Average Prices:

• EarthBound cart: $138 (down from $149 now that the holidays are over)
• EarthBound guide: $77 (previous average was $77 as well)
• EarthBound complete set: $493 (up from $398)

That complete set average doesn’t include the new copy that sold for a zillion dollars last week. That one wound up selling for a lot less than the final bid (and was sold off of eBay as well), but factoring in the price there, the average for a complete set is bumped up to $629.

While computing the info above, I also took some notes about which ones sold for more and sold for less. So if you’re hoping to buy a copy of EarthBound for as little as possible, follow the tips here as well as these new tips for auctions (as opposed to buy-it-nows):

Helpful Tips!

• If the title has the word “rare” in it, forget about it – the final price will almost ALWAYS be higher than the average
• Similarly, words like “mint” will usually result in a final price higher than the average
• If the title uses the stock title of something like “EarthBound (1995, Super NES)”, then the final price is slightly more likely to be below average
• If the thumbnail image used is the stock image, then the final price is slightly more likely to be below average
• If words like “used” or “only” or “just” (as in “cart only” or “just cart”) are used, the final price is more likely to be below average

Of course, if you’re selling your copy, then use those tips to your advantage too

Pay attention to this stuff and the tips on buyearthound.com to get the best deal possible. You can save a LOT of money if you know what you’re doing – some cart copies of EarthBound went for $100, and a complete set even went for $273. So there are deals (relatively speaking…) to be had if you’re attentive!

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Amazon & EarthBound Trade-Ins (14) Read More >>>

Anyway, in some recent comments, EarthBound Central reader west_haven posted this:

I work at Best Buy and I’ve been meaning to look in our inventory program and see if I can find our listing for Pokemon Red, so I bet it’s in there somewhere.

…

Found it and printed out sale tags for it!! The price listed is $5.99, a price we all wish we could get it for now. It’s listed as SN-Earthbound, where SN must stand for SNES. The SKU number is 2375272, which sadly doesn’t mean much since if you search for that on Bestbuy.com, it doesn’t yield a result. The many little tags are peg label stickers; I printed out eight of ‘em just cuz I can

I asked if there might be some secret stash tucked away in a warehouse somewhere, but it sounds like that’s not likely at all Oh well, someday someone’s going to find a stash of new EarthBounds and then buy a solid gold car.

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Hi Mato! I just received this in the mail today. It’s a Mother 3+ Piano book that has sheet music for 7 different Mother 3 tracks. Up until when I ordered this a few days ago, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. It seems to be a very new release, with a release date of September 2011!

It’s weird seeing new merch like this after a game has been out for five years. Hey, I’m not complaining though! I haven’t found any info on this anywhere, and thought I would share my awesome find!

Also, I made a GameSwag page for it. (link)

Here’s a pic of the cover:

I never knew about it either, so this came as a surprise. I don’t think it’s official, but sometimes with Japanese merchandise it’s hard to tell.

Here’s a sample, maybe someone with music skills can tell if it’s accurate or not?

Does anyone have any experience with this company’s stuff or other piano books like this one?

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Orchestrated Phantasmagoric (12) Read More >>>

I’ve noticed that EarthBound prices get especially high over each holiday season and then slowly drop afterward – although never fully getting as cheap as they were pre-holidays. So if you’re hoping to get a copy of the game, avoid buying during the holiday season!

Also, to try to bring some sanity back into EarthBound prices, I made a page that’ll keep track of average prices of EarthBound cartridges, guides, and complete sets – my hope is that it’ll at least help a few people avoid getting ripped off. Check it out here!

I’m also looking for other online sites that might carry the game, so if you know of any let me know and I’ll add them to the page.

You can still get a copy of EarthBound without going into debt, you just gotta have some know-how and some patience. As an example, a complete set sold on Amazon the other day for only $80 – or about how much the game cost about in 1995. So hope isn’t lost yet

(Hey I also just realized this is EB Central’s 3rd birthday, hooray!)

(Also just realized I finally made good on this project announcement, double hooray!)

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The rarity and price of this collection brings onions to my eyes~

If you don’t recognize some of this stuff, some are listed in more detail here!

