EarthBound Cart Economics

I did just get a copy of mother 2 for Super famicom yesterday. Not because of the Latest earthbound not coming to virtual console thing I just wanted a copy of the Japanese game. 🙂

Yeah, that reminds me I oughtta re-get a copy of Mother 2 for myself too. Something about that cart is really cool. It’s also really nice that Mother 2 carts go for really cheap, unlike crazy EarthBound carts.

…I don’t have an SNES. Emulation is fine with me, thanks.

Yeah, I picked up a copy of Mother 2 a few weeks ago myself. I’ve always wanted to compare it to Earthbound firsthand, and see the unedited Runaway Five and everything. Since, as I say, I was way into the M2EB stuff. 😉

And, hey, it’s hard to beat eight bucks. 😮

I’m still in the market for an EarthBound cart. I’ve been searching for about a year now and everytime I see one within my price range, I’m outbid at the last second.

I have a new job and more money now, so I’m hoping I have one soon! =D

I will still be going for emulation… but it’s something… I don’t know… I will buy myself a cartridge until I have more money. Time will tell.

hmmm it’s pay day

yeah i know what i’m gonna do *loads up ebay*

(screw you, wife)

I have the Emulation vers. But I want the Console Vers. D:

I have a cart, but it’s in such terrible condition that I couldn’t make it past Scaraba before the files got deleted. I’ve never made it through the game. I’m wondering if I should buy another cart, or just emulate.

I don’t need a cart, I’ve got MOTHER 1+2! (And MOTHER 3…)

Whew! Glad I got mine. Not just the cart, but the box and the guide, too. I expect the price on ebay to skyrocket in light of this news.

I’ve had mine since release, but the box went missing during a move a few years back. It’s kind of lame but since I never intend on selling it I’m not too choked up about it *lip tremble*.

I ended up emulating after fighting it all this time.

Getting a SNES and a cart would just be too darn expensive. I will buy it if it comes out in whatever official form. (I can’t tell my family I emulated)

I have a SNES, but I emulate because I’m just not willing to pay so much for an actual copy. A local gamestore sells them for around $35 when they actually get one but it’s not very often and I don’t expect them to get one in anytime soon.

Hmm, none of the choices fit my circumstances. My brother said that his EB cartridge is somewhere in this house, but he has no clue where it is. I assume he’d let me have it, since he let me have (sort of) all of his cool old junk. So I just picked the last option, because it’s the funniest.

I’ve been searching for a decently-priced cart for over a week. They used to be around 40-50$ on eBay, but have suddenly rocketed up – I’m getting worried! lol

hopefully they’ll go down to a more reasonable price as im getting tired of having to play it eb on my computer

Aw, man. I dont have an SNES. Guess i better rely on mother 1+2 and mother 3 on GBA.

A friend got me my cart a few years ago off of ebay. it probably went for like 60-75 in spring of 2007? That sound about right?

I don’t think it’s worth it. Finding mother 2 is so easy

Since cart + SNES = too expensive for a jobless 16 year old, I will stick to emulators.

I just snagged Mother 1+2 from PlayAsia, and M3 from eBay. So I’m as happy as a clam. 🙂 I still have my GameBoy Player attached to my Gamecube, so I get to play them on the TV! It’s just as good as Virtual Console, it’s legal, and it’s awesome~

I’m one of the rare PAL Mother fans, so I have absolutely no choice other than to emulate. I’d love to have one, but it seems all I can do is hope that the Mother 1+2 translation is done and then put it on my flashcart (which I only bought to play Mother 3 on the fly, truthfully). Bah, you lucky Americans/Japanese/Those who CAN ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME LEGITIMATELY.

Earthbound on VC really was my one option, as purchasing a cart online would mean purchasing an SNES with it, as I wouldn’t trust my decaying one with such a gem.

As far as Chrono Trigger goes, a local store here has had a copy of the SNES version that was priced at $75 last I checked. If the store is still there, that cart is either gone or priced higher by now, because afaik, the store owner was kind of a jerk.

There’s another store closer to me which has a cart of Ogre Battle 64 for $120. It’s still there.

(Also, since this is my first time posting here though I’ve been watching these sites for some time, I’d like to say thank you for your work on Mother 3. I haven’t gotten around to playing it personally, because I want to replay EB first, but my little brother is loving it)

I wonder if I could buy my Grandmother’s SNES AND find a copy of EarthBound… I don’t think that’s a good idea on a paperboy’s income.

This is interesting. To anyone who bought the SNES cart in the last few days – what was your reason for doing so? (besides the obvious of wanting to own a great RPG)

This is impossible for anyone not American or Japanese to get and play because, well, it wasn’t released here. Even if you could get it, there’s still the matter if getting a Japanese/American SNES. Add the fact that every already hefty price is doubled in my country, you’d have to be filthy rich to get it. 🙁

All I can say is try scouring flea markets and yard sales, probably have a higher chance of getting a cart cheaper there then online. I got mine from a flea market for $30 with the manual (also check if they are open to haggling to see if you can get it even lower. He originally wanted $65 for it but I worked him down to $30 *evil laugh* ^^)

Mentalcase, you lucky son of a gun!

I went on a nearby flee market one day. They had a SNES and some games (Some Mario I think) for about 40$, but no EB,so I passed. Considering I live in Quebec, I’ll probably never find a EB cart in that flee market… I think I will stick to emulation (and maybe getting Mother 1+2 after the translation patch release)

I don’t own a SNES so I have to stick to emulation for now…

I’ve wanted a cart ever since I heard about the game, but they were always too expensive or I couldn’t find them, so I eventually just played the game on an emulator. I’d like to get an official copy if I ever have the opportunity.

