The most expensive game you've ever bought..

[HoshiChiri]

$320 for Magic Knight Rayearth for Saturn, with second place taken by a $275 copy of Popful Mail on Sega CD. Yes, I am the horrible monster who pays inflated Ebay prices thus justifying their continued existence! *mwahaha*

In all seriousness- this isn't an everyday kind of thing for me. While I may break into triple digits once or twice a year if I happen to be particularly flush with extra cash, the above two are the only instances of going over $200 for a game, ever. I have a more unique relationship with my Saturn in that I had intended to buy one with holiday money when I was 12 but soured on the idea after the Christmas Nights demo I was supposed to get with my Game Players subscription got stolen in the mail. In a way, I view these overpriced Saturn games as buying back a piece of my childhood that was stolen, which softens the cost blow a bit. Plus Rayearth was purchased with money from selling old anime boxsets, so it felt more like a trade-up than anything else.

As for Popful Mail, when I got my Sega CD it came with Lunar: Sliver Star & Vay, and I ended up falling madly in love with Working Designs games (which explains Rayearth a bit too). I managed to get Eternal Blue for just over $100 a few years ago, but Popful Mail kept rising in price just out of my comfort zone. I had been hoping to get a copy at this year's Seattle Retro Game show (since I'd managed to save a hefty chunk of change for it), but I didn't find a copy. Shortly thereafter Ebay did a 15% off coupon, and I decided to buy one now before it pulled a Keio Flying Squadron & moved completely out of my price range. (If I hadn't had the coupon, it would have beat Rayearth by 5 bucks.)

- Most I've paid for a single game was $250 for Magic Knight Rayearth for the Saturn about 2 years ago. But it is the Hikaru version and has all the stickers and generally in great shape. In that same deal I also received new copies of the JPN Saturn release and GG versions of the game so to me it seemed like a good deal and I really only paid like $200 for the US Saturn version...hehe.

So, it was YOU! *shakes fist*

 

We bought our copies about the same time, and I kept missing the sub-$300 auctions by mere minutes becuase I was asleep or at work. I'm pretty sure your auction was one of the ones that got away.

 

I will have my revenge! *swoops off dramatically*

Edited October 25, 2018 by HoshiChiri

[derFunkenstein]

When it was new, Super Street Fighter 2 on the Genesis and Wrestlemania 2000 tie for $69.99. Even the Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete collector's ed was only $60 when it released on the PSX, so it's cart games all the way for expensive newness.

 

Buying used, for a short time I owned Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Saturn around 13-14 years ago. I got it for a steal at the time, $100. I sold it when it was going for closer to $200 just as retro stuff got back into vogue and before reproductions really blew up. I never really did play it much, though.

Edited October 25, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[Recycled]

Spent $30 retail on 2600 Pac-man which the an inflation calculator says is around $80 today. Didn't spend full retail on a game again until this year with SMO and Doom for the Switch.

[TheCoolDave]

The most I've ever paid for a game, at $120, is actually a fake.

 

So Ironclad Brikinger never came out on MVS, since it was an NGCD exclusive, maybe it didn't playtest well, or something.

After many years, SNK eventually released the non-cd version on wii virtual console, where fans extracted the rom and produced a limited cart run.

Since I missed out on that, the game I paid the most for is actually a knockoff, of the "repro," of the $10 wii download.

 

#Boots4Eva

 

 

I guess I also paid $465 for a puzzle bobble arcade machine, but honestly, that plan was never about playing puzzle bobble.

 

Oh, we are talking coin ops as well. That is different. Paid $400 for a very, very nice Ms. Pac-man arcade machine. I did only pay $140 for my Star Wars cockpit but, it was converted into a Hydra (still have the board) and it's cost me about $600 to get it up and running... Working on getting the THE ORGINAL 25" monitor working in it (I have it, just need a part repaied)...

 

I have 5 arcade machines...

Edited October 25, 2018 by TheCoolDave

[+-^CrossBow^-]

So, it was YOU! *shakes fist*

 

We bought our copies about the same time, and I kept missing the sub-$300 auctions by mere minutes becuase I was asleep or at work. I'm pretty sure your auction was one of the ones that got away.

 

I will have my revenge! *swoops off dramatically*

I didn't get mine via auction. Actually it was offered on a FB group. So it was a first come first served deal there. That was the ONLY time my wife has said something to me about the cost of the hobby was when I paid that for MKR. Luckily it seems to have stayed the course and even gone up in some instances.

