Nintendo of America Promises 'Steady Flow' of NES Classic Edition Units Through Holiday Period

They knew this would be in high demand, like the amiibo, they are trying to create artificial demand, and will profit from the free advertisement of the shortage... its dispicable at best...

After standing online outside for an hour my wife has finally made it inside the Nintendo NY store, so hopefully she'll walk away w/ 1. I'm guessing that store must have received well over 1,000 as they sold 250 last night at the launch party. Too bad that store has never had an online store.

Holla @bezerker99

I'll be happy if they have any remaining stock next year. Maybe with the Switch scalpers won't be as crazy about it and I'll be able to get one.
Hey @rjejr, do you think Nintendo store in NY is going to restock more of this next year?

They better

I want to sell the one I got. I could use the extra dough. I probably won't though. I can't be bothered. There were four left at the Walmart near my house. They are probably gone by now though.

Of course they are in demand when each store only gets 5 consoles.everybody is calling Nintendo complaining and yes I was one of them.

I called over 25 stores in my area and each one only got 3 to 5 consoles

Really? They'd better take a laxative because right now the flow is constipated.

I remember the Wii having shortages. I have never heard anyone say that they tried to get a Wii U at launch and couldn't find one.

@Luna_110 @ThomasBW84

My wife just emailed me from work, this is the entirety of her email -

"Golden!"

And yes, the store I'm sure will continue to get and keep them in stock as they are located next to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree which will get thousands of visitors per day once they light it up. I'm sure there will be times they are sold out, but they'll continue to keep getting more in. Can't have your world wide flagship store look bad now can you?

Oh, they have been out of 2nd controllers since last night though, so they can look a little bad I suppose.

@RatKing64 yea their is a shortage of wii u. No one really stocks it other than Nintendo uk official site. The other place is eBay

Stores never order less than 10 units of a product. So it's either Nintendo greatly underestimating production or they're holding back stock to create artificial scarcity. Same thing happens with everything Nintendo releases, consoles, amiibo et al. My money is on artificial scarcity. It always looks good when websites report you've sold out on launch day. And if you can't have something, you want it so much more.

@rjejr
As long as they have some for the end of March/ beginning of April I'll be happy.
Though, at that time I should probably be worried for posible Switch shortages.

All I know is Nintendo better not pull this kind of thing with the Switch launch, or I will be very p/o'd with them.

I figure when the huge hype dies down, I will be able to find a NES classic edition easily, and that will be when I buy it

@dazzlerJJD this is exactly what's happening... no way Nintendo didn't know these would sell like hot cakes... and please, this is not a conspiracy theory, its called "extremely efficient marketing"...

@Luna_110 That's the big thing that nobody talks about - what is the NES Mini? I've had the discussion a few times w/ people on here but it's never really been discussed openly.

Is this a stop-gap "holiday item" to hold shelf space for Switch in March?
Is it a 1 year limited edition until SNES Mini releases holiday 2017?
Is it the beginning of an ongoing series of consoles made to last years - NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube - side by side on shelves for years to come?

Who knows w/ Nintendo. When's the last time you saw a Wii Fit Trainer amiibo on a store shelf?

Nintendo has never really addressed the "long term viability" of this thing so I just don't know what stock will look like after Christmas. I do think those $99 b&w New 3DS will be compeltley gone after Thanksgiving weekend just like the Splat Splash Wii U bundles disappeared last year. Nintendo likes to pump and dump.

"Please, understand".

@rjejr
Yeah, don't remind me. That indecision from Nintendo is a pain, speically down here since we only get a minimal fraction from Nintendo of America's stock. I hope they don't make this a special edition without telling us, but I do feel this can be a stopgap until the Switch and after that, we won't see it again.

The only good side is that the price here will make many people forget about buying the Mini Nes. FE Fates Special Edition and the Red/Blue 3DS limited edition were available for months after launch, so guess that if I don't get it in the US I'll just have to resign and pay the over inflated price.

@River3636 If you wanted it in the first place $200-$300 is probably not worth it unless you're SUPER hard up for cash. Price will go down again soon, assuming Nintendo bothers restocking, and then creep up again as the years go on. THEN go ahead and sell it if you want.

