After having very little supply of the NES Classic plug-and-play system in 2016, and only slightly more supply of the SNES Classic in 2017, Nintendo decided to bring both systems back this year, and they’ve been much easier to find in stores. However, if you still haven’t gotten your hands on one, you’re going to want to act fast, as Nintendo won’t be making any more.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé reiterated that Nintendo was never planning to make the “Classic” line a permanent fixture in its business.
“We’ve said that the current systems are the extent of our classic program,” Fils-Aimé said. “We’ve also been clear that, at least from an American perspective, these products are going to be available through the holiday season, and once they sell out, they’re gone. And that’s it.”
In the systems’ place is the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, which offers a selection of retro games as part of the $20 annual price. However, only NES games are available as of now, and you must stay subscribed to the service in order to access the games. They also require having the Switch itself, and there is no “virtual console” program to buy these games outright on the Switch.
Rapper Soulja Boy has recently begun selling his own “SouljaGame” console, which comes preloaded with several Nintendo games from the systems, but they are almost certainly illegal and we don’t expect the console to be an option for too much longer.
Fils-Aimé’s comments also seem to confirm that we won’t be getting a Nintendo 64 plug-and-play system, either. The original didn’t see the same massive success as either of its predecessors, but still built up a library of acclaimed games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64.
Now, Nintendo’s efforts are almost entirely on the Switch. The system had an enormous Black Friday this year, and the recently launched Super Smash Bros. Ultimate managed to sell more than a million copies in Japan in just three days. These numbers already put it above some of the highest-selling games in the country, and the Switch itself is approaching 23 million consoles sold already.
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