Jan
03
What was the original price of a Super Nintendo game at release?
Posted by admin under Video & Online Games
joeschmoe4ever asked:
I got into a conversation with a friend on how I thought games today cost more to buy than they used to. He disagreed, saying cartridges were actually more expensive to make than most compact discs. So, after looking all over the internet for an answer, I can not find one. How much did those Super Nintendo games used to cost? How about the NES, Sega, or Atari games?
I got into a conversation with a friend on how I thought games today cost more to buy than they used to. He disagreed, saying cartridges were actually more expensive to make than most compact discs. So, after looking all over the internet for an answer, I can not find one. How much did those Super Nintendo games used to cost? How about the NES, Sega, or Atari games?
Keep in mind, I’m asking for the retail price of the original release of these games.
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January 3rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
2 questions- Are we talking at the release of the system or the release of the game?
I paid $49.99 for Mortal Kombat, somewhere between $59.99 and $69.99 for Mega Man X and $79.99 I believe for Chrono Trigger. Just to give you an idea. The prices jumped about halfway through the SNES lifespan and came back down towards the end. I believe it had the most expensive games of any system at the top of it’s price curve.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the games at the system’s release were a $49.99 or a bit lower. I was like 3 when the system was released, so obviously I don’t know first hand.
I have no idea on Atari games, but I believe the first 6 Mega Man games on NES were between $40-$50 bucks (Notice a game type pattern here?). I’ve read Genesis games had a lower price tag than SNES games, which would presumably put them at about $40-$50 as well (SNES won the console war anyway).
Hope that answers your question, also hope someone has a better memory than I do and can answer the question. But there’s a reason you can’t find that info- It’s old as hell.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Your friend is actually right. Cartridges do cost more to make and game makers got a smaller profit.
If I remember correctly, I think I paid about 70 or 80 bucks for FFIII (now FFVI). I think the average cost of an SNES game was about 60 to 70 bucks. This was back in 1995.
Genesis games costs about 60 to 70 bucks. I think I paid about 70 bucks for Eternal Champions, but it was one of those cartridges that had more RAM than the average Genesis cartridge.
Atari 2600 games weren’t that expensive. Can’t remember the exact price, but it wasn’t anywhere close to today’s game prices. I think it was around 20 bucks, but it varied from game to game.
NES games were probably around 50 bucks.
Don’t know anything about the Sega Master System games because I never had a Master System.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Most of them were $40-50 (which figuring in inflation, would make them more expensive), though some game were considerably more. CronoTrigger was $80 brand new, and one of the Genesis Phantasy Stars was $90.