They did it again. First, it was Wal Mart, now, while most of the country was asleep, Best Buy opened up preorders for the SNES Classic. The various reports from frustrated fans say that preorders were open for roughly 40-45 minutes, with multiple confirmation emails proving that this wasn’t a snafu like the Wal Mart situation — the incredibly rare SNES Classic would arrive on the doorstep of lucky consumers on September 29th.
As of this writing, two hours after the initial opening of preorders, you can navigate all the way to your cart on BestBuy.com. For many, this is the closest they’ve ever come to completing the purchase of the SNES Classic or NES Classic for that matter. So close.
Here’s what’s shown on BestBuy.com right now:
If you refresh, the systems will be in-stock and you can choose to order one, which brings you to this next screen full of heartbreak and sadness: (Currently out of stock. Please remove this item or save it for later.)
Yes, there’s an SNES Classic in my cart right now, but try as I might, I cannot purchase it. The little machine is just sitting somewhere, waiting for a home. A good home. My home. And yet, some zeroes and ones keep me from welcoming it into my family, where it belongs.
As you can imagine, many, many people are upset about this nonchalant, stealth release of preorder stock, but some got lucky:
True agony is having a SNES Classic in your Best Buy cart that you can’t actually buy.
— Jason Rechtman (@jsr7) August 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/luulubuu/status/899870581360926720
https://twitter.com/im__Nando/status/899881337800212480
Woke up about 30 minutes ago and saw SNES Classic trending. Turning off the internet forever now. pic.twitter.com/RgFgDQbb2R
— King Radinov (@KingRadinov) August 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/johnwsnyder/status/899882513367154688
If you’re desperate, you can refresh your Best Buy car constantly, or you can check in on the following sites which might (???) have preorders opening soon. Maybe. Possibly.
As of right now, the above sites have a big, fat “coming soon” where their checkout button should be. So until more information comes, it’s time to press F5 on the Best Buy page.