Nintendo Isn't Making Anymore Famicom Minis For Now

Published: April 14, 2017 1:30 PM /

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Famicom Mini Box

Retro gamers around the globe rejoiced when Nintendo launched their throwback NES and Famicom systems on the market letting gamers relive some of their most nostalgic gaming experiences. Recently Nintendo announced that they would be discontinuing the NES Classic in North America despite a continuing demand for the product. Now they’ve revealed that they will temporarily cease production of Famicom Minis in Japan as well.

https://youtu.be/3GQ02nXQQiM

Released on November 10th of 2016 in Japan, the Famicom Mini has done well in the country. At launch the retro console made over a quarter of a million sales and has continued to be popular. By early 2017 the NES Classic Edition had sold over 1.5 million units globally but according to Nintendo the system was never meant to be a long term product.

It seems the same is true of the Famicom Mini which has had it’s production temporarily halted. Retro Nintendo gamers can hope that the system will be reintroduced later. The company states on the device’s website that they will announce if or when the Famicom Mini will be available again.

According to a report of Nintendo’s financial results for the fiscal year ending in March 2017 the nostalgic gaming systems faced production shortages and were in part meant to drive sales for the latest Nintendo console, the Switch:

“ We apologize to our consumers and retail partners for the inconvenience caused by product shortages. . .We also see the nostalgic interest in these products as an opportunity to draw consumers’ attention to our latest game system, Nintendo Switch.”
The compact red and white Famicom gave players access to 30 retro titles already built in and came with two controllers just like the original. Famicom Mini games included old school hits such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Galaga and Final Fantasy III just to name a few. But if you haven’t got your hands on one yet, then it’s going to be much more difficult to now that production is being stopped. It seems Nintendo is hoping consumers will turn to the shiny new Switch instead of playing retro games on the NES Classic of Famicom Mini.

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Alexandra Joy Taberski
| Past Author

Alexandria is a former Staff Writer at TechRaptor, who specializes in coverage of mobile games, RPGs, and JRPGs primarily, and has an unfortunate aversion… More about Alexandria