Talking Point: Nintendo Needs to Learn Lessons From Its NES Mini Mistakes

One day I hope Nintendo will stop underestimating the power of nostalgia, specifically of its own brand.

I got one but only after using stock trackers, five different tries at Target, and getting over there at 3:30am each time. Now I'm boxing it back up as a collectors item. In ten years this things gonna be worth some cash.

I had my initial bout of annoyance from this news, along with half of the site. However, Nintendo always does one and done items during the holiday season. It was surprising that they even were willing to extend production the way that they did. The product was designed to drum up interest in Nintendo as a brand and most of these titles will be on VC in some form or another. I am disappointed in the Retail stores that didn't limit to one per customer. I wish I could have gotten the controller though.

I never even saw an NES Mini in stores, let alone bought one. It's sad too. I thought it was a great idea and was executed well.

Rest in peace NES Mini. We hardly knew ya.

You guys are being too kind. They screwed this up from the start. They should have taken preorders to see the demand. They should have found ways to restock. They should not have discontinued before even coming close to saturation point.

All it says to me is don't buy a Switch because the people currently in charge of Nintendo don't know how to be successful in the video games market anymore.

Nintendo has been needing to learn lessons since the N64 days, yet seldom do.

Since they are launching a paid online service this fall, they should include Virtual Console in the mix, that way, they get a recurring income and fans get mollified (or tempted to subscribe to the service. Win-win.

I think the real lesson to be learned is to be upfront with the public, and don't mislead. If you only have enough component parts to make a million unIts, let us know. If Nintendo wants to take these product lines more seriously, they do need to improve their understanding of demand.

@kingc8 One idea would be to release a SNES, N64, or even a second gen NES classic mini. This time include the original 30+ games and then add wireless for a subscription or download service to buy individual games or stream any of 100+ available games. They could also patch, update security, and add "stability updates". Of course meet the demand and offer supply so that retailers can offer preorders this time. Target was the only US retailer to offer preorders for a very limited time one morning before they were gone. And the extra controllers were almost non-existent. Also finally announce your Switch eShop plans Nintendo and give us Super Mario Bros and a few other titles to start the eShop.

@XCWarrior Totally agree! Allow for pre-orders early so you have time to ramp up production. Include extra numbers for retail. Not a lot of guess work needed.

The NES Classic is one of the most glaring manufacturing brain farts in Nintendo's modern history. This thing was announced in July and the internet literally exploded with excitement. The fact that they couldn't make more than six of them is infuriating and stupid. They had nothing else to sell during the holidays, so why this thing didn't flood the market is simply beyond me.

There's just no way around it, Nintendo screwed the pooch here, and lost an un-measurable amount of profit during the biggest season of the year.

I wonder how much damage this did to the Nintendo brand? Maybe very little, who really knows for sure but my guess is that this left a bad taste in many people's mouth.

The needed to learn lessons from long ago and haven't yet.

i have to say i had a good time watching people freak out over this system. its was good entertainment while it lasted.
well, heres to the snes version, its cancellation and the world falling apart.

Even harder to hunt than the Switch.

I waited and didn't get one. Deep down I knew this would happen. It's just sad because having enough stock would have kept the Nintendo brand in the forefront of a lot of consumers minds and would have helped with awareness of the Switch. I just don't understand Nintendo sometimes.

Honestly not surprised it went like this, quoting Reggie from this article: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/01/nintendo_switch_will_be_easier_to_find_than_the_nes_classic_at_launch_says_reggie_fils-aime
"We thought that the consumer that already had a Wii or a Wii U and had purchased those games once or twice already, we didn't think that they'd buy the NES Classic. And they did."

They were beyond wrong in predictions and ready to bet all the parties and money involved followed those as guidelines. You can fix and adjust to small mistakes, but this was a huge miscalculation, no wonder ceasing production ended up be a better option then meeting demand.
Nintendo should really start to trust more its fans and their "maybe" excessive willingness of tossing money at them XD

Nintendo released a prodct (MiniMES) to provide the company a quick cash injection to tide them over till the Switch was released.

What is there to learn? Almost nothing. The product did exactly what Nintendo wanted it to do. The product was meant to be a short term, limited supply thing to begin with.

Nintendo even did a 2nd run of this to appease the fans.

It's the fans who are sad over the discontinutaion of this that need to learn the lesson of this and get over themselves.

Note Well: NintendoLife don't understand what Nintendo's aims were with this product. The product was totally successful and we should be happy Nintendo is making successful products again.

I wanted one and I still want one. Well, bad luck for me.

I got one thru pure chance. Then gave it to my nephew as his parents couldn't find one to give him for Christmas. I thought, "I'll just grab one in the spring, no biggie." I want to support Nintendo and stay legit but RetroPie is looking better and better.

Nothing for Nintendo to learn here. The only people salty about it are the people that didn't get one. I got one on the Wed before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. (and it's awesome.) Too bad for those that didn't. It was a limited edition thing.

I still think it has been discontinued for now because production has shifted to the next mini (SNES or GameBoy)...

And hopefully they have learnt that demand is there so they will make more and not just their original forecast numbers.

I do think they need to take ownership of distribution by only selling the next one via each countries official Nintendo Store. 1 per account/address. Leave other stores to only sell Switch and 3/2DS.

And release a NES mini cartridge/download for Switch so those who missed out or want to play on go can.

As with a lot of issues in Nintendo these days, I still believe it has a lot to do with the tribal political schisms that seem to exist within Nintendo. They seem to have these different political pulls in different directions from the powerful executive director cabal and part of the company lines up behind one half and part lines up against the other half.

This has ALWAYS been true of Nintendo (when you read the behind the scenes, interviews, Iwata Asks, etc going back to the Game Boy, Virtual Boy, etc), it seems these multi-pronged camps of strong personalities and their followers have been a constant with one group that things the new product will be the next big thing and want to push it full steam and another group wants the product to be a brief niche toy and to move on after. One side either wins or loses.

But at present, Iwata left a very big power vacuum. His cult of personality allowed him to unify the differing factions more often than not (but not always: see voice chat on WiiU - not just for Splaton but everywhere). Prior to him it was Yamauchi's iron fist, the unpredictable dictator that would snap from judgement to judgement, make his call, and leave no room for debate whatsoever. Not even for Miyamoto.

So now we have Kimishima who, while all business like Yamauchi, is kind of squishy it seems. He's malleable to shareholders because he's a business mind, he's malleable to all camps in the company because he admittedly isn't the expert in their fields and leaves Miyamoto and Takeda to that....and they themselves have been 2 of the several political camps themselves since the NES. I like Kimishima and hope he sticks around, but versus prior leadership, it allows these political camps to pull back and forth.

If I were to guess what a fly might have heard on the walls of the board room, it would be one faction, possibly Koizumi that saw the Mini as the future of the VC and wanted to promote it and push out the platform as an update on the VC idea (think of all the models they could sell with different pre-baked games!), and another faction, probably Takeda, that wanted to make a platform out of it, possibly a reboot of the NES, complete with an eShop to buy any VC game. And probably a third faction, possibly Miyamoto who didn't want the product to exist at all, feeling it was time to move on to new games and not be stuck in his old work (that he never seems happy with, he likes reinventing the same game over and over to fix everything he sees as a flaw), and probably argued against it a all, but finally accepted it as a limited edition toy.

That's just a broad guess based on the personalities and trends and respective political clout in the company.

But I'd guess that's how we ended up with a heavily publicized pre-ordered machine that even had direct advertising via the Fallon appearance in the US (yes they showed Switch & Zelda for the first time too, but the point of the session was ostensibly for Mini) that was then released as a limited edition novelty.

Similar to the push and pull observed between the Koizumi camp on Switch that thinks its Wii 2 and all about motion controls and party games, versus others in the company who believe it's all about the hybrid. Instead of putting it on the market and letting it be what it is, there seems to be permanent power games in the company to prove which camp is "right."

The sad thing is generally they're all right. Instead of arguing about what each product should be, if they made all the different product directions they'd probably all sell.

I do believe we'll see more of the Mini series after it's proven a success. They just weren't prepared to make it a success this time, and couldn't afford to keep it successful while Switch is launching.

The only reason I managed to get one is because I pre-ordered it as soon as it was available on Amazon UK several months prior to release. It was sold out within minutes and I don't think it ever again became available, nor did the accessories.

I don't think Nintendo would learn anything should they do another mini classic console. They'd do the sample limited stocking and then scrap it a few months down the line. It takes a long time for them to release their mistakes.

Really just blown away by Nintendo. Sometimes I'm wondering who is making the decisions over there. This thing was on the market for like 6 months and I never saw one available in a store or online. I had to resort to getting one on Amazon from a scalper after the prices settled down a bit. I was worried Nintendo would kill it and I'm glad I acted when I did. I'm just hoping they learn from this and make all these games available on the virtual console or short fashion. The potential for profit is high, it's up to them if they want to actually make some money.

ZDnet had a good article about this. They argue that nothing about the NES Classic was a mistake. Nintendo appears perfectly happy that they only sold 1.5M units before it was discontinued because it wasn't about selling cheap emulation consoles, but about promoting classic Nintendo games, testing the market for them, and possibly testing the security of their emulator.

Think about it. Nintendo makes precious little on the NES Classic. There's no big profit margin there. But they do get to see whether or not it can be hacked (and it was) to see if they need to include Wi-fi in their follow-up console. Now that they know hackers will quickly alter it, they can justify including Wi-Fi in the next system (maybe a SNES mini) so that they can prevent unauthorized ROMs from being installed on it. This is especially important if you want to seriously ramp up mass-production. It's no big deal if 1.5M hacked systems are out there running pirated roms, but it's a much bigger deal if 10-20M are.

(Don't the short controller wires, lack of expansion memory, lack of wi-fi for VC support, and lack of support for classic controllers make a little more sense too? It's almost as if Nintendo designed the NES Classic to be as inconvenient as possible so that it could in no way cannibalize any follow-up plans they might have.)

Nintendo could easily announce new NES and SNES Classic Mini systems at E3, or shortly after, tied to your new Nintendo online account. They will be able to sell you the same classic games as they did on the Classic Mini and charge you VC prices for them.

They can, of course, also announce VC titles for the Switch at the same time, perhaps smart phones as well. Will they allow cross-buy, so that what you buy for the Switch would also work for one of the retro systems as well? Doubtful. Nintendo loves to charge you for each individual system, but it's possible.

In the meantime, Nintendo can monetize their old catalog titles yet again. Retro is HUGE right now and Nintendo is poised to take serious advantage of that trend.

No, I don't think anything about the NES Classic was a mistake.

@FragRed you guys were lucky in the fact that you could preorder. They didn't allow us folks in the US to do so. I would have preordered the day it was announced if given the opportunity. Heck that's the only reason I have a Switch right now. I haven't seen one on a shelf anywhere and GameStop is selling them in bundles only so they can capitalize on the demand by selling 3 games etc with the hardware. Nintendo needs some help with their decision making.

Too much analysis for a product that it was meant to be just a special X-mas product. This tendency of overanalyzing everything is an internet "disease" thing that needs to find a "cure" somehow.

Nintendo should get better at explaining it's plans to the masses, but the masses also have to get better at understanding Ntinedo.

