The Prices of NES in the year 2000

[jpayne | 11]

This is from my local game store that has always stayed on top of game prices, this is in October of 2000, when Flintstones was more expensive than Flintstones 2, when Little Samson was a 9 dollar game, and when Ducktales 2 at 29 was considered expensive. It's crazy how far it's come. 

Nintendo.pdf

[scaryice | 585]

Here's all the licensed games that were 20+:

Dragon Warrior 3	39
Dragon Warrior 4	39
Genghis Khan	39
Mega Man 5	39
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2	39
Mega Man 6	33
Bubble Bobble 2	29
Casino Kid 2	29
Dragon Warrior 2	29
Godzilla 2	29
Mega Man	29
Pac-Man (Namco)	29
Adventures of Lolo 2	26
Ninja Gaiden 3	26
Donkey Kong	24
Galaga	24
Mega Man 3	24
Mega Man 4	24
Adventure Island 3	23
Adventures of Lolo 3	23
Bomberman 2	22
Duck Tales 2	22
Final Fantasy	22

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I was going to call them overpriced if they charged $1 for SMB/DH but it’s just $0.39  Old price lists are fun. Cool to see one not from Funcoland. 

Edited June 23, 2021 by DefaultGen

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Check out the Digital Press Guide from 2001 and you'll have a pretty bang-on idea of what collectors "in the know" paid for NES stuff at the time.  Man, we didn't know how good we had it...

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

I remember a guy coming up to me and offering to pay Game Dude prices for my stuff around 2009 and that guy paid an absurd amount for pretty common stuff.  Thx Game Dude.

[The Count | 526]

I remember Dragon Warrior IV and Tengen Tetris always being the most expensive NES carts for years.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I do too, the local shop I bought most my stuff from like 20-25 years ago, those were the two worst loose or complete didn't matter, price was same.  Tetris was $100 (mostly because it was the only copy ever to come in, wanted to keep it, so it was the NFS value.)  The other was DW4 for $50.  Most stuff in that day it was like $5 a game or 2 $5 valued games in trade to 1 off the shelf which was great.  I miss cheap exploration and discovery...long dead, outside of just warezing stuff.

[koifish | 555]

On 6/24/2021 at 4:02 AM, SilverspoonGaming said:

I remember a guy coming up to me and offering to pay Game Dude prices for my stuff around 2009 and that guy paid an absurd amount for pretty common stuff.  Thx Game Dude.

Is Game Dude a well-known store chain or something? I got a game from them once that had a sticker like that on it, said California so maybe it's only a West Coast thing.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

West coast thing, long established (early 90s) gaming store in LA county or near there at least.  I tried to hit that place once when I was back there for a few years about a decade back but never could make the trek unfortunately.  They were pretty quick to taking advantage of matching online prices by then so it also wasn't worth the drive, but previous (to 2011-12) it was a solid place to score all sorts of local and import systems, accessories, and games for great prices.  Very much a west coast thing, but they did in time setup online sales through their own site.

[TDIRunner | 2,733]

[koifish | 555]

Ah ok. I can't say I've been to the western US much, so I've never really known of it beyond that sticker.

The dirtiest secret the stores didn't want you to know was that you could get nesticle and play all these games for $0
I will admit that until I bought a real system in the later 2000s, I played all NES games on emulators, either officially released (animal crossing, namco museum) or whatever was on my teenaged older brother's computer (including some 'interesting' romhacks of the era )

 

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Oh I used to keep all sorts of tape then CD backed up archives of multiple Nintendo systems for emulation use, total archives of officially released stuff, or with NES as there was plenty the unlicensed too.  I had my vices when it came to what I'd pirate, share, so light hacks on into english from Japanese with emulators, etc.  I totally get the whole dirty secret bit, even in 1995-96 you didn't have to pay, if you knew where to look as it was made available in those wild west days.

