What’s not shown is $0.99 gas, $200 rent, and $1 fast food though
Edit: it’s also in CAD
Chewy79
I don’t ever remember them being that high, are you sure those aren’t Canadian prices?
SubatomicMonk
What’s not even covered here is average household income of the time
nic0tin3
why buy a game in this era when you could rent it for a week beat it return it and then when you got the urge to play it again, you just go back to blockbuster i didnt know many people who owned games before N64/PS1
jaimealexlara
Canadian prices.
xantous4201
To be fair on Earthbound’s price it came with a complete strategy guide and was wicked awesome
satanic_black_metal_
Yea but most people rented games.
MemorizedAxel
Why do we keep getting posts trying to convince me to be happy about spending money that I barely have? Nobody who works hard for the little bit of money they have extra in this economy should think “oh yes, please corporations that give their ceos millions to billions a year, please let me pay more sir”
RoninSoul
At least you got a complete game with no serious bugs and wasn’t riddled with predatory microtransactions.
Cruseydr
I remember paying $85 US for Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy III (I can’t remember which). The games with bigger ROM chips in them were pricy.
CountGrande
Donkey Kong Country 2 worth every cent
bcmaninmotion
Classic Nintendo, sequel comes out and they put the original on sale.
WhimsicalMind23
I’ll say it once, hopefully you’ll hear me clearly OP.
WE ARE NOT IN 1994.
Now you have thousands of developers, gaming is hugely democratized. You have loads of different platforms and…hear me out on this one, ready ? Games are fking dematerialized now.
Also, those are Canadian prices…
LightBackground9141
It’s because they went through a period on ps2 gen they were 30 – 45, always remember the best part!
Bob_the_peasant
While the top comments point out this was in Canadian dollars, it wasn’t uncommon to see a few games in the US hit prices like these sometimes. Final fantasy 3 (you know, 6) launched in my area of the US for $80 in 1993 or whenever it came out.
Sezneg
At least $15 of that Earth kind price was for the crazy scratch and sniff instruction guide it came with.
unprep37
Everyone is pointing out that it’s Canadian, but prices for games were still higher in earlier generations, not even taking inflation into consideration, and didn’t start to have a set pricing range of $50 USD ( increased to $60 and then $70 since then) until the PS1 and N64 generation, along with the introduction of $20 top-sellers collections. Hell, I still have a Link to the Past in factory wrap with a Sears $99.99 price tag on it.
shinfowler88
No wonder grandma(God bless her) use to scuff at getting me and my cousins games for our snes at times. I was always grateful when we did get a new game though
choco_pi
In 2023 dollars at time of release, or for a median hourly wage US worker in that year:
* Zelda 1: $139, or 23 hours worked
* Zelda LttP: $110, or 14 hours worked
* Zelda OoT: $11, or 12 hours worked
* Zelda WW: $82, or 7.5 hours worked
* Zelda TP: $75, or 6.5 hours worked
* Zelda BotW: $76, or 5.5 hours worked
* Zelda TotK: $70, or 3.9 hours worked
Video games have become crazy cheap, even as development costs and team size have exploded. Zelda 1 was made by 6 people in 18 months, whereas TotK has 1408 credited staff, took 6 years, and was built on top of an existing engine and asset base.
wemustkungfufight
1) Canadian. 2) this is back when bigger games actually cost more to produce because more chips had to be inside the cartridge. That isn’t true anymore.
bizzle4shizzled
I very vividly remember my parents being very upset that movers stole our copy of Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES because they paid $70 for it. I live in the US.
wwwdiggdotcom
Whoa that Illusion of Gaia box art is way different, must be a prototype box art.
ibyczek78
Cartridge games were always more expensive than CD based. That’s how the PS1 was able to survive.
Spartanwolf300
Found a boootlicker
emelbee923
In USD, these are equivalent to prices in the $40-$60 range for 1994.
uwillnotgotospace
I got Earthbound for $6 at a Walmart lol. They kept discounting it because nobody bought it.
Best Christmas ever.
MattR9590
I’d rather pay way more for games and way less for food and housing.
BABarracus
But those were worth the money let not pretend KI and donkey Kong wasn’t worth that money.
Henchforhire
You might have got one or two games if you were lucky as a kid. But most of the time as a kid I rented games at the local VHS store.
Only cool thing was when one of my mother’s friends started a VHS rental store, she let kids bring in games and she would rent them out and you would get a cut of the sales. Made $30 one month.
Supermatt1985
The reason their so much more expensive is because they’re in a catalogue. But they were still like 5o to 60 bucks. Cartridges were more expensive to produce.
areeves79
I had that Earthbound. It was the one that came with the guide. I sold it a few years ago on ebay for nearly 1k. Still surprised me it went for that much.
Vatican87
Cartridges were expensive. Things got cheaper with the GOAT PlayStation. $39-49.99 greatest hits
MClutch
Most of the cost of cartridges was the hardware within them. So many games were lower cost since they didn’t have battery back ups, or as complex pcbs. So in an eagle eye view yes, but really getting into no.
Now adays a game being the same cost digital vs disc is ridiculous. There should naturally be a discount on a digital game since distribution costs are theoretically lower (and don’t get me started with store fronts being taken down and paid content being gone).
RequiemStorm
Not only is this Canadian dollars, it’s from a time where cost of living was significantly lower.
What I will give you is that there were certainly some games back then that were pricier than today, but between the cost of living and the thriving game rental market this was not much of a problem.
Celevra75
Other posts from that time show lower pricing. I’m pretty sure this was regionally priced somewhere.
