Soapbox: The SNES Classic Edition Pre-Order Farce Proves Nintendo Hasn't Learned A Thing

Who is shocked by this?

I'm looking forward to never seeing a SNES Mini on any store shelves. C'mon Nintendo, you know there's demand for a bunch of classic games.

I've seen reports that people can buy a bot that watches the sites and processes pre-orders in seconds the moment they go live.

And the people who made said bot admitted it sucks, but its what happens. Suppose it makes sense when they get paid for it.

Still, also blame the retailers here, because what kind of coordination was that? Say youll send an email and then DONT?

Hell, even allowing these bots to work on your websites and do this?

Shock value...zero.

Nintendo gonna Nintendo.

Let's hope that, at the very least, Star Fox 2 doesn't stay an exclusive forever.

Nintendo is trolling it's own fan base just to get more and more name recognition.

There's got to be more to this than Nintendo repeating a mistake, they surely can't be that stupid. We gotta be missing something.

Pre-ordering itself is the problem. Make people wait until launch day and most people will just get one off the store shelf. the remainder of people will order online and there will be fewer scalpers.

Doesn't it seem strange to anyone else that pre-ordering has now become the normal way of buying games and game hardware?

You guys can't blame ignorance on Nintendo's part nor Apple hogging parts with this scenario. Something else is up.

This was so frustrating. I heard that at 1 PM ET Wal-Mart would open pre orders, so I got all my address and billing info saved on the site and refreshed repeatedly from 12:55 PM til they went live. I was nearly as fast as I could have possibly been in ordering one - and yet by the time I clicked the button to finalize the purchase, it was sold out. I wouldn't say that even a minute had passed.

I basically was punished yesterday by going to sleep at a decent hour and having a job. Jumping through these hoops for Nintendo is getting real old.

@Phin68
Apple is hogging Switch components (NAND flash memory, HD rumble motors, LCD screens), not SNES Classic Mini components.

I'm used to it. It's been this way since the beginning of time. I've come to the conclusion that they don't care. They have a number in mind when they launch a product and they stick to it.

Getting one eventually > not getting one at all. A sizeable second wave of stock will put the scalpers in their place.

I have heard Bots. I have heard limited stock.

All I know is that something does not add up.

And while everyone is focusing on Nintendo, there is plenty of blame to go around.

The retailers handle the sales. And the auction sites allow selling of pre-orders. The former was botched. And the latter encourages scalping.

My only hope is that Nintendo realizes that they have lightning in a bottle and devote more resources to making this continually available throughout the year. They didn't know that the NES Mini would be so successful, but now they should realize how much of their production should be devoted to these retro minis. Maybe they need to expand that side of the business, who knows - it's obvious that they would make the profit back to cover this. I'm not exactly optimistic though.

I would like to give some credit to gamestop though. By offering in-store preorders first, they did take an active measure to prevent scalpers Stinks that most were not able to take advantage (myself included) but at least it was offered. Of course one might argue that offering those bundles is a away to deter scalpers too...

@BigYellow @Phin68 Found it

*“People have realized that our bot puts them ahead of the competition,” one of the Tai Ding bot creators, who asked to remain anonymous and acts as a representative for the team, told Polygon. “We have a 93 percent success rate. Basically our bot is able to "Automatically Cart" and checkout an NES [or SNES] without the presence of a person monitoring the computer.”
This means that those who use the bots can pre-order multiple SNES Classic Edition consoles. One user was able to snag four SNES Classic Edition pre-orders by using the bot. Leading up to the pre-orders going live, he had tweeted about running the software in order to cop a couple of consoles for his various friends and family members. While this is legal, it’s frowned upon by most corporations and considered cheating by most consumers*

Well....
I guess Scalpers are the culprits behind this drama...
Let's punish them !

LOL. Not surprised in the least bit. Yeah, it really super sucks, but I'm fairly certain that this is no mistake. >

@BLP_Software Ah, fair enough. Still, I'm doubtful bots alone could cause this issue. I rarely here of bots being a major issue for other companies.

Exactly how is retailers putting out preorders at ridiculous times Nintendo's fault? As the article said, the release time was coordinated in the UK and it was clearly known to everyone when preorders would go live. Everyone had a chance to order them. Online stores here also set up one per person limits. I managed to get two through different sites. I'm not scalping btw, the other is for a friend who lives overseas and can't get one.

So, again, how is it Nintendo's fault that American retailers suck? How is it Nintendo's fault that these scalpers are using bots to order dozens at a time. Nintendo didn't send out those overpriced bundles to ThinkGeek either. This reeks of retailers buying a large amount and only putting a small amount online and hiding the rest to sell later like Gamestop and ThinkGeek did with the NES Classic.

Be angry if you must, and I don't blame you, but direct your anger to the people who are actually being jerks.

I lucked in to a pre-order (assuming Best Buy Canada doesn't have to cancel it) and rest assured that it will be coming home with me, and not going up on eBay.

It's a shame that the release of the NES/SNES Classic systems has coincided with a time where Nintendo's home console retro emulation has been so poor (i.e. dull on Wii U, non-existent on the Switch). That situation has turned what were presumably intended as cute novelty products into desperately sought-after items.

Typical Nintendo hype everyone up for a product just to make it easy for scalpers to ruin my nostalgic heart lol. 😭😠

@westman98 I know that. I was just saying there's always an excuse for why Nintendo can't properly supply something. Whether it be amiibo, the Wii U at launch, the Switch, or the NES Classic. Something's fishy.
@BLP_Software I don't really know how these scalpers and/or bots work. Regardless, Nintendo should have known the demand for the SNES Classic would be high, no matter who buys the system. The whole deal is such a mess.

Living in USA, I struck out yesterday, despite trying to get my order to go through when everything went live. My wife even raced to GameStop only to have the last one sold to the guy in front of her. The moment Nintendo announces theses are "limited" and only available for 4 months, there are going to be problems, no matter how many millions they make. Scalper's have the bots and will snatch them up. I'm sure eBay is loaded right now. Switches are tough to find but you know they will eventually be readily available. Because of Nintendo's insistence to make the Classics "limited", they will never be readily available and the scalper's know it.

I was one of the lucky few who got one of the last ones at Best Buy. The preorder button disappeared about a minute after I got my preorder, thank god. Now I pray that they don't pull a Walmart and say technical glitch...

I knew this was going to happen. The NES was bungled so badly that the SNES was setup for the same disaster as soon as they said "limited edition" again. No emails from Best Buy or Amazon, Walmart broke, Target broke, GameStop broke for the entire day. Then you had the GameStop and ThinkGeek bundles, the whole thing is sketchy and hard to defend. I'd say the smartest of the bunch was ToysRUs for recognizing this was going to be a mess. From Nintendo to the retailers, it couldn't have gone any worse. The brain fart continues on epic proportions. Well done everyone, you managed to do a worse job this time. No one on here should be surprised in the slightest.

Black Friday is a nice comparison...meaning demand can't be reasonably met really. I'm just glad the US got preorders this time around.

@Tendogamerxxx you are the only one that really understood the point...

@Trikeboy
Good points. Also eBay (and other auction sites) make this possible by allowing pre-sales to be resold. If this were not possible, scalping would be much less of a viable business.

FYI — Gamestop and ThinkGeek are part of the same company, so did good and bad.

Nintendo may have slightly increased production for the SNES Mini over the NES Mini, but it's guaranteed to never be enough, especially with all the public attention the NES Mini got and the fact the SNES is more popular in general.

The thing is, Nintendo will not want to create more of these because they only have finite resources, and secondly, won't want to impact the value of the Switch's subscription service when it finally arrives (offering some NES and SNES games as an incentive). I'm not defending Nintendo by the way, people have and will continue to be screwed over by these shortages and that's unacceptable.

You guys should live in Scandinavia.

This being hallowed and sacred PS-land all throughout the region, there's always plenty of Nintendo related stock.

If anyone wants I can put on a pre-order for them.

@Phin68 Just because you dont understand doesnt mean its not happening.

They did the wrong thing by stating "we'll stop producting these after 2017".

That's a natural response from everyone who wants to secure profit from a product that's being retired after such small time frame.

I have 3 on order from different retailers as a precaution. Was going to cancel 2 around a week before launch but now so scared if something going wrong may just pay for all 3 and then try to find friends who want one who I know won't scalp it.

Although with so many releases over the next few months and 2 N3DSXLs being released within 30 days dang it if I'm not tempted to become that which I hate and scalp the spares.

I managed two pre-orders relatively easily, glad I did because I knew this would happen.

Even though Nintendo is my absolute fave, can't trust them...

@Trikeboy
Okay... lemme guess.
The scalpers ?
Then, let's punish them !!

@BLP_Software Even if bots are in fact taking up orders, this doesn't negate the fact that Nintendo has yet again failed to meet demand.

@FX102A Or you could be an honest sort and either cancel them or hand them off for a nominal fee (say +$20 and shipping) to someone who missed out on it such as myself and most people who actually have to do stuff like sleep and be at a real job.

I would not be surprised if this go around it didn't come to physical violence somewhere against some scalpers as people are already pissed off over the NES and this is making out to be even worse. I'm not condoning or supporting it, but I can't say I'd be upset watching yet another asskicking video on youtube.

I feel bad for those loyal Nintendo fans because they have made total fools the past few years. From gutting the Wii U and giving up on that system, to missing amiibo, to the NES mini disaster, to ongoing Switch supply issues, and now the SNES fiasco, how can you trust Nintendo? Anyone saying this is the retailers fault is delusional. Nintendo has become far worse than I ever expected, milking their remaining fan base to death. If you game, you should be using Steam, Xbox, or Playstation.

@FX102A

I wouldn't cancel any of them, you'll find people who want them, just be a good sport and don't make them pay much more than you did. I'm am so concerned about my Best Buy pickup, that I'm going to take off from work to ensure that my order doesn't get "misplaced." It's completely ridiculous, but I have no faith whatsoever that it will still be there when my shift from work is over.

I know emulation is a moral grey area, but it is stuff like this that makes people turn to it. I for one don't blame them. It's almost like Nintendo wants you to show them how dedicated you are to their company. By waiting endlessly for the chance to preorder or stand in a line for hours on launch day just hoping the store has enough systems so you can join their secret club. Bravo Nintendo for alienating your customer base, Bravo.

@Phin68 Im sure we would love 7.5 billion units to be made to satisfy every living human. Not going to happen though.

Plus pre orders seem to have only been a mess in the US. As they said it will be restocked throughout 2017, and in many countries pre order times were advertised, released simultaneously throughout the country, notification emails went out, and it was fine.

Then we have America. Retailers did whatever. People pay for bots. Orders go up randomly. Notification emails fail to work. Gamestop hordes some for bundles to sell merch because thats how they actually make money.

Look above in this thread. People saying they have 3 on order to cancel 2 a week prior. Thats 2 that others cant order.

Same thing has happened with the Xbox One X. Loads on eBay. The entire chain is at fault, not just Nintendo.

@NESlover85 I can relate. I wouldn't have done it even months/years ago but while not modern I currently now own a Super Everdrive V2 +DSP, Everdrive GB, and a NGPC SD Kit too and looking to grab an GBA Everdrive X5 and a NES Everdrive N8 too. I'm so disgusted and infuriated at scalping subhuman garbage and their commodity stockhandling like sham tactics on video games I don't care about the moral lines anymore and am just fine using hardware and a kit now. No one here knows me, but those who do would be surprised I'd even say that let alone own kits and want more. I'm so over being abused by scumbags and Nintendo's unstocking shady tactics to gin up support.

