Shock and Awe: What's the deal with SNES prices?

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

I picked up my first official nintendo system this weekend (My NES is the "Family Boy" clone). A SNES for $5 at a garage sale. I cleaned it up and ventured out to "Game Wizards" to pick up a cheap title and see whether it worked or not.

I walked into the store planning on grabbing a copy of Mario World with visions of all the Genny games I usually pick up for $3 - $5 complete dancing in my head.

Sure enough they had eight copies of Mario world stacked up ontop of one another behind the counter. Problem?

TEN BUCKS A PIECE.

Loose.

Is this normal for the SNES. I guess I've never really paid attention to the game prices since I didn't own the system. Hell, the only SNES games they had in the place that were under $10 were sports games.

I figured it was a fluke. Maybe Game Wizards just charges more than most people for SNES titles.

I truck around to 3 other Game Stops and Game Crazy's. Same thing at every one. Big stack of Mario Worlds. $9.99 a piece. Not only that but 90% of the N64 games were cheaper than the SNES ones.

What gives? Is the SNES just that heavily collected for? What is it about the Super Nintendo that keeps even the loose prices so high?

[Jibbajaba]

I know what you're saying. When I got my SNES, I wanted to pick up some cheap games to test it out and play with it, and all I could find for cheap was sports titles.

The SNES is definitely heavily collected, and the games do hold their value better, but you can still find them at garage sales, thrift stores, and flea markets for better prices. It just depends on how patient you are. If you are really wanting to play some SNES, then pay the $10 for Super Mario World. It's worth the money in terms of gameplay and enjoyability. You might be able to find it for a few bucks cheaper if you hold out, but if you are going to overpay for a dirt common SNES game, make it a good one like SMW. Or try to find an SMW/All*Stars cart if you can.

Chris

[Trebuken]

My closest Gamestop has all their SNES games 50% for clearance reasons. The other three Gamestops I visit do not even carry them. You should expect to pay more for them than any Genesis titles, but what your seeing seemd to be high. Also, any game with Mario, Kirby, or Donkey Kong, will sell for more (applies to N64 as well) because many people bu them for young children who are not ready for an Xbox yet (5 year olds and GTA don't mix well, usually). Mario World can be had cheaper than ten bucks, five is a good price, but it can vary dramatically, espeacially if you start to add a box or manual to it. The Super Nintendo is an expensive system to collect for, but most of the games that are expensive are worth it.

Trebuken

[john_soper]

Where were you when Game Crazy had the 3 for $15 sale about 4 months back?

[Numsay]

EB online has good prices for SNES games and a pretty good selection that changes everyday.

Use these codes for discounts and free shipping:

PPLay15 15% off used games
Saver Free shipping on used games
Edge card # Stack an additional 10% on top of all that if you have one.

CAG15 also works in place of pplay15. Credit to Cheap Ass Gamer for that one.

I think Mario World is like $5.99 before discounts.

Numsay

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

I know that playwise the game is certainly worth that. Even being the sega fan that I am Mario World ranks as one of my all time favorites.

I just have this mental block about dropping ten bucks on a loose cart that was the pack in for the damn system. I'll do the pawn shops proper next weekend and find myself a cheap copy.

Love the new Avatar Jibba. Same subject, now 22% more stern.

[Numsay]

Confirmed $5.99 before codes:

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/119328.asp

[googlefest1]

you guys and the lucky pawn shops

this part of the US sucks when it comes to that

ive been to a bunch around here and all of them refuse to take any of that stuff in

i feel snes and genesis titles should be the same price

i dont get whay they are not -- and if i see anyone buying these classic is mostly nes and genesis - and the snes stuff dosn't get touched -- mabey its the prices -- i know thats been the case with me

[YoshiM]

Places love to jack up the prices on branded SNES games (ie Mario, Zelda, etc.) due to their popularity. EB games sells Super Metroid for $29.99 used! I rarely buy SNES games from game stores, crossing my fingers to find titles at thrift stores that aren't sports titles. I swear the Madden monster swings by every month and throws up cartridges for every platform at Goodwill.

[fishsandwich]

I think that Super Nintendo prices are a bit higher than the average cart, whether it be Genesis, Nintendo 64, or NES. I don't know why that is the case. I think I shall hook mine up and give it a whirl.

Old GB carts still cost a bunch, though.

:D

[DigitalSpace]

Welcome to the SNES world!

There's no reason to pay $10 for a loose Mario World. Like you said, it's a great game, but far too common.

You're in the Portland area, right? I recommend trying CD/Game Exchange. From my experiences, they have the best prices on SNES games and always have a nice selection. The EB Games at PSU on Broadway and Jackson is the only one I know of that stocks SNES games, and they have a decent selection (I think they have a few copies of Mario World too).

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

Man, I completely forgot about CD/Game Exchange. I'll have to hit one of them after work.

I haven't stopped at one for awhile now because the one I frequented wasn't getting in many boxed Genesis games.

The $0.99 copy of "Boxing: Legends of the Ring" I picked up has shown that my SNES does indeed work. Now the next order of business is finding one that isn't that pleasent shade of yellow.

