Poll: Retro Delights and Stock Shortages - What Are Your Thoughts on the NES Mini Launch?

Pretty shambolic. I preordered the minute it was available(4 months ago) and have been told that:

"Sent by: Zavvi UK, 12 November 2016, 16:30
Hello XXXX,

Thank you for getting in touch with us about your pre-order.

We send all pre-ordered items out as soon as we receive them into our warehouse from the manufacturers. We always endeavour to have pre-orders delivered to our customers on, if not before, the release date.

Please accept our apologies that on this occasion we were not able to have this with you on the release date. We understand this must be both disappointing and frustrating.

Your Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System is on special order for you with our supplier but at this time they are unable to give me a date or time when your order will be dispatched.

You can check the status of your order at any time by logging into your account and following the prompts. Once your order has been sent you will receive an e-mail to tell you it is on its way.

If there is anything else that we can do, then please do not hesitate to get in touch and a member of our team will be happy to help.

Kind regards,

Alex
Zavvi.com Customer Service Team"

They've created yet another scalpers wet dream. Do they know how to read and meet demand? They do this all the time. Just look at Pokemon GO Plus. Rarer than unicorns. The same with some Collectors Editions(Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Fortissimo Edition), SCamiibo for a long time, the Wii, etc, etc.

I'm not planning on getting one until Christmas but this is ridiculous. Nintendo is one of the biggest video game companies in the world yet they are so far behind their rivals when it comes to shipping (almost like they are behind their rivals in tech). They can't blame this on a worker strike this time, and if this is self produced in order to create scarcity (like Amiibos were) then they deserve the bad sales this thing will get.

I don't know what's funnier. The fact that Nintendo is terrible at stocking in-demand items, or that people are going crazy over a system that plays decade-old games literally available anywhere.

The thing is: Nintendo thinks that retro devices like this one won't sell as much as the modern one. But I guess Nintendo learned a lesson not to underestimate nostalgia.

I don't think it's really fair to just shift the whole blame onto Nintendo when it comes to stock issues considering there are so many variables to consider with supply and gauging demand is much harder than it looks

Honestly, I can't really hold it against Nintendo to underestimate themselves at this point. They've watched their customer base gradually decline over the last 10 years or so (Wii's success was something unique for the games industry) and they seem to be erring on the side of caution.
We're still over a month out from Christmas. I have to imagine in that time they'll be pushing to get as many on shelves as possible.
And with the popularity of this thing only a quarter away from the Switch release, the Nintendo brand will be on people's mind through the holiday season and presumably a lot more people will be checking Switch out once it arrives.

See preorders are where the low stock is way too far. In general low stock is something I've come to expect from Nintendo but delaying preorders is very bad publicity and make many shake their fist. I would be incredibly mad if I did actually preorder but since I didn't I'm more chill about the situation. Just like amiibos its not something I NEED just something I want (depending on the amiibo).

@Wolfgabe

That would be true if ninty were some new, young company. They've been to this dance more than once but keep doing the same old steps.

Careless Nintendo. It's a shame because people will want this, not the Switch as nostalgia most of the time beats new in terms of sales.

@Wolfgabe It's completely fair. They had an idea of pre order numbers 4 months ago which they haven't even satisfied and they should have known that number would be even higher.

No problems for me. Pre-ordered with the Official UK Store, received it a day before launch, and I've had fun since.

I was excited and very interested in buying the NES mini day 1. Then I discovered the low inventory and realized this is the amiibo story retold. Now my interest has diminished to the point were I'm considering not picking one up at all. As a fan of Nintendo's products, I'm dissapointed in their handling of this. Even a bit disgusted.

Is this a limited time release or will this be available for years?

@Dakt
Well, that will be very important for new generations who never knew about Nintendo history. Maybe most of them will have less interest but at least they know something about Nintendo.

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- a repeat of the history described by David Sheff in his book about Nintendo's early business decisions, "Game Over."

The only thing I can see is that Nintendo didn't want to pay for more than their usual shipping thus the 'steady flow'. They're throwing some in along side their regular stock. Its trickling of stock and its terrible. Absolutely terrible they aren't getting this thing to stores.

They know the demand, trust me.

I'm not really interested in it. I prefer to move forward and play New games then to be stuck in the past high on nostalgia, no offense.

I just think it's like amiibo in the beginning, where stocks for certain characters like Villager and WFT were plentiful and preorders for the next wave was still open, until Nintendo said how they will stop making some characters in the future. Thus begin the great demand and shortage.

I saw Elvis in a crowd, but I can't find a mini NES.