Nintendo never said how many of these they were manufacturing. There were never any "holiday" forecasts, 3rd quarter forecasts or yearly forecasts like we see with the 3DS, Wii U and now the Switch. If they were ever planning on making millions of these things they surely would have said so.

And Ntineod will keep doing this. Zelda BotW is getting rave reviews. GOAT and all that. How many of you have seen the Guardian amiibo - they one they have been promoting as "flexible" -
in any store? Anybody see the Wolf Link amiibo, the only way to get a wolf companion in game, on store shelves or online retailers?

Nintendo makes things, and then they don't. Nintneod doesn't have anything to learn, people need to learn Nintendo never keeps a steady supply of anything, unless they specifically say so, which they almost never do. Even games. Go look on store shelves for some of those great games they've made on 3DS and Wii U, then realize some of them are missing. Nintneod doesn't like to make things. And on the rare occasions they do make things, they shout it from the rooftops, Switch, 3DS, that's about it.

Unless they specifically say otherwise, everything Ntineod manufacturers is "limited edition".

@th3r3ds0x Yeah I remember the weeks leading up to the launch of the NES Mini and wondering why they hadn't made it available to pre-order in the US. I assume they knew damn well they weren't going to meet anywhere near the demand, and that is why they didn't do it. Either that or there are serious problems behind the scenes.

@the8thark This was never marketed as limited edition. Show me on the site where is says that. To the contrary, every Nintendo mouthpiece was spouting how supplies would improve, shipments would continue and even ramp up at some point to meet demand once logistic issue were resolved, and no one need worry; more were on the way. As far as this being a huge success for Nintendo... maybe as a marketing tool (until the backlash from all of their planned/controlled supply 'issues' catches up with their archaic asses). But how do you call something a huge success when they robbed themselves of probably triple the revenue they could have had, had the console been in decent supply. Even that may be underselling it's popularity. It may have even sold more than that. But Nintendo decided to play their ridiculous games with supply and probably robbed themselves of at least 3 or 4 times what they sold. Yes Nintendo are selling through their existing units... but screwing yourself out of revenue of that magnitude to create buzz is just backwards and stupid. So much money going to worthless scalpers lowlifes that could have gone into their own pockets.

http://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/

Check it out. No where does it say or even hint at the system being limited.

Maybe their new online service will allow us to rent all the games we want. That would be nice. We won't own any of the games (we don't now anyway) but, we'll get to play everything anytime we want. So none of us will really need a NES Mini if that is the plan for this service.

Pre-orders make it easier for lazy people (and scalpers) to get products and harder for people who actually go to the store hoping to find one on the shelf. There are other ways to gauge interest than pre-orders. They could just open their eyes and see the hype on the internet. I do think that Nintendo's management isn't making the best decisions.

@the8thark

I don't think there's a question of what Nintendo's aims were here. It is pretty obvious that, like you said, it was for a quick fix to get some cash during the holidays, spread their brand, etc. Nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with making it a temporary item.

But no, I can't agree with your second half of the comment. Nintendo did the worst thing it could have possibly done: Made very few, and left a bad taste in people's mouths as they don't even know what it looks like because it's that scarce. And what second run?? There wasn't even a first run as far as I'm concerned. Store supply was literally 6 here, 4 there, if you were lucky, you got maybe 12. Why even bother, quite frankly?

Nintendo announced this in July and the internet lost their minds. Nintendo knows nostalgia sells, and this thing was a borderline impulse buy in the video game aisle. Instead, just like amiibo, they just shoot in the dark, miss completely, and say, "Eh, we tried. There will be more. Maybe. Working on it. No more in production." I don't have a problem with making a limited edition item, but what I don't appreciate from them, is putting it up on their website, acting like all you have to do is run to the store and buy it.

There's no way around it, Nintendo lost out on this, big. Sure, obviously it did what they wanted it to, but the product was so big, they lost big by hardly bothering to try. Like holding a handful of sand, a lot slips out onto the ground. There's no way to measure what it could have been. It was a brain fart if I ever saw one, especially with nothing else to sell during the holidays.

I'm certain the NES Mini was just a stop-gap for Christmas, because Nintendo couldn't be bothered to make any new games for the Wii U.

@Tsusasi
It didn't have to be marked as limited for it to be so. Nowhere did Ninendo say they would be keeping this in stock for years to come.

The MiniNES was not about selling 5M units, I agree. It was also not about publicising Nintendo as you claim either. Just a quick cash injection. Nothing more, nothing less.

@MoonKnight7

We both agree what the MiniNES was set out to achieve. That's good.

"Nintendo did the worst thing it could have possibly done"
You said this and are wrong. Nintendo didn't do anything wrong. Even the slight PR issue over fans who wanted this to be sold for longer than it was didn't matter in the long run. It did not affect Switch sales. People still love Nintendo. Investors are happy with Nintendo's recent performance.

The only issue here is a few hurt fans who wanted the prodct to be sold for longer than it was.

I just hope nintendo is planning to, or already set into motion to double down on VC content moving forward. They should be shifting people and resources to push out more than one VC title a week, especially since the Switch is starting from scratch and we'll see several titles that have already been released on 3 other platforms.

amiibo was a disaster for Nintendo in terms of lost profits--a new product being successfully scalped at 500%, and wave after wave Nintendo consciously decides to continue producing dramatically under demand. Then Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival comes out and for months every store display is full of obscure Animal Crossing characters with no function, which nobody wants and no one is buying, yet now of all times Nintendo continues to produce far above demand.

Now we've got NES Mini, the same deal. Crazy moneymaker far under demand. Nintendo releases a statement acknowledging that they have not met demand, so what do they do? In the very same statement, they announce that they have no intention of ever addressing this problem, and are in fact cutting production altogether--"Sorry you're upset, valued customer and loyal supporter, but screw you, we didn't want your money anyway."

It's like everything they do is to create value on the secondhand market, where only scalpers profit, while damaging the customers' satisfaction and the company's reputation.

I've been a diehard Nintendo fan all my life, but if the Switch underperforms and Nintendo is finished, honestly, they deserve it. I've never seen a company fight so hard, so consistently, to avoid ever learning from the same mistakes they make at every possible turn.

This story needs to be put to bed already. Scalpers are the ones that made the most out of it anyway..

Nintendo needs to work on demand. Amiibo, NES Mini, Switch, etc.

@NewAdvent "Why sell someone 30 games on limited hardware for £60 when you can sell them each one individually for £7 each on new hardware. "

What's more likely? That I'll buy one NES Mini, or nine Virtual Console games? And my friend, who doesn't have a Nintendo system or can't be bothered to figure out how the eShop and downloads work?

Now what's more likely? That my friend and I will buy the NES Mini, or that I'll buy eighteen Virtual Console games by myself?

The NES Mini no doubt steals Virtual Console sales. But it also reaches a wider audience exponentially larger than the lost sales.

Like many people here, I too am unsure why Nintendo would not continue making NES (and Famicom) Minis. But unlike a lot of people here, I think that maybe they could not.

These classic collection units have generally not sold well — and have never sold this well. The most successful of these is probably the Atari Flashback Unit. Now in its seventh iteration (as well as some store special units and this past year a portable version), it has become annual holiday staple. Made by AT Games, it is available for a few months, goes away, and comes back new the following year.

AT Games has had some success with a Sega unit as well, but the Intellivision and Colecovision units relesaed in 2015 languished.

Likewise, self-contained controller-based units with games have generally been out there and taken months to sell limited stock.

So using this information, Nintendo probably contracted for so much manufacturing. It under-estimated by a long-shot. Likewise, since there are third-party games on the system, there is probably some licensing fee paid for a maximum of so many copies.

Going back to retool a factory or renew licensing agreements may not have been worthwhile for Nintendo — especially considering the profits could not have been that much on $90 million in sales worldwide. (The $60 US pricetag was only $10 more than the suggested price for an Atari Flashback — which only features RCA and not HDMI output).

Nintendo seems it cannot win because its demand curve is so much different than its competitors — meaning that its market assumptions are wrong. (I see some people have mentioned amiibo. Toys to Life has collapsed as for everyone else. Activision/Skylanders has paused. Disney has gotten out. And Lego appears weak. But Nintendo can still move amiibo).

It was a mess from start to sorry finish. And the worst part is it was all completely avoidable.

It's a very good article and covers everything. Only I wouldn't be so polite in my criticism of Nintendo here.

I like the device, yes there are some problems like skimping on a short control lead and not putting a plug in the European box. But I did finally beat the original Zelda game on it. Played Metroid too but have stopped around 3/4's way through it. The NES is my least favourite Nintendo console as the graphics haven't aged well at all, nor other things like music and game design. I think I'll play Zero Mission on Wii U instead. Much better game in so many ways. I'm glad I own it though.

@BiasedSonyFan

"Nothing else to sell." Simply means that the Wii U was already in it's grave by then. They had nothing on the shelves for the home console market.

Having only Pokemon, and an old Smash Bros. Wii U bundle on your Nintendo shelf, simply translates to, there isn't much there to start with, and they needed all the help they could get.

@NEStalgia
I always like reading your insights. Thanks for posting that.

Maybe Nintendo should just come out and tell us if they simply can't manufacture any more of them or if they just don't want to. Until they do people are free to speculate.

@BiasedSonyFan Nintendo does essentially resell their old games, traditionally through remakes and remasters. But how many times will someone pay for the same Virtual Console direct port? That's the competition here, and I know personally that I've only bought one in this generation.

@Syrek24 I agree with everything you stated but my only issue with Nintendo is they may underestimate their fans. Selling 2-3 million of a product they probably could have sold 20 million of is painful for the fans they are hoping to excite. I'm 42 and I've been a hardcore Nintendo fan since the NES was released. I had to resort to paying a scalper to purchase the NES Mini and that just really leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Scalpers really really suck and Nintendo products always seem to be especially prime targets.

"it's always been amusing that the big N and some supporters say this is 'authentic'

It's not "authentic": The original NES controller cable is around 8 feet long (a practical length) whereas the NES Classic controller cable is only a couple-few feet long.

I wish it were at least authentic in this regard.

@impurekind They adapted the size of the cord to the size of the console...

"Giving fans what they want" is not a slogan I can get behind - I'm so contemptuous towards fanship that I'd probably rather see Nintendo out of business than having fans, pathological as that attitude is, - but it is indeed pretty clear that the company underestimated the interest in retro games and has been underestimating it for years now. I'm personally thinking more of VC when I day it - NES Mini has never interested me much as a still obligatorily TV-tethered device (although it's also not the thing's fault that smart devices can't be bothered to RECEIVE an HDMI signal in 2017); I'm not even nostalgic about the design since spending my childhood with clones like Subor left me fonder of the Famicom design they copied. But I can still relate to the interest. And I have a pensive suspicion that Ninty is underassessing this market in the light of the very same routinely dramatic and vocal graphics fad that the arms race between other platforms spawned (including iOS and Android - don't tell me Netflix and Skype are the main reasons why smartphones keep growing extra cores and Adrenos and whatnot). There are many gamers dismissing older games for their visuals regardless of whether the visuals really prove to make the game for them on purchase or not. It's come to the point where some dismiss cel-shaded and cartoony games as "kiddy" based on visuals alone, even though photorealistic designs and presentations aren't remotely the extent of video gaming. What's sadder yet, of course, is Nintendo's marketologists accepting this deal despite the stubborn personal course the company chose to pave amidst 4K and 60 FPS for the sake of 4K and 60 FPS.

