Retro Game Inflation: How Much Would They Cost Today?

[@MJFallout]

Very interesting. Thanks for putting in the effort. Of course, collectors will always reference the 'before it was cool'/retro - time, when .e.g. Game Boy games weren't retro yet, only terribly outdated, and you could get most games out of a shabby rummage box, on a flea market, 5 for $20, or something; but that's a different topic

[@8bitjoystick]

Well I for one do not blame KZbinrs for the cost of video game inflation instead I actually blame price charting in eBay. Before price charting in eBay people just priced games on what they thought they should be priced. Then price charting started to aggregate eBay data of sales and and created this positive feedback loop where people were pricing their games based on those stupid websites. That ever drove prices up and then there was "The Money Bros" who we're trying to flip games for as much profit as possible (instead of getting real jobs) and in doing so it ever kept driving the price upper words and upwards. It's one of the reasons why I mainly collect Japanese games because they are are exempt from all of this bullshit.

[@Evercade_Effect]

Great video! I think at some point in our lifetime, there tje video game crash for retro games, and the prices will drop dramatically back to what they should be.

[@8bitjoystick]

Well, I think the market for graded in box field video games is absolute bullshit and this whole monetization of boxed video games is one of the contributors to the rising cost of cold games. I blame companies like Wata, Pricecharting, and eBay. They've done a hell of a lot more to raise the price of retro video games than any KZbinrs. Well prices gradually come down? Who knows. I could see it becoming a little bit more reasonable, but I don't think we're going to go back to 2005 prices.

[@roberthornibrook6344]

@@8bitjoystick totally agree. I doubt *very* much we will see a pop in prices anytime soon if ever. The "graded" games I can see drop like rocks. If emulation didn't impact prices, the market might. Now for the truly rare and obscure stuff (like the Laseractive or the Apple Pippin) I can see just keep going up and up as there was such a limited run and as such the pool of working consoles and games will keep getting smaller as time goes on.

[@GrigoriRasputin]

This is kind of rationalize some prices today. Say when I bought Mario RPG for about 80, pretty pricey, but that's actually a good price relative to inflation and relative to it being a really good game. That's not always going to work but considering new games are in the 60-80 range that's honestly my baseline when it comes to a game I really really want.

[@8bitjoystick]

Super Mario RPG is a perfect example. A while back when I bought my Super Nintendo copy for $100, I did the inflation calculation of how much the game cost when it was new and it was 120 bucks so I could see that for that game. What I sort of was a slap in the face is seeing how bad Pitfighter for Super Nintendo was and then the fact that they actually charged over $100 for it. Now I made this video from a uniquely American perspective, but a lot of games in Japan used to be around $100 in the '90s and that was like the regular retail price. But the competition between stores was so crazy that they would drop down around $60 after a couple months. And of course that was $60 of 1990s money which is again a lot more nowadays. I was really sort of surprised to see just how expensive a lot of games were when they originally came out and then they bottomed out and now the upswing in cartridges is not as high as they were when they were new but nothing like the "Golden age of cartridge collecting" 2000-2010 in my book.

[@intellivisiongamer]

Intellivision was the 2nd most expensive console after adjusted for inflation. The 3DO is the top. Atari VCS/2600 is way up the list as well. One thing for certain is collecting retro games is a lot more costly than it use to be lol.

[@8bitjoystick]

A NeoGeo AES was $650 in 1991, that is $1,506.95 today. The 3DO was $700 in 1993 so that is $1,528.47 today An Intellivision was $275 in 1979 or $1,199.28. 3DO, NeoGeo AES and Intellivision by my counting.

[@demonprincess5634]

in that case then people selling games and such need to lower there prices. Just go by inflations and we all well be better off.

[@8bitjoystick]

Well the problem is with a lot of Retro Games sold in stores and online. Is that their price? What people will pay and for what people are asking for? That's one of the reasons for the last like 4 years that we've seen this price charting eBay creep has games will go up in price. But if you look at what a lot of these games originally cost if you're just for inflation that were way more. Like I can't believe many Super Nintendo games were over $110 in price when they were new. I remember them being expensive but not that much

[@piratestation69]

Speaking of inflation some of the late nes carts ie panic resturant, little samson were cheap. Now they are $400+... and thats used... i take cheap games and turn them into the expensive ones. A lot of them use the same board. Ie home alone 2 turned it into panic restaurant. Burn new roms, add a few bodge wires and a new label dunzo. For my own personal collection. Sure i could use an everdrive but it doesn't play everything. Inflation sucks... i thought neo geos were expensive look at them now. They will never lose value only go up in price.

[@8bitjoystick]

Well when researching this video I found that a lot of cartridge games were crazy expensive when they were new and then they became old and the prices bottomed out and now they're on the upswing but it's nowhere near what the original games cost when they were new in stores. Again except for Neo Geo that stuff was always crazy expensive. I'm always on the lookout for a Magic Bell. Lickle since I'm more into famicom carts

[@KarnovJr]

Lets not kid ourselves Metal Jesus Rocks and his pals inflated so many games in the aftermarket for the past 10 years. Lets not justify the stupid current prices of old games now. Is Haunting Ground for PS2 really worth paying $400 for???

[@8bitjoystick]

I am more likely to blame Ebay, price charting, DK Oldies and the "OMG GAMEZ IZ MONEY" game flippers than Metal Jesus Rocks. He does not sell games.

[@The_Laser_Channel]

I do understand that video game development is more expensive now, but still, video games these days really are too expensive because they are only selling you like 1/4 of the game and having day 1 DLC released for another $20 or so....then they have a lot of micro transactions.....I know they aren't "required" but still, they are making tons of money on those microtransactions and the paid DLC....Fortnite brings in about $2 MILLION PER DAY!! (granted, it is a free to play game)

[@8bitjoystick]

What really gets me is when you don't actually get a guaranteed reward for time. I am a recovering Destiny addict and sunk way way way. Way too much time into that game. What would get me is you would spend your time and you wouldn't actually get a reward. You would get a chance to get a weapon out of a loot box. I find it all highly distasteful and I have no problem with DLC that expands the game, not DLC that is designed to suck money out of wallets

[@The_Laser_Channel]

@@8bitjoystick Destiny RNG has ALWAYS been bad for me, both in D1 and d2....I only got those sought after exotics when Xur sold them...NEVER have had a Vex Mythoclast from VoG.....then I remember people would ONLY play Crota's End if you had the G'horn....

[@8bitjoystick]

@@The_Laser_Channel I probably would have had a million subscribers by now if I started my KZbin channel and spent the time that I spent playing destiny making KZbin videos. Hahaha oh well