@NinChocolate
Honestly, I think after the lack of sales the WiiU had lately I believe Nintendo underestimated how much demand there'd be for it. I'm tired of hearing how much of a "conspiracy" it is, Nintendo has nothing to gain from creating angry customers.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Nintendo knows EXACTLY what they're doing. What happened to you (and many others) was no coincidence... It's all part of... "the plan."

@Beau_Skunk Oh, but there is something to gain: your mindshare, if nothing else.

http://www.nirandfar.com/2013/07/psychology-of-scarcity.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarcity_heuristic

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Never preorder games from Zavvi. Even though you ordered early, they still were unable to secure you one. They're normally fine with DVDs/Blu Rays but new game releases have never been their specialty....

Didn't get mine on Friday because our postal service (once again) messed up something but will pick it up tomorrow. Too bad waited on order of extra controller so who knows whe I get that.

Oh Nintendo. You've SEEN the hype, what is wrong with you with not enough of supply?

@Phin68 I know that people tend to equate "found on the internet" to be the same as "available anywhere," but the truth is these games are not so easy to find.

For people that have a history of using shady, illegal sites to get warez and romz? Yeah, easy for them to find, but a lot of those people are bored with NES and SNES games, as they've had them for years and they are blasé about retro gaming now.

For everyone else, some of the games on the NES Mini were previously only easy to play by owning a real NES system and finding an old cartridge somewhere, like ebay or in the flea markets. There's also the fact that Nintendo is producing the original NES controller to play these, giving eager gamers that are just now falling in love with retro gaming the perfect storm of nostlagia.

I try finding one early in the morning but no luck. So I decided to get an afterglow Xbox One controller for the same price.

I don't think I'll ever buy one. The Value isn't there for me though I like the novelty of it.
In Canada the MSRP is $79.99. That is a steep price tag when all the games that I like I already have on my WiiU/Wii.
The controller cable is too short which means you have to spend more money on extension cables. I already have an official wireless option on my WiiU/Wii.
Its another thing taking up space that can't do anything the WiiU doesn't already do.
And there is the headache of being sold out nation wide. No stores were taking preoders and only a couple Gamestops/EB Games have limited stock on the west side of the country. The rest of the country is sold out or never got stock.
This is the worst launch ever. Nintendo doesn't learn.

@Dauntless

I feel like we went backward as an Canadian.

Was keen on this but lack of stock, stupid controller length and fixed number of games have meant I'm looking at alternatives.
Until then playing my GP32.

I don't think Nintendo can help it if these sell far more then they expected. Sure they could make 100 million of em at launch but what if it was a complete flop? What if nobody brought one for whatever reason? They'd lose out big time if stores had to slash the price by half. Much like amiibo, they're stepping into a new market they have no real idea if it'll be a success or not, especially after the Wii U's failings. And of course, scalpers are cashing in as it launched so damn near to Xmas.

Don't let the scalpers win, just wait for new stock to arrive after Xmas. They sorted the amiibo shortages out eventually as well as the original Wii, they'll sort this out as well (And maybe ensure there are enough SNES Minis to go around next time too.)

I ordered mine from Amazon the moment it was available and it arrived on Friday. Am very much enjoying playing terribly through the games. I forgot how hard retro games were.

I just feel bad for the loyal fans. I didn't pre order one or really want one as I have most on my original wii but come one Nintendo. They at least should know the demand of it

@Angelic_Lapras_King The problem is that preorders have been open for months now, and Nintendo has seen the huge hype for this, yet they fail to meet the demand by a VERY long way. Also, people would be more forgiving if this was Nintendo's first time doing this, but they have recently been abysmal in terms of stocking enough units. You only need to look at the unbelievable scarcity of some amiibos, or the travesty that is the Fire Emblem Fates Collectors edition (which ran out of stock in about half an hour in not just the US, but also the UK, where they released it three months afterwards, even though they saw that their US supply didn't meet demand). There's absolutely no reason this should be happening time and time again, it's a really bad business practice. It kind of looks like they do it on purpose to build up more coverage, which is really upsetting for people who wanted the game/console in the first place but now can't get one.

Received my unit without issues from the Official Nintendo UK Store, having preordered shortly after the page went live back in July.

However, a good friend of mine missed out on preorders, so I have been trying to hunt for a unit in brick and mortar stores this weekend to no avail. HMV, Toys 'R' Us and Argos all sold out, and Game used all their stock to fulfil preorders, meaning they had none left to release for general sale this morning (which is fair enough).

