most expensive console game ever?

[unbroken]

yea basically me and my friend had this argument today about how expensive games were back then (nes,snes), for some reason i remember paying like 79$ for contra or one of those big nes games back then and he was trying to tell me that games were never over 59$, i also remember paying like 85$ or something for lethal enforces for snes. anyway this got me thinking , what the most expensive game ever is, and im not talking neo-geo or anything like that, im talking standard nes,snes,genesis..ect style games. aight lets hear it

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Probably Steel Batallion for XBOX. Maybe the Biking game for SNES. Basically, anything with a big-ass controller.

[maxlords]

Some of the AES games were $250+ new....

[chrisbid]

steel battalion -xbox - 199
virtua racing - genesis - 89
phantasy star IV - genesis - 89

[Lemmy Kilmister]

steel battalion -xbox - 199
virtua racing - genesis - 89
phantasy star IV - genesis - 89

All RPG games were expensive way back when, i'm guessing because of the added battery and that RPGs were a niche market back then.

[samuraiX]

counting homebrew types...
I paid something like $600 for a Strikers 1945+ cart/ conversion from !Arcade! a long time ago.

Other wise, yeah, Neo Geo Home carts were the most without a doubt. $349ish for some of the later ones.

[classicb]

well these aren't the most expensive but here are some old TRU ads to give a general idea of what games when for back then. tell your friend that even 688 Attack Sub was over $59

http://ngagecollector.com/SegaGen_TRU.jpg

http://ngagecollector.com/Toysrus_SEGAGEN_ad.jpg

[retroman]

for a Gen.game i would say virtuaracing...it was like 100bones or close to it

[Charlesaway]

Virtua Racing, IIRC, sold for $99.99 CDN here in a zellers store. So did Mortal Kombat 3. MK3 is based on factual evidence (they still had copies for sale until recently, at the original sticker price!), but virtua racing I'm going by memory. I know there were other Genesis/snes games that sold in Canada in the 80 - $99 range.

At the time, the CDN dollar was even worth more, so I imagine it would have come out in the $75 - $90 USD range.

[samuraiX]

I also seem to remember Ground Zero Texes being $109.99 from Toys R Us back in the day...

[Push Upstairs]

http://ngagecollector.com/Toysrus_SEGAGEN_ad.jpg

I see the price of "Shadow Blasters" hasnt gone up much in 10+ years :P

[vincewy]

yea basically me and my friend had this argument today about how expensive games were back then (nes,snes), for some reason i remember paying like 79$ for contra or one of those big nes games back then and he was trying to tell me that games were never over 59$, i also remember paying like 85$ or something for lethal enforces for snes. anyway this got me thinking , what the most expensive game ever is, and im not talking neo-geo or anything like that, im talking standard nes,snes,genesis..ect style games. aight lets hear it

Unbroken, I assume you're talking about mainstream systems at official MSRP, keep in mind that Neo-Geo games are considered consoles games too. But if you exclude Neo-Geo games, other console games that cost over $60, I can think of (correct me if I'm wrong):

LaserActive - MegaLD and LD-Rom2 games are between $99 and $140 (3D Museum)

Genesis - Virtua Racing $90 and Phantasy Star 4 $100 (if I remember correctly)

FM-Towms Marty - I think most games are over 10,000 Yen, I have a copy of Scavenger 4 here with MSRP 9,800 Yen

PC-E ACD and Super Grafx games - they were like 10,000 Yen

PC-FX: Certain games at 9,800 Yen

Halcyon - the 2 games (Raiders vs Chargers and Thayer's Quest) released were $100 each

[classicb]

I see the price of "Shadow Blasters" hasnt gone up much in 10+ years :P

are you kidding me I would love to get $15 for Shadow Blaster.

[drwily008]

RDI HALCYON games were $99, all 3 or 4 of them (the system was around $2000).

I payed like $86 after tax for Final Fantasy 3 on launch day.

Phantasy Star 4 & Virtua Racer were both $99 I'm pretty sure.

[GaijinPunch]

There were many Japanese SFC (and other console) games 9800 yen and over. I believe Tales of Phantasia was 11,800 yen. Phanatsy Star IV started at $99.99 at Toys R Us in Texas when it came out.

