Last year, grown-up gamers and curious kids alike were treated to Nintendo’s NES Classic, an all-in-one system that delivered iconic 8-bit titles such as Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Zelda among its 30 built-in games.
A year later, the company seems to be fast-forwarding from the ’80s to the early ’90s, announcing a Sept. 29 release date for the Super Nintendo Classic, which will offer 21 16-bit games in the same plug-and-play fashion. The roster of games includes:
• Contra III: The Alien Wars
• Donkey Kong Country
• EarthBound
• Final Fantasy III
• F-ZERO
• Kirby Super Star
• Kirby’s Dream Course
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Mega Man X
• Secret of Mana
• Star Fox
• Star Fox 2
• Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
• Super Castlevania IV
• Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts
• Super Mario Kart
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
• Super Mario World
• Super Metroid
• Super Punch-Out!!
• Yoshi’s Island
The list boasts enough classic titles to make the slightly younger generation of ’90s kids clamor to their nearest pre-order venue. (None have gone live yet, so feel free to exhale.)
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Those who followed the launch of last year’s NES Classic know that yearning and an open wallet weren’t enough to secure a console in the face of overwhelming demand. Sadly and surprisingly, the beloved and still sought-after device was discontinued amid the frenzy, with Nintendo citing a lack of sustainable resources to keep production going parallel with other products.
Kotaku spoke to Nintendo to ensure that the same fate wouldn’t meet the newer iteration. While they remained cagey about the long-term lifespan of the device, they did confirm that more Super Nintendo Classics would be manufactured this time, but no figure was stated.
“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.”
With so much uncertainty still hanging in the air regarding this very recent announcement, it’s unlikely the project contributed to Nintendo’s surpassing Sony in terms of market value (Pokemon Go and the still-hot Nintendo Switch are primarily to credit for that), it’s very likely that the new Classic, while completely backward-looking in terms of catalog, will keep the juggernaut fresh in everyone’s mind through the holidays. With the valuation footrace shaking out at $49.8 billion to $48.6 billion in favor of Nintendo, that margin is likely to climb in the wake of this announcement.
Adding to the Japanese firm’s bottom line is the price inelasticity demonstrated by the immense demand base for these types of consoles. Forbes predicted in April that Nintendo could easily double the price of a then-hypothetical Super Nintendo Classic at previous production levels and still never meet demand.
That spells great news for Nintendo but cause for concern among classic gaming fans who will likely see even more demand for an unknown quantity of products. Best of luck to all the hopeful gamers out there.