We will be waiting for the restocks now in order to have another shot of acquiring a unit for my friend, but the moral of this story is that Nintendo still cannot be trusted when it comes to providing adequate stock of particular games, accessories and systems (see: amiibo) so preordering is an absolute must if you desire these things. Sadly, this advice is invalid for our American friends as most retailers declined to offer preorders. :/

What is it with these spoiled millenials that keep wanting to have everything as soon as they want it, just to use it for a bit to then throw it in a corner? I really worry about their future because life will be real poo to them.

@Dauntless you need to vote different... high taxes suck.

I feel really bad for people in the US who couldn't get one, that has been a shambolic situation and I'd blame Reggie mostly.

But over here in England? Preorders were up on Nintendo's official UK site for quite a while and with GAME too (as much as I dislike GAME, they are useful at times)...I had zero problems preordering one and it even arrived 2 days early.

Over here at least, I can't help thinking that a lot of the complainers are bandwagon jumpers who've suddenly decided to buy one at the last minute like sheep. The NES has never been massively popular in the UK like it was elsewhere, and Nintendo stuff has been tricky to get at launch here for years now, so people should have learned...especially with it launching so close to Christmas.

Sorry if I sound a bit unsympathetic because everybody I know who preordered one here got one. I wouldn't use sites like Zavvi at any rate as they are notoriously unreliable and not just with Nintendo stuff.

I do genuinely feel bad for you guys in the US though. It was completely ridiculous in this day and age and in a country the size of America that Nintendo Of America didn't take preorders on their site.

My local target only had 8 in stock. EIGHT!!! They sold out in minutes. My friend who works there couldn't even pull one aside for himself

The Switch better not be like this. I'm already worried about a number of unknown factors. Third party support and specific titles available. Launch availability. Power! support, the battery. Will it be awesome?! who knows what's gonna happen.

@Varathius what does being a millennial have to do with this? Everyone talks trash about the generation that comes after them. I'm sure they said the same thing about your generation lol

@Danrenfroe2016

Taxes have nothing to do with it, it's because the Canadian dollar is so weak against the American dollar. The prices have to be higher to make up for that difference. It blows, it really does. Wii U games are $75-$80 and 3DS games are $50, before taxes. Consoles are typically $50-$100 more expensive, too. Taxes I really don't mind paying. Keeps our health care free.

I was going to get it closer to Christmas, but I'm probably going to get it whenever I can with this shortage.
I mean, c'mon Ninty, you've done this before. I get that maybe you underestimated the sales, but you can do better than this.

Pre-ordered mine back in July with The Game Collection, the card I used at the time has since been replaced... I got an email this week from them advising that they couldn't process my order & had to cancel it, and unfortunately because of extremely limited stock they would be increasing the price to £99.99!! However they said if I ordered again asap with a valid card they would provide me with a code to get it at the original price AND hold my place in the queue! It arrived Friday afternoon & I was very pleased with them for looking after me despite my oversight.

@TheBigK I wish US taxes were also actually used on a decent single payer health care system...

I bought 2. Was going to cancel 1 pre-order but my friend wanted one and hadn't pre-ordered so sold second one to him for the same I bought it for which was actually 99p cheaper on Amazon than official Nintendo store but I got a "free" keyring. Had a quick play to check it works and Bubble Bobble is still as awesome as ever. Put it back in the box until Christmas now. Nothing says Christmas like an 80s videogame.

I'm not interested. I still like a lot of games that are on the machine, but to buy dedicated hardware for them, nah. If you were so dedicated with nostalgia, you better do it right and buy an original NES and preferably a cheap small CRT TV set. Pretty easy to find for a low price!

Still a less redundant console than the Xbox.

I love it shame about the short wire though

I pre ordered mine as soon as they were announced. Bought a mini nes and second controller.

I got an email saying it was just on it's way.

I then read an article on nintendolife, telling me how much my pending NES was worth n the "black market" all of a sudden my bargain retro delight was worth nearly 3 times I had paid.

Sorry, but between hanging onto it and rebuying when the supply inevitably catches up or selling it for nearly £100 more in your bank? You'd have to be an idiot to not consider it, you'd also have to fall into the demograph of clamouring consumers that simply MUST have it on day one and remain thankful you sensibly preordered yours like a loyal consumer.

Not really sure where the negative press is angled at?

Ordered mine off Nintendo uk store no problems came a day early

I don't see the "waiting for the SNES mini option."

I got mine at launch and I've been having a lot of fun with it since. The low stock is pretty disappointing for those who couldn't get one, though.

