Topic: SNES Classic thread

[Shaymin]

And NBA Playgrounds came out what, two months ago?

[nickmitch]

Yeah, and I bought it.  It just not doing it for me.  Doesn't quite give me that NBA Jam feel and I hat having to unlock players.

[Adrock]

But at least you get Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn. Always a silver lining. Right?

I-I'll see myself out.

[Mop it up]

Does anyone with more knowledge on the subject have any insight as to why there still aren't pre-orders in the US?

The latest rumor is that it doesn't yet have FCC approval, which is needed to sell any electronic device. This seems to stem from Microsoft claiming that the reason pre-orders are not yet open for the Xbox One X is that it hasn't yet received the approval for the FCC guidelines. I didn't think that was a requirement for pre-orders, since I feel like some things have had pre-orders right at their announcements without any real details on them. Or maybe that's just been games themselves, who knows.

[nickmitch]

But at least you get Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn. Always a silver lining. Right?

I-I'll see myself out.

*Le sigh* But I'll definitely take it for the lolz.

[Agent-X-]

Take this with a huge grain of salt, but yesterday I was talking with my local Gamestop store manager. I asked him if/when he thought preorders for the SNES classic would become available, and he told me there aren't going to be any. Period. The former journalist in me awakened, and I pressed further. He thought this was common knowledge and had been announced publicly this past week. When I pointed out to him no one else had reported it, he backpedaled and conceded that it may have only been a Gamestop internal communication.


He's confident there aren't going to be preorders for this thing, and unfortunately we have precedence for this with the NES classic. It might just be that Gamestop won't offer it for preorder and other stores will decide independently. According to him, it's because NOA won't or is unable to guarantee stock.


/rumor


And while we're on the subject, is anyone else feeling as fed up with NOA as I am? I feel like we miss out on a lot compared with Japan and Europe even though we're sorta the largest market by a large margin kinda. By virtue of that, we now get third rate treatment? GTFO. I might be making more out of this than it really is, but lately it sure seems like NOE is quick to confirm their bundles and shipment quantities, etc.


Knowing our lot with NOA, the real reason we're not getting shipping numbers is because our SNES is the ugly stepchild of the bunch. They're probably having some sort of issue manufacturing the different look, but someone [NOA] had to have insisted that our SNES classic has to look like our original. Frankly, very few care about that. Just ship 30 million of those things to North America and get rich!


I've been close to preordering one from Europe just because, but I'd like to get one "locally."

[ThePerm]

I've been complaining about NOA for about 7 years.

[King of Twitch]

Star Fox... 2?

*blinks*

[Khushrenada]

You're only just finding out about Star Fox 2's inclusion?

*blinks*

[BranDonk Kong]

Reports are that there is no FCC approval yet for the SNES Classic, so they aren't legally allowed to sell it yet - hence, no pre-orders yet.

[King of Twitch]

You're only just finding out about Star Fox 2's inclusion?

*blinks*

<-- vacation

[Ian Sane]

And while we're on the subject, is anyone else feeling as fed up with NOA as I am? I feel like we miss out on a lot compared with Japan and Europe even though we're sorta the largest market by a large margin kinda. By virtue of that, we now get third rate treatment? GTFO. I might be making more out of this than it really is, but lately it sure seems like NOE is quick to confirm their bundles and shipment quantities, etc.

Knowing our lot with NOA, the real reason we're not getting shipping numbers is because our SNES is the ugly stepchild of the bunch. They're probably having some sort of issue manufacturing the different look, but someone [NOA] had to have insisted that our SNES classic has to look like our original. Frankly, very few care about that. Just ship 30 million of those things to North America and get rich!

I think the thing has to look like the SNES actually did in North America to really have the full appeal.  The average person has no idea that the SNES looked different in other parts of the world.  The thing has to look like the system the target audience is familiar with.

