NES Classic

[marurun]

I think if Nintendo were more comfortable that their stock were guaranteed to sell out they'd make more. They got burned on the Virtual Boy, the N64 in Japan, the GameCube and the WiiU everywhere. They know nothing is guaranteed, and they don't have massive cash reserves and alternate products to diversify with like Sony or MS. That pragmatism is how they survived missteps that would have crushed another company.

[Tanooki]

Like I said, cover your ass. Produce small amounts, that way if it fails they don't eat it, and if it wins they can gauge the rate of consumption and look forward to produce a larger amount albeit still conservatively. It won't get fixed over night, just many months later like with certain wave 1 Amiibo for example.

[Betagam7]

Ashens makes a good point in his review about the false nostalgia being displayed in the UK and Europe for this and which may explain Nintendo's caution in those territories.

The fact of the matter is that most of us simply were NOT playing the NES in those territories at that time, due to a delayed release, the popularity of the home computers from Sinclair and Commodore and the vastly more expensive games (£3.99 vs £49.99 wasn't a viable option even worth considering for most kids back then).

I'm glad someone finally said it: there was no huge NES scene in the UK and Europe back in the day. Usually there was one kid in the village that might have it and you'd be jealous of Super Mario Bros and that would be it...because you owned 500 games that you'd copied onto cassette tapes and he owned 2.

[alienjesus]

Ashens makes a good point in his review about the false nostalgia being displayed in the UK and Europe for this and which may explain Nintendo's caution in those territories.

The fact of the matter is that most of us simply were NOT playing the NES in those territories at that time, due to a delayed release, the popularity of the home computers from Sinclair and Commodore and the vastly more expensive games (£3.99 vs £49.99 wasn't a viable option even worth considering for most kids back then).

I'm glad someone finally said it: there was no huge NES scene in the UK and Europe back in the day. Usually there was one kid in the village that might have it and you'd be jealous of Super Mario Bros and that would be it...because you owned 500 games that you'd copied onto cassette tapes and he owned 2.

To an extent that is true, but I feel one thing the UK market had in abundance that wasn't as prevalent in the US was a real continuation of 8 bit consoles a good way into the 90s. I wasn't an 80s kid (I was born in the last week of 1988, so I was too young), but I definitely remember rather affordable Master System games - and even the occasional NES game - a good way into the 90s.

Maybe it's because Amiga games were pricier than the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 stuff from the gen before?

[Betagam7]

Ashens makes a good point in his review about the false nostalgia being displayed in the UK and Europe for this and which may explain Nintendo's caution in those territories.

The fact of the matter is that most of us simply were NOT playing the NES in those territories at that time, due to a delayed release, the popularity of the home computers from Sinclair and Commodore and the vastly more expensive games (£3.99 vs £49.99 wasn't a viable option even worth considering for most kids back then).

I'm glad someone finally said it: there was no huge NES scene in the UK and Europe back in the day. Usually there was one kid in the village that might have it and you'd be jealous of Super Mario Bros and that would be it...because you owned 500 games that you'd copied onto cassette tapes and he owned 2.

To an extent that is true, but I feel one thing the UK market had in abundance that wasn't as prevalent in the US was a real continuation of 8 bit consoles a good way into the 90s. I wasn't an 80s kid (I was born in the last week of 1988, so I was too young), but I definitely remember rather affordable Master System games - and even the occasional NES game - a good way into the 90s.

Maybe it's because Amiga games were pricier than the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 stuff from the gen before?

Amiga and Atari ST games were around £9.99 (budget) to £19.99 (full price). C64 Spectrum and Amstrad CPC were at their zenith about £3.99 (budget) to £14.99 (Full Price)...and they could all be pirated!

I don't ever remember NES games being less than £30, although, come to mention it, I don't ever remember seeing them in computer games shops AT ALL. The only place I knew that sold them were high street chemists like Boots or Newsagents like John Menzies! This was where I discovered the NES because they had a one that you could choose ten different games for but they would always reset after 2 minutes.

Boots was also my first exposure to the SNES, where Super Probotector blew me away. That's when Electronics Boutique etc began opening and actually having console games on shelves. Probably around the time you started finding last gen NES games for cheaper prices. I don't know quite why Nintendo opted for such an odd distribution before then but it demonstrates that the NES classic's scarcity is, if anything, true to the original in the UK!

