Shmuely Bully
Member
Holy shit, I remember this exact ad...why did I think Tamagotchi only came around later (1999/2000) though?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
90's Toys R Us Holiday Ad
- Thread starter fluffydelusions
- Start date
Back then, Best Buy routinely undercut TRU and others on videogames by a good $10-15 per game, so it's possible he could have paid less. I think people forget how big of a deal it was for Best Buy to come to town - you could actually get CDs for less than $18 for once, and high profile Playstation games cost $42 rather than $50.
redmetal86
Member
I remember this ad, but none of those prices. The thing you choose not to pay attention to as a kid...
a Master Ninja
Member
I'm not sure I've ever used that NES gamepad. Is it as superior to the ol' rectangle as it looks?
I love the dogbone controllers, so comfy.
HueyFreeman
Banned
Huh, I'd always thought the initial Saturn pad was pretty awesome (shoulder buttons aside, which was less of a big deal back then)... kind of a reduxed version of Sega's ultimate Genesis controller
Lots of youngins on GAF. And you guys complain about 60 dollar games
FF3US was 80 bucks. Virtua Racing was 100 bucks.
And these games had much smaller budgets and staff.
Phantasy Star IV was $99.
Super Street Fighter II was $79.
aaronwt
Member
Lots of youngins on GAF. And you guys complain about 60 dollar games
FF3US was 80 bucks. Virtua Racing was 100 bucks.
And these games had much smaller budgets and staff.
Yes. People don't realize how good they have it today. The games are better than ever. And when inflation is taken into account, the games are cheaper than ever too. I remember spending $25 to $35 for games in the late 70's. Plus this advertisement from the 90's with games still costing $60? Games today are a steal for what they charge and what you get.
sixteen-bit
Member
BumblebeeCody
Member
Not really. When you factor in day 1 DLC, microtransacations and season passes, they amount to more than these.
But now I'm just being sneaky on the subject. :B
//ARCANUM
Member
STD? They called themselves STD? lolololol
edit - forgot to include pics in quote:
double edit - oh god... so big... im so bad at this.
TheSadRanger
Banned
Fun fact, adjusting for inflation a $69.99 game in 1996 would cost approx $106.32 in 2014. I have no idea how some of our parents afforded this shit 
. It also makes you realize that your parents were perhaps cooler than you originally thought they were.
Also thank fucking god that memory cards are dead. What a freaking scam that was.
. It also makes you realize that your parents were perhaps cooler than you originally thought they were.Also thank fucking god that memory cards are dead. What a freaking scam that was.
Xander Crews
Member
Just to put it in better perspective, assuming the original post was a flyer from 1996, $59 then is equivalent to $89 now.
http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=59&year=1996
Edit: Beaten by TheSadRanger!
http://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=59&year=1996
Edit: Beaten by TheSadRanger!
I miss game slips..
Damn I totally forgot about these.....until now. Why did it stop? I know Best Buy still uses placeholder cards for their newer games lol.
vagabondarts
Member
Worth it
friskykillface
Banned
Lots of youngins on GAF. And you guys complain about 60 dollar games
FF3US was 80 bucks. Virtua Racing was 100 bucks.
And these games had much smaller budgets and staff.
Now bomba sales happen like 1-2 months after release for some games haha, maybe cause I was 5 -10 during the end of SNES - N64 but I rarely saw games on sale like today
sixteen-bit
Member
It's cheaper to press DVD or BD-ROMs than it is to manufacture millions of ROM chips per release though. It's not like production costs were equal. Heck, modern games don't even need to produce manuals either. Production/packaging costs have taken a nosedive.
I really wanted one of these. Too bad by OG GB finally kicked the bucket a couple years ago
Fuck I miss the 90's.
Edit: LOL at everyone surprised by SNES/Gens prices. The real shock should be how cheap PSX games were and what we put up with now.
Azure Wolf
Banned
This.
On PC due to Steam and Humble Bundles, etc, I'm paying less on average than I did for C64 and Spectrum games in 1985.
