With the release of the Super NES Classic on Friday, the videogame giant hopes to replicate the success... minus the supply issues. But with many online retailers already selling out and long lines being reported at stores, the launch may already be facing that same scenario.
The original Super Nintendo was released in 1991 and eventually sold 49.1 million units world-wide. While not the company’s biggest-selling console of all time, it was the winner of that generation of gaming consoles, outselling the Sega Genesis by almost 20 million units thanks to stronger graphics and a lineup of games that included several featuring Mario and Donkey Kong.
With the new SNES Classic, gamers get 21 of the most beloved classic games packed in.
But gamers may have a hard time landing their hands on the console. Presales began Aug. 22 and quickly sold out within minutes at Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and GameStop.
Nintendo promised that it would have more units available for purchase than it did with the NES Classic, and many retailers insisted that they would have the SNES Classic available on launch day, though in limited supply. At midday Friday, many online retailers were already sold out.
As with the NES Classic launch, Nintendo hasn’t been clear when more will be made available. Of course, eBay and other resale markets are always an option, and sellers have been offering preordered consoles at huge markups.
If gamers can’t get their hands on the SNES Classic console, there are other ways to play the classic games -- at a hefty cost. Old SNES consoles can be had on eBay with bids starting as low as $45. But the games might set you back some serious cash. The cost of each game ranges from $16 for Super Mario World to a whopping $183 for EarthBound, and to buy all 20 of them could total up to over $730, according to pricing from GameValueNow.
So even if you end up getting the SNES Classic from a scalper on eBay for $250, it’s still a bargain compared with what you’d pay if you tracked down the original console and all these games individually.
The SNES Classic caps off a strong year for Nintendo. Last year saw the release of the popular Pokémon Go and Super Mario Run games for mobile devices, along with the hybrid Switch console, which made its debut in April to mostly stellar reviews and high demand. All of this has helped Nintendo’s stock increase 52% since August 2016.
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