I'm glade I have two copies then.

One that I got at a Flea market that was badly damaged and now works fine because I fixed it. (yeah it was fun to do it to bad I burned my hand while doing it XD) and my copy. 

I still wish I had the players guide,  oh well 

I had a copy plus the full strategy guide... they have since disappeared.

If I had known then, I would've hung on to them for sure.

After seeing your review of earthbound i deff want me a copy.  Also i like that website for prices, never heard of it before.

Yeah, I was looking at maybe getting an SNES and Earthbound after the holidays, having gotten a great amount of money. Then I looked and I couldn't find anything that sounded good for a good price. Is the high price worth it? Eh, it's a damn good game, and I do wish I owned it, but I gotta say... an emulator is just the way to go with some things. If I find one at a reasonable price I'll grab it. If Nintendo rereleases it, I'll get it. Until then I think I'll just stay away. Will the price go down? Probably not. I don't see any reason for anything that is not being produced to drop in price, it is a rarity now. Unless someone stumbles upon a huge warehouse full of Earthbound carts, or Nintendo rereleases it in a form available in english, the prices will not go down.

Also, if the guilt of playing Earthbound on an emulator is your issue, import the GBA game. It's much cheaper, and is still the same game, just not english. Does that make having the rom legal? Does it matter? If Nintendo isn't making a cent off of this game (Even Mother 1 & 2 only gives money to whoever sells it, unless someone buys directly from Nintendo they make no money), so I have no issue with downloading a rom.

Let's just hope that Mother 1 2& 3 will be rereleased in a cartridge for 3DS or something, I don't want any upgrades either. I'm sure the Mother 3 translation team has no issues lending their translation to Nintendo for release.

I remember getting my copy of Earthbound when I was a kid.  The huge box just made me laugh I thought it was funny.  And having the stratagy guide included was alright.  I never used it though, my cousin did he would get lost all the time.  It's funny thinking at the time that it's just a game, and then years later it's worth money.  The world is a funny place.

I have read a few comments that blame video game reviewers for the rise of prices and I am starting to think the same since thinking back on it around 2007 the price of video games at the store I go to regularly has gone up.

The best example I have is I bought The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past complete in box everything inside including the bag for the cart for $7.99 before 2006 but today at the same store the game is $20-$25 for the cart only.

I blame the price on game reviewers and awareness spread by the Smash Bros. series.  These have increased the demand by a huge margin.  I got myself a copy (cart only) for $70 at my local Play N Trade, and even that seems like $20 too much. 

I also see loads of pre adolescents on online wanting to collect retro games because the AVGN and other game reviewers did it.  My opinion is that they should stick to emulators and leave Earthbound for those born pre 1995.  If you have qualms regarding emulation, I suggest anyone look up the show Extra Credits at Penny Arcade TV.  I think the episode is about piracy. 

Another reason might be sellers being jerks.  In Vancouver, there's a store called A-Z Games and it charges a huge premium on SNES carts no matter how damaged. 

I think the price of retro games in general have shot up in recent years. About 5 years ago I could find great, old, boxed SNES games for between 5 and 10 pound. Now though, you're lucky to get a crap SNES game boxed for a tenner. The SNES is arguably the most sought after and collectible of all the classic consoles, and once sellers realised this they increased prices. But I'm not one to complain. I paid 150 pound for a fully complete boxed version of Chrono Trigger and I even bought EarthBound, boxed and complete, for 307 pound. Did I pay over the odds? Sure I did. Do I regret my purchases? Not one bit. If a game sells for a high price, and you want it, you have to pay it. Simple as that. I played EarhBound for the first time on an emulator, and all that did was make me want to buy it physically all the more. And I can't see the price of retro games coming down, because gaming is getting more and more popular and classic games are becoming more and more collectible for it. The only 2 consoles I know of that you can get games for dirt cheap are the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. Most PlayStation games in the shops near my house go for less than 5 pound.

Honestly I think it's simple economics at work. The supply is limited and the demand is currently outrageous due to many online reviewers giving this game a good once over. Most of which are their longst/most indepth and most popular reviews that they've ever done. When you look at it through the right lenses you see that the retro gaming community is humongous and many of the folks in that community are full grown adults with jobs and a steady source of income who are willing to lay down top dollar in order to attain a complete version of a game in order to either re-live the experience or get a chance to experience something that they may have missed.

