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MrT-Tar on 28 June 2011
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Euphoria14 said:
manuel said:
Euphoria14 said:
Nope, I can get all those titles for free on my PSP, DS and/or Smartphone.

No need to pay ~$5-$8 for Super Mario Land.

Super Mario Land is 4$. :) (Which is still a bit overpriced, but not too outrageous in my opinion.)

There are no games for 8$ (yet?).


I was going based on the high VC pricing model I've experienced on the Wii.

I never quite get why people think the Wii's VC is highly priced.  Because, in my experience it is quite the opposite.  Keep in mind that if one purchases their Nintendo points on the Wii Shop Channel, it will cost them £7 ($11) for 1000 points, here in the U.K.  Buying the games physically is a lot lot more expensive.

Take the example of Zelda II, this is the cheapest PAL version I can find on Ebay U.K:  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Zelda-II-2-Adventure-Link-NES-/290575018150?pt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&hash=item43a79ee8a6#ht_500wt_949  .  With postage, that costs £17.49 (£27.95), which is far more than it costs on the VC, 500 points = £3.75 ($6).

Another example is Super Metroid.  This is the cheapest I can find it on Ebay U.K:  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Super-Metroid-SNES-Super-Nintendo-Game-Cart-/170659591220?pt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&hash=item27bc1ab434#ht_543wt_698  .  With postage, that is £20 ($31.95) just for the catridge.  Compare this to the VC charge of 800 points or £5.60 ($8.94).

The examples that I have used are of fairly popular 1st party games, where costs of the physical games whould be in theory lower.  I'm going to go one step further and bring in rare games and in particular ones that was never released in Europe in their original form.  The only Sin and Punishment being sold on Ebay in the U.K is this  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SIN-AND-PUNISHMENT-NINTENDO-64-N64-BRAND-NEW-/370225600802?pt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&hash=item56332a5922#ht_500wt_949  .  Even with it's free postage and a 10% sale, it comes to a whopping £84.51 ($135.14), and this doesn't take into account that one needs a Japanese N64 to play it.  On the VC however, it costs only 1200 wii points or £8.40 ($13.43).  In Japan, it will be even cheaper as it is only 1000 points there.

Super Mario RPG also wasn't originally launched in Europe, here it is on Ebay U.K http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Super-Mario-RPG-SNES-Nintendo-Boxed-Complete-NTSC-/310327065925?pt=UK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS&hash=item4840ef3d45#ht_595wt_932  at £87.49 ($139.88).  On the VC however it is only 900 points or £6.30 ($10.07), it will be even cheaper for those in Japan or the US as it is only 800 points there.  Even then, I would need an NTSC SNES to play it.

The only way I can even see why you think the Wii's VC is overpriced is due to the very low marginal costs of producing the games.  If one goes down that road, it can instead be argued that all games on a disc format should be dirt cheap, and if that were to happen not many games would be produced as the profit margins would be non-existant.  However, the VC offers games from previous Nintendo, SEGA and other platforms at a fraction of the price of the nearest alternative, buying the original copies.  Other than that small point, I cannot understand how anybody can deny the VC's value for money, especially for rarer games and those not originally released in one's territory.