Nah, they're not making nearly enough. I work at a Target and this morning we sold out within seconds... Partially because we only got 16 in the first place.

Cool, good to know they are making more. I can wait.

@World I know, but I don't even know how Ebay really works. I only shop at Amazon for online stuff. It is actually supposed to be a gift for my brother's kids for Xmas. I own all those games on VC already and my nephews wouldn't even know if I got them Mini drones instead. It's temping.

Got to Gamestop 3 hours before they opened and was first in line, though by about 30 minutes before opening it was about 20 people deep and they only had 12 systems (which is better than other stores) but only 2 extra contollers for sale.

This thing is nowhere to be found. Same thing will happen when the Switch is released, but I'm preordering that as soon as GameStop starts the list.

@hYdeks Oh they certainly will unfortunately.

Nintendo should be able to make more. I mean the Wii U certainly isn't being made anymore.

Dang, looks like I won't be finding one today.

@River3636 Well, do what you need to do but, man, putting it that way it's hard to beat a new Nintendo system on Christmas!

That's a relief. Was starting to think that I wouldn't be able to get one.

This just better not happen to the Switch. : /

I can only imagine when the restock happens and there is a decent number on the shelf, certain people will say stuff like "too little, too late". Which would be ironic because nostalgia is timeless

We tried target and we're 8th in line. They got 6. So we went to ToysRUs and they had 20 or so. We just missed that one too but then a man walked up and handed his ticket to my 6 year old daughter. We we very grateful. What a kind thing to do.

Well, considering that a big target with this console is an audience that hasn't been 'playing with power' for awhile, its important for them to get the word out that those folks, who will only buy it if it's well stocked therefore quite visible in stores, will be able to actually become aware unlike many of the Smash Amiibo that never had a chance to become a visible product at store level

Now obviously I don't support Nintendo giving small stock to stores, but what the hell were you people who didn't get it expecting. Being a true Nintendo fan, I knew the NES Classics would sell out before stores even opened, you have to learn to wait in line if you want a Nintendo product. Nintendo products arent something you can just walk into a store and buy, even though they should be. There were only 2 at my local Target and me and my friend got both. My local GS had 5, Walmart 6, Best Buy 12. Please for future reference get to those stores early!

It's going to be real interesting to see how well this things sells.

I can't remember exactly what I was saying initially but I think I had my doubts in terms of who this thing would sell to. My initial impression was it would sell mostly to hardcore Nintendo fans, collectors, and some casuals as stocking fillers—which I guess I still think is the case for the large part—although I don't recall what kind of numbers I was predicting it might sell as a result but I expect it's going to do just fine and dandy. It might even do quite a bit better than I initially thought just because of the general excitement that seems to have built around it in the broader media, or so it seems, along with the greater demand that looks to have been created as a result of people not being able to get their hands on the thing even at this early stage.

It will honestly be really interesting to see if it sells in the tens of thousands, hundreds or thousands, or millions.

I hope this thing actually does sell in the millions, because I want to give Nintendo every single reason possible to release a SNES Classic Edition/Mini in the future too—that's the dream.

@ThomasBW84 the top of your website when you log in says switch wii u nx 3ds news you have the nx on there

...don't worry, soon as the R.O.B.s finish making the last Wii U this week..

..they'll be back to making more of the mini NES...

@Xaessya not bad. Free shipping.

I will side with Nintendo. The search here was absolutely bonkers. I saw HUNDREDS of people looking for this thing at one store. The demand was freaking high.

Besides, they already said this was just the first shipment. They may be shipping right after manufacturing

Anybody get it from Amazon? I think it sold out in the first minute

I don't think anyone got it at Amazon. Page kept crashing and wouldn't let you add it to your cart.

Amazon couldn't have gotten many. I was early and had it timed to refresh at the second. Didn't get one.

As for Nintendo, they have had the date set for some time now. They knew the demand was there. They could have easily manufactured twice the amount, and every one of them would have sold before Black Friday.

This is their holiday marketing plan.

No luck on Amazon either. I tried the app and site simultaneously and either got an error or it told me it want available anymore.

I question why Nintendo didn't wait until there was plenty of stock before selling.

