EarthBound Was Once $5.99

…… I don’t know what to say. Thinking that they were once $5,99 and now sold on eBay for $1000. Outrageous. Hey, Dr. Andonuts! Build me a Phase Distorter so I can go back in time and buy EarthBound for 6 dollars!

It is almost an equal mind-bending trip in time to consider Best Buy carrying Super Nintendo games….

I’m pretty sure in the late 90s I wasted $5.99 on soooooo many shitty products…..to think I could have scored an EarthBound complete set. Damn you Magic The Gathering!!!!!

Ah the fall before the rise. I wonder if, 10 years down the line, Elite Beat Agents will do the same. Currently you can get it for like £3. I’m interested in seeing what prices jump up where~~

I bought my copy of Earthbound, in late 1995, for $20 from Toys-R-Us.

ITS A CRAZY WORLD WERE LIVIN IN BRAH. ;O;

I remember seeing the game at Best Buy, no lie, back at around 1999. It was after the N64 came out, and was the big thing. At that point much of my (dad’s) SNES collection was dwindling, and he wasn’t willing to invest money in older games. I told him I wanted to get it, since it was on sale (maybe even thits price), BRAND NEW on clearance and he said “Why the hell even buy it when the new system came out? Besides, we had the game already.”

…MOTHER ****ER THIS IS WHY! ;O;

and besides, I only had a loose copy I wanted the full thing. ;O;
I remember the day. There were literally dozens of copies, new, sitting in one of those glass cases in the SNES section, where most of it was on sale prices because of the N64. There wasn’t much left, but hit titles like Donkey Kong etc. were all there, and Earthbounds were abundant. Only if I could go back in time to pick up every Earthbound in that store, I’d use the money to fund a trip to the moon, get moon rock, and found Aperture Science.

Not only bestbuy but I remember several other stores in my area had Earthbound in brand new condition in those clearance racks.

I work at Walmart, and I typed in Earthbound’s UPC into our computerized inventory system. Sadly, it came back “not on file”

(lol my typo of mentioning that I found Pokemon Red so finding Earthbound wouldn’t be a stretch, but not finishing the thought lives on…..)

Yeah I would have loved to have frequented Best Buys back in 1995 and all, but my dad only started working there in 2001, I think, so that is the latest I was even exposed to the place. I only started working there myself about three years ago.

I never actually SAW Earthbound in stores except for at a Blockbuster. I remember it was on an endcap and my eyes widened at it. I bet I was like a monkey before a tall black obelisk…….

There was a brand spanking new copy of EarthBound sitting on the clearance rack of Zellers well into the late nineties, and it was priced at less than 20 dollars. It’s too bad I never had any money as a kid. ;__;

…………..

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHRRRRREEEEEEEEAAAAAGGGGGGG!!!!

I’m screaming. And I blame myself for not being literate enough about video games, since I was just a kid. I read Nintendo Power, only for Pokemon, and a little EGM. If only I could tell myself then not to pick up that damned Taz game at Toysrus.

Now that I think about it, the only Best Buy in my area was built in 2004ish.

What surprises me the most is that Best Buy’s inventory program even still remembers Earthbound, and lets you print out sale tags for it and everything. It’s really really cool that they hold onto stuff like that after so long. Strange, funny, and heartwarming.

FOR THE SAKE OF PINAPPLES, I THOUGHT THAT WAS NOT POSSIBLE!!!

Haha, yes, this is how I got my copy back in the day

ha! this is how I got my copy.

@ YellowYoshi398: I’m surprised too. Like I tried to mention in my first post, I did find Pokemon Red (don’t remember the price) and I think I tried finding the Game Boy Color system, but I don’t think that was successful.

Any other games anyone wants me to check? I mean, it takes only a few minutes 🙂

Think they have any NES games still in the database? And I wonder if they have 7th Saga…

I can check! Any particular NES games you want me to find so I can narrow down the search? The NES category is long gone (it’s probably the Wii category now) so I have to just type a name and hit search.

you want to know something even stupider? gamestop is selling old nes games for a hundred dollars in their gamestop rewards promotion. i wonder if they have earthbound? i usually go to used video game stores like bookmans in arizona and right after i got into earthbound i hoped for a copy. sadly my looking though racks was in vain. it must be so nice to see the actual cartridge in real life.

You can never get that lucky in Australia.

First of all, this is a PAL region. Second of all, the Genesis/Mega Drive was more popular here at the time, so you can’t even find SNES carts at street markets. And lastly, people here simply don’t like the game and would rather buy the latest Call of Duty for the same price 🙁

I bought like 16 copies of this game at Best Buy over two trips there, and I think I still have the receipt for time I got like 12 at one visit. I remember getting asked about it by some couple, and I said they were really cheap and might be worth something some day. I didn’t even play it until years after, and it was a real cool game. I’ve since pissed them all away. Selling 4 or 5 for a good profit, and practically giving away the rest. I sold my last one a few years ago because of a good offer. I really should have hung on to ALL the copies for a while… But I’m not one to hoard games. After I get my copy, I’m good.

Mr. Best Buy, can you check on the year they were first $5.99? Because I was thinking this was in 96 or so when I bought mine.

@loricelf: Our system won’t allow us to look at the price for an item over thirty days, so that’s impossible 🙁 I really wish I could check, though, ’cause that would be awesome to know!

Also, you can call me Ms. Best Buy 😉

Wow that SKU helped me a ton. I came across some receipts and they were dated April of 1998. That was later than I thought I bought the Earthbounds… But the SKU matches. And I have it scanned now too! I think they ALL slipped through my fingers… I sent some to gamer IRC friends back in the late 90’s, traded some for games at some game stores back in the early 2000’s, and sold a few when I needed some money in mid 2000’s.

Would be nice to find one in some boxes I left back home before moving years ago! I want to play it again, I got pretty far but never beat the game. And I really liked having the box & strategy guide. As a game it really had a cool aura about it… The music was just way out there.

That’s how I bought my copy all those years ago. Then I sold it away in 2008 for $30.

I bought the player’s guide at Gamestop about 10 years ago for $1.