Nintendo is bringing back the NES — NES Classic Edition

[lilshawn]

in --BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type-- hacked to run SNES games.

[deadmoney5]

It's hacked in 10 minutes and Zelda and Super Mario Maker are legit.

 

I would just get a Switch now though...

[pbj]

So I keep reading that Nintendo ceased production of these and that Wal-Mart clearanced them out.   

[yotsuya]

So I keep reading that Nintendo ceased production of these and that Wal-Mart clearanced them out.   

Source?

[pbj]

The price on the unit and all accessories has been dropping on walmart.com.  It was $37 for 5 minutes this morning.

The "ceased production" crap is just people speculating on reddit, but I've asked at a few stores in Houston and NONE of them have gotten any stock besides the first handful in November.

[Howard_Casto]

Nintendo says they are still making them and it's still advertised on their site.  I believe the same company that makes them is also making the switch, so it could just be that they have shifted production to those extra Switches they need (they are already exceeding their monthly goal). 

[Howard_Casto]

So wtf?  This damn thing came out in Nov.  I've been checking the sites pretty regularly and with the exception of a few random shipments to best buy's online site I haven't seen any stock. 

Do you think they are hoarding them for Easter?

[JDFan]

So wtf?  This damn thing came out in Nov.  I've been checking the sites pretty regularly and with the exception of a few random shipments to best buy's online site I haven't seen any stock. 

Do you think they are hoarding them for Easter?

Think they just didn't think the demand would be there and figured it was a filler for a few quick bucks during the holiday season since the Switch wasn't ready - then when it launched it was too late to catch up ( figure they had already planned one restock after the initial shipment which is what we've seen as the one restock since) and then they had already moved focus to the switch. Whether they'll have a second restock wave or just move on to a new item (ie. a SNES mini for next holiday) is still to be seen.

Then the scalpers tying up the limited stock didn't help either with the thousands of units they held up in the sales channel and made online inventory sell out in minutes so that retail inventory never even made it onto th shelves since employees bought them (or stole them) to resell at inflated prices also. 

[bigster]

Only explination I can think of is that Switch is a bigger money maker and nintendo wants to focus on that for now.    The discontinued thing is what retailers say when they dont show a new stock coming in soon.  I was at total wine recently looking for a hard to find beer.  The computer did not show any more stock being delivered so guy checking for me told me it must be discontinued.  In fact it was not discontinued and i got another pack just down the street.

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[pbj]

Eh, well, when all your major online vendors don't even have a product page for it....

[Howard_Casto]

It was my understanding that they took down the product pages because the sites were getting hammered too hard by people constantly checking. 

You go to Nintendo's page and they still have all the vendors listed, but they've removed the links.  So I don't know what is going on. 

[JDFan]

It was my understanding that they took down the product pages because the sites were getting hammered too hard by people constantly checking. 

You go to Nintendo's page and they still have all the vendors listed, but they've removed the links.  So I don't know what is going on.

It's surprising that they haven't said one way or the other what is going on with them - you'd think Nintendo would at least release an update whether more are on the way or not.

[Howard_Casto]

Maybe that's it.  Maybe they aren't sure if they are going to continue production or not.  I mean the switch is doing really well, so they don't need the money.

[bigster]

Best buy got a shippment today.  So probably not done yet.

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[JDFan]

Looks like Walmart is getting a restock - 4 of the stores near me are showing 6 in stock tonight - anyone that is still looking might want to check brickseek and see if their local stores got any !

[Howard_Casto]

Holy crap you are right!  March 7th.... what a completely random time to get them in. 

[Howard_Casto]

Finally got one.  I owe you one JDFan. 

I'll order one of those wireless gamepads I mentioned a while ago to see if they are any good. 

[JDFan]

Finally got one.  I owe you one JDFan. 

I'll order one of those wireless gamepads I mentioned a while ago to see if they are any good.

 

Glad to hear - the stores here all sold out a bit after the night crew finished - not sure if that was from the employees buying them after their shifts ended or if customers actually saw them this time ! ( noticed a couple stores went down a bit during the night but a couple others stayed at 6 until just about the time the shifts would be changing.)

Were they in the display case in the store you got yours at or did you have an employee find it for you ?

[Howard_Casto]

They put them in the wrong display area.... they were with the Wii U stuff.  Mom inexplicably wanted one, so we got 2 out of the last three.  This store got 7 in and they held that amount until this morning.  Around 10 to 11 was when they sold them all.... I guess people didn't want to get up early on a Saturday.

Most of the stores here got one or two at least.  I believe they are all sold out now.  With a nationwide push like that it makes me think the shortages might finally be coming to an end.

