How much did games cost for the spectrum/C64/Atari ST /Amiga ?
- Thread starter chaparral
- Start date
It varied, if you went to Boots for C64,Zx spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464/6128, top games were £9.99 although Virgin Records sold them at £8.95.
The C64 and Amstrad were usually £1 more than the ZX spectrum.
This is how it was for premium software for 8bit machines, you could also get games on the cheap from Mastertronic, Firebird, Bugbyte, Kixx etc.
These were usually in the £1.99 or £2.99 catergory although some were ok most were crap.
Some premium games came into this catergory when they had been out a few years.
As for the 16bit machines like the Atari ST and Amiga they normally retailed at £19.99 and £24.99 for the premium games although you could get cheaper titles like Barbarian from Psygnosis which retailed at £7. I remember this is as if it were yesterday and i have bag fulls of old games in my attic in there original boxes along with receipts also!
I also have machines that were never released in the EU like the PC Engine, Sharp X68000 and FM Towns Marty in there original boxes and completely unopened.
Let me put it this way, games were more expensive back then than what they are now even with inflation, ive spent thousands upon thousands on games and hardware through the 1980's and 1990s to present day, it was more fun back then also getting stuff on Grey import long before the internet existed for the mainstream public. You really felty like you had something special that no one else had and you had to do you homework to acquire it. a lot of the fun has gone out of it today. I was definitely more hardcore back then than i was now, somedays i would just game all day with no food or water and come away with a headache lol.
The C64 and Amstrad were usually £1 more than the ZX spectrum.
This is how it was for premium software for 8bit machines, you could also get games on the cheap from Mastertronic, Firebird, Bugbyte, Kixx etc.
These were usually in the £1.99 or £2.99 catergory although some were ok most were crap.
Some premium games came into this catergory when they had been out a few years.
As for the 16bit machines like the Atari ST and Amiga they normally retailed at £19.99 and £24.99 for the premium games although you could get cheaper titles like Barbarian from Psygnosis which retailed at £7. I remember this is as if it were yesterday and i have bag fulls of old games in my attic in there original boxes along with receipts also!
I also have machines that were never released in the EU like the PC Engine