Other important notes. Market penetration is much easier now days and game dev tools have vastly developed to the point that old-school games may have had more coding time put into them.
AncientFighterDragon
Aren’t those in Canadian dollars?
blackmobius
Target was 50-60$ across the board no matter what it was
DuranDurandall
If I remember correctly… they were mostly 50-60 at their time
38 Comments
What’s not shown is $0.99 gas, $200 rent, and $1 fast food though
Edit: it’s also in CAD
I don’t ever remember them being that high, are you sure those aren’t Canadian prices?
What’s not even covered here is average household income of the time
why buy a game in this era when you could rent it for a week beat it return it and then when you got the urge to play it again, you just go back to blockbuster i didnt know many people who owned games before N64/PS1
Canadian prices.
To be fair on Earthbound’s price it came with a complete strategy guide and was wicked awesome
Yea but most people rented games.
Why do we keep getting posts trying to convince me to be happy about spending money that I barely have? Nobody who works hard for the little bit of money they have extra in this economy should think “oh yes, please corporations that give their ceos millions to billions a year, please let me pay more sir”
At least you got a complete game with no serious bugs and wasn’t riddled with predatory microtransactions.
I remember paying $85 US for Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy III (I can’t remember which). The games with bigger ROM chips in them were pricy.
Donkey Kong Country 2 worth every cent
Classic Nintendo, sequel comes out and they put the original on sale.
I’ll say it once, hopefully you’ll hear me clearly OP.
WE ARE NOT IN 1994.
Now you have thousands of developers, gaming is hugely democratized. You have loads of different platforms and…hear me out on this one, ready ? Games are fking dematerialized now.
Also, those are Canadian prices…
It’s because they went through a period on ps2 gen they were 30 – 45, always remember the best part!
While the top comments point out this was in Canadian dollars, it wasn’t uncommon to see a few games in the US hit prices like these sometimes. Final fantasy 3 (you know, 6) launched in my area of the US for $80 in 1993 or whenever it came out.
At least $15 of that Earth kind price was for the crazy scratch and sniff instruction guide it came with.
Everyone is pointing out that it’s Canadian, but prices for games were still higher in earlier generations, not even taking inflation into consideration, and didn’t start to have a set pricing range of $50 USD ( increased to $60 and then $70 since then) until the PS1 and N64 generation, along with the introduction of $20 top-sellers collections. Hell, I still have a Link to the Past in factory wrap with a Sears $99.99 price tag on it.
No wonder grandma(God bless her) use to scuff at getting me and my cousins games for our snes at times. I was always grateful when we did get a new game though
In 2023 dollars at time of release, or for a median hourly wage US worker in that year:
* Zelda 1: $139, or 23 hours worked
* Zelda LttP: $110, or 14 hours worked
* Zelda OoT: $11, or 12 hours worked
* Zelda WW: $82, or 7.5 hours worked
* Zelda TP: $75, or 6.5 hours worked
* Zelda BotW: $76, or 5.5 hours worked
* Zelda TotK: $70, or 3.9 hours worked
Video games have become crazy cheap, even as development costs and team size have exploded. Zelda 1 was made by 6 people in 18 months, whereas TotK has 1408 credited staff, took 6 years, and was built on top of an existing engine and asset base.
1) Canadian. 2) this is back when bigger games actually cost more to produce because more chips had to be inside the cartridge. That isn’t true anymore.
I very vividly remember my parents being very upset that movers stole our copy of Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES because they paid $70 for it. I live in the US.
Whoa that Illusion of Gaia box art is way different, must be a prototype box art.
Cartridge games were always more expensive than CD based. That’s how the PS1 was able to survive.
Found a boootlicker
In USD, these are equivalent to prices in the $40-$60 range for 1994.
I got Earthbound for $6 at a Walmart lol. They kept discounting it because nobody bought it.
Best Christmas ever.
I’d rather pay way more for games and way less for food and housing.
But those were worth the money let not pretend KI and donkey Kong wasn’t worth that money.
You might have got one or two games if you were lucky as a kid. But most of the time as a kid I rented games at the local VHS store.
Only cool thing was when one of my mother’s friends started a VHS rental store, she let kids bring in games and she would rent them out and you would get a cut of the sales. Made $30 one month.
The reason their so much more expensive is because they’re in a catalogue. But they were still like 5o to 60 bucks. Cartridges were more expensive to produce.
I had that Earthbound. It was the one that came with the guide. I sold it a few years ago on ebay for nearly 1k. Still surprised me it went for that much.
Cartridges were expensive. Things got cheaper with the GOAT PlayStation. $39-49.99 greatest hits
Most of the cost of cartridges was the hardware within them. So many games were lower cost since they didn’t have battery back ups, or as complex pcbs. So in an eagle eye view yes, but really getting into no.
Now adays a game being the same cost digital vs disc is ridiculous. There should naturally be a discount on a digital game since distribution costs are theoretically lower (and don’t get me started with store fronts being taken down and paid content being gone).
Not only is this Canadian dollars, it’s from a time where cost of living was significantly lower.
What I will give you is that there were certainly some games back then that were pricier than today, but between the cost of living and the thriving game rental market this was not much of a problem.
Other posts from that time show lower pricing. I’m pretty sure this was regionally priced somewhere.
Other important notes. Market penetration is much easier now days and game dev tools have vastly developed to the point that old-school games may have had more coding time put into them.
Aren’t those in Canadian dollars?
Target was 50-60$ across the board no matter what it was
If I remember correctly… they were mostly 50-60 at their time