It shouldn’t be like this.As the NES Classic Edition

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“ It’s one thing for a cutting-edge piece of technology to suffer supply shortages due to manufacturing limitations...

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“ It should be piled high on endcaps in places like Walgreens and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Instead, it’s nowhere to be found.

Nes Classic Edition Launch Gallery 14 IMAGES

“ Year after year and product after product, Nintendo continues to make it difficult for their fans to buy their products.

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“ Nintendo needs to do a much better job of putting its fans first.

While I fully realize my own absurdity in being frustrated about my inability to get my hands on a $60, retro-fueled stocking stuffer, that’s just it: it’s a $60, retro-fueled stocking stuffer! It shouldn’t be like this. Not for this product. It’s one thing for a cutting-edge piece of technology to suffer supply shortages due to manufacturing limitations. A new smartphone might have new screen or battery technology, while a brand-new console has chip yields and other proprietary parts to be worried about. I can forgive that.And not to play the kid card here, but it’s one thing to disappoint me. The NES Classic – thanks to Nintendo’s own decision to limit supply – is my first time having to shoulder that can’t-get-the-toy-you-want disappointment for my five-year-old daughter, who was eager to play Super Mario Bros. with me after I’d borrowed IGN’s review unit last weekend. And that only fuels my annoyance with Nintendo’s practices more. How can she become a Nintendo fan if I can’t get the Nintendo product I’d like to introduce her to?This does not bode well for the upcoming launch of the Switch. Nintendo has already said that it intends to have just two million units in the launch window, presumably after poor demand for the Wii U left them holding the bag on many of the 5.5 million Wii U’s they made out of the gate. Even that logic is absurd. It’s as if someone at Nintendo only looked at a spreadsheet without considering the real world. Switch already has more enthusiasm and interest around it than the Wii U did prior to its launch. If anything, Nintendo should’ve maintained or even increased its manufacturing for the home console/handheld hybrid in preparation for a big launch in March, especially when there seems to be so much riding on it.Nintendo needs to do a much better job of putting its fans first. It claimed that supply will be continually refreshed throughout the holidays, but there’s no way to know if that means stores will get six units extra per week or 60 or 600. And frankly, Nintendo hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt there. I hope they do fix this – and fast – but they need to get their act together and stop treating their fans like this.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan , catch him on Podcast Unlocked , and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.