Nintendo responds to market demand for SNES Classic and NES Mini Classic

By Jon Martindale Published November 22, 2017

Nintendo is going to restart production of its insanely popular micro console, the NES Classic Mini, but stock isn’t expected to become available again until the summer of 2018. This announcement follows the news of continued interest in the Super NES Classic Edition, which Nintendo will support with additional stock of that retro system when it begins shipping out on its September 29 launch date.

When Nintendo launched the NES Classic Mini in November 2016, no one, Nintendo included, realized what a monumental success it would be. Stock was hard to find even months after launch and then all of a sudden Nintendo announced it would no longer be sold. That sent prices of second-hand versions skyrocketing in response to continued demand. In summer 2018, however, Nintendo may once again be able to capitalize on that popularity.

Recommended Videos

Nintendo seems to have been blindsided by the success of both the NES Classic Mini and the Super NES Classic Edition. The younger micro system was originally scheduled to cease production at the end of the year, but that has now been extended into 2018 with a pledge of vastly more stock of the SNES Classic at launch than the NES Classic Mini had.

If it continues to sell well into next summer, it will be joined by its older brother. Apart from that time frame, however, we don’t have any more concrete information, such as how long it will remain available, or how much stock Nintendo is planning to release.

Although it didn’t appear at first that Nintendo was particularly interested in providing for the fans who missed out on the initial run of NES Classic Minis, nor those who were unable to pre-order one of the SNES Classic Editions when they first began appearing, the company has recently changed its tune. The news about additional stock for both retro micro systems follows a warning by Nintendo of America COO, Reggie Fils-Aimé, who said that Nintendo fans shouldn’t buy overpriced versions of the retro consoles on auction sites like Ebay.

While that warning may have initially fallen on deaf ears considering there weren’t many options available to those who wanted a NES Classic Mini or SNES Classic Edition, the news of new stock may encourage consumers to believe that patience will be rewarded.

Former Evergreen writer

Jon Martindale covers how to guides, best-of lists, and explainers to help everyone understand the hottest new hardware and…

Topics

Gaming

Modern Warfare 4 brings Call of Duty back to its glory days. I hope the streak lives.

Infinity Ward’s latest campaign goes back to Call of Duty’s roots and recaptures what made me a fan more than a decade ago.

Call of Duty MW4 menu screen

The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.

After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.

Gaming

Epic is throwing $50,000 for vibe-code games. What could possibly go wrong?

Epic is rewarding vibe-coded games with real money

Epic MegaJam 2026

Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.

Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”

Gaming

Monster Hunter Outlanders arrives on Android and iOS next week with four-player co-op

The free-to-play spin-off launches October 29 with open-world exploration, mobile-focused combat, and a building system.

Monster Hunter Outlanders poster

It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.

Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.