Virtual Vox Pop: What's The Most Money You've Spent On A Videogame?

Virtual Vox Pop: What’s The Most Money You’ve Spent On A Videogame?

By Jeffrey L. Wilson On 16 Sep, 2009 At 02:34 PM | Categorized As Virtual Vox Pop | With 2 Comments

photo by selbstfotografiert

Virtual Vox Pop is a weekly open mic in which we ask you, the reader, to sound off on a particular topic. This week, it’s expensive game purchases.

Unless you’re feasting on a steady downloadable content from the likes of Popcap, PSN, Virtual Console, Wii Ware, and Xbox Live Arcade, chances are that you’ve found this grand hobby of ours more than a bit pricey. Shelling out $50 to $60 a pop for a spanking new title wears on the wallet over the course of a year, but spending half a Benjamin on a game isn’t even close to the amount of greenbacks I’ve plopped down on an individual title.

The first game on which I recall spending an ungodly amount of cash was Street Fighter II: Turbo, a game that I first caught wind of from a friend of a friend who saw it in an import game shop in Brooklyn’s Chinatown. After accusing him of being hopped up on too much sugar (at best), and being a big fast liar (at worst), I finally ventured to the location to see if that SNES cart actually existed – - and boy did it. $98 worth of existence, actually. Pre-tax.

Naturally, being a broke teen that had yet to land a summer job, I begged dear ol’ Mama for the cash who, surprisingly, gave me the money provided that I never lent it out others. Considering my obsession with Street Fighter II, I didn’t need her edict in order to keep that cart close at hand.

Years later I did it again. After I picked up a used Neo Geo and a handful of titles from eBay, I decided to purchase my first new, shrink-wrapped SNK title: King of Fighters 2003. The price tag? A rather cringe-worthy $349. I wouldn’t fathom repeating such actions today, but growing up as a kid who loved SNK, but couldn’t afford any of the company’s hardware or software, it was quite satisfying in a purely consumer-driven, capitalistic-pig manner to finally acquire a virgin cartridge.

I now pass the mic to you, dear readers. How much will you confess to spending on a videogame?

http://www.the-other-view.com Valkor

wow 349 for that much game lovin? I hope there was ahappy ending attached to it! lol But the most I ever spent, not nearly as much as you Jay was 90 bucks for a Saturn import of Dragonball Z bout 22 for the Sega Saturn, then another 100 for Lunar Silver Star STory remake for the PS1 and finally, well you were there, 100 plus for that damn big piece of plastic called Batman Arkham Asylum collector’s edition for that damn piece of plastic batarang…. a happy note to that story, it actually looks good on top of my TV. Go fig.
Bill Williams

Valkor and I must be joined at the hip. I once spent nearly $100 for a Dragon Ball Z game for the PS1, which was very so so. I can’t even remember the name of the import!
Raul

I really wanted to play Tatsunoko vs Capcom. So of course I went out and spent 100 bucks to get the wii modded to play import games, then I got the japense TvC joystick which was another 100, then the game itself which cost me 80. So all together 280 beans! Then of course 2 months later capcom announces that the game is coming stateside lol. The other exspensive purchase I do was for your copy of king of fighters 98 for 150, but then again you gave KOF 2003 too so it was pretty much a gift.. Thnks again by the way.
Raul

Wow I need a spellchecker
http://www.2d-x.com Jeffrey L. Wilson

@Raul: But you’re getting the original version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom. Aren’t we losing some characters here in the states due to licensing?
Raul

I dunno I’m so heated about it that I haven’t even looked that up.