Amazon Selling Super Famicom for $5,500
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Jan 10, 2009 12:59 JST
- Tags: Amazon, Collections, Marketing, Nintendo, Retro, Super Famicom
Amazon.co.jp is listing Nintedo’s classic Super Famicom (SNES), now nearly 20 years old, for the extravagant price of ¥500,000. The item in question is described as “new”…
You can look at (or even buy) the console here.
Just below the new item we see normal second hand Super Famicom in “passable” condition selling for ¥3,000, and there are reports on 2ch of prices as low as ¥500 in physical shops.
The price of games and similar, particularly unopened new ones, has also been increasing dramatically in recent years. The ¥400,000 explosive materials handling training tool for the Famicom is a good example of such.
Given the availability of all manner of emulators and virtual systems, to say nothing of actual sequels and remakes, surely this can only point to retro nostalgia and collectors combined with ever decreasing supply as the main cause of the increasing prices for the elusive new systems still remaining?
Whilst the wisdom of buying flaky old paintings in anticipation of their value increasing is not generally questioned, buying consoles and games, which can typically fail easily from sheer age, does not seem a trade with quite the same level of security about it?
A true test of how old school you can be lol
i know where they sell used but still working snes for like 200$
LOL
too expensive. You can have working ones for few $ in great shops.
i bought mine with 2 games in a flea market for 20 $
Wonder how much my Atari 2600 would be…..
Aaaah, my good old Atari 520 ST. Should be somewhere in my garage.
Bomb Jack and Mouse Trap, great games really!
What the actual fuck, that’s messed up xD
The seller must be very proud of himself for keeping it that long. He knew this would happen. Now to wait and see if he prevails.
Indeed he must.
Though I am wondering whether he might better have invested his money in some other asset and came away with even more…
Price gouging, gotta love it, Look up Guardian Heroes or Shining Force 3, only 200 a pop!
I wish someone would go physically kick that shameless seller’s arse!
Hey I’ve got an idea, i’m gonna sell my USED chewing gum for a 100$! >_>
At least he didn’t chew his SNES
It’s supposed to be brand new, so it is quite a rare item…
brand new o.O he held out for a long time.. >.< mine is broken hahahha D:
All 3 of mine are broken D: I wish i had could be like this guy…and make money >__>|
Hey, when there are no moving parts, it’s bound to last pretty long. That’s why these older systems last longer.
Wow. Only a collector would buy it.
By the way it’s “Super Famicom” not “Super Famicon”.
In katakana スーパーファミコン Suppaa Famikon
So, “Super Famicom” is official, “Super Famicon” is OK
This is the reason I get the names mixed (as I’m working exclusively with Japanese sources); however I decided in the previous article (based on search engine results) to standardise on Famicom, so I’m grateful for the correction all the same.
That would be “suupaa”, not “suppaa”. If you’re going to correct somebody, do it right. :D
we had a famicon(the white and red with cartridge) when I was little.. now ididn’t realise that famicon wasn’t released in the US after i read an article in MSN…
was it NES/SNES that was in the US?
OMG!
In brazil you can buy one for R$ 70 (U$$ 50)
Damn, that must be one hell of a collectors item right there. I wonder how much does a brand new N64 or a PlayStation would cost in Japan……
LOL I’ll gladly sell my near-mint SNES for that price… though it’s been used before… not a lot though (asian parents… ><”).
Buying old electronics is always a chancy deal. Especially at extortionate prices.
An unopened and unused Famicom…this is indeed rare
Is he some kind of an otaku and knew this day would come?
Unopened, truly worth it, but you can get a used one anywhere for like 20 bucks.
Last year I bought 2 for 10€ to make an SNES panel to connect SNES pads to the PC…
lol wonder what kind of price a borked first gen SEGA GENESIS system would go for XD
Glad I still own that classic console.
Freaking $5,500!?, Wonder If I can sell both my Genesis & SNES complete with the wild card for even just $500… >_<
I’m possibly a “hardcore” collector. I say total ripoff. Two years ago I got a completely unused and unopened Super Famicom off ebay for less than $300. Immediately after purchase I was inundated with emails from people wanting to buy it off me. The sale was followed by a flood of imitator “new” Super Famicoms that were pretty clearly fakes trying to capitalize on the feeding frenzy. Mine is definitely unused, every piece of plastic and tape is intact and the box is nearly unblemished. I asked the guy before I bought it where it came from, he bought out a closing game store in Japan and acquired a room full of unused vintage stock. He also was selling TONS of unopened Famicom Disk games.
I’ve also got an unused Super Nintendo Super Gameboy combo pack that I stole for 275, but the box exterior is worn and faded from sitting on a warehouse shelf for over a decade. The box still had some sort of packing slip from Nintendo taped to it. I was really in the market for the original Super Mario World bundle, but nobody has them.
I am a serious collector and I know I got a fantastic deal on both of these, but that doesn’t even NEARLY approach what this dealer is asking. I’ve seen unopened freakin Wondermegas go for 400-600, and those are even rarer and (I think) more desirable.
Just on the off-chance someone is listening, I’m looking for an unopened original Sega Genesis/Altered Beast bundle and a Mushihimesama arcade board (any condition)
Legit unused Super Famicoms almost never show up, but 5500 is insultingly high.
I totally agree Erik, this dude’s not different than a thief. Sure he’s not directly stealing money, but I still call it theft.
I know someone like this. He bought Secret of Mana off of ebay for $100 or something like that.
^^ I still have famicon which my friend bought from Japan :P Though it has some problems sometimes >_>
I still have the original SNES poweradapter and PAL TV splitter cables, any idea what those might fetch?
Lol so do I!
I still got my Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Bought it at Wal-mart back in 1992.
Hell, I’m plugging it in now. Time to play another game of SMB3!
i had a Sega Megajet. novel but i don’t think worth much
Nerds could probably build one these days.