Since Reggie became President has NOA done ANYTHING particularly impressive?  Think back to the NES days with the marketing of the Nintendo brand in America with stuff like Nintendo Power and then compare it to now.  It seems anything worth a damn done by Nintendo is the work of NCL.  Since Reggie was hired I associate NOA with unlocalized games and special editions/Amiibos being underproduced to the point that they might as well just sell them directly to the scalpers and not bother with the illusion of these being proper releases for the general consumer.  NOA became the worst Nintendo affiliate and it coincides with the hiring of the Pizza Hut man who had no videogame related experience beforehand.

I'm assuming that the limited time availability of these Classic systems is because Nintendo made a limited time deal with the third parties.  I have an idea that I wonder if it could get by that.  We assume NOA is not going to be able to make enough of these before the deadline but what if they also sold vouchers to get one when it becomes available?  So if I buy a voucher I bought the product during the timeframe specified in whatever deal was made with the third parties but I just didn't happen to receive a physical system until later when the manufacturing caught up.  Now I don't know if that legally works and if Nintendo's issue is with the manufacturing then this won't work anyway. But that can allow for the SNES Classic to maintain it's drop dead date as a product for sale but still ensure that everyone that wants one will get one - they just may have to wait a bit for their copy to be made.

[Adrock]

Since Reggie became President has NOA done ANYTHING particularly impressive?

Convinced Take Two to support DS and Wii like at all?

[nickmitch]

Meh, I dunno.  I think it's hard to say how well Nintendo has been doing with the marketing since Reggie's been in charge.  The free **** giveaways have certainly been lacking.  The Wii practically sold itself, the Wii U was a bomb, but the Switch has some good awareness.

But I don't think it's fair to compare to the Nintendo Power heyday.  I mean, they had a steady revenue stream to back up giveaways.

[Agent-X-]

Nintendo since hiring Reggie... I have to give it an incomplete grade. Reggie's initial role with NOA was to improve marketing and public image. Gamecube, no matter how many terrific exclusives it had, was never going to overcome its image. It's also probably true that the Wii was such a great product that it was never going to fail. However, this is how Reggie has built his career. He is inseparably linked with the successes of Panda Express and Pizza Hut, and now obviously the DS and the Wii. Is that mere coincidence? Nah.


What I'm not able to figure out is if Reggie and the rest of the NOA are just that stupid [regarding the product shortages, shocking lack of game localization, loyalty programs, etc.], or if Japan has them on such a short leash that there's no wiggle room. The latter is the best I can come up with for the complete lack of original video content on the Switch news channel--Japan has probably 2.5 times the amount of news content. The same was true of the "coming soon" games section where Japan would show at least a half dozen games, but in North America we would see maybe two with one of them being a couple of months out. Little details like these make the North American experience feel non-existent or completely dead. Like, at least try to make some hype for the games that are actually releasing for Switch. Just try. We all know Microsoft would hype this sh*t to hell and back because it's the only games we've got for now.


If NOA, and by extension Reggie, are no good with marketing then what purpose do they actually serve? I'd like to think that of all markets, ours would be the one to get the games, the limited edition bundles, the programs and the contests. I would expect we would get the most content and that our branch of Nintendo would be, at minimum, as active as NCL. Instead, ours feels the least active and the most conservative of all. It feels like they're on some kind of tight leash like maybe they got in big trouble with Japan sometime during the later Wii or early Wii U years. Was it the robot chicken stuff? Did that go too far??


Whatever it is, I'm completely unenthused by this NOA.

[ThePerm]

Wouldn't you rather get fired for arguing against the overlords then to let NOA go downhill?

I can only look at the previous efforts of Minoru Arakawa, Peter Main, Kenn Lobb, Perrin Kaplan, George Harrison, and Howard Lincoln. The ships they ran were the arcade, NES, Super Nintendo, N64, and Gamecube.

The way I see it NOA is nothing more than a Marketing, Distribution, and Localization firm. They only dabble in game Development. If NOA tried a little harder at game development we'd see a greater output. We see a few games get pumped out of Retro, but operations are miniscule in comparison to what Microsoft Studios, and SIEA does. Though to be fare, I don't think Microsoft has much going on in Japan.

