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[Bullet Club]

In Japan, You Can Buy A Nintendo Wii For 50 Cents

And DS consoles are under a dollar

The Wii and DS were phenomenally successful consoles, selling over 250 million units between them worldwide. That's great news when a system is 'alive' and still getting new games, but when it's a decade down the line, the software has dried up (well, almost dried up) and online services are being disconnected, it means something else: you're going to find millions of unwanted consoles flooding the second-hand market.

That's the situation that Japan appears to find itself in. One Japanese shopper snapped images inside a trade-in store which shows Nintendo DS consoles selling for 100 Yen – that's around a dollar, or 75 pence if you're in the UK. PS2 consoles are selling for 200 Yen ($1.86 / £1.51) while a second-hand Wii will set you back 50 Yen (46 cents / 36 pence). All of those prices are subject to sales tax, which makes them slightly higher, but not by much.



Old consoles being sold for much less than their original retail value isn't big news, of course, but these prices are still a little on the insane side. Surely a Wii offers enough entertainment value to be worth more than 50 cents – or perhaps the issue is that there are so many of these systems clogging up stores that they literally have no option but to drop them to a stupid price in order to shift them?

How many Nintendo DS consoles would you buy if they only cost a dollar at your local game store?

Source: Nintendo Life

 

[Kuranghi]

Probably what you said about amount of stock, if it sold that many Nintendo probably made far too many. Didn't they used to do that in the past but have been more conservative more recently?

 

[teezzy]

I'd love to have those prices around here. I just paid $50 locally for a fat PS2. Didnt even have any controllers with it.

Old consoles are always more fun to go back to imho. I want a modded Wii so badly.

 

[fran.fernandez]

2 months ago I got Nintendo DS + osu tatakae ouendan 1 and 2 for less than 15 us here in japan.

 

[JOEVIAL]

Yeah that is flatout ridiculously cheap. I would but them all! You can't get a Wii for less that $40 here in the US. Typical price is $60 for just the console.

And I've heard (and seen) that Japanese folks really take care of their stuff too... so they are probably in pretty good condition. Here in the US you would have Wii's covered in cheeto dust and other unidentifiable sticky substances

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Buy 100s of Japanese Wiis in the hopes that one left an account with 100s of VC games that you cannot get in the west.

 

[LostDonkey]

I'd rather have the PS2 for £1.66

 

[deriks]

I'd buy that for a dollar

 

[Scotty W]

I am in Japan, and I have never seen them anywhere close to that price. I looked all over a few months ago and ended up getting a ds and cord for 3000, knowing that I overpaid.

On the other hand, I have seen Chrono Trigger on the street for 9$ US, plus a lot of other crazy things.

 

[cireza]

Wasted planet resources.

 

[MadchesterManc]

A few years ago when I bought a replacement Wii it only set me back £20 and I thought that was cheap

 

[TLZ]

50 cents?? But mah Nintendo value!

 

[Mattyp]

Never ever seen them that price in Japan... Bookoff has amazing prices for shit compared to the west but then you realise everythings in Japanese so 90% of its useless to us anyway even then nothing at all like that. Akihabara game shops priced decently really don't even exist anymore either (compared to the bargains that surely where around 5-10 years ago).

Here's a tip for those traveling Japan, get to the outer town flea markets. Don't look for the games, buy things that are universal. Picking up as many N64 controllers as you want for $3 each or so? That leaves a smile on your face. Some awesome oldschool carry cases about for consoles to for a few dollars but fairly bulky if you travel without a suitcase.

 

[EverydayBeast]

I consider the Wii a good console and 50 cents is disrespect lol

 

[Pejo]

I wouldn't buy another Wii, but I wouldn't mind having a spare DS or 3.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

DS are region free. Give me that shit.

 

[frogger]

I still wouldn't buy it.

 

[ranmafan]

Looking at the pictures all of the consoles are labeled as “junk.” Now technically that doesn’t mean they don’t work, it usually just means they aren’t in perfect condition, might be missing cords, or whatnot. Since most people want to have things in as most perfect condition as possible, when it’s not it’s usually ends up in the junk area.

sometimes you will get a fine system in the junk section but it’s not always guaranteed as almost any store won’t let you test them. Many people buy them for the parts. However “junk” games are an awesome deal. You can get tons of great deals on perfectly good games that just have bad cases or missing instructions or other small things.