EDIT: According to the data I've got hidden away at Japanese Gaming, the following are expensive ass games in Japan (excluding collections and box sets)

Someething Igo something senjin 15,500 Super Famicom
Hayazashi Nidan Morita Shogi 2 14,900 Super Famicom

From here down, all 14,800 and for SFC unless otherwise noted
Super Sangokushi
Kantoku no Ketsudan
Sangokushi 3
Taikyoku Igo Goliath
Hayazashi Nidan Morita Shogi
Top Management 2
Super Igo Iou
Hongakuha Igo gosei
Sangokushi 4
Sangokushi III
Kantoku no Ketsudan 2
Emit Vol 1, 2, and 3 (14,800 each!)
Shogi Saikou
Sangokushi IV

Anyone notice a pattern? Just about all either strategy sims, shogi, or go games. There are 50 more that ran 12,800 but I'm not in the mood to list them.

[WanganRunner]

Are we counting Special Editions?

The Sakura Taisen DC box was $200.

The Metal Gear Solid Premium Box (there were two, the gold one was way pricer, I think) was like $300-$350.

Oh, I'd actually say that the Nike Running Shoe-edition Gran Turismo 4 release was likely the most expensive. Like $700 or more I think.

[GaijinPunch]

Are we counting Special Editions?

I didn't.

[rbudrick]

You'd think for $99 PS IV could have came in something other than that cardstock case here in the states.

-Rob

[Sothy]

I saw a loose combat cart for like 8.00 at a thrift store the other day.

Most expensive...no.
Most ridiculous.. ya.

[Dimitri]

ACTION 52

$199.99

...that is all.

[Nebagram]

I remember paying £59.99 (pounds sterling- nowadays would be US $110, sunno about back in 1994) for Sonic 3 when it was released and thinking "shite and bollocks". Don't think any non Neo-Geo AES thing ever tipped the £60 mark way back when (and nowadays, absolutely nothing tops £40) with the possible exception of Samba De Amigo, £100 on release and probably more expensive nowadays! :/

[MarioAllStar2600]

steel battalion -xbox - 199
virtua racing - genesis - 89
phantasy star IV - genesis - 89

Steel battalion is a controller/accesory..... not just a game. Look at the actual game, and it's only what $50 bucks? (the second one)

[NintendoMan]

well these aren't the most expensive but here are some old TRU ads to give a general idea of what games when for back then. tell your friend that even 688 Attack Sub was over $59

Damn, some games really were $55+! I know people here always talk about the $60+ they spent on Street Fighter and such, but didn't remember the games really being that high.

[anagrama]

Don't think any non Neo-Geo AES thing ever tipped the £60 mark way back when

Street Fighter II (SNES) was £64.99 when first released. Virtua Racing was up there aswell.

[Untamed]

I see the price of "Shadow Blasters" hasnt gone up much in 10+ years :P

are you kidding me I would love to get $15 for Shadow Blaster.


Am I the only one who found that game fun?
I recently found it for 5$ CDN, and I'm happy. =/

[Anthony1]

I remember a number of SNES games being $79.99 and $69.99, but I don't remember any 16 bit games in the U.S. being over $84.99.


Maybe Virtua Racing, but that was about it. I'm almost positive that Phantasy Star IV was $84.99 at Toys R US.


As for Ground Zero Texas, you must be mistaken on that one, that game never sold for more than $59.99, and if it did sell for $59.99 somewhere, you could find it for $49.99 after looking around a bit.

Hey, by the way, do you remember back in say like 93 or 94 or 95, when Tower Records sold SNES and Genesis games? They definitely had their games marked up way higher than anybody else. I don't think they had hardly any games below $59.99, if they even had any at all. And they had quite a few for $69.99 and $74.99 and $79.99. The funny thing was, if you went to a Toys R Us or some place like that, you could get the same game for $49.99 or $54.99, but for whatever reason Tower Records prices were super duper high. After awhile they stopped carrying video games due to a lack of sales.

Gee, I wonder why they didn't sell very many?

[Berty]

Most games on launce in Australia are $100AUD = 76.80 USD or some games even come out at $109.95 AUD = $84.44USD.

Consider yourselves lucky.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I don't know why this is even an issue. Obviously the NEO Geo has the most expensive games at $349 plus tax. Playmore just released SNK vs. Capcom last year for this very price. The highest price I remember SNK charging is probably for each of the King of Fighters. For each year on the home console, they were at least $299 when they were new.

