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

Virtual Vox Pop — By Jeffrey L. Wilson on September 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm

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?

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Tags: 2D, eBay, king of fighters 98, neo geo, SNES, snk, street fighter II: turbo, Virtual Vox Pop