Wow Twitter is harsh to Nintendo. As much as I love Nintendo and their products, they deserve everything they get today.

Local target got 60 of em. I was able to snag number 50 of those 60 luckily. Glad I work next to a target and gamestop for stuff like this. I'm brutally tempted to sell the one I got after seeing what it's going for but im keeping it. There's always next shipment lol.

Nobody, it seems, managed to order one from Amazon.
All forums say the same thing: site crashed, came back, crashed, etc. Finally came back, added to cart but never appeared in cart, then the order page vanished.
SMDH @ Nintendo.

C'mon Nintendo, are you losing confidence? Burn down the market, damn it! In my country there is a shortage of mini NES and they are highly overpriced due to this reason. Retailers are blaming Nintendo.

I predict similar situations in March.

@fortius54 and yet Nintendo will sell a lot of these in the next few months.

@dkxcalibur yes, if 10 million Switch at launch is real.

@Xaessya With prices like that I better be looking into how to sell my copy on Ebay. lol 😀

3 Switch consoles per store until June

That's a big, fat lie! I went to 6 stores and they were all sold out. One store said they only got 10.

I'm not business savvy, but I'm pretty sure the whole point of selling products is to MAKE Money!!

Went to Smyth's Toy store here in Galway City, Ireland today. Was told I can get one in maybe January!!......imagine the Switch being like this. Checked EBay too......full of greedy scalpers with tons of units for sale

I find it baffling how people get so bent out of shape when they can't get ahold of something.

Really I don't think people realize how hard it is to properly gauge supply and demand. This was mainly a novelty product aimed at those who wanted to re experience the NES. I don't think Nintendo was expecting it to sell this fast. Its also down the the stores to decide how much they want to stock. From a business standpoint oversupply is worse in the long run because more money is lost from unsold stock.

Nope! This is bad and all the blames falls on Nintendo. There is no good reason why this is happening.

I am fed up with Nintendo and their apologist.

@TheLZdragon Definitely, we get irritated. We say mean and horrible things about their family members. Then, we buy one any ways. I know I'll pick one up as long as it is before Christmas. However, their marketing department leaves me scratching my head constantly.

I'm staying away from this product until after the holidays are over. If I can find one in January or February, I'll gladly pick one up. I've been through this with amiibo and i'm done playing this game. In the mean time, I'll prepare for Black Friday online. Lots of XB1 and PS4 games to snatch up.

I just want to get a second controller so I can play the two player games with my fiancee since she only grew up with the Nes near the end of the life cycle in the 90's.

@rjejr Just got back from NintendoNY myself. I went during my lunch break, but the line was too long. So I took a gamble and came back later. The line was about 45 minutes long at 5PM. I'm not sure how big the stack was earlier in the day, but there were easily over 200 by my turn (at around 5:45). What a relief! I was super-anxious all day!

@masterLEON They must have easily had over 1,000 then as they sold the 250 the night before, plus opening at 9AM and it sounds like about 100 per hour for 9 hours. My wife spent over an hour inside and out but it's the only gift our kid wanted for Christmas, so she figured she'd get it over w/ and not worry about looking. We got our Wii (no U) on Amazon a week after launch but in NYC there was no stock on shelves for about 2 1/2 years.

Meanwhile at home I got an Amazon alert saying my package was left on my porch, only I don't have a porch. Fortuantly my neighbor brought it over about 45 minutes later while I was on the phone w/ UPS looking for it. Then I spent the rest of the day waiting for Fed Ex to deliver my PS4 Slim from Target, but they only delivered it to the local post office today, I misread the tracking, though they had said since I ordered it last week it would arrive today.

So Christmas shopping is off to a dramatic start this year all around.

@wmdwfprez You probably already know this, but in case you don't, you can use Wii classic controllers with it as well. That's a possible way to solve the issue of being able to play two player while you wait for the specific controller released for this to become available to you.

Will this problem repeat when the Super NES Classic Edition comes out?

I'm surprised young children would want the NES. I always thought they would not be interested in this since most of today's children grew up with DS, Wii and 3DS. @Claytonbob

Glad to hear it because I botched getting one this morning.