[Push Upstairs]

I see the price of "Shadow Blasters" hasnt gone up much in 10+ years :P

are you kidding me I would love to get $15 for Shadow Blaster.

Even $15 *new in the shrink wrap* would be a hard sell to me.

But thats because i wasn't very fond of the game.

[Nesmaster]

i remember seeing War Gods for N64 at K-Mart here in Canada for $120 when it launched. now THAT was crazy LOL!

[Iron Draggon]

I paid $99.99 each for the Genesis version of Virtua Racing and Phantasy Star IV on launch day, and I will never forget it. All my friends thought that I was nuts, but it was nothing to me. I was like hey, I pay $49.99 each for games literally every day, so why should it bother me that a couple of really good ones cost twice that much? I wouldn't have paid more than that for them though. And I remember beiing very peeved when the 32X version of Virtua Racing came out with even more features for only $49.99 and finding out that the Genesis version wouldn't work with the 32X attached too, but I'm glad I kept it anyway because the Genesis version is the only one that works with my Nomad. Funny though that the main reason why I sold my N64 and stopped collecting for it was because all the games for it cost too much. It was one thing to pay $75 for a game once in a while, but not all the time! Especially when the game turned out to be total crap. I still wish that I had been able to afford to keep collecting for N64, but it was hindering my ability to continue collecting for all the other systems that I owned way too much. I could get 2 games for any other system for what just one N64 game cost.

[Mr.Faxanadu]

I remember seeing Secrets Of Mana (SNES) at Zellers in Canada for 99.99 when it first came out.

I also remember buying Stanley Cup (SNES) for 69.99 :roll:

[imanerd0011]

I remember back when the N64 first came out, that Killer Instinct Gold was $80!!!
I also remember that Dragon Warrior 4 cost a ton when it first came out, I think $85 ???

[IGotTheDot]

Awesome classic ads!!

I was wondering if I was insane stashing current ads away.

[vincewy]

Neo Turf Masters for Neo-Geo AES

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=72503&item=8183125354

currently at $4000 US, now I'm tempted to sell mine (just kidding).

[NintendoMan]

i remember seeing War Gods for N64 at K-Mart here in Canada for $120 when it launched. now THAT was crazy LOL!

Espcially since the game is so damn terrible!

[Ruudos]

Maniac Mansion for NES here. I think it was 189,- guilders. (although some catalog list is as 149,- which was normally the top price for a NES game here, it was really 189,-)

[fergojisan]

2600 Pac-Man was 37.99 when I bought it in 1982. According to this inflation calculator I found ( http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ ), it would have been 56.91 in 1992, and 77.07 today. Still a lot to pay for crap in any decade! :eek 2:

[SamuraiSmurfette]

I remember driving to Toronto to buy a used copy of Virtua Racing for $90
but, to its defence, we played the hell out of it...and still have it!

also remember (but didn't buy) Hey You Pikachu at $119.99
DK 64 was close to that, too.

[Doonzmore]

I remember seeing Hey You Pikachu for N64 at K-Mart with a 79.99 dollar price tag. Probably due to the microphone.

[boatofcar]

I remember that when Virtua Racing came out it cost more than a new Genesis! That's the only instance I can think of when a new game cost more than a system that was still in production at that time. I remember paying around $85 for Final Fantasy 3 and Chrono Trigger at Babbages, and I remember paying $65 for Tecmo Super Bowl at a local game store. Of course, this was pre internet and pre-car for me so shopping around wasn't exactly an option.

[sabre2922]

The most I EVER paid for a single game was for Super Streetfighter 2 on SNES. It had a price tag of $79.99 on it and I just HAD to have the damn thing even though I already had Streetfighter 2 and my favorite Streetfighter2 Turbo :D I remember playing it for a couple hours then going RIGHT BACK to playing Turbo. I was also broke for like 2 weeks after that :angry:

Yeah I do remember the very pricey Genesis games like the Phantasy Star series and especially Virtua Racing When I saw Virtua Racing for $99 at Wal-mart I laughed out loud LOL the clerk looked at me like I was crazy and yeah I thought Virtua Racing was a very kool racing game but damn 100 bones was ridiculous.
Now the Phantasy Star series those were worth every penny although I was very dissapointed with part 3 since I traded in Phantasy Star2 for it :( and that is still one of my favorite RPGs ever.

