Nintendo Promises More Switch, SNES Classic Units on Shelves for the Holidays

It has been a great year for Nintendo fans, with the new Switch console as well as a throwback console based on the beloved Super Nintendo Entertainment System. But it has also been a hard one, if you're actually trying to find these consoles in stores.

With the holidays coming, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé said in an interview with The Washington Post that the company is working to have a regular supply of both consoles on store shelves for the rest of the year. Though, he said, it can be hard to predict what demand will be like.

The research firm NPD Group said Thursday that the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo SNES Classic were the top-selling consoles for October. That marks third month that Nintendo has outsold Sony and Microsoft. It also helped the industry as a whole top 1 million in hardware sales in October for the first time since 2011.

Fils-Aimé said Nintendo has tried to learn its lessons from last year's launch of another throwback, the NES Classic, which frustrated fans who had troubling finding the limited-edition console. (It is making a comeback next year.) With the SNES Classic launch, Nintendo has both increased its supply and promised to keep selling the console into 2018.

While Nintendo said it is going to do its best to have both consoles in stores, the flip side of that is that consumers shouldn't expect the company to offer much in the way of Black Friday deals that would seek to clear shelves.

"We are not discounting the Switch," Fils-Aimé said. "We're focusing on making sure we have robust supply at retail." So apart from a couple of bundles featuring cases themed to hit games "Super Mario Odyssey" and "Splatoon 2," there aren't additional holiday discounts from Nintendo.

© The Washington Post 2017