If Nintendo let it's fans know what it's long term plans were, it could moderate the demand. What I mean is, they announce the SNES 3DS. Are they planning on releasing the SNES classic games on the 3DS VC any time soon? Some demand would shift to the other products they are releasing. Same with the Switch VC. They are leaving so many people frustrated because they can see the demand for their classic games (from the NES and SNES classic pre-orders) but not tempering this demand by letting it's fans know what it is aiming to do going forward with Switch. (Maybe I am just bitter and ranting. Dunno.)

I could pre-order one at Amazon DE back in 26th June, but I really wanted the united stadian version, because that was the version I have played when I was a kid. Luckily I could buy without problems from the weird link on Amazon US and later on I have entered on Target just to check and the order button was there. So in case both of them arrive to me, I will sell the other one for a normal price (absolute no interest over scalping and a big fan of Nintendo).

The moment the Star Fox 2 ROM goes online is the moment I stop caring for this whole ordeal, tbh

@MarcelRguez it is already for many years. It just not the 'finished' version that comes with the SNES Mini.

I was on Target's site within a minute of them going up. I literally don't know how anyone got one, since even with less than a minute preceding me, I couldn't get one. I've essentially given up on the idea of getting one, and if they don't add more stock I can actually get, I'm never even going to look at another one of these "Classic" systems again. I'm pretty furious at Nintendo for their handling of this; they learned literally nothing from last time. I didn't care with the NES Mini, since it had games I could get a million other ways, but to bind an unreleased game behind the gates of a console nobody can get is pretty unforgivable.

I preordered the day they went live in the UK. I did it in store and everyone ahead of my in the queue was there to preorder one (there were many people ahead of me)
I have an awful feeling that despite paying my £50 I'm going to get disappointed. I hope that's not the case but I've been burned so many times lately with Nintendo products just not having the supply.

What utterly baffles me is that both this and the NES Mini are limited runs instead of being a permanent Nintendo Store fixture, stealing money and sales away from Famiclones, which are sold in thousands every month by people who want the oldies, and don't want the new stuff. Granted, the average Famiclone costs $15 or less, while the average Super Famiclone begins at $60...

@setezerocinco That's what I'm referring to. The 1996 build.

@MarcelRguez At this point, I hope I does. I hope someone rips it right out of the system and plasters it all over the internet; if Nintendo won't willingly sell it to all of their eager paying customers, I have no problems with it being out there for everyone for free. This whole thing is insane.

This isn't just Nintendo, though they bare much of the blame:

This is situation where the retailers, the scalpers, reality, and even the consumers themselves (I know, I'll explain that in a second), and reality are responsible.

If you ask me (and, considering that I managed to secure my preorder through Best Buy on Monday night, it DOES make me a hypocrite), preorders should be eliminated altogether as they put everybody who isn't a scum-sucking dirtbag with a computer and the necessary software at a great disadvantage. Seeing the pictures of walls of consoles tells me that these jerks need to be forced to stand in line with the rest of us, apparently (or some IP addresses should be checked. I honestly have no clue as to how any of this works).

In a perfect world, consumers wouldn't ever feel the need to drop $500 on an $80 product. Confirmed preorders are already going for hundreds of dollars on ebay! The only reason why I still, to this day, do not have an NES Classic is because I refused to give a scalper one red cent! I had planned on camping all night for an SNES Classic because, once again, I will never give a scalper money. I have a very intense dislike of them.

Realistically, Nintendo can't simply flood the market. Nintendo is at fault because they were complete b****ards when it came to the discontination of the NES Classic. They knew that there were true fans who felt soured by the inability to get their hands on one, and they cancelled it before it had a chance to be anything more than a retail apparition! This was a product for the scalpers, and that is absolute nonsense! Keep it on the market long enough to satisfy demand.

However, there is reality (and this pretty much trumps all). People say that Nintendo should release enough to satisfy demand at launch. Umm, no. If Nintendo released twice the amount, do you know who truly benefits from that? Scalpers, their bots, and a few fans along the way. If the demand is there, there will be a way to exploit it. There are too many impossible scenarios to make this right for people, unfortunately.

Perhaps it's time instead of complaining on random boards enough people got together to start slamming the hell out of their mail and phone system every single day over this until it makes an impact. Nintendo is odd, denying them money like a normal company should scare them into listening and reacting but that isn't the case. Collaboratively make it very hard for them to field questions about other than the SNES CE making much of their outside contact related to that anger.

After the NES Mini situation, this became kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. No matter how large the initial supply was, the scalpers would have immediately bought as many as they could in the anticipation of making a profit. It's a difficult situation for Nintendo and the retailers to handle. Had they announced an exact time for all shops it would have sold out even quicker. Most retailers already limited the quantity to 1 per person, and this is about all they can do.

Reggie is a lying a-hole, and NoA is either inept, stupid, or both. Nintendo's blatant unwillingness to meet demand on these classic consoles (or Amiibo) is a very clear f-you to the average Nintendo fan.

What happens when Timmy down the street wants one for his birthday, or Bob the 40-something wants one because nostalgia? Its not even us, the "dedicated" fans who are punished most. Its the average Nintendo fan who simply is told "too bad" for not staring at their PC for several days straight waiting for pre-orders to go live

@MarioPhD Same. Even if they make an N64 or Game Boy Classic in the future, I doubt I'll bother.

We'll always have dank memes, at least:

@NESlover85 Yup. At this rate, I'd rather just get one of the Retron-like systems and use ROMs for all these games so Nintendo doesn't get a penny. I'm willing to give Nintendo $80 for this dang thing, and I literally can't.

It was good in the uk. We had many places to preorder. I failed getting one from Nintendo uk but snagged one from Argos. Same with my nes mini. Bring on the n64 mini

It would've been so hard to take pre-orders for a two week period, then produce that many and a million more. Then release it when you have constructed those units. $99.99 would've been a fair price for all that as well and then the only scalping on ebay would be after they cease initial production. But that doesn't get the country hyped up or enraged like their current model does. It doesn't increase foot traffic as you repeatedly visit target and randomly buy other crap you don't need because the SNES isn't there. I hate marketing.

Do you honestly expect Nintendo to ever learn anything? This site and every other major gaming news source regularly censures Nintendo on practices like this month after month and nothing ever changes. I'm starting to wonder why any of them are even bothering at this point.

That said, I lucked into my pre-order at Best Buy care of NowInStock.net. I happened to wake up just in time to get the text.

Nintendo is stupid or doing this type of junk on purpose. It only creates false hype amd alienates their fans.

I agree with the notion that the finished Star Fox 2 should be plastered all over the internet, even if it's technically wrong. If Nintendo doesn't want to bother letting people get it legitimately, then they deserve it to be in every corner of the internet for free.

Nintendo should have reissued the NES Classic again this year and waited on the SNES until next year. Meet demand before screwing customers

Haha, can't wait for my pre-order (that I made a million years ago) to be cancelled!

@MarcelRguez Ain't that image the truth. I was looking to buy one for my niece, since the SNES mini would be a handy way to introduce him to the world of Nintendo.

Personally, I couldn't preorder the SNES Mini, but not because things went wrong. I'm in Europe (Where things went pretty well and we have numbers) and I'm just moving to another country next month.

However, I will say that, while we do get in France at launch double the SNES Mini units compared to what we had in the whole of 2016 for the NES Mini, it is unbearable that we only get 1,500 units of Metroid: Samus Returns' Limited Run. FOR THE WHOLE COUNTRY.

However from what I read about what happened in the US (And the fact you're not even getting that special edition Metroid)... I sympathize with you, faithful US Nintendo fans.

Also, as much as I love the idea of the NES/SNES/N64 (?) Classic, there is an easy fix for all of this: the Virtual Console! You wouldn't have to deal with scalpers, or supply shortages. All Nintendo would have to do is release bundles of games at a reasonable price to render the NES/SNES Classics absolutely pointless, at least from a gaming perspective.

Put these games (along with the new features) on a virtual console for the Nintendo switch and there will be less of an issue here.

ThinkGeek had thousands of NES Classics 7 months after the unit was discontinued. Where did they come from? They were bought by stores and held back because they knew they could be sold later for higher prices. Units are being bought up in the 100s.

@BanjoPickles @iammikegaines Wait for Nintendo to rerelease all of those game and make you buy them individually again. I want a Netflix-like Virtual Console.

Also, that doesn't fix much because most of the guys who buy those mini systems do it for the box, not the contents (Besides Star Fox 2 obviously)

I believe Nintendo themselves might even be scalping their own product.

@Trikeboy

I agree completely. ThinkGeek has been doing all sorts of sketchy things lately.

@Samus7Killer

Why, though? What possible good could come out of that that would outweigh the bad publicity that they're garnering from this?

Retailers, on the other hand......

@tanookisuit Didn't know all those structural analysis calculations and aeronautical studies I do every weekday was just for kicks.

On a more serious note it was somewhat easier in the UK with more windows at better times. I was also aboe to get updates via NLife.

@MarcelRguez Made me laugh out loud. They 100% deserve people resorting to emulation, if they can't handle this better

This is one of these times when I can say: thank god I live in Russia. Preorders are still open (they did run out of them in 2 hours and apparently god more stocks afterwards, which now all stand). And the preorder started on 28th of June.

@BanjoPickles 1st of all the system is overpriced considering it has very few games
2nd of all Nintendo is limiting this product to unicorn status.

@MoonKnight7 I am leaning in that direction. I'd rather give them a good home to someone who wants it at a decent price but on eBay its hard to tell if a buyer will scalp it.

I was in such a frenzy yesterday I was about to preorder the $300 bundle witht the Zelda painting through thinkgeek, but to my surprise a bunch of suckers beat me to it before I submitted the order.

I think to celebrate I'll download an emulator and call it a day.

You suck, Nintendo.

No Nintendo can't press a button but they can extend the period of time this thing sells for. Other companies in this stupid world do that so that they can extend their production time.

"despite having the SNES Mini in their virtual basket" Happened to me at Target. Gamestop did that too.

Only Walmart sent out a notification to me (for the one later in the day). I signed up at every preorder site for notifications and got not a one. I've even checked in the month between to see if my notifications hadn't expired.

Best Buy tweeted out they had in-store preorders live - dropped everything at work and ran out of my building, drove for 5 minutes and they were sold out. Only got 8 preorders in-store.

This all really makes hate Nintendo (I mean YES retailers could be to blame, but Nintendo created this situation). Between this and that online app/lack of casual voice chat, the server issues for Splatoon and Kart, their unwillingness to incentivize 3rd parties to romance them onto the Switch, their inability to make a console that isn't so immediately and significantly underpowered that it can only play Nintendo games, AMIIBO availability, console availability, no VC except for mini physical VC devices you can't actually buy...they pulled me back in from pure retro gaming with the Switch, but I'm starting to say nibelsnarf this poo. Been a fun ride since getting my Switch in April!

I have a single pre-order with Smyths here in Ireland. Hopefully, it's not a disaster like my pre-order for the NES Classic Mini was with Zavvi. They cancelled my order 2 weeks after it was supposed to ship.

I hear Sony bought nearly all the pre-orders and are storing them away in a warehouse beside the Lost Ark.

Isn't it about time Nintendo just f***ing apologised and promised to keep making them until everyone who wants one has got one? The sheer fact that Nintendo won't make that pledge is driving scalpers to buy as many as possible which is just making matters worse.

