The 3DO and the Neo Geo are still the most expensive consoles ever — including when adjusted for inflation, but you’d be surprised how ridiculous the Intellivision’s price looks now in this chart prepared by Ars Technica. The feature also examines price drops over all consoles’ lifespans.
The 3DO And The Neo Geo Are Still The Most Expensive Consoles Ever
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43 responses to “The 3DO And The Neo Geo Are Still The Most Expensive Consoles Ever”
Was Sega 32X a console? I thought it was just an add on for the Megadrive / Genesis?
True, through really it may as well have been it’s own machine, it’s not like you could play 32x stuff on a Megadrive without. In fact the were going to release it as a standalone machine at one point but it was so close up against the Saturn launch they didn’t bother (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sega_Neptune.jpg).
as bob said they bought out an all in one console and and add on for the mega drive
It was both.
it was an addon… but still in its own way a new console seeing as it had its own line up of games… so i agree with it being included
I guess that explains the Sega CD being on there, too.
Bet you could get that price for a working Intellivision in good condition now.
We used to have one when I was a kid, I’ve got no idea what happened to it 🙁
Found one on Ebay, it’s up to 100 bucks and still got six days to go.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mattel-Electronics-INTELLIVISION-Original-IN-BOX-Plus-Space-Battle-Overlay-Ins-/251296229083?pt=AU_Consoles&hash=item3a826c26db&_uhb=1
Wow…that’s cheap. Box and all!
Tech that old is pretty hard to kill though. The hardware is so much more robust than recent stuff.
Yeah, these days companies build things to break so you have to buy another one. More products sold = more profits.
I was looking at this thinking there was no way a PS2 was only $300 at launch… then I realised it’s in US dollars. Must be a Monday morning.
Yeah, I believe I paid about $750 at launch for the PS2.
To me, the 360 was the most expensive console ever because I ended up owning 5 of them. In the end it was cheaper to replace the console than to replace the towels I kept burning while trying to revive them.
I’d already scheduled leave to play the 360 when they pushed the Aussie launch back a few weeks, in a panic I ended up buying one from the UK (this is when there were shortages there too) for well over $1000 before shipping.
The fucking thing died on the launch night of the Aussie console (about 6 weeks later). Luckily Microsoft were in such a hurry to replace 1000’s of other consoles which were dead out of the box on launch night that when I sent it back they instantly sent me an Aussie console without checking that I’d sent them a UK model.
Those early model 360’s were RIDICULOUSLY unreliable. My brother went through 3 that were broken out of the box!
Yeah, my first one lasted 2 weeks, second and third ones about six months, and fourth and current one about 5 years and counting (knock on wood).
Here’s hoping! My latest Slim has lasted me a fair amount of time now. Hopefully it’ll keep lasting long enough to see me well into the next generation.
Microsoft will no doubt do extra testing this time!
It was certainly inconvenient for you but it ended up costing Microsoft somewhere in the region of a billion dollars. Here’s hoping they’ve learned that using cheap solder isn’t necessarily the best idea…
Additionally make sure a motherboard wont flex when heated causing the cheap solder to break.
I thought the solder came down to the whole “Toy” thing. Lots of countries where you can’t sell a toy with any lead, including lead based solder, and a console is classed as a toy. PS3 had the same issue but generally lasted longer before YLOD than the 360 did for RROD.
That “toy” thing is called RoHS reduction of hazardous substances and it will sooner or later be a standard. A lot of Europe is rohs compulsory and you’ll find most modern electronics you own comply.
I’m sure I still have a Hyper magazine in a cupboard somewhere that has the original Playstation advertised at $700.
I must find it…
I’m guilty… I payed $700 AU for it at launch… still have it, still going strong!
Wow. That was back in the day when the original Gran Turismo also had ‘photo realistic graphics’. I swear, back then it really did.
Funny you mention that, mine was a bundle with GTA3, and if I remember I also bought ‘Zone of the Enders’ which was also pretty awesome…
I used to work with a guy about 4 years ago, we were talking about games one day and he told me that he recently had a garage sale and sold a Colecovision for 5 bucks. Needless to say I was pretty upset about it.
One of the guys I work with in my current job I found out has an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64 buried in his shed. I’ve told him multiple times that I’ll buy them off him, but he hasn’t been bothered digging them out yet. I might ask him about them again today.
That would be an awesome find. How about that guy that ended up selling Stadium Events on the NES for over $40,000? I need to check my garage again this weekend…
You guys inspired me to check my shed for old stuff. I found some mint condition Mega Drive games worth a bit of scratch, so wooo. No you don’t get a cut for giving me the idea. 😛
Dammit.
Bah! Won’t you even consider halving your offer? 😛
i think people are forgetting the launch prices of the sega saturn in AU…. $899 my friends, drooled at it every time i walked by video games heaven.
serious? no wonder i never had one… got one now though haha
Be fair, when the atari & intellivision were being made, they pretty much had to invent the electronics production concep that’s bound to drive the price up.
As primitive & clunky as it was, I miss my 2600
I still have my Colecovision somewhere in a box. Zaxxon and Cosmic Avengers are still a couple of my favourite games.
The 3DO was awesome. Daisy chained controllers, and playing the original Need for Speed in ’96… Not to mention Road Rash, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
So much potential 🙁
Baw, no handhelds. Also no 64DD 😛
The 64DD is an add on for the N64 so shouldn’t really be on the list. Although the 32X is so go figure.
Yeah, comment was based on Krisx’s reasoning for the 32x up the top there.
“The all new Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.”
Aaaahhh. . . I can still clearly hear the voice in my head from the 3DO introduction CD.
The Goldstar was cooler purely because it was uglier and not as cool.
I was just thinking of selling my 3DO and 60+ games.
Sega Saturn $899AU.
3DO is still expensive for Australia… mine cost $200 to import, came with two controllers and games tho. Got a Saturn last weekend for $50, best buy ever. I think he tried to rip me off, but the only thing not working was a rubber band being used to skip the region check had rotted causing the rubber band to force the drive door switch open…. took 2 secs to fix.
Arm…… We’re forgetting the SEGA Multi Mega/CDX…… http://segaretro.org/images/thumb/5/54/Multimega.jpg/320px-Multimega.jpg That small Megadrive/Genesis that had the Mega CD/Sega CD added to it in one convenient unit. The SEGA Multi Mega/CDX was released in North America for US$399.99 in summer 1994. The launch price in 2013 would be around US$650.00
I’d be pretty keen to see this graph done again with AU launch prices.
Somewhat related: My 486DX2-66 was around $4,000 back in the day. That was ‘back then’ money if I remember correctly. I still have it and amazingly it still runs!
Oh Sound Blaster Speakers running on IRQ 7 how I miss thee. And the sound of retracting a floppy disc spring… pure nostalgia!