Went on a NES shopping spree in the eShop for the Wii U instead of trying to buy one.

Although, I would love a retro controller to attach to my Wii U…
Any word when they'll be separately available to purchase?

I might get one. I still have my nes hooked up that I play. The reason I would get it is just to have one in the living room for entertainment purposes.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Except you fail to realize how much analysis goes into a product like this and the truth is no amount of pre orders could change their production quota which is likely why they didn't take pre orders in the first place. There is only so much insight you can gain on a product you cannot or have not revealed or released yet.

@Clownshoes You do realize Switch doesn't come out til Spring right

Yes I want it.

No I didn't get one yet.

The short cords suck, but that can be rectified.

I'm ticked at Nintendo, but I'll wait for another chance.

@PlywoodStick With NES they likely had reason to be cautious considering this was in the wake of the Video Game Crash of 83, and most retailers at the time were understandably wary of carrying game consoles

Why are people wanting 30 year old games? I grew up on those games and love them too, but I don't have the time or interest to go back and play stuff over again. I have too many current gen games to play.

I'm still thinking about selling the one I have. I have all those games on my 3DS/WiiU VC except Final Fantasy which I have on my Vita and Wii. So I don't get the madness. I have beaten most or all those games numerous times. I purchased some of those games four times already. The only thing this has going for it is cute/retro/novelty vibe. I have to switch out my HDMI cord for my WiiU/PS4, so that's kinda of an annoyance. I also looked in the back of my brother's TV. His does not have an HDMI slot to spare and I was planning to give this to my brother's family for Xmas. If I can make a few hundred dollars off this silly little thing then maybe they get something else like a drone or something. Then I was thinking I might be a bad person for trying to make a profit out of this. I know I wouldn't purchase this for myself. I'm wondering what kind of person who has these games all ready would?

Nah, I was never interested in the NES mini. I bought a lot of NES Games on the Wii and Wii U over the years through the VC. So I'm good with that.

They should have announced that they were restocking units a day or so before launch. Would have made it more difficult for scalpers to try selling them for such high prices. Otherwise I'm happy with my unit, preordered as soon as I heard about it.

it needs at least 10x the amount of games on it to be worth while i mean 30 games really? come on nintendo.

I'm currently about as frustrated as I've ever been with Nintendo, and I've been a fan since I was old enough to hold a controller in the early 90s. These stock shortages the last few years have really started to straight up piss me off. I searched every local store this past Friday, but I couldn't get one, because each store got freaking 6 of them. Then I tried to buy one on Amazon the exact second they put them up for sale...... nothing. This crap is getting old.

Got mine because I was smart about it. I knew Nintendo would screw up stock so I was in line 3 hours before Gamestop opened. I was generally surprised at how many people came as GS opened hoping to get one, if you're a true Nintendo fan, you know you have to be in line hours before opening for anything they release

@MegaMari0 Good point, but still, millenials are raised in a way where they are the center of it all, so it is unacceptable as to why Nintendo is short on stock, because they did not get this system when they wanted it. Thus, this is my point regarding millenials. My generation has its downs, but at least we are patient, can wait, and take it easy under such circumstances. Our patience ends quicker with other things (with incompetent people in particular), but no idea why so many see this as a bad thing.

I am tempted to put a scalper's kid through college though lol

I would've bought one, tried to buy one, and couldn't.
Now I don't care.
Sale is lost and I'm not interested in spreading any good will about the NES Classic given Nintendo's choice to not stock enough units.

I know a lot of people.who bought it who never play video games. The question I have is, how many have they sold. If it is 1 million amd they are having stock issues then boo Nintendo, if they sold 5 million then it is understandable

I got mine. Its wonderful. Nintendo will surely release all of their classic games again because theres a huge market for it which they underestimated. Now a scale model of the nes with hdmi and scaled down carts too.... omg i would buy them all... same for snes.

@Wolfgabe Nintendo intentionally kept withholding stock of the NES in the mid-late 80's from retailers like Toys R' Us that were demanding additional stock, long after launch. Read about their history- Nintendo strong armed retailers, it wasn't about caution by the time several years had passed after the crash.

@River3636 Here, go to this site and find out if you're a bad person or not:

http://willyoupressthebutton.com/

@PlywoodStick Except the Nintendo of today is nothing like the Nintendo from the 80s. They are not really in a position where they can strong arm retailers. Considering shelf space is much more contested these days coupled with Nintendo's relatively poor performance in the past few years profit wise it's understandable they would err on the side of caution

whenever these guys say "retro delights" it makes me lol

I'm hoping to pick one up in January or February when Nintendo finally sorts out the stock situation. I'm not hopeful I will find one before then.

