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Nintendo To Launch SNES Mini This Year, Reports Eurogamer (eurogamer.net)

Posted by msmash on from the more-nintendo dept.

Nintendo plans to release another console this year aimed at nostalgia-seekers. The iconic game company is working on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) classic version that would launch in time for the holidays, according to Eurogamer, which cites sources with knowledge of the plans. The device is already under development and -- like its predecessor the NES Classic Edition -- will give gamers access to some of the console's biggest hits. From the article: Nintendo's plans for SNES mini are also a major reason why last year's NES mini did not see a reprieve from discontinuation, Eurogamer understands, despite the latter's continued popularity and sell-out status.

13 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The SNES Mini was rumored the instant the NES Classic was announced. Nintendo themselves made it clear that the NES Classic was intended as a "NES 30th Anniversary" thing, and the SNES won't be 30 until 2022.

    But the biggest reason Nintendo won't ever be releasing a "SNES Classic" any time soon is that the "NES Classic" was almost instantly hacked to play additional ROMs. Nintendo hates things like that, and if they can't "secure" the system from people doing that, they're just not going to do it. They have far more control on the Switch.

    The SNES Mini just isn't happening.

  2. I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by cide1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All this hate on the Classic mini NES, I just don't understand. My wife was able to go to the local Target and get one for me for Christmas. It's pretty awesome, it just works, has good games, has HDMI. Great execution by Nintendo.

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    1. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by Interfacer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then your wife pulled off a miracle because stores around here only got a couple that didn't even make it to the shelves before flying out the door. They told me they couldn't reserve any, and that some might come in, 2 weeks after Christmas. And now I find out that Nintendo discontinued the f*cking thing.

      Instead of ramping up production ahead of time and making a killing with Christmas sales, they limit supply to a couple thousand and then discontinue the thing before it becomes available off the shelf. There is no point is talking about how great the thing is when most people didn't even get the chance to just go to the store and by one before it's gone again.

    2. Re:I don't understand all the hate on the mini NES by aicrules · · Score: 3, Informative

      For every story of someone randomly being able to go in and pick one up like it was just another item on the shelf there are a thousand stories of people who were never able to find one in stock. Online stock disappeared within minutes at best. The resellers who had it jacked up to $300 or more were finally back down to about $120 when Nintendo announced it was discontinuing production. For something that is really supposed to be casual fun they made it unnecessarily insane. The system itself did really look great. I would have loved to have been able to play many of those games on my TV at home. But from release date to today there has never been a target, walmart or best buy with one on the shelf when I went in. Brickseek only once came up with a walmart in stock and by the time I got there they were gone. But...it's just an old bit of nostalgia. It didn't ruin my life that I didn't get one. But Nintendo can GTFO for their repeated artificial scarcity BS. That's the #1 reason why I didn't even consider a WiiU or Switch.

  3. Re:Release for real? by arth1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not buying anything from Nintendo because they apparently don't want my money. The NES Classic is never available in the store. The Switch is never available in the store. And I don't have time to sit outside a store for hours waiting for opening in the hope of getting one.

    They are basically telling customers "fuck you". As a result, if they one day do manage to get stores stocked, it becomes my time to say the same to them.

  4. will we be able to buy it? by j2.718ff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the NES Classic was announced, I decided I was going to buy one. Sure, I could have thrown together some kind of emulator, but this was more like the real thing, with no questions of ROM legality.

    After the NES Classic's discontinuation was announced, before it was possible for most people to buy one, I build a RetroPie. Now I have no reason to be excited about the SNES Mini.

  5. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by Luthair · · Score: 2

    Its a disservice to the people who support them. At a certain point its hard to see it as anything but gross incompetence.

  6. Re:Eurogamer is a rag by omnichad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SNES won't be 30 until 2022.

    That makes the SNES 25 this year. A 25th anniversary tends to be more celebrated than a 30th. Except with movies. Now there's some big event for every movie ever made, every 5 years past 20.

  7. Re:More EBay Gold! by omnichad · · Score: 2

    If there was enough supply, people would just order online. Offline-only stores are only attacked in droves by prospectors when the convenience factor is cut off.

  8. Re: I don't understand all the hate on the mini NE by barc0001 · · Score: 2

    It's not gross incompetence. They made a certain number of things, they are not selling any more at their choice. From a business perspective in many cases it's better to leave the world wanting more than to saturate the market and wear out your brand.

    And it's working. Around the web there are reams of stories being posted on the merest whiff of a hint of a SNES mini, real or not. You can't buy advertising like that.

  9. Re:Release for real? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

    You left out the Pokemon Go Plus, which also was insanely limited.

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  10. Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nintendo had to download there own roms to make it work. This time do they have there own in house roms
    or do they need to do like many other pay emulator systems That have to use the work that was done to make emulators happen in the first place just to endup with one that does less and that you have pay for vs it being free.

    There is one paid emulator system that I will not pay for that does less them the free one that came years before that I and others helped to make happen. That if that work was not done that this paid one will not be there also I think they don't really do to much to shut down the free one as there may some issues that come up if there where to be an code audit.

    1. Re:Nintendo had to download there own roms to make by GreyWanderingRogue · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nintendo had to download there own roms to make it work.

      This argument has no place on Slashdot. Nintendo did not download the files off the internet. What they did is use the existing file format (.nes). The files are identical because the ROM dumps were taken from the cartridges. Once the format is specified, the files will always end up identical. There is no analog noise here to make them different. This is how things like GoodNes sets exist. The dumps always come out the same. Digital files are identical because they're digital files. If you think Nintendo, Konami, Square, and Capcom didn't have copies of all their officially licensed cartridges' ROMS, I think you're nuts. Take, for example, the Clu Clu Land disk game on the Gamecube Animal Crossing release that included NES games. That one is nearly identical to the one in Mame, but it keeps the checksums and has a blank high score table (the checksums is the difference between famicom disk system (fds) and quickdisk (qd) files by the way). I haven't looked at what format the disk system games are in on the Japanese Mini version.

      The File format, by the way is exactly a 16 bytes header, with defined places (PRG-ROM followed by the CHR-ROM) for the ROMs. The only information contained in the header is a code for which mapper to use (describes which circuit-board/integrated circuits; most licensed games use one of about a dozen types), mirroring and save support, and the sizes of the PRG and CHR. I've personally dumped my collection of 300+ NES games and they come out identical to the GoodNes ones, unless the mirroring or save support detection fails. That's how I know the hardware worked and I don't have to clean the contacts better. They have their own copies. They don't need to download them. They used the existing file format.