Is $30 REALLY too much for Super Mario All Stars Wii?

It's only too much to the "And I can illegally download this off the Internet for free" crowd, and to the "They should have designed a whole bunch of extra levels and new content and released it at that price" group. I've seen complaints from both groups.

The games would actually come to $21 if you downloaded the Virtual Console versions, I believe. I think I paid extra for The Lost Levels because it was an import release. The CD and art book aren't all that great, but they do justify the $9 from there (plus it's nice to have a physical copy so that if my Wii dies, I still own the game). It's a completely fair price if you want the updated 16-bit versions of the games. I do agree that Nintendo missed some excellent opportunities with the release, but the content and price point do match. It's a good deal but not a total steal.

For three amazing games? Yeah, it's worth it.

Yes, I'm aware that there are four games on the cart, but I'm not a big fan of Lost Levels.

I'd not pay $30 for it. And that rounds up to about £7.50.

$30 is too much because no one really seriously wants all of the games included on the disc, and they certainly don't want them at a price of $7.50 each. Here's how I break it down:

Super Mario Bros -- value = $1
Lost Levels -- value = $1
Super Mario Bros 2 -- value = $3
Super Mario Bros 3 -- value = $4
CD/booklet -- not really a fan of the music or art, so 0

I would pay 9 bucks.

//Zig

By this point, who DOESN'T already own these games on some format or another? $30 is $30 too much.

A large number of people who purchase a Wii do not have a legitimate copy of the old Super Mario Bros. games and either lack the technical knowledge to download them or still believe that theft is wrong. There's a large market for these games, and you're not going to find much of that market on a site like this one where most of the regular contributors have been playing video games for years and who (unlike a lot of today's gamers) have a closet full of retro systems.

Even the parents that are heading to stores to buy Wii games all the time might be familiar with the Mario games and may have played them when they were younger, but often they've long since lost track of any copies they owned--or they no longer have a working NES or SNES--and so they welcome the opportunity to play them again now and introduce them to their children. A lot of those same people barely know that the Virtual Console exists, much less how to use it.

In other words, Super Mario All-Stars for Wii represents a significant value to many, many consumers who are tired of paying $30 for games (on all systems, not just Wii) that won't last their kids more than five or ten hours before getting old. It can be fun (I suppose?) to pretend otherwise and compete to see who can manage the most snark in the process, but that doesn't change the reality that exists outside of hardcore gamer hangouts (i.e. most of the real world).

Not everyone has money to burn like you, Jason. ;)

Felix: Your comments in this thread make it obvious that you're either feigning ignorance to get a rise out of me and/or others, or you really have no idea what current consumers are looking for when they go into a store to buy video games. I don't really know which of those two is the case, but I do know that your comments don't represent the reality here and in many towns and cities throughout North America.

$30 for the content available in Super Mario All-Stars is a good deal and most parents tend to view it that way for the resons I've already mentioned and others. I continue to be amazed by the number of people who don't have Internet access in their homes (still). My sister is one such person, for crying out loud! She won't be downloading ROMs, and neither will many parents throughout Oregon and numerous other states. And while Super Mario Bros. and its sequels were once commonly available, used game stores have folded in the face of Gamestop... and Gamestop no longer even carries NES games. If you want to pick up old NES games, you either have to get lucky at a yard sale or you have to go to the Internet for eBay, Craigslist or the Virtual Console or ROM sites.

Obviously, the bundle is not a good deal if you can only just barely stand the Mario games in the first place, as I recall being the case for zigfried, but I really don't believe that's what pickhut was talking about. He was talking about people who have played the Mario games, love them and yet for some reason are complaining that they're being released in a $30 bundle.

I bought the package because: 1) I love the games; 2) I don't want to have to hook my SNES up every time I want to play them; 3) The versions with updated graphics aren't available on Virtual Console; 4) I don't enjoy playing console games on my computer; 5) The soundtrack and art book interested me; 6) It's a limited availability title that will most likely disappear from shelves in a year or two; 7) $30 for the amount of time that I'll likely spend playing the game in the coming years represents a better dollar:hour ratio than just about anything else I could think of to buy.