[DragonGrafx-16]

Soldier Blade PC-Engine $140

[atarilovesyou]

Probably $52 for a loose Contra last year. Totally worth it.

What?!?!?!? Surely you jest...about the price?

[mbd30]

What?!?!?!? Surely you jest...about the price?

 

That was including shipping. It must have been during a price spike because it looks like the price has gone back down. It's still a great game so don't regret paying that much.

[DragonGrafx-16]

What?!?!?!? Surely you jest...about the price?

I bought my copy of Contra for $1 at Goodwill like 13 years ago. Also bought Metalstorm for $5. But I sold it for $90 to help pay for Soldier Blade.

Edited October 25, 2018 by TravisHuckins

[mbd30]

I also paid $40 plus shipping for a good condition NES Ninja Gaiden III in 2015. Now it looks like it's going for $50-60 on average.

 

I'm not really a collector so I'm not buying the ridiculously expensive titles.

[dj_convoy]

Hmmmmm...."collector style", I've paid $80+ for a few Turbografx games. Dead Moon, Cadash. Maybe a few others.

 

"New game" style....Company of Heroes has probably gotten me for $100+ via various expansion packs etc.

 

Interesting thing to think about might be: how much have you spent on one game you've bought on multiple consoles? For instance, I've bought Joust for Atari XE, Atari 7800, Atari 2600, Colecovision (paid a bit for his one), and NES. Oh and for the 5200! Has to add up to something though I have no way to know how much now.

 

The R-Type family has long dominated my wallet. I shudder to think how much I've blown on just various versions of R-Type alone, let alone sequels.

Edited October 25, 2018 by dj_convoy

[high voltage]

$299 (I think) for this

 

[+davidcalgary29]

I think Lynx P.I.T.S. is still my most expensive purchase, but that was really for the plastic case and instruction manual.

[TheCoolDave]

I bought my copy of Contra for $1 at Goodwill like 13 years ago. Also bought Metalstorm for $5. But I sold it for $90 to help pay for Soldier Blade.

 

I must of over paid of Contra. My copy was $35...When I got it brand new Still works and I am trying to hunt down the box, I do have the manual.

 

I DID just buy Mike Tyson's punch out for the NES the other day (someone took my original one), I need to beat Tyson again...have not done it in 20 years...I only paid $15 tho.

Edited October 25, 2018 by TheCoolDave

[John Stamos Mullet]

I've never paid more than original retail for any game I own. None of the "rare" classic games out there that fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars on the secondary market are worth those prices from a gameplay/replay value standpoint. The only value they carry with them is collectible market value - and I'm not a collector. I put games in consoles and play them, not on shelves to occasionally dust them.

[Reaperman]

Then I remembered I'm $175 into star citizen.

And that's just the game, let's not even get started on the equipment I've bought specifically to play it.

I'm thinking that's more 'preordered' than 'bought,' though.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMSGlZSL0DE

 

[DragonGrafx-16]

 

I must of over paid of Contra. My copy was $35...When I got it brand new Still works and I am trying to hunt down the box, I do have the manual.

 

I DID just buy Mike Tyson's punch out for the NES the other day (someone took my original one), I need to beat Tyson again...have not done it in 20 years...I only paid $15 tho.

 

Lol I also paid $1 for for Punch Out. It was a different time.

[HoshiChiri]

I didn't get mine via auction. Actually it was offered on a FB group. So it was a first come first served deal there. That was the ONLY time my wife has said something to me about the cost of the hobby was when I paid that for MKR. Luckily it seems to have stayed the course and even gone up in some instances.

 

Don't try to sway me with your Logic and Facts! I need someone to vent my frustration at and you're convenient! You will rue the day you got a better deal than me I wasn't even aware existed until this morning! *poofs out ninja style*

 

(Obviously, I kid, I'm just a bit jealous.)

[Video]

Well I bought starfox a week after it launched. People often forget that in its day the fx chip basically doubled the price. Yeah it dropped quickly, but it was insanely expensive on launch.

 

Lots of games hit $100+ back then, especially ones with specialty chips. Think a lot of 32x games were up there too, which didn't make sense to me because I thought the 32x WAS the specialty chips.

 

I paid less for starfox 2, and that was a limited run bootleg, AND I had to provide an fx cart for the chip. Interestingly, not starfox, apparently it's fx chip wasn't compatible LOL.

