Hey there, is it SNES Mini you’re looking for? Well, to quote one of the most underutilized wrestlers that WWE had a few years back, “I’m afraid I’ve got some Baaaad News!” According to a litany of disgruntled fans hoping to reserve one of these, the launch of the pre-orders was horrendous at best. According to reports, Nintendo had partnered with six retailers, where they would be taking pre-orders for, and later selling (in limited quantities) the SNES mini. With seemingly no real overall plan in place, each retailer just sort of opened the pre-orders up to the public whenever the hell they felt like it. Without any indication it was coming, Best buy said “Eh…screw it”, and opened up their pre-orders online at 1:30am EST. Amazon had a long night, so they woke up a little later, throwing theirs up at 5am EST. Target and Walmart followed suit a few hours later. Gamestop however, announced ahead of time that they would be taking pre-orders starting at 1 pm. Hilariously, much like trying to buy the 2017 San Diego Comic Con Funko Pops, the site crashed due to the heavy traffic, leaving a lot of people feeling screwed out of a console. Toys R Us, a decent enough purveyor of goods, said “Lol nah, we’re not going to take pre-orders for that. Have fun standing in line like a jackass before we open when it finally comes out though!”

I was lucky enough to actually snag one of these pre-orders. I was standing in a Gamestop where there were several managers helping update the store (several of their stores are going to be half game stores, half mini “Think Geek” stores soon) when I heard one of the managers mention that the SNES Mini was showing up as something that could be reserved (they were allocated six total units to take reserves for), presumably because the reserve unlocked at 1pm. So, I pre-ordered one, and watched as other employees reached for their phones looking to pre-order one themselves, just seconds before their entire system went down. I got my pre-order in maybe 60-70 seconds before their internet shit the bed. Lucky me I guess. But, it’s staggering to know that even if people wanted to get it in store, they wouldn’t have been able to in the area I was in. Apparently the internet had gone down across several stores in that district, presumably, a lot more than that.

That said, Nintendo does so much right (Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle….*heavy breathing*) that it’s easy to go “Oh Nintendo, you little scamp”, when they mess up. But, to be honest, they had so much feedback and information from the debacle regarding the NES mini, that it feels like when a teacher gives you feedback on how you can do better next time, and you half ass your next paper, get a C and go “Eh, I passed.” The console releases on September 29 in stores. I wouldn’t hold my breath though; analysts predict that quantities will be very limited. Good Luck.