[pbj]

Awesome! 

Tons of cheap accessories on Ali Express.  I've pondered ordering them now so they're here when I finally get the NES.

Kinda surprised it hasn't been cloned yet.

[JDFan]

Most of the stores here got one or two at least.  I believe they are all sold out now.  With a nationwide push like that it makes me think the shortages might finally be coming to an end.

Just checked Brickseek again and the 2 local stores that did not get them yesterday are now showing 18 at 1 store and 12 at the other ( and the others are all sold out of the 6 they all got ) - so you might be right (or they might be out again after these sell for another 2 months  )

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah Aliexpress is where I'll order some stuff. 

I've been battling with migraines this week but I played it for a few min this evening.  The interface is slick and well designed.  Emulation seems to be really good, but it isn't perfect.... I noticed the slightest bit of screen tearing with filters on and fast screen scrolling.  The gamepad is spot on excluding the short cable.  I had one of my childhood pads I held for comparison... aside from the fact that it isn't as worn out I couldn't really tell much difference.  Btw the crt filter is pretty decent.  No it isn't terribly accurate, but it is a good approximation if you don't like things all pixelated. 

But you know nit picks aside it boots in 5 seconds, it plays the games and it has hdmi out so they don't look like interlaced crap.  Close enough if you ask me.   

[pbj]

Yeah, yeah, keep rubbing it in.

[thomas_surles]

Yeah, yeah, keep rubbing it in.

Get enough surveys in an you will might have enough amazon money to buy one when they are in full stock online.

[pbj]

Son, I'm sitting on $250 in Amazon, I'm good to go.

 

[Howard_Casto]

So I modded it this morning.  The process is fairly painless and it looks like there are retroarch modules from the 2600 all the way up to the playstation.  I've got to wonder what the point of psx and sega cd emulation is considering you only have 300 mb of space.  I haven't put on any extra games yet as I'm going through the 30 included just for the hell of it.  (Even though I've played and beaten most of them countless times.) 

When I do I'm going to put sensible titles on there.... strictly turbo grafx, Gameboy, 7800, ect.  You know, stuff that works with just a d-pad and two buttons. 

Also ben heck took apart a gamepad on his show recently and as I suspected, they use the classic controller chip and just don't connect the extra buttons.  So you could add a home button, but I'm not sure what the point would be with the new hacks. 

I hope my controller extensions come in soon.... it sucks to play with it on my belly.  It looks like I've given up on life or something. 

I've got to think that if they figure out external storage and the shortage ever ends this little guy could become the go to emulation box.  It has a great, skinnable, gui, it boots quickly and it is easy to add more emulators and games. 

[JDFan]

I hope my controller extensions come in soon.... it sucks to play with it on my belly.  It looks like I've given up on life or something.

Yeah not sure what the designer was thinking when he came up with the controller cable length !

[pbj]

Try out one of those SNES controllers meant for the Wii... If that'll work, it pretty much covers everything.

Surely Nintendo would release their own SNES version of this console...

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah all the wii/wii u style gamepads use the classic controller chip and the nes classic can read all of those buttons.  While the nes games don't really take advantage of them (except the home button) all the third party emulators do and some of the firmware hacks allow the x/y buttons to act as turbo a/b, ect. 

Those controllers use I2C as a protocol, so I don't think it would be terribly hard to spoof one with an Arduino or similar avr.  So an adapter box for the more unique gamepads like the genesis and Atari wouldn't be out of the question.  Hell someone could probably make a HID 2 I2C adapter. 

Myself, I don't really want to use it for consoles that I have alternatives for.  I've got everdrives for the genesis (which covers the master system as well), n64 and snes.  A lot of consoles just have controller layouts that don't work well with the gamepads currently available for the system and it is less hassle for me to just pull out the original console and use it instead.  Plus, until they get the storage issue sorted, most libraries won't fit on it.

[bigster]

Thanks for the Walmart tip.  I went to one walmart today that said there was 7 and I asked a guy working in electronics who said he had not seen them in a while.  I went to another walmart and asked.  The guy said oh yeah we have them in the back.  Manager got me one, which he said was the last one. 

The guy at Walmart said they stopped displaying them so that they could display the switch. They just keep the nes classics in the back. This walmart also had 2-3 switch consoles on had.

Thanks for the tip here guys.  What is best place in us for extension cords for console?

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[Howard_Casto]

If you want them cheap, aliexpress.  If you want them fast ebay.  I ordered two from ebay for around 6 bucks and I should expect them in by the end of next week.  With aliexpress, it's anyone's guess when they will come in as the vendor allows 2 months.  I would have only saved around 2 dollars so I went with ebay. 

