On Nov. 11, 2016, Nintendo of America released the NES Classic Edition stand-alone video game system to overwhelming demand. The $59.99 plug and play system that featured 30 built-in classic Nintendo games was modeled after the design of the original Nintendo Entertainment System that took the video game world by storm back when it was first released in 1985. Anticipation for the device was at a frenzied level when the system was first announced in the early summer of 2016, to the point that most major retailers allowed the system to be pre-ordered prior to its release. On launch day, every major retailer sold out of their existing stock and had to turn away would-be buyers.
Much to the dismay of retailers and hardcore enthusiasts, Nintendo remained silent about restocks, stating that consumers would have to check back regularly with their favorite retailers. This caused demand for the units to increase, and soon Nintendo collectors, speculators, and even casual enthusiasts took to social media to express their concern about Nintendo’s lackadaisical approach to their handling of the popular product. Throughout the 2016 holiday season, stores would get limited supplies of the product in stock, and like clockwork they would sell out. Most stores limited the amount of units each consumer could buy in an attempt to ensure that those who were lucky enough to be at the store when they were placing them on store shelves could get one. By December of 2016, the $59.99 device was being sold on the internet for close to $180, with continuous demand from shoppers anxious to have an NES Classic Edition under their Christmas tree.
By January 2017, consumers thought since the Christmas holiday shopping season had passed Nintendo would produce more units, but demand was so fierce that Nintendo could still not keep up. Restocks would trickle in and immediately sell out. By April 2017, Nintendo managed to sell a whopping 2.3 million NES Classic Edition units, and then they did the unthinkable. With demand reaching new heights and consumers still wanting to get their hands on an NES Classic Edition system, Nintendo publically announced that the system was created as a limited-edition item and would be discontinued. This caused mass panic and euphoria among diehard collectors. Speculators flocked to video game related collecting forums to proclaim that the NES Classic Edition would be the most sought-after Nintendo collectible ever produced, and prices on eBay were seen approaching $200 and more for the $59.99 device. Meanwhile on social media, and more specifically Twitter, Nintendo was being inundated with angry comments from diehard fans who were not willing to pay the asking prices on the secondary market. Still, Nintendo made no promises to reintroduce the device. Instead, the company announced the upcoming release of the Super NES Classic Edition (based on the popular 1992 Super NES video game system) that would feature 21 games built in and would retail for $79.99. The Super NES Classic Edition would be released in North America to extreme demand on Sept. 29, 2017. Nintendo ramped up production and barely produced enough systems to meet the demand. This was met by praise by most hardcore Nintendo fans, and Nintendo then publically announced that the original NES Classic Edition would be put back into production on June 29, 2018, after the device was discontinued for more than a year. The NES Classic Edition was readily available on store shelves everywhere from June 2018 to December 2018, when Nintendo announced it would be discontinued once again.
If you are a Nintendo fan who still falls for the manufactured hype that only Nintendo can produce (pun intended), please go back and reread this article again from the beginning before continuing. This is a perfect example as how current manufacturers of popular mass-produced products are perfectly toying with their consumers and, more specifically, speculators. With well over several million NES Classic Edition units released onto the market, no one should ever consider the system rare or even uncommon. Retailers were discounting these systems in January 2019 to clear out any remaining stock, while back in December 2016, scalpers were successfully able to get three times (and sometimes more) the price for each unit sold on the internet. If any Nintendo fan wants to know why production was originally limited, there is part of your answer. The other part is how brilliantly manufacturers like Nintendo continue to toy with their most dedicated consumers. Whether you agree with this practice or not, it truly amazes me that their most dedicated base of core consumers still continues to fall for these same tactics time and time again. Nintendo did this very same thing with their once coveted line of Amiibo interactive toy figurines, which I have written about.
That said, and to be fair to some of the emotionally attached frenzied consumers who continue to pay an exorbitant premium on the secondary market for some of the company’s most popular modern era products, Nintendo does occasionally undercut supply for some items and then permanently discontinue them. The 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Pokemon 3DS system was a primary example of this, as was the one and only printing of the popular 3DS special edition production of the Fire Emblem Fates game. However, and speculators please take note, both of these items in question were readily available for preorder on numerous websites like GameStop and Amazon long before they became available. I know because I preordered both and had no problem doing so less than a month before the launch of both products. There are very few items that Nintendo and other current manufacturers of popular products (i.e Lego and FunkoPop) create that can ever be considered truly hard to find. That is a myth being perpetrated on online collecting forums that are populated by starry-eyed speculators.
A question I am asked often from regular readers is why I tend to write so many articles based on the topic of speculation. My answer bears repeating. Speculation is and always will be a necessary evil in the antiques and collectibles trade. That said, well-versed collectors need to learn when and how to determine what items are worth speculating on for the long-term and when such practices should be avoided. When an inexperienced collector enters the trade and gets burned by speculation, that individual tends to sour on collecting going forward, which is a real shame.

Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.