Since the dawn of man, gamers have debated from sunrise to sunset about how to pronounce the NES. Is it “Ness?” Or N.E.S? Some even call it the “Nezz,” but those people are obviously monsters. The answer, according to Nintendo, is the former, “Ness.”
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And naturally, WarioWare Gold and Wario are involved.
WarioWare Gold, which just released today on Nintendo 3DS in North America, comes with a museum mode of Nintendo history. And in the game’s Japanese version, said museum shows off a Nintendo Entertainment System, the wonderful console that kicked off things for Nintendo in the hardware space. In the description of said system, it notably points out that the NES is pronounced “Ness,” ending the once enternal debate.
News of Nintendo’s verdict comes way of Kyle McLain, who writes the following on Twitter:
In the museum section of the Japanese version of Wario Ware Gold, you can unlock some slides showcasing the Famicom. Also included is a picture of the NES. Within the description, Nintendo themselves says that “NES” is pronounced “Ness”. pic.twitter.com/Vg5JjXgJgy
— Kyle McLain (@FarmboyinJapan) August 3, 2018
Despite this coming from the mouth of Nintendo itself, it’s best to take this confirmation with a grain of salt. Why? Because Nintendo has a history of inconsistency over the matter. Whether through press releases, commercials, promotional material, whatever, Nintendo has been caught referring to the system both ways, though it does seem to lean more towards the “Ness.”
In other words, it’s unclear where Nintendo officially stands on the matter, but at the moment, it seems to stand with the the brave and few “Ness” fighters out there.
The “confirmation” seems to have hardly solved anything though, as Nintendo fans remain divided as ever over the greatest battle video games has ever seen:
The true pronunciation of #NES was never in doubt.#Ness knew it all along.
Now, who’s going to break the news to #SNES ?#Earthbound #SSBultimate #SuperSmashBrosUltimate pic.twitter.com/7hjX4pmd3d
— Lawal Muhammad (@OriginCookieMan) August 3, 2018
— Mike (@StrikerObi) August 3, 2018
Sorry, your translation is wrong. N.E.S.
— Sir Randall Gaming (@SirRandallGames) August 3, 2018
Why are people surprised by this? NOA even had a comic character named “Nester” to drive it home… Did people call him “N E S ter?”
— Tomottergoatee (@tomatogoatee) August 3, 2018
Nintendo’s US ads often referred to the Super Nintendo as the “Super N E S”, which is probably why “nes” and “snes” sound weird. I didn’t hear them until I was in my 20s.
Exhibit A: Super Metroid commercialhttps://t.co/e2DbD0sME2
— Jeff Staple (@Ninjeff) August 3, 2018
The war is lost. We have lost.
— chestnutvinegar (@chestnutvinegar) August 3, 2018
