SNES Classic Edition Pre-Order And Launch Date Confirmed

The SNES Classic Edition will undoubtedly be one of the year's most popular devices, but thus far, we haven't heard many details about its launch. We know it's arriving on September 22, and a few different retailers have independently confirmed that they'll offer pre-orders for the device. When will those pre-orders open up, though? Nintendo is shedding some light on the matter today.

In post to Nintendo's Facebook page, the company says that retailers will begin offering pre-orders at the end of this month. Just last week, Target announced that it will offer pre-orders for the SNES Classic Edition, but declined to give a date for when those pre-orders would open. It looks like now we've got a better idea.

Nintendo also says that a "significant amount of additional systems will be shipped to stores for launch day, and throughout the balance of the calendar year." That will be definitely come as a relief to a lot of prospective buyers, as the NES Classic was terribly understocked for the duration of its retail run. The hope is that Nintendo learned from the immense popularity of its first mini console and is better prepared heading into the launch of its follow up.

Still, don't be surprised to see the SNES Classic Edition become a hard to find item rather quickly. Nintendo is still dealing with stock shortages for the Switch, and if the SNES Classic proves to be as popular as the NES Classic was, there will likely be stock problems regardless of how many consoles it produces ahead of launch.

In short: if you want to make sure you get an SNES Classic, it's probably best to pre-order one as soon as you can. Of course, even that may not be a sure thing, as many people tried to pre-order one from Walmart only to have those canceled. Here's hoping matters with the SNES Classic smooth out a bit from here.