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An EarthBound Painting (8) Read More >>>

For Christmas, I had some custom MOTHER items hand crafted for me. I got a sweet messenger bag, a MacBook Air sleeve, and an iPad sleeve. I think it turned out really well! The guy did a great job with the embroidery. Anyway, just wanted to share these awesomely unique items with the community. I’m probably the only person in the world with a bag emblazoned with the MOTHER logo!

And here they are:

So it’s like, what happens when the craziest MOTHER/EarthBound collector out there runs out of stuff to collect? He makes his own stuff! That’s that Do-It-Yourself Devotion in action again all right I don’t even own an iPad or a MacBook and kinda want these…

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Full EarthBound Figure Set! (25) Read More >>>

Anyway, here’s some stuffs!

Mach Pizza Air Freshener

I think I’ve seen this particular air freshener before, but it was gone until recently. As most crazy fans know by now, this was a prize you could win by sending in your best guess for the “mystery smell card” in the back of the EarthBound Player’s Guide. Apparently they sent one of these to everyone who participated, I guess they were expecting a really big turnout but then only got a small response. So there’s not a whole lot of these around, which is why they tend to go for crazy prices nowadays.

Looking back, I kinda wish I had taken part in the contest, I just remember being confused by the smell and worrying that I’d get it completely wrong and not win anything. Stupid kid me!

Mach Pizza Air Freshener + Congratulatory Note

This is probably even rarer – you got not only the air freshener but the little note that contest participants received in the mail together with the air freshener back in the day. This one’s only four cents more than the one above, so if you’re REALLY going for one of these Mach Pizza air fresheners, this is the one I’d probably recommend, assuming all else is equal (like that this one isn’t haunted or something).

Brand New Copy of EarthBound!

New copies of EarthBound are hard to come by, and they usually get expensive really fast. If money is no object and you’re a huge fan (or collector) then this is for you!

Brand New MOTHER 3 Deluxe Box

Man, another brand new item! MOTHER 3 Deluxe Boxes are already kind of few in number and expensive as it is. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a brand new one hit eBay, so if you got some extra gold bars lying around then this might be for you.

Big Lot of Good Super NES Games & RPGs

I feel kinda bad because this guy is selling a hell of a good SNES library – got all the Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, Super Metroid, and a bunch more.

Itoi Autograph Board #1

In Japan, autographs and such are usually done on “autograph boards”, usually including a doodle or some sort of text along with the autograph. This particular one is signed by Shigesato Itoi and includes text that translates to something like “An infant’s great big yawn”. I’m assuming it’s from something he’s come up with in the past, anyone know?

Itoi Autograph Board #2

And here’s another one he’s done, this one says something like, “However hard I try, I just can’t seem to be friends with myself.”

If you’re a really intense collector, then maybe having the series’ creator’s autograph will interest you. The buy-it-now prices are staggering though – 30,000 yen! So if you’re gonna get one of them, I’d do normal bidding rather than the buy it now thing. Of course, you’d need to go through a company like Celga if you don’t live in Japan but want to bid on Japanese auctions.

Well, that’s all for now – if you come across any cool auctions (whether it’s eBay, Yahoo Auctions Japan, or elsewhere), lemme know!

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Swag Watch (Jan. 25, 2011) (2) Read More >>>

By accident, I clicked on an EB ad that took me to amazon. I saw that there was a new copy of Earthbound for sale and is currently going for $1000.

The description is correct that the game was never shrink-wrapped or sealed when it was sold. New copies of EarthBound have sold for that much in the past, so it’s not TOO surprising that it has such a high price tag here. If you’re interested though, be sure you do your homework first, that’s a lotta money

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A long while ago I remember seeing a strange MOTHER 2 VHS tape on a Japanese auction site. I guess I completely forgot about it until now, because now it’s showed up on eBay!

• MOTHER 2 In-Store Promo VHS Tape – selling for $233

Apparently this video was played in Japanese game stores to promote MOTHER 2 way back in 1994 or so. I’ve never seen what’s on the video, hopefully someone here with some extra dough can win it!

Thanks to amour for the tip!

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About two years ago i bought an Ocarina of Time replica from the company Songbird Ocarinas. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re the ones who’ve been advertising in Nintendo Power for the last decade. Anyway, ever since i bought from them, i occasionally get emails about new products and stuff. I just got an email from them about a $5 songbook with sheet music for many different video games, not just Zelda music. The book covers a wide variety of games, including Earthbound.

If you’re interested, you can see the full list of games here!

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