The value of earthbound snes?

[artist23122]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum I just registered tonight. While I have lots of classic gamecube games, like phantasy star online, mario, zelda, super metroid etc. I used to have a decent sized collection of nes and snes games but I was stupid and sold my nes and snes games which I really regret. So I have been rebuilding my nes and snes collection. I just purchased earthbound for the snes a couple days ago on ebay for $152.50. I think I got a good deal because I have looked at other auctions and mine has been the cheapest so far. Prices seem kinda soft right now and hopefully the prices rebound soon. My question is a complete set including box and instruction booklet and game and some of the extras run about 850ish right now. Will the price get soft on a complete set? Also do you think its worth the hefty price tag? I might eventually want the original box or at least the instruction booklet and guide.  Just wanted to know what everyone's thoughts were.

[kingrat101]

First off Welcome to the site. As far as Earthbound goes, congrats enjoy it's a great game. To be honest though the cheapest I've ever seen Earthbound CIB was around ten years ago for about $300, recently the cheapest I've seen it was about $600. If you are really set on getting it complete, try through forums and other private sellers, be patient you'll get one if you really, really, want it. It depends from person to person on if the game is really "worth" the price it commands. Personally I grew up with it, had it as a child, and I do enjoy it and would completely recommend it, personally though, I'm more of a chrono trigger fan. Earthbound is awesome and quirky, but Chrono Trigger just feels so complete as an RPG.

[ignition365]

Personally, I love Earthbound.  I paid $130 for my copy shortly before I bought my house last year, it was in a meeting with our realtor that I send the funds for it even.  But you know what I did?  I played the damned game on my Wii U through VC.  Do I regret buying it?  I guess not, it's a really popular game and anytime I show anybody my collection they always ask if I have Earthbound, and that would get annoying if I didn't have it, well... more annoying.

My preference I think will always be VC over original, my original SNES and NES controllers suck... plus they are significantly cheaper.

[aliensstudios]

I got a copy earlier this month for under 100 dollars but it looks like this:
So it's not exactly in the best condition but still not too bad. Previously, I only had the Uncut version so i was glad to get the "real deal" as it were. I'm actually playing through the game right now and having a ball. Also just a side note; if you're going for a complete copy, bare in mind that the game had no instruction manual, just the guide which had the instruction manual on the first few pages of it. As for the price? I don't think it will go soft anytime soon, it might a bit but not drastically. If you're looking for some cheaper EarthBound stuff go for the Ness amiibo and also check out fangamer.com's You Are Now EarthBound package they are releasing later this year. It looks awesome and even comes with and updated guide in hardcover format. You could also get a repro big box off of Etsy if you really wanted the game boxed. Happy hunting and welcome to vgcollect.com!

[soera]

I dont think its worth it. I dont think its a great game. A lot of people that like it do so cause of the nostalgia. I dont have any for EB so playing it recently (within the last 2 years), I found the game to be very boring compared to the options that are out there now.

[maximo310]

There's still demand for it, so I don't think the demand will go down anytime soon. Personally, I emulated and beat Earthbound about 3 years ago, and for the $10 digital copy on the Wii U VC for my bro to play, mainly because I feel that the price for the SNES cart feels quite a bit inflated to its real value, and I simply don't have enough interest at the moment to get it. It's a pretty decent game, but not great in my book.

[telly]

Thankfully I was able to play my roomate's copy; I don't think I would spend the money on it if I wasn't able to do that.

Personally I like Earthbound, but I think Mother 3 is better in almost every way, at least to me. I still think it's worth the purchase on the VC though for sure; it's a pretty good game and it does some really cool things.

[turf]

I don't see how anyone can say that the price of Earthbound is "inflated" or "overpriced". It's been a $150+ game for years. It's been the piece that collectors want on their shelves.

It will stay expensive for years to come. It's not common and its in high demand.

[Warmsignal]

Na, not really. There's just a ton of hype surrounding it. I just couldn't see any game being worth that much money, to me.

[kmacdw]

In Europe we don't have Earthbound.

I've always found it insane how much the game goes for, when I see YouTube videos talking about it.

I do think how they packaged it was pretty unique and so I'm not surprised by complete copies selling for so high. However the loose copies are perplexing.

I'm just glad we finally got it on Wii-U.

Might be a long shot but I think Nintendo would do well to release a disk compilation of Earthbound Beginnings, Earthbound and Earthbound 3 next year for Wii-U and NX. That would kill.

[bikingjahuty]

I was very lucky and found Earthbound for $5 at a thrift store about 3-years ago. Having been collecting for several years prior to this I was well aware of this games status as somewhat of the "holy grail" of SNES collection. Given such an illustrious title I had very high expectations regarding this game. Sadly, I was very, VERY disappointed.