IMHO, they might feel more confident if they started hyping up their legacy for today's gamers as well. "Graphics or bust" are definitely not a universal mentality, but it doesn't hurt to make a commercial or two enthusing it towards other aspects and the classics thst examplified them. "Hey, folks, how many levels have you beaten in games by now? We just so happen to have a fun game about a badass plumber that practically taught video games to work towards an actual story goal and victory level by level - before it, most games were about racking up hi-score! And do you love open world adventures on your PS4? Well, here's an adventure - no, the main character isn't called Zelda - that practically taught video games how to open world. They were made long before before Horizon Zero Dawn and Uncharted 4, but they still kept people before the TV for hours at a time - and some of the kids playing those games grew up into the adults who would bring you all the ultramodern hits you play today. Curious to check what it was all about? Here's NES Mini, a brave little blast from the past with these games and then some! For the price of one modern game, too!"

This is what I think might come in handy besides better stock handling and release policies (aspects where improvement is always welcome by default anyway). I'm no marketologist myself, of course, just yet another "fan" creature with fan attitude and fan interests. But I dare think that while we may not need persuasion on the existing interest in retro games within and outside the realm of nostalgia, Nintendo might be more inclined and able to detect and assess this interest if they try to spark it on their part. Nothing helps concentrate on stuff like making it the goal of your figurative quest and efforts - even though telling such obvious things to a company older than my grandmother would feel arrogantly condescending in practice. ^^;

If I hadn't decided the night before to go stand in line for one on launch morning, I wouldn't have gotten one, and I never saw them in stores at all. I like my NES Classic a lot, despite having to buy an extension cord for the controller... I think the games look great in HD.

That said, I think Nintendo has had stock problems with items since 1988, and I don't know why they haven't corrected them. "Chip shortages" with making cartridges of "Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" was a hot topic and caused a frenzy of people trying to buy the game while they still could. Fast forward to the Wii fiasco and how it was impossible to find them on shelves with any regularity until almost a full year after release ... part of which due to high sales that I honestly don't think Nintendo even forsaw coming, but they didn't act fast enough to up production once they saw how popular the Wii was. Then you have the amiibo craze in 2004/2005 - a handful of which still aren't available past their first initial and very small run. Then every limited edition Nintendo put out - from the Majora's Mask New 3DS to the BotW editions... all way too limited for fans to get ahold of.

It causes people to tire of having to move heaven and earth to get their products. It's bad business. I am heartened that they have doubled the production schedule for the Switch, though. But the lesson of supply and demand is one Nintendo should have learned a long time ago.

@BiasedSonyFan

Are you assuming that is wasn't simple to produce? Your question is just as baseless as mine. We simply don't know if this was an intentional move, if they just lacked the parts, the licencing (like you suggest), etc. Whatever the reason was, the simple fact that they could hardly expand on the demand was in the end, stupid and a massive oversight. What was the goal? To spread the Nintendo brand, and the solid third party offerings? Ok, fine. But what do you think the average person thought about Nintendo when they found out that they made so few of a hot product because excuse A, excuse B and excuse C? They sound like they don't know what they're doing, and worse, it shows a lack of confidence in the one thing the company can sell well, nostalgia. From what I hear, the interface is really nice, crisp and clean. Not sure why they bothered to make such a nice product, and not even consider that it could take off; in which case, they should have been ready for, licencing considerations and all.

Your second question is amusingly answered in NL's article. I'll leave it here, not sure if you read it since you asked:

"Some have suggested this is to clear the way for NES games on the Nintendo Switch, but is that really a valid reason, if that's even the case? We're talking about very different offerings between a potential Switch Virtual Console and the NES Mini, so even if that turns out to be correct - on which we're doubtful - we'd still suggest that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

You know what the NES Classic fiasco inspired me to do? Get an actual NES and collect old games, thus creating less funds to spend on new games. Way to go Nintendo. I'll give eBayers my money instead of you. That's a lie. I love the Switch and I love you Nintendo. Please never leave me.

Being a Nintendo fan feels like an abusive relationship sometimes.

Next, Mini SNES / Super Famicom with compatibility of Both Original SNES / Super Famicom cartridges so players have two Options to play either SNES or Super Famicom games. Of course, 50 - 60 pre-Determined SNES / Super Famicom has been installed by Default. Plus, Age Restriction inside the machine because not every games are Safe for Kids (Parents can set the Age Limit).

@rjejr
You know, on Switch launch day there were many Breath of the Wild amiibo on the shelves and I actually saw the Guardian in more than one store — and a nice box it is/was.

That said, it is alarming how correct your cynical view of Nintendo's stocking of its product is. You can give reasons for this and that, but in the end your summary is effectively just as useful. Don't expect anything to come back to store shelves.

The only hope I see is that having a strong, successful "home console" again could give some confidence to overstock shelves a bit more.

Do you think Nintendo will just keep making more new Zelda amiibo to capitalize on all the newcomers to Breath of the Wild this year? That could be the strategy.

I'd be going bonkers if I hadn't had a chance to try out Wolf Link. (Oh, and Epona isn't a "perfect" horse so I feel better about that unlock, now)

I'm still fuming over this news, this would have made them so much money, people that aren't even gamers (but played nes in its hayday) wanted one of these sooooo badly, when I told them the news they were devastated, just waiting til the stores got them in stock. Around here the pre-order wasn't even available until last minute (if at all), it just sucks!!

If the Switch is big time successful and they launch the vc service on it, my gut is we won't see a mini console from them for a few years at best!

I am pretty annoyed, it felt like the Nintendo had hit on a winning formula with the classic and Switch. The product itself was great and so many people, myself included, wanted one. This isn't a colour variant or an amiibo but another product, like the wii, that had a chance of a crossover success in the mainstream. The only thing I can think is that Nintendo used it to get rid of leftover hardware parts.

One thing that I think is true is I think Reggie was actually honest (a once in a blood moon phenomenon) when he described the problem that they thought it was only going to sell to lapsed gamers who haven't touched a console since the 1980s and forgot about Nintendo, and never expected fans and PC/PS/XB gamers would be buying in droves. I think the entire scope of the project was specced out with that assumption (based on the political camp that pushed that thinking, see my prior post), and so between licensing, parts, distribution strain, manufactured supply etc, they never came close to making enough for real demand, thinking it was a hard sell to a niche they're not in contact with, and by the time demand proved huge, they either didn't have the licensing, the parts (nunchuk connectors?), the distribution contracts, etc. Because the camp in the company that insisted "there is no demand for this so it's just a brand tool for people that forgot about us" "won" and that was the policy set in stone.

@rjejr The BotW Amiibos were among the few Amiibos they did right. I never saw one in stores (I saw only the Bokoblin, Rider Link, and Archer Link), but Amazon had preorders for the flexible Guardian like it was a normal regular product. That's one of the only times that's happened for an Amiibo.

But yeah, overall, everything Nintendo is limited edition which is what has led to the scalper haven for Nintendo products.

This is the best explination on the Internet that I have ran into

https://youtu.be/4lqgOsl8cZo

I'm done with nintendo. Seriously. I can't even update the new zelda on my wii u because there's no space in it. The update is several gb. And now I can't buy something they made because they don't want me to.

We'll probably never know why it was discontinued, but my gut feeling is that Nintendo didn't want it to compete with the Switch.

You're probably shaking your head at that statement, but hear me out.

Nintendo was probably thinking it didn't want two high-demand systems on the market at once and taking people's attention at the same time. Yes, two vastly different systems to put it lightly, but both are "Nintendo." Nintendo might have worried that people would buy the NES Mini and be satisfied with the purchase (i.e. no desire to purchase another "Nintendo," aka the Switch), resulting in a potential lost Switch sale. Also, profit margins on the device itself probably weren't too high, and it's also a dead-end in terms of profit (while the Switch can continue a stream of profit through games, accessories, etc.). So Nintendo might want people to associate the "new Nintendo machine that came out" with Switch, not NES Mini.

Plus manufacturing issues. Both are high-demand products that sell out immediately. Nintendo probably has to sacrifice one in order to meet demand for the other, so it chose to sacrifice the dead-end machine (profit-wise) for the system that is its future. If this was actually the case, quite frankly they made the right decision. If NES Mini production would hinder Switch production, NES Mini definitely should be stopped so that the Switch (aka Nintendo's future) can be produced more.

But don't be surprised if the NES Mini shows up again this Christmas or in the future.

@samuelvictor You SOLD it? Oh man, that must have hurt in hindsight...

I always figured you'd be quite alright with all the stuff you're doing professionally. Never figured you as one to be strapped for cash...

Well, at least having had one is always better than never having been able to secure one in the first place and still being VERY frustrated about it. And I sure as hell am not going to give any scalper my hard-earned money. Despicable characters...

@the8thark Um... unless you want to be ignorant hats and screw people over and take a hit for being deceptive liars, then yes. If something is 'limited edition', you do have to market it as such. And yes... Nintendo most certainly DID say on numerous occasion in pretty much every market that supply would increase, that there were logistics issues that were being resolved and for everyone to be patient because regular shipments were continuing and that eventually stock levels would meet demand. What they are doing is pretty much the exact opposite of what they said. It also was said that after the holidays things would get better as well. It's only been a few months and not only have supply levels not gotten better, Nintendouche has freakin' discontinued the console. So there's more than one lesson here for everyone, but the biggest is to never trust Nintendo or take them at their word under any circumstances.

Full disclosure: I got one launch night after driving to several Walmarts in a 50 mile area. So I have one. That doesn't mean that I'm going to take Nintendo's crap.

@shadow-wolf I think the Switch is part of the decision... especially with the Virtual Console on the way. Selling fans games for the 3rd or 4th time for ridiculous prices becomes an even harder sell if you can get 30 on one console. And I have to wonder if with all of the components and accessories along with the Switch itself (especially in light of issues with the Switch) being manufactured if Nintendo wants to retool the NES manufacturing line to make Switch related materials to increase manufacturing capacity. They may be expecting a bump in already strong sales after E3 and along side of the launch of Mario Kart.

Doesn't make the way they handled it any less douchy, but at least there are potential reasons to point to.

