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Most of my Speccy games were either from the £1.99 range or (shame on me) a tape-to-tape copy from mates. When I traded up my Spectrum for a C64 I vowed that I'd only buy originals. Couldn't afford any of the Ultimate Play The Game stuff though - £9.99 was a fortune when I was getting 50p pocket money a week, so I must confess to have been stupidly excited when I bought the Rare Replay disc and got all the stuff like SabreWulf, KnightLore and so on. Were PS1 games really that expensive? I must have waited for price drops because there's no way I could have paid full whack for all those games. Been reading a RetroGamer 'Games to play before you die' magazine, and I may have to get the PS1 out of the loft. Got a hankering to play Metal Gear Solid again. |
Game prices 'back in the day' • Page 2
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boo 13,656 posts
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Registered 17 years ago -
Rum_Monkey 1,961 posts
Seen 1 hour ago
Registered 12 months agoHow much were the consoles themselves back in the day? -
Phattso 26,481 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoThe ZX Spectrum +2 was the best anti-piracy machine I've ever owned. It was 50/50 if a fucking retail tape would load, never mind a copy from a mate!
Wish I'd been a bit more savvy with a soldering iron back then, so I could've fitted a volume switch on the damned thing. -
Phattso 26,481 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoboo wrote:
This was me just a few nights ago (before my One X assploded and died). So many memories... of lusting after the games based on screenshots in magazines. 90% of my collection was Mastertronic and CodeMasters £1.99 tapes. Still loved 'em, mind you.
Couldn't afford any of the Ultimate Play The Game stuff though - £9.99 was a fortune when I was getting 50p pocket money a week, so I must confess to have been stupidly excited when I bought the Rare Replay disc and got all the stuff like SabreWulf, KnightLore and so on. -
Cappy 14,259 posts
Seen 1 day ago
Registered 15 years agoPS1 games typically retailed for about £29.99 for your average games, such as Resident Evil 3.
We aren't counting launch period though, for about a year or so retailers were trying to get £40-50 for some games. Import shops were still a thing at that point and you might expect to pay £50-60 for the latest Japanese and US imports if you just had to have them right now.
Dreamcast shadowed PS1 pricing you could get most things around the £29.99 price point, give or take £5 sometimes.
The N64 is was in a class of it's own, post launch retailers were trying to get £70 and £60 for games. Eventually things settled at the £49.99 mark post launch for new releases.
The PS2 mainly stuck pretty closely to PS1 pricing post launch. For instance I distinctly remember that Shadow of the Colossus and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance launched around the same time, I walked into a shop and saw that Path of Radiance was retailing for £37.99 versus £29.99 for Shadow of the Colossus. How I love the Nintendo tax, I opted for Colossus.
Which brings us to the Gamecube, £34.99 was the standard price mainly.
Edited by Cappy at 18:50:36 29-05-2020 -
Humperfunk 8,436 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 8 years agoI was thinking about prices the other day actually, how from my memory, PS1 and PS2 games were £30 on release towards the end of the console cycle, but PS4 games have gone from £35-£40 at most online retailers to all basically being £45-50.
Obviously 'only' a tenner in it for those with loads of money, just found it weird how prices have definitely increased as we've approached the end of this generation. Managing to get The Last of Us Part II for £42 because I preordered 18 months ago literally feels like a bargain compared to what they're charging now as we approach release. -
PazJohnMitch 16,571 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 13 years agoConker’s Bad Fur Day (N64) was probably the most I spent on a game. Think it was £65.
There were of course more expensive games than that about. Street Fighter 2 Turbo (SNES) and Virtua racing (MD) being 2 I remember being pretty steep. -
One_Vurfed_Gwrx 4,173 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoFrom what I remember Saturn and PS1 games were generally £44.99 - £49.99 initially (non import) but Virgin Megastore eventually forced the RRPs down to £29.99 (the Saturn was dead by then I think). Gamecube tended to be £39.99 with the odd pricier game like Rogue Leader at £44.99. PS2 and Xbox seemed to fall into similar price brackets. There were the odd midprice £29.99 releases and the budget ranges at £19.99.
