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Serious grammar question...

Is the "an" in the title proper because NES, pronounced, sounds like /ɛn/, even though it's actually a consonant?

It just depends on how you say the initialism. If you say "ness" then you'd use "a". If you say "en ee ess" then you'd use "an".

The "ness" pronunciation is chiefly used by Brits (who also tend to pronounce SNES as "snezz").

Canadian here... ness all the way.

Canadian here. N E S all the way. You must be french.

This is absolutely horrifying

'an' is used when the sound of the next letter is the sound of a vowel, so in the case of eN-E-S, 'an' is correct.

In english multiple vowels in a row cause you to take a pause, which is why the -n is added

Worth noting, the other posters are correct in saying that 'a snezz' or 'a ness' is also correct.