Topic: NES Classic Edition

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Well, I recently got extremely lucky on my hunt for an NES Classic here in Canada. Here’s my (long) story:

I hadn't intended to get one at all (I ignored it for the first few months on the market, not interested whatsoever in putting in all the effort for tracking one of the elusive machines down), but when I got a head's up about finding one online, I decided to try for it.

That was on April 13th, when the bestbuy.ca forums announced that a limited quantity of NES Classics would be going on sale that day at 3:00pm for online purchases. At 2:59pm I started refreshing the product page like crazy, and when it went live I was actually able to add one into my cart. I immediately clicked checkout, and.... "Sorry, one of the items in your cart is no longer in stock, and we cannot complete your order." God dammit. Sold out in thirty seconds. Resigned, I left the zero quantity item in my cart and pretty much gave up right then.

Then, two weeks later on April 27th, the same bestbuy.ca forums announced that another limited quantity of NES Classics would be made available on the following day at noon. Nintendo had since made their announcement about discontinuing it, so I knew this was likely my last chance at ever getting one (without resorting to ridiculous scalper prices on ebay, which I refused to do). When I saw that I had left the dead item in my cart since my last effort, I realized I'd have an advantage over others (however slight) as I wouldn't need to waste time adding it into my cart again.

So, on April 28th, I opened up my cart page on bestbuy.ca and at 11:59am started clicking the checkout button as a means of simultaneously refreshing the page and trying to submit my order for when the product went live.

click "Sorry, one of the items in your cart is sold out."
click "Sorry, sold out."
click "Sold out."
click "Sold out."
click "Sold out."
click "Sold out."
click "How would you like to pay?" GAAAH! UHHH! VISA! THERE! YES! CONFIRMING! COME ON, HURRY!.......... YES!!"

I did it, complete with the email confirmation and everything. I immediately went back to the product page out of curiousity, and yup, sold out. Upon then checking the Best Buy forums, people were livid, as it only lasted about 20 seconds this time. Happy as a clam, I left it to the post office to bring it to me. With a Best Buy distribution center just a few miles from where I live, I knew it would only take a few days at most to arrive at my doorstep, but likely no more than two.

So I waited. Three days later, it hadn't arrived yet, which struck me as odd. I took a look at my order tracker, and it claimed it was delivered today (May 3rd). But... it wasn't here. Worried that it was perhaps dropped off on my porch and stolen, I decided to give my previous landlord a text (we recently moved) and ask if maybe it was mistakenly delivered to my old address (it shouldn't have been, as my wife and I currently have a mail forwarding service open that directs all mail with our old address to our new address until we can update everything, and so far it's been working great). My landlord checks the mail and... sure enough, it's over there. Relieved, I ask her if she wouldn't mind bringing it to her workplace tomorrow for me to pick up, as it's far easier for me to grab it from her over there on my way home from my work verses driving a half hour out of my way to my old address. She agrees, and I get it from her the following day.

Then, on my way home (NES Classic in tow), I remembered that today is the last day that the brick and mortar Best Buys are having a sale on PS VR games, and I had been back and forth on picking up Battlezone (on for 50% off), but wasn't completely sure I wanted it. As I'm driving, I quickly realize that if I plan to stop at Best Buy to get it, I need to take the next left turn. Otherwise, I'd be turning right and heading home. "Do I want it? Don't I? The demo was fun, but not that great, but it's half-price, but, but... Oh, what the hell." I turned left, and headed to my local Best Buy (near Vancouver, BC.).

When I get there, I find the game easily enough, and after picking it up decide to walk through the Nintendo section on my way to the cashier. Nothing was there that particularly interested me, and the whole section was pretty sparse really, what with the discontinuation of the Wii U and there not being many Switch games released yet. Glancing down as I passed through, inside one of those locked glass cases that electronics stores use to display live products were some Nintendo items. A few 3DS systems, a stack of 3DS games, an NES Classic, and---

Wait, WHAT?!

I did a legit double-take, and just stared at it. It had an open-box sticker on it, but... yes, it was definitely an NES Classic. The same product that I just happened to have in my car, in the parking lot, at that very moment after grabbing it from my landlord 15 minutes ago. This incredibly sought-after, discontinued product. And it was just sitting there. My mind races, and I quickly decide: I'm buying it. Not to scalp, but likely to give as a kick-ass birthday gift for someone who will appreciate it, even if it just sits in my closet for a time. Failing that, if a Classic SNES system should ever be released and also be damn-near impossible to purchase AND also be prematurely discontinued, then who knows? Maybe I could do a straight trade with someone for their extra SNES Mini for my NES mini. Moving quickly before someone else comes along to lay claim to it (though it was fortunately a sunny day at four in the afternoon, and the store was mostly devoid of customers), I hunt down and find a nearby store clerk on the floor.