As for all the "Nintendo is doing this on purpose" suggestions, it doesn't help them one bit to not make every possible sale. It just doesn't. The demand was already strong. Making it stronger and having no supply simply angers customers. Witness the ratings on Amazon right now. 90% one stars all having nothing to do with the reportedly high quality of the product but not getting what they wanted. If Nintendo could make the exact number that everyone wanted instantly it would be much, much happier, as would we. The problem is it takes time to make these things and estimating demand is not a science.

I guessed it would sell like crazy this Holiday season but I was thinking over time. It's that thing you see on the shelf and throw in the cart, because "hey, I might only play this for a week or two, but that's just what I need." I honestly didn't think it was the type of item large lines would form for. That's impressive. I think it's because of the collectible miniature nature of it on top of the nostalgic game playing. You can leave it on your own shelf as a reminder of game eras gone by.

Which, btw, leads to what I think Nintendo is planning here, @rjejr . The naming of this NES Classic Edition sure suggests that there may be more than one edition of even the NES. If that's the case, I think Nintendo is on to something. Why wouldn't I want one of these for each Nintendo console generation. One a year would be great for the next few years.

We'll probably get a much better idea when the Switch reveals any retro game plans it has or doesn't have. That's the sort of thing we may be waiting past January for, however.

Oh, and I didn't get one yet! Hoping to see them just sitting on shelves, but that won't stop me from trying to catch a restock early.

I can understand people getting angry for not getting one but ever since it was announced here in Australia I was told to pre order one because stock will be limited.
Also, I looked at 3 or 4 different online retailers to pre order one and each one stated 'extremely limited stock' after it.
When I was buying a Wii U game in EB I got to talking about the Nes Mini to the sales person who also stated that I had better pre order one, which i had already.
He also said that he'd been telling people who commented on the advertisement out the front that they had better order one otherwise they will miss out, which actually happened while I was there to which the mother said:
" I'll try my luck when it comes out thanks".

So who's at fault?
Nintendo or the people that can't read or take advice?
I'm not saying everyone ignored the warning signs but it seems alot of people thought they would just rock up and grab one off the shelf, (which would've been the ideal situation) but when it was advertised that there would be limited stock available then I think some of the fault has to go back to the consumer, not alot, but some.

Nintendo is clearly at fault of under supplying but every ad I've seen had 'limited stock' after it so they did warn us from the start.

Don't get me wrong, Nintendo clearly underestimated how many they would sell, especially being near Xmas but they can't be blamed for people being complacent.

@SH007ME What if the reason why it's so understocked is because ROB hates how this has no Gyromite or Stack Up?

BUT THAT'S JUST A THEORY
A STUPID THEORY THAT EVERYONE WILL BLINDLY REGARD AS FACT

No matter how many they sold, the scalpers will always be there to get it first and resold them for jack price on ebay. Nintendo and retailers really needs to set limit on this product this holiday season. It should only be one item per customer per household, that way more people could buy this instead of the same guy buying 8-12 of them and later scalp them for more money online.

@KiWiiU_Freek There were no preorders in the United States. Some stores tried, but they ended up canceling them when Nintendo opted not to go that route.

Another thread mentioned the length of time production takes. From announcement to launch was around four months. That's not long.

It makes you wonder if this was some sort of stop gap to get them through the holiday season since they effectively had nothing outside of Sun and Moon. Market research should have done a better job, but this is Nintendo MO.

I think I heard it on NVC, and it holds true again. Every great Nintendo innovation comes with an apology attached to it. This seems to be the case again.

@fortius54 Do you think I will be able to get one before christmas?

@BinaryFragger
Sorry to hear you couldn't pre order, which is definitely a mistake on Nintendo's part as they should ensure there was at least enough stock to have some sort of chance of getting one on release.

@fortius54
Yeah, the turnaround was pretty short.
Once again, sorry to hear there were no pre orders, seems crazy that they didn't ensure there was enough stock for at least half of the demand.

A problem that occurred here in Australia was places like Target had a ticket system, where if you were in line before they opened you got a ticket for each of you until the stock was gone.
This way people knew up front whether they will get one or move on.
Problem was most of the staff divided up stock between each other in FRONT of people waiting outside, then when they opened their doors told people that half their stock was already sold, to themselves!
Needless to say there were some really pi!!ed off customers.
Also, some stores didn't even honour the ticket system, so first in first served, which to no one's surprise caused stampede's.
Totally unprofessional!

