SNES Classic Edition Is Here, Will Nintendo Get the Supply Right This Time?

SNES Classic Edition Is Here, Will Nintendo Get the Supply Right This Time 2017 images

The Golden Age of Retro Gaming is here. Nintendo has recently announced the coming of the much-awaited Super Nintendo Classic Edition. This time, they say, they’re no longer pulling punches. Well, that’s what they said about the Nintendo Switch, but they remain in short supply. Nintendo is on a roll coming out of E3 with plenty of praise for Super Mario Odyssey for the Switch, and now, after dashing the hopes of many nostalgic fans, they announced an SNES Classic. This is just a few days after Atari announced an upcoming console and Sega announcing the availability of classic games for the mobile market.

The SNES or Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition will be landing September 29, 2017. Of course, just in time for the holidays so add that to your tech/gaming geeks toys list.

I’ll have to admit, I’m an old gamer, up ‘til now still confused with the multitude of buttons of the PlayStation and the Xbox controllers. I enjoy playing the classics through emulation in various forms. I am not alone as millions of grown-ups today had the time of their lives playing the Atari 2600 and its derivatives, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Famicom, PC Engine, Sega Genesis and finally the Super NES. Nintendo failed to consider that when they announced their limited run of the NES Classic edition.  Out of possibly 100 million customers, Nintendo only sold to 2.3 million, dashing the dreams of many parents to play their favorite games with their kids. Well, a lot of grown-up nerds made due with the Raspberry Pi.

Anyway, we welcome the Super Nintendo Classic Edition with open arms. If Nintendo is smart moneywise, hopefully, this time they’ll make enough consoles to meet overwhelming demand. Say, at least 10 million consoles for starters and see where the figures go. It’s an optimistic amount which may still come up short considering the upcoming holiday season. The Super NES Classic is scheduled for release on September 29th according to Polygon, with a game lineup to die for. Well, let’s hope no one does in case Nintendo once again comes up short and generates a riot. Here is the list of games to salivate over. Nintendo is letting people stew for three months.

super nintendo classic coming back agqain

  • Super Mario World
  • Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Super Ghouls and Ghosts
  • Yoshi’s Island
  • Super Ghouls and Ghosts
  • Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
  • Star Fox
  • The unreleased Star Fox 2 – unlockable after playing Star Fox 1
  • Mega Man X
  • Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  • Kirby Super Star
  • Kirby’s Dream Course
  • Final Fantasy III
  • Secret of Mana
  • Super Metroid
  • Contra III: The Alien Wars
  • Earthbound
  • F-Zero
  • And my favorite game of all time, Super Castlevania IV

Plus! The SNES Classic Edition includes two controllers! No more will prospective owners have to buy or hunt for a separate controller. Will the cords be long enough? Perhaps, if Nintendo learned its lesson. The price will be 79.99 dollars. Why 21 games instead of 30 this time? We’re unsure but the game lineup is certainly more than worth it, and this is a console I will make a real effort to grab.

This might seem to be one crazy announcement by Nintendo. It looks like the company isn’t afraid of cannibalizing the sales of the Nintendo Switch. Why should they be when the Nintendo Switch currently holds the record of fastest selling console with 2.7 million in the first month? Thanks to all the hype surrounding its innovative mobile form factor despite having few launch titles forcing players to make due with Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The latest noteworthy titles released are Arms, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition and Ultra Street Fighter II. Splatoon 2 will be coming this July, and Super Mario Odyssey will be released near the end of October.

With the coming of the SNES Classic, however, there’s a chance that parents might hold on to their money and delay purchasing a Switch. The kids are sure to have loads of fun with the games included in the new console. There are four of the best RPGs ever made available on the SNES Classic. More than enough to tide both kids and grownups up until the holidays when they finally decide to get a Switch. The interim between the availability of the SNES Classic and the holiday season could hurt Switch sales. But then again, Nintendo didn’t seem to care much about money when they decided to terminate the production of the NES Classic Edition. They could have cornered the market but somehow kept the supply limited.

About that, Nintendo said that the Switch shortage was not artificial through this statement.

“It’s definitely not intentional in terms of shorting the market. We’re making it as fast as we can. We want to get as many units out as we can to support all the software that’s coming out right now… our job really is to get it out as quick as we can, especially for this holiday because we want to have units on shelves to support Super Mario Odyssey… Unfortunately, we’re in a situation now where as quick as it’s going into retail outlets, it’s being snapped up.”

— Charlie Scibetta, Sr. Director Corporate Communications, Nintendo

Again, Nintendo underestimated customer demand. It’s probably understandable as the Switch is supposed to be Nintendo’s last hurrah in the console market. A grand experiment which happened to be successful. Demand for the console is sure to grow when Super Mario Odyssey and Metroid Prime comes out. With their supply-demand track record, getting an SNES Classic Edition might end up like trying to kill that dog in Duck Hunt. There is speculation though that Nintendo recognized the demand for the NES Classic and stopped the shop floor to recalibrate for the SNES Classic Edition. If that’s true, then there should be more to go around this time. Wouldn’t the SNES Classic production interfere with Nintendo’s focus on manufacturing the Switch? That’s Nintendo’s problem. Again, let’s hope they have it figured out. In the meantime, there are still some of the NES Classic Edition’s left here to hold you over until the Nintendo SNES Classic Edition lands.