[hydr0x]

there's one simple reason why SNES is more expensive than every other system: mothers

trust me, 60% of the people that have bought snes games from me in the past on ebay where mothers buying it for their children, no kidding

and they are absolutely willing to spend 15-20 bucks on a loose (manual prefered) good snes jump&run ;)

[Anthony1]

$10 for Mario World is a crime. Don't pay that. The max I would pay is $5.


Sure, the game is incredible. In fact, I actually consider it to be a contender for best game ever.


Really, at a flea market, you should be able to get super common SNES games for about $3 a pop, give or take a buck.


Alot of times, at flea markets, I see guys selling good SNES games for absolutely ridiculous prices, like for example a game like Super Ghouls and Ghosts for $25. But I've found that if I offer the guy $5 or $7, he'll usually take it. He says that he prices them super high because sometimes, somebody will just walk up there and buy it for that price.


I will say this, you missed out big time. That GameCrazy sell that happened way back, was absolutely amazing for anybody that wanted to start up a kick ass SNES library. I scored tons of SNES classics during that sell that I would have never been able to afford otherwise.


By the way, these are the SNES games that you should focus on getting first:


Super Mario World
Super Ghouls & Ghosts
Donkey Kong Country
Super Adventure Island
Contra 3: The Alien Wars
Jurassic Park
F-Zero
Super Metroid
Zelda a Link to the Past
Castlevania 4
Super R Type
Axelay
Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
TMNT IV
U.N. Squadron
Aero the Acrobat
Yoshi's Island
Starfox
Rock N Roll Racing
NBA Live '95
Plok
Blackthorne
Gradius III
Alien 3
Super Mario All-Stars




Some of the games above are quite common and should be had for about $5 or even slightly less. Games like Jurassic Park, NBA Live '95, Super Mario World, F-Zero, Starfox, Alien 3, Aero the Acrobat, Plok and Gradius III.


All of those games can be had between $2 and $6 if you are patient. The key is patience. Hit up flee markets, thrift stores and pawn shops. Also check places like GameCrazy. A lot of their games are dramatically overpriced, but sometimes they have a great game like Plok for only $3. Shop ebay, but find the guy with the lowest shipping and use esnipe, and make sure you don't overbid. It's all about patience. Sometimes when I'm going after a game on Ebay, I have to bid on it like 5 times before I win it for a decent price. But it's all about patience.


Also, trade games. Go to our Buying and Selling forum. There are guys on there that will sell you alot of the games above for less than $8 shipped.


On Ebay, sometimes it's better to buy games in lots and sell off the doubles.

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

Yeah Esnipe is the only way to go when dealing with Ebay. It's way to easy to get stuck in lame bidding wars otherwise.

Thanks for the list Anthony. The games I've played off it are great so I'll definitely take them all under consideration.

Ebay lots are certainly going to be the cheapest way to land a couple of good commons, but I was in instant gratification mode after scoring the SNES so I was looking for NOW NOW NOW. The $10 Mario World sobered me up a little. I'm going to hold off until I find a deal.

I really need to find a better game to test this console out. I don't know if the controllers I have are worthless, or if "Boxing: Legends of the Ring" just has the worst play control in video game history. From some of the reviews I've been reading it's the latter.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[rpepper9]

Where were you when Game Crazy had the 3 for $15 sale about 4 months back?

Do you still have the Game Crazy in your area? The one that was attached to the local Hollywood Video in my area went out of business. They had some pretty fair prices on there SNES games however, and I went there quite often. I am looking to pick up a cheap Super Mario World to take apart and paint the cart black to match my freshly painted Black SNES. So if anyone has a SMW for about 5-7 bucks shipped please PM me.

[Jumpman Jr.]

I've never found it that bad. I mean, even the rarer games (like Chavez II, Fun N Games, etc...) don't cost alot, even on ebay.
Other than of coarse games like Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana, I've always found them quite reasonable.

[WanganRunner]

The best way to collect SNES titles is to buy big lots.

You will almost always get stuff you either don't want or already have, but you'll also get new desireable stuff.

It's a good method so long as you're comfortable doing a lot of re-selling for the surplus.

[Trade-N-Games]

I own my own store and this is my story about Super Mario world for the SNES.
last year I had over 10 copies in stock at any given time for $4.95 each and I sold one almost every time I sold a system and i ran out. Super Nintendos are selling like crazy over the last 6 months.
So i raised my price up to $6.95 and I get a few in but all are gone as soon as they come in Now thats the price I will keep it at but I am sure I could get $10 for it if i wanted since its the number one game almost everyone ask for.

[snes_collector]

Where were you when Game Crazy had the 3 for $15 sale about 4 months back?

I wish I had an GameCrazy in my area. I remember when GameStop was clearing out their stuff, I had to bought bought 40 SNES from one GameStop last year. The best place to the get SNES now days is flea markets. It will probably be easier to get them if you live in a big city(unlike me.) Oh, and welcome to the SNES Universe, the best Universe in gaming :D