NES Classic Edition

I’m not one to wait in line for things, but this morning I did it for the first time in Canada, in order to get an NES Classic Edition. I’ve covered plenty of console launches in Japan for game sites, but never actually waited overnight in line for one — the only time I did wait in line for something was for the first iPad, and I went to line up at around 4-5am at one of the Bic Camera stores in Ikebukuro (my neighborhood at the time), and was the first one there.

But yeah, I really wanted an NES Classic Edition, and from what I was seeing, it was looking like getting one online was going to be impossible. So this morning, as I was biking to work, I made a last-minute decision at the point where normally I would turn left to go to the studio to instead keep going and check out EB Games. As I got there, they said they had just given their last ticket to someone — they were now sold out of all 75 consoles they received. I decided I’d try my luck again and check out the Best Buy on Ste-Catherine, and that’s where I hit pay dirt.

As I got there, it looked like a line of about 30 people. I went to the back of the line, and asked the people in front if it looked like we were going to get one. There was still no confirmation, but they figured chances were good that the store would have gotten at least 30 consoles. A few minutes later (I got there at around 9:15), a staffer came out saying he would hand out tickets for the number of consoles they had. He had 48 tickets. I got number 34.