The graphics are below average, the music is meh most of the time, the gameplay is bland, boring and repetitive, and the story/characters are fairly uninteresting as well. The quirkiness of this game was lost on me and it never really inspired me to want to continue playing at anytime. Needless to say, that is my assessment of the game, but I still couldn't help but wonder where in the hell all the hype came from towards this game.


My theory is that a relatively small group of people who played this around the time it came out probably liked it for a variety of reasons to the point where they remembered this game years later being way better than it actually was. I'm guilty of doing this myself with various games. Then comes the internet and all they can say on every forum is how amazing this game is and it is one of the best games on the SNES, driving people into believing it is really that good.


But to answer your question, Earthbound is an SNES RPG, I'd consider it to be uncommon (not to be confused with rare), and it is a fairly unique game, all reasons why it would have an inflated price. However stacked against games like FF2, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, and Super Mario RPG, all games that are objectively better and chapter than Earthbound, I can't justify this game being worth more than $60, tops.

[aliensstudios]

I was very lucky and found Earthbound for $5 at a thrift store about 3-years ago. Having been collecting for several years prior to this I was well aware of this games status as somewhat of the "holy grail" of SNES collection. Given such an illustrious title I had very high expectations regarding this game. Sadly, I was very, VERY disappointed.


The graphics are below average, the music is meh most of the time, the gameplay is bland, boring and repetitive, and the story/characters are fairly uninteresting as well. The quirkiness of this game was lost on me and it never really inspired me to want to continue playing at anytime. Needless to say, that is my assessment of the game, but I still couldn't help but wonder where in the hell all the hype came from towards this game.


My theory is that a relatively small group of people who played this around the time it came out probably liked it for a variety of reasons to the point where they remembered this game years later being way better than it actually was. I'm guilty of doing this myself with various games. Then comes the internet and all they can say on every forum is how amazing this game is and it is one of the best games on the SNES, driving people into believing it is really that good.


But to answer your question, Earthbound is an SNES RPG, I'd consider it to be uncommon (not to be confused with rare), and it is a fairly unique game, all reasons why it would have an inflated price. However stacked against games like FF2, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, and Super Mario RPG, all games that are objectively better and chapter than Earthbound, I can't justify this game being worth more than $60, tops.

Hmmm… I'll agree the graphics are below average, especially considering that this game came out in North America AFTER Donkey Kong Country, which, imo, holds up well today. The music is… well I actually really like most of it. The themes for Onett, Twoson, Fourside and Winters are simply excellent. The gameplay is sort of bland, I'll agree with you on that score, but I think some of the places you travel in the game keep the game interesting, moreso than a few other RPGs I've played for sure.

I'm pretty much 100% sure that if Ness was not in Super Smash Bros., EarthBound would be virtually forgotten, and only remembered by an extremely niche community. It'd probably be of the Star Tropics Status, rather easy to obtain. EarthBound is pretty common, I mean look at all of the listings for it on eBay, but demand causes the price to go up. Its the same principle as to why the GameCube's most common title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, runs on average about 38 dollars.

I'm very glad to have a physical copy of the game because I am a genuine fan of it, my opinion of the game has not been forced upon me by the Mother community as a whole, I simply played it, liked it, and here we are now. I paid 78 bucks for it, which isn't a bad price for it, but a far cry from the 5 bucks you spent.

[ignition365]

I was very lucky and found Earthbound for $5 at a thrift store about 3-years ago. Having been collecting for several years prior to this I was well aware of this games status as somewhat of the "holy grail" of SNES collection. Given such an illustrious title I had very high expectations regarding this game. Sadly, I was very, VERY disappointed.


The graphics are below average, the music is meh most of the time, the gameplay is bland, boring and repetitive, and the story/characters are fairly uninteresting as well. The quirkiness of this game was lost on me and it never really inspired me to want to continue playing at anytime. Needless to say, that is my assessment of the game, but I still couldn't help but wonder where in the hell all the hype came from towards this game.


My theory is that a relatively small group of people who played this around the time it came out probably liked it for a variety of reasons to the point where they remembered this game years later being way better than it actually was. I'm guilty of doing this myself with various games. Then comes the internet and all they can say on every forum is how amazing this game is and it is one of the best games on the SNES, driving people into believing it is really that good.


But to answer your question, Earthbound is an SNES RPG, I'd consider it to be uncommon (not to be confused with rare), and it is a fairly unique game, all reasons why it would have an inflated price. However stacked against games like FF2, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, and Super Mario RPG, all games that are objectively better and chapter than Earthbound, I can't justify this game being worth more than $60, tops.

Hmmm… I'll agree the graphics are below average, especially considering that this game came out in North America AFTER Donkey Kong Country, which, imo, holds up well today. The music is… well I actually really like most of it. The themes for Onett, Twoson, Fourside and Winters are simply excellent. The gameplay is sort of bland, I'll agree with you on that score, but I think some of the places you travel in the game keep the game interesting, moreso than a few other RPGs I've played for sure.

