating interactive, digital entertainment experiences.

NPD research suggests that over 1 million of the original 120 million units may still be functioning and eligible for Nintendo’s free repairs, but an additional estimate that only 12 of those million units are actually in a location that the owner can remember suggests that the recall may have limited impact on the NES-playing community.

“Yeah, I know that I’ve got one somewhere,” said Smathel, “unless my mom tossed it when I moved out last week.” –Timm Bingo