I love nintendo and their IP's, but I've been saddened by them on so many levels. The Wii U was horrible in my opinions, nintendo themselves didn't even seem to care about it, barely releasing any big games on it from it's 2nd year and beyond...most were cheesy few-hour games or tie-ins that didn't have much replay value (again, my opinion). They always quit making anything for their recent systems the last year of its life (N64, Super NES, Wii, DS, Gameboy, Advance, Color, Gamecube and technically, even Wii U)...then they never make enough of their systems or the accessories that go with them (Gamecube's Memory Cards, Wii's Remotes, NES Mini all together, The Switch)...and for today's day in age, the internet is the number one source to tell if your product is going to sell. After they announced the Mini and (even the Switch), the hype levels grew, which should have told them to design and make more, get them out into the shelves to fulfill not only pre-orders, but also have some for people that didn't preorder. The NES Mini never even appeared in any stores around here, and the Switch just looks weird...2 games are shown on the shelves (and I'm serious, it's only Zelda and 1 2 Switch shown), a big display (with no console to even showcase) and nothing else but a few accessories. I'm still only thinking about purchasing a Switch (even by the holiday, I only see 5 games that would end up being purchased for it). Nintendo just needs a lot of new 'younger' blood in their headquarters that know about the technology (internet) and can take nintendo out of their own little world, and enter reality. Because in reality, they're beginning to slowly hurt their name (Wii U sales showed this). In all honesty, it's starting to feel like they're turning into Atari and Sega, rather than listening to fans and consumers about what they want, and I still see nintendo screwing up partnership with most 3rd party developers for the Switch (another reason why I'm not hyped about purchasing one). As for the Mini, I never even saw one, saw it advertised in a store flyer for one week (store never got any in), saw many preorders at Gamestop (which over 75% of those people never even received one) and watched as nintendo could have made a lot more money, but refused. This also happened with the Amiibo when they first premiered (nintendo knew they would be popular, so why not make more). Nintendo's starting to dig their own hole, but instead of trying to get up out of it, they're digging in the wrong direction...The Switch didn't even seem completely ready for a launch (as the E Shop Virtual Arcade is not ready and should have been, and there are still problems with the system itself that people seem to be complaining about...which that part I understand, because all systems have that).

Hopefully nintendo can show a good E3 promise with many titles, but also showcase 3rd party titles too, not just their own, and show people games...and that the system will be found on store shelves soon enough. Around me, it was over a year before Wii's were even sitting on a store shelf for more than a few minutes.

@Tsusasi Nintendo doesn't own any manufacturing facilities though. Most electronics companies these days don't. Even Apple doesn't, they just rent space at Foxconn/Hon-Hai, or some similar company. They could lease as many runs as they need (as long as they know the production run capacity well in advance, costs skyrocket the shorter the notice, so good planning and market understanding is key.) Same for PS4 and XBox. Samsung on the other hand owns most of their lines, so that's an example of a company managing their own production. (and Nintendo might actually own the actual game production facility (duping/printing/boxing) in Japan, but they don't own any actual hardware fab.

@ThanosReXXX "They adapted the size of the cord to the size of the console... " I seriously don't doubt that for the external features they just took the whole of the dimensions and divided by the same round value, cable and all

@BiasedSonyFan

And also, I did not see your second part with the questions, so your post must have been edited later and I didn't see it initially when I answered you the first time.

Don't expect me to answer something if you added it later. It all depends when I see the reply.

I'm surprised it wasn't discontinued sooner. If the NES Mini (in its current form) continued as an established system...

Official Nintendo product.
Cheap.
Easily hacked: entire NES library can be dumped on it for free.
Thousands of third-party games being pirated.
Can't be easily/automatically patched.
Huge potential for hacked units to be sold on.

Nintendo's only mistake was not ensuring the NES Mini was hack-proof. An official product providing an easy gateway to pirated software would massively hurt Nintendo's reputation (and possibly cause a few lawsuits regarding software licenses).

Maybe Nintendo put a cease and desist on themselves? If so, it was the right move. Hopefully they'll re-release it once they've made it more hack-proof. It'll probably have a higher RRP though...

I still don't see the bother.

The NES is one of the most important pieces of consumer electronics of all time and not only defined the future of the games industry it also saved it from oblivion. I do not underestimate how incredible it was or how influential it's games still are.

But there is not one game on the NES Mini you'd play over its SNES sequel. I love retro gaming but NES software just hasn't aged as well as the Master Systems. (this is partly due to a lack of sequels)

I actually 100% understand their stance on this one; why keep making these until you have a ton of unsellable stock for them when you can leave the experiment with a 100% sell-through rate on what you produced? I think that, if anything, the ideal approach would be to take pre-orders online through their own site so everyone who wants one can get one and they can produce to precisely meet demand while getting paid up-front, and without any waste, but I imagine they don't want to take attention away from the Switch, and don't want stock rotting on store shelves. I see those Animal Crossing Amiibo continue to drop in price everywhere and I doubt they have any interest in seeing a massive reproduction wave for the NES Classic lead to a similar fate. I agree that not meeting demand is stupid, but I understand their thinking here, flawed as it may be.

Just thinking.... if they REALLY want to move Switches, they shouldn't do a pack-in game, they should do a pack-in NES Mini!

@aesc FWIW Nintendo is one of the few companies in Japan sitting on a MASSIVE pile of cash. The broad criticisms of Japanese industry in general are valid, but Nintendo's the one exception to the rule, another thing that makes them a darling of Japan's image worldwide: The one company to succeed (not the only one, but the most prominent example.) And it means Nintendo has been getting some things right. And being super cheap on their supply side is probably one of them, frustrating as it can be. If you're one of the few businesses in your country NOT getting bailed out, "carry on as usual" is probably a good plan

I do agree about giving NoA more leeway though. Kimishima's in a position to do that having been the NoA CEO at one time, he gets this market more than his predecessors did. And they did let Reggie push for the stand-alone dock that they didn't want to do. Following up that reality with the fact that NoA seems to be Switch's #1 territory, even over Japan, we can hope that they strongly realize the importance of that and shift some decision making here. Given Japans gaming habits seem to be centering on party games again (the success of 1-2-Switch there as a keynote) shows that their gaming habits are wildly divergent from the west now, as that will never fly here.) Someone needs to be listening to that in Kyoto.

@the8thark

Spoken like a true NDFer. Well done?

@NEStalgia Yeah, that's kind of what I meant. If they can only afford to have XXX number of production lines tooled for their product indefinitely to maintain profit margins or if the facilities have XXX capacity to accommodate them indefinitely without adding additional lines and costs, then maybe retooling an existing line for Switch product is what they felt they needed to do.

Just speculation as this was just a dick move toward fans on their part.

@Tsusasi Yeah, and this did happen right after they announced double production capacity for Switch, so it's very possible they borrowed the Mini line (or the Mini line existed purely to give a production line something to do so they don't lose their lease while they waited on Switch and halted WiiU.)

Also remember they're still producing N3DS/N3DSXLs. They'll probably announce N3DS EOL in 2018 and that will free up production either for Switch or more Mini series units.

That'll be a sad day though.

@aesc Absolutely! Frustrating for fans...getting closer to equilibrium would benefit everyone better, but it's definitely better than idle stock. They have enough of that with WiiU sitting around until it's gone.

I had another thought about giving NoA more influence again too. Some of the best things that happened at Nintendo (as far back as Super Mario Bros. 2) came from decision making at NoA. Back then it was under Arakawa's leadership here, and only flew because he was Yamauchi's son-in-law. Nobody else could ever question Yamauchi and still work there the next day to tell about it...but he had a unique position for bending the boss's ear that's been missing since he retired (and, it was Kimishima that had replaced him, so he knows, hopefully, firsthand what that history is.)

@Nico07 But if they do that and effectively make the Classic Mini a proper console (albeit one that just runs retro games), wouldn't that take away from the Switch's VC sales? I think they should make a new version with the original 30 NES games and add 30 SNES games, bundle it with an SNES controller (with compatible NES controllers sold separately), and of course make more stock. With no online or anything. That way, it remains a cool, cheap Christmas present but doesn't impact sales for VC.

Can game journalists please stop saying things 'pop'? It doesn't mean anything. It used to just be colours but now everything is freaking popping all over the place. I don't want to be told something pops again.

In other news "switch discontinued world wide"

Nintendo is preparing a statement...

@samuelvictor Yeah, figured as much. Thanks for the elaborate response, that much disclosure wasn't necessary, though. I was kind of pulling your leg a bit, but old and forgetful as I am, I forgot the smiley...

Very well said. Only Nintendo would let THIS happen. It's mind boggling.

@NEStalgia Even though I was joking, I wouldn't even be too surprised if this was actually the idea behind it: to not make the cord longer because the console is so small...

Maybe other brands are clamoring to get their old games onto the system and Nintendo will bring out a re-design with more games for $99.99?

Otherwise, I do believe it was intentionally designed as a "must-have/can't find" item during the holidays to keep Nintendo in the news since they didn't have any major items to market at the time and the Switch was coming soon.

@shadow-wolf Interesting point of view, except for one tiny niggle: the NES Mini is (was) not made on the same production line, so they can operate independently of one another and so the NES Mini production line wouldn't have any immediate detrimental effect on the Switch, other than Nintendo having to invest in the manufacturing and of course also the distribution/supply chain.

Overall, it'll probably simply be a priority issue of where their money and attention needs to go right now, and that is towards the Switch...

@BiasedSonyFan

"Should they?"

Last I checked, you usually run a business to make money on a hit product, so I'm inclined to say that they probably should.

"They probably underestimated the potential demand for it, plus the NES Mini probably doesn't have a high profit margin to begin with."

Here in lies the underscore problem with Nintendo. How is it possible for a company to be so wrong, so often? Sometimes I just wonder if they're more concerned with keeping the Nintendo brand in some sort of implied reverence, than actually making money. No doubt it wasn't a huge money maker, but it is utterly glaring that they could have made 4x more profits (whatever it may have been) than what they shipped.

Yes, it's called don't produce such a small number and limit it to one per customer to curtail those moronic scalpers.

Eh whatever, it was more like a Limited Edition get yours before its to late offer corporations use to drum up interest and get attention for themselves. Newer games are more of a priority for them, thats where the money is at.

More people own the Switch than the Nes Classic with numbers growing, so as long as they release Virtual Console on it, have good VC support for it, with better emulation then what the Nes Classic offered then we're good to go.

It does suck for people that don't care for newer games or the switch, and just want to relive the classics for a cheaper price instead of paying for a 300 dollar system, plus buying all the VC games separately, but eh what can you do.

Nintendo obviously never cared about this product, and just used it for attention, get older people re interested in Nintendo that used to play the old Nes games back in the day, and have them talk about to their kids what they use to play, so the kids can get interested in Nintendo also. Even if they don't get their hands on one if at least they talk about it then Nintendo is good to go.

@aaronsullivan I know they had a bunch at launch, but not everybody buys a game at launch. Not everybody was able to get a Switch at launch. My son picked up Zelda U a few weeks after release after reading all the good reviews, my nephew got it for his birthday last weekend.

The 2 "Special editions" of the game I'm ok w/, they are for the people really looking forward to a game at launch, and 1 was even called special edition. But Instead of making more of the Zelda BotW amiibo that people might want to play the game using, they announce another 3 Link amiibo, bringing the total number of Link amiibo to 10. Ten Link amiibo, in a toy chain that was heralded as - "buy 1 toy, play it in many games".

And as Switch sells more, Zelda BotW will likely sell more copies as well. Where will the amiibo be then? If the NY Ntinedo store can't be bothered to ever stock Wolf Link, well that's just sad.

So yes, there were amiibo to be had at launch. But if everything Ntinedo sells is only going to be available "at launch" they need to make a whole lot more, and give people a way to access that content in game.

I can't help it if Ntinedo brings out the cynic in me, too many bad decisions too often. Maybe they are good decisions for Ntinedo, but bad for the consumer. I'm a gamer not a stock holder.

