Why was the NES Mini discontinued?

When Nintendo released a $60 miniaturized version of its beloved Nintendo Entertainment System in November, people went bananas. The console sold out everywhere and quickly became the must-have holiday gift for millions of people around the world.

Nintendo has been in the dumps for the past few years:

• Its latest console, the Wii U, had been a flop.

• Its portable console, the 3DS, was fading.

• With few exceptions — "Super Mario Maker," for instance — Nintendo's stable of hit franchises was stagnating.

In so many words, Nintendo, a company that once dominated the video game market internationally, was fading from relevance and losing to its competition. The NES Classic Edition was an amazing way to at once remind people of their love for Nintendo and break back into mainstream attention.

It's a box that looks identical to a miniaturized NES console — Nintendo's most iconic game console — and comes with all your favorite classics ("Super Mario Bros.," "The Legend of Zelda," etc.). More important, it's just $60. It's the perfect combination of nostalgia and low cost.

If you get one before production ends this month, you're thinking about Nintendo (and maybe buying that new Nintendo Switch console that you keep hearing good things about?). If you can't find one, you're still thinking about Nintendo (and maybe buying that new Nintendo Switch console that you keep hearing good things about?).

Either way, Nintendo managed to put its brand back in the spotlight. That was the point.

2. Nintendo has a history of creating collector's items. As of now, the NES Classic Edition is a collector's item.

Nintendo has some of the most serious, dedicated fans of any company in entertainment — rivaling the likes of Marvel and Disney. These are the kind of fans who get tattooed, who name their pets and children after Nintendo game characters, who begrudgingly buy their fifth or sixth copy of "Super Mario World" on yet another new piece of Nintendo hardware.

I should know. I'm one of these people.

And the NES Classic Edition, while a commercial for Nintendo itself, is a gushing love letter aimed at Nintendo's most serious fans. It's no surprise it's available only for a limited time — if everyone could get it, it wouldn't be a collector's item.

This is, of course, driving up resale costs and frustrating the hell out of people who can't find the system. But that's how artificial supply constraint works.

3. Nintendo has a new console to sell that costs much more than $60 — that's a much bigger risk — that it wants you to pay attention to: the Nintendo Switch.

If people are busy buying the NES Classic Edition, they're unlikely to rush out to buy another new Nintendo game console anytime soon. At least that's what Nintendo is betting on, and it likely has data to back up the assertion.

It's no mistake that the Switch launched five months after the NES Classic Edition, in early March. If the Switch and the NES Classic Edition had both launched last holiday season, the hype for the mini NES Classic Edition would've surely overshadowed that for the Switch.

That's an especially important point: The Switch is Nintendo's future. It's the console that Nintendo is betting the next five to 10 years on.

The NES Classic Edition is a short-term profit with no extendability — you can't buy games for it, nor can you download them. It's a one-and-done revenue generator for Nintendo. The Switch is an ongoing revenue generator for Nintendo. That's a tremendously important difference.

4. Nintendo is extremely protective of its classic games.

Nintendo isn't big on selling its classic franchises for $2 apiece, and that's exactly what it's doing with the NES Classic Edition. In reality, it's selling those games for less than $2 apiece because of the cost of the hardware itself.

You may have noticed that Nintendo's library of classics isn't available on your iPhone or Android phone. While there are many reasons for that, prime among them is Nintendo's belief that mobile storefronts tend to commoditize games. And Nintendo has no interest in commoditizing its classic games in the same way that Disney has no interest in commoditizing its classic movies. The way Disney controls its films is through its "vault" system, selectively releasing movies for a limited time.

Nintendo isn't quite so controlling with its classic-games library, but the company is notorious for charging players over and over for the same game on multiple platforms. That's normal when you're talking about movies — buying the Blu-ray copy of something you once owned on VHS, for instance — but less normal when you're talking about games like "Super Mario Bros." You're essentially buying the same game repeatedly. I've probably paid for the original "Super Mario Bros." 10 or 15 times in my life, even though I own the original NES cartridge.

5. Nintendo wants to sell you classic games on the Switch.

Along those lines, Nintendo is planning to sell those classic games on the Nintendo Switch — but not yet.

Just as Nintendo has done with the Nintendo Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, the Switch is going to get the Virtual Console service. What's the Virtual Console service? It's a digital storefront for selling classic Nintendo games — the same kind of games you might find on the NES Classic Edition, for instance.

Get it? Nintendo is going to sell classic games through a digital storefront on the Nintendo Switch, and selling a $60 console with 30 of Nintendo's most classic games is a great way to dissuade people from buying those.

(Of note: The Virtual Console isn't available on the Nintendo Switch just yet. Nintendo says it's coming later in the year.)

6. Nintendo says it doesn't have "unlimited resources" to produce the NES Classic alongside all its other game consoles.

You might think of Nintendo as a company that makes one or two game consoles. It makes the Nintendo Switch. It makes the 3DS. It makes games for those platforms. That's all true!

But here's the full 3DS product line:

-Standard Nintendo 3DS, 3DS XL

-2DS, "New" 2DS XL

-"New" 3DS, "New" 3DS XL

That's six different versions of the 3DS in production, as well as the Nintendo Switch. And yes, you can expect different versions of the Nintendo Switch later on (Nintendo hasn't said as much, but history gives us an idea of what to expect). 

All of which to say one thing: Nintendo makes a lot of game hardware. And that's exactly the reason Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aimé cited in a recent interview with Time Magazine:

"We understand that people are frustrated about not being able to find the system, and for that we really do apologize. But from our perspective, it's important to recognize where our future is and the key areas that we need to drive. We've got a lot going on right now and we don't have unlimited resources."

Still, we're talking about a small plastic box with an inexpensive computer inside. It's hard to imagine why Nintendo would stop making a million-selling device with high profit margins solely because it's "got a lot going on right now." 

7. Nintendo is reportedly clearing space for a Super Nintendo Entertainment System version of the NES Classic Edition.

According to a report from Eurogamer, Nintendo is preparing to release a miniaturized version of the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) later this year. The system is said to be very similar to the NES Classic Edition: It would come with games built in and use a facsimile of the original SNES gamepad (seen above). Presumably, it would be tiny like the NES Classic Edition — a smaller, near-identical version of the original hardware.

None of this has been confirmed by Nintendo; we reached out for comment and were told, "We have nothing to announce on this topic."

Perhaps you're unfamiliar with the Super Nintendo? It's time to get familiar: The SNES was the successor to the original Nintendo Entertainment System — the console that cemented Nintendo's position as a leader in the world of video games. It is, in many ways, regarded as Nintendo's golden era of gaming.

The SNES is the console that perfected many of the franchises that Nintendo's still known for today: Games like "Donkey Kong Country," "Super Mario World," and "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" are just a few examples of the incredible catalog of games on the SNES. It's unclear what games might appear on the purported SNES Classic Edition, but if it's legit you can bet that the trio above will be part of that console's lineup.

Nintendo has repeatedly refused to comment on this rumor.

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