Earthbound coming to US Virtual Console in 2013

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://kotaku.com/holy-crap-earthbound-is-coming-to-the-north-america-vi-474832871?utm_campaign=Socialflow_Kotaku_Facebook&utm_source=Kotaku_Facebook&utm_medium=Socialflow

I'll be interested to see how this affects the price of the used physical cart.

[kamakazi5]

Hopefully it will come down to a semi reasonable price now although I won't count on it. I doubt I'll pick it up on VC even if the price doesn't come down.

[Tanooki]

Beautiful! I hope this puts some sanity back into the Earthbound cart price. It's not rare, it's uncommon but not straight common and the $200 it hits is disgusting. Having this not only hit the NTSC market(USA,etc) but also Europe hopefully it will have that rippling effect that cripples the price of the game. FF7 had this same sorry behavior go up until the PSN release hit for $10 and the game CIB and pretty going pretty high went to a tough sell at like $20-30 if I remember right, it cratered!

I'm happy everyone will get a crack at this who wants it now without being raped by greedy resellers who have repeatedly slammed the price even higher feeding off the mighty hype engine it has. Directly it won't affect me as I own the cart, but it would be nice to see cart only costs come down hard for those who don't though I imagine the box and big book guide manual probably will stay up as less of those exist than carts and a digital copy won't get you that either.

[SOL BADGUY]

Man, thats really awesome, I guess they had to see the virtual comments all over Miiverse to finally get it through their thick skulls to rerelease it.

I hope the price of the SNES version goes way down.

[The Adventurer]

Is this only for the Wii U or will the Wii VC get it too?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Is this only for the Wii U or will the Wii VC get it too?

Wii U, possibly 3DS at Nintendo's discretion.

Wii VC is done I believe.

[Aussie2B]

The best part of this is that all the dumb gamers who claimed that it was legally impossible for Nintendo to ever re-release Earthbound in the US in any form can finally eat crow. :ass:

Well, okay, no, the best part would be if the price of the SNES cart finally drops down, but still. :P

[Solo_Skywalker]

Looks like this year may be a good time for me to pick up a cart version of this game. I wonder how fast the news will spread and if the prices will reflect that.

[Bojay1997]

The best part of this is that all the dumb gamers who claimed that it was legally impossible for Nintendo to ever re-release Earthbound in the US in any form can finally eat crow. :ass:

Well, okay, no, the best part would be if the price of the SNES cart finally drops down, but still. :P

I don't recall anyone ever saying it was legally impossible. The argument always seemed to be over how much it would cost for Nintendo to properly license some of the things that were included in the initial release. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, gets cut or changed in the VC release.

[Bojay1997]

Looks like this year may be a good time for me to pick up a cart version of this game. I wonder how fast the news will spread and if the prices will reflect that.

I suspect you aren't going to see the massive price drop you are anticipating. The WiiU isn't exactly selling like hotcakes and many people, especially anyone who still has a working SNES and carts, are not too keen on digital releases. I suspect a lot of Earthbound owners are still going to hold on to their carts and simply buy the digital version as well if they have a WiiU. I know that's my plan. Certainly, if there are changes in the VC version, which there may well be, the cart will still be in demand from anyone who wants the original version.

[dbm11085]

This better be on the 3DS...

Also, I doubt the SNES version will be devalued much at all. People will still want the *original* version of a game, and that guide is pretty sweet (I've had both since 2000 when prices were much more realistic). :)

[Aussie2B]

I don't recall anyone ever saying it was legally impossible. The argument always seemed to be over how much it would cost for Nintendo to properly license some of the things that were included in the initial release. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, gets cut or changed in the VC release.

I don't know about specifically on here, but there was definitely plenty of that around the 'net. And suggesting that Nintendo would have to pay a boatload on licensing rights to re-release the game is a silly argument too.

And for an unrelated observation, I'm starting to notice on the different boards that I go to that the people who don't have the game expect the value of the SNES cart to drop while those who already have it almost uniformly stand by the idea that the Wii U release won't decrease the value and may even increase demand. I love how at the end of the day it's all just wishful thinking in regards to protecting one's own interests. :P Almost no one who already has the game wants to see it lose any value.