@NEStalgia Dude whatever Nintendo has sold that same crap forever now , buy the same old games over and over again. You really think people won't buy old games on switch to even if they had a NES classic. Please stop defending how stupid they are and they have done this time and time again. The NES mini cost like 10 dollars ( its a raspberry pi) to make and its a new way to sell to other people not just hardcore fanboys like you. Don't give me that crap your just as stupid as Nintendo is and they will fail soon. The arrogance and hubris of this old man company, they will never admit if they do something wrong.

@NEStalgia Nintneod could not have misjudged NES Mini demand that poorly, that's impossible. Sega Game Gear type items have been on shelves for years now. Years and years. They must keep selling b/c they keep making new ones. Heck even those $20 Spongebob and Dora game thingies keep selling. Then Nitnedo makes this huge announcement about NES Mini and the internet goes bonkers "Pre-orders" which they weren't, sell out instantly everywhere. If they were actual "pre-orders" then Ntinedo woudl have just let everyone who wanted one order one, then make that many. Even if they only made 1 console for everyone person who tried to pre-order 1 in advance I bet that number would still be 3x more than they made.

Ignorance is no excuse. Poor planning is no excuse. Being taken by surprise is no excuse. Here's the probable truth - Nitneod ie Kimishima decided in advance how many to make, that's how many they made. End of story. And that number was very low, b/c he didn't want to lay out the money to make more. Just like they don't like to lay out the money to make anything.

It was a holiday stop gap. A stop gap that if it had been piled high near registers in stores over the Black Friday weekend would, at only $60 for 30 games, have been purchased by nearly every other person waiting in line. They could never had made enough even if they tried, but they never came close to trying.

It wasn't a mistake, it was planned.

@zionich That is indeed a good video, but then again: I wouldn't have expected anything less from Spawn Wave. More people that think they know what Nintendo should do or seem to think they know the exact reasons of the how and why should watch that video and learn something...

@rjejr Maybe watch that Spawn Wave video in comment #74, it's quite a good possible explanation. Might offer some perspective...

@thames6376 I think you might have meant to reply to someone else, I wasn't in the conversation about whether people would/wouldn't buy VC games, I was talking about hardware production lines and NoA decision making.

@rjejr Amiibo have kind of been limited edition from the start. At first I think it was just that they screwed up the supply chain as usual, but then I think the collectibility of them became a surprise meme and they ran with it. And with so MANY different ones it makes sense to handle them that way. As toys-to-life implodes rapidly Amiibo is still a seller, largely because of that collectibility and scarcity. I don't mind so much if figurines are limited...most figurines are limited and that's what gives them a legendary lifespan (and yes, I have my Guardian Amiibo ), it's when hardware and software are limited that it becomes problematic.

And I don't think most would have minded if NES mini were limited if they simply said at the start they were limited, one-time only holiday collectibles. Fine, cool, that's a neat program. It's that they advertised it like a permanent product to then run out on day 0, and then barely meet demand for 6 months before killing it and saying it was limited

Game Gear type items are cut-rate budget drug store jobbies that have no real demand. They sell on shelves because they're there as impulse stocking stuffers, but there's not actual demand. Nintendo didn't accidentally find demand, they went out of their way to build demand for a premium variant of that sort of thing. IMO they judged their popularity based on WiiU and VC sales, figuring "well those 12M people that bought WiiU are the core Nintendo players, and they're not going to buy one of these since they have WiiU, and Nintendo's not in demand right now" And yeah it bugs me that Nintendo pre-orders aren't pre-orders but just early purchase. Same for Switch.

But they'd have laid out money if the brain box thought it would return. Whoever was winning the political battle that week thought they wouldn't sell many guaranteed, so they didn't make many. It's not so much that they don't like laying out money as much as they don't lay out money for a single unit more than they know with 100% certainty they will sell. Whatever number they made was it. And since no Japanese leader admits error, and no Japanese worker points fingers at management, that answer was the Right Answer(TM).

Of course if they had to ramp up so much production on a no-profit product it would dip into company efforts for their real profit producing products, they would have tried to make it fail anyway.

Maybe the QoL product is a heart-rate sensor that tells you your blood pressure is spiking every time you see a picture of an NES Mini

It's kinda funny how Nintendo is being called stupid for this all the time.
I mean, from their perspective: What exactly is the problem?
They produced something and sold it at a profit. There is nothing bad or stupid about that.

It's of course possible that they could have made even more money with that, but maybe they really just wanted to burn through spare parts as those were using up warehouse space and were thus burning money.

Who knows, maybe they have seen the huge success and are simply planning to release something better?

But whatever is the case one thing is for certain:
The NES Mini was a successful product and nothing else.

@XCWarrior How many people actually won't buy a Switch because of the NES Classic, not very many, it seemed like it was a failure on purpose and Nintendo actually knows what they're doing to market themselves. Overall it benefits them more than it hurts them.

Just like how the music, movie industry loves to spread rumors and scandals on their celebrities to bring attention, any publicity even bad is good publicity.

With Pokemon Go, Nes Classic, Commercials, Zelda being one of the highest rated games ever, they are bringing more attention then what the Wii U had.

I will butt in with my usual here.

It was never a "problem" that there weren't enough NES minis to go around. Not to Nintendo, at least.

They made an amount of systems as a timely reminder for older fans, and they sold them all. Mission accomplished.

They were never in it to milk their past beyond the brand revival value. The NES mini did not make a lot of money per system, and serves no prospects of selling more software from establishing an install base, being an all-in-one system.

Most pressingly, however, continously having it available would devalue their older properties, which they aren't interested in. Neither are their fellow publishers whose games are available on the system, many of whom we have to assume only agreed to license out their legacy software for a certain amount of systems.

If the NES mini ever returns, it would likely be with a new mix of third party inclusions.

Lol, I reckon Nintendo know exactly what they are doing. They have created something they can release if ever they get stuck relying on Mario Tennis Lite and Animal Crossing Amiibo Fest because everything has been moved to the next console. Short term gains to maintain sales whilst creating a demand for a retro solution which invariably will be the e-shop. Very clever.

'Oh dear! Nintendo killed my granny!'

'Now, now, don't get upset. It was planned so stop whinging!'

'You are right. They wanted to sell to my uncle instead. Perfectly understandable. I forgive them'.

@k8sMum
I get where you are coming from, but Nintendo cannot learn from a "mistake" that never actually put themselves at any disadvantage.

@Pod

According to some/many ninty never makes a mistake. Pity about granny, though.

Now would be a great time for Sony to make the Playstation Mini and make a killing. Nintendo might be shamed enough to see the light.

@k8sMum
She really was a swell old lady.

I would rather see the ENTIRE NES back catalogue released on the Switch.

Having a limited 30 games in the nes mini saw me prefer to sell mine for a handsome profit.

The cables were too short and there was no future potential to it.

NOW

having ALL the NES added as a virtual console, using the joy con as a NES controller, or even seeing Nintendo release Bluetooth replicas of the original formats (mr preferred choice) then I would invest heavily as the Switch started to cement itself as THE centre of your Nintendo collection and indeed all retro gameing collection.

Bring back mega drive as well
Add game cube
Chuck in Saturn and dreamcast and then..... multiple SDXC cards would be needed in my house

I also think people have generally missed the point of the NES mini.

It was there to fill the gap between a died out Wii U and the incoming Switch, to drum up interest and profits during the lull period. They don't want you to buy a NES mini when they are about to announce the virtual console role out.

It was here to fill a temporary void, it served its job and it served it well. If you really wanted one, you would have gotten one at launch. If you ermm'ed and ahhh'ed about it after launch day, that's why you have t got one right now,

People still want one no matter what stupid stance or reasoning Nintendo uses so make more and sell them.

@the8thark yeah its our fault!

They maximize profits like nobody else. They like their fans...but they like money more (like most companies). The NES Classic has too much negative cost compared to the eShop. A few games downloaded will make more profit than selling a system.

@GrailUK Plus everyone is talking about it. How there is this product that everyone wants to get their hands on but can't. You can't pay for this kind of PR. Even with the "rar rar Nintendo are big poopie heads" backlash, the end result is this is a desired product and brand and it is on everyone's minds. Now would have been a good time to launch the VC for switch. Perhaps with these games as a bundle for 60 bucks. Not required or expected, but it would be a cool way to undercut the daylights out of the scalpers.

@WOLF1313
So why do they make the Switch? Why dont they just make games for Steam then?

Why does this surprise anyone?
They needed a quick burst of money after the Wii U disaster o they could easily support the Switch's launch. That's the NES Classic's/Famicom Classic's purpose. The Switch released, so it will only be a detriment to sell them now.
After all, they need some way to make the Virtual Console appealing while still having the classics available. The NES Classic would make Nintendo lose money at this rate.

@Wandman5612. There were like 800 games for the system not just 30. Solution: Put more games than the mini offers on the VC.
They cant get all of them but they could at least get enough for the mini to not be a switch VC killer.
I cant see the Mini as a Switch VC killer at all really. Here they take a bigger chunk of money up front rather than hope you buy 60 bucks worth of VC games.

@nesrocks Just toss a flash drive on your wiiu. Good to go and you can Zelda on.

@Priceless_Spork True, but the most popular games were on the NES/Famicom Classic. Replacing a couple of the more popular games like Pac-Man and Metroid with slightly less popular games like Doki Doki Panic could help balance sales.

@Priceless_Spork
Because their consoles will make them money. They will also make money from 3rd parties for hosting their games.
With the NES Classic, it's $2 per game....without the cost of manufacturing the console. They can sell these games for 4.99 each (or whatever) and not pay manufacturing costs. And you must buy their flagship console to download them. Gaming PCs are expensive for some....and that's not Nintendo's fan base. They also like to control how you play their games.

@Ryu_Niiyama I daresay scalpers could do with some undercutting, especially right now.

@WOLF1313
But no cool controller or cute little Box. Thats its real popularity draw.

Here's a clever idea, how about making enough units to meet customer demands? do they even want our cash?

@Wandman5612
Make 5 minis with a different game selection each.

@Priceless_Spork
That's true. They would sell more of these games with the NES Classic. But again, they only need to sell a fraction of these games on the eShop to make more money.

@Ryu_Niiyama
"Perhaps with these games as a bundle for 60 bucks."

The way I see it the Mini IS the bundle and the enticement or incentive to drop the 60 bucks is the controller and tiny NES box.

Totally right they should bring out VC like now.

@WOLF1313
But WILL you buy these games? Wouldnt 60 bucks in hand be better?

@Priceless_Spork
No I'm not buying them....the NES Classic is a better deal for fans. But Nintendo wants a better deal for Nintendo.

I'm starting to come round to the thinking that maybe Nintendo are discontinuing the NES Mini because after they've seen the demand for this thing, they are changing tactics to monetise it even more. Such as rerelease it with full NES eShop functionality - I'm guessing lots of third parties want to be onboard too. Or maybe even release a 'Virtual Console' that is a stand alone console with access to an online games shop for all of Nintendo's classic consoles. I'd prefer the former as I love the mini versions of the consoles, but the latter would make more commercial sense.

