“I could use a nap and some breakfast.”

That was the victory speech from Mike W. in Brooklyn as he walked out of GameStop with the Nintendo SNES Classic in hand. (“I’m kinda supposed to be at work right now” was his excuse for not providing his full surname.) He began his morning around 5:45 a.m. ET as number 36 in line at a local Target, only to be told around 7 a.m. that they only had 33 in stock. Racing down to GameStop on nearby Fulton Street, he hit the jackpot: With 19 on site, he was near the front of the line.

For the the Fulton Street GameStop, communication was the name of the game. A poster in the door listed how many SNES units (and wireless controllers) were in stock, and a staffer outside the locked door handed out reservation numbers. Once the magic number was hit, he made sure that everyone knew the initial stock was spoken for.   

By 10:10 a.m., the initial lucky 19 were in line at the counter, and the sign was updated to “SOLD OUT.” 

Just a few blocks away at the Court Street GameStop, the store was swamped with customers picking up their preorders. That store only had an additional 4 units, which were long gone by 10:30. At both locations, the staff couldn’t provide details on when they’d have additional SNES Classic units — only that they did expect to have resupplied stock in the future. 

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The SNES Classic looks so much cooler in Europe

The fact that day one shoppers were finding any units at all is a testament to the fact that Nintendo ramped up production of the SNES Classic, the $80/£80/AU$120 miniaturized version of the classic 1990s console that comes with 21 built-in games and two wired controllers. The company had pledged that it would have more units available on opening weekend than it had for the entire run of its predecessor, 2016’s NES Mini, which was notoriously difficult to find. 

Nintendo stresses that stock will be refilled into 2018. And that NES Mini? That’s coming back next year, too.

Treasure Truck hits Manhattan

The stock situation was similar in Manhattan’s Herald Square, where the GameStop there sold out of its allotment of 16. But an alternative arrived in the form of the Amazon Treasure Truck, which parked just a few blocks south at Fifth Avenue and 28th St. Amazon’s roving pop-up store was also selling SNES units in 17 other US cities, too.

Full disclosure: The bulk of the CNET staff in our New York office — just 2 blocks away — emptied out just minutes later.

Waiting in the Bay Area

As the sun rose in California, the situation was about to repeat itself on the West Coast. We spotted a few people waiting in line at the San Leandro GameStop as the clock ticked down to its 10 a.m. PT opening. But unlike the New York locations, there didn’t appear to be a sign in the window with the stock levels, nor were there staffers evident when we checked in around 

This is a developing story. Check back soon for additional updates.

SNES Classic: Read the CNET review