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bureau-of-suspended-objects:

ITEM 123: Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt Still Inside
Found on: 6/19/15
Materials: hard plastic, metal
Damage/wear: discoloration, minor scratches, missing NES Zapper
Provenance: Nintendo Uji Plant, Enba-92-15 Makishimacho, Uji, Kyoto, Japan
Production details: Nintendo was originally a playing card company, founded in Kyoto in 1889. Specifically, it produced hanafuda cards, a type of card with a flower design on the back that could be used to play a variety of games. In the first half of the 20th century it also tried out several other side businesses, including cab services, and love hotels, and instant rice. It began to focus on video games in the 1970s, including the arcade game Donkey Kong (on which Item 121 is based). After a Nintendo employee was inspired by seeing someone playing with a LCD calculator on the train, Nintendo launched a handheld electronic game that would eventually become the Game Boy. In 1985, it released the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console and game series. The NES marked the video game industry’s comeback from the video game crash of 1983, when the market had become too saturated with video game products. 
The Uji plant was built in 1969. Nintendo built two more factories in Uji (Uji-Ogura and Uji-Okubo) in 1988 and 1994 to keep pace with demand. Since this console was made in 1985, it was definitely built at the original Uji plant. Nintendo has since outsourced production to China, and the Uji plant is currently a repair and maintenance center. It sits across the street from a subdivision of McMansion-type houses and a couple of small businesses.
Nintendo continues to produce gaming systems such as the Nintendo DS (and 3DS) and Wii. Its president, Satoru Iwata, recently passed away.
Date or date range: 1985
Still in production: no
Rare: no
Still attainable from: eBay
Value: retailed for $250 with NES Zapper (~$442 adjusted for inflation); currently ~$75 used without zapper
Use: This console was used to play Nintendo video games like Super Mario Bros., Stack-Up, and Hogan’s Alley. It could be bought with an electronic gun (NES Zapper) for shooting games such as Duck Hunt. Early on, the deluxe set also came with a robot named R.O.B. (featured in one of the NES’ first TV commercials). Interestingly, before the image of a disgruntled teenager using video games as an escape became a cliche, Nintendo marketed the NES (and its home version, the Famicom) as “action packed excitement for the entire family,” sometimes even including the family in the advertisement image. 
In Super Mario Bros., two Italian-American plumbers jump on enemies, collect coins, and save a princess from a tortoise-like monster named Bowser. In Duck Hunt (packaged with Super Mario Bros.), the objective is to shoot enough ducks, which appear one or two at a time on the screen, within a given time period.

Happy 30th to the NES from the Bureau of Suspended Objects