NES Classic Edition Back In Limited Stock; Modders Convert It Into All Purpose Gaming Machines Adding Hundreds Of Games [Video]

For those not lucky enough to snag their own NES Classic Edition last holiday season, news has it that Amazon has them in stock.

As an added bonus, people who order now will get their NES Classic Edition delivered to their home within the week courtesy of Prime shipping for $164.99, Fox reported. Amazon advises would-be customers to place their orders early before stock runs out - again.

According to Kotaku, the NES Classic Edition is also in stock at Target for $99. Target is also selling official Nintendo Classic Mini Controllers for $19.

In the U.K., stocks are available at Argos, although reports say that after sending out emails announcements of the availability of the NES Classic Edition, it sold out quicker than expected. Reportedly, stocks on Amazon in the U.K. also came and went, in just a flash.

It would seem that the NES Classic Edition still has a strong following, although stocks are being drip-fed like what went on during the holidays. Some reports indicate that some NES Classic Edition hunters go through the trouble of sourcing out the retro mini console on Amazon Spain, although stocks there have also been sporadic.

It is not clear why Nintendo has not swamped retailers with NES Classic Edition units by this time knowing there is a strong demand for it. There is a steady stream of NES Classic Edition in major retailers albeit receiving only a handful of units every couple of days, the report said.

Meanwhile, modders who did get their hands on the NES Classic Edition wasted no time in rewriting the memory of the diminutive retro console. The first thing they did was to add a few games to it, and then graduated by adding hundreds. The modders are now reportedly adding emulators for other retro consoles as well, according to Tech Crunch.

Russian developer, Alexey Avdyukhin, known by his handle "Cluster," apparently developed his own tool, which he called Hakchi2. The tool simplified the process of writing code to the NES Classic Edition's memory without bricking it.

There is now another called RetroArch, created by a group called MadMonkey. They created a multi-console emulator that they port to the NES Classic Edition to emulate SNES, Genesis, GBA and even Nintendo 64.

A word of caution, the process of modding the NES Classic Edition is not that easy, nor clearly legal. Nintendo would not be sympathetic if you brick your device with pirated ROMS.