I haven't even had a chance to pre-order the Super Famicom version, which is the one I really want.

@FX102A

True, but if you've got a circle of friends that couldn't get any, I'd try to pawn them off that way first, before trusting anyone else.

@Samus7Killer I think the price is perfect so I think you're totally wrong. I think Nintendo might be scalping it themselves, and you're totally right on that, lol. I actually wouldn't be surprised, like this is so f**king mismanaged it's unreal. Like a unicorn.

Is this Nintendo's fault too? https://www.polygon.com/2017/8/22/16185030/nintendo-snes-classic-pre-order-bot-tai-ding

How many people got zero (or close to) notifications from any of the 5-6 places they signed up at?

@tanookisuit the point is, Nintendo is not losing money on that: the legit fans and the scalpers both paid already for the Mini.

Maybe Nintendo just needs to raise the retail price so it's cost effective for them to continue manufacturing them until demand is met. That way if it takes 2 years to meet demand, they are still profiting while they make more. Why wouldn't a company do that? Knowing you'll eventually find it even if you have to wait a while means much less people turning to eBay to find them.

I've got an idea to all this; Why not let people pay in advance and Nintendo will produce SNES Minis that are in line with the number of orders they receive?
For example, let's say they announce a re-run of SNES Minis and 1 million people pay in advance and once said SNES Mini is made, they ship it out to the consumer and then rinse and repeat.
Sure, the con would be that you pay in advance and likely would have to wait a good while but is that really any different from what we're having now?

I managed to get one at 2minutes and 7 seconds after pre orders opened on BB Canada. I'm pretty happy.

There is a bigger issue and I don't think Nintendo is fully to blame here. Scalpers are using bots much like concert and high profile sports team tickets. Its a plague but people are suckers and still buy from them so unless its deemed illegal worldwide , this kind of practice will continue.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle here: of course Nintendo produced too few units, but they were never really planning on providing ALL Nintendo fans with a SNES Mini, or a NES Mini for that matter, so people could have known what to expect. Doesn't make it any less frustrating, though...

My personal experience this time around was that online was just a complete nightmare and I found it impossible to acquire one, so with the disappointment of missing out on the NES Mini still fresh in my memory, I headed out into the city and scoured all the toy stores and game shops I could find, and ultimately managed to secure a pre-order that way, so luckily, I'm good this time around.

But it definitely wasn't easy to get a hold of one...

Also, scalpers need to be shut down. And companies like eBay and Amazon allowing for them to pre-order several units should also be punished.

There will probably be some people that would genuinely want to order a second unit for a relative or friend, and for those people it would be unfortunate to not have that option anymore, but the primary concern for all parties involved should be for the most people to be able to get at least one, NOT for a whole bunch of shady characters to be able to acquire dozens of them in order for them to be able to sell them with a considerable profit margin.

That's despicable behavior, and it should be prevented at all costs. It prevents thousands of genuinely interested people from being able to get one for a normal price, and that's just not right.

I would hope that things would have gone better, and will also go better next time around with a possible N64 Mini, but realistically, I'm expecting nothing else than the same outcome as we have now and had before with the NES Mini.

So, I wish all of those that are still trying to get their hands on one, the best of luck, and I definitely feel for those that missed out, since it reminds me of how I felt when failing to secure a pre-order for the NES Mini.

@NESlover85 I think there's a failure on Nintendo's part to communicate to its customers. With the hype around the NES Classic, you would have thought that the games were otherwise unavailable. Instead, every game was in fact available for $5 on the Wii Virtual console (also accessible through the Wii U).

So Nintendo has something that's meant as a limited-run novelty which ends up blowing up in popularity. Fine. But how do they respond when the NES Classic is unavailable? With regret. They don't actively encourage people to use the Virtual Console on the Wii, Wii U, or 3DS.

Downloading free ROMs is by no means the only practical way to enjoy most classic Nintendo games (aside from truly out-of-print rarities, like <i>EVO: The Search for Eden</i>), but it would be nice if Nintendo worked a little harder. Offering its classic games on a service for PC/Mac would be the ultimate dream, but...

@BLP_Software I don't think people are complaining about Xbox One X preorders being gone because they know that demand inevitably will be met. That's not the case with Nintendo. Many of their own hardware products as of late have been sold out easily. . Many will call this practice underproduction to build up hype and demand, but Nintendo has denied this on multiple occasions. If this practice isn't to blame, than what is? No one can confidently say that Nintendo didn't see this coming after what happened with the Switch and NES Classic.

I don't really blame Nintendo for the pre-order fiasco. None of the major retailers communicated or handled this correctly. Was it Nintendo's fault that Target couldn't handle the traffic? Or that Amazon and Best Buy put their pre-orders up in the middle of the night? Or that Gamestop's website crashed due to demand? I don't think so.

Now, if on Sep 29, Nintendo only sends 10 of these to each Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and TRU, THEN it will be their fault for not supplying the demand correctly.

@Crono1973 If you live in a small town and the only place that will sell most of these things is a walmart, pre-ordering is your best answer without having to drive quite a few miles to the closest biggest city and hope they have the item you want in stock to not waste a trip. Pre-ordering is really great for my situation at least. We used to have a gamestop here, but it closed .

@sotoam exactly, its the retailers at fault, for now.

@jimi Depends on your point of view, at least you'd have access to the whole VC Library for $5 a month. Compared to having to buy all 30 games of the NES Classic lineup for $5 a piece.

I mean in the end every single ROM is on every single emulation website for free and runnable off a potato so it's just a matter of options. (Star Fox 2 will join that bunch a week before the SNES Mini is officially released, you can bet on it)

@BLP_Software that sounds about right and is the only way these could sell out so quickly.

Nintendo really should be making far more of theses things, it can't be that difficult to licence it out to somebody to make for you and they know what the demand for these are. Also just as culpable are the retailers themselves with places like GAME struggling to get customers into their actual shops why the he'll would you sell all of these online? If I were running that place it would be a no brainer to put it on real life shelves and get customers in and God forbid sell them to real gamers

Don't worry all. The Walmart employee I asked about in-store preorders said that Nintendo is doing this right and the product won't be limited. 100% confirmed that anybody who wants one on day one will be able to get one.

I got two

@cleveland124 I really hope you're right.

Actually, I have an even better (if not BRILLIANT) idea! Why not make the NES/SNES/N64 Classics a MyNintendo exclusive? Basically, spend your points, along with a dollar amount, and they mail you a system? If this is truly meant for fans, then those fans likely have access to MyNintendo anyway so why not? This is proving to be too chaotic of a product for retail. Honestly, I'd rather spend my points on something like a Classic than a 5% discount on eshop games, or a stupid wallpaper.

@Dang69 0 notifications from me too. Which didn't surprise me, actually. Those things have never worked for me.

Managed to get mine from Walmart. At first I was disgusted that Amazon and Best Buy opened preorders while I was sleeping. But then came all the rumors from places like Reddit, NeoGAF, Twitter, etc that all the other retailers hadn't started preorders yet and wouldn't until 1PM Eastern Time sharp.

I refreshed Walmart starting around 12:30 every couple of minutes. Right smack at 1PM, there was the Preorder button. A few clicks later, done. Amazingly, no hiccups at all.

We don't have this problem in Mexico, although the demand is still greater than the supply. But people are not as eager to get one in advance.

If I were a scalper I'd go nuts selling them to people in the US on Ebay.

What I don't understand is that Nintendo could still sell more NES and SNES mini to this day. Why is it better business to NOT make a highly demanded product? It makes no sense at all.

Had one in the cart at Best Buy, then Walmart and then Target and was unable to complete checkout for each one. What a joke.

I got mine months ago. No problems here.

I'm not really surprised. I'll try to buy one from the person that sold me the NES classic. They charged me above retail, but they were polite and even asked me if I received it.

I'd care far less if it wasn't for Starfox2. That's what has me wondering how far I'll go to get one of them. I own the other games all on the original stuff I bought back in the day. I've wanted Starfox2 since Nintendo Power rudely teased it then pulled the rug out in the mid 90s.

I'm fed up with people still complaining about the limited availability of the classic mini systems when we knew they'd have a limited availability from the start... this isn't a proper games console... it's basically just a collectible.

What people are overlooking in this case is the fact that Nintendo don't seem to have limited themselves to a specific number of systems being produced like they did with the NES Classic Mini.... so it sounds as if they will continue producing them in batches until the demand dries up, rather than just ordering another production run every time they fall short of meeting demand.

I've always been opposed to emulating (non public domain) games due to the legal and ethical grey areas. However, if Nintendo wants to keep f***ing over their customers and fans like this, I don't blame anyone for seeking an alternative route. I'm seriously considering doing the Raspberry Pi thing if I can't find a SNES Classic or the Switch Virtual Console isn't launched in the near future. If you don't want our money, then fine, you will not get it, Nintendo.

So I'm personally more interested in these games for virtual console, but the big concern for me with the rarity of the SNES Mini is this:

Are we going to get Star Fox 2 for digital download? Part of me (a large part) thinks that Nintendo will consider Star Fox 2 a "bonus" to people who secured the retro console...y'know, a console they have in limited supply...available to a handful of the most dedicated buyers...as an exclusive to an exclusive.

That's Nintendo for you.

I'm not forgetting it, but they don't exactly inspire any ability to trust them either. They left the door open not to just keep rolling them out through 2017 but said beyond implying looking at the level of desire probably vs scumbag scalpers people won't feed. They did it with the NES that was to have like 500K units and ended up with 2M in the end.

I'm fine if I don't get one for 2 months or 4 months, if I get one. If they keep up supply and I can pick one up without paying a prick I've got no complaint.

Given how they handled the Amiibo, the NES CE, the Wii for 2 flipping Christmas seasons it's hard to listen and believe.

Example #638 why Nintendo is in last place.

@DragonEleven Nintendo will not "continue producing them in batches until the demand dries up". They will produce enough to artificially inflate demand and not everyone will get one.

Having said that I'm glad I got my NES Classic earlier this year. I played it for a couple of months and Nintendo Switch wiped out any interest I had in it. I won't even try for a SNES Classic. It'll pale in comparison to all the games coming out for the Switch this Christmas season.

@Passworddots Did they not do just that with Donkey Kong Original Edition included in some Wii systems? The only restored NES release with the missing cement factory stage. You basically got it emulated that way in the US or not at all.

Nintendo is dead to me. Thank god for Microsoft and Sony, they have never denied to sell me their products.

@nuke13: Yeah, for as much flak as Gamestop gets, their in-store preorder, 1 per household, was the only way I could get one.

Just make a Retro Pi. This is just a joke at this point. Nintendo doesn't care about the fans or their nostalgia. They just want to say "Hot damn look at how many units we sold!"

Nintendo will surprise us all and have tens of millions of them ready on release date.

This isn't an accident. Nintendo loves demand to be way greater than supply. They love the hype it creates. They love the media attention it causes.

Retro pi's will be selling alot this year too

You should simply download all these roms and play them on your PC for free. If only out of principle.

When I said this yesterday I got blasted by @countzero who said we should wait and see, even though it was clear. It's nice to see this site say it how it is

Just wait untill they dump Star Fox 2 ROM to the internet.

I am starting to think they do this in order to protect the perceived value of their IP.

Do you know what my problem is? It's not how stupid Nintendo played this. I mean I railed against the fact that I needed to preorder in he first place. I was upset that instead of telling us in advance, we have to stalk online like a crazed ex to hopefully see when we have the honor of throwing money at the Big N.

