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There had been some speculation on Reddit that it was a run of near-obsolete hardware proposed by one of their partners. Some teardown (I can't find a source no

There had been some speculation on Reddit that it was a run of near-obsolete hardware proposed by one of their partners. Some teardown (I can't find a source now) found out that it was shipping with already EOL'ed components that weren't available for back-order from the fabs. If anyone has more information than my 3rd hand comment, I'd be super interested. I was very disappointed not to find one for sale for a reasonable price. I would have loved one.

rincebrain 9y ago
I'm surprised that even in that case, they wouldn't just iterate on components and then come out with it again once they've managed to debug any fun quirks that come from trying to iterate on the hardware and got fabbing capacity ramped up. On the other hand, Nintendo's been burned before by apparently-boundless demand for, say, the Wii U, and then incredibly sharp dropoff, so they might just be going heavily conservative on the possible profit/possible cost to update.
- wernercd 9y ago
  If they can iterate, increase the value (more games? SNES? Gameboy? etc) and "fix" the DRM "issue" (Ability to hack it... I know that's gotta be burning them up)...
  - rincebrain 9y ago
    I mean, the more trivial way to lock it down would be to have a truly read-only OS partition, rather than apparently trying slightly (based on my quick skimming of the ways to manipulate the device). That would forbid dynamic updates (which would let them play cat-and-mouse with fixing holes, if they were so inclined), but would also avoid most things that would require replacing the OS stack. e: They also clearly knew they weren't building a fortress, given the note buried in the image of "Many efforts, tears and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don't break everything!"
4rt 9y ago
i'd not heard that. but the way it was marketed always seemed to me to be another small experiment in nintendo's non-stop attempts to artificially limit supply. they seemed to use it to test word of mouth and their viral marketing abilities ready for the switch.
ChuckMcM 9y ago
If true that would be a really creative way of making some nice profits. Typically distributors are anxious to dump excess EOL parts as demand will plummet. According to my friend who was an account manager at Wyle they would sell off their stock to one of the 'old part finders' for 1/2 to 1/4 of the previous suggested price. If Nintendo proactively found a bunch of EOL parts they could make a nice limited edition product out of, the buy the parts at a steep discount, sell the 'limited edition' at a price premium, and maximize their gross margin. Frankly I've never met a procurement manager with the guts to do something like that but I'm sure they are out there.
- throwaway2048 9y ago
  It dosent really make sense though, its not like engineering a replacement SOC+board that contains some NES roms plus an emulator is exactly a massive engineering challenge. Why not just continue it with some new chips?
  - monocasa 9y ago
    I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't already have a team working on it's successor: an internet connected mini console that only plays virtual console games off their store. You could even have a custom common plug on the front and sell a bunch of generations of controllers for some obscene amount of money and know that their'd be a lot of people who'd get four each of at least NES, SNES, and N64 controllers. $40 a pop and that's $480 right there. Although it's Nintendo and they're kind of known for not catching some of the easy throws.
    - runevault 9y ago
      I bet they are going to focus on getting the Switch Virtual console up and running and guide people that way.
  - geezerjay 9y ago
    > its not like engineering a replacement SOC+board that contains some NES roms plus an emulator is exactly a massive engineering challenge If margins on a custom SOC+board are razor-thin, it would be idiocy from the company's pov to add cost and complexity to a project just to result in a decimation of the product's profitability.
emodendroket 9y ago
I've heard the 2DS was somewhat similar in being based on unused parts for Wii U controllers. That'd also explain the otherwise bizarre move to stop selling such an unexpectedly popular product.

rincebrain 9y ago

I'm surprised that even in that case, they wouldn't just iterate on components and then come out with it again once they've managed to debug any fun quirks that come from trying to iterate on the hardware and got fabbing capacity ramped up. On the other hand, Nintendo's been burned before by apparently-boundless demand for, say, the Wii U, and then incredibly sharp dropoff, so they might just be going heavily conservative on the possible profit/possible cost to update.

wernercd 9y ago
If they can iterate, increase the value (more games? SNES? Gameboy? etc) and "fix" the DRM "issue" (Ability to hack it... I know that's gotta be burning them up)...
- rincebrain 9y ago
  I mean, the more trivial way to lock it down would be to have a truly read-only OS partition, rather than apparently trying slightly (based on my quick skimming of the ways to manipulate the device). That would forbid dynamic updates (which would let them play cat-and-mouse with fixing holes, if they were so inclined), but would also avoid most things that would require replacing the OS stack. e: They also clearly knew they weren't building a fortress, given the note buried in the image of "Many efforts, tears and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don't break everything!"

4rt 9y ago

i'd not heard that. but the way it was marketed always seemed to me to be another small experiment in nintendo's non-stop attempts to artificially limit supply. they seemed to use it to test word of mouth and their viral marketing abilities ready for the switch.

ChuckMcM 9y ago

If true that would be a really creative way of making some nice profits. Typically distributors are anxious to dump excess EOL parts as demand will plummet. According to my friend who was an account manager at Wyle they would sell off their stock to one of the 'old part finders' for 1/2 to 1/4 of the previous suggested price. If Nintendo proactively found a bunch of EOL parts they could make a nice limited edition product out of, the buy the parts at a steep discount, sell the 'limited edition' at a price premium, and maximize their gross margin. Frankly I've never met a procurement manager with the guts to do something like that but I'm sure they are out there.

throwaway2048 9y ago
It dosent really make sense though, its not like engineering a replacement SOC+board that contains some NES roms plus an emulator is exactly a massive engineering challenge. Why not just continue it with some new chips?
- monocasa 9y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't already have a team working on it's successor: an internet connected mini console that only plays virtual console games off their store. You could even have a custom common plug on the front and sell a bunch of generations of controllers for some obscene amount of money and know that their'd be a lot of people who'd get four each of at least NES, SNES, and N64 controllers. $40 a pop and that's $480 right there. Although it's Nintendo and they're kind of known for not catching some of the easy throws.
  - runevault 9y ago
    I bet they are going to focus on getting the Switch Virtual console up and running and guide people that way.
- geezerjay 9y ago
  > its not like engineering a replacement SOC+board that contains some NES roms plus an emulator is exactly a massive engineering challenge If margins on a custom SOC+board are razor-thin, it would be idiocy from the company's pov to add cost and complexity to a project just to result in a decimation of the product's profitability.

emodendroket 9y ago

I've heard the 2DS was somewhat similar in being based on unused parts for Wii U controllers. That'd also explain the otherwise bizarre move to stop selling such an unexpectedly popular product.