The original Super Nintendo Entertainment System, launched in 1990, sold 50 million units worldwide.

The SNES Classic follows the NES Classic, which went on sale late last year but abruptly discontinued in April – much to the frustration of fans.

Nintendo said limited resources were to blame, but insisted it would not make the same error with the SNES.

“We aren’t providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition,” a Nintendo spokesperson said.

The assertion follows accusations from the gaming community that Nintendo was engaging in so-called intentional scarcity. The marketing ploy was supposedly intended to drum up publicity for the Japanese company, which launched its flagship new console, the Nintendo Switch, earlier this year.

The company would not confirm if it intended to keep making the SNES Classic beyond the end of 2017.

“Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from Sept. 29 until the end of calendar year 2017,” the company added.

“Our long-term efforts are focused on delivering great games for the Nintendo Switch system and continuing to build momentum for that platform, as well as serving the more than 63 million owners of Nintendo 3DS family systems.

“We are offering Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition in special recognition of the fans who show tremendous interest our classic content.”

As well as the classic titles, Nintendo will also bundle in a game from the SNES era that was never actually released – Star Fox 2. The console will cost $79 in US, and £79.99 in the UK.

Other firms are also looking to capitalise on yesteryear gaming success.

Sega, whose Megadrive console competed fiercely with the SNES in the Nineties, recently said it would re-release a huge library of games as part of a Netflix-style scheme. The games have advertising unless a user pays a one-off $1.99 fee.

For some time, fans of old games have been creating game ROMs – read-only memory – that emulated the old titles so they could be played on a modern PC or other device.

However, ROMs are often fraught with bugs, and as games increased in sophistication became harder to reproduce. They were also, of course, illegal – though there are few cases of game companies going after ROM fanatics, although some websites distributing the software have faced legal action.

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Source: BBC

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The Japanese company promises the device will be packed with fun features of all its past machines and more.

The Kyoto-based maker of Super Mario and Pokemon games announced details of the Switch’s release Friday at the Tokyo Big Sight events hall. It said the console will sell for $299.99 in the U.S. Customers in Europe would need to ask retailers there for prices.

Anticipation has been mounting. In teaser videos, Nintendo Co. has shown players using a handheld whose remote controller section detaches from the left and right sides of the main part of the device’s display. Players can use the Switch as a regular handheld, put the display on a table, or use a TV screen as a monitor.

“Nintendo Switch is a brand-new kind of home gaming system that offers a wide variety of play modes,” Nintendo’s president Tatsumi Kimishima told reporters.

Nintendo needs the Switch to buttress a turnaround after the disappointing sales of the Wii U and the 3DS handheld. Nintendo has been playing catch-up after consumers dumped older machines in favor of using smartphones and personal computers to play games. The company also faces powerful rival game machine offerings from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp.

The Switch needs to win over new, younger players, who may not be hard-core game fans and might be daunted by its hefty price tag. Many had hoped it might sell for closer to $200.

Nintendo is promising a more immersive, interactive experience with the Switch, including online playing and using the remote controller in games that don’t require players to be constantly staring at a display.

Nintendo officials demonstrated features such as using the detachable remote controllers, called “Joy-Con,” to play a gun-duel game. Motion sensors enable players to feel virtual water being poured into a virtual cup.

In another game, characters’ arms swirled out during combat when players punched the air while holding the controllers.

“It’s a totally new kind of game,” said Kouichi Kawamoto, who oversaw “1-2-Switch,” a gun-duel game that requires players to look each other in the eye. “It’s about having fun with communication.”

Nintendo said 50 software makers, including Electronic Arts and Sega, are preparing 80 games for the Switch. It also promised in-house games such as a Legend of Zelda game, which will go on sale the same date as the Switch.

The company planned a similar presentation in the U.S. later Friday. It’s also setting up places where people can try the device ahead of its launch, including cities in Europe, to woo buyers.

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Source: ABC news

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The game is Nintendo’s first full venture into mobile gaming and marked a significant shift for the firm which had previously not made apps.

The game is only available via Apple’s app store and currently has an average rating of 2.5 stars.

Many players criticised the game and said it was expensive compared with other titles on the store.

The full game costs $10 (£8) but the first three levels of the game are free to play.

Negative reaction

Super Mario Run was released on 15 December and since then, Nintendo shares have fallen. Shares in gamemaker DeNA Co, which helped develop the game, have fallen by 14% over the same time period.

The game is the first fruit of a strategic change in direction Nintendo signalled in 2015 when it announced that it planned to start producing mobile games.

It features Nintendo’s mustachioed plumber scurrying across a scrolling landscape as he makes another attempt to rescue Princess Peach.

Image copyrightAP

Players have complained that the three free levels could be completed too quickly and that it was too costly to buy the whole game.

“A $10 upfront cost to unlock the game is a huge ask and one that flies in the face of current mobile games being free-to-play,” Daniel Ahmad, an analyst for researcher Niko Partners, told Bloomberg.

Nintendo needed to do more to let people know what they would get if they paid for it, he added.

Players have also criticised the game’s need for an always-on internet connection which limited when and where they could play it.

Despite the negative reaction, Super Mario Run has topped the charts for most profitable games in many nations. Analysis firm App Annie said its monitoring of the game suggest it was downloaded more than 37 million times in its first three days. On average, it said, people spent more than 13 minutes every day on the game.

The launch of Super Mario Run came as Nintendo and partner Niantic relaunched Pokemon Go. That game enjoyed huge success earlier in the year but interest in it rapidly dwindled as updates dried up.

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Source: BBC

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