@Nintendo_Ninja Bad sales? Seems like the opposite to me.

Thanks to the many scalpers out there. Because of them I couldn't find the NES to have fun with it. People on eBay right now trying resell it for thousands of dollars.. smh

Too many missing games, no thanks.

@Phin68

Lol, option #2. It's great for nostalgia but these games are old and easy to find.

Meh, in five months it'll be easy to find. I'm not a fan of plug and play so usually I just bought them for the sake of collecting as I already had all the games on the device anyways.

Haven't read many comments but they do this on purpose. What else do we have to talk about except Pokemon. If they keep it in demand then more people may want it as a hot item to find. One of these days though this will backfire but I don't think this is one of those days.

I'll gladly wait for it to be something that you can actually find no problem.

I only see this item as a collectors item, because I still own most of these original on my nes, and you can download most these on the Wii U.

So, I'm really not worried

I dont even see why anyone would buy this... I dont want a nes... never have done. Certainly wouldnt touch a mini nes or see any reason for it to even exist. My PC/Wii/WiiU/PS3/3DS/Phone all have modern controllers and full perfect nes romsets .... that I NEVER and prob will never play. Cant understand the interest this seems to generate.

This is proving to Nintendo that retro games are more interesting now than the nearly all of the junk games that are "new". Considering the games on this mini system average about 25 years old, and the vast majority of people wanting it are that age or younger, maybe Nintendo should focus more on getting retro games out to this demographic whether it be in retro consoles like this one, or a larger catalog of retro games on the eShop. Nintendo, are you listening to your customers here?!

@PlywoodStick Holy Moley, you send me down the biggest rabbit hole. It never ended. it just gave you so many scenarios. I'm not going to sell that machine.

I don't understand why so many people are in such a hurry to get this. It's not like these games are new. There'll be more, chill.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
4 months isn't all that much time. How long does it take to manufacture a nes mini?

@khaosklub It can't be that long. Have you seen what's inside? It's a single PCB with a few attachments. The NES controller is a carbon copy of the original(30 year old mould), just the connection on the end is different. That's from a Wii which they're still making Wii remotes so no problem. HDMI cable, simple, power supply, run of the mill, packaging, again easy. You've got to think that from start to finish they could easily produce it in, and I'm being extremely generous here, 2 weeks. The longest thing to manufacture is the PCB. They've had 120 days to get enough product on the shop shelves and have failed miserably. Other than Pokemon they've nothing else for the Christmas market.

Just typical manipulation by Nintendo. They always play the supply shortage game to keep demand high and attract free press coverage. There is no reason that an emulator running on low-power chips and Linux couldn't gave been mass produced in the time between the announcement and release. This is Nintendo's modus operandi and it works.

If you can live without save points, retrousb's AVS is a wonderful alternative. I'm a retro snob but it plays the old carts just like the original hardware I had in 1985. HDMI out, original controller ports, built-in Game Genie and it can take any NES or Famicom cart. I seriously love mine. I ordered it a couple months ago when I suspected Nintendo would ship the Classic in obscenely small numbers.

Classic Nintendo launch for the Nintendo Classic.

They will be losing a lot of sales due to people losing interest after not being able to get them. That trick can backfire too ya know Nintendo? Just ship enough and there wouldn't ever be a problem.

Through all this, I could actually see several possibilities for Nintendo's stock; but I'd like to focus on one in particular. [And for the record, I am a lifelong Nintendo fan, and I like many others went to stores early on launch day, only to leave empty-handed after looking forward to the launch date, since it was first announced in July.]

Now let's think about it. Nintendo is wealthy indeed, but surely loss in profit can still spell doom for a company, it brings doubts to stockholders, which, once your company goes public, you now have a leash to people only interested in what your company is worth.

The 3DS has had excellent sales. Excellent. But even still, the Wii U has failed, attaining 3 million more purchases than the Dreamcast, which spelled doom to Sega's future hardware endeavors. Things got so bad, they needed to lay off workers ~ if not for Satoru Iwata (may he, the genius he was, rest in peace) halving his yearly income, they would have had to follow through with those layoffs. But Iwata knew lay offs would also decrease morale. So not all is well.

Let's start with one craze from Nintendo which also had stock issues, that is now seemingly dying down; amiibo.

