UNITED STATES—I haven’t played a video game in nearly 20 years America. Yes, it really has been that long for me. So last week I talked about one of the hottest items hit the store shelves just in time for the Christmas holiday: the SNES classic. It was the iconic video game system from Nintendo that arrived in the early 90s and totally shaped the lives of youngsters like myself growing up. I really haven’t played many video games in the past 17 years, so imagine my desire to need to have this coveted item.
I knew it would sell like hotcakes considering the NES Classic, which was released in 2016, flew off the shelves and never returned. Nintendo has teased the item is slated to return in 2018, but rather they manufacture enough to accommodate the demand from the public is another story. Now, I’m an avid Black Friday shopper; it’s been a tradition in my family for years, but never have I witnessed a craze like this or where I was willing to stand outside the doors of several retailers to get my hand on an SNES classic.
I woke a bit late on September 29, which was launch day so that already worried me. Next, I hit the first big box retailer that I was hoping to have the game system in stock: Target. Nope, they didn’t have a single unit, and making the situation worse was learning from others that the company allowed patrons to purchase more than 1 SNES Classic. Well, we all know what that means? People were planning to utilize the internet to cash in on major bucks from those desperate to get their hands on the item. Yeah, $79.99 is a steal, but no way in hell would I even consider spending more than that for the item. I love iconic things, but it’s not that serious.
I then head over to Toys R’ Us hoping to nab the coveted item. I learn from a patron exiting the store that the store was completely sold out also. Man this totally sucks, I can feel that gulp in my throat that is a huge indicator that I might just be out of luck and need to face the fact that my opportunity to get the item would not happen. So there was one more retailer in the region I decided to check out: Best Buy. I love Best Buy, but they are known for utilizing a ticketing system. What is a ticketing system you ask? It’s when a retailer passes out a select number of tickets for a highly sought after item. Once the tickets are all gone, that’s it. That is the one thing that bugged me constantly about the SNES Classic’s release: none of the retailers were willing to share the news on how many units in stock they had for the item. I mean it could have been 10, 20, 30, 50, perhaps 100.
So I’m waiting in line, having conversations with so many others who were reliving the fun of playing the game as a kid. It brought a sense of unity to say the least. I didn’t feel bad desperately wanting to get my hands on this item for myself. Why? Everyone else was doing the same thing. They weren’t focused on getting the item for their kids or nieces or nephews as an early Christmas gift; they wanted the item that defined their childhood.
A sales representative for the company exits the doors and begins to start passing out the tickets. I’m slightly nervous because I’m telling myself please have enough for me to get one of these coveted units. She gets closer and closer to me and YES, I get a ticket! An item that I never thought would return to the electronics world is in the palm of my hands. We were alerted that tickets were good for the item only until 1 p.m. that day, after that time if you hadn’t returned to the store you were out of luck. I think myself and everyone else who were waiting in line were in agreement: we’ll just wait another 30 minutes until the store opens and we’ll be on our way with perhaps the most in demand item for gamers in quite some time.
I was Uber happy with my purchase; I just idolized the box for like 2 days. I didn’t want to open it or see anyone else touch it either. I mean it’s a classic people! Well, I gave into temptation after getting off work Sunday and hooked up the SNES Classic, which is so easy to connect to your TV. With the snap of a finger I was back to my golden years as a kid, playing games that I came to adore. Before you know it I had spent 4 hours playing Super Mario World, Super Castlevania and Street Fighter II: Turbo Edition.
That’s the thing about me: I’m a gamer at heart. I can’t stop playing a game once I start it. Usually when I get an item I always consider it a tradeable commodity. However, for the SNES Classic this is something that will NEVER be given or traded to anyone. I have something many Americans and gamers would like to have. There is no chance in hell that I plan to give that up at all people, and I mean it!