Just my thoughts anyway. This of course assumes Nintendo are rational and sensible....

@seb5049 I'm not sure how much a VC on NES Mini would impact VC sales on say the Nintendo Switch. I know a lot of people on these forums have multiple copies of titles across different platforms. I had VC on Wii, but then rebought on Wii U and 3DS. I even have several original carts on top of those. I think the thing offered by Switch is the portability. Sure I can play Super Mario Bros on the NES Classic Edition, but when I'm out it's easier to take my 3DS or someday Switch to play these titles. So saying NES Classic was hurting future Switch VC or even Wii U VC sales is a small issue. Even though I have a NES Classic there are still many titles I will want on my Switch as well.

@electrolite77 Exactly I don't see dropping the NES Classic as having anything to do with VC sales, period. If anything Nintendo clearly underestimated their fans desire to own this piece of gaming history. Poor VC sales on Wii U come from the fact that for the most part it was a garbage fest in quality. A second point that may have affected their decision may have been the rampant piracy that went along with the NES Classic.
What Nintendo should take from this is that there is a big demand for retro gaming that the NES Classic did right. It offered a lot for the price point and provided the classic look and feel of retro gaming. I think Nintendo should go all in with maybe a revised NES Classic 2, as well as a SNES and N64 Classic at this point. But if Nintendo wants VC sales on the Switch they need to release VC games for us to buy. I want them, many others do as well. Wii U VC sales were dropping because the system was on it's way out and there were few popular titles released in the last half of 2016 or even this year.

In Portugal I saw several NES mini on the shelves.

I'm not saying this article is wrong, but there's something to be said for limited runs of popular devices. The amount of buzz generated by people not being able to find this thing may pay dividends when they launch a sequel. It's definitely a successful business model for many "exclusive" brands.

That said, I think they're insane for not making at least a million or two of these when they realized they were selling like crazy. For one, the hardcore Nintendo fan is still going to buy Virtual Console games either way, so there wouldn't be a loss of sales there. And the casual or former gamer that impulse buys this when they see it sitting on a shelf end cap likely wasn't going to buy Virtual Console games in the first place.

I work at a toys r us, our initial shipment was 12 with two controllers, second shipment had 6 and third shipment had 6. Thats all we got and I knew when they were coming in and still didnt get one because people are insane

We have gotten over 60 switches since launch for comparison, had no problem snagging one of those

Here's the solution.

Stop dripping out games on the Virtual Console and just release all of them on every console that can run them.

Lower the freaking prices of these ancient games. Realistically, you can get these games for free and run them on an emulator on either your PC or phone, making the games hard to get and pricing them way over their worth is only cutting into your own profits and upsetting to consumers who will than look to get what they want elsewhere.

As Gabe Newell from Valve famously said, "Piracy Is a Service Problem". Sorry, it's not 1990, the "my way or the highway" approach doesn't work, I don't care how legally in the right you are. Refusing to to give consumers what they want conveniently at at convenient price is just forfeiting money and hurting customer relations.

I have many family members, friends, and coworkers that might have a dusty unused Wii, but have never bought a 3DS or Wii U. They might be vaguely aware that the Switch launched. However, they all wanted the NES Mini.

The big thing that's salvaged consumer confidence in Nintendo, for me, is that they didn't cancel "Breath of the Wild" for the Wii U. Otherwise, this NES Mini situation would have killed it for me.

@Captain_Gonru They don't hate money, they like it too much.

Tell them they can sell 9.8 million NES Mini and rather than being on the safe side and making 7 or 8 mil they make 2 mil. And they do that with everything except those Animal Crossing amiibo. Who green lit all of those amiibo for characters I don't even know and I've been gaming for 20 straight years? And rather than make more Wolf Link amiibo they make 3 new Link amiibo, of the toy that plays in a lot of games. How many Link toys do we need and how many games is each Link amiibo going to be supported in?

They like their money too much to spend it. Maybe they want to have $100 Billion in the back like Apple does.

I wonder if anybody is still looking for Gamecube adapotrs for the Wii U?

@Captain_Gonru Oh, I watched the first 2 episodes of Brockmire. First was hysterical, 2nd was typical. Thanks, I'll keep watching.

You ever watch this? I figure it was inspirational.

@the8thark Exactly. Another thing NintendoLife doesn't understand is the nature of manufacturing. The NES Mini was obviously the result of a quick decision to get something to market after Nintendo decided to delay the Switch, and it may very well be that they simply couldn't have more manufactured than they did given the time constraints. Recall how long it took for the supply of amiibo to catch up with demand; it wasn't because they didn't notice the strong sales.

This article highlights the major issue facing gaming journalism--it still doesn't feature actual journalists. Just gamers who can write a bit.

@rjejr When Charles explained to Brockmire what "lucied" meant I was crying it was so funny.

"The lesson Nintendo needs to learn from the NES Mini, though, is that it can't treat smaller products with high demand like niche limited edition products"

But that's exactly what it was. It was just a product for the Holidays season that had more demand that they expected it. They always mention how shocked they were when the console flew from the store shelves and that it was been bought by people out of the aimed audience. It was never a product made to last more than a couple of months.

They created because Switch wouldn't be ready for Christmas and Wii U was pretty much dead. They needed something else along the 3DS. Once the Switch is out, why keep making it? We would all love to have more of this but this was a limited edition item and nothing more.

And no, Nintendo doesn't hate money. On the contrary. They will give more attention to Switch and 3DS because it is the main focus now.

Time to move on, kiddos.

@PanurgeJr and not even that good.

@foobarbaz I bought a Raspberry Pi 3 after not being able to get a NES Mini. Plays the entire NES library + every other 8-32 bit game imaginable. If Nintendo wasn't so dumb I would have bought their NES mini console instead.

@zby It sounds like the limits of your patience is popping...

@Syrek24 I agree with your point, the NES Mini existed primarily to create a greater awareness of the Nintendo brand and get people talking about them again. Awareness of Nintendo was more or less at an all time low for the past couple of years, up until Pokémon Go, NES Mini, Super Mario Run, and NS. The NES Mini served it's purpose, thus it has been discontinued. It's too bad for those who didn't get one (I didn't either), however, it wasn't really intended as a gift to the public, but rather to Nintendo themselves.

@NEStalgia I would love to see a book be published about the history of the various factions throughout Nintendo's history... Though I doubt we're going to get any account as intimate as "Game Over" by David Sheff ever again. There is too much security and too many secrets nowadays.

@Pod

The only thing I'm pissed about (I bought two, one is in its box still) is that Reggie lied to us, saying that many more will come.

@Plywoodstick: How can you consider the NES mini was for raising public awareness when I didn't see one unit on a shelf, nor a single TV ad? That is just misleading!!

@NEStalgia Well, 1, 2, Milk is a special case. Jerking off imaginary cows is a normal, everyday activity in Japan. Not even the Indians do it, and they have cows mooing around everywhere. There's like a quota on cows roaming the streets. Japan doesn't have room for all those cows, so they must make due using their imaginations. Thus, 1, 2, Milk was created to provide a remedy for this deep, throbbing desire in the Japanese culture.

@the8thark lol...Where is a dislike button when I need one. Looks like you nearly have a full football team of fanboys taking it in turns GRRRR!!!

@Syrek24

Why do you engage with people who make you sick and seem to enrage you? You obviously think anyone who sees a situation differently than you is an idiot and aren't shy about expressing your disdain quite graphically.

First of all, Nintendo doesn't view this as a mistake.

WE need to learn lessons from this: it will never change!
Wake up people

@k8sMum He, uh... has a storied history of doing that. He keeps saying he's never coming back, but then he eventually comes back. Must be our alluring, magnetic charms.

I wish they would make hardware with the same zeal they allowed Wii shovelware to hit the market. Plenty of that...still.

@maceng There are lots of things people talk about that cannot be seen.

Once upon a time, mythical beasts and beings were said to roam the Earth. Did anyone ever actually encounter them? Perhaps, perhaps not. But that didn't stop people from talking about them.

From thousands of years ago, right up until today, an omnipotent, omniscient God has been said to have created everything- the Earth, the trillions of galaxies in our known universe, and every alternate dimension and multiverse. Has anyone ever actually encountered this God? Perhaps, perhaps not. But that doesn't stop people from talking about them.

In our modern day, an electronic computer was created by Nintendo called the NES Mini. This mysterious, elusive device is said to have existed on store shelves at some point in time, appearing before those lucky few who got it through preorders and long waits in front of retail stores. But has anyone ever really encountered an NES Mini? Perhaps, perhaps not. But that doesn't stop people from talking about it.

@Cosmic-K9 these over dramatic comments are freaking hilarious. "Abusive relationship" 😂😂 Nintendolife never ceases to amaze me.

I walked into a local Gamestop store behind a UPS delivery man that had brought a shipment from Nintendo. I waited as the store clerk opened the box, revealing a single NES Classic, 2 Switch Pro Controllers, and about a half dozen Amiibo. "That's all we ever get from them, just a few things at a time."

You'd think Nintendo was handcrafting these things for sale on Etsy or something.

Meanwhile, the box from the same store's Sony distributer had about 2 dozen PSVR units in it and a ton of games. Supply and demand isn't all that complicated, Nintendo.

Their decision to cancel the NES Mini so abruptly when it always was practically impossible to find one by reasonable means is the biggest disappointment I've ever had from Nintendo. They led us to believe they were only struggling to meet a demand which would eventually be met, only to then suddenly announce it's cancelled.

@Jeremyjones12992 You've never before been in a relationship with a faceless corporation that seeks nothing more than to extract wealth from you? Didn't you know corporations are people too!? They're not just organizations for you to purchase products from! They can have a special relationship with you, if only you let them do so.

Relationships require trust, and trust is a two way street. Cosmic-K9 is expressing their heartfelt fear that Nintendo is personally betraying their trust. Nintendo should understand that pain, and feel extremely guilty over the heartache caused to Cosmic-K9. Nintendo owes Cosmic-K9 and all of the Nintendo friends here a personal apology, and a very personal "comfort hotel meeting" to prove that Nintendo can be a trustworthy partner, whether in business or in bed.

@PlywoodStick Oh my lord 😂

@rjejr
That's me, I'm looking for the GameCube adapter.

The Classic was a brilliant idea, with the worst management I've seen. It was THE holiday item, and instead of cashing all that in and putting an ad inside the box to promote the Switch, they decide to just throw it aside.
This thing is going to become a case study down the road, that's how bad the management is. If I'd suggested such an action in any of my tests in university, they would fail me without any shred of mercy.

@flapjackashley2 This is what drives people to go to the superior systems: PlayStation 4 and XBox One. They have more recognizable brands, such as Call of Duty, Halo, Minecraft, and for PlayStation, Kingdom Hearts. I can't even afford a Nintendo Switch, yet, and as much as I want to, I would love to get Breath of the Wild for the Wii U, but I have obligations, right now.

@Syrek24 Were you trying to be ironic with your #166 comment? Because everything you just said is conflicting in what you believe is making you sick in these comment sections. Are you just ignorant to how you really act towards others or are you just a predisposed hypocrite? Either way I pity you.