[Adrock]

NCL running a tight ship seems to work out pretty well for Nintendo worldwide. Often when Nintendo left its first and second party developers outside of Japan to their own devices, Miyamoto and co would have to step in and right the ship anyway. This has happened with Rare, Retro Studios, and Silicon Knights to name the prominent ones. Even most third party developers like Next Level Games, Monster Games, and now MercurySteam are watched closely by Nintendo's own people. Camelot Software and Platinum Games appear to be the notable exceptions.

That said, perhaps NCL prefers a tremendous amount of control not only in terms of development but the business-side as well. Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe may compile data for NCL to parse through to adjust the strategy between territories. For example, New 3DS XL didn't launch with an AC adapter. The internet kicked up a fuss yet it ultimately didn't affect sales. I can see that being data NOA sends to Japan, and NCL ultimately making the decision to nix the AC adapter.

If I had to grade NOA, I'd give it a B. It runs pretty smoothly but falls in line more than I'd like it to. I want to see the proactive NOA that managed to convince NCL to launch DS in North America first or go hard after indies to shore up more third party support than the one that seems to sit on its hands and wait for NCL to tell it what to do.

[Ian Sane]

If I had to grade NOA, I'd give it a B. It runs pretty smoothly but falls in line more than I'd like it to. I want to see the proactive NOA that managed to convince NCL to launch DS in North America first or go hard after indies to shore up more third party support than the one that seems to sit on its hands and wait for NCL to tell it what to do.

I'm not sold on that DS decision.  The DS launched with a port of Super Mario 64 being literally the only first party title.  Later on the PSP launched with more games than the DS had accumulated up to that point.  It was really clear that the DS was not ready for prime time for that first year or so and I think it's a minor miracle it overcame that.

Does anyone know the shipping numbers for the Famicom Classic in Japan?  Japan has a smaller population than North America so if we are assuming that NCL is responsible for the undersized manufacturing numbers I would guess that they would be applying a number suitable for Japan to North America.  Does Europe have the same issues and what are the figures for items shipped there?  If Europe and Japan have completely different numbers and those markets didn't have shortages then I think the blame should be squarely at NOA.

[Adrock]

I'm not sold on that DS decision.  The DS launched with a port of Super Mario 64 being literally the only first party title.  Later on the PSP launched with more games than the DS had accumulated up to that point.  It was really clear that the DS was not ready for prime time for that first year or so and I think it's a minor miracle it overcame that.

That's a strawman. The point is that Nintendo of America even bothered to try. It was active because it saw an opportunity or a deficiency.

With SNES Classic, are we getting active or passive Nintendo of America? North America is apparently getting more SNES Classic units than it did NES Classic units. I'm sure NOA asked NCL for more. It's a matter of how much it pushed to get as many as possible.

[Shaymin]

Preorders open at Walmart limit 2 per person.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Nintendo-Entertainment-System-Classic-Edition/55791858

h/t noted bot Wario64

Edit: Dead after 40 minutes. It's a new record!

[Mop it up]

Aw nertz, I was awake then, too! Ah well, maybe I'll catch the next round...

[ShyGuy]

Alright, so what games are obviously missing from this collection?

[Adrock]

Alright, so what games are obviously missing from this collection?

I had a long list of games here that I deleted. Honestly, the only games I was surprised weren't included are Chrono Trigger and Super Mario All-Stars. I'm pretty content by the choices otherwise.

[BranDonk Kong]

On one hand it would be nice if Super Mario All-Stars was included (they still sell the Wii version for $20 in stores though), but on the other hand I think some people would be mad because they already bought those games on the NES Classic. But yeah, it should be on there. Just wait till ClusterM gets an SNES Classic and it will be on there

[nickmitch]

Preorders open at Walmart limit 2 per person.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Nintendo-Entertainment-System-Classic-Edition/55791858

h/t noted bot Wario64

Edit: Dead after 40 minutes. It's a new record!

Managed to snag a pre-order, but I saw somewhere that some of them are being cancelled.