"Steady Flow?"

Ha...ha-ha...hehehe Hah-Hah-Hah-Hah!

Cheap marketing trick by Nintendo. Make it look like a hot item when people sell them on ebay for an outrageous price. Get free advertising when everyone states "limited supply", "out of stock", etc. It becomes a news topic like right here. Shame on Nintendo.

So is Nintendo "stunned" and "floored" by the "unexpected popularity" like the people behind Pokemon Go? You'd think Nintendo would consider the money being sent to the scalpers. Buyers paying 4-5 times the market value for the Mini could be spending the inflated cost elsewhere, including on other Nintendo product. Like others have said, though, it is Business 101 of the modern era. It is better to lose sales than to have things go unsold. Keep manufacturing costs as low as possible (less units). Flies in the face of the old theories of "you have to spend money to make money" and makes it hard to achieve yearly growth expectations, though.

Can someone smarter than myself explain how not being able to buy something makes it sell better?

@aaronsullivan "Why wouldn't I want one of these for each Nintendo console generation. One a year would be great for the next few years."

The problem - at least to me - is Nintendo logic. I think these will be restocked on a regular basis throughout the holidays, as were the Wii for 2 years, but timing that restock sucks when they only get in 5 or 6 at a time (not the NYC store, they'll be in by the truckload) so I can see why people were freaking out on Twitter - how many days of your life do you want to go wait on line for store openings to snag a $60 gift?

And when do they stop making them? After amiibo sold out so quickly I'm nto surprised people are worried they won't be able to gt 1 in time for the holidays if they are planning on giving it as a gift. And I really don't know, nobody does, how many they contracted to make. I think SNES Mini is a given for holiday 2017. As given as given can get. Unless this one is selling so well they decide to wait until holiday 2018. I don't know about N64 or GameCube as I really dont think either of those have more than 12-15 games worth putting on one that they could get the rights to. But SNES is a given, but will they keep making NES or is it just a holiday treat? Maybe we should ask the pollsters?

@rjejr Out of stock at NYC now

https://twitter.com/NintendoNYC/status/797464814557741056

I'll wait till the Snes Classic Edition, I like NES, but it's not my favorite.

@rjejr while a mini SNES is a given, I suspect it won't be out this time next year. I think the mini NES wilk be a strong seller for a while, but I think Nintendo's approach will be to keep all the focus on Switch for its first holiday season on the market. That's just my own speculation, of course, and I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong for the sake of those excited by the prospect.

@mikegamer

if they let it play carts too and a way to download VC style games.... .drooool..... cuz then there's even hope for obscure japanese only games to get a cheap re-release.

@sdelfin Man, I have no idea what those maniacs are thinking w/ the Switch regarding bundling and price, but you make a really good point about holiday 2017 being it's focus. This year I viewed the NES Mini as a replacement for the ugly stepchild hidden in the cellar Wii U, next year it could be a replacement for the 2DS and 3DS as cheap gifts for people who don't want to spend $300 on the Switch if that's as low as it goes and the 3DS games dry up after summer which I think they will. At least 1st party games will, 3rd party may last awhile longer.

@Grumblevolcano There you are. I've been looking for you, but it's possible I keep typing a _ in your name.

Thanks for the update, my wife should be happy after spending over an hour in line yesterday. I'm sure it will be restocked often before the holiday but now we don't have to keep checking.

This has seemed to be problems nintendo has done for quite some time now...shortages and unable to meet demands, which makes me wonder what the issue is with their management skills. The Wii, after launch and becoming a success was hard as all get out to find for over a year before you could even find one on store shelves that stayed there for more than a few hours...Amiibo's were the same, certain copies of games that they have made and even certain merchandise that they have made...now it's the Mini, which they should have known would be popular by just looking a pre-orders or even the internet. Now, I see them doing this with the SWITCH...especially if it becomes another Wii in terms of sales. I think I know what they are looking at...Gamecube didn't sell as much as we wanted, don't make a lot of Wii's...Wii U didn't sell a lot, don't make a lot of Switches...Toys To Life Figures have been selling, but we don't know if people will buy ours...don't make a lot. Who honestly is saying this in nintendo, and hopefully, we don't see this happen with the Switch, as I don't want to have to pay high prices for it or have the fun of trying to find a store with just a single copy of it.