No my problem is even when I played by the crap rules they made me play by, it STILL didn't work I signed up for 2 different alerts that never alerted me! I got on target to check out and it never allowed me to, even though I had it in my cart. I played the game as they said I had to, and STILL am in the same boat as if I didn't.

Sorry for the rant, but there has to be multiple better ways than this.

@Hughesy

Yeah I got flak when I went after them for brain farting on the NES Classic, and there were rumors of the SNES Classic. I knew the same thing was going to happen again, clear as day. Amazing to see some people defend something that can't be defended.

I'm not too surprised on it. It's a common thing that always happens with Nintendo products. This is why I have a Twitter account following multiple users that tweet on video games and amiibo sales and discounts. That is how I got most of my high demand Nintendo items since 2015 with the amiibo craze

Speaking of Twitter I got a tweet from Toys R Us saying that they're not doing pre-orders and and it's only in-store on 9/29 and GameStop will have for walk-ins launch day.

I'll hold my stock judgement till after the holiday season. That will be the real test and not preorders 4 months before Christmas.

Didn't think preordering was going to be possible anyways. I'll just camp in front of our EB Games at 4 in the morning

As a few have pointed out its not Nintendo's fault US retailers put their pre orders up at the worst times

Dare I say the SNES Mini debacle is even worse than the NES??
I can understand the NES Mini situation and give them a free pass assuming it's true that they didn't anticipate the popularity of the thing. But the SNES Mini situation is unforgivable. They absolutely knew demand would be higher and could have secured partners for production and even mass produced plenty of units before announcing the system. A delay would never have hurt us if we didn't know it was coming.
Also... can't Nintendo at least say "Hey, we know demand is insane for these systems and even though we can only release them in little bursts due to manufacturing difficulties, we WILL continue to manufacture them over the next X amount of years until demand is met"???
Why do they have to stop production entirely?
These two consoles have done one thing and one thing only for the company: damage thier reputation with thier most loyal customer base.

@tanookisuit I don't know about that. Most Donkey Kong games, especially the original, are on my low-priority list. It looks like it's available for the 3DS E-shop though — Or at least it was a few years ago.

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/3ds-eshop/donkey_kong_original_edition_nes

I was lucky in the UK and have a preorder but the whole thing is pretty ridiculous. I was annoyed by the Nes mini but fine, companies get things wrong. To do the same in less than a year is a real finger to true fans.

I don't get what Nintendo's line of thinking is with these "classic" consoles. It's obvious that a lot of people want them, but they only made a very limited run of the NES Classic and the same will probably hold true with this one; that's money left on the table there. Many (if not most) of those sold seem to be snapped up by eBay scalpers, as if this whole thing was designed from the get-go for the secondary market (friendly reminder: neither Nintendo nor ANY company makes a penny from the secondary market). So what gives?

Then there's the glaring absence of any Virtual Console equivalent for the Switch so far. If Nintendo's aim in waiting was to avoid its offerings conflicting with sales of their Classics systems, they'd obviously be handling the latter VERY differently.

The Switch may have been a huge success so far (albeit one that a lot of folks are still having some trouble getting hold of), but since the changing of the guard after the death of Satoru Iwata, Nintendo as a whole hasn't been looking or acting like themselves. They appear to have lost their sense of focus (perhaps in no small part to over-diversifying their portfolio to include portables and theme parks) and, even more importantly, their commitment to their consumer base. It's slowly becoming a question of identity. Just ask Sega; that NEVER works out well down the line. Nintendo needs to right this ship (and frankly, making a formal public apology to their consumers at this point for these Classic Console fiascoes wouldn't hurt), ASAP.

Nintendo. Don't. Care. About. Their. Fans.
They've sold every Mini SNES made. They will be making a huge profit, and won't have unsold products lying around. They don't care about annoying their fans. They've been doing it for years.

@MoonKnight7 It's stupid that they've made the same mistake twice. All they've done is made vultures a lot of money, whilst making a lot of real fans angry. I'm certainly not buying from vultures, if nobody did then we wouldn't get them buying large amounts and selling them for crazy prices, but people are stupid enough to buy from them.

@Passworddots Fair enough if that doesn't apply since you brought up the 3DS let's talk about the 10 GBA games in the Ambassador Program normal buyers after launch can't get. No reason, especially this deep into the life why not to.

@dougphisig If you can't one locally, order it on launch day. Pre-ordering is just not necessary and it enables scalpers to grab more units than they would if they had to buy them on launch day.

@Deadstanley Really you are giving up on them just because you can't get ahold of a reproduction console with a bunch of 20 year old games?

@Wolfgabe Nintendo having supply problems is not limited to the classic consoles.

Basically this just proves that Nintendo doesn't care.

Nope. Unable to secure one. I was lucky to with the Wal-Mart pre-order last month but that was a bust. I couldn't one ANYTHING this time. No emails from anyone as I signed up for alerts. I give up.

That has nothing to do with Nintendo. Those are issues from the retailers. And seriously, blame Nintendo for the scalpers? How dumb you are?

How about giving your fans a heads up on a time and date the pre orders goes live? Maybe doing pre-orders in store only, one per person? Completely ridiculous how many hoops we have to jump through to give Nintendo our Money.

@Tanooki-Time How exactly? Nintendo don't run Gamestop, Nintendo didn't tell them to put preorders live at 3am. Nintendo didn't tell ThinkGeek to make bundles charged at scalp prices.

@Crono1973 The supply problems from what I have seen are not so much incompetence as they are due to factors that are beyond Nintendo's control. They mentioned with the NES Mini there were difficulties obtaining parts. With Switch its been well known there has been a parts shortage going around in the industry and Nintendo also has to compete with Apple who often gets the lions share of components

FUN FACT! Nintendo's president and all higher up live off the tears of its loyal fan base.

And on Aug. 22, they FEASTED. Nintendo loves not making enough supply to meet demand. They get hundreds of free articles about their hot item being sold out and how its popular. No need to spend money on marketing now.

This is 250% Nintendo's fault. You almost never hear Apple, Sony, MS or the other tech giants talk about "struggling to make enough of hot item to meet demand." But Nintendo? They do it on purpose, and have its loyal fan base convinced its not their fault.

Case in point. Switch parts are hard to come by because they share parts with Apple. But does Apple have part supply issues? NOPE.

@XCWarrior Apple doesn't have supply issues because they probably get higher priority on the manufacturing pecking order. Nintendo isn't some mega tech conglomerate like Sony or MS who likely have far greater resource pools and financial backing

US gamer here, I managed to get mine by physically pre-ordering at Gamestop. I recommend this approach over gambling with online if there are any future limited edition products from Nintendo, since you can just get there early and secure your spot.

@Wolfgabe Right so the excuse is either: Cmon guys, it's just a collectible, you can't expect Nintendo to meet demand. and when that doesn't work it becomes Well, it's not really their fault.

Nintendo has supply issues and that is a trend, it's not the consumers fault so you can at least attempt to understand when someone says they have had enough of trying to get Nintendo products.

Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon all failed to email me. I'll check with my local GameStop after work, but I don't have my hopes up.

@TheIronChimp Agreed! Fans scream for pre-orders and then scalpers pre-order too many of them and fans complain about scalpers. Rinse and repeat.

Learn people, learn! Don't ask for pre-orders, don't participate in the pre-order culture and just go to a store or order one on launch day.

Wasn't a total repeat, Contrary to what others were saying, Best buy had Their pre-orders up for a long time, it was when they went live that messed every one up nobody basically knew (and nobody was notified) they were there, I managed to get one but that was pure coincidence that someone on a public chat room mentioned it.

Solution: make it not worth eBay scalpers' time and money.

How?

It's common knowledge that eBay always sides with buyers when cases are opened. Order one on eBay, damage it somehow, then take a picture and claim that it arrived that way. eBay will side with you and let you ship it back to the scalper for a refund. Scalper loses their money and has nothing to sell.

I wonder just how many SNES Mini's Nintendo could see if it actually put enough of them out into the market to fully satisfy demand.

Where are all the excuses? Where are all the fans who constantly believe the excuses? "crickets chirping" That's all I hear.

I disagree with Nintendolife's statement that all 6 of the retailers did a bad job. I think Toys "R" Us did a great job. No preorder! My local Toys "R" Us were the first store locally to get the Amiibo craze right. They wouldn't allow anyone to buy more than one of the same figure at a time.

This is 110% Nintendo's fault once again. That excuse about canceling the NES Classic's production in order to concentrate on other product production was a lie! Why is there still a Switch Shortage....don't give me the lie Nintendo gave because I don't believe it. They purposely create a craze buy under producing their products. Then people who wouldn't otherwise buy one, feel they need to buy one. This was the case with the NES Classic for sure and it looks like it's going to play out the same with SNES Classic. I can't wait to see Reggie's excuse. "We didn't know that this many people were going to want a SNES Classic."

Leave bad feedback to scalpers on eBay.

@kokirii I also despise scalpers like you, but I believe your idea is equally as wrong. Sorry.

Ultimately it's not the scalper or ebay's fault. It's Nintendo's fault!

I did not get a pre-order, and would not have even had a chance to get one. Like many working professionals, I was sleeping when the pre-orders went live at 3 am. I then had a day full of meetings that prevented me from going turbo on the F5 key. By the time I got back to my office at 3 pm, there was no chance to get one.

And the promise that Toys R Us will have them available on launch day is not really a comfort. I imagine they will be available when the store opens, normally 10 am. I am also guessing that there will be a line forming hours in advance. Since this is on a Friday, I would need to use a vacation day just for the chance to secure one. My job allows me to run errands here and there, but lining up for hours would be pushing it. So again, this approach does not favor someone like me. I want one of these, but not enough to burn a vacation day just for the chance to get one.

I will keep hoping that Nintendo takes all of the software on the NES and SNES Minis, puts them on a Switch cartridge, and sells them for $40. Even better, I would love to see a revamped NES Remix approach that includes the full games as well as additional challenges for the games included in the NES Classic as well as the SNES Classic.

@kokirii Nintendo can't/won't meet demand and you want to damage some of the units they did manufacture? How about NO! How about people just stop participating in pre-order culture and the corporations will follow.

This is just the PRE ORDERS. Crazed up fans who would slit their mother's throat for them.

How about we wait until the actual product is released before we criticize Nintnedo's actions this time around?

My rage is solely at Walmart. I was one of the ones that preordered in July. If you were going to do a preorder anyway, WHY NOT JUST KEEP THAT ORDER!?!?!?

Guess I'll have to play SNES games on my SNES instead.

Agree with sentiments.
Surely I wouldn't be the only one happy to give my money now so they could make more and be sure of selling them?

@Dang69 watch the language please...

Only issue is we don't know what the stock situation is really like because scalpers order 50 of them at a time... stock obviously won't last long like that. I would have at least liked to have a shot at trying to order one but unfortunately I was fast asleep when all the retailers decided to open the flood gates...Nintendo can suck it, they truly have idiots in charge of product rollouts.

@BLP_Software I didn't get email from any of the 4 retailers I signed up on, not that it would have mattered since it apparently happened while I was sleeping in the early morning hours. I'm totally bitter about these Nintendo rollouts.

@Meowpheel best way to play it.

@Joeynator3000 Can do, but just lie to me and say everything is gonna be alright, lol.

@Meowpheel But then the SNES will sell out like crazy. Dammit Nintendo and their stock problems!

