Nintendo of America’s CEO promises “significantly more” supplies for the hot-in-demand Super NES Classic this holiday. Speaking to the Financial Times (subscription needed), NoA’s Reggie Fils-Aime based the low numbers of the NES Classic shipments on similar numbers from fellow retro systems, such as Atari’s Flashback series. Taking them by surprise, the NES Classic far outstripped the demand they anticipated.
So far, the Super NES Classic may be in even greater demand, as pre-orders from last month were instantaneously sold out across participating retailers. Reggie conferred that the pre-order situation was out of their control, and supply will not be the driving issue.
To those who really want a system come September 29th, he offered that no one should give in to scalper prices in the aftermarket. “I would strongly urge you not to over-bid on an SNES Classic on any of the auction sites . . . You shouldn’t [have to] pay more than $79.99,” said he. The $80 price point, Reggie adds, was decided upon to not out-price the company’s budget-minded 2DS handheld.
Time will tell if Nintendo has held their word to produce more Super NES Classics compared to the NES Classic from last year, when it launches around the world on September 29th. The system comes bundled with 21 games from the 16-bit console and two controllers. One of those 21 games, the never-officially-released Star Fox 2, may be enough to drive demand for the system on its own.