[wiggyx]

I hope the price comes way down. It's just stupid anyomre. I just sold a copy for about 250, and I've seem loose carts sell for as much as 300 on ebay in the last month, so I'm at least releived that I did so before any potential price plummet. I just can't ever seem to bring myself to hold on to a loose cart that's worth so much. But if we start seeing 200X prices again, then I may finally be able to justify putting a copy on the shelf permanently :)

And to anyone worried about their investment in a copy or copies of EB, welcome to the world of gambling, err, I mean investing ;)

[Bojay1997]

I don't know about specifically on here, but there was definitely plenty of that around the 'net. And suggesting that Nintendo would have to pay a boatload on licensing rights to re-release the game is a silly argument too.

And for an unrelated observation, I'm starting to notice on the different boards that I go to that the people who don't have the game expect the value of the SNES cart to drop while those who already have it almost uniformly stand by the idea that the Wii U release won't decrease the value and may even increase demand. I love how at the end of the day it's all just wishful thinking in regards to protecting one's own interests. :P Almost no one who already has the game wants to see it lose any value.

As someone that has spent much of the past decade handling licensing of entertainment properties on behalf of studios and producers, I can state unequivocally that you have no idea what Nintendo will have to spend on licensing rights to re-release the game. It could be quite a bit, it might be next to nothing. It all depends on how the original game was created and how things like music and other elements were treated. I can tell you that there are many games from the 1990s where the music was handled not as a work-for-hire, but rather as a separate licensed element and a re-release requires separate licensing and payments to the composer. Nintendo's risk tolerance for parody may have also changed over time and it's quite possible that many of the parody brands, character names and other elements will be changed in the re-release. Nobody really knows at this point.

As for your second argument, it's interesting but not particularly compelling. Many of us just own one copy of the game that we obtained for far less than MSRP and have no intention of selling, so it doesn't matter if the resale price remains high or collapses. My opinion is that it might dip slightly, but will never collapse simply because that's not generally what happens when a game is re-released digitally. There are thousands of games that have seen digital re-release over the past few years and it's not like the value of all of those nose dived. People still like to collect the originals and they like having tangible items to hold onto. A digital download on the WiiU might satisfy the appetites of those who are merely curious and want to try the game, but it won't reduce the pool of people looking for the real thing or increase the size of the pool of available copies. Frankly, the fact that many people here aren't talking about buying the digital version but are excited that they can somehow find a cheap cart copy now is evidence that nothing is really going to change. If people here were saying that they are going to buy the digital copy and no longer care about the cart version, then I would agree that you were on to something as that would be a clear sign that demand was decreasing and therefore prices should come down accordingly.

[PreZZ]

I paid 160$ on ebay auction for a sealed black label copy of castlevania sotn in 2001. Now its been released in compilations, live arcade and psn. You can buy a used black label copy for 30 to 40$ (they were over 100$ in 2001)

[Bazoo]

Earthbound prices will remain to be seen but like the others, I don't think prices on the older games generally lower that much. Maybe if it's released on 3DS, it will see a decrease in price, but I wouldn't expect it for Wii U VC. Part of that problem is that the inflation now is not simply caused by people wishing to play the game. I am almost positive that most people know about emulators and have no moral qualms. Instead, it's caused by need for the collector's item. Save maybe a few who will sell now.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I believe the prices for the original copy are going to come way down in the next couple of months. There's going to be panic selling on Ebay, once people hear the news. With so many copies being sent back into circulation, and with fewer people wanting to bid on them, it'll probably go back down to $100.

[Aussie2B]

As someone that has spent much of the past decade handling licensing of entertainment properties on behalf of studios and producers, I can state unequivocally that you have no idea what Nintendo will have to spend on licensing rights to re-release the game. It could be quite a bit, it might be next to nothing. It all depends on how the original game was created and how things like music and other elements were treated. I can tell you that there are many games from the 1990s where the music was handled not as a work-for-hire, but rather as a separate licensed element and a re-release requires separate licensing and payments to the composer. Nintendo's risk tolerance for parody may have also changed over time and it's quite possible that many of the parody brands, character names and other elements will be changed in the re-release. Nobody really knows at this point.

As for your second argument, it's interesting but not particularly compelling. Many of us just own one copy of the game that we obtained for far less than MSRP and have no intention of selling, so it doesn't matter if the resale price remains high or collapses. My opinion is that it might dip slightly, but will never collapse simply because that's not generally what happens when a game is re-released digitally. There are thousands of games that have seen digital re-release over the past few years and it's not like the value of all of those nose dived. People still like to collect the originals and they like having tangible items to hold onto. A digital download on the WiiU might satisfy the appetites of those who are merely curious and want to try the game, but it won't reduce the pool of people looking for the real thing or increase the size of the pool of available copies. Frankly, the fact that many people here aren't talking about buying the digital version but are excited that they can somehow find a cheap cart copy now is evidence that nothing is really going to change. If people here were saying that they are going to buy the digital copy and no longer care about the cart version, then I would agree that you were on to something as that would be a clear sign that demand was decreasing and therefore prices should come down accordingly.