I remember a time when i could go into a store and preorder the legend of zelda: Ocarina of time a whole year in advance.... Nintendo would look at those preorder amounts to determine how much to produce..... wait till a month away? Guesstimate? I dont know.... but one thing was certain, i had a preorder. The internet is what changed things. I was one of the few that got off my phone, computer, whatever to actually go to the store to preorder it. And guess what? I got my preorder. We all knew it was going to be rare, we all knew about the apple phone parts situation. I just was one of the few that actually put my phone down and did things for myself again. Refressing pages? Fighting bots? Lol have fun..

@mike_intv The problem with auction sites disallowing pre-orders is that often times in order to get con-exclusives (San Diego being a primary example) the only way I can buy some of those things is to pre-order on an auction site.

@Al_Godoy There are two potential reasons that Nintendo doesn't make more classic systems. Either,

a) To do so would be a prohibitive financial risk due to issues around licensing, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, etc, or

b) Nintendo hates money.

Welcome to the dawn of unicorn products, brought to you by old faithful Nintendo — products that are talked about in the press, but you can't actually buy them.

I am not sure who's dumber, Nintendo for not making enough supply to meet demand and profit, or myself for continuing to support this company.

@Tweezie You can still preorder games in advance

@The switch shortages have already been explained. Its a shortage of NAND memory and screens coupled with Apple getting the lions share of the parts. Its completely out of Nintendo's own control yet you people insist they are 100% responsible simply cause you cannot be bothered to understand how supply chain and manufacturing works

@Crono1973 I never said its the customers fault. I know its not entirely Nintendo's fault either since in many cases its been due to factors that are beyond their control with switch being a good example of this

@Wolfgabe It's 100% Nintendo's fault. You can't keep putting the blame on Apple, LOL.

Holy crap the salt. Sure, the retailers are to blame, but this angst is unreal. Best Buy opened their pre-orders about 9pm pacific, not 3am. They did check numbers and free up a few more at 3 am. My confirmation e-mail proves the purchase time at 9pm pacific. Way more units have been pre-ordered than the NES mini. It's not Nintendo's fault that the scalpers are better equipped to grab these up than everyone else. I set up my notifications wherever I could to get a pre-order. Shocker, I got one.

2 minutes? That's quick... too quick.

While yes, in a perfect world, Nintendo would be able to produce enough to meet demand, (I still fault them for not adequately warning us of this random pre-order time window) I say the fault lies with the retailers for not bot-proofing their websites, and/or limiting the quantity that people could buy. In a way, these retailers have welcomed the scalpers in with open arms. Nintendo has little control on their product allotment once it gets handed over to the retailers.

@Crono1973 I can put the blame partly on apple here since its been stated Nintendo has had to compete with them for parts and they often get the lions share

@SmaMan Thank you its nice to see someone with some semblence of common sense here. I work at Wal Mart now and from what I understand products are not sent directly to the store they end up at a regional distribution center first where they are then shipped out to various stores. I was told by one of my co workers the reason it took so long to get more Switches in was because apparently the system never bothered to renew the order once the initial allotment was sold out. I since I work on unloading Trucks I have seen Switches come in although we don't get many at a time. What likely happens is that the allotment for each store is decided at the distribution warehouse.

@tanookisuit Virtual Console is regularly a method for Nintendo to throttle their software, and it's a shame. I don't know why GBA titles like Fusion and Wario Land 4 are available for Wii U and not 3DS. I don't know why 3DS never got Mega Man 9 & 10. I expect many of these titles to come to Switch whenever it gets its VC.

Difference is: at least those games were released, and getting the compatible systems isn't difficult, unlike the possible scenario of Star Fox 2.

Nintendo's handhelds have always been sort of frustrating with their numerous iterations, though. They're an expensive hobby. And now their home console is a handheld console too (hooray!).

Nintendo being Nintendo this was exactly what I expected to happen. I expect all these games will appear on the Nintendo online subscription service anyway

I did manage to get a preorder from Gamestop I had to walk in the store and I was told I got the last one they had for preorder they had 10 units available for preorder which WOW what a low number that is for a product they know is going to be in huge demand. In fairness I think Gamestop gave better notice than the other retailer's did they offered a notification list you could be placed on which I was on and I received a text the day before their preorders went live a phone call and an email the day of their preorders. Thing is I literally live 5mins away from my local Gamestop and within 20 mins the in store preorders were gone . Hopefully they (Gamestop) are holding back some of their stock for in store sales and specials which they did with NES classic mini to a smaller degree like they had so many in store on Black Friday and the week before Christmas or at least it will be awesome if they do so more fans have a shot at getting one and HOPEFULLY NINTENDO really is releasing a much larger amount of the console this time.

Canadian retailers weren't that much better and we had to rely on reddit rumors and such. And of course NintendoLife was no help, their pre-order guide only covering the U.S. and not Canada. That said, I was able to secure a pre-order while in a meeting at work and desperately trying to get an order to go through on my phone. Luckily after a very slow process, I got confirmation of my order going through.

@Wolfgabe Designing the Switch with parts that they will have trouble getting in abundance was stupid.

Oh Nintendo learnt from the NES Mini. They again learned that doing this not only keeps them in the news with a high demand system that everyone wants even if they are not gamers. They'rent bothered if you buy from them or pay some guy 4 times the price. End of the day they make money and all their stock is sold.

To everyone saying this is about the retailers or the supply chain, here's the crucial element you're missing: if Nintendo had made enough systems in the first place, all of those concerns would be moot at some point due to the simple saturation of the product. GameStop, Walmart, Amazon, or whomever don't normally sell out of a given product in minutes and then never get it in again (or in woefully insufficient quantities to matter); remember, they're in business to make money. And Nintendo's been doing this for FAR too long to suddenly be struggling with shipping issues. If the product was there, it'd be on shelves and available for purchase, PERIOD. This fiasco, just like the NES Classic, is 1000% ALL ON NINTENDO.

Well look at you guys spinning gold by beating a dead horse.

It also proves that human doesn't learn a thing either. Instead of helping those that can't find one, they rather scalp the item to no end instead which make those who can't find one feeling ripoff or lose interest.

@AtlanteanMan Exactly. I find it appalling that people are trying to defend Nintendo yet again. Constantly having shortages on every single one of their products (at this point, I'm starting to believe the narrative that it's intentional) and snubbing their fans like this and causing them to always get their hopes up is unacceptable. Nintendo deserves every bit of the outrage and anger it is receiving at the moment.

I was lucky enough to be awake for the Best Buy preorder, but every last one of my fellow Nintendo-loving friends weren't successful. It's pretty bittersweet. The fact that Amazon went live at like 4 in the morning, and other retailers sold out in seconds, is just ridiculous.

I've been burned by Best Buy in the past when it comes to limited run Nintendo stuff... fingers crossed.

I've come to terms with that fact I won't own one of these. I just want VC on Switch.

@AtlanteanMan Classic blaming it all on one company without even considering how supply chain and manufacturing works

I have two pre ordered and gonna sell one to a colleague's husband for retail price. I am just happy to help out and help others enjoying video games. I grew up with the NES and never owned a SNES so I can't wait to play a lot of games I have never played. Luckily I managed to get two preorders and also two NES minis of which I also sold one for retail price (actually to the same guy ) - still don't get Nintendo why they just do not want to meet demand.

@Crono1973 And how might I ask did they know before hand that NAND memory and screens were gonna be in short supply

@Wolfgabe I can't say what they knew or didn't know and neither can you. However, their constant supply issues suggest that Nintendo either does this on purpose or that they are incompetent. Pick one.

@MarcelRguez hopefully not because you're under the impression it's a good game or anything.

For me, the SNES classic is appealing for the controllers (and the fact you get 2 of them!). Playing my Wii U SNES titles would be amazing with those bad boys.

@Crono1973 I know with Switch and NES Mini it can't be due to incompetence since its been stated there have been issues with parts shortages which are pretty much beyond Nintendo's control.

Another example is with the Wii. That was pretty much Nintendo being caught off guard by the demand. Remember back before Wii launched everyone was dismissing it and saying it would never catch on. Nobody expected it to sell as well as it did.

You have to consider retailers are also at fault here for not taking better measures to discourage or stop scalping

@Colgo13 If what you said is true, why did Nintendo discontinue the NES Classic Edition?

Preordered mine in Finland the day it was announced. Still haven't a received an email stating that I won't get one, like many others. Hopefully I'll get mine next month.

What the hell, I've just managed to pre order one from Shopto, buzzing right now. I checked on a stock checking site, it said shopto was out of stock, clicked anyway and it didn't say out of stock, I'd lost all hope but now (hopefully if it's not cancelled) I'll be getting one 😁😁😁

Get ready for a new break through in buying games/systems.

The Pre-order Pre-order! Yeah you heard me correctly. Stores are going to start offering a pre-order to the pre-order for a small fee.

It's not that Nintendo hasn't learned anything. They're just doing this on purpose. They've basically mastered the art of creating artificial demand and screwing over their fans, and it seems like they couldn't care less.

@Deadstanley The thing is though there are so many factors to consider with the supply chain its just unrealistic to blame everything solely on Nintendo. Nintendo simply doesn't have the sort of infrastructure and resources enjoyed by the other tech giants not to mention shelf space is much more precious in this day and age. You can't just churn out more units at the snap of a finger either. With stuff like the NES and SNES mini manufacturers are contracted to produce a set number of units if you want more you need to negotiate which takes time.

Its not like Nintendo is unaware of demand either. at one point they actually had to send in Switches by air just to keep up but keep in mind air freight gets expensive real fast

@Wolfgabe Just one excuse after another. How do you know these parts shortages were not forseen? Will you even consider that Nintendo knew some parts would be hard to get to meet demand and designed their consoles with them anyway? Will you even consider that Nintendo is playing it safe with the number of units they ordered for manufacture and as a result are unable to meet demand?

Everyone is trying to tell you that this nonsense is getting old and it can't be happening by accident.

@Superzone13 Yes, Nintendo decided that GameStop can only put them up at 3am. Nintendo distributed a bot that scalpers use to order things in seconds. Nintendo told ThinkGeek to make bundles with scalp prices. Nintendo hacked websites so nobody got email alerts for stock. Nintendo also crashed websites so carts wouldn't work.

The Nintendo you know are viscous. But, lets look at other countries. In the UK customers were alerted well in advance, no store overcharged, all stores went live at the same time, websites had a strict one per person check on their sites. It still sold out quick but everyone had a fair chance to order them. Maybe something is wrong with the way the US retailers are doing business instead of Nintendo.

Not even surprised by this. Not. Even.

That's why I didn't bother. Why set myself up for imminent rage, frustration, and disappointment?

@Crono1973 Let's not use profanity on here, please.

@Joeynator3000 Sorry, I edited it from <that which shall not be typed> to 'nonsense'.

I've said it before but I'll say it again. The biggest problem isn't Nintendo, the retailers, or the scalpers. They all suck but the worst party is the clowns who pay the scalpers. Their paying ridiculous prices give justification to the scalpers' actions. Now it's an unstoppable situation because too many people just go "Welp, guess I'll just throw away 300 bucks cause it's a cute tiny NES."

Clowns.

@BLP_Software anyone who developed the bot and anyone who uses said bot should seriously go die. Literally people ruining things for everyone else. No one needs people like that in society, truly the scum of the earth outside of well, actual criminals.

and honestly profanity should be allowed in this thread because nintendo has dropped the ball like 80092308232 times

If you do not believe Nintendo creates artificial demand you truly are completely ignorant to the truth and have been blinded by Nintendo.