One thing the idiots at Nintendo need to learn is that they need to actually get the product to shelves. The demand for Nintendo Mini was incredible, bigger than I've ever seen for ANY console around here. So many people for example at my workplace talked about wanting to get it and none of them ever play games these days are talked about games. They all wanted Nintendo Mini to get back to the good old days in their childhood and show their kids also.

None of them could buy Nintendo Mini since it was never sold in Finland at all, I never saw it in any shop and online stores always had "temporarily sold out" messages, never in stock. So it never was actually sold here.

Or more simply.... Nintendo needs to learn lessons from its mistakes, any mistakes. That's their companies biggest fault, they make the same mistakes over and over again.

It's a shame. A disgrace even. They told us to calm down, that they would produce more. I have my own, but I know people who was waiting for one too, and now they won't be able to get one.

As for me, I couldn't get a second controller and that's worse, because there wasn't a second batch of these, so now I really can't count on getting one.

And when I say it's a disgrace I mean they told us it wasn't a limited product. And now, that "it never was conceived as an ongoing product". Turns out it was limited after all.

@ThanosReXXX Yeah . . . the fools. lol

@PlywoodStick

Yeah, I know. Sigh.

Btw: you are on a roll tonite, my friend! Key sincere, slow clap!

The only time that I ever saw an NES mini in a store was the launch day and in that case I only saw them coming from behind the counter and going into the hands of people who had pre-ordered.

I am sure the main reason that Nintendo is discontinuing the mini is that they want their manufacturing focused on the Switch. They do not want staff spending time procuring parts for a niche product with very low profit margins instead of helping to produce more of their current gen console. However, like the authors of this article, I hope that Nintendo handles their next "mini" product much better.

@BiasedSonyFan

Of course not, but Nintendo has proven to be not only wrong, but way wrong when it comes to these things. When I went to my local gamestop for the wave 4 amiibos on launch day, they didn't even get half of the new characters. On launch day! That's what a launch day is for! I talked to the manager and he said, "I ordered them, but Nintendo just won't send them to me." I really don't understand what they're doing sometimes, and the NES Classic is just another prime example of how badly they misjudge the market.

This product only came in dribs and drabs, even during the holidays. That's what doesn't make any sense to me. You brought up that they were at least selling pokemon and 3DS, well sure that's all well and good, but Paper Mario was the only Wii U game to sell and that even released in October. Nintendo needed something else on the shelves, and that's why I applauded them in July for coming up with this. It was going to get them some more cash and presence during the ever important holiday season. It resulted in them hardly trying.

How is it possible to be so off on a product that banks on a cheap nostalgia novelty product? I totally agree that it was a novelty item, but that's why people wanted it. Moreover, they knew the demand was there in July when everyone was talking about it. Maybe they did do everything they could to get more out of the production lines, but you cannot sugarcoat how severely they dropped the ball here. The product was so rare, that if I hadn't gone to the New York Nintendo store and looked at it in a display case, I wouldn't even know what a real one looks like.

@PlywoodStick And sadly, even THAT isn't sufficiently in depth.

I do think Koizumi is the perfect Iwata successor as the company front hand. On one hand he's awesome and you're so glad he's the one presenting. On the other hand you want to backhand him every time he opens his mouth and talks about basically anything, as he seems obsessed with motion controls, party games, and HD rumble Joycon gimmicks and trying to recreate the Wii.

It's just like having Iwata back!

I'm HOPING the strong reception to Zelda has already created a puff of wind behind the other factions in the company...the payoff of that won't be for a year or two...year 1 is all about what Koizumi was gaining momentum in trying to rebuild the Wii while the WiiU crashed and burned. "Lets try Wii again!" probably sounded like a good plan in light of how bad things were going. Notice he NEVER talks about the hybrid or taking the home console with you? He always talks about joycon features (motion, rumble, camera.) For him it's not a hybrid, it's a Wii that has table top portable mode and all games are played with your friends.

For Miyamoto, Tezuka, Aonuma it's a hybrid. And I can't tell where Takahashi weighs in yet. He's very silent most of the time. But I think as the WiiU burned out, Koizumi gained a lot of political momentum with his Wii-recreation ideas in part because WiiU's failure was being blamed somewhat on Miyamoto type ideas, so going the other way seemed wise. The success of Zelda, perhaps will swing momentum back Miyamoto's way (especially considering he's basically the boss of software overall....) and might pull some Wii thunder back out of Koizumi's hands.

Unfortunately we'll still have to suffer E3 2017 where they reveal all those "new IPs focusing on features of the Joycon" that Koizumi was boasting about. Read that as more ways to milk things. Possibly a Senran Kagura crossover.... Senran Milk X(XX)

@CosmicLight There are lot of people out there that just wanted to buy a NES Mini for $60 for their husbands that used to play video games. They have no desire to spend $300 on a Switch + the $300 in controllers + $60 each for the 5-10 retail games that will be released each year.

It was a 1-time, $60- purchase. The demographic for Switch and NES Mini are the not as overlapping as Nintendo wants to believe. They are missing out on money, something they've struggled to make tons of since the Wii/DS days.

@MoonKnight7 As noted by all of your hearts for your comment, you hit the nail on the head. Anyone who disagreed with you is simply part of the Nintendo Defense Force that would blindly agree with any Nintendo decision, even if they did something crazy like decide Mario's new name is SLjslkjlJSFLKJDSLKFj. They'd justify it, somehow....

@XCWarrior

Lol, it's possible there would be a few.

I'm not always negative about Nintendo, but they really screwed up here, and I really don't think there is a legitimate excuse of how it was handled, start to finish. They can believe what they want.

Honestly, I don't know what Nintendo does with their time all day when something as simple as shortages to the NES Classic happens, especially since they had nothing else to sell at the time.

@XCWarrior How much money are they missing out? Newer games is where the money is at, not older ones. If the Nes Classic is such a big money maker for Nintendo why did they discontinue it so soon? No one in their right mind will discontinue something that is so profitable, especially a surviving business, there is no such thing as a corporation hating money.

Nintendo has been selling VC rereleases since the Wii days so they have a good idea how much old games sell. Theres VC available already on 3 systems, going to be 4 with the Switch. How many people are willing to buy the games again for the 5th time? Also how many people was planning on picking up the Nes Classic and not the other nintendo systems? Im pretty sure nintendo pays attention to what people say and is aware of the demand for it. This is a nintendo fan site so evidence of how many people want it from here, or even in your everyday life is anecdotal.

It seems like it was more a marketing tool to spread the word about Nintendo. Anything to have Nintendo on peoples minds. Have older people talk about games from Nintendo they enjoyed as a kid, to friends, family and their kids. A hard to get item people are going crazy for will get lots of publicity. If it is a big money maker then I wouldn't be surprised if they brought it back as a rerelease special, especially if enough people beg. Discontinue it to bring in the talks, then re continue it seems like a plan, if they plan to re release it.

I saw the Nintendo Mini once in a store in a city I was visit for work, but didn't have the available funds to purchase. At the same time, I already own most of the games on it, and if I wanted to use the Wii Mode I could own the rest. But then, I was never the target audience.

This was a product to get Nintendo back into the public mind, which it succeeded in. I fully expect them to roll either the NES Mini or NES Mini v2 out next Christmas (if not the SNES Mini) as another limited edition gift.

@Stubi Your right it's not. It's a plug n play and those sell well throughout the year. But nintendo NEVER said the words one time only or limited edition.

Here in the US we didn't even get to pre-order the bloody thing!

The fact that they thoroughly bungled it is what ticked so many people off. Not to mention they flat out lied, promising they'd make enough supply for demand. Some of these people need to go back to economy 101.

So yes, people have a right to be irritated.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Okay, the whole "rar rar nintendo are big poopy heads" thing cracked me up!

XD

@Tempestryke I try. Gotta keep the day breezy. Don't get me wrong I have no issues with RATIONAL criticism ...it's just that doesn't happen a whole lot around here. So it totally feels like the way I described sometimes.

I'd like to see better version of NES-mini, packed with wireless controllers and support for tiny (NFC-)NES-cartridges!

@Captain_Gonru John Larroquette

It's, um, The John Larroquette Show.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106039/

It was at least 10 years ahead of it's time, would have been perfect after 9/11 or the Great recession or Trump's Election. I need to write that into a nice rhyming novel title - "9/11, The Great Recession & Trump's Election: Why America Will Never be Happy Again". Anyway, if you missed it, the show was Brockmire for a TV audience 20 years earlier. But back then America wasn't ready for it so they made it happier in the 2nd season. And while I've never seen it, I suspect "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" owes a lot to the show as well.

@PanurgeJr Brockmire

My favorite part of ep 1 was the suicide note, but I've always been a dark fellow.

Oh, and feel free to read the post above this one, it's related.

@NEStalgia It's raining, so I'm catching up w/ my reply backlog.

" it's when hardware and software are limited that it becomes problematic."

But in that regard amiibo ARE a problem. If there are weapons adn items youc an only get in Zelda BotW w/ the amiibo, btu the amiibo can't be found, well then you ar elimiting the game play experince. Since they first shbowed it the Wolf Link companion was the thing I was most excited about, really th eonly thing I was excited about. But now if I can't find th eamiibo I can't have a companion? How is that fair? If the Wolf Link amiibo simply skinned one fo those border collie looking dogs Id' live, I don't need a wolf, a dog is fine, but it's a compnonet of the game, a companion that fights for you and fethces things for you, that they've compeltley taken out fo the game fo rpeopel who can't find the amiibo except for $40 on eBay.

If they want to try the amiibo as collectibles thats fine as really thats' what they are, but everything that they unlock must be unpclable in game w/o them then, even if we have to pay for it. Thsi was something they've known since those challenges were locked away behind amiibo in Splatoon. Those 3 sets should have been unlocked for $3.99 each or all 3 for $9.99.

Selling collectibles is fine, more power, and money, to them, but breaking software isn't fine.

And all those people always taking sides - amiibo should unlock more for the price, amiibo should unlock nothing for peoel who dont' want them - well the solution has wlays bene there, do both. Make the amiibo unlock more, but make that "more" also avaible as a DLC purchse. They kind of do that in SSB, you can pay $5 for Cloud or Bayonetta in game, or you can buy the amiibo to play alongside them. Now I really think the amiibo should also unlock the playable character - $13 amiibo + $6 DLC is too much for 1 character - but at least you didn't need the amibo to play as them, but you could buy the amiibo to play alongside them. Well you can once they release the amiibo 3 years after the game came out.

My kids bought the game, but I'm not playing it w/o the wolf companion, but I'm not paying $40 for a $15 amiibo. $20 for an expansion pass should include a sidekick.

@ThanosReXXX Spawn Wave

Watched the vid. Guy was all over the place but finally got it right about 11:00 when he said 150,000 for marketing purposes. Which completely contradicts the piracy argument he made earlier. It was never about piracy, if anything canceling this creates MOAR piracy as people who can't buy this buy a Pi and download RetroPie. So it's a stupid argument from start to finish.

@Ryu_Niiyama Ha ha, With you being annoyed with half the site. The whole Nintendo hates money thing is ridiculous. Its funny for a joke, but has no place in a serious debate. No such thing as a surviving Corporation hating money. They want that money pouring in.