Yes, there's no way for me, or you, or anyone else to know exactly what Nintendo did, but common sense suggests that Nintendo wouldn't waste a ton of money on some minor detail that 99% of players wouldn't care, or probably even notice, if they changed. I'm not saying that there's nothing that would require licensing, but the idea that Nintendo CAN'T release the game in the US or MUST pay for licensing is dumb because there are always alternatives, namely removing or altering the problematic content. But either way, the "copyright violations" of the game have always been pure fan speculation nonsense. It's like these people have never played any other games. There are games loaded with obvious references, and if they didn't get into legal trouble, why would Nintendo get into trouble over "Oh, this song kind of sounds like this other song"? It's just stupid. I've played many games with songs that blatantly rip off mainstream music and others where the songs sound extremely similar by pure coincidence, and if those companies didn't get into trouble, why would Nintendo for even less? I mean, do you guys think Working Designs had the money to get licensing rights for every single real-world thing that they referenced? Because I bet they didn't license anything. Probably a mixture of fair use and nobody caring.

My observation was simply that, an observation, not an argument. But, c'mon, I'm sure you're aware of the fact that most collectors, even if they bought their games for real cheap and plan to never sell, like the idea of their games being valuable. As for what happens when games are re-released digitally, I can think of many instances in which prices have lowered. That doesn't necessarily mean a "nose dive", but it's still a hit to value either way. Earthbound will probably never be really cheap again, but maybe someday it'll get into the 50-100 dollar range, which I think prospective buyers could find justifiable, as opposed to the ridiculous prices as of late. Yes, there are always collectors and, yes, given that just about everyone on Digital Press is a collector, we still prefer physical releases, but if you think only collectors have being buying Earthbound, I think you're sorely mistaken. A lot of the buyers are nostalgic young adults re-buying their childhood games, or people who became obsessed with Earthbound because of Smash Bros., or people who just got sucked up into the massive hype surrounding the game online. Whatever their reasons, plenty of the buyers are people who just want to play the game and want to do so in an official manner.

Edit: There's also this article, which I just discovered: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/how-digital-downloads-affect-values-of-collectable-games

[xelement5x]

I believe the prices for the original copy are going to come way down in the next couple of months. There's going to be panic selling on Ebay, once people hear the news. With so many copies being sent back into circulation, and with fewer people wanting to bid on them, it'll probably go back down to $100.

This is the only realistic way the price would drop, but it only works if people are selling their games starting at a low price. If everyone starts their game at $150 in auction then the perceived value would still exist.

[Bojay1997]

Yes, there's no way for me, or you, or anyone else to know exactly what Nintendo did, but common sense suggests that Nintendo wouldn't waste a ton of money on some minor detail that 99% of players wouldn't care, or probably even notice, if they changed. I'm not saying that there's nothing that would require licensing, but the idea that Nintendo CAN'T release the game in the US or MUST pay for licensing is dumb because there are always alternatives, namely removing or altering the problematic content. But either way, the "copyright violations" of the game have always been pure fan speculation nonsense. It's like these people have never played any other games. There are games loaded with obvious references, and if they didn't get into legal trouble, why would Nintendo get into trouble over "Oh, this song kind of sounds like this other song"? It's just stupid. I've played many games with songs that blatantly rip off mainstream music and others where the songs sound extremely similar by pure coincidence, and if those companies didn't get into trouble, why would Nintendo for even less? I mean, do you guys think Working Designs had the money to get licensing rights for every single real-world thing that they referenced? Because I bet they didn't license anything. Probably a mixture of fair use and nobody caring.

