Are SNES Game Prices Finally Going Down?

[Gunstar Hero]

I remember looking at eBay probably 2 months ago and being shocked at how ridiculous the prices had gotten for SNES games. Today I was searching for some games and noticed something amazing. The prices were much, much lower than even a month ago. Earthbound had sold for $120 or $130 as opposed to last months upwards of $200 if I remember correctly. Also I remember Super Metroid for $45 and now it's BIN for $25. I've noticed the change with many SNES games. Hopefully saying this doesn't jinx anything but I am certainly happy that the insanity with pricing may be over.

[PizzaKat]

I checked Turtles in Time and it seems to have dropped as well. Wild Guns on the other hand is rather expensive. I sure hope this is the case. Maybe people realized their paying premium prices for very old software. Not to bash the games, Im willing to pay something I want but I'm not going overboard for it. Especially for common games.

[Dr. BaconStein]

Mega Man 7, X2, and X3 are still pretty high.

[Rickstilwell1]

Now watch Nintendo 64 and GameCube go up in price as SNES goes down.

[bigbacon]

when i can get contra 3 for like less than 15 bucks, then I'll be happy.

[sloan]

I hope so. It has never made sense that a game can have 2 pages of auctions and every one is priced at $40 or above. Simple rules of supply and demand would seem to dictate that there is ample supply, so how do those prices artificially remain so high?

[spman]

The bubble will burst eventually, the only think propping up these artificially high prices are the speculators that all came out of the ground after Stadium Events sold for $10,000 and started buying up anything and everything. With a few exceptions, even the rarest of the rare games had no less than 25,000 copies printed. Many expensive titles, stuff like Turtles in Time, a lot of PS1 RPGs, first party Nintendo titles, etc. had millions, some even tens of millions of copies that were printed and sold, there should be enough copies of these games out there for everyone that wants one today to have two of them. The current high prices are not a function of supply and demand, it's just a problem with the supply chain.

I think we've already seen prices on NES and SNES games peak, and interest is starting to decline amongst the casual gamers. Eventually the prices will settle like they did with Atari, prices on he common stuff will tank, while the rare stuff will always be expensive, possibly less so. In Earthbound's case, the fact that it was finally released on the Virtual Console, even if it is on a console that no one has much interest in.

[SparTonberry]

With a few exceptions, even the rarest of the rare games had no less than 25,000 copies printed.

I'm guessing it's in your "few exceptions" but Nintendo Power reported Tecmo Super Bowl II had a 15,000 copy print run (obviously SNES, no idea if the Genesis version was also limited). Awhile ago I found an old Quintet page that said only 20,000 copies of Robotrek were sold. (so that would make it rarer than Ogre Battle, yet OB has always been a high-priced game while I probably only paid like $8 for my Robotrek cart years ago at GameStop)

[spman]

I'm guessing it's in your "few exceptions" but Nintendo Power reported Tecmo Super Bowl II had a 15,000 copy print run (obviously SNES, no idea if the Genesis version was also limited). Awhile ago I found an old Quintet page that said only 20,000 copies of Robotrek were sold. (so that would make it rarer than Ogre Battle, yet OB has always been a high-priced game while I probably only paid like $8 for my Robotrek cart years ago at GameStop)

Sold is different than printed though. There had to be a minimum order for a game to be printed, just to cover the cost of running the factory. There are still discoveries from time to time of brand new copies of games previously thought to be super rare, where someone finds an abandoned warehouse of overstock merchandise from an old retailer that never sold. There's still plenty of discoveries to be made out there.

[Dr. BaconStein]

I remember hearing that once a game is released digitally, the original game tends to drop in price. Earthbound was just released on Nintendo's eShop this year, so maybe that's what drove its price back down a bit.

[sparf]

Earthbound is finally available to people easily, cheaply, and in a form that doesn't require them to invest any significant time or effort into making a system available to play the original ON. It also satisfies the people to whom ROMs are either unknown or anathema. So it's natural that that will reduce the demand a little and thus reduce the cost (even though there's no real correlation between rarity and cost on that game, that I know of).

Hopefully the "VIDJAGAMES=MONEY" days are going to slow down and things will settle, at least on the NES/SNES.