Amiibo are compatible with the New 3DS. . but also the Wii U. Mainly, arguably, as a reader/writer needs to be purchased separately for the original model. They needed to ensure they weren't producing too much, as it is, look at the Wii U's sales themselves. They needed to see what the market was. Better to release small batches and get them sold, than large ones that collect dust and turn into yet another failed product. That does not look good. Not by a long shot. That looks like a dying company. Stocks go down ~ it's just about game over.

Surely, even though Nintendo has seen the hype, they have to crunch the numbers and see where this demand lies. They can't take risks.

What about the Wii? It was the same exact situation a decade ago. The sales of the GameCube left Nintendo in 3rd place for sales (not surprising honestly, what with what other consoles were offering that the GameCube was not). They only sold some 22 million units, which was following the pattern since the NES, that according to sales numbers, people were generally losing interest in Nintendo. Even with the phenomenal sales of the GameBoy Advance and the Nintendo DS, they needed to make sure there was a foothold for their Wii. And there was. Over 100 million units, the same tier of the PS2, the Wii demolished the 7th generation in sales numbers. But that was because it was a console that attracted everyone of all demographics ~ even senior citizens in nursing homes, for example, people who normally wouldn't have a console to begin with.

But if we cut out the Wii? The Wii U continues this pattern we've seen since the NES. Nintendo simply needs to ensure they're playing their cards right. And creating this controlled variable of limited supply? It helps ensure just that.

So that's just one of many takes on this situation, but it's one I think is quite plausible, where it also shows the vivid motive Nintendo could have for doing this. The way they think of their fans, there's something special in it, and I don't think they would want to manipulate them like this purposefully without necessary reason. Another possibility is their manufacturer they got to make these, simply couldn't make a ton in a given amount of time. Again, this take is simply one of many that are possible, such as the one I just mentioned above.

I have no evidence (something I wish more people said in this Trumpy world we now live in), but it seems like Nintendo does this to create buzz, and it works.

@River3636 Ah, so in that case, your humanity remains intact. Very nice!

Nintendo never learns...

@Nintendo_Ninja Its intended, Nintendo do this with every system to create a vacuum towards Christmas, they even state this themselves.

@c1pher_c0mplet its intentional, theyve been doing it forever, when will people actually grasp this fact.

The poll needs an option for "I'm going to import the Famicom Mini once the prices are less stupid".

Nintendo Fansite LOL

@Angelic_Lapras_King
I pre-ordered with Zavvi once and they messed me around. I pre-ordered 'Williams pinball classics' on PS3. They promised it'd be on time. A week after it was supposed to arrive I decided to cancel my order as it wasn't despatched and I'd bought a copy on the high street. I eventually managed to cancel my order which included making a phone call.

A week or two later the game was un-cancelled and was on it's way to me. It arrived about 3 weeks after it was originally promised.

They defiantly broke consumer law, sending me an order I'd cancelled, but what can you do? I'd never go near them again.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Yes Nintendo are crazy in terms of stocks and pre-order... Sometimes, it seems like they do not want my money lol...
E.g. for TMS FE Fortissimo edition... I pre-ordered it but got a mail 1 week before release saying that my pre-order had been cancelled due to low stock... Then I could not find it anywhere and did not (and still do not) want to pay 60€ for the standard edition... Therefore, I found other "non paying" ways to play the game... I feel like Nintendo does not want my money... Very strange to me lol !

Genius. By doing this Nintendo have eliminated all concerns over the lackluster Wii U holiday lineup, as people are too busy stressing over the nes mini to even care!
Well played.....

Nintendo genuinely seems to not understand the demand for its retro line up. I don't think it is deliberate stock problems, but instead the usual Nintendo naivety. PEOPLE LOVE THINGS YOU DID IN THE PAST !!!!!! YOU KNOW WHEN NINTENDO WAS THE BEST THING EVER....How can you not understand that.

I gave up on finding one but I visited my local Walmart and found three! It was great.

@PlywoodStick
Im not buying the conspiracy theory you are selling.

Do you not think there is a more logical reason why stock is low? Like Nintendo are not going to ramp production up to the max only to have to cease production very soon afterwards?

The NES mini is not a major hardware release that will demand opening factories and hiring thousands of workers.

I went gaga at first but then calmed down and realized 1) the controller cables are obnoxious; 2) Of the games I want, I already own most of them; 3) To buy the games I want that I don't have yet would cost a lot less than $60 through VC and 3DS shop. And for 2 and 3, I can use a much more comfortable controller than the rectangle. No interest any more.

I love that people in the U.K. got the opportunity to pre-order the units. Here in the U.S., I don't know of any retailers who reliably opened pre-orders.

Everybody nowadays is afraid of "overproducing" something to the point it ends up collecting dust on shelves or in a landfill someday (E.T.).

