Nintendo's new $80 mini Super Nintendo will only be available for a limited time
Nintendo's got another hot new video game console that everyone's going to want this holiday.
It's called the Super NES Classic Edition, it costs $80, and it's an adorably miniaturized version of the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System from 1991.
Rather than play your old SNES cartridges, the Super NES Classic Edition comes with 21 games packed in. It's an all-in-one game console, intended as both fan service and a means of enabling younger game players to try classics they may have missed. And, at $80, it's a ridiculously easy purchase - as a gift for yourself, or for the family. It's priced to impulse buy.
And it certainly doesn't hurt that the games on the Super NES Classic Edition are a murderers' row of hits.
If this scenario sounds familiar, that's because Nintendo rolled out an adorably miniaturized version of its Nintendo Entertainment System console in 2016. It was called the NES Classic Edition, it cost $60, and it was outrageously popular. It also had a gaggle of built-in games, including all three original "Super Mario Bros." games and a few dozen others.
The NES Classic Edition was so popular, in fact, that it was sold out everywhere during its brief production run.
Rather than continue producing it, Nintendo instead halted production - the NES Classic Edition was deemed a collector's item rather than an ongoing product.
History is repeating itself with the Super NES Classic Edition, but this time Nintendo is preparing potential buyers ahead of time. The Japanese game company provided the following statement to Business Insider:
"Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from Sept. 29 until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year."
While it's possible that Nintendo will continue producing the Super NES Classic Edition beyond 2017, it sounds unlikely right now. And that means you have a three-month window to get your hands on the console in a retail store - after that, you'll assuredly find units on eBay and elsewhere with astronomical mark-ups in price.
Though the console will only be available for a limited period, Nintendo is offering some reassurance that you'll be able to get one with relative ease: "We will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition," a statement from Nintendo reads.
There is no way to pre-order the console just yet, but it's planned for launch on September 29, and costs $80.