[wiggyx]

Now watch Nintendo 64 and GameCube go up in price as SNES goes down.

Already have been. I made sure to pick up every N64 I would ever want this past year for just that reason. I've been watching prices slowly start creeping up, and I'm sick of the insane SNES prices keeping me from picking up the last 20 or so must-have games on my list, so I figured I would try to get ahead of the curve


Fucking EVO is still going up in price. Suddenly the 100 or so bucks that it was going for about a year ago doesn't seem so unreasonable, and that's only by contrast to current prices

[Atarileaf]

Gamecube stuff has been high for at least a year already and it will get higher now. Just around the time I started getting into the system, of course.

[TheRetroVideoGameAddict]

I've noticed a dip in price for certain titles but all in all SNES prices are still super high compared to what they should be. A Typical SNES games would seriously be like $5-$7 with top tier titles and popular games going for $10-$12 and rares going for collectors prices, there is absolutely no reason that Super Mario World should be over $12 and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past should be like $20+ on eBay or in shoppes.

I do have the feeling that over all prices with SNES games will comes down over time, but not for a while. There is still a rabid market for SNES and NES collectors and people are just willing to pay too much which is helping to keep these prices higher than they should be.

[SparTonberry]

Already have been. I made sure to pick up every N64 I would ever want this past year for just that reason. I've been watching prices slowly start creeping up, and I'm sick of the insane SNES prices keeping me from picking up the last 20 or so must-have games on my list, so I figured I would try to get ahead of the curve


Fucking EVO is still going up in price. Suddenly the 100 or so bucks that it was going for about a year ago doesn't seem so unreasonable, and that's only by contrast to current prices

I sucked it up and bought a cart when it was $50 (I'd say... 2009, maybe?), even though that was more than I wanted to pay. Hate to think what it is now.

[Natty Bumppo]

I think any price drops have more to do with the reality of the economy than anything else - despite pronouncements that things are getting better I seriously doubt they are. This results in a lot of people just not having the disposable income to buy stuff on ebay (or anywhere else for that matter). I don't pay much attention to game prices (mostly because I have most of what I want already) but I do actively check a lot of other categories that I collect and aside from premium items (for the most part - there are still some things that have a mystique despite being pretty common) prices are way done - for example some chess sets that used to routinely fetch $300 or so now generally have been going for a bit under $100. (We are talking the exact same sets.)

What always fascinates/befuddles me are the sellers that continually put astronomical prices on a strictly buy it now basis that don't have any bearing whatsoever (unless it is to multiply by 4 or 5 times) on current prices received at bona fide auctions (not even in the past at the peak of things).

I don't see the trend getting any better until the economy actually gets better (rather than being claimed via smoke and mirrors) - which is unlikely IMHO since neither party really has a clue as to what to do about the mess we are in. (Not trying to start a political/economic discussion here - just saying I don't expect things to get better in the next decade or so.)

If one does have the wherewithal to buy things it is a great time to do so if you are selective about what you pick up.

[Drclaw411]

I bet the end of this console generation has something to do with it. I've certainly slowed down my purchasing as I save money for the PS4 and Xbox One.

[bigbacon]

What always fascinates/befuddles me are the sellers that continually put astronomical prices on a strictly buy it now basis that don't have any bearing whatsoever (unless it is to multiply by 4 or 5 times) on current prices received at bona fide auctions (not even in the past at the peak of things).

i love these also, especially the ones with the VGA graded crap that they slap up there for like 1000+ dollars for no reason what so ever. Who the hell the going to pay like 2500 dollars for a graded cheap ass common game which you could probably get CIB for 10-20 dollars.

[Natty Bumppo]

Who the hell the going to pay like 2500 dollars for a graded cheap ass common game which you could probably get CIB for 10-20 dollars.

No doubt the same people that believe something is rare, incredibly rare, extremely rare or ultra rare strictly because (apparently) the seller has designated it so.

[bigbacon]

No doubt the same people that believe something is rare, incredibly rare, extremely rare or ultra rare strictly because (apparently) the seller has designated it so.

lol, I've tried that a few times....it never works.