Still love video games to this day and 1989 was an awesome xmas when I got my gray game boy w/ super mario land. The interesting point is that it was $90 when it came out (bear in mind it took 4 AA batteries and was drained in about 3-4 hours).
Which makes me wonder. Does anyone know how much Super Mario Bros 3 cost? Legend of Zelda? Even the original donkey kong that only had 4 levels on it?
Games now usually run the $50-$60 but my friends speculated that old school nintendo games were in the $70’s+ when they came out.
If I remember correctly, Nintendo games were 40-60 dollars and GameBoy games in the 30’s. For some reason I remember The Legend of Zelda (original, gold plated) being 54.99 at Sears when I bought it. Actually when my parents bought it for me.
I think, and I could be way off here because I was too young and got it as a present, but I think Nintendo (Mario, Duck Hunt, 2 controllers and Zapper) was 119.99 at Woolworth’s.
When the N64 came out, games started at $65-70, and that was in 96. I don’t remember what they were priced for the SNES, and defiantly not for the NES.
The original PlayStation, which came out here in 95, started at $60 games. I’d wager that was one reason why Sony won the 5th generation battle - cheaper games. Which is a reasult from #1- disc vs cartridge based and #2 - No huge Nintendo license fee. I think they lowered the fee with the game cube.
Oh yeh, that was cool. Never saw one in person - even my friends with rich parents wouldn’t buy it! Supposed to be the most arcade like graphics of the time, according to wiki, $650 when it came out in 1990 ($1050 today! For a damn video game system)
It was 12-bit colours (16-bit pallete , but only displayed 4096 of them at once), 224 lines of resolution.
A year later, the SNES and did everything the Neo Geo could a little better and a lot cheaper But the neo geo was the first of the 16-bit (5th) generation of systems, it was so much better than the 8-bit consoles, like the NES.
I had Neo-Geo, I got it at a garage sale…man that was a long time ago. Those big fat sears catalogs were the only place to get the games, no internet. I think I still have it somewhere.
I remember that Bonks adventure was touted (in todays lingo) as a super mario killer. I only played one once at a video game store and remember feeling so down that I only owned a Nintendo.
I was joking with a buddy in spin today and he brought up something even rarer than the NEO-GEO. The Jaguar, I think it had a mess of buttons and that is all I remember about it.
I had a GameBoy. I think the games went for ~$40CAD and the system itself was ~$99 and it came with Mario. Before I got that I had a Sega Master System. Originally I wanted the Nintendo (the one with the robot!) but changed my mind at the last minute. I think the Sega games were better overall than the Nintendo ones, though there were some Nintendo classics (Mario series, Zelda, etc). Several buddies from school also had Segas and we’d trade games regularly. After the Sega I got a Sega Genesis, but though the graphics were better the gameplay wasn’t. I remember playing with both a NeoGeo as well as a TurboGrafx16 at the mall (I think it was at a Radio Shack!) and thinking the same thing - great imagery, weak gameplay.
I also remember a buddy who had a InTelevision, and another with an Atari. Those were good times as well…
100% agree. Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Secret of Mana, Earthbound… The list goes on and on.
Oh damn. I think I still have this game as well as Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure and Dr. Mario.
100% agree. Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Secret of Mana, Earthbound… The list goes on and on.
Secret of Mana may still be the best rpg i’ve played. Breath of Fire 2 was unbelievable, and final fantasy 3 i think is second only to FF7 in the series. Never heard of earthbound i’ll have to find the rom for that. Lufia and Lufia 2 were also unreal.
The Jaguar, I think it had a mess of buttons and that is all I remember about it.
Wasn’t the Jaguar Atari’s last try in getting back into video games. Sold like crap, I think it was around the same time as the SNES/Sega Genesis, and nothing survived vs. the SNES
SNES still has some of the best frickin RPG games ever.
I remember wasting entire weekends playing earthbound. For as many days as I devoted to that game, I never finished it. I made it to the final battle, got my a$$ handed to me and had to go so far back that I shut it off and haven’t touched it since.
While we are talking about rare systems. I had (my parents still have it somewhere) a Ti 99/4a (possibly a Ti 99/4).
Home version? I remember when the Pong arcade machine first came out. It was like the Kennedy assassination or when Elvis died. I still remember where / what I was doing when I first saw it.
My kids (2 girls) are big gaming nerds and still love playing on our old systems (N64, Sega Genesis, Intellivision, etc.). They are geeking out over the fact you can download old Nintendo games to the Wii system.
But the neo geo was the first of the 16-bit (5th) generation of systems, it was so much better than the 8-bit consoles, like the NES.