@XCWarrior Its all just speculation basically. Im not doubting theres money in classic games, I'm just bringing other possibilities.

Another reason they probably canceled the NES Classic could be because of the Switch. Nintendo did say they are doubling production. Production lines are multi year agreements, so probably for Nintendo to do the double production of the Switch is to shut down the assembly line for the NES Classic and use those lines for the Switch. The Switch is the #1 priority for them and they're using what limited resources they have to meet demand. Also when you subtract all the licensing for those games the NES Classic is just not as profitable as the Switch for Nintendo.

The thing is we don't know if the Classic was a Marketing tool for Nintendo, or if they wanted to produce more but couldn't to meet demand for Switch, or if its a mixture of both. Nintendo has really poor communication. If its the assembly line reason then why not say it, I'm pretty sure most people will understand and not feel cheated. Its like an easy argument to use to cool down people. Since they don't its probably because the Classic was a marketing tool, I mean what are they going to say, "Hey guys we never cared about the classic, it was all to take advantage of you guys to have us on your mind."

@CosmicLight "Nintendo has really poor communication. " This is your most accurate statement.

Telling me it's "an assembly line" problem is total BS. If something sells, you make more. That's simple business practice.

The Switch is going to get a revision. I'm going to wait for that. So I guess I hope they reach whatever number they need to so they can start work on that revision, but right now they are just releasing an outdated product that most AAA publishers still haven't jumped on or shown interest in.

But to be honest, if Nintendo did say, ""Hey guys we never cared about the classic, it was all to take advantage of you guys to have us on your mind."" I'd actually appreciate the honesty for once from them. They now lie as much if not more than most video game companies.

@rjejr Well my opinion of Amiibo locks and DLC locks is a bit different. I don't think Amiibo should be a cleverly disguised DLC paywall of any sort, and I don't think they should be taking features out of a game to sell them off as DLC. Leave that for EA and Squeenix, thank you very much.

DLC shoudl be just that, something added beyond the core game, sold AFTER the core game (BoTW is selling DLC 8-10 months after the game. Fair enough.) Or have Amiibo unlock fun little treats that might be fun in the game, but aren't actually part of the core game design. Mostly Nintendo does this. New costumes ,etc. The wolf is a cool feature.....it's not really part of the core game. To a degree it breaks part of the core game. The other armor suits are different skins, certainly not needed. I think that's what Amiibo does best. The Splatoon unlocks were NOT OK, cordoning off the main campaign challenge modes behind DLC/figurines. But that's the only abusive Amiibo so far. DLC on the other hand....Smash and Kart IMO went overboard on selling bits of the game at high prices while there were big gaping holes in the original game that didn't get "fixed" until the Deluxe edition.

Amiibo, IMO should be figurines you buy as figurines, and may unlock fun little unimportant bits in a game. Like an individually sold Game Genie.

@NEStalgia "The wolf is a cool feature.....it's not really part of the core game. To a degree it breaks part of the core game."

How does it break it? Or does it just make it easier and you don't like it easy? Me, I'm a big fan of easy. Yoshie Wooly World made the best use of amiibo so far, you got to play single player w/ a 2nd Yoshie, which made a lot of difference having it around as ammo sometimes. And I still played on "mellow".

The biggest problem w/ amiibo is probably that they came out around the time as the 3rd Skyalnders game and the 2nd Disney Infinity, so people already "knew" what toys to life were and what they did. And Nintendo, b/c Nintendo, rather than say - "These aren't toys to life, they are just collectible toys that sometimes add an unnecessary skin or fun tidbit to a game like Captain Toad Treasure Tracker", rather than say that which was the truth, they had to up the ante and say "These are BETTER than toys to life b/c toys to life only work in 1 game but ours will work in multiple games." Though they neglected to mention the 1 save file which had to be overwritten when you changed games. And not all amiibo work in more than 1 game. Well maybe they do but you have to look.

They should really just ditch the amiibo line and start over w/ something else.

@rjejr In relation to the topic here, I actually only meant the part where he explained the extremely low profit margins that they would have made on things like NES Minis and such, and where that was concerned, he was 100% spot on.

As for the rest of the video, I don't think that he deserves the "all over the place" verdict. If anything, Spawn Wave's videos are always calm, down to Earth, matter of fact and sensible, so I'm not seeing any weird things popping up in there, other than the money burning skit...

@rjejr I'm kind of right down the middle. I don't like easy so much, though I don't mind it, such as Kirby games or Mario RPG if it's fun regardless of difficulty. But I'm also not one of the masochists that are so common in Nintendo fan bases that complain "come on hard mode wasn't even difficult, I beat it on 2 hours, blindfolded, and playing using only my toes on the controller, we need hard ++++++++ so then it will last me at least 7 hours. And I don't want extra lives, you should do it all in one life, or start again!!" I don't know how these people get THAT good at games. I mean I'm a pretty good gamer, but I have my limits and find parts of games too difficult, and am always amazed at the folks that find these things I think are impossible as so easy it's not fun!

I didn't touch Wooly World mellow mode and found the game properly balanced as it was (without some of the controller smashing rage inducing levels that normal Mario games have in the later bonus worlds), but I also didn't 100% every ball of yarn that was placed over a dragon floating in lava either

Zelda, the wolf is slightly breaking in that it goes and collects things for you and effectively provides more hearts than you actually have and bypasses links armor. Since the game is built around "walk here to collect, then discover y and walk there to collect, then discover z and walk there to collect" you miss a lot of that a-to-b-to-c connection that drives your addictio...err....exploration. And for combat it basically makes you stronger than you should be at a given point. It's not so much "easier" that way as much as it makes you more willing to attempt combat at points where you'd otherwise stealth/avoid combat, and kind of breaks you out of the cycle of sneaking/avoiding as a weakling, doing shrines, and getting gradually stronger until guardians are a helpless little mewling before your mighty blade.

It doesn't break the gameplay entirely, but it kind of clips the pacing. Fun if you like doing it, but I see it properly as a sort of "cheat code" option that isn't and shouldn't be a part of the main game.

Also if you follow the canon, it feels a little odd that Calamity Link is effectively using his Twilight Link ancient ancestor/predecessor as a slave....

Anyway, back to Amiibo, yeah, I mostly agree there. I think what happened was it did start as a Me Too product (Mii Too?) to cash in before the craze ended. I imagine it started out as they said, a few limited amiibo of each character, geared mostly toward Smash, and you could use them for fun things in other games too! Then they'd die off predictably and be forgotten and they got a nice cash bump. The launch Amiibo were probably supposed to be 25% of all amiibo. And then they took off like the Wii for reasons I still don't understand. And they had to retrofit "a few figurines you can use in every game!" into "we're cranking out an endless supply of limited edition collectible figurines and we'll find a way to shoehorn a use for them somewhere." So I don't think what Amiibo ARE is what they were SUPPOSED to be when they started with the "one toy many games" thing.

Not sure about ditching the line. I agree it's not what it was supposed to be at the start and is something else now. But they can really just reinvent amiibo without burning everyone that already bought them and like them, and just properly promote them as limited edition collectibles. That's how they're selling anyway!

Though Kimishima wanted to remarket it so people DO use them more for games rather than just collect them.

@NEStalgia "Also if you follow the canon"

No, don't know nuthin' 'bout no cannon, I was all ready for Link to be a woman and not have any ....

Wolf Link doesn't sound broken to me, just different. I could see people who are into the whole "Zelda" thing finding it out of place, but I'm not into the whole Zleda thing, I just want to play a fun game, and I've always found sidekicks helpful.

Good job on explaining the whole amiibo timeline metamorphosis, I need to take it to heart and get over what they were and move on to what they are. Would still be nice if they made enough of them though, whatever they are. The store in NY should always have every amiibo ever made in stock, otherwise what's the point of having a store? And they should sell pre-orders online to see what the actual demand is. If they made them available online it would cut the scalpers out of the equation somewhat.

@rjejr Yeah the wolf concept is pretty cool as its own thing. But I do agree with their implementation that it's something that should be a weird add-on bonus, not really a built in feature or even a DLC (we don't want to start going down the horse armor route )

Besides. There will never be a cooler sidekick than Midna. Midna is the best sidekick in video game history. Also, Navi can burn in Termina. I'll PUSH the moon if I have to. HEY, HEY, LISTEN you little twerp....

@NEStalgia "(we don't want to start going down the horse armor route )"

You're email didn't have the and I thought you'd lost your mind. Glad to see it when I got here, saved me a really long rant about 50c Mii costumes in SSB. Have you ever looked at that list, it's never freakin' ending. 6 pages of just Mii fighter costumes.

http://www.smashbros.com/us/dlc/

Anyway, $19.99 for hard mode. They can keep their hard mode, I just want my sidekick.

@ThanosReXXX "all over the place"

Well what I meant by that was he said at the beginning of the video they stopped production b/c of the piracy, but then at the end he says it was planned all along b/c of the low margins. You can't have it both ways, either it was planned from the beginning to be a holiday only item, or it was planned to be long term but it was pulled b/c of the rampant piracy. And if he is going to say, well it's either 1 or the other, well then what's the point of making the vid, he's just throwing spahetti at the wall to see what sticks. I'm OK w/ the covering all off your basis approach, usually there is more than just 1 reason, but then you have to explain you dont' know what the reasons are, just throwing stuff out there. Which is what we all do on here all the time.

I got my kid a Lego Marvel set for Easter, it had a comic in it of the Avengers fighting Thanos. Lego Thanos is adorable, you should pick yourself up one as your company mascot.

@PanurgeJr "This article highlights the major issue facing gaming journalism--it still doesn't feature actual journalists. Just gamers who can write a bit."

Yep.

@Cosats "Too much analysis for a product that it was meant to be just a special X-mas product. This tendency of overanalyzing everything is an internet "disease" thing that needs to find a "cure" somehow."

Yep. I don't get how people didn't see this as being a short run limited edition stocking filler type thing. As soon as it came out it was clear as day. Much the same as it would be if they produced a SNES edition.

@rjejr No, what he actually said was: "sure, piracy is also a factor". (not in those exact words, but that was the gist of it) Huge difference. He's not pleading two cases in one video.

That LEGO me does look cool, but it would not be a good company mascot. I'm supposed to be a creator of business, not a destroyer...

Might buy it for a private display, though...

@ThanosReXXX Well I still don't think piracy was a factor, b/c the reality is by promoting this and then ending it so quickly they are creating a lot more piracy now that everybody knows about it.

And w/ the 6 gems Thanos can create whatever he wants, whenever he wants. You can be the man in the shadows with all the power.

@rjejr Nah, power is overrated and corrupts. I would like to keep an unburdened soul, if only for my friends and family...

This BS is the reason no one got any. People who bought pyramids of nes classics. I've found lately retail managers basically supplement their income with crap like this which lead to the public never seeing hard to find items. http://m.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-NES-Classic-Edition-Mini-Console-Game-System-Brand-New-in-Box-/322389099173?hash=item4b0fe342a5%3Ag%3AEnoAAOSw4A5YnpA9&_trkparms=pageci%253A8cf404f5-3c4d-11e7-8281-74dbd180f981%257Cparentrq%253A1f03849615c0ac8074c8565bffffd1ec%257Ciid%253A13