[alienjesus]

Ashens makes a good point in his review about the false nostalgia being displayed in the UK and Europe for this and which may explain Nintendo's caution in those territories.

The fact of the matter is that most of us simply were NOT playing the NES in those territories at that time, due to a delayed release, the popularity of the home computers from Sinclair and Commodore and the vastly more expensive games (£3.99 vs £49.99 wasn't a viable option even worth considering for most kids back then).

I'm glad someone finally said it: there was no huge NES scene in the UK and Europe back in the day. Usually there was one kid in the village that might have it and you'd be jealous of Super Mario Bros and that would be it...because you owned 500 games that you'd copied onto cassette tapes and he owned 2.

To an extent that is true, but I feel one thing the UK market had in abundance that wasn't as prevalent in the US was a real continuation of 8 bit consoles a good way into the 90s. I wasn't an 80s kid (I was born in the last week of 1988, so I was too young), but I definitely remember rather affordable Master System games - and even the occasional NES game - a good way into the 90s.

Maybe it's because Amiga games were pricier than the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 stuff from the gen before?

Amiga and Atari ST games were around £9.99 (budget) to £19.99 (full price). C64 Spectrum and Amstrad CPC were at their zenith about £3.99 (budget) to £14.99 (Full Price)...and they could all be pirated!

I don't ever remember NES games being less than £30, although, come to mention it, I don't ever remember seeing them in computer games shops AT ALL. The only place I knew that sold them were high street chemists like Boots or Newsagents like John Menzies! This was where I discovered the NES because they had a one that you could choose ten different games for but they would always reset after 2 minutes.

Boots was also my first exposure to the SNES, where Super Probotector blew me away. That's when Electronics Boutique etc began opening and actually having console games on shelves. Probably around the time you started finding last gen NES games for cheaper prices. I don't know quite why Nintendo opted for such an odd distribution before then but it demonstrates that the NES classic's scarcity is, if anything, true to the original in the UK!

Interesting. I vaguely remember a handful of home computer games in WHSmith in my home town, but Boots had abandoned the computer market by the time I was old enough to buy games.

The shops we had to buy console games from were Dixons and Woolworths. Woolworths definitely had the occasional NES game, although mostly it sold Mega Drive and Master System stuff.

One of my fondest gaming memories as a kid is going into Woolworths and looking at the game shelf, only to be BLOWN AWAY that there was a STREETS OF RAGE 2!

At the time my mum was a single parent and couldn't afford games much, so we got most of our games from a 2nd hand market stall, and I was fine with that. But that day I had to pluck up my courage and do what had never been done before - I begged for that game. Streets of Rage was one of my favourite games EVER.

Needless to say, my mum was in a sympathetic mood, and probably taken aback by my enthusiasm for the game and surprised that I'd asked, ans she bought me it (for £25, which was a huge amount compared to the games I normally bought).

That was a good afternoon of gaming on my Mega Drive

[Betagam7]

I'm pretty sure that the ridiculously prohibitive expense of console games back then was what led to me being a collector in adulthood. I've heard the same behaviour occurs in people who were lost at sea. They were starved of food and start hoarding food. We were starved of games and start hoarding games.

I had similar levels of excitement when I first saw Renegade 3 had been released, followed by equal disappointment that it was a big box full price release!

Followed by even worse disappointment when I finally got it and realised it was a multi-load atrocity of awful gameplay!

[Tanooki]

Best Buy in the area here got like 50 of them my wife said. She went overnight in her carhartts to keep warm. Ended up getting #17. First guy was there since 9pm last night. Some employee snuck out and let people know a rough number behind the mgrs back feeling bad about people in the cold so they stuck around. Even then it appeared not everyone got one. Rule is return at 8 buy by 11 or it goes to the shelf. Nice Nintendo shipped that many but still messed up knowing they had a count already just not telling people yesterday. Feel sorry for the few who didn't get one.

Dude in mine got burned two weeks ago at target. They didn't stop one a person if you paid cash. It that guy got one now at least so good for him.

[Betagam7]

Dying of Hypothermia queuing for a non-existent NES Classic will be this year's "Hold your wee for a Wii".

[Tanooki]

Pretty much by the way found the last emio nes turbo a pad for it too at another store