[Alder | 243]

I was 9 years old at the time, I remember seeing lots of NES games at EB games, and some at flea markets. But I was a kid with no money. Can't help but feel like I missed the boat by 10 years or so, lol

[DarkKobold | 190]

There was a guy on the old PCEFX forums who would quote "GameDude" as being the most accurate price guide for TG16 games, because they weren't "influenced by the evil eBay." Truth is, GameDude only ever updated their price list on an item when they got a new one in stock. So, of course prices on rare stuff were massively out of date, and surprise surprise, when they did get stock, they were pretty on par with eBay.

But yeah, they'd claim that games selling for $200 on eBay, routinely, were only worth $50 because this out of date, shitty price guide.

[NostalgicMachine | 233]

I remember LoZ and a few others being $20 games at Funcoland late 90's/early 00's, and that was like holy grail prices lol.

Here's a pic (not mine) of a Funcoland flyer from November of who knows when:

[MegaMan52 | 2,442]

In 2002, I bought Batman at a local game store. It was $4 (Canadian). They also had the box for it, so I grabbed it and it was still $4. As you can see in this picture, the price tag is still on the box:

The same year, I also saw Battletoads there for $4. The label was a little torn, but I remember buying it anyways (I've since bought another copy that is in much better shape). They also had Donkey Kong Jr. Math for around $15.

Edited January 29, 2022 by MegaMan52

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I miss when game sales weren't about greed, Batman is a great example of it.  Before the run up in 2012 since you could buy a game and get the paper included in the cost, not a separate charge for game, manual, other maybe insert map, box and then worse into baggies, blocks of foam and sleeves...sheesh.

[doner24 | 1,195]

40 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I miss when game sales weren't about greed, Batman is a great example of it.  Before the run up in 2012 since you could buy a game and get the paper included in the cost, not a separate charge for game, manual, other maybe insert map, box and then worse into baggies, blocks of foam and sleeves...sheesh.

Not true, people were still selling the manuals and inserts for money back then too. 

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

Honestly it would have never occurred to 15-16 year old me to buy Nintendo tapes in 2000. It’s probably better anyways since I moved around a lot after turning 18 and they would have got sold/lost anyways. I was largely gaming on PC at this time I think. I didn’t get back to consoles till around 2003ish after N64

[Tanooki | 4,932]

5 hours ago, doner24 said:

Not true, people were still selling the manuals and inserts for money back then too. 

I never ran into that in the 90s or 00s, just in in the 2010s and since.  Or at least not all piecemeal at least.  I could see someone tack on like $5 for complete vs game or game+manual and that really isn't that far off or unreasonable.  I guess gouging was more or less a reasonable thing locally.

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

On 1/29/2022 at 5:16 AM, Van Jackson said:

I remember LoZ and a few others being $20 games at Funcoland late 90's/early 00's, and that was like holy grail prices lol.

Here's a pic (not mine) of a Funcoland flyer from November of who knows when:

Ahh, yes. Hagane and Aero Fighters combined for less than $5... definitely the good ole days

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Given the sports games tend to be a dead give away, it looks like 1997 because NHL and NBA 98 are there, and the year before was when they came out dated for the following.  Also other late ones like Final Fight 3 and Pocky & Rocky 2 are on there.

[Nes Freak | 584]

dont make me build a time machine lol

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 hour ago, Nes Freak said:

dont make me build a time machine lol

Why not?  NES games were essentially free back then compared to now.  Just for shits and giggles, I've posted a couple printscreens of my feedback from between 15-20 years ago (eBay won't tell me the exact dates of sale anymore ).  Highlights include sealed Bucky O'Hare, DuckTales 2 and Powerblade.  I've got over 900 feedback on eBay, and the first half of them from pre-2012 all look like this...

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Dr. Morbis

[RH | 4,903]

A great disappointment of mine was back when I discovered eBay in 1999, I wanted to get a sealed copy of Final Fantasy.  Yeah, even back then we had issues with re-seals.  I noticed shelf wear on the box under the seal of one I bought, so I contacted eBay.  I needed greater proof, so I opened it and sure enough the game was complete but the contents were 100% not new, and I got a refund.

Anyway, my regret is that I didn't keep looking for a sealed copy.  I think they were going for under $100 back then.  Maybe somewhere even in the $50-75 range.