But yeah for a non junk system, you will pay a lot more for it. So if you come to Japan, I recommend passing on junk systems, but look for junk games. Great things to find in those sections.

 

[sublimit]

It would be nice if i could buy a Japanese Wii that cheap. There were some games that interested me but they were only released in Japan like Earth Seeker and Fatal Frame 4.

 

[zeorhymer]

50 cents? I wonder if you can get scrap worth more than 50 cents and the time/labor it takes to scrap them.

 

[Closer]

I could build a robot made entirely of Dee Esseses!

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Not a whole lot of reason to have a Wii when the Wii U plays those games plus more.

 

[Rodolink]

emulation heaven, i can buy hundreds of them just for modding.

 

[cireza]

Not a whole lot of reason to have a Wii when the Wii U plays those games plus more.

Wii can be plugged on a CRT with a SCART RGB cable, that's already a good enough reason.

 

[Vawn]

Hey at those prices Wii could finally catch up to PS2.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I'd love to buy a few to stash away and tinker with. Wii and DS are two of my favorite systems of all time.

 

[stranno]

Not a whole lot of reason to have a Wii when the Wii U plays those games plus more.

WiiU upscaler is not really great and it only outputs HDMI limited range.

I always use Wii component + XRGB.

Looking at the pictures all of the consoles are labeled as “junk.” Now technically that doesn’t mean they don’t work, it usually just means they aren’t in perfect condition, might be missing cords, or whatnot. Since most people want to have things in as most perfect condition as possible, when it’s not it’s usually ends up in the junk area.

There's a "test yourself" sign there + AV/power cable so they should work.

 

[lock2k]

I'd love to have those prices around here. I just paid $50 locally for a fat PS2. Didnt even have any controllers with it.

Old consoles are always more fun to go back to imho. I want a modded Wii so badly.

Modded Wii is pure joy. I was playing Donkey Konga Last week with my GC bongos, it feels so good. And you can also play the arcade Mario Kart GP games which feature Pacman. What a great little console. I would buy several if I was there. I still have my console from 2007 and it works like a charm.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I miss my black NDS Lite. I use my red 3DSXL, but I’d definitely get a couple NDS’s if I could.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I'm so envious of Japan's retro gaming scene.

 

[Holammer]

For a second I thought they were "new" in box units and wondered why they haven't been sent for destruction yet. Turns out it's second hand.
Those are inventory/shelf cloggers, so the price is not a surprise.

 

[pyrocro]

I got mine for about 1000yen(~$10US) last year

 

[dottme]

How much is the WiiU? as the WiiU is probably a good alternative to the Wii. You can play all the Wii games and all the WiiU games.

 

[Breakage]

I stopped buying second hand consoles many years ago. Brand new or nothing.

 

[ranmafan]

WiiU upscaler is not really great and it only outputs HDMI limited range.

I always use Wii component + XRGB.


There's a "test yourself" sign there + AV/power cable so they should work.

thats cool, didn’t see that when I took a quick look at the picture. From my experience that’s super rare here. Every store I’ve been too has a policy of not allowing you to check to see if it works. Nice to see some places are different

 

[TwiztidElf]

North Korea might buy them all up and use them to launch nukes.

 

[theclaw135]

I figured Japanese retro game stores were given the scorthed earth treatment years ago by importers looking to make a buck.
Not that I'd blame them given stellar libraries like the Super Famicom, but the games deserve more respect than that.

 

[Reficul]

Well if this is a pissing contest:
In Norway we get 50 cent free...
On Spotify...
With commersials...

 

[Scotty W]

Never ever seen them that price in Japan... Bookoff has amazing prices for shit compared to the west but then you realise everythings in Japanese so 90% of its useless to us anyway even then nothing at all like that. Akihabara game shops priced decently really don't even exist anymore either (compared to the bargains that surely where around 5-10 years ago).

Here's a tip for those traveling Japan, get to the outer town flea markets. Don't look for the games, buy things that are universal. Picking up as many N64 controllers as you want for $3 each or so? That leaves a smile on your face. Some awesome oldschool carry cases about for consoles to for a few dollars but fairly bulky if you travel without a suitcase.

Do you know what these outer town flea markets are called in Japanese? I may have to visit one.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Some Japanese guy said these are actually under "junk" section. So most probably they dont work and are sold just for parts.

 

[scalman]

Imagine buy them all and pretend you gamer lol. I would buy them.

 

[West Texas CEO]

only 50 cents?!