@mikegamer Lots of great games on the system itself (the NES), but there were many that were not on it...kinda wish they would have made it to have more games appear later on. Other than that, there were many games for the NES...Chip And Dale's Rescue Rangers, Ducktales 2, The Goonies 2, Faxanandu, Astyanax, Low G Man, Mic And Mac, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Wizards And Warriors 1-3, Dragon Warrior 1-2, Dejavu 1-2, Pinbot, Captain Skyhawk and so many more. I don't know if you grew up when it was released, but it was a grand system!! True though, a super NES one would be nice to own too! An N64 one would be even better for me!!!!

@TenEighty That's kind of what I hate. Scalpers go into a store on launch, buy as many as they can, sell them for higher costs to make money...the people that actually want to play and keep one for themselves go in, can't find the system, pay large amounts to get one or wait months to years for one. It's fine to make some money, but for kids...it's not fun to wait, and for us adults, not fun to have to pay more money for something that isn't that high in price to begin with, but...that's why parents go nuts on Black Fridays and during the holiday season...yup.

Nintendo had shortages of the NES, Wii, and GBA. So annoying.

i had the chance to buy one on amazon UK !! i wanted the one from US amazon but the page crashed !

what is the difference between EU and NA mini NES ? please

got mine today, was last to get it at the EB Games I went to(Canada), had to wait till today as yesterday was a holiday for us
love it, poopy decision on the short controller though

@huxxny Not true.....

Nintendo can't win publicly here.
1. If they over produce stock... All fans get a console but Nintendo are left with unsold stock coating them a lot of money for a wrong business decision.
Nintendo are out of pocket.
2. If they underproduce stock... The scalpers win.
Nintendo are not out of pocket.
3. Get this though.. If Nintendo produce the correct amount of stock. The scalpers still overpurchase leaving some fans without a console and the scalpers win.
Nintendo are not out of pocket.
Option 1 is therfore not an option.
Option 2 is the safest for Nintendo as no our little risk if demand cannot be judged
Option 3 is the best for Nintendo.
By publicly stating that more stock is coming.... It is the only way to combat scalping.
Source: Cfgk24 Economics Review

The highest "SOLD" price on eBay uk I can see is £175 for a NES mini classic, Extra controller and a NES messenger bag...

The problem here is that people actually pay the higher Scalper price instead of just waiting for more stock. . .

Nintendo lip service, per usual. I'll believe this when I see it. Until then, kindly eat it, big N.

@cfgk24 you say its not true, i say i admire your naivety...

you know how De Beers sold their diamonds? pretty much the same way Nintendo sell their products... its called "Artificial Scarcity" and its not only a well known method of marketing, but its really efficient...

1. Overproduced? are you kidding me? they could have send a 100 units to every single stores out there, and they would have sold every single units...

2. The scalpers win? you mean nintendo's plan goes perfectly: they can not only asses the actual demands from the public by getting feedback, have the sold out effect giving them free publicity and create even more hype for their Holiday product... !! don't you think that's a win for Nintendo? ô.Ô

3. i have no idea what was your point here... the "correct" amount is a low amount to create situation #2

@huxxny I didn't say they were overproduced.....
Also - De beers - don't see diamonds on scarcity - Diamonds are not rare. Instead - they artificially made them more desirable by telling every woman that their husband/fiance/boyfriend doesn't really love them unless they pay a lot of money for an essentially useless item and telling guys that their ladies will not think much of them if they don't sacrifice a months wages for an essentially useless item..lol.
Also - please tell me:
1. How many Consoles Nintendo expect to sell
2. Should they produce more or less than this number?
3. Did they get the price correct? Should they have sold it for more?
4. How can you stop Scalpers?
5. Why is anyone daft enough to buy form a scalper? Greed? Desire?

Anyway - the Japanese sales figures on Wednesday will be interesting.