Something of note is the cords on all the third party controllers are long, so you don't need any for them. 

I ordered a wireless one from aliexpress to see how well they work but it hasn't even showed up on the tracking number yet... so we'll see. 

[bootsector]

Yeah all the wii/wii u style gamepads use the classic controller chip and the nes classic can read all of those buttons.  While the nes games don't really take advantage of them (except the home button) all the third party emulators do and some of the firmware hacks allow the x/y buttons to act as turbo a/b, ect. 

Those controllers use I2C as a protocol, so I don't think it would be terribly hard to spoof one with an Arduino or similar avr.  So an adapter box for the more unique gamepads like the genesis and Atari wouldn't be out of the question.  Hell someone could probably make a HID 2 I2C adapter. 

Myself, I don't really want to use it for consoles that I have alternatives for.  I've got everdrives for the genesis (which covers the master system as well), n64 and snes.  A lot of consoles just have controller layouts that don't work well with the gamepads currently available for the system and it is less hassle for me to just pull out the original console and use it instead.  Plus, until they get the storage issue sorted, most libraries won't fit on it.

This open source and open hardware adapter works with the NES Classic: https://github.com/bootsector/wii-retropad-adapter

[bigster]

Thanks.  I also checked raphnet.  He has snes, n64, gc 3-in-1 adaptor for about 35 us. 

http://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/adap_snes_n64_gc_to_wiimote/index.php

I ended up ordering 2 extension cords plus an knockoff nes controller for about 13 bucks shipped on ebay.    Will probably just enjoy nes for a while then look into retropi.  I have a shield tv w hyperspin but wow the emulation of nes on that think was bad.  Real bad. But perhaps it was the bulky shield controller.  Lag seemed noticable on the shield even i games like ducktales and megaman. Hopefully it is better on the classic.


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[pbj]

Nintendo officially hates money.

www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/13/nintendo-discontinues-the-nes-classic-edition

 

[Howard_Casto]

Well it's IGN... let's wait a day or two and make sure it isn't b.s. recycled rumors. 

That means I'm going to have to start spamming brickseek to get extra gamepads.  One of the gamepads arrived from ebay (some North Carolina company) and while it fully functions and looks nearly identical to the official gamepad, things are just a little off.  The d-pad is a bit too stiff as are the start and select buttons.  Also the a and b buttons are flat instead of concave... a cardinal sin if you ask me.  It might be fixable via a gamepad repair kit or something. 


If it is indeed cancelled, I say the hackers go ahead and port the OS and emulators to run on a similarly priced arm computer.  Every single component on the thing is off the shelf except for the controller ports so I've got to think that it wouldn't bee too difficult to get it running on something else. 

[8BitMonk]

Nintendo officially hates money.

www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/13/nintendo-discontinues-the-nes-classic-edition

 

Yeah I don't get it. Let's make just enough of these to pique interest, never meet demand and then discontinue, wtf. 

[wp34]

Nintendo officially hates money.

www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/13/nintendo-discontinues-the-nes-classic-edition

 

Well said.

[Howard_Casto]

Our favorite Chinese auction site currently has the NES Classic's all in one chip on sale for 4 bucks a pop

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/ALLWINNER-CPU-R16-AXP223-R16-CHIP-R16-IC-R16-POWER-IC-AXP223-New-original-2PCS-LOT/32717446653.html?spm=2114.40010608.4.2.yGd5Z9

Somebody design a board and make some money. 

Better yet, somebody figure out which tablets with hdmi out use this chip. 

*update*

This board isn't identical, but it is in the same family and has similar specs:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NanoPi-NEO-Allwinner-H3-Development-Board-Run-UbuntuCore/32783215679.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000014.5.dRY4pe&scm=1007.13338.79672.000000000000000&pvid=5e70572d-4d19-450b-a817-757ec082d4eb&tpp=1

[pbj]

When I lived in the Caribbean, one of the recurrent jokes about store owners down there was they'd tell you, "I quit selling it, I couldn't keep it in stock."

Good job, Nintendo.



(I mean, yes, yes, I get it.  Sometimes things are an enormous hassle and not worth the return, but it sure seems dumb.  And turns people like me into hoarders who buy everything on the shelf when they come across something rare that they want.)

[Howard_Casto]

I'm not sure what their reasoning is.  Yes, the Switch is out and yes it is selling well, but if that Nintendo Direct is any indication they don't really have many new games coming to it this year, so things could slump and the Classic would be a good way to earn extra pocket change.