Last July, Nintendo announced the "Nintendo Classic Mini", a smaller version of its console from the 80s that would come with 30 pre-installed games and that old school controller that you have such fond childhood memories of. It launched in November under the name NES Classic Edition, and in the five months since, you"d have been lucky to find it on a store shelf or even online, at least for the $59.99 price tag.
All in all, the company said that it had sold 1.5 million units by February, and now it"s discontinuing the console. Nintendo issued the following statement to IGN:
Throughout April, NOA territories will receive the last shipments of Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition systems for this year. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining this system to check with retail outlets regarding availability. We understand that it has been difficult for many consumers to find a system, and for that we apologize. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product.
The firm didn"t provide a specific reason for why it"s discontinuing a product that still has such a demand, but it did say that the NES Classic Edition was never meant to be a permanent part of its product lineup. In fact, the company says that it produced more devices than it originally intended to, due to that demand.
While there won"t be anymore consoles offered in North America, Nintendo didn"t confirm if the discontinuation is worldwide, which would include Japan"s Famicom Classic Edition. It does, however, include the controller, which is also compatible with the Wii and Wii U consoles.
It"s not clear what the firm"s plans are, if any, for retro gaming at this point. Many have speculated that there might be an SNES Classic Edition at some point, or perhaps Nintendo is working on a newer and better version of the NES Classic.