@cfgk24 only 2 things to tell you
1. here a quote from your 1st post... «Nintendo can't win publicly here.
1. If they over produce stock... All fans get a console but Nintendo are left with unsold stock coating them a lot of money for a wrong business decision.
Nintendo are out of pocket.» there, you clearly talking about overproducing...

2. "Artificial" Scarcity... do your research, and read me correctly before replying next time!!

@huxxny Lol - I said they didn't Overproduce. Which reduces their risk.
A friend of mine worked as a diamond dealer. Scarcity wasn't the problem - Retail mark-up was often 300%

Peace and Love!

Got mine. Showed up at my local Walmart about an hour and a half before opening. Sat in my car for 45 minutes.... Lined up when someone else showed up and lined up... By the time the store opened there was about 60 people in line for 12 units. Only annoyance for me was that they only had one separate controller, and I was 2nd in line. Ah well.

Oh, and has anyone mentioned that it comes with a code for 300 platinum My Nintendo coins? So that's... 300 more coins they'll never give me anything to spend on!

@huxxny
"its dispicable at best...".
Ya know that kind of condescending talk really rubs me the wrong way. Get over yourself.

Thanks for the reminder sdelfin but for me it's a nostalgia thing. My fiancee is okay with waiting for the additional controllers to be available. She has laid down the law though that I must buy controller extension cables when I get paid.

@Mart1ndo «... condescending talk really rubs me the wrong way.» hahaaa xD same,... get over yourself!!

Looks like Nintendo is still the master of "controlled scarcity", over 30 years later... This same event happened with the original NES as well! Customers who aren't allowed to have an NES Mini yet will complain, and beg for more to be released. Then Nintendo will (eventually) give it to them after a certain period of waiting, knowing that they have captured their market monetarily and psychologically. Slimy, but brilliant.

@TheAceofMystery Amen! I knew this would happen too. I called around to see if Walmart was doing a midnight release and they were. So on the day before I showed up at 10pm and waited. I was forth in line.

I know everyone wants to blame Reggie for this, which is understandable given his mountain of failures, but this is a supply problem from Nintendo HQ.

@River3636 wish your store was like mine, i went in the morning and found out our store got 5 and there was 16 in line at midnight where they instantly sold out and not everyone that was there even got one lol.

@dougphisig I got lucky because it is not like that anymore.

@BensonUii It's not a conspiracy, it's shady but effective ,marketing and business practices. And it's a thing; don't kid yourself. Nintendo wasn't the first and won't be the last... they are just the douchy-est in recent memory.

@TheAceofMystery What you'd expect is that in 2016... especially since everyone knew the games they played with Amiibo manufacturing and stock... that Nintendo wouldn't be the same douche bag company it was in the 80s, but that's expecting too much I guess. Reggie has just turned into a greasy pimp. So sick of their crap. And then you blame people for not waiting in line for several hours in the middle of the night? Really?

That's just unrealistic. Not everyone can do that, nor should they be expected to.

Nintendo - just manufacture the damn systems, quit limiting production and manipulating the supply chain and stop being douche bags.

ps. I managed to get one by chance and circumstance, so I'm not bitter for not having gotten one fyi.

@BensonUii They aren't losing any sales. Even when they ramp up production/release stock, they will still sell through their stock. It's win win for them. They're getting insane free press and hype for the product and calling it to the attention of many who didn't know it was a thing. They've added thousands, if not tens of thousands of new consumers to the list of people who want one. They lose nothing.

Not to mention the post-holiday sales they will rake in. Gift cards and Christmas money... and more systems waiting to be scooped up with said monies after the holidays.

@PlywoodStick Exactly... I'm glad someone gets it and has a sense of the history of Nintendo's market manipulations. The more things change...

They come 6 to a case. There are stores in large chains that got less than that to sell. Is anyone honestly naive enough to think Nintendo - a company that's been in the video game industry for decades - has botched every major launch of in-demand product in the history of ever? That they accidentally miss the supply mark so ridiculously every time? Come one people.... seriously?

