Topic: Nintendo Of America Announces SNES Classic Mini Preorders Later This Month

[Shaymin]

Time to bust out the Scalper-B-Gon.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/45077/nintendo-of-america-announces-snes-classic-mini-preorders-later-this-month

After a false start, Nintendo of America has confirmed preorders for the SNES Classic will begin before the end of August.

NoA made the statement on their Facebook page today, promising a "significant" number of systems for launch day and the balance of the year.

Walmart's online store listed preorders for the system on the evening of July 21, but these orders ended up being cancelled due to what the mega-retailer called a "site glitch".

[xcwarrior]

They were going to make 1,000 of them for the Holiday, but now that demand is high, they are going to increase production 10%. 1,100 will be available nationwide. Come get them, and be ready to fight to death for them!

[nickmitch]

I wonder what "significant" means.  More than the NES?  Enough to match the lifetime sales of the NES with the initial shipment?  Will there be "a million of them"?

I also wonder if they're implying the system will be discontinued at the end of the year.  I assume it'd be discontinued sooner than later, like the NES Mini, but this could be putting a date on it.

[Khushrenada]

Come get them, and be ready to fight to death for them!

I'm ready. I've been travelling from Thunderdome to Thunderdome in preparation for this event. I'll take on all challengers!

[lolmonade]

I'm glad they at least tried to clarify on a window of time for when retailers would be starting to offer pre-orders.  At least this way, I can get a general sense of when I need to be hyper vigilant on checking retailers.


Still have low expectations, but it's better than worrying pre-order pages would come out of nowhere.

[Shaymin]

Nintendo's original announcement of the SNES Classic stated that they were only going to produce it through the end of this calendar year.

[Lemonade]

Good luk with that, Americans. Hopefully its not as bad as the NES Mini.

Im glad I was able to get my preorder in already.

[Ian Sane]

This is a pretty vague release timeframe.  I pretty much have to constantly look to know when pre-orders will start.  When is "before the end of August"?  Two weeks from now?  Four weeks from now?  Tomorrow?  At least if they gave a firm date it would be like concert tickets and I might fluke out.  I figure I have no chance since I don't have the time to constantly monitor sites for this.  Unless Nintendo is truly honest about having more of these in stores and I can actually stumble upon one I figure I won't be able to get one.  It's not worth the scalper price for it.

As a Canadian I haven't been able to find even a placeholder on any Canadian site.  There is a placeholder on Amazon.com for example but not Amazon.ca.

[ejamer]

...

Same story from me.


The NES Classic looked neat, and I would have impulse bought one if that was possible. NoA saved me the hassle by not bringing out nearly enough stock to satisfy demand.


The SNES Classic is something I'd actually make an effort to buy, but this preorder BS makes it nearly impossible. If there was a solid date, I could make arrangements. Instead I'm just writing it off entirely - which is slowly becoming my default stance towards Nintendo these days.

[rlse9]

To be fair to Nintendo, could they really give a solid date that preorders will be available?  They could give a date that they're going to tell retailers how many units they will provide on launch day, but it's still up to the retailers to decide when to actually start taking preorders.  I don't follow that closely, but aren't preorders for new consoles typically staggered between retailers, not all at once?


Hopefully "significant" number means enough that people really trying to get one can without too much hassle...but I'm not holding my breath.


I wonder if any retailers will use the high demand and anticipated (real or not) short supply to their advantage, beyond trying to sell ridiculous bundles.  It seems like a smart move to me to make preorders a Prime Exclusive on Amazon or for Target to have a preorder only for Red Card holders...and to announce this in advance.  It seems like smart business sense and a way to keep loyal customers happy to do something like that with items highly in demand.

[nickmitch]

Nintendo's original announcement of the SNES Classic stated that they were only going to produce it through the end of this calendar year.

That seems so long ago now.

[Ian Sane]

Would Nintendo be able to insist to retailers a 1 per customer limit?  Is that something a manufacturer can insist on?  That would really help stop scalpers.  But then Nintendo still sells whatever amount they create so why would they care?

It's a frustrating situation because we can't vote with our wallet.  Not buying the SNES Classic to send a message to Nintendo is rather futile since not being able to buy the product is the problem in the first place!