[InsaneDavid]

Probably Steel Batallion for XBOX. Maybe the Biking game for SNES. Basically, anything with a big-ass controller.

Yeah, but you're paying for the controller, not the game.


also remember (but didn't buy) Hey You Pikachu at $119.99
DK 64 was close to that, too.

Hey You Pikachu was that for the cost of the microphone, no matter how pointless the game was. DK 64 was the first game to have the N64 Expansion Pak (if I remember correctly) included which is why Nintendo decided they could screw another $30 extra out of people.


steel battalion -xbox - 199
virtua racing - genesis - 89
phantasy star IV - genesis - 89

Yup, Virtua Racing on the Genesis is the most expensive single cartridge ever mass produced. (aside from the NeoGeo stuff) Although I'm pretty sure you guys are lowballing the cost. On it's release day I remember Virtua Racing for the Genesis was $129.99 here in San Jose. The price was due to the development and manufacturing of the SVP chip which powered the game. Open up your V.R. cart sometime, the SVP is huge for a game cartridge and looks like a CPU from a few years back. I remember this because I paid for it, $129.99 - which is why the release of Sega Classics Collection with the arcade perfect port of V.R. made me so damn happy. :D

[FurinkanianFrood]

Hmmmm. I never payed more than $60 for any domestic games, other than a couple of NeoGeo carts late in it's life (software support lifetime).

Yeah, 64 stuff, the odd Genny title....

I really get a kick out of the cost printed on the insert of some of my SFamicom and PCE games. Some RPG's around/over 9000 yen for instance.

Some of that stuff sells for less on Ebay than in Japan, which is always nice.

Kaze no Densetsu Xanadu 2 for instance.....

[SlayerOfFurbies]

hmmm if we factor in inflation.... those games from the 80's and 90's would be more expensive... like gasoline :D

[Putney]

Damn, some games really were $55+! I know people here always talk about the $60+ they spent on Street Fighter and such, but didn't remember the games really being that high.

Hah, I think other than imports my most expensive console game was Street Fighter 2 Turbo SNES for $76.99. Still have the receipt around here somewhere :)

[Aswald]

Could anything have been more expensive than the Neo-Geo and its games? One video game magazine from the early 1990s, in a roundup of consoles, said that it was for people who had lots of money, and liked to show it.

[Nature Boy]

2600 Pac-Man was 37.99 when I bought it in 1982.

This is what I was gonna use. Except I'm pretty sure my dad paid $100ish (Canadian) for Pac-man back in 82. Which beats pretty much everything today when you take inflation into consideration.

(Not including NeoGeo, which as has been mentioned doesn't count in this discussion)

N64 games were in the $90s in Canadian funds back around launch. Very ouch.

[Aswald]

But it's hard to resist mentioning something that, for the price of one game, could buy a console and a few games besides!

In 1989, didn't the NES Double Dragon cartridges go over $100.00 in some places?

[Retsudo]

The most I EVER paid for a single game was for Super Streetfighter 2 on SNES. It had a price tag of $79.99 on it and I just HAD to have

Man I know! I did the exact same thing. $79.99. I had to have it. I ran to Funcoland.

I also kicked out 80 bucks for the Tekken 3 Import.

[Cirrus]

I'm glad games don't cost this much anymore... the wonders of the DVD, I suppose. That, and there would have been real riots if people paid 80 dollars for five minute games like State of Emergency.

I paid $80+tax for Final Fantasy 3 when I was in 8th grade, the day after my birthday... and I feel no regret. I had to ride my bike across town, and spent most of my birthday money, but that game is the biggest "increase in gaming" that I ever played. There are (somewhat) better games now, but nothing raised the bar like that.

[Aussie2B]

The most I've ever paid for any game, new or old, was $80 for Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG when both were new (yes, even my Rondo of Blood was a cheaper purchase o_o ). I'm sure I must've forked out $70 for various games back then too.

Actually, my Japanese Star Ocean 3 was about $90, but I'm not gonna include that because I bought it as a special package with three of the rare promo items included. Those are what added another $10 or $20 to the price.

[Arthur-Otaku]

Genesis nomad was sold for 199.99, when genesis was already dead and 32x selling very bad. Insane

[Howie6925]

I remember Toe Jam and Earl being $100 when it first came out(cdn).
(The first game.)