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With the prices of games increasingly getting higher , and most notably , Grand Theft Auto 6rumored to beget a hefty $ 100 toll ticket , it seems like the developer are asking us to husk out more and more cash . Sometimes it does feel like we are being taken advantage of , but it ’s also important to commemorate that even a $ 100 price shred is not nearly as much as we might think it is , at least in comparing to a slew of other game that have retailed for more .
While the rumors of the $ 100 price tag end are float around , it ’s not entirely new . The monetary value of thefirstGrand Theft Autogame on the PS1 was around $ 50,or $ 100 if adjusted for inflation . That means the price of the game have in reality gone down over time , and are just now reaching around the same price they were before . However , the $ 50 price tag end is still not as much as some of the other game that came out before then .
10Final Fantasy III
SNES
Final Fantasy IIIwas around $ 80 accord toResetEra , which would be around $ 175 today . you may get a remodeled interlingual rendition of it on the Nintendo Switch for around $ 12.59 , which is a importantly lower Mary Leontyne Price .
Inflation is calculate using theBureau of Labor Statistic ’s Inflation Calculator .
However , a bragging see agent in the terms at the time was the magazine . pickup are a little harder to manufacture , particularly if the game requires a large amount of storage space .
Final Fantasy is a massive series that ’s celebrating an as massive milepost , but what path should the serial publication take to stay potent in the future ?
It ’s deserving state that the originalFinal Fantasy IIIwas only initially let go of on the Family Computer , and what was resign on the SNES was actuallyFinal Fantasy IVin Japan . finally , both games would be ported to PlayStation console , and the numbering was change to keep the original Japanese numbering . This can cause a lot of confusion , but it does n’t change the monetary value of the SNESFinal Fantasy III .
9Street Fighter II
Street Fighter IIcame out in 1992 , and when it did , it had quite the price tatter on it . In Japan , prices were around $ 85 U.S. dollars , according toFamitsu , which can be set to $ 191 in 2024 . However , the console table adaptation of the game in Japan was in reality a bit higher , around $ 119 at the time or $ 267 in 2024 .
The U.S. prices were exchangeable , although a little cheaper at the time . It was retail around $ 74.99 , which would put it around $ 170 today . It ’s quite singular how much those prices have derive down , with the late version of Street Fighter turn for $ 59.99 on most console table , andStreet Fighter 6was considered areturn to organise for the series . While having it on console would need a subscription to play , it is n’t anywhere near the price of the SNES translation .
8Chrono Trigger
Chrono Triggerhad a higher base price than the other game releasing at the time . Many of the SNES game had a $ 49.99 retail price , but this one was last for around $ 80 in 1995 , but the development team alone likely cost a fortune found on their history . While find an exact price online is difficult , multiple thespian from sites likeReddit , FantasyAnime , andVideo Game Sageare all report between $ 79 - 85 as the price they paid at retail .
That puts it quite close to $ 170 in today ’s money . This puts it close to the same amount asStreet Fighter II . However , unlike the former series , this one has n’t been update in quite a while , so we do n’t know what it would retail for today . Chances are a console version would be around the $ 60 price point that most games tend to fluctuate at , but it would be nice to see this game get a remaking or a sequel sometime .
7Lesser Known Games
Final Fight Guy, Ziria II, Super Military 2, Download 2
While I had n’t heard of many of these games before , aDiehard Game Fan Catalogfrom 1993 lean the retail prices for all of these games at $ 89.99 , a whopping $ 201.36 today . I do n’t know what the popularity of those game would have been at the time of release , but it is interesting that that are all more expensive than games that I have heard of in the same magazine .
Things likeCobra 1and2are listed at $ 69.99 , andPrince of Persiais going for $ 74.99 . And theCastlevania 4entry in this catalogue is go for $ 59.99 . I find it fantastically interesting that the price tag on those games has n’t really change , ignoring inflation , although as many will point out , the DLC for many advanced games could put the costs much higher than the base secret plan price , and many games likeIndiana Jones & The Great Circlerelease with DLCalready herald or included , giving the game a higher monetary value .
6Phantasy Star IV - The End Of The Millennium
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis notoriously had some fair high - price game on the cabinet . It cost just under $ 100 at $ 99.99 in 1995 when it released in North America , concord toTime lengthiness , which would have been $ 212.28 today . Supposedly there were a heap of dissimilar reasons for this , but the Genesis had fairly high cartridge Leontyne Price in general .
From Mega Bomberman to MUSHA , there were a duo of excellent title that were exclusive to the Sega Genesis .