"Hey, do you think I could get you to open up the glass case in the Nintendo section? There's something there that I want to buy," I said.
He says "sure", and starts walking with me to the area. "What did you want?" he asks.
"The Classic NES system."
"Oh, those have been sold out and since discontinued, I don't think we've got any."
"Oh yes, you do!" I grin.
"...Seriously?"
"Yup. It's an open-box product, but it's there!"
"........Seriously??"

We get there, and I point it out to him. He can't believe it. In hindsight, I think he might have been wanting one of his own, but had since given up on ever getting ahold of one. Anyway, he looks through his keys, and realizes he doesn't have the correct key to open this particular display case. He calls out to a nearby fellow employee, and asks if he has the key. This new guy says he does, and as he walks over to us he grins at me and asks:

“Classic NES?”
“Yup!”
“I knew it, I put it there ten minutes ago.”

I couldn’t believe my luck. Regarding the open box sticker, I asked him if someone had simply played it and returned it. He says that’s likely all it was, but that Nintendo is extremely fussy about hardware being returned to any brick and mortar store, and have a policy that it must then be returned to Nintendo’s headquarters for refurbishment (so basically: Best Buy sells unit to customer, customer returns unit to Best Buy, Best Buy returns unit to Nintendo, Nintendo “refurbishes” it and sends it back to Best Buy). That’s why it took so long for Best Buy to receive this random one-off quantity; I imagine it was one of a handful in all of North America that was actually returned to a store for a refund. Upon later inspection, I realized that it’s a first-print edition (the one I ordered online is a second edition; if you weren't aware, you can tell which is which by the addition of the ESRB logo on the newer unit, pic below), so maybe it took an exceptionally long time to make its way back from Nintendo?

Anyway, the guy guarantees me that the unit is in perfect condition (and it is, right down to everything inside the box being properly wrapped, all of the inserts being there, and even the PIN code for 300 platinum coins on My Nintendo being unused. If you haven’t guessed, I’m playing with the open box NES and keeping my online order NES sealed), comes with a normal store warranty, and is even slightly cheaper due to being an open box unit ($76 CDN rather than the standard $80 CDN).

At the checkout, the cashier runs to the back to get me a sealed copy of Battlezone. As I wait with the NES Classic on the counter in front of me, another cashier comes up to ring through a customer, and she sees the NES sitting there.

“Wow, when did we get more of those in? I thought it was discontinued!”

I quickly explain that it was a single unit returned from Nintendo, and had only just been put on the sales floor. My cashier returns, and as he’s ringing me through, another cashier comes up to tend to a customer and also notices the NES.

“Where did that come from?! Did we get another shipment?!”

Every staff member knows exactly what this thing is. I can only imagine the amount of inquires they must get about it. I quickly explain (again) about where it came from, and how it was only there for a few minutes. His expression changed to what I would describe as a comical mock-rage, and he slowly shuts his eyes and smiles to himself as he hangs his head.

Me: “Ah……. You, uh, wanted one, huh?”
Him: “Nope! I’m good!” he says through a forced smile.

My guess is that he had given up on ever being able to buy one, and had made his peace with it. Having a rogue unit returned to his store without him noticing until it was too late, however, seemed to open up the wound. I felt a little sorry for him, but I wasn’t giving it up

Not much more to say than that. I went home, set up the open-box unit, stored the new unit (and the other’s box) at the top of our closet, and have been happily playing since. I’ve been playing many, many NES games on it, actually I also made sure to remove Best Buy’s giant “open-box” stickers from the box before they could set; fortunately there was no ripping of the box as I peeled them off. The box itself has some minor signs of wear on it compared to the newer one (I’m guessing from the large amount of transit it went through in its journey to find a permanent home), but it mostly looks great. I have an old Wii Classic Controller that I’ve been using for two-player games, so I’ve been able to avoid opening the other (newer) NES Classic to grab that controller.

Here they are: (open-box unit on top)

(having some trouble embedding the image here, is it not by doing this?: [ im g] url here [/i mg] Without spaces? For now, here's the link; https://i.imgur.com/q02qYuv.jpg)

It was just so crazy how, ultimately, my ordering of the first unit online (and not being able to actually order it until my second attempt), its subsequent mis-delivery to my old address, and my last-second decision to go to Best Buy for a VR game all resulted in me being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time in order stumble across a second system and purchase it with no fuss, and zero effort. Not that I’m trying to brag here, but I found the whole story pretty insane, considering the scarcity and demand of the item, and what others have gone through just to attempt to get one.

I still haven't figured out what I'll do with the unopened unit, but I swear I have no plans to scalp it. ButI'm a sucker for limited edition gaming stuff (especially when it's discontinued as abruptly as the NES Classic, and still unopened), so it may just stay in my closet for awhile with my other collectibles to appreciate in value.

The End!