My observation was simply that, an observation, not an argument. But, c'mon, I'm sure you're aware of the fact that most collectors, even if they bought their games for real cheap and plan to never sell, like the idea of their games being valuable. As for what happens when games are re-released digitally, I can think of many instances in which prices have lowered. That doesn't necessarily mean a "nose dive", but it's still a hit to value either way. Earthbound will probably never be really cheap again, but maybe someday it'll get into the 50-100 dollar range, which I think prospective buyers could find justifiable, as opposed to the ridiculous prices as of late. Yes, there are always collectors and, yes, given that just about everyone on Digital Press is a collector, we still prefer physical releases, but if you think only collectors have being buying Earthbound, I think you're sorely mistaken. A lot of the buyers are nostalgic young adults re-buying their childhood games, or people who became obsessed with Earthbound because of Smash Bros., or people who just got sucked up into the massive hype surrounding the game online. Whatever their reasons, plenty of the buyers are people who just want to play the game and want to do so in an official manner.

I agree with you and you're right that my recollection of most of the references in Earthbound is that it would easily fall within fair use/parody among other copyright exceptions. That's not to say that if they keep the game as-is that there wouldn't be some licensing or clearance related expenses which could be significant. Indeed, if there are modifications to the game on the VC as a result of overly cautious IP attorneys at Nintendo, those differences could be enough to prompt people who would otherwise be content with the digital copy to seek out the cart version.

As for your second point, given the ease of downloading emulators and obtaining roms of this particular game, I can't imagine that a significant portion of the people buying it on cart over the past 18 years are the kind of people that will be satisfied with just a digital copy, identical to the original or not. The game has been steadily climbing in value for a long time, just as many NES and SNES games have been, including many that have previously been released on VC. It's not like a handful of collectors are sitting on a massive pile of this game. The value is tied to the supply that has been established over the past 18 years and while there might be some people who decide the digital copy is enough, I just don't agree that it will have much long-term impact either way. If anything, it might inspire people playing the game for the first time to seek out the original just as many of us have been inspired by various digital re-releases to seek out original copies of those games.

[SOL BADGUY]

What will happen is that the guys who still want to sell it for $200 will hold out.....and hold out.....and only the ones who want to sell will sell it and itll be cheaper than now. Game stores have to down mark the price a bit now for example.

[Bojay1997]

Edit: There's also this article, which I just discovered: http://www.racketboy.com/retro/how-digital-downloads-affect-values-of-collectable-games

I would hardly consider that article to be compelling evidence considering all three of the featured games were just one generation old and disc based and frankly niche titles to begin with. I'd like to see some similar data for Nintendo games over time as a number of them have been re-released on VC and yet it seems like Nintendo first party stuff continues to climb in value regardless of how many times Nintendo re-releases it.

[The Dord]

I hope the price comes way down. It's just stupid anyomre. I just sold a copy for about 250, and I've seem loose carts sell for as much as 300 on ebay in the last month, so I'm at least releived that I did so before any potential price plummet. I just can't ever seem to bring myself to hold on to a loose cart that's worth so much. But if we start seeing 200X prices again, then I may finally be able to justify putting a copy on the shelf permanently :)

And to anyone worried about their investment in a copy or copies of EB, welcome to the world of gambling, err, I mean investing ;)

With the $250 one can pay for Earthbound, someone could buy a Wii U and pay just a little more to get a digital copy on WiiUVC.

[joshnickerson]

My reaction to Earthbound being released on VC, and, come to think about it, everything from that Nintendo direct that came to me via Twitter this morning...
http://24.media.tumblr.com/5da62b33cbcc3a27ec5521a73d082a64/tumblr_mk4p30vqRv1r3jm2ho2_400.gif

[InsaneDavid]

I believe the prices for the original copy are going to come way down in the next couple of months. There's going to be panic selling on Ebay, once people hear the news. With so many copies being sent back into circulation, and with fewer people wanting to bid on them, it'll probably go back down to $100.

This. If there's a mass migration to sell EarthBound on eBay before a value collapse, even if there never was to be one, it will create said collapse = buyer's market.

[The 1 2 P]

Damn it, I need to sell my copy fast. Oh wait, I don't have a copy. While this VC release might drive the price down a bit, those thinking that this will cause the price of Earthbound to plummet are going to be very disappointed.

[c0ldb33r]

I've got my fingers crossed for a 3DS release. I'm much more likely to actually play it if it's bathroom friendly :)

[Press_Start]

VC always been the cheapest (legitimate) alternative for alot of retro games.