Obviously I did not get one when I swore I would be ready this year and I'm not too happy about it

@Crono1973 ...Well I already edited it before, but ok...lol

And to top it off Nintendo is using these products to prevent having the vitual console on switch. At this point I dont see the VC ever coming to switch. Just new iterations of these classic consoles.

Nintendo does this because they know their fans will buy anything they make, literally anything. They could release a box with Nintendo branding on it and people would buy it...oh wait

@Crono1973 some things are easier to predict or anticipate than others.. Perhaps the parts shortages didn't really come up until after switch had entered production. Also do you ever think maybe its the pre order culture that is to blame here since it creates an ideal environment for scalping.

I dont believe in part shortages. I believe in Nintendo only releasing as much product as they want. Supply and Demand mean nothing to them. Its all about creating scarcity to create artificial demand. Artificial demand creates news stories, media attention, etc. Keeps Nintendo in the news and keeps the stock they did make to be sold out at all times.

Completely agree with making these products only available to MyNintendo members

No one should be shocked by this. We all knew how it would be.
Really, Nintendo should just release some kind of "Best of Super Nintendo" cart for Switch/3DS instead of doing this crap to their fans. Just cram all these games onto a cart and sell it for $50.

There are so many people who want this for themselves, and their families and children or nieces/nephews, and they can't get them. I just find it kind of sad.

Nintendo is the most anti-consumer gaming brand there is, absolutely unbelievable

seriously the salt here is bloody ridiculous. If you seriously are gonna cry scream and whine like an 8 year old and shout insults at Nintendo simply cause you can't get ahold of a freaking lump of circuits and plastic then you might need to get your life straight

@Wolfgabe Many of us lost interest in this after the NES Classic mess so it's isn't that we can't get one, it's that this nonsense should be called out regardless of whether we want one, get one or not.

@FX102A Well, Scalpers ARE just as evil, bigoted, racist, and white supremacist as Donald Trump! If anyone gets the blame, it's him! He's encouraging Americans to get rich enough to LIVE in Trump's America! The only reason people are going to Emulation is because Congress and the Government aren't cracking down on enforcing that law that makes emulation ILLEGAL to begin with!

Hmph! Doesn't surprise me in the least. Nintendo shouldn't make crap if they don't plan on selling it to people.

@Colgo13 Or perhaps they planned to sell only a certain number of the NES Classic Edition. If they intended to create demand, they wouldn't discontinue a product when the demand for it is still high.

@NinNin Explain to us what Nintendo gains by making only a certain number (below demand) of any product?

Were they creating an atmosphere of demand for all future products with the Nintendo logo? Were they just incompetent? What was it that drives a decision like that?

@Syrek24 Well said. Its just a freaking lump of plastic with a bunch of 20 year old games hardly something worth boycotting a company over

@Crono1973

Exactly! I mean Other companies have made enough supply to meet demand, so why is Nintendo "supposedly" unable to? They can! They're just plain unwilling to do so. Why? I don't know. So for all the apologists there's no reason to sit there and say they're unable to.

@Yorumi I think you and others are missing his point. There are plenty of other things in the world that are worth getting upset over more than a mini SNES. Also I doubt all the screaming crying and whining on this site will change anything since its mostly just an extremely vocal minority. Why do you people feel the need to own every single thing Nintendo puts out even if you don't really need it

They promised the SNES Classic would turn out better than the NES Classic. Is this their definition of better?

@Crono1973 There are number of reasons for it but to understand them you need to consider things from a business perspective. If the rumors are true and they are coming out with an N64 classic in the coming year continuing to make more Mini SNESs would just cut into resources for the N64 Mini and it would likely just end up clogging up shelf space that could be going to the N64 MIni as well.

Also it was likely decided from the start that they would produce only a certain amount of SNES minis

@Timppis I thought Europe was hallowed and sacred PS land https://www.gamereactor.eu/news/545083/Sonys%20Ryan%20on%20Switch%20Xbox%20One%20X%20and%20defending%20Europe/?rs=rss

@Wolfgabe You know you've lost when you resort to: 'Eh, this product isn't worth getting upset about.' Yet you can't stop defending Nintendo in this thread.

I'm genuinely not trying to be a jerk but who the hell is surprised by this. I said this months ago when Nintendolife was saying that hopefully Nintendo would learn with the SNES classic. They NEVER learn. Over the last 3 years alone Nintendo has had stock issues with amiibo, multiple limited editions, the NES Classic and most recently the Switch. Having more or less the same stock issues with 4 of their most popular products does not suggest in the slightest a company that is willing to fix ANYTHING. I'm a bit salty because I signed up for notifications for the SNES classic for gamestop and other retailers. I got no notifications whatsoever. I hit up my local GS, Target, Best Buy, and Walmart and all of them were sold out. The GS one got to me especially since I came to the store less than an hour after it opened and the clerk told me that they were already sold out long before I got there. Apparently, people had lined up hours before the store opened up but what frustrated me was that there was no way for me to know that they were going to have any in stock since I never received a notification. I can actually somewhat respect Toys R US for not doing preorders. At least now I know that if I line up early enough at my local Toys R Us I can get one. It still bugs me that fans have to jump through this many hoops to get one of Nintendo's products.

I bet you top dollar when the SNES classic edition sells out, Nintendo will CONVENIENTLY have a bunch of Switches to upsell customers on like some shady used car salesman or some back street drug dealer

@Wolfgabe So you are saying that Nintendo's Mini Classic supply issues are 100% their own fault as they chose a number to manufacture and refused to alter that number? You are saying that they did it to the NES, the SNES and will do it with the N64 and beyond?

@Crono1973 No I have not admitted defeat I don't get upset over it because I know there are more important things in life to worry about then a glorified lump of plastic. I think you are the one who lost cause when I am simply trying to be rational and show some common sense yet you simply continue to lash out and spout the same broken record nonsense about it all being 100% Nintendo's fault even when I calmly explained why thats an extremely pre mature assumption

@Yorumi There you go twisting my words to fit your views. I am not upset over what people post but I like Syrek can't help but be disgusted by the sheer sense of self entitlement over something that people don't really need. Like he said its about the perspective and how you look at the problems you face rather than just lashing out in anger and entitlement

@Wolfgabe So you don't think Nintendo set a fixed number to manufacture?

I'd love to have an SNES mini but I'm not going to bother with all this pre-order stuff. In fact I think I will get the Atari Flashback 8 gold instead. Should be easier to get

I went into my GameStop in Dallas yesterday to get my Uncharted preorder, but everyone else there was waiting for a SNES Classic. The store only received a total of eight systems. Eight. Once I got wind of what was happening, I talked to the other guys and gals there, and they all tried Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. to no avail. Every place that had them ran out quickly.

I didn't want an SNES classic because I knew something like this would happen, but I can't help but feel bad for everyone who wanted one.

@Colgo13 I fail to see what you mean. If the strategy was to create demand for selling more units, they wouldn't discontinue the NES Classic Edition when the demand was high. That would be illogical.

I believe Nintendo released the NES Classic Edition mainly because they wanted to sell something during the holiday season while preparing to release the Switch. It was never intended to be a long-term product.

@Crono1973 In this case, they probably want people to buy Virtual Console games.

@Crono1973 You are only half right. The way it works is that Nintendo approaches a manufacturer and they are contracted to produce a set quantity of units. If Nintendo wants to make more they need to negotiate in addition to the manufacturer themselves needing to have the resources necessary

One thing's for sure. Literally nothing Reggie says can be trusted anymore. He is invisible and inaudible to me now. And this is coming from someone with a preorder.

They flat out lied when they implied things would be better.

@Yorumi Again my point sails completely over your head. I don't take cheap shots at people and no I am not upset I am just trying to be reasonable here and trying to explain to people why getting worked up over a piece of plastic is just stupid. You and Cronos actions speak of your own nature as well. When people like me just try to show a little common sense you feel the need to take pot shots at us and call us blind apologists simply cause we don't conform to your own idea of how Nintendo operates

@NinNin It's really not hard to understand, Think of the Nintendo Brand as one product and that is what Nintendo wants to promote above all else. Now think about how anything that has the Nintendo logo would fly off of shelves because people have learned that they sell out quickly.

Nintendo could be purposely creating an artificial shortage to boost hype about any product Nintendo releases. Nintendo doesn't want to be left with stock they can't sell.

@Wolfgabe So tell me again how the shortages are not Nintendo's fault?

@UmniKnight

Yes. Scandinavia is part of Europe.

@Crono1973 Shortages can be blamed on many things really

Nintendo for not anticipating demand enough

The manufacturers for not having enough parts

Scalpers for being too damn greedy

Retailers for not taking enough steps to discourage scalping and for picking bad times to put up pre orders

The consumers themselves for buying from Scalpers which basically encourages this sort of thing.

The whole pre order culture which creates an ideal environment for scalpers

@Yorumi I say I am not upset since you seem to create this idea that I am when really I am not. Its funny really how you seem to get upset when I call people out for being overly self entitled which isn't so much an insult as it is telling people to grow up and stop obsessing over something you can't get. I am trying to be helpful here by explaining why its better to just move on here

@Wolfgabe Well you just said that Nintendo determines how many to manufacture. Now if they don't manufacture enough and instead of manufacturing more, they discontinue the product....yeah, that's Apple's fault. Right?

Well, you could probably find an entertaining way to blame Toyota too, please try?

Come on, the majority here are talking as if it's the end of the year and production has come to an end. This thing hasn't even been released yet.

Sure, this whole pre-order thing was a bit of a debacle, but it isn't indicative of how many systems will be available throughout the remainder of 2017.

@SuperiorTech You have a reason to believe there will be enough to meet demand?

@SuperiorTech Bingo

@Crono1973
To meet demand? Probably not. However, I think there'll be more units this time around. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I had to walk into GAME and put down £50 for my pre order, I hate GAME but I didn't want to miss out on this like the nes classic.
I really feel the frustration for those in NA it's been a mess to even get a pre order.
And of course this is Nintendo's fault they practically encourage scalpers, if your making a product that people want and will definitely sell then make enough of them it's not like they will be losing money even if they had a few thousand left over

@SuperiorTech So you don't believe people should be talking about Nintendo not meeting demand because it's not the end of the year yet but you don't think they will meet demand either?

@MarioPhD I always backed them but on this one. You're right. Let it spread like mad virus.

It's a sad situation, but not surprising. Nintendo, on the whole, has a reputation for doing this on all limited edition systems. Reggie can talk all day about limited resources, limited run, etc, but that absolutely does not excuse poor communication with retailers or customers.

Overall I'd say it's 75% nintendo, 25% retailer blame. Walmart's big BS "glitch" was so unbelievable, which was then topped by 3AM, no warning preorders. I was lucky(?) enough to get one of the thinkgeek bundles, but it was only because I really wanted the bundle items as well. Sad that I had to spend $250 to secure an $80 product. Sad state of affairs for nintendo altogether, but really, are we surprised in any way?

@Timppis Oh derp, well, it is changing with the Switch's rise, though.

@Crono1973 No, is not. The NES classic wasn't a preorder.

Nintendo, you're the reason people use emulators.

@Yorumi I'm with you on that. I wanted to mention more recent stuff so it wouldn't seem like I'm dredging up stuff from the past.

@mikegamer Well yeah, that's what the VC is LOL. I kid, I know what you are saying.