 

I'm sure some have, but I've never spent a lot on a used title. What, no Halloween or chase the chunk waggon?

[Montrealer]

I bought a boxed Lucienne's Quest for 3DO this summer. Ran me about $410 CAD. Roughly $310 USD

[Jess Ragan]

Interesting question. It's been a habit of mine to pay as little as possible for video games... that was easy enough to do in the 1990s, but it's become more challenging in the years since. The most I've probably paid for a video game was the Special Edition of Tekken 5 with the joystick (MSRP $100). It wasn't because I had any particular love for Tekken 5 (I don't), but because I wanted an arcade-style joystick for my Playstation 2 and it seemed like my best option at the time. The stick actually wasn't that good... it was a Hori, and they use mushy carbon pads instead of micro switches for the buttons. I barely used it at all, so in addition to being my most expensive video game purchase, it was also my most unwise.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Jess Ragan

[Tanooki]

 

See.. what are we talking about. Used/secondary market? Or when it was hot and fresh (and still mind blowing). Hot and fresh it was like $50 or something.

 

Sounds like a lot of you don't really go for retail games? I guess I've always bought retail.. .ever since the VCS days up to now. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to play Demon Attack, Contra, Ghouls & Ghosts on Genesis, Blazing Lazers, Starfox, Mario 64, on up to today Black Ops 4 without going crazy

 

Granted.. sometimes that helps (although obviously not often). When I bought Radiant Silvergun when it was hot and fresh it was in the $60 range.

 

 

Up until 1995 I only bought new games, but that summer I started my quest to try new things with a $20 bill a week at a second hand shop I started chipping away at the NES and SNES library games I wish I had before. Most the stuff was $5 a piece, little went over $10 and far less over $20. Back in that day people didn't care to up sell at all for things beyond the game (box, dust sleeve, manual, maps) and the most expensive item complete or loose was $50 for Dragon Warrior IV.

 

It's why in my post I kind of was confused where to with it and went with traded/buy to sell to get for no personal cost stuff vs actual out of pocket. You can see i wouldn't even come quite near the $100 mark and usually rarely if ever over $50 for a new game, but after market in recent years (this decade) I've stepped up swapping goods for really nice goodies. I had an alright allowance, got games for any holidays that gifted, randomly got awarded one here or there too, so back in the day I did have like 40+ games for consoles and Gameboy too all bought new.

 

 

I'm not buying into the whole Starfox was more expensive racket. That game came out in my area at $50. I don't remember paying ever over $50 for a SNES game except twice, SNES SF2 was like $65 and I recall FF2 I picked up for no more than $60. I know there were a few which is where the square tax jibe came from as CT and FF3 were up there $70+ but I refused to pay for them until I could get the correct price or less so I waited. CT I got second hand compete for little locally and FF3 I got months after it came out when a toy store chain failed and picked it up for like $40.

.

[+davidcalgary29]

I've never paid more than original retail for any game I own. None of the "rare" classic games out there that fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars on the secondary market are worth those prices from a gameplay/replay value standpoint. The only value they carry with them is collectible market value - and I'm not a collector. I put games in consoles and play them, not on shelves to occasionally dust them.

I agree in theory, but you just have to break the piggy bank for some unique titles that circulated (if at all) in limited quantities. Lynx EOTB (was) remarkable for its game-save feature, and worth the cost to me to experience the game. And BSG was something like $200 CAD when I bought it from Scatologic. I can’t imagine how the Neo Geo people have been able to build their libraries...

[+thanatos]

Rob Zombie pinball.

[atarilovesyou]

I don't think I've ever paid more than retail for a game but that's because games used to be a lot more expensive than today.

 

Final Fantasy for the NES, I paid about $110 for it. At some smaller comouter retailer that sold games for consoles too, so who knows if it was more than other places hut it was the only place I could find it. CDN price.

 

I did pay quite a bit more for a console, but not sure if it is in the scope of this post.

 

I think I paid quite a bit for Falcon Gold back in 94, F16 flight simulator. I didn't even have a PC, lol, but all my buddies did. What a beast that was. Probably $120 CDN, I think? New. Then was given a free copy of the binder style Falcon 4.0 at a recent swap...the dude just wanted to be rid of it, lol. I paid around 100 CDN new for that back in 98 when it came out.