MUSHA ($130) 800 Wii points
Dynastic Hero ($400) 800
Shining Force 1 ($19) 800
Shining Force 2 ($29) 800
Breath of Fire II ($40) 800
Final Fight 2 ($20) 800
Fight Fight 3 ($50) 800
Megaman X2 ($60) 800
Wild Guns ($110) 800
Secret of Mana ($40) 800
Chrono Trigger ($73) 800
Super Mario RPG ($40) 800
Ogre Battle ($80) 800
Final Fantasy II ($25) 800
Final Fantasy III ($45) 800
Princess Tomato & The Salad Kingdom ($32) 500
Ninja Gaiden III ($31) 500
S.C.A.T. ($50) 500
Phantasy Star ($25) 500
Ogre Battle 64 ($40) 1,000
Air Zonk ($50) 600
Bonk 3 ($300) 600
Super Air Zonk ($300) 800
and....etc.

With the price of an Earthbound cart, you can buy over 2 grand worth of games and that can't be stated enough. Great to see Earthbound coming to WiiU.

[bb_hood]

Few things you have to remember:
1, release of VC game will not put more physical original copies of earthbound into existance. People who pay high amounts for said game are often collectors, who want a physical cart. You cant have a complete SNES collection without Earthbound, and owning a ROM doesnt count.

2, People who shilled out around 200$ for a copy for whatever reason are not going to jump at the chance to sell it for less. Demand might go down, but if someone paid 200$ for a snes games I would guess that they would not be willing to let it go for half that. I would guess they would plan on keeping it and not just reselling it after a playthrough or two.

3, Its a really popular game. Really popular. You could argue that demand for the original cart might go down but it actually might make it much more sought after. Putting it for sale on the VC will open it up to gamers who have never played or even heard about the game. This in turn might cause alot of gamers to want to seek out original copies.

4, Wild Guns is on VC, and that sells for 200+ cart only.

Just some food for though before you put your copy up on ebay

[Edmond Dantes]

As someone that has spent much of the past decade handling licensing of entertainment properties on behalf of studios and producers,

So the "1997" in your username doesn't refer to the year you were born?

[wiggyx]

So the "1997" in your username doesn't refer to the year you were born?

I'm going to say no. That post didn't read like something a 16 year old would have written.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I personally have NO idea what this release is going to do to the value of the SNES cartridge, but I will say that I've run into a LOT of users in the wild who have paid the market value for the SNES cart just to play the game. Not to collect, not to flip, not as a grail - simply because there was no other legitimate way outside of emulation (which I hear in some cases has protection measures that don't reveal themselves until the end of the game) to play it.

One would have to imagine that we're going to see SOME movement in the case of those owners.

It may not be a 1:1 scenario, but the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on PS3 and XBLA decimated the value of that game. Used copies for PS2 were selling for well over $100 before that game was released to users who similarly wanted to PLAY it, not "collect" it, and those users dumped their physical copies en masse after the digital releases.

I think the market is going to see at least a blip of more carts in the marketplace when this game comes out and even if the value isn't severely depressed, it's going to make for some competitive pricing.

I guess it's a wait and see.

[Daltone]

It may not be a 1:1 scenario, but the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on PS3 and XBLA decimated the value of that game. Used copies for PS2 were selling for well over $100 before that game was released to users who similarly wanted to PLAY it, not "collect" it, and those users dumped their physical copies en masse after the digital releases.



How difficult is MVC2 to emulate? I'd guess that a lot of people who wanted to play Earthbound probably have (although, of course it is not the same etc). However, if it is uncommon, rather than straight out rare, I would expect the price to dip as the edge is taken off the demand. If it is uncommon and costs $200 USD I'd go for it becoming expensive, but not totally insane.

I have absolutely no logic to back up my point of view. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

[FayeC86]

How difficult is MVC2 to emulate? I'd guess that a lot of people who wanted to play Earthbound probably have (although, of course it is not the same etc). However, if it is uncommon, rather than straight out rare, I would expect the price to dip as the edge is taken off the demand. If it is uncommon and costs $200 USD I'd go for it becoming expensive, but not totally insane.

I have absolutely no logic to back up my point of view. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

CPS3 emulation has not always been up to fighting game enthusiast standards, but nothing has stopped people from burning a copy of the Dreamcast version for the past 10+ years.

[Zing]

Wild Guns is on VC, and that sells for 200+ cart only.



Wild Guns is actually rare, unlike Earthbound. Also, Earthbound's demand has been spread out over the past three years or more. The price has roughly doubled over the span of those three years. Wild Guns was selling for less than half it's current value just last summer. It's doubled in approximately eight months and has had a large spike in short term demand.

