We were at the goodwill today and I spotted a strange accessory for my old school Nintendo Entertainment System. Was it a power glove? Or, perhaps an NES Advantage controller? No, it was something even more useless… an official NES Dust Cover!

But hey, we’re talking a mint-condition, still-in-the-package accessory from 1990. For only $2, I couldn’t pass it up.

So here, for your entertainment, I present the unboxing of the NES Dust Cover:

This fine product was manufactured by “High Frequency” – but, it does have the official Nintendo seal of approval.  “Prolongs life of control deck.” The ordinal NES was know for it’s durability, so this product was probably superfluous. Mine is still going strong after 25 years of constant abuse.  Also states: “Keeps out dust and dirt.” This have never really been a problem for me. The only thing that seems to get dusty are the contacts on the cartridges.

Looking closer, we can see that this originally sold for $5. Guess I got a pretty good deal.

On the bottom, it notes that the cover must be removed to play the games. This is strange… the games hide fully inside the unit on the original NES, so it should fit fine when in use. My guess is that it would trap in the heat – quickly igniting the unit in a pixelated ball of flame that would engulf your entire house and eventually the entire world… but, that is just a guess.

In any case, the cat seems to approve. Let’s open this sucker up.

Here it is. The dust cover tastes fresh air for the first time in 20 years.

The crisp cover awkwardly unfolds, revealing a gray underbelly and several stylish gaps where the cords will go.

Here is my naked Nintendo. Still a thing of beauty after all these years. Though, she is looking a bit yellow compared to her great-great-granddaughter, the Wii.

And it fits like a glove. A thin, plastic, poorly fitting glove.

Here we can see the fine craftsmanship. They created an open area for the controller connections, but somehow managed to make it just a bit too small. Pressing against the plug forced the cover to bunch and twist.

One last bonus was hiding in the package – a sign up form to join an elite cult of collinear-head cyborgs. I remember falling for this scheme many years ago. Somewhere, in the back of a closet at my parents house is a stack of old Nintendo Power magazines. I wonder if that 1-800 number still works?