Pre-orders have come and very quickly gone for Nintendo’s hotly anticipated SNES Classic Edition retro console. Retailers began posting their stock on websites over a month ago, and almost every single one sold out within minutes. Since then there have been small restocks, mostly of cancelled or troublesome orders, but currently it appears that the SNES Classic will be just as, if not more impossible to get than the NES Classic was before it. Still, there is hope, so we took this time a week before the official launch to lay out exactly where to get a SNES Classic Edition at or after launch.
First up, don’t rely on websites anymore. Sure, right after the SNES Classic Edition hits stores on September 29th you’ll probably see a trickle of consoles available. These will be orders that were cancelled for one reason or another, so they will amount to a tiny fraction of the available systems out in the wild. For launch day though sites will mostly be useless.
Instead you’ll have to go old school on this console launch. Remember the days of the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, and all the other hard to buy systems of the past? Well, get those old camping skills ready again because you’re going to want to be there the day your local retailer opens on September 29th. Toys-R-Us, despite their recent bankruptcy, will have SNES Classic Edition consoles in stock for launch, and appears to be skipping the online portion of orders.
Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Gamestop and many other retailers will have stock set aside for in-store purchases. Gamestop likely sold all of theirs as pre-orders, but it’s worth giving them a call to find out. In fact, you will want to call any store you plan to go to, since they might have none available at all. Find out their launch plans, which might feature a midnight release, or might be non-existent. Basically, your local retailer is your last shot for getting a launch day SNES Classic, barring something very surprising and rare.
Really, if you want to get a SNES Classic, your best bet is to be patient at this point. Nintendo has promised more stock to come, and while it will likely be difficult to get no matter how far from launch we are, your best chances now will come a month or more after the initial release. Be sure to sign up for email notificiations by visiting the site and using whatever is available, and utilize a service that checks and messages you. I prefer NowInStock, you can sign up for SNES Classic notifications right here.
So, if you’re still asking “where can you still get a SNES Classic Edition” this close to launch the answer is sort of complicated. With patience and dedication you will have a chance though, so hopefully these tips have helped.