Back then full price home computer games were about £7.99-£9.99 for audio cassettes, and around a couple of £ more for floppy disc versions. You could also get budget games at convenience stores for around £1.99, which is where a lot people in the gaming industry cut their teeth, including the company Codemasters. However they often were budget experiences indeed, with some even being written in basic.
Of course, back then, unscrupulous kids could use the high tech wonders of tape to tape and buy games, copy them and take them back to the store. Not that I'd ever do that of course.
I also paid £79.99 for SF2 Turbo on pal Snes, damn kids today have never had it so good.
Praise the Lorde
Banned
Ah, the good ole days. I remember when n64 games were 70-80 bucks.
N° 2048
Member
BouncyFrag
Member
Getting a new game was always special. First you pick the slip after staring at the wall of games for 30 minutes, parental unit pays at the register, and you then wait outside of the hallowed chamber of every game and console in the universe whilst an employee retrieves your brand spanking new game. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who wished for 5 minutes alone in that room with a bag the size of Santa's. Then there is the drive home when you pour over the crisp, unread instruction booklet. So many feels.I miss game slips..
So much obsession with prices... yes, I paid $59.99 in 1991's money for Sonic the Hedgehog, but I still play the game to this day. Ditto for most of the games I bought during that time period.
Sure, today I pay less than that for a given game, but the games are just disposable, like cheeseburgers. Twenty years from now I'll never touch or maybe even remember any of the games I bought in 2014.
Sure, today I pay less than that for a given game, but the games are just disposable, like cheeseburgers. Twenty years from now I'll never touch or maybe even remember any of the games I bought in 2014.
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
yeah, this was awesome.
my TRU had four or five N64s set up, only one timed, prior to the release of Mario 64. i remember playing up until the second bowser on a weekday afternoon when the store was dead.
You sure you aren't thinking of the Japanese Saturn controller? The Saturn, at least in North America, originally had that big, chunky thing, and it was soon dropped for the Japanese Saturn controller, which was the evolution of the Genesis' six-button pad.
Petrae
Member
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
Yeah. Heck: I remember playing games on SNES stations before then. Still timed. But still awesome.
Idempotent Button
Banned
Game prices have remained fairly constant for more than a decade despite production costs going through the roof.
It honestly makes all the rage and vitriol and kids spew over costs and DLC seem rather silly, obnoxious, and uninformed.
It honestly makes all the rage and vitriol and kids spew over costs and DLC seem rather silly, obnoxious, and uninformed.
Freezasaurus
Member
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
Zellers in Canada had those. You had 5 minutes until it reset. It was a fun race to see how many stars you could before it reset.
It is! Once you try "dog bone" you can't go back.
Isn't that the "2nd" US version? A.K.A. The Japanese version? In either case, yes, the one you're describing is the superior controller.
Baka Sempai
Member
Those pics make me depressed about the quality of games nowadays.
See, but is all about graphics now,... who needs gameplay
/sarcasm
TheBryanJZX90
Member
And development costs have skyrocketed. Why cherrypick one particular cost of making a game when there are so many other costs to consider? I don't care what medium the game is on, all I care about is the game itself.
SphericalCrusher
Member
That's a trip down memory lane. So glad I still own all of those consoles. Thanks for the scan!
Alex_Mexico
Member
When I see crap like MADDEN 97 selling for $13 more on SNES than the Saturn and PS1 versions makes you wonder how in the name of that's good and saint did Nintendo ever thought that sticking with cartridges for the N64 was a good idea?
Goldenroad
Member
Consumers Distributing, 1991:
Christ. I never realized the Game Gear was that expensive. Make's the Vita seem like a hell of a value.
