Nintendo produced and sold about 2.3 million NES Classic Editions from launch through April 2017 — with shipments selling out nearly immediately — when Nintendo announced they were discontinuing the product, leading to consumer confusion, and incidents of greatly increased pricing among private sellers.
This version's two controllers are also proportioned to the size of the console to fit into its holding slots on the sides, resulting in them being smaller than their NES counterpart.
[27] On December 13, 2018, Reggie Fils-Aimé affirmed that both the NES and SNES Classic Editions would not be restocked after the 2018 holiday season, nor does Nintendo anticipate producing any similar mini-console version of its other home consoles in the near future.
[28] Aside from criticism regarding the controller cord being too short as well as minor emulation glitches, especially with sound, the NES Classic Edition has been well-received.
The company clarified, when announcing the discontinuation, that "NES Classic Edition wasn’t intended to be an ongoing, long-term product.
"[36] The lack of availability of the unit since launch, with shipments immediately selling out when they reach stores, also suggested Nintendo was not prepared for the demand for the product.
[37] Nintendo of America's CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé later stated that "We just didn't anticipate how incredible the response would be", having considered the sales of other similar retro-consoles, but they had to discontinue the unit as "we've got a lot going on right now and we don’t have unlimited resources.
[21] In December 2018, Fils-Aimé affirmed that both the NES and SNES Classic Editions will not be restocked after the holiday season, nor does Nintendo anticipate producing any similar mini-console version of its other home consoles in the future.
[28] Shortly after the NES Classic Edition's release, hackers discovered ways to unofficially add up to 700 titles to the system's library,[43] as well as enable emulation support for other consoles.
[44][5] The NES Classic Edition's very limited stock during its original release in 2016 was one of its main criticisms,[45] with some stores receiving fewer than 10 units at a time.
[52] Following the April 2017 discontinuation, consumers found that several bootleg versions of the NES Classic Edition appeared on third party auction sites, typically produced by Chinese companies.
A very limited gold Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer Weekly Shōnen Jump 50th Anniversary Version[55] was developed by M2 and released only in Japan on July 7, 2018.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump manga magazine, the special edition features 20 Famicom games largely based on Shōnen Jump manga properties, including Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, and Kinnikuman.
[58] Reviewing for Nintendo Life, Damien McFerran criticized the unchanged design flaws from the Famicom version, along with the quality of selected titles.