@BensonUii Um... just no. This does not in any way shape or form compete with them; they have nothing in this market space. I really don't think you're understanding how things work. Sell them now, or sell them later... either way Nintendo will sell what they manufacture. Again, they aren't losing anything and are getting the sort of exposure that would normally cost them millions. The people who can afford the scumbag scalper's pricing are a small group that won't have any impact on retail sales, other than perhaps to fuel scalpers to reload their depleted stock... and again, Nintendo still sells the unit.

The circle of greed.

@Tsusasi all im saying is that the people who expected Nintendo to change didn't get an NES Classic and people like me who knew Nintendo wouldn't change got their hands on an NES Classic

@BensonUii I have tried to explain how it works and how it benefits Nintendo... I suppose you think it's a coincidence that it happens every time Nintendo launches something. As if, after many decades of doing this they somehow just can't get it right and are blind-sided every time. Poor Nintendo.

Not.

Again, you're not even attempting to understand how this all works. It's not a conspiracy, it's an actual way of doing business.

For example:

https://www.sitepoint.com/scarcity-marketing/

The key is knowing when to open in valves a little and make it seem that you are empathetic and are responding to consumer's needs while still keeping interest and demand high; it's a high-risk game with big payoffs if you master it, which Nintendo has.

Conspiracy theory? Yikes.

There will be no way of knowing if product was held back. Sales numbers don't tell you anything like that. You still don't get it; it's not overt, it's a behind the scenes thing. Otherwise it wouldn't work.

There's no smoking gun, just common sense.

@BensonUii http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/11/15/mini-sold-out-why-didnt-nintendo-make-enough-nes-classic-editions/#591faf0a2bde

http://www.gamenguide.com/articles/67356/20161115/xbox-exec-explains-nes-classic-shortages-nintendo-to-produce-more.htm

^^^ 'Short baked' as in held back production. ^^^

http://www.polygon.com/2016/11/11/13597938/nes-classic-edition-shortage

^^^ The supposition that they are 'incompetent' is mostly there to contrast, I believe as it is nearly implausible as a scenario. ^^^

@Tsusasi @BensonUii Both of the books Game Over by David Sheff (c. 1993, but especially in the later c. 1999 edition), and Console Wars by Blake Harris (c. 2014) go into detail on the genesis of this business strategy. I'll quote from Console Wars:

"Peter Main, the Vice President of Marketing for Nintendo during the late 1980's, created a distribution strategy that purposefully provided licensees and retailers with only a fraction of the products that they requested." (Hence, the probable reason why most stores are only reported as having about 5-12 NES Mini's each in our case.)

"The goal of this technique was twofold: to create a frenzy for whatever products were available, and to protect overeager industry players from themselves."

So, what is the result of creating a very limited release of NES Mini's, in our case? A frenzy to get every last sparsely available product, and a confident assurance from Nintendo that a resupply will be available throughout the holiday season. Hmm... Sounds familiar, doesn't it? History has been repeated under different conditions.

Of course, the absolute proof would be to have confirmation from retailers, but it might be tough to get concrete answers on that. Seeing as how only the Nintendo World Store had significantly more stock than anywhere else, though, it's a safe bet that it happened in some capacity.

@PlywoodStick It's great to see it's in print. It's not something companies discuss often if ever. Thanks for the validation!

@BensonUii I keep trying to explain that the numbers won't tell the story because Nintendo will spin the shortage news. What we do know is that retailers have gotten next to nothing and in many cases received less than the actual case quantity. These come 6 to a box and many retail stores got less than that per location.

But you're kidding yourself if you think that Nintendo has abandon the practice. It's in their marketing and sales DNA and Nintendo is very, VERY slow to change their ways... especially if it's been working for them.

Hell, even the Microsoft crew knows what they are up to and are disappointed in them for pulling this crap.

Preordered it on Amazon UK back in July. Was dispatched on Friday and arrived on Monday.

Still I join on the hate bandwagon, the big N knew at least a 100 million were interested and still they pulled this crap 1980s style.

This is the 2010's, people can buy stuff with a few clicks, there is no need for these tactics. Making these cheap chinese toys is like printing money.

@ThomasBW84 It's beginning to look like by "steady flow" they meant a steady 2 or 3 units per store per week.

I found this in vid in Damo's twitter feed, spot on, though a tad offensive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRicuKHmjZA&t=6s