EarthBound Pre-orders on Amazon.co.uk?

Probably a mistake on Amazon’s part.

It could be a code to download the game, I know GameStop has them for some 3DS eShop games.

I kind-of expected Nintendo to milk the fans dry by releasing it retail instead of just on VC, but anything over 30€ just seems way too overpriced for a simple ROM.
Sure, the fans will probably buy it anyways, but it’ll be hard to convince “normal” customers to buy a full-price game that basically came out nearly two decades ago…

On the other hand, if this is indeed not a mistake by Amazon, it would probably mean that Earthbound will get a release similiar to Super Mario All-Stars on Wii.
Heck, I’d happily spend 60€ on a collectors Edition re-release on Earthbound, along with extra material and a reprint of the strategy guide!

I think I said this before but I wouldn’t be surprised if they charged much more than a typical VC game for this title. I was thinking $20-$30 but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was more.

On a related note, all this type of stuff is getting me excited!

That HAS to be a mistake…there’s no way Nintendo is going to charge 45 pounds for the game! Besides which, the Nintendo Direct announcement for the game clearly said Virtual Console, so I don’t see even Nintendo being stupid enough to turn around and force a physical package on people.

For the record…I actually WOULD be surprised if Nintendo had the gall to charge extra for the VC release. They’ve been quite strict with standard pricing in the past (I believe All-Stars was on disc specifically to get around that), and I just can’t see them breaking that rule, no matter how highly sought-after the game in question is.

Only other possibility…this listing is actually for a trilogy pack. THAT would be worthwhile…but I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Overall, I’m going with “mistake.”

Trilogy pack!??!!!?

Yes please.

Amazon and other suppliers will mistakenly list digital-only items from time to time due to a lack of proper research beforehand.

I’m almost certain that’s all that has happened here. Feel free to continue asking Nintendo for that trilogy pack, this most likely isn’t it.

I would be so incredibly psyched if they put it on a physical disk… I would then be buying a Wii-U AND the game :v

It’s a mistake. How do I know? I don’t, but since they also list Super Luigi U (which is a DLC for NSMBU), it is highly likely.

I don’t think this is a mistake. They might be releasing it in physical form. The price seems way to high for just a download, and since the preorder is listed by Amazon they must have gotten some information on it.

This is pretty typical for Amazon. Their own terms pretty much say that between the listed preorder price and the actual sale price, the customer pays the lower of the two. For example, if they list it for ten pounds and it costs fifteen, they will honor it at ten.

By setting the price so high, Amazon is protecting themselves from their own policies, because they have no clue yet what Nintendo will charge. It’s probably a download code, and it will probably not be over 15GBP.

http://www.comparedisk.co.uk/product/B00CEUQ9Y0/Earthbound
that is all, remember to fight the power

Personally, I wouldn’t like it to be on a disk unless they had some amazing packins. Something like a reprinting of the original Player’s Guide, the sound track on CD, and maybe a short letter from Itoi himself. If it is just “the game, but on a disk”, well frankly I’d rather just play the download. The game itself would only take up a few megabytes, plus the code for the emulator.

I’ve seen a lot of foreign amazon branches do this, but if it is real, I would pay a lot (and I mean like, $150-$200) for a well thought out, jam packed special edition.

If this is a collector’s edition like some have speculated, I’d buy it day 1 even if I didn’t have a Wii u yet. I’m going to email Nintendo customer support and see if I get a response on whether it is a physical copy or a mistake on Amazon’s part. If its a mistake they’ll probably say right away. I’ll leave another comment when Nintendo responds.

More that likely a mistake. Amazone has become somewhat infamous for having pre-orders for games that don’t exist/or can’t be pre-ordered.

Since this is Europe’s first time to be able to buy Earthbound, I think it’s fair they should pay the original price (£45 is about $69.97, via Google).

@Coreyback: what

Huh ? What did you just say ? holy s**t …

99.9% sure this is a mistake, they’ve listed digital items before due to stupidity.

Probably a mistake. Amazon makes it possible to pre-order all sorts of stuff long before there’s an official release date.

Evidently the intended absurdity of my comment was lost without some kind of emoticon… I don’t actually think Europe should be charged a premium price, and this listing is clearly inaccurate.

Basically, if Earthbound is intended to encourage WiiU sales, then it should be sold at the same price as any other comparable VC title. Or, even better (like the Japanese VC), as a loss-leader. But, I’m assuming it will just be priced normally, thus this listing is just some Amazon weirdness.

I got a response from Nintendo Customer support:

“I’m afraid this information has yet to be revealed. At this time, we have only announced that Earthbound is scheduled to be released on the Wii U’s Virtual Console. We do not have additional details as to when or how this game will be distributed. Therefore, I will be unable to answer your question.”

Sounds like a no to me, but you never know since they acted the same way about Earthbound about a month before it was announced.

Very interesting, this. My first instinct was to write it off as a mistake. But, as some people have fantasized about here (I really don’t think it’ll happen, I’m happy that it’s coming out at all, haha), having an on-disk “collector’s edition” would be way too awesome. I would buy it instantly, the moment pre-orders actually opened up for it. And I mean ACTUALLY opened up for it, now a silly Amazon mistake. xD

Poor webpage, though. If it were a person, it would be so depressed, what with everyone calling it a “mistake”. “You’re useless, webpage, you’re nothing but a mistake!”

Haha… Just another tired thought from me.

might be a little stretch too actually think they would release the trilogy consider VC earthbound coming our way still, either way it is something to look foward to no doubt. Could see them doing it at some point should things pan out after earthbound is out on VC for us.

No, it’s not a mistake, you morons.

You can buy games like Mario RPG for the virtual console on Amazon, and some games for the PS3 equivalent.

Nintendo likes to make money, guys.

– Bucky.