I'm pretty much 100% sure that if Ness was not in Super Smash Bros., EarthBound would be virtually forgotten, and only remembered by an extremely niche community. It'd probably be of the Star Tropics Status, rather easy to obtain. EarthBound is pretty common, I mean look at all of the listings for it on eBay, but demand causes the price to go up. Its the same principle as to why the GameCube's most common title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, runs on average about 38 dollars.

I'm very glad to have a physical copy of the game because I am a genuine fan of it, my opinion of the game has not been forced upon me by the Mother community as a whole, I simply played it, liked it, and here we are now. I paid 78 bucks for it, which isn't a bad price for it, but a far cry from the 5 bucks you spent.

Yup, this is the same reason Fire Emblem is so pricey now, because they put Marth and Roy in Smash.

[sworddude]

I was very lucky and found Earthbound for $5 at a thrift store about 3-years ago. Having been collecting for several years prior to this I was well aware of this games status as somewhat of the "holy grail" of SNES collection. Given such an illustrious title I had very high expectations regarding this game. Sadly, I was very, VERY disappointed.


The graphics are below average, the music is meh most of the time, the gameplay is bland, boring and repetitive, and the story/characters are fairly uninteresting as well. The quirkiness of this game was lost on me and it never really inspired me to want to continue playing at anytime. Needless to say, that is my assessment of the game, but I still couldn't help but wonder where in the hell all the hype came from towards this game.


My theory is that a relatively small group of people who played this around the time it came out probably liked it for a variety of reasons to the point where they remembered this game years later being way better than it actually was. I'm guilty of doing this myself with various games. Then comes the internet and all they can say on every forum is how amazing this game is and it is one of the best games on the SNES, driving people into believing it is really that good.


But to answer your question, Earthbound is an SNES RPG, I'd consider it to be uncommon (not to be confused with rare), and it is a fairly unique game, all reasons why it would have an inflated price. However stacked against games like FF2, FF3, Chrono Trigger, Breath of Fire, and Super Mario RPG, all games that are objectively better and chapter than Earthbound, I can't justify this game being worth more than $60, tops.

Hmmm… I'll agree the graphics are below average, especially considering that this game came out in North America AFTER Donkey Kong Country, which, imo, holds up well today. The music is… well I actually really like most of it. The themes for Onett, Twoson, Fourside and Winters are simply excellent. The gameplay is sort of bland, I'll agree with you on that score, but I think some of the places you travel in the game keep the game interesting, moreso than a few other RPGs I've played for sure.

I'm pretty much 100% sure that if Ness was not in Super Smash Bros., EarthBound would be virtually forgotten, and only remembered by an extremely niche community. It'd probably be of the Star Tropics Status, rather easy to obtain. EarthBound is pretty common, I mean look at all of the listings for it on eBay, but demand causes the price to go up. Its the same principle as to why the GameCube's most common title, Super Smash Bros. Melee, runs on average about 38 dollars.

I'm very glad to have a physical copy of the game because I am a genuine fan of it, my opinion of the game has not been forced upon me by the Mother community as a whole, I simply played it, liked it, and here we are now. I paid 78 bucks for it, which isn't a bad price for it, but a far cry from the 5 bucks you spent.

Yup, this is the same reason Fire Emblem is so pricey now, because they put Marth and Roy in Smash.

I disagree since allot RPG's command high value even if they are not now known very well.

Fire emblem is pricey but definitly nothing in comparison to earthbound wich is heavily overpriced. The fire emblem games have comparable value to other uncommon good rpg's. Rp's are expensive especially older ones.

Besides my guess is that even if fire emblem was not in smash the prices would pretty much be the same since it is very high quality rpg series and the prices are not that expensive compared to other rpg's wich are not known very well by most. People collect rpg's and the prices are pretty much up there with other high quality rpg's wich are expensive but not overpriced compared to some others out there. All FE games can be bought for under 100. Usually around 50 or less for cib stuff of the fire emblem series. I doubt smash would make a difference in price except that there would have been no new fire emblem games.

Earthbound cib however has a price tagg of 400+. It's an rpg, without smash it would probably only have been 150 - 200 if not for less if it really is common as people say. If it's uncommon and not that easy to get 150 - 200.  If it's pretty easy to get maybe in the 100 range or less. Because the game is so expensive there are allot of offers since people will not buy them immidiately and people want to sell it as fast as possible. Thanks to that many available autions for this game.

[ignition365]

Pretty sure Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn are both fairly pricey.  I wanna say Path of Radiance is near if not over $100.  And Radiant Dawn and the first GBA games are fairly pricey for CIB.

I mean maybe, but you said so yourself, had they not been placed in Smash we may not have received the games, in which case it'd be a moot point.