@MarioPhD And it is Nintendo's own fault that you can't give them money for this system due to their shoddy business practices!

All I know is Switchs are starting to be easier to get around here. The NES Mini and SNES Mini are probably mistakes, but Nintendo doesn't see it that way because they're making easy money off it.

It totally stinks for the consumer, but if you just pretend that the minis don't exist, then most problems vanish.

It's very disappointing, though not unexpected. Nintendo has pretty consistently failed to understand their customers (at least in the West) for at least a decade now. I love their hardware and software, but their business moves are as inscrutable as an arts & entertainment company could be.

I know a lot of people want to blame Nintendo for this, and they are partially responsible, but the majority of the blame goes to the retailers, scalpers, and the whole pre-order culture that retailers have convinced us to participate in. I am willing to bet a good third of available consoles are going to people who intend to mark them up and resell them (a lot of them are probably people who maybe passively wouldn't mind having an SNES mini, but are going to try and resell it). That a ridiculous amount of consoles that are going to people who aren't really that interested in it. I get that people really want it, and there may be some disappointed kids on Christmas morning, but we should collectively as a community stop supporting scalpers, just don't do it (I'm not trying to tell people how to spend their money, but these scalpers are only getting more prevalent, and this is the only way to stop them - unless eBay and Craigslist started taking down preorders and people selling new, just released products for above MSRP). The point is Nintendo can't keep upping their production to account for a system that is fundamentally anti-consumer.

@Crono1973 The fact that compared to Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo isn't even long for this world as a Console Maker. Look at what happened to SEGA! When the Dreamcast died off, SEGA went Third-Party, and we got Sonic Adventure 2 Batlte for the GameCube! The Nintendo scalpers figured that since Nintendo is gonna die off anyway, they might as well profit off of it before we get a new Donkey Kong Country game on XBox One, Developed by Rareware.

The blame is on Nintendo. Do it right by taking preorders for a full day or two and THEN build to those orders, plus a few thousand more to cover defects and replacements. Let everyone sign that if they preorder you must pay $25 that you cannot get back, ever. Everyone gets a system and manufacturing is done. If scalpers want to buy hundreds let them, but the public gets what they want.

For those who will line up on the release date, BE WARNED!

If you're going to line up you have to be insanely committed. 11pm may have been enough for the NESC, but now that people know how disappointing it is to show up 3 hours early, that may not be enough.

Know that one person will wait in line and then in the morning their wives, kids, and friends come get in line with them. If stores asked for an ID to make sure only one per household was first sold it would help. On top of that hopefully the weather cooperates or you live in an area where there is a good climate. Then you have stores, like Walmart, who let their employees have first dibs.

When you consider all the factors against you, bots, scalpers, family and friends of people who work in the stores, family and friends of people in line, store employees, long hours, and bad weather, etc. thinking back on it I can totally understand those who say screw it.

Someone needs to get Reggie's buttocks out there in the real world so he can understand what fans go through. The only way I can see that Nintendo could stop the madness is to continue to make the unit for a while, instead of making it limited time this holiday season only.

Sincerely good luck! I wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

@gutsdozier Yes those games are available on VC for $5. But $5 × 30 games is $150. Had Nintendo met demand those people would only had to spend $60. Also, alot of people I know that wanted the system have no other console that has the VC on it. So add another $100 or so on top of the $150. As I said, I don't blame people for pirating these games.

@Maxtremors We, as a community, should also stop supporting pre-order culture.

@Gamer401 So...only sell them via pre-order?

@KIREEK I learned long ago that everything out of Reggie's mouth is a lie and that Nintendo learns nothing. Nintendo can make very fun games and innovative game systems, the rest is all down hill. When you accept that you will have peace.

@Crono1973 at first, plus a few thousand more. Once there has been a day or 2 to get the orders in demand should be met, unless you live under a rock and there will be systems for most of them too. The main thing is that your fans/customers are aware and are covered.

@Trikeboy Well what I mean is, these things are the result of Nintendo's handling of the release of the console. Supply can't come anywhere near demand, and apparently that's exactly how Nintendo wants it. This way there's a huge demand for the product, and big buzz, but we the fans suffer. Thousands of people who would like to buy the console won't be able to.

Hats of the GameStop and TRU in the US for for having some or all of the systems as walk in preorder or day of sale walk in. With limited numbers and one person standing in line for 3 more it still stinks, but it's something. You had a better chance playing the lottery than buying online.

@Gamer401 this is good advice. Well said.

@Tanooki-Time Supply can't come anywhere near demand, and apparently that's exactly how Nintendo wants it.
...and this is anti-consumer sh...nonsense that I can't believe people will defend.

While GameStop's website was down I snuck in and preordered a non-bundled SNES Mini via their app. Naturally, I expect them to pull the rug out from under my feet a week before release and cancel on me.

This is just a publicity stunt. As long as people are talking it doesn't matter, free advertising. It tarnishes how I feel about the switch. But the truth is nintendo have always been a bit (happy meal) bussiness minded. It's all very sad.

We have alot left over here in Aus, some stores still tweet that they have 50 units left for preorder!

Was the pre-order date ever announced? I searched for info on Monday and found nothing. Then Tuesday they go live.

They are so stupid when it comes to this. Our stupid company at work is trying to do the same thing with our stock where they advertise products but purposely don't meet the demand because it creates a buzz. In actual fact it doesn't create a buzz it just creates havoc and pisses people off. Just produce more of the damn things Nintendo. Don't you like money?

@YoshiAngemon Okay, I dig, but check it; better plan, I grab some nachos, throw some Vampire Wings on the old hip pod and we all veg out and cool our hard drives for a bit whilst gazing at the hook grazing the ol ceiling.

Man I love that hook, so chill.

It can't be "limited" period. As soon as you do that you've got scalpers way too interested and panicked consumers willing to buy from them. Nintendo needs to adjust the price (if needed) so it's worthwhile for them to make and then keep cranking them out until they see sales start to slow, whether it's 4 months or 2 years. It's so simple.

Might have to stop buying Nintendo.

'But hey! It could have been worse. You could have been living in North America!'
Words to live by. 😄 😉

@InternetBowser I don't think they care about demand. When they don't meet demand there are plenty of excuses dished about by the NDF, Things like 'Nintendo was caught off guard' and 'This item is a collectible so people shouldn't expect them to meet demand' . My favorite is when people tell us how Nintendo only orders a fixed amount but it's not their fault if demand isn't met.

Good times.

I got a pre-order at Gamestop just because I gambled on pre-orders opening in store when they opened and I waited outside a half hour before they opened. Didn't stick around to see if a rush of people came once the news dropped.

This is an absolute farce. We shouldn't have to sleuth this stuff out to get a pre-order.

I'm trying my best to not be mean, but you people don't understand marketing. Nintendo is doing this ABSOLUTELY 100% ON PURPOSE. Let me be clear; why in the world would Nintendo want to cut supply to this? The answer is kind of complicated, but completely makes sense if you understand business. They are creating a product that has extremely high demand from the market, generating headlines and constant word of mouth. Nintendo is constantly being talked about. But Nintendo makes such a small amount of money on this vs Switch or current systems which generate additional income through software, add ons, accessory sales, etc. Why would they focus manufacturing on something that makes them 50 bucks a sale when their golden goose is Switch and software? This isn't tough; Nintendo could care less if you have any of these classic systems; they are just utilizing them for marketing, plain and simple. And it's working.

Why are we shocked? Nintendo does this every time. I may not buy any more hardware from Nintendo.

Why on Earth can't companies just simply have a made-to-order open pre-order that lasts a week or two about 3-5 months out and say "If you want one, pre-order it during these days. If you don't, tough luck." Allow people to order from the 6-10 major retailers of their choice and poof! Printed money, happy customers, happy retailers who don't have over stock clogging shelves, etc. it's simple. People who legitimately want one get one for a reasonable price. Scalpers will still buy a ton anyway in hopes people forget or miss the open order period, and most importantly, Nintendo knows exactly how many to produce months in advance allowing them time to manufacture and sort out all of the regulations on electronics, imports, shipping, etc.

The problem is scalpers and the precedent set by the nes classic mini. You can look on eBay right now and those are still selling for $200+. As long as the scalpers know they are going to get a 300% return on investment they are going to buy up all the inventory online using bots and in stores store managers and employees will buy all the stock before it touches the shelves. So unless you work retail or have a script that constantly refreshes landing pages you are screwed. The only way I could see discouraging the grey market would be if Nintendo reversed its position on the limited run of the NES mini which would destroy the resell value of that system as well as weakening the value of the snes mini.

Got an Amazon preorder but as many people will attest to, the product page was sketchy and disappeared... so I got a backup at Target but the way they kept opening and closing preorders (open for only a couple minutes at a time) makes me worried for that one too. I hope I don't miss one, this was the biggest mess I've seen Nintendo pull in awhile...

Nintendo, I don't know if you know this or not, but a pre-order is essentially a guaranteed sale. This is someone saying "here's $80 right now, please make me a SNES classic in a month." For the sake of argument, lets say that 1% of people cancel their pre-orders. What happens to those units? They're bought by people walking through the store saying "hey what's this, a 'SNES classic, relive the 16-bit era with 21 built in games?' I had a SNES as a kid, I'll relive my childhood for $80." That's much better than the 50% of consumers that would pre-order but weren't able to saying "screw it, I'll just get a Raspberry Pi." You are throwing away money on the table by limiting pre-orders.
This isn't a Wii Fit Trainer Amiibo that appeals to a small group of people, and only hard core fans will seek out. I have co-workers that don't play videogames that are interested in this because "I had a SNES as a kid, I'd like to relive my childhood for $80."

@Hordak Things have become so bad in pre-order culture that some are calling for ONLY pre-orders.

I snagged a preorder with Best Buy around 1:30am local time...it was up for almost 20 minutes altogether. Night-owl's dream, basically, and I am thankful. Best of luck to everyone still searching!

@Crono1973
Absolutely. I haven't preordered in years.

A complete mess...

Anyway, I don't understand all the crazy hype for this thing. It'd be nice to have one just for nostalgia's sake, but honestly... it is not that great of an item. I mean most people have already played the hell out of all those games. Some people have those games on Virtual Console on the 3DS or the WiiU (or both!) so playing them on the TV isn't a issue. They're all basically paying again for something they already own, just in a different shape...
All that craziness about the pre-orders and scalpers and overpriced bundles... it's just plain stupid.
I could buy a REAL Super Nintendo with all the games' cartridges (except for Star Fox 2) on a second hand store here in Japan for little more than the asking price.
Come on people, cool down, you're just giving this thing more importance than it really has.

It's pretty obvious why Nintendo is doing this.

Sega devalued their entire 16bit catalogue by mass producing the PS360 collection with over 40 games on it.
That quickly droped to 20$, and now practically Sega's entire first party library from the Genesis (and some Master System and arcade games on top of that) is legally available for less then 10$.

Nintendo wants these games to keep some serious value, that does not work when they release a collection with 21 (or 30 in case of the NES) of them and produces so many that everyone can easily get one. Any product that's produced like that drops in price later, and Nintendo does not want that to happen.

I know i'm really late to the convo:
But why can't Nintendo take pre-orders directly BEFORE manufacturing? Then make how ever many people paid for? Doesn't that immediately cut out the scalper because there's no line, everyone can just get one if they want. What am I missing here? scalpers could order 500 and would be wasting time cuz everyone else can already order there 1.

Here we go again....