Originally , the biz was n’t supposed to come to North America at all , but it did slowly make its way there and ended up getting a bit overpriced . However , other games likeVirtua Racingalso received the $ 99.99 price shred , so it was n’t the only exercise of the Sega Genesis having in high spirits prices .
5Action 52
This is where the price start really blend up , as the North American Genesis version of the game had an original MSRP of $ 199 , a cost tag end of just over $ 445 today . This is report by multiple source , butHardcore Gaming 101references the most original reference stuff for the figure . While the cartridge came with what was order to be 52 item-by-item game on it , it never dwell up to the expectation , and many of the games were reportedly broken .
It feel a lot like a scam , and no review have ever had much to say aboutAction 52other than that . It ’s a ignominy , because a serious game collection is something that I enjoyed when I was young , and this eccentric of plot would have been decently up my alley if it actually worked , but at that price , it ’s a marvel anyone buy it at all .
4Broken Steam Games
A Lot Of Steam Games Returned Within The Refund Window
number back to the nowadays , Grand Theft Auto 6isn’t the only thing that we have to take care out for . While it has n’t been updated in a footling while , thisGameRantarticle covered a number of Steam game , averaging around $ 199 each , none of which seemed to be worth the money . Almost all of them were returned within the refund windowpane from the number of hour played on the review article .
When I arrest to see if these were still around onSteam , the vast absolute majority of them were , and all but one were still listed at $ 199.Spooky Men , which was at one stage price at almost $ 1mil , has come down significantly to join the balance of the roster at the $ 199 cost point . The Hidden and the Unknown , once listed at $ 1999.90,is now listed but has no price and is not purchasable . GTA 6might cost $ 100 , but hopefully , it will have a bit more content value than these itemisation , at least establish on the reviews alone .
3Neo Geo AES Games
Arcade Gaming At Home For A Premium Price
The Neo Geo AES arrogate to be able-bodied to make for the actual Arcade games to your own home , and that was a fair claim for them to make . However , asTravis Bowmanpoints out , you did have to shell out a small fortune if you wanted to do so . At the metre , to get the Neo Geo cabinet without a plot and only one joystick , you had to yield around $ 399.99 in 1991 , or $ 945.87 today .
From there , if you did require a secret plan , the cartridge could cost close to $ 200 themselves on expiration , although this was not always true . That sameDiehard catalogfrom 1993 , two years later , would show that the prices did fluctuate , cast from $ 79.99 to $ 179.99 , although these are list as both used and new , so take the lowest phone number with that cognition in psyche . It was definitely a luxury detail , but for those that had it , they did seem to love it and it is a bang-up collector ’s particular to find today .
2Steel Battalion
Xbox
Steel Battalionis another game with a $ 200 price tag , although it came out a little later in 2002 . Like some of the other games around that time , it came with a computer peripheral . However , since you could n’t buy it without that , it is the base price of the plot . That equals around $ 360 today , so it ’s not quite as drastic a jump , but it is still quite a bit of money .
Still , at least it had something with it to give us a piffling more for our money . While undeniably coolheaded , some critique said that there were a lot of issues , which could make that price seem a little too gamy . come across as there are consoles out in the humanity for around that same price , or less , it seems like an unnecessarily eminent price point for what it is .
1Street Fighter Zero
Capcom CPS Changer organisation
In 1994 , Capcom released their own version of a home arcade organization . Like the Neo Geo AES , it was quite expensive , but it was only sell in Japan . Most of the game were price at around 20,000 Yen , or $ 196according to theVideo Game Console Library , which would be fairly similar to the remainder of the games in this list . However , Street Fighter Zerosold for 35,000 Yen , which would have been $ 324 in 1996 when it was released .
The 1994 picture show establish on the video recording game Street Fighter was a complete mess , but one component should be preserved for the 2026 reboot .
In 2025,that putsStreet Fighter Zeroat around $ 669.58 with no peripherals or anything else attached . That ’s a steep price to yield , even with being able to wreak the arcade version of a game at household . It was released as the last game available for this console , which does affect the price , and that ’s likely less than you ’d compensate today for what is now a accumulator ’s detail . Still , it ’s no wonder the console did n’t survive for very long with those prices .
Source : ResetEra , Famitsu , Reddit , FantasyAnime , Video Game Sage , Time Extension , Diehard GameFan Catalog # 3,Hardcore Gaming 101,GameRant , YouTube / Travis Bowman , Video Game Console Library , Steam , U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Custom image by Karissa Annis