@SLIGEACH_EIRE tbh Zavvi was a bad choice, wasn't it? Should have gone with a reliable retailer like Amazon or GAME (where I got mine).

I'm so glad I got one on pre-order. I feel bad for anyone who pre-ordered and is still waiting. Little bit less sympathy for those who thought they could wait until launch and order it, or walk into a shop. If you intend to buy anything on launch day, just pre-order it online. It's not rocket science. You won't pay until release week, and in most cases you'll get it on the day unless you're extremely unlucky. Maybe even the day before. It's the same story for any hardware release these days. I'm more sympathetic to anyone who weren't even aware of this thing coming out until it was too late (i.e. those who don't follow gaming news like a lot of parents, etc)

But to anyone who hasn't got one yet - it's great, you'll love it, but you'll just be left thinking "I can't wait for the SNES mini" ...in which case, you need to pre-order that as soon as it's available because it'll be even more popular than this.

I'm a little surprised Nintendo underestimated nostalgics and collectors. Yet, I kinda can't blame them for kinda downplaying it either as it's the same games you can find elsewhere and for cheaper. Just goes to show novelty is a powerful thing combined with brand name recognition.

Really stunk my walmart instantly sold out the night before at midnight with 16 in line for 5 units, then attempted to get one on amazon had the option to add to cart and attempted to check out only to get just another item i had in my cart at the time was a bit disappointed. However this is all on nintendo who either thinks they need to artificially create the market demands or are just stupid enough to not realize the demands are there. I'm almost 100% sure this is going to happen with the switch as well.

@TheBigK WOW. That sucks. I figured you guys had a VAT tax or something.

Classic Nintendo product shortage tactic. Just like they did with some of the amiibo figures. I very happy there is an popular interest in this mini console. Gives me a lot of hope in future retro mini consoles. My hype and anticipation runs high for the mini 64!

I was there for the original nes so I am most definitely not interested in this rehash. Instead of spending money on making this Nintendo should have used that cash to advertise the hell out of the upcoming switch. Or better yet advertise their now nearly dead WiiU.

If the switch is more like a slightly faster WiiU with a slight upgrade in visual fidelity then I'll be pretty disappointed. Considering the fact that they spent a bunch of cash on rereleasing a system from the eighties. An 8 bit system with HDMI output isn't going to do much for those blocky graphics. What a waste.

@Mart1ndo Well, it would be interesting to know the whole truth this time around. But history is history. People are conditioned to automatically think that any deep, hidden organizational tactic used to exploit them is a lie... But that changes nothing, the situation is what it is.

Can barely believe that people are going ape for this thing. Why? I mean, haven't all the games included on it been available across multiple formats in one form or another for years? Is it the HD option? That's the worm on the end of the hook? Really? Madness.

@YANDMAN Yeah, yeah, I know. It doesn't make it any less annoying when they do it, though. I don't want one of these (although I think they're pretty neat) but it has to be more than a little annoying for those who want to get their hands on one without all of the extra cartwheeling through hula-hoops Nintendo has their fans doing for simple games, systems, and accessories - especially those of us outside of The Golden Kingdo, I mean, Japan.

@TheMudHutDweller Its nostalgia, yes the games have been released everywhere of course they have, but its a mini NES with a brand new NEs controller and it comes in the correct styled retail packaging from back in the day, or at least this was the draw for me, but essentially this system is aimed at the casual/non gamer, people who havent played the games since they sold them 25 years ago. simple operations, great game lineup, affordable price, instrant success. i have a hard time understanding why people such as yourself have a hard time understanding that.

Honestly, I think you guys are being too paranoid with the "Nintendo is evil! They're doing it on purpose!" schtick.

What I believe truely happened was, Nintendo wasn't expecting it to be a huge seller, and didn't want to waste to much money making them, due to the low WiiU sales, and such so they didn't make enough, because of that. Nintendo can't predict what will be a hit, or miss.

@YANDMAN

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

The majority (if not all) of the titles have been available on Virtual Console for quite some time; and chances are, if somebody knows about the Mini, then they probably already own modern Nintendo hardware, and all the games featured on this latest attempt to rinse a bit more cash out of the gullible zealots who'll buy anything Nintendo branded. Ah, that's right... No one has downloaded any of the games from the VC, and have instead opted to wait for that piece of **** you see above. Yup!

Its existence doesn't suddenly become justifiable just because it looks like a miniature version of some popular console of yesteryear, either. "WHOOO! NOSTALGIA!", you say. Sorry to break it to you, but the NES isn't exactly aesthetically pleasing. Only diehard Nintendo loons consider that thing a design classic.

