SNES Classic Pre-Orders Will Start In Late August
Nintendo announced that the SNES Classic, a modernized reproduction of its 16-bit console, will be available for pre-order in late August.
Nintendo has long recreated and repackaged old products to appeal to its customers' nostalgia. That business model reached its peak last year with the NES Classic, which shrank the venerable Nintendo Entertainment System, gave it an HDMI connector, and filled it with some of the original console's greatest titles. (More on the NES Classic in our hands-on.) There was just one problem: It was almost impossible to buy the darn thing.
The NES Classic was perpetually sold out at pretty much every retailer. Nintendo pulled the plug on the product not long after it debuted, leaving people with the option of missing out on the device or buying one from a scalper. (Editor's note: Industry folks spotted just two of them at the huge computer hardware market in Taipei during Computex in early June.) When the company announced the SNES Classic in June, many feared that the device would suffer a similar fate, leaving hopeful buyers high and dry come the holiday shopping season.
Those concerns were exacerbated when Walmart mistakenly opened--and later canceled--SNES Classic pre-orders in late July. The retailer had accidentally let people order the not-quite-console from its website before the official launch date. People scrambled to get their hands on the device, only to find out a few days later that Walmart didn't plan to honor the pre-orders. The waiting game was doomed to continue.
That should change later this month. Nintendo said on Facebook that it plans to open SNES Classic pre-orders "late this month." The company said:
We appreciate the incredible anticipation that exists for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition system, and can confirm that it will be made available for pre-order by various retailers late this month. [...] A significant amount of additional systems will be shipped to stores for launch day, and throughout the balance of the calendar year.
That should help soothe fears that the SNES Classic will be impossible to find this holiday. But it's worth noting that we don't have a baseline--a "significant amount of additional systems" merely indicates that demand for the SNES Classic was greater than Nintendo originally anticipated. Saying the supply will also be available "throughout the balance of the calendar year" could also imply that the miniature console will be short lived.
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Therefore, if you're planning to buy an SNES Classic, either for yourself or as a gift, you might want to keep your cursor over your browser's refresh button. Nostalgia is a powerful motivator, and an $80 console filled with classic games is all but guaranteed to go quickly. Check out our report on the SNES Classic's announcement for the full list of games Nintendo plans to bundle with this shrunken throwback when it debuts later this year.
Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.
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AgentLozen Aw man. That box looks so cool. For a moment I felt like I was standing in a Toys 'R Us in the early 90's.Reply -
bloodroses Burn me once Nintendo, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me. I'm not biting this time around. Instead, I have a raspberry pi 3 in its place.Reply -
boju I went to JBHIFI (Australia) to ask and possibly pre-order a snes classic in late June this year. They were taking pre-orders and said Nintendo authorised them to allow 8000 pre-orders or until told to stop. I was in the 9000s in the orders!Reply
Release date on receipt is 30/9 -
Mr5oh I'm with Bloodroses on this... I'm tired of Nintendo just creating markets for scalpers. I'm voting with my wallet. (And no I didn't buy a Switch either)Reply -
thundervore Milking the customers.Reply
I don't get it. What so hard is getting the Vitural console up and running on the Switch and sell each game from the NES and SNES library for $5 a piece?
This is why I didn't buy the WiiU and not touching the Switch. The lack of Killer Instinct and Chrono Trigger just kills it for me with all the legal IP nonsence. Ill stick with my emulators. Tired of spending money over and over for the same thing. -
dstarr3 Just buy an old SNES, you should be able to find some for about the same cost or less. Don't have a CRT TV? Check Craigslist, people give them away for free all the time, because it costs money to recycle them, so no one does. You'd be surprised how cheap some old game carts go for.Reply -
hotsacoman This is akin to AMD right now. Release a piece of hardware in late August that is competitive to last year's offerings from NVIDIA.Reply -
teknomedic @ThundervoreReply
Killer Instinct is a Rare IP which Microsoft now owns. The arcade versions of KI and KI 2 are available as bonuses if you buy the more complete versions of KI3 on Xbox One. You can even play them on PC Win10 PCs.
N64 KI Gold is available in the Rare Replay game for Xbox One as well. -
ddferrari Reply
Why do you think a CRT TV is necessary? The SNES hooks up through a coaxial RF antenna input- which all TVs have.20013513 said:Just buy an old SNES, you should be able to find some for about the same cost or less. Don't have a CRT TV? Check Craigslist, people give them away for free all the time, because it costs money to recycle them, so no one does. You'd be surprised how cheap some old game carts go for.
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dstarr3 Reply20028369 said:
Why do you think a CRT TV is necessary? The SNES hooks up through a coaxial RF antenna input- which all TVs have.20013513 said:Just buy an old SNES, you should be able to find some for about the same cost or less. Don't have a CRT TV? Check Craigslist, people give them away for free all the time, because it costs money to recycle them, so no one does. You'd be surprised how cheap some old game carts go for.
HDTVs need to upscale the 240p signal coming from a SNES which adds input lag in addition to the input lag already associated with most HDTVs. Maybe you'd notice it, maybe you wouldn't, but if you're okay with horrendous input lag, you may as well just emulate.