Sickness702
Member
I remember when I got the N64 alright lol.... The N64 came out a couple months prior to this incident but it was nowhere to be found. I was a big time gamer as was my older brother who worked at KB Toys over the holiday season. He was helping stock the store for Black Friday sales but was mad because he had to work a 12 hour shift followed by another 12 hour shift 5 hours later. Anyhow, he says it was him and the store manager there waiting on a delivery truck that apparently had delivered cases of toys and games to the wrong store. He says the truck finally arrived but the store manager and driver got into an argument over items that were missing. He said the store manager demanded the driver unload everything to see what was there and what was missing. My bro says all the stuff from the store was checked off on the store manifest and everything else was put to the side undocumented.
To make a long story short, my brother says the driver and manager went inside to call corporate and was left outside to watch the stuff. My brother says he saw a case of N64's sitting in the unchecked pile of stuff that wasn't marked off on the store manifest. My brother, like an idiot says he snatched the box and put it in the back of some random truck and waited for his boss and driver to come back outside. My bro said he went to take a piss brake but instead called our mom to come to the mall to pick up a "box of books" from his friends car. I remember my mom telling me to come with her so I could help her with the box. As we got to the mall we saw the delivery truck and my brother moving boxes. I tried to say hi to him but he waived me off like I was the plague. My mom circled around the parking isle until she saw the truck my brother described on the phone. I got out of the car and lifted the box and realized this was not a "box of books". I saw the writing on the box and immediately knew what this fool had done! I put the box in my moms car as fast as possible and told her I was dying of thirst. She told me she wanted to go say hi to my brother but I started whining like a bitch lol.
I remember getting home and just sitting there staring at the box for hours. It seemed like days before he finally got home but when he did I was dying with excitement. My brother popped the box open and it was a fresh case of N64's!.....He had stolen the holidays hottest item and used my mom who happened to drag me into it as accessories to the crime! My mom never new what happened until many years later when my brother came clean about the situation.
Looking back now I know how wrong this was but at the time my brother was a legend! I still can't believe how dumb I was to help that fool do this tho lol
To make a long story short, my brother says the driver and manager went inside to call corporate and was left outside to watch the stuff. My brother says he saw a case of N64's sitting in the unchecked pile of stuff that wasn't marked off on the store manifest. My brother, like an idiot says he snatched the box and put it in the back of some random truck and waited for his boss and driver to come back outside. My bro said he went to take a piss brake but instead called our mom to come to the mall to pick up a "box of books" from his friends car. I remember my mom telling me to come with her so I could help her with the box. As we got to the mall we saw the delivery truck and my brother moving boxes. I tried to say hi to him but he waived me off like I was the plague. My mom circled around the parking isle until she saw the truck my brother described on the phone. I got out of the car and lifted the box and realized this was not a "box of books". I saw the writing on the box and immediately knew what this fool had done! I put the box in my moms car as fast as possible and told her I was dying of thirst. She told me she wanted to go say hi to my brother but I started whining like a bitch lol.
I remember getting home and just sitting there staring at the box for hours. It seemed like days before he finally got home but when he did I was dying with excitement. My brother popped the box open and it was a fresh case of N64's!.....He had stolen the holidays hottest item and used my mom who happened to drag me into it as accessories to the crime! My mom never new what happened until many years later when my brother came clean about the situation.
Looking back now I know how wrong this was but at the time my brother was a legend! I still can't believe how dumb I was to help that fool do this tho lol
DigitalDevil
Member
I remember in 1997 I worked at a Funcoland and a local Toys R Us had a promotion where they would but any NES/Genesis/SNES game for $5 a piece. Seeing as we had tons of .29, .49, .99 priced games, I bought them all and made a killing.
Many Maddens were sold that day.
Many Maddens were sold that day.
DigitalDevil
Member
Remember these at Toys R Us where you could play a timed demo of Mario 64?
Yep, and it blew my mind.
kunonabi
Member
I hated the dog bone but I seem to be alone in that opinion. I hated the entire design of that model to be honest.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I knew about 70 dollar Street Fighter & 80 Dollar Perfect Dark but for some reason the idea of 40 dollar Ms. Pac-Man is what's bending my brain right now.
Ms. Pac-Man. SNES. $40.
Ms. Pac-Man. SNES. $40.