April 1997 video game ads

[Game Freak]

Remember when you were hardpressed to find a computer for under $1,000? Yeah, that waas twelve years ago to the month <_< Look at these ads i dug up from the time when my parents were gettin their first computer. SNES, Genesis, and PS1. We got a computer that same year for only $160 :D

April 5, 1997
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f266/gamefreak360/gamemags972.jpg

April 19, 1997
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f266/gamefreak360/gamemags971.jpg

April 26, 1997
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f266/gamefreak360/gamemags973.jpg

[Tupin]

Awesome, EarthBound for $30! @_@

The only computers we had during that time were cheap eMachines that we just added expansions onto.

[genesisguy]

Man, I miss seeing Genesis and SNES in newspaper ads!

[skaar]

And Sega is already milking a classics collection....

I want a $30 Earthbound dammit!

[darkslime]

Too bad we didn't have time machines to go into the future and see we needed to clean out all the stores of earthbound.

[ShinobiMan]

Loved looking back at those ads. Those were the same ads that my dad and I would hunt through each Sunday looking for deals on games. Good times.

[Cobra Commander]

Awesome, EarthBound for $30! @_@


And on the flip side, 2Xtreme for $33!@_@

[CreamSoda]

Damn, a complete and new copy of EarthBound for $30!!!!

I miss those old adds with the PS1/Genesis/SNES. Good times. :)

[norkusa]

That was great, I love reading these old ads.

I've got an old Babages catalog from '91 that I should scan. Has Genesis Sword Of Vermilion for only $74.99 and the TG-16 CD Player for $399.99.

[Haoie]

And then there's the old problem of inflation.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Thanks for the ad scans- cool idea for a thread. In 1997, the closest Best Buy was about 2 and a half hours from me- so I didn't get to see many ads from them. I hope to find a copy of Earthbound as reasonably priced as this some day, if only to see what all the fuss is about.

[Atarileaf]

I didn't know Genesis and SNES were still sold in retail in 97. I thought it was all PS1 and N64 around that time.

[SparTonberry]

Agreed. Why the hell was I not bugging my parents to buy me $30 EarthBound?!
(since I wasn't quite old enough for a job then)

[joshnickerson]

Quickly! To the DeLorean!

[NayusDante]

Wow, nice to see the current system (PSX) for under $150. Also nice to see the SNES and Genesis where the PS2 is now, priced about the same. Where's N64?

[Insaneclown]

That's a sweet flyer. You should frame it! I miss seeing Genesis and Super Nintendo in these flyers. Those were the good days.

[emceelokey]

I love looking at old ads. I usually keep one of the Gamestop holiday books just so that I can look back at it in 10 years and say DAMMMN! I still have an old Sears ad that has Street Fighter 2 for the SNES for $80. People always complain about how expensive games are today. I always laugh at that. WHat's also funny is that I never even seen a Best Buy until 2002.

[Game Freak]

haha yeah i have a bunch of the gamestop holiday books as well, and as for the nintendo 64, i was wondering where it was as well, in addition to the Saturn...and maybe even virtual boy :P jk jk But yeah, the SNES was still selling through 1997, 'twas when Kirby's Dreamland 3 came about

[Kid Ice]

I went to Best Buy a lot around this time to get clearance 3DO stuff....there was a huge cache of big-box Earthbounds w/ the strategy guides under the N64 aisle....9.99 each. I guess they didn't sell at the $30 price. I had considered picking up one or two to for trade bait but I figured they were worthless.

[Atarileaf]

There's a site that I came across a while back (perhaps through here) that had scans of a bunch of old catalogs like Sears Christmas Wish Books from the 70's and 80's. Fun to see Atari, CV and Intellivision sold as new.

[YoshiM]

There's a site that I came across a while back (perhaps through here) that had scans of a bunch of old catalogs like Sears Christmas Wish Books from the 70's and 80's. Fun to see Atari, CV and Intellivision sold as new.

Here you go: The Wishbook Web (http://www.wishbookweb.com/)

[Atarileaf]

Here you go: The Wishbook Web (http://www.wishbookweb.com/)

Thanks! :D

[PentiumMMX]

I still have an old Sears ad that has Street Fighter 2 for the SNES for $80.

Somewhere, I have an old Sears catalog that has Mega Man 5 (NES) for only $60. I remember joking a few years ago about calling them up and seeing if they still had any copies of it left.

[aaron7]

I hadn't heard of Best Buy till like... 2001.

Post the rest of the ad scans, I want to see the PC ones! </nerd>

[jb143]

I still fondly remember ogling the picture of a Jaguar(with a non-existant Tiny Toons game) in an early 90's Toy's R Us Wishbook. I wish I had kept those.

[ryborg]

Only $7.99 for Blankman AND Dunston Checks In? Gonna buy two copies of each at that price!

[scooterb23]

I said it back then, and I'll say it now. $30...still way too much for Earthbound!

/me dons flame retardant suit.

I seem to remember buying MST3K the movie on VHS for $8 from that ad.

[heybtbm]

Vandal Hearts was such an awesome game.

I bought my first Playstation around the time these ads were out. It was the day after it dropped to $149.99 (sometime early 1997).

[sebastiankirchoff]

Wow, great ads! I bought a magazine from early 97 recently, and some of the ads advertised games for 100 bucks! If anyone wants me to scan them, I will be more than happy to.

[NayusDante]

What gets me is that PSX releases were so cheap, while carts were still $50. I know that there's lower production costs for discs, but nowadays, they'd never think to pass the savings on to the consumer.

Funny, all those VHS ads. Wouldn't be long before those days changed...

[bangtango]

Know how these ads always have fine print saying "We reserve the right to make changes to this ad" or "There may be mistakes, etc.?"

The only thing missing from this ad posted is fine print at the bottom saying "75-80% of the items in this ad will be worth $2 or less in 10 years."

[Retsudo]

I have that Starwars Trilogy. I think I bought it before 1997.

[NayusDante]

I've been going through my comics, looking at all the old game ads...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3443423604_5d4eb66d88_b.jpg

So the Genesis was $190 in 1990, and dropped $100 after 7 years.

[scooterb23]

Dude...Children's Palace. That had to be one of the most awesome stores ever. They had this giant wall of sin just as you entered, you wanted everything off the wall! And then you turned the corner, and saw the mother land...

Good times.

[A Black Falcon]

In 1998, though, the Genesis and then the SNES both dropped to $50, when the Genesis 3 came out that year for $50, and then some time later Nintendo reduced price to match them. The PS2, just dropping this year from $130 to $100, is quite a bit more expensive in comparison, considering how old it is and how long it has been replaced for...

[calistarwind]

That was the year I was working for Best Buy and they were getting rid of the SNES games. Now I know why people kept coming in to buy up Earthbound. I hid one in the media center back in the games dept. At the time I did not know much about the game and I ended up getting the last one. Little did I know that Earthbound would end up being my all time favorite video game ever.

[c2000]

That leaflet on the first page shows how popular the Saturn was..hmph.