$30 isn't a price that everyone will be willing to pay for the bundle. That was obvious before the game even hit stores. Just you watch, though: a year or two now when the game is no longer available--as is predictable--or costs more than $30, somewhere near half of the people who are complaining about the price now and congratulating themselves for being too savvy to be suckered by money-grubbing Nintendo will be kicking themselves and bitching because they want the game and it's not available for under $50 on eBay.

Wow, is this a loaded question.

I don't think that $30 is too much for four Mario games, but only on the principle that those who own a Wii might not have an SNES gathering dust somewhere.

However, I, personally, think $30 would be $30 too much simply because I already have this game for the SNES. That, and if I'm going to purchase a 25th anniversary version of anything, I want something special that might warrant the purchase. If Super Mario All Stars Wii is nothing but four Mario games -- no interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, no collection of TV ads, nothing even remotely special -- then I don't want any part of it.

Yes, people will buy this compilation. But that doesn't mean people really want the games. I would actually take the opposite stance from Honestgamer and say that the only people who would truly get the full value from this package are hardcore gamers at websites like Honestgamers... and even that number will be low.

How many times do people impulsively purchase a hot new game, play 5 hours, and get tired of it? In today's world, are people really going to play through all of these Mario games and get their $30 value, or do they just think they will? Do people really want this collection, or do they just think they do?

Yes, people may legitimately want an old Mario game to see what all the fuss is about, but they don't really want four of them. But they'll buy the collection because they're dumb. Maybe parents want their kids to experience the games they used to play; maybe they are comparing the price to the inflated Virtual Console cost; maybe it's someone who wants to see what the Mario craze is all about. In all of those situations, the player won't ever make it through two of the games, let alone all four of them.

Also, the question of whether any game is worth the money depends on how much money you have. We're in the middle of a recession -- so when other compilations come out with 20 diverse games for 20 bucks, you can bet sharp people will complain about a package that contains 4 similar games for 30 bucks.

Consumers are stupid, and Nintendo knows it. Even the red packaging is a trick to induce impulse purchases, released at the time of year when people make the most impulse purchases. In four months, everyone who buys this game will feel a drop of buyer's remorse. Those drops will form a collective sea of regret, the depth of which would drown the even the stoutest man in sorrow.

//Zig

I'm surprised by the amount of commentary in this topic. o_O

There are some good points here and there, like the comparison to modern compilations that have much more for the same price, and the point about owning a hard copy in comparison to digital (and this is if you've never owned these games before). Though, to say everyone has copies of all these games already is kinda silly.

$30 is two Hamiltons too many, considering Nintendo could just release the damn package on virtual console for less than $10. The version of "Mario All-Stars" they're peddling isn't even the one that has "Super Mario World." The ROM occupies less than 1% of the DVD. For God's sake, these games have made so much money and are so damn ubiquitous that they may as well be digital pack-ins with each Wii, like Geometry Wars used to be for the 360.

I'm in agreement with what Zig touched on. This is a pretty bad deal really considering how much more Nintendo could have fit on a 'Mario Collection.' Even on the cartridge format, they were able to couple both All Stars & Super Mario World together yet they can't do the same on an optical disc? Why not include both the 16-bit remakes along with the original 8-bit versions? Why not add in favorites like Yoshi's Island or Super Mario 64? Obviously because Nintendo doesn't want to lose a single dime on Virtual Console sales. Compared to the Legend of Zelda Collection on GameCube, this reeks of the same sleaziness of charging $20 for a single NES game on a GBA cartridge.

My understanding was that this particular reissue was a one-time promotional deal, and that Nintendo has already discontinued it. (My understanding comes from the fact that I work at a store that sells video games, and our copies were preorder-only, and we don't plan to ever get any more.)

I wouldn't pay $30 for this package, but by and large, the only people who have wound up doing so were the ones who knew about the box set ahead of time and reserved it. I think it's too much, but this certainly isn't a case where I'd accuse Nintendo of wringing every last penny out of potential customers.

Hm. Your understanding seems suspect.