Official English copy, that is. I’d rather not import a game that I can’t understand (lol)

I’m emulating EarthBound on my Wii. It plays perfectly, so it’s like having it for the Virtual Console… except there’s save states, and no Home Menu. ._.;

Considering that Valkyrie Profile PSX is still going on Ebay for ridiculous prices (250 + 50 bucks shipping NO THANKS) even though they made the PSP port, no. An official release on a new system does not mean that the price for the original will go down.

Hehe, we actually have 3 carts in my house…the original one we shared from when it first came out, the one my brother found for $30 at a used game store and bought on a whim, and the one I got on eBay when I realized my siblings could not be trusted not to erase my saves. Oh EarthBound, how you have corrupted my family. <3

Luckily, The Video Game Exchange is the greatest place to buy classic games like this. I could probably buy an EarthBound cart for maybe $15 or less (assuming it’s there).

Actually, i’ve been watching the carts and I’m surprised at some of the prices. I’ve seen some stay pretty steady at about 45-55 bucks for a couple of days. So it might be worth bidding this time

There sure are a lot of people fluent enough in Japanese to play that version on here…well, they’re the minority, but there are still more of them than I would’ve thought.

Though I’m not trying to be a jerk about it, I had to pick the “I already have a cart, neener-neener” choice for the poll. My dad bought it at launch, and we still have the guide and box (and I know where they all are, too!). I’m EXTREMELY grateful for my dad’s great taste in games, as I was too young to know the difference at the time (I was only six and just getting into gaming, after all).

I also agree that the price won’t go down even if the game does hit VC. But the number of people actually searching for a copy would probably decrease. I’d download it on VC even though I have a cart, partially to show support and partially for convenience (SNES in living room downstairs, Wii in bedroom upstairs).

Luckily for me, I got an EB cart for christmas!

Looks like that dude from Contact
sweet

I play the japanese version,the gameboy advance one, with the orginal mother on it too! mostly because I don’t have a SNES, and the other reason is the prices…

..oh, and I don’t exactly buy things off of ebay (because my parents won’t let me….)

I do have it on an emulator but a real cart would be real nice!

*laughs at last option* *Closes eyes and sees ness in front of the meteorite in onett* WOAH!

While I do have an SNES, which works great (ish), I got it when I was, like, 5. I have been looking for a cart for 3 years, but then again, I’m 15 and work at a skating rink for minimum wage. I’m emulating Earthbound right now, and I’m 20 bucks away from Mother 1+2 (thank god for play-asia!). I would have it on my Wii, but I upgraded my operating system to high to hack it, and Nintendo is nothing but disapointment.

I would get a cart, but I only have a PAL SNES & I don’t really wanna mod it & Action replays plus other cables are either rare or just really expenisive (not to mention that most of the carts themselves are expensive)

I do have the cart and it works on my old Aus snes i modded… except i need to play it with either the top half of my snes off or play the game with the cart case off… and the end result is it looks like ass on my Lcd tv. I just hook my pc up to the tv with my Snes controller and play it that way, so it isn’t one giant blurry mess.

I dont have an snes…boo hoo.
I don’t mind emulation, though.

I got one and it feels awesome, it will be one and only SNES game =D

I bought mine brand new from a Toys-R-Us for $30 when it was still in stores… my guess was they marked it down for not selling well.

No, but I ought to get my *friend* a cart (he owns an SNES) so I can GO OVER TO HIS HOUSE and maybe PLAY IT sometimes. Or a lot. Hehe…

I played it and loved it but I don’t remember where I put it. I just hope I didn’t lose it because then I would have to buy another one.

I would actually get a copy if it weren’t the most expensive standard US released snes game.

Never mind I just got a copy off ebay. That kinda contradicts my last comment but in a good way.

Well I have the japanese version. Even though I can read Japanese, I don’t understand much of the sentence… yet.

I only use emulators for playing Jonbound. I had my EB Cart since release (whit box, guide, and scratch & sniff cards), just got my Mother 2 Cart, Mother 3 Cart, and Mother 1+2 for my DS. But, i can’t find a original Mother cart. I got an Earthbound Zero one from Nesreproductions.com

Back in 95 my neighbors had the whole kit new. We used it so much that the battery needed to be replaced and the guide had pages missing (because we were 11 and 13). Then I bought a cart at funco land for $25 around ’98 when I learned about EB0. I still remember that day. I Looked up the phone number online, asked them if they had one and if they could hold it till the end of the week, and mom took me there and I bought it with some of my saved up allowances.

PS they had 3 copies.

My older brother’s friend gave us his copy a while back (I am forever grateful to you, Pete). However, I guess he either kept the box and inserts or threw them away. In either case, all I have (and have ever had) is an EarthBound cartridge for my American SNES. I’ve actually played it quite a bit, so its quality suffers when you play it using an SNES connected to your TV via coaxial. I tried using my N64 A/V jacks with my SNES, and the cartridge was restored to its original quality.

LOL i want to see the people who bought it to turn around and sell it end up not because of the vc relese it there is one

LOL just get one off Amazon, 100 bucks FREE 2 DAY SHIPPING = 😀

Um, why is there a cat on the chalkboard? 0_0

I don’t have a SNES nor do I have a cart, so I get ZSNES and a rom off the net. I feel like a tightwad.

There’s nothing wrong with emulating a game that is no longer being supported. Think about it. Why do you want to buy an expensive cartrage that would take days to get to you, when you can just emulate now?