I say this because it is true for myself and I'm sure that it holds true for many others as well. Add also the fact that these aren't just games anymore but a piece of gaming history that someone, somehwere is willing to pay top dollar for just to simply put it on a shelf next to their other mint condition beauties for the sheer ability to say "Hey I own a sealed copy of EarthBound"

Mix all of this thoroughly in a pot and what you'll come up with is a cassarole made of price gouging resellers looking to make top dollar off of the communities nostalgic desires. Let sit for ten minutes before eating

Add sarcasm to taste...

Ever Sense I watched your and HVGN videos on earth bound I wanted to get it. As you know that is hard being on a budget. I really wish Nintendo would get its poop in a group and release it. I know there are legal problems with the music in the game but can’t they change it make it less like the original songs it copies. I know typing this someone will get mad for even thinking about changing the game but is it better the way it is now. Not having anything but a price cart on eBay.

I am not sure if the prices will go down or up, time will have to tell. One day I have to get the Japanese carts just to have them. Plus having them makes me feel better… if you know what I mean. Plus the eBay and collator market changes very fast at times. It’s all up to what you want to pay for it. Me I would pay 60 buck for it that would be it. That is the price of a new game these days.

I'd like to see this graph annotated with certain milestones (ESRB Rating, Smash Bros. Brawl Release, final sad info about Virtual Console) to see if they have affected the price at all to cause it to spike or dip. Including release dates for the HVGN and 16BG videos could also be a nice touch.

FUCK FUCK FUCK,

I HAD A FULL RESPONCE, WITH POINTS, AND JOKES, AND PERSONAL TALES, BUT NOOOO, MY INTERNET FUCKS UP LAST MINUTE AND I HAVE TO RETYPE THE WHOLE THING. (That was all with shift key, because I forgot I had a caps lock button >_>) and I typed it all with all of my left hand clicks with my middle finger because I got a paper cut. ugh

Basically, I was agreeing, saying that I am an example. As a representative of 1997 I want a huge collection of retro games like all of those cool video game reviewers, yeah! I went on to mention how I really should just stick to emulations (Official or otherwise) until I'm older and can throw money at ducks without a worry (My jokes were better in the original >_>).  I then mentioned that it shouldn't just be blamed on young collectors, a market is a.. something about it being all of us, not just one party. And that you shouldn't blame us alone. I then corrected my last post (I think, my memories are blinded by anger and sweat... so much sweat) by saying the demand could go down if reviewers just stopped, both making EB reviews, and reviewing other games becuase then people find them and watch they're previous EB review. And then I closed by saying when I'm older I'll be the bigger man and just pay $400 for a cart only, and commented how you're all bitching, the people who are waiting (because of age) are gonna have it worse than you.

And while typing this, I'd also like to know where on the graph Chuggaaconroy did his EB Let's Play, that was popular as hell and I'm sure a lot of buyers came from that.

And I'm stilly typing with my middle finger... ugh. I'm gonna copy this post this time to make sure nothing breaks.

Edit:Oh, this us spoosed to be an agreement to SMRPGFAN101 or whatever his name is. ugh.

Oh, by the way I went ahead and anotated it with my left index fingerless self.

A-Brawl Release

B-Chuggaaconroy's Let'sPlay

C-ESRB Rating

D-Roo's Review

I wish I could put HVGN's review on this, but I can't find the orignal (And date) on retrowaretv.com. And I have no idea when people saw that a VC release was never going to happen.

I assume that spike before 2008 was around the start of Brawl hype, and maybe around when Ness/Lucas were announced for the game?

 If you can't see the image (I can't) go here

http://img138.imageshack.us/content_round.php?page=done&l=img138/171/ebchart.png

If there are still issue please tell me and I'll try to find a different picture uploader, or you could do it yourself :p

I notice that the second highest peak (early 2011) seems to have happened after the 16BG for Earthbound went up on Blistered Thumbs.

Is Blistered Thumbs popular enough for a single reviewer to do an Earthbound episode on it and people start buying and raising prices? I don't mean to knock Roo or BT, but I can't really imagine that, though I don't spend much time on BT, only to find Jew Wario and then it crashed my browser so now I just use his youtube page.

The thing with Blistered Thumbs videos are they appear on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses front page which has a lot of viewer.

People will look up the value or rarity of video game even when they have no interest in gaming just to make money.

Ah, TGWTG makes sense, but I don't understand your second point MWM, people look up prices to make money?

Yes. There are people who are interested in only making money and not interested in what they are reselling.