We’re just a few days away from the release of the SNES Classic Edition, Nintendo‘s micro-sized tribute to its classic 16-bit console, which will include a number of old-school favorites like Super Mario World, Super Metroid and the never-released Star Fox 2.
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With that, some people are concerned that they still won’t be able to get their hands on one, despite the fact that Nintendo has stated that stock of the system will be much better than it was with the NES Classic Edition. In fact, Target stores are reportedly set to go with 300 units per store when the system launches this Friday, which is pretty good considering the low stock of the previous model.
That said, scalpers are still having a field day when it comes to selling pre-orders for the system. A quick peek on eBay indicates that the SNES Classic Edition is already selling for at least twice its retail value, with some auctions going as high as $200+ to guarantee a system on someone’s hands shortly after release day. And that’s not even counting some of the Craigslist listings we saw, with system receipts and an asking price of $200 or more.
This probably isn’t a total shocker, considering that the NES Classic Edition was heavily scalped upon its release, with those getting their hands on a system selling them for anywhere between $150 and $300, depending on condition and if the system was in hand or not. This was a chief complaint amongst Nintendo fans, along with the fact that the system was discontinued so quickly. (Fortunately, the big “N” decided to rectify this by bringing back the NES Classic Edition sometime next summer, and with a lot more ample stock this time around.)
Nintendo had tried to curb scalpers getting their hands on a system, but there’s just no getting around this, save for producing more consoles for people to purchase. So far, the company looks to be keeping their word, but we’ll see how the sales go when the system becomes available on September 29th for $79.99. Maybe hold off on buying an overpriced listing on eBay till then, just so you can see how heavily in demand they really areโฆ