I'm not gonna comment on whether or not I think this piece and the reaction is warranted or not. But I'm just gonna repeat what I said with the NES Classic: There's a lot of blame and accountability to go around, Nintendo included. I just wish they didn't even bother with these kinds of products in the first place and just released a Virtual Console for the Switch already.

@EmirParkreiner You just made an argument that the classic systems are a bad deal for Nintendo and that's why they don't want to meet demand. Ok, I'll play along. Why release them at all then?

The problem is not scalpers, retailers, the pre order culture or even self entitled consumers. The problem is under supply! There should not be this feeding frenzy happening. Nintendo should meet the demand, end of story. The simple solution is, after a week, if you missed out, you should be able to register for one on Nintendo's website for a guaranteed purchase. While this system won't provide an immediate purchase, it would remove the anxiety of missing out. The only change I'd make at retail level is ban pre orders. Online retailers can only sell from midday on release day. That gives physical shops the first go and then you have a second chance online. Part of the reason pre orders are so prolific these days because people fear missing out. In truth there could be plenty of stock on day 1 and then all this anxiety is for nothing.

Meanwhile here in Australia stock was available for days before it had been allocated at each retailer taking orders.

It's a pretty bad situation when 20 mins of availability is considered not to be so bad.

@UmniKnight

We hope so.

(Although I do like my PS as well)

Always the same mistake people with leftist mind do by thinking Nintendo is a big evil company not wanting to sell their products and missing profit on purpose just because they're a big evil company.
Reality is Nintendo is a dying niche company and the era when they could flood the worldwide market with their products is over since a long time. But there's still a big denial about that and the decline of the japanese industry which is proved by sales numbers.

@BLP_Software Totally agree. I never received an email from Nintendo to say it was live, it was pure luck i was on facebook and saw a banner ad. I was lucky enough to secure one. I have read many comments in threads even on this very site of people boasting of getting 4+, thats really not cool.

@YoshiAngemon Keep that crap out of this topic and off of websites that have zero connection with your political viewpoints please. Another loser that just spams white supremacy crap GTFO!

I had every alert set up, email notifications from amazon, etc. Got alerts from BB the night before, but sold out fast. Missed the 3 am launch on Amazon, no email from them. The next day, tried to order when they went live from Target, removed from cart, GameStop, removed from cart, site crash, Walmart, no stock, sold out. Rolled to my local game stop after calling them, and I was able to pre order one of 10 they have in store to sell. There were three nerds behind me to get theirs. Nintendo failed...again.

@Rumncoke25 wait a minute, you do not HAVE to pre-order, you do if you want (or can). The 'console' will be available on 29th September for you and everybody else to go to a retailer and buy.

@electrolite77 Yeah yeah I get it Nintendo has more money in the bank than Sony, Microsoft and Apple united. And your source is probably a blog article from 2010.
Reality is Nintendo is a dwarf. Their size and cash reserve is vastly overestimated by fanboys like you.
It's funny watching the japanese industry collapsing and reading people like you still being in denial.

@electrolite77 In most second hand stores, you can buy a Super NES in good condition for 5,000 yen or less. Granted, I exaggerated about getting all the games for the same price of a Super NES mini, but you can get most of the games (if not all) for a few hundred yen. Only rare and obscure cartridges cost more than that.

@electrolite77 I can see and understand the attraction of the mini. I would love to get one myself... What I don't understand is the madness surrounding it: people trying to get it whatever the cost, scalpers (and even normal resellers) asking for outrageous prices and people willing to pay them... It's just beyond my understanding, specially when you can get all (or most of) those games anyway through other easier methods (and I'm not talking about shady emulation).
Well, to each their own, and I honestly wish all the luck in the world to those who are trying to get one.

@electrolite77 Only 5 billion? lol To be honest I thought it was more and I really see them disappearing from the hardware market after the switch.
Seriously compare this Nintendo cash reserve to any of their competitors and even third parties and you will see how Nintendo is a dying dwarf.
But blind people like you will always claim nintendo can use these $5 billion to flood the market with unprofitable retro system, release a console more powerful than the PS5 and buy hundreds of third parties exclusives. Keep living in your bubble while the rest of the world is moving on.

@Crono1973
These mini systems are a good deal for Nintendo as long as they are sold at (or around) the normal retail price.
When you buy something in bulk, it's normal that you pay less then you would pay for an individual product. That's why it's ok for Nintendo to sell the mini SNES, which is essentially a bundle of 21 SNES for a price where the games cost about half as much then they would cost on the Wii/Wii U/3DS VC.

The problem for Nintendo is that it becomes a bad deal for them as soon as the mini consoles see a significant price drop, and any product that gets produced in numbers that are big enough to satisfy a mass market drops in price over time. If Nintendo had produced as many mini NES as they could sell, used ones would likely be available for 30$ right now and they would be even cheaper next year, and there would have come a point when retailers would have lowered the price of new units, too.
And THAT situation (not the system being sold at it's MSRP) would be a problem because it would significantly devalue the individual games.

Again, the perfect example is Sonic's Genesis Collection on PS3 and 360. It's literally Sega's entire 16 bit library and now it's available for less then 10$.
Why do you think Sega didn't put a Genesis VC on the Wii U (while Konami actually brought a VC of their fairly obscure TG16 system)?
Because Sega knew that no one would be stupid enough to download Sonic 2 or Streets of Rage 3 for 8$ each when you can buy a collection that has both complete series and 30 other Genesis games for practically the same price as one of these downloads.

A game collection (which is what these mini consoles essentially are) can be a good deal for both the game publisher and the consumer, but if the publisher has plans to keep selling these games in the future (like Nintendo obviously has), he has to be very careful about it.
A collection that is too large and gets sold at a low price can change the perception of the value of the individual games, and while the original retail price can be a good deal for both sides, later price drops can be problematic for the publisher.

That's why Nintendo is producing these things (they are a good deal for them at MSRP), but in numbers that are so low that used units will never drop in price below that (because that would devalue the games).

(NOTE: Before some people here attack me for "defending" this stupid situation Nintendo is creating here: I'm not saying that Nintendo is handling this situation perfectly, i'm just explaining why they're hanhling the situation the way they do. However, while i think they could handle it better, "producing enough so everyone who wants it can get one" would be incredibly stupid by them for the reasons i mentioned.)

I'd rather have "Mini Bundles" on the Switch eshop (with leaderboards for each game and achievements).

At least there were pre-orders in Canada this time around, and since I was able to get one, I won't have to line up at 5 am like I did for the NES Mini. I call that an improvement. Good job Nintendo

@Ralizah I am pretty sure the rom is floating about somewhere on the internet. Personally I play my old nintendo games on my psp.

To be completely honest, I was sick of trying to get an NES classic last year that I wasn't even going to try to get an SNES mini...

@EmirParkreiner I think it lessabout the game value and more about the "cool factor" of the little nintendo machine. Combined with the nostalgic value of the original type controllers.There are a ton of great emulators out there and lots of roms.

@MarioPhD Hope is not required. When has a much sort after digital not gone online a millisecond after its release. It will happen.

EB games New Zealand still has them.

@NESlover85 I don't begrudge the decision of Nintendo (and its third-party licensees) to sell limited quantities of a $60 system which could sell for $250.

But I suppose I shouldn't begrudge those people who are unable to find the $60 system, and can't afford $250, from playing the games another way.

As I said, in a perfect world, Nintendo would have its own Virtual Console service on PC, where people could download flawlessly-emulated games a la carte or via a subscription, and play them with an official Nintendo USB controller.

The other option would be the NES/SNES Classic DX: the systems retail for $50, and come with only one or two games pre-loaded, the rest need to be purchased via Nintendo's retro game shop, a la carte or subscription-based.

I'm looking at eBay, and there are scalpers selling CRATES of NES Classic Editions. I fail to see how this is considered "stock shortage". There are PLENTY to go around, if human beings weren't so driven by greed.
I'm almost tempted to go after all of the "Best Offers" and see if anyone will accept $60.

@Asaki Thats pretty much the problem right there then there really are plenty of systems to go round. The problem is greedy ass people buy them all up for themselves just so they can ransom them off for an inflated price

@Crono1973 bang on, buddy.

@gutsdozier A pc/console would be ideal. I think people were hoping that that's what the NES mini was going to be. I think they could make a lot of money off of those that just want older games.

@FX102A
My coworker and I went to four different Gamestops and were able to pre-order three. I'm definitely holding on to one of these and the others were, as you said, for friends who might not be able to score one. My coworker plans on selling his and I kept on calling him a greedy scumbag all throughout our expedition.

@Wolfgabe So there aren't enough to go around. Let's try something. Now let's say that scalpers buy up so many copies of Breath of the Wild that Nintendo either needs to make more to meet demand or discontinue them. Which one should they do?

@Crono1973 It depends on which version of Breath of the Wild. They will restock the standard game, but they will not keep restocking the limited editions that come with the Master Sword statue. The NES Classic and SNES Classic are limited edition products.

Nintendo seems to really be in love with scalpers. I can't even begin to fathom why they would release this pointless product. Nintendo diehards want VC on Switch, not another stupid paperweight they can't even get their hands on. And the non-Nintendo diehards will just keep on emulating everything like before.

At least we'll get an official Star Fox 2 ROM out of it, I guess.

@Wolfgabe Exactly what I said. Apple has money to spend, and Nintendo doesn't want to because it's not on their priority list. Making their customers happy is #87 on their to do list, right after making sure to release at least a game every 6 weeks to avoid droughts.

@Timppis

Well yes we have Switch in stock but at least Finland had SNES Mini preorders sold out quite fast (not in minutes but few hours) WITH AMAZING PRICE OF 160€! I think I preordered mine like an hour and half later after it was announced to start?

..except Gamestop (or VPD? Or both?) who took 99€ preorders and then sent out email saying need to pay more or their preorder will be cancelled XD

@Finntendo

I've paid 50€ advance on my Gamestop preorder and I still have it.

Also I bought the NES classic from appliance store almost a month after it had been released. They had multiple units then.

I dunno where you preorder from, but at least Gamestop stuff is just not true.

I managed to get my preorder by complete chance, just happened to be online on this website when the new article went up with preorders at Argos. I paid them and got a text but haven't heard anything since so hoping it hasn't been cancelled.

Seeing as your name is Nintendo Life, I thought you liked Nintendo. Apparently not

@Al_Godoy are you the guy who swiped my credit card when I was in Tijuana then used it buy Nike trainers?

@Timppis
Ah, good it worked on GS, then it must have been VPD - they surely know how to rip off with populars (lol 85€ for Ness Amiibo). I know there was something because it was complained on FB.

I used Verkkis and they had their traditional 999€ and then it was set to 149€. I gambled with it where to place preorder - I live middle of nowhere so I have no chance to go to stores because there simply aren't stores. From closest Gigantti I was seeking something else when NES mini was released and some lady asked about it and the salesperson said nope and no idea if they get any.

@Finntendo

VPD is otherwise ok, but you are absolutely right about their preorders and some hard to obtain stuff. They try to rip you off like scalpers sometimes.

I mostly order abroad because the prices here are so much higher than Amazon.uk for example. But GS sometimes has good preorder deals and I have one like 300m from my apartment.

Gigantti is weird, you can sometimes find really rare stuff just sitting in the shelves (I know people found some really rare Skylanders and Amiibo) and mostly they don't even know that Nintendo still exists

@Deanster101 I wish... I wouldn't have that big debt on my own credit card if I had shared my expenses with you.