Did you hope to get your hands on an NES Classic Mini, Nintendo’s new NES microconsole that came loaded with some of the system’s greatest hits? The system launched to overwhelming demand last Holiday, and has been perennially sold out since. If you were hoping to get your hands on it once demand died down, however, you are out of luck- the NES Classic Mini (and the corresponding Famicom Mini in Japan) has been discontinued worldwide, Nintendo has confirmed.

Nintendo’s representative, confirming the discontinuation, defended the decision, pointing out that the system was never meant to be an ongoing product line, and was just meant as a novelty item. “NES Classic Edition wasn’t intended to be an ongoing, long-term product. However, due to high demand, we did add extra shipments to our original plans,” he said.

Right now, there are some residual NES Classic Minis in some stores somewhere, as well as those being sold online for obscenely high prices. If you want one, act fast- and to Nintendo, let’s… hope that they learn from this debacle. If an SNES Classic Mini ever comes out, let’s hope to goodness its stock situation is better managed.

[via Eurogamer]

Ah, so now we know why Nintendo’s delaying news about the NX. They want to relaunch the NES for some reason. I’m sure that makes a lot of sense. Ridiculousness aside for a moment, we think the “Nintendo Classic Mini” is actually an interesting proposition: It reminds us a lot of those cheap plug-n-play “TV game” things, but instead of numbingly generic Galaga clones, the Nintendo Classic Mini comes bundled with 30 original NES games.

If you (or your dad) missed out on that generation (which you probably did), this is a wholesome, emulator-free way of getting back into such games as Castlevania, Donkey Kong, and of course, Super Mario Bros. While you can probably run 8-bit games on modern calculators, the 30-game bundle is a lot of value if you consider that each of these games, in cartridge form, cost $50 in the NES’ heyday. That’s, well, $1,500 worth of games you’re getting. Talk about a bundle offer, huh?

The Nintendo Classic Mini is set to launch for $59.99 (our plug-and-play-TV-game meter is now reading off the charts), with additional controllers available for $9.99. It will feature HDMI connectivity because you’ve probably sold your old CRT TV by now.