Global InformationNintendo Gateway System information
The Nintendo Gateway System is a version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy,[1] Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, or GameCube that was installed on some Northwest, Singapore Airlines, Air China, Air Canada, 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, from late 1993 up until the late 2000s.
It was a series of video game consoles rather than a single console, specialized for airlines and hotels, featured in about 40,000 airline seats and 955,000 hotel rooms. It was one of the first in-seat airline entertainment services, provided by Matsushita Avionics, Rockwell Collins, and Thales Avionics. 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.
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 in hotels and cruise ships as well.
The controller, or remote, for the airline version of the Gateway System had a button setup similar to the Super NES controller. It also doubled as a remote for the movies and music aspect of the system. Hotels had modified versions of the original console controllers. LodgeNet was the most widespread pay-per-view system for hotels that used it.
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 TV 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.
- ^ "System and method for trans-compiling video games". Google Patents. Nintendo of America, Inc. July 27, 2010. Retrieved March 17, 2021.