The Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Edition has been a huge success with pre-orders selling out in minutes across the globe.
The SNES Classic Mini became available to pre-order in the US after a wait of almost two months, with the reservations selling fast at all retailers.
Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart and Amazon all took SNES Classic Mini pre-orders and sold out of their stock within minutes.
However, some fans were left unhappy with the bundles that were being offered at GameStop and ThinkGeek – which is owned by GameStop.
The SNES Classic Mini usually costs $79.99, and the bundles at GameStop ranged in price from $99.99 to $189.99.
While the cheapest ThinkGeek bundle was priced at $139.99 and the most expensive was $329.99.
The bundle included a SNES Classic Mini pre-order as well as a Zelda: Breath of the Wild art canvas.
A number of SNES Classic Mini fans took to Twitter to voice their anger at the bundles on offer – and poke fun at the deals GameStop were promoting.
One fan tweeted GameStop and asked: “@GameStop why can’t I just buy the SNES- why must you bundle it with items I don’t want taking the price from $80 to $180???”
While another posted: “GameStop forcing you to get useless s*** as part of an overpriced bundle to get an SNES is the most GameStop thing ever.”
And one added: “The new GameStop SNES Classic bundle involves you paying the lease for a month at the location you bought it from”.
GameStop’s Eric Bright has spoken to Rolling Stone’s Glixel about the SNES Classic Mini pre-orders and responded to the issue of the forced bundles.
Responding to criticism, he said: “We put some items in the bundle from ThinkGeek.Com, retro items that would appeal to those buyers.”
Speaking about bundles that GameStop offered for the Nintendo Switch, Bright added: “We really try to do a great job of paring up items with things customers like to buy,” Bright says.
“In the case of the Switch, we know the customer is going to want a way to charge the Joycon (controllers), so we often throw in a charging device. We know the Switch has limited memory and customers like to download games, so we’ll add a memory stick.
“And then you need a game itself, because what good is a piece of hardware without a game to play with it? We make it more convenient.”
Fans were also left unhappy GameStop tweeted to say retailer would not be getting any more SNES Classic Mini stock before release date.
This suggests GameStop will NOT be taking anymore pre-orders until the September 29 launch date.
GameStop tweeted: “If you weren’t able to snag an SNES Classic today — don’t sweat it. We’ll have more available on launch day, in store, for walk-ins.”
The GameStop Twitter account also confirmed that SNES Classic Mini orders will be limited to one per household.
However, the news received a mixed reception from fans – with many expecting huge queues at GameStop stores on the SNES Classic Mini launch day.
Responding to the GameStop Twitter post, one fan tweeted: “For the people that can afford to line up 5 hours before the store opens and only the first 5 people will get one”.
Another posted: “I’m saving this tweet. If there isn’t one available at 10:00 am without preorder I’ll be upset”.
And one added: “Oh good. I’d love to wait in a line all night with 150+ other people to fight over the whole lot of 20 units each store gets.”
The SNES Classic Mini, which has a September 29 release date, comes loaded with 21 classic 16-Bit games that can be played in glorious HD.
It will also come bundled with two controllers and costs either £69.99 or £79.99 in the UK, and $79.99 in the US.
SNES CLASSIC MINI GAMES LIST – ALL 21 GAMES WITH THE SUPER NINTENDO CLASSIC MINI
• 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™