[Bojay1997]

I personally have NO idea what this release is going to do to the value of the SNES cartridge, but I will say that I've run into a LOT of users in the wild who have paid the market value for the SNES cart just to play the game. Not to collect, not to flip, not as a grail - simply because there was no other legitimate way outside of emulation (which I hear in some cases has protection measures that don't reveal themselves until the end of the game) to play it.

One would have to imagine that we're going to see SOME movement in the case of those owners.

It may not be a 1:1 scenario, but the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on PS3 and XBLA decimated the value of that game. Used copies for PS2 were selling for well over $100 before that game was released to users who similarly wanted to PLAY it, not "collect" it, and those users dumped their physical copies en masse after the digital releases.

I think the market is going to see at least a blip of more carts in the marketplace when this game comes out and even if the value isn't severely depressed, it's going to make for some competitive pricing.

I guess it's a wait and see.

In fairness though, the version of the game released on PSN and XBLA had lots of options such as graphical filters and better multi-player than the aging console versions. Since it was an arcade/Naomi port anyway, I don't think people had much emotional attachment to copies on the PS2 or Xbox as they weren't really the "original" anyway. I think this is a different situation. While I would agree that there might be some small price depression prior to and following the release, it's not going to be the large drop people are hoping for.

[Spidey80]

4, Wild Guns is on VC, and that sells for 200+ cart only.



Holy crap...I actually remember buying it for only 5 bucks in 2009.

[starsoldier1]

Finally, now Nintendo needs to release the canceled Earthbound 64 or the GBA sequel over here now!

[The Adventurer]

Finally, now Nintendo needs to release the canceled Earthbound 64 or the GBA sequel over here now!

GBA Mother 3 is Earthbound 64. When they canned EB64 they moved the story over to GBA Mother 3 development.

[Edmond Dantes]

Wild Guns is actually rare, unlike Earthbound. Also, Earthbound's demand has been spread out over the past three years or more. The price has roughly doubled over the span of those three years. Wild Guns was selling for less than half it's current value just last summer. It's doubled in approximately eight months and has had a large spike in short term demand.

I'm curious as to whether or not the fact that Happy Video Game Nerd reviewed Wild Guns had anything to do with its dramatic price increase.

I'd love to play it, but...

[wiggyx]

GBA Mother 3 is Earthbound 64. When they canned EB64 they moved the story over to GBA Mother 3 development.

Correction, it's what became of EB64.

[Kyle15]

I don't know about specifically on here, but there was definitely plenty of that around the 'net. And suggesting that Nintendo would have to pay a boatload on licensing rights to re-release the game is a silly argument too.

And for an unrelated observation, I'm starting to notice on the different boards that I go to that the people who don't have the game expect the value of the SNES cart to drop while those who already have it almost uniformly stand by the idea that the Wii U release won't decrease the value and may even increase demand. I love how at the end of the day it's all just wishful thinking in regards to protecting one's own interests. :P Almost no one who already has the game wants to see it lose any value.

I have a cart and hope the price drops! It'll be easier for gamers to get a hold of who aren't gonna buy it digitally. And maybe, JUST MAYBE, the box and guide will drop in price too. I want those BAD!

[Gregger]

Hope it lowers the price of the cart, the game isn't rare enough to merit the price it's going for imo.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Looking at Ebay there does appear to be some movement since the announcement. On 4/18 there were 61 copies on Ebay, on 4/23 there were 75 copies.

$167.89 is the average price right now. In March it was $185, and in February it was $205. Looks like it was already going down before the announcement, so that'll make it hard to determine whether or not the rerelease affected pricing.

http://videogames.pricecharting.com/game/super-nintendo/earthbound

[Rickstilwell1]

Looking at Ebay there does appear to be some movement since the announcement. On 4/18 there were 61 copies on Ebay, on 4/23 there were 75 copies.

$167.89 is the average price right now. In March it was $185, and in February it was $205. Looks like it was already going down before the announcement, so that'll make it hard to determine whether or not the rerelease affected pricing.

http://videogames.pricecharting.com/game/super-nintendo/earthbound

Maybe the prices went down just because they stopped selling so high. Once all the desperate people have their copies, all sellers will have to drop their prices for the next tier of customers below them if they want to move units.

[wiggyx]

^^^ I doubt it.

I'm seeing some copies going for ~125 at this point. I think I'll take the plunge if/when we see sub-100 prices again.