Were you able to find and buy an SNES Classic? If you did, were you able to buy one, did you get it for the regular price or did you have to resort to paying more because you don’t want to deal with the endless hassle of calling and going online every day hoping today is the day your local store has the SNES Classic?
That’s the dilemma of people who would like to buy an SNES Classic, just as it was the same of people who wanted the NES version. I was willing to be patient and wait months for an NES Classic until the demand died down but when Nintendo revealed they were discontinuing the NES version, I went on eBay and found one for $100. Almost immediately after news broke and I got my system, prices skyrocketed to over $250 because everyone thought that was it.
When the SNES Classic was announced, Nintendo revealed they were bringing back the NES version, said that they will make sure everyone has a chance to buy an SNES Classic and discouraged people from paying a higher price on the secondary market.
Here’s the problem. After a month, it’s still incredibly scarce to buy an SNES Classic and just like last year, your best chance to get one is by paying more money in the secondary market. Nintendo can brag about selling two million systems in a month but who in the hell actually has one?
Maybe that’s because these eBay sellers who have access to the backchannels and are able to get multiple systems have bought more so they can sell at a higher price and make more money because nobody trusts anything Nintendo says.
I get that this is a small sample size but I live in an area that has a decent number of people and has plenty of department stores. Calling every Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Gamestop in a 50 mile radius, I heard similar responses. “No, we don’t have it.” “We got them once and sold out within five minutes.” “Except for launch day, we haven’t gotten any in.”
I’m not expecting my area to be flooded with SNES Classics but I would’ve hoped that there was a chance I would buy one. If I miss out, I miss out. But when over 10 stores across the area say they haven’t received a shipment since the September launch, causes people to doubt Nintendo even more about whether they can find an SNES Classic.
Like the NES Classic, I’m willing to wait months until the SNES Classic is available. I don’t need to have an SNES Classic right now and I definitely don’t need one by Christmas. But I’d like to know that I will be able to buy one and I don’t trust Nintendo that will happen regardless of what they say. As long as Nintendo doesn’t discontinue the SNES Classic, I guess that’s cool and everyone can eventually get one. If that happens after the N64 Classic or Gamecube Classic comes out (not saying that is happening), may be another thing.
