New physical cartridges for the SNES and Sega Genesis. In 2027. No, that's not a typo, and yes, I'm as delighted as you are.

Per Game Rant, the culprit is Mr. Nutz, the beloved 90s platformer squirrel, who's getting a fresh official release on both classic consoles courtesy of the folks keeping retro preservation alive. The cartridges are set to begin shipping in Q1 2027, priced at €49.99, and preorders reportedly opened on August 21, so collectors are already circling this one like it's a rare raid drop.

If you weren't around for the 16-bit era, Mr. Nutz was one of those games that lived in the shadow of the Mario and Sonic giants but built a genuinely devoted following anyway. A platformer with real charm, tight controls, and a mascot that never got the marketing budget he deserved. Sounds familiar, right? Every generation has a few of those, and part of what makes retro communities so fun is watching the underdogs finally get their flowers decades later.

And that's what makes this more than a collector's trinket. This is an official release, not a homebrew project or a reproduction cart someone burned in their garage. Someone cleared the rights, someone paid for a production run, and someone decided that in the year 2027, brand-new SNES and Genesis cartridges are a thing worth making. I wrote recently about how preserving classics like these matters because they're the entry point for new generations, and nothing beats handing someone an actual cartridge and saying "here, blow on that and try again." It's a rite of passage.

The collectibility angle is unavoidable, though, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise. Physical retro releases tend to sell out fast, jump in price on the secondary market, and turn into the exact kind of scarcity trap that keeps new fans out. I've seen cost kill more group plans than lack of interest ever does, and I'd hate for a piece of gaming history to end up locked behind a 200 dollar eBay listing before most people even knew it existed. €49.99 is a fair sticker for a new official cartridge, but that price only holds while stock does. If you want this one, my advice as someone who has absolutely refreshed a store page at 2am for dumber reasons: move on it now, because preorders have already begun.

What I love about projects like this is the intent behind them. The SNES and Genesis libraries are finite, that's the hard truth of physical media, and every "new" official release feels like the community finding a way to keep the lights on in a house everyone said was condemned. Whether it's recovered prototypes, localization patches finally getting official releases, or a squirrel platformer getting a second life, it all points the same direction: people care, and caring is what keeps old hardware alive.

I also just find it quietly funny. The Duskbloods might dominate the headlines this fall, GTA 6 is presumably still eating the internet, and meanwhile a 16-bit squirrel is getting cartridges pressed for consoles that stopped manufacturing when I was in school. Gaming is so much better for containing both of those realities at once.

The Q1 2027 shipping window gives us a rough timeline, and with preorders reportedly live as of August 21, the clock is already ticking. Expect limited runs, expect the usual collector chaos, and expect me writing a follow-up if this sells through faster than a limited controller skin on patch day.

Did you play Mr. Nutz back in the day, or is this your first time hearing about a squirrel with a tail-based attack plan? Drop it in the comments. I want to know who else has this one buried in a box somewhere, because I know I'm not the only one.