//Zig

Your face seems suspect.

Sorry I did not realize this was only a promotional game. I guess it's just a particularly overpriced one then.

I would probably buy it if I had a Wii.

I would, of course, secretly wish that I was playing Halo Reach.

Well Jason, I guess you're right that a lot of people would pay $30 for this compilation since it's Nintendo and Mario has always been popular. But let's look at the perspective from the common man's point of view and why this is an over-priced and unnecessary purchase.

The common man works at a big box outlet making somewhere between $10-$12 an hour. He probably works no more than 30 hours a week, except maybe when it's the holiday rush. That's because his employer doesn't want to make him full-time and therefore provide him with benefits. Also, the common man has a wife to support, and maybe kids or another relative living with him. What with the cost of living, credit card debt and bills, medical expenses since he lacks insurance, etc., the common man sometimes has to resort to unusual ways of making extra cash on the side. That means he either performs odd jobs or starts selling off his ginormous video game collection he's accrued over the years. I hope you'd see why it's not very economical for the common man to repurchase a compilation of games for $30 that he already owns on the NES, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Wii Virtual Console, and can play for free through ROMs (which is a whole other argument that we won't get into since it's really not the point of this topic).

Anyway, paying $30 for games as common as dirt just doesn't seem like a smart way to spend the common man's limited funds. Sure, the compilation is a collectible, but I promise you this is one purchase that will only depreciate in value as it sits unplayed on a cluttered shelf, collecting dust.

In Australia, $30 for a brand new game of repute would be supercheap. And that held true back when our dollar was worth 60 US cents. An opening week PS3 or XBOX title with no discount will cost you about $100 here.

Now that we're in this insane time of our dollar being worth more than the US dollar from week to week, we're buying things online in record proportions.

You described me perfectly, Felix, on every count (including wage, hours worked, lack of insurance and roommate) except one: the game won't sit unplayed on a shelf. I often play Mario games and there have been times when I would have played them more than I do if not for the inconvenience of hooking my SNES up again. So you're right about a lot of factors that pertain to the existence of the common man (or at least me), but you're not right about Super Mario All-Stars for Wii.

I personally just sold two more copies of the game on my shift today (I'm on lunch break right now) for the reasons I've already noted in this thread. It's been flying out the door and as I left for lunch, we were down to two copies left. I promise you that I am not making that up. This is a pretty clear case of a $30 compilation of 3 beloved games (and 1 game almost no one plays) being perceived by the common man as a worthwhile investment. I'll be surprised indeed if it dramatically depreciates in value, but that's not even the point. The point is that the limited-edition bundle represented something I want at a price that was fair.

Besides, what else is a typical "common man" family going to do with $30 when it comes time for entertainment? All go out to the movies? That'll cost more than $30. Buy a Blu-Ray? That'll cost almost $30 for a movie that they're plenty likely to watch only once or twice (versus a Mario game that their kids are likely to play dozens of times). Pay for Netflix streaming? Not when they don't have the Internet! Or if they do, maybe they'll do that and love it but the common man does still buy video games, a few every year. Anyway, we're talking in circles. Maybe the common man shouldn't look at Super Mario All Stars as a good deal, but the fact is that he typically does.

I agree with Jason. Video game pricing is serious business, guys.

Literally by definition, Will, it is. I'm glad that we're on the same page and that you're not making some sarcastic and ill-conceived joke. It's nice.

I bought it for $30, but that was $30 Australian so in relation to other game prices it was cheaper than it is in the US - in fact it was cheaper than getting the four games on Virtual Console. I don't feel ripped off. I even played the game and then got killed by the first goomba on the first level. That always seems to happen to me when I haven't played for a while, but then I got past him and got all the way through world 1, then I saved and quit.

But I'll go back to it soon.

Literally by definition, Will, it is. I'm glad that we're on the same page and that you're not making some sarcastic and ill-conceived joke. It's nice.

Actually you're wrong on both counts. It was a pun. Huzzah!

Puns are one of my favorite things in the world.

Probably the common man would just play the rest of the 500 games he already owns for entertainment. That, or watch wrastlin'.