Hm. Are you a company rep? The fact that you're trying to sell me on this thing so hard suggests so. Naaah, that's just silly. You're just one of those Console Wars types, aren't you? "AH'M IN THE NINTENDO TRIBE! **** XBONE! **** FONY!" Not at all completely infantile...

Utterly cringe inducing, but the latter really does seem to be the case...

Look, if you want to blithely blow cash on something you demonstrably don't need, then hey, go nuts...

"..affordable price, instant success.."

Oh dear. The über fanboyism really is showing now... Get a grip, bud. Nintendo isn't your friend. They are a corporation. They only care about your money...

Oh, and thumbing up your own comment doesn't give anything you've said any more credibility. Just thought you should know that...

@TheMudHutDweller OOhhhhhhh so much anger, you must of been holding that for some time, glad i could of been assistance.
So how are you liking your NES mini classic edition?

"OOhhhhhhh so much anger, you must of been holding that for some time..."

Holding what, Yandman? What doltish nonsense are you discharging now? I really hope that isn't your best attempt at a retort, because you've failed. Spectacularly. Emphatically. Must. Try. Harder.

"So how are you liking your NES mini classic edition?"

I'm sure that I've made it abundantly clear that I'm not planning on buying the NES Mini. At this point, only a complete moron would think otherwise, so what are you prattling on about? Ah, that's right...

"Hi, I'm YANDMAN! I can't make cogent arguments! I'm also incapable of constructing simple sentences!

Hm... Maybe not. To connote that you'd ever type anything that legible would be giving you a massive amount of undue credit.

Oh, and thank you for not addressing anything that I said. Bet it took you a while to come up with that feeble, vacuous response, right? Bet you really had the wheels turning for that one. Just a shame that you fell utterly flat... No need to fret, as I'm sure the next time you'll be posting something a little less terse; a more substantive comeback that'll knock me completely for six. Nah, you're going to be consistent; you're just going to resort to posting more puerile guff, aren't you?

Seeya, brainiac...

Hands up, im done.

Im a big enough person to admit defeat.
You are clearly the victor and i want everyone to witness this moment.

@YANDMAN

"Im a big enough person to admit defeat.
You are clearly the victor and i want everyone to witness this moment."

Annd I was right. Just laughable (and for all the wrong reasons).

@TheMudHutDweller

I cant work out if you are really funny or not?

@YANDMAN

I don't much care. I will concede that you've been a bit of a hoot, however. Yup, you're quite the good little lolcow, who through your absolute stupidity, have given me a bountiful supply of lolmilk. I honestly believe that I've never had the misfortune of talking to someone as profoundly dense as you - and I've spoken to loopy religious idiots, far-right fanatics and SJW morons. Thus far, you've not been able to make a decent argument for why anybody with two brain cells should buy that piece of crap.Come talk to me when you can.

"Lolcow" "Lolmilk"
If you are anything more than 14 years old and judging by your exemplary grammar i would say you definitely are, you should be pretty embarrassed of that.

Just when i thought you were actually amusing you fell down. Thank you very much for all your kind words though, it sounds like you have a really good social circle.

"If you are anything more than 14 years old and judging by your exemplary grammar i would say you definitely are, you should be pretty embarrassed of that."

All I see is irony here, but we'll keep going.

"Just when i thought you were actually amusing you fell down."

Damn! I've been royally pwnd! Oh woe is meeeeee!

"Thank you very much for all your kind words though,..."

-Translated through the Anti-'tardation-o-tron:

"I'M TOO STUPID TO COME UP WITH ANY REAL KIND OF RIPOSTE!"

"it sounds like you have a really good social circle."

Yawwwwwwn... I am part of a nice little social circle, actually. Projecting much, Mr. Lonesome?

Wow... This is becoming all rather pathetic... Every reply from you has been cringe inducing at best, and to add to your asininity, you've displayed quite the cowardly streak. Twice now you've not had the balls to speak to me directly. I really wish you would. You could at least save some face if you did.

You know what, I've changed my mind. Please don't talk to me again.

"Why", you ask? It's the retardation, y'see. Your retardation.

"you should be pretty embarrassed of that."

"..of.."

Lol.

See what I mean? Nah, of course you don't...

Not once have you got the better of me in any these exchanges, and that clearly isn't something that's going to change any time soon.

Now go away, you cretinous twerp. Go try lower the IQ of somebody else.

All you have to do is stop answering me.