N64 of course had pricier releases even towards the end of its life (I think a couple of the last releases RRPd at £59.99 and of course you had the infamous early releases like Turok (I bought an N64 late so less familiar woth its game pricing)). Dreamcast, oddly, I cannot quite remember if it fitted into the £29.99 bracket or pushed back towards 40 quid. (having an import Dreamcast doesn't help matters) PS2 definitely went back to the 40 quid pricepoints though. As mentioned above I think Virtua Racing on Megadrive had an RRP of £79. 99. -
JamboWayOh 22,460 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 8 years agoIn my wild, uninformed youth, I spent 70 quid on Mortal Kombat 4 for the n64. Twas not a good purchase. -
JamboWayOh 22,460 posts
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Registered 8 years agoRum_Monkey wrote:
I remember a Saturn was about 449 quid. Is that right?
How much were the consoles themselves back in the day? -
GeekyPastimes 1 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 8 months agoI remember my parents paying £70 for Star Fox when I was a kid, and we were not a well-off family, then I got it home and was like 'meh', it's not as good as I expected. They must have been furious, but they never said anything. -
One_Vurfed_Gwrx 4,173 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoJamboWayOh wrote:
Saturn launched at £399.99 in the UK as a standalone console but if you wanted an RF cable you had to pay an extra 25 quid for a TV modulator (it did come with a nice SCART cable but tv support was limited back then). One of the reasons PS1 did so well was launching at £299.99 (and all of the advertising etc).
Rum_Monkey wrote:
I remember a Saturn was about 449 quid. Is that right?
How much were the consoles themselves back in the day? -
steellam 1,071 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 15 years agoApart from buying n64 games on launch day from toysrus for 70 or 80 quid, space ace on the amiga springs to mind, it came on something like 6 floppys and i'm sure it was 100 quid!
It was also fucking rubbish.
Edited by steellam at 20:14:16 29-05-2020 -
JamboWayOh 22,460 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 8 years agoOne_Vurfed_Gwrx wrote:
The Saturn was never worth that kind of money.
JamboWayOh wrote:
Saturn launched at £399.99 in the UK as a standalone console but if you wanted an RF cable you had to pay an extra 25 quid for a TV modulator (it did come with a nice SCART cable but tv support was limited back then). One of the reasons PS1 did so well was launching at £299.99 (and all of the advertising etc).
Rum_Monkey wrote:
I remember a Saturn was about 449 quid. Is that right?
How much were the consoles themselves back in the day? -
challenge_hanukkah 13,588 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 7 years agosteellam wrote:
Space Ace £100 on Amiga?
Apart from buying n64 games on launch day from toysrus for 70 or 80 quid, space ace on the amiga springs to mind, it came on something like 6 floppys and i'm sure it was 100 quid!
It was also fucking rubbish.
Nah. -
b-rk 1,630 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 3 years agonudistpete wrote:
yeah 50hz was bad. playing mario kark on my brothers pal super nintendo was bad...but also amusing. plus huge black bars on sf2 and final fight.
tadejpogacar wrote:
Can't disagree there, especially with 50Hz slowdown. Not sure it was worth the 65 quid or whatever.
speed setting was pretty good to be fair. base game speed was rancid
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TechnoHippy 18,359 posts
Seen 6 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoI remember Neo Geo games being bloody expensive. -
Mageme 2,310 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoI remember forking out £44.99 for Flashback on the Megadrive in the Woolies in Crawley back in the day. Expensive memories. -
Trowel 24,082 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoOne_Vurfed_Gwrx wrote:
The SNES was £150, which even then was an unbelievable bargain. I sold a first-gen brick of a Gameboy with a fistful of games to pay for it - so many memories ;(
JamboWayOh wrote:
Saturn launched at £399.99 in the UK as a standalone console but if you wanted an RF cable you had to pay an extra 25 quid for a TV modulator (it did come with a nice SCART cable but tv support was limited back then). One of the reasons PS1 did so well was launching at £299.99 (and all of the advertising etc).
Rum_Monkey wrote:
I remember a Saturn was about 449 quid. Is that right?
How much were the consoles themselves back in the day?
Is Sim City the most random and ill-suited launch title ever? -
One_Vurfed_Gwrx 4,173 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoJamboWayOh wrote:
One_Vurfed_Gwrx wrote:
The Saturn was never worth that kind of money.
JamboWayOh wrote:
Saturn launched at £399.99 in the UK as a standalone console but if you wanted an RF cable you had to pay an extra 25 quid for a TV modulator (it did come with a nice SCART cable but tv support was limited back then). One of the reasons PS1 did so well was launching at £299.99 (and all of the advertising etc).
Rum_Monkey wrote:
I remember a Saturn was about 449 quid. Is that right?
How much were the consoles themselves back in the day?
I bought a Saturn years before I bought a PS1 but after it had a few price drops and VF2/Sega Rally/Night Warriors came out on it. Possibly 200 or 250 at that time?
Beat launch price console I remember was the Gamecube which was supposed to be £149.99 but had a £20 reduction before it launched so was only £129.99 on day one. Nice launch lineup too. PS2 and Xbox were arpund 200 at the time IIRC. (PS2 was last of that generation I bought too, seems to be a recurring pattern that went through to the PS3 too until I skipped Xbone completely and did get a PS4)
Edit - reply in quotes, stupid mobile...
Edited by One_Vurfed_Gwrx at 09:49:45 30-05-2020 -
Dougs 97,467 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoMost expensive I remember was Phoenix on the Atari. Think it was about £60, in about 1983. Mad. (thanks mum) -
Atari VCS games were about £30, IIRC.
Spectrum (and other 8-bit cassette-based systems) games were about £7.95 as standard, with "premium" games (e.g. Ultimate) costing £9.99 - some even trying for £14.99 if they thought they could get away with it or came with books, etc. Budget games were £1.99-£2.99
Amiga / ST games were about £24.99 as standard, maybe 29.99 depending on the shop. Budget games were pitched about £4.99
SNES games were around £40 standard, but particular tites (e.g. Street Fighter II) cost a fair bit more, like £60.
PS1 games were £30-£40, with budget "Platinum" re-releases costing £19.99 as standard.
That's my recollection. Those prices aren't adjusted for inflation, though... -
up_the_ante 1,493 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoStreet Fighter II @£70 in 1992 adjusted for inflation would be £145.96 today -
steellam 1,071 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 15 years agochallenge_hanukkah wrote:
Could very possibly be a load of bollocks but I do remember it being more expensive than the usual
steellam wrote:
Space Ace £100 on Amiga?
Apart from buying n64 games on launch day from toysrus for 70 or 80 quid, space ace on the amiga springs to mind, it came on something like 6 floppys and i'm sure it was 100 quid!
It was also fucking rubbish.
Nah..gif)
Neo-geo is a good shout but I never saw one outside of the pages of c&vg.
Seem to remember starglider on the speccy being out of reach to me price wise, had the terrible lens-lock anti-piracy system if I recall correctly.
Edited by steellam at 21:17:09 29-05-2020 -
Gibroon 2,401 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoMy dad bought us an Atari back in 'Nam. I remember going to the first ever game shop in Aberdeen and my dad buying a game from there with an old £50 note. You could wrap a small present in that thing. -
steellam 1,071 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 15 years agoSome googling reveals space ace rrp to be £45, so definitely not £100 as i previously stated 
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steellam wrote:
That's still a crazy price though! I remember Shadow of the Beast being a bit of a piss-take, price-wise - about a tenner more than usual for an Amiga game. So maybe £35? Oh well, it had a very pretty box and came with a "free" (cough) t-shirt
Some googling reveals space ace rrp to be £45, so definitely not £100 as i previously stated
No idea how they could expect to charge that much for Space Ace. It wasn't the number of discs that drove the price up, because Monkey Island 2 on the Amiga was on about twice as many discs for less dosh. Can't remember how many discs, but it was a silly and unprecedented number of them -
Dougs 97,467 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 18 years ago@ghostgate2001 I'll be honest, my 2600 days were a long time ago. But even £30 then was a whole load of cash. -
Rodney 4,875 posts
Seen 33 minutes ago
Registered 14 years agoI think I paid about £130 for Perfect Dark and the RAM booster add on thing.
It was like the Xbox X of its day. Totally worth it.... -
Trowel wrote:
Most random launch title has to be Fantavision on the PS2. SNES Sim City is my favourite Sim City. From the super comfy soundtrack to the ease of play, it's the perfect casual city building game.
Is Sim City the most random and ill-suited launch title ever?
I've tried in vain to like newer Sim City games and recently Cities Skylines, but they're just so overly complex
.gif)
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