The Nintendo Gateway System is a series of video game consoles specialized for airlines and hotels. As part of a partnership between Nintendo and LodgeNet from late 1993 up until the late 2000s, about 40,000 airline seats and 955,000 hotel rooms featured a modified version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube, installed on some Northwest, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Air Canada, American Airlines, Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane, All Nippon Airways, British Midland International, Kuwait Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, and Virgin Atlantic passenger aircraft, as well as certain hotels with LodgeNet, NXTV, or Quadriga entertainment systems. Aimed more at adults than Nintendo's core children's market, it was one of the first in-seat airline entertainment services, provided by Matsushita Avionics, Rockwell Collins, and Thales Avionics. The controller, or remote, for the airline version of the Gateway System had a button setup similar to the Super NES controller, and it also doubled as a remote for the movie and music aspects of the system. It was part of a much larger computer system that allowed air passengers to not only play video games, but also watch movies and shows, listen to music, talk on the phone, and even shop while in-flight, before the rise of the internet. Upon its release, there were 10 games installed in the system, which included The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, F-Zero and Super Mario World. Future plans for the system were to have it installed on cruise ships as well. LodgeNet partnered with Nintendo to bring video games directly into guest hotel rooms through streaming over the LodgeNet server, with the special LodgeNet controller plugging directly into the television or LodgeNet set-top box, transmitting the game over phone lines connected to a central game server. Pricing was usually $6.95 plus tax for 1 hour of video games. After 1 hour, the game would immediately stop and prompt the user to purchase more play time. Many games were modified for single-player play only. Its official website was discontinued in mid-2008, but units have been seen as late as 2013 for Nintendo 64 in hotels, and as late as 2012 for Game Boy and Game Boy Color on Singapore Airlines. LodgeNet was the most widespread pay-per-view system for hotels that used it.
History On August 10, 1993, Nintendo of America began rolling out the Nintendo Gateway System, initially in one of Northwest Airlines' Boeing 747 and LodgeNet. In late 1993, LodgeNet launched its on-demand hospitality service, including worldwide delivery of Super NES games to hotel guests via its proprietary building-wide networks. LodgeNet eventually reported the system being installed in 200,000 hotel guest rooms by April 1996, and 530,000 guest rooms by mid-1999. By April 1996, LodgeNet reported that its partnership with Nintendo to deliver Super NES games had yielded 200,000 worldwide hotel guest room installations. In June 1998, Nintendo and LodgeNet entered a 10-year licensing agreement for an "aggressive" upgrade to add Nintendo 64 support to their existing 500,000 Super NES equipped guest room installations. LodgeNet says that within the system's previous five years to date, the system had "caused Nintendo to become the most successful new product rollout in the history of the hotel pay-per-view industry". LodgeNet reported that within the middle of 1998 alone, 35 million hotel guests encountered the Nintendo name as an integral amenity, and it reported sales of more than 54 million minutes of Nintendo-based gameplay.
In June 1999, LodgeNet and Nintendo began expanding and upgrading their existing Super NES buildout to include Nintendo 64 support. In mid-1999, LodgeNet reported that its 530,000 hotel room installations were increasing at a rate of 11,000 rooms per month. In September 2000, Nintendo and LodgeNet began delivering newly released Nintendo 64 games to hotel rooms at more than 1,000 hotel sites, concurrently with the games' retail releases, demonstrating "the capacity to update LodgeNet's interactive digital systems with fresh content virtually overnight".
Games Games are offered for six Nintendo platforms, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Game Boy, the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo 64, and the GameCube, with support for the Nintendo Entertainment System planned. While GB, GBC, and GBA games are exclusive to the airlines, the N64 and GC games are exclusive to the hotels, and the SNES is available for both.
Super Nintendo Entertainment System There were 49 Super Nintendo Entertainment System titles available to play on LodgeNet hotel televisions and on airlines equipped with Nintendo Gateway System, which LodgeNet used for their hotel service. Some titles were not playable on airlines.
Blackthorne Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure (not available on airlines) Boxing Legends of the Ring The Brainies ClayFighter: Tournament Edition (not available on airlines) ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay (not available on airlines) Claymates Donkey Kong Country Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (not available on airlines) Dr. Mario (standalone, exclusive to the service) Final Fight F-Zero Hagane: The Final Conflict Hal's Hole in One Golf Hangman (exclusive to the service) Killer Instinct (not available on airlines) Kirby's Dream Course The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past The Lost Vikings The Lost Vikings 2 Mega Man X NCAA Basketball (listed in a Nintendo Power article about the Gateway Service, unknown availability) Noughts & Crosses (exclusive to the service) Panel de Pon Postcard Puzzle (exclusive to the service) Prehistorik Man Pro Mahjong Kiwame Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (not available on airlines) Super Adventure Island Super Bonk Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts Super Mario All-Stars Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World (unknown availability) Super Mario World Super Metroid (not available on airlines) Super Play Action Football Super Punch-Out!! Super Soccer Super Solitaire Super Street Fighter II (not available on airlines) Super Tennis True Golf Classics: Pebble Beach Golf Links (listed in a Nintendo Power article about the Gateway Service, unknown availability) Tetris (standalone, exclusive to the service) Tetris Attack Tetris & Dr. Mario Vegas Stakes Wario's Woods
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