Watch out, there are convincing fake NES mini consoles about
Retro dear.
Launched last year, Nintendo's much sought after NES mini microconsoles are now well out of stock. Except, that is, for a curious new shipment being placed for sale online...
But what's this? While it might look similar on the outside, and even run emulated NES games correctly - it looks a little off.
NeoGAF users noticed this product go up for sale on Chinese import site AliExpress (the listing has now been removed). Its colours are a little washed out, but to the untrained eye it looks real enough:
The units look professionally made, with an official-looking box, sturdy design, authentic-looking controller and working emulator software that is a decent approximation of the real thing.
Here's a video of the device booting up:
NES mini is frequently sold on eBay at a huge markup. The majority of listings currently on the site are priced somewhere between £100 and £200. The microconsole's original RRP was £49.
Modded units are fairly common, although most just use the base NES mini shell and mod its software. Few look like they have rolled off a professional production like this.
This year Nintendo has pledged to manufacture more units of the SNES mini in response to NES mini stock shortages. The console has still sold out everywhere, however.