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Retro Horror: Canadian Game Prices

Posted by Nadia Oxford

The reign of the SNES was a troubling time for me. The deluge of great games was seemingly never-ending, but I wasn't quite old enough to buy my own crack (that would come with the next generation of systems).

With my family, video games were very much a Sometimes treat. Here's the main reason why:



The Canadian dollar has never been a strongman—except for a brief stretch of time last year when the US dollar finally tanked entirely and the Loonie vaulted over the Greenback. The US dollar has since recovered (and I've put away the noose I wove for myself; most of my employers are American, and my bank thought I was the butt of a cruel joke), but it's not as powerful as it was in 1995.

So I dished out a lot of money for SNES games. God look back on the day when Nintendo announced it was sticking to cartridges for the N64, and have pity on my broken soul.

The 16-bit game purchase that stands out most in my mind is Final Fantasy VI. I scratched together my quarters and nickels for months, though I fell behind a few times when my brother discovered my stash and “borrowed” money for smokes.

I remember the purchase well because my father remembers it for me. When I got the dosh together, he picked up the game at Canadian Tire because I was busy.

The total, with tax: $115.00 CDN.

The clerk packed up the game and said, “This must be for a very special person.”

My dad said, “Nah.”

He also kept the Canadian Tire Money. There was a lot.

(Image courtesy of RetroJunk)

Related Links:

In Defense of In-Game Advertising
How Does the Game Industry Compare to the Auto Industry?
Should Reviewers Go Easy on Cheap Games?


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Roto13 said:

I saw a girl on LiveJournal that buy's Canadian Tire money for twice its value.

Stupid game stupid prices went up again though. Not to only-a-retard-would-be-a-gamer-now prices, but still. >_>

March 6, 2009 12:52 AM

n3gs said:

I remember saving my money for Tomb Raider 2 when it came out, and that came out to just about $100 Canadian.

Now I balk at paying $50 for a game.  I'm always looking for used  or in the bargain bins, so lots of times I don't play the newest games till the next batch of newest games is out. :/

March 7, 2009 12:33 PM

n3gs said:

Oh, also - Toy's R' Us was always a rip off price wise (as far as I remember). :P

March 7, 2009 12:52 PM

Nadia Oxford said:

Thinking about it, it's weird that I was able to buy a game from Canadian Tire in the first place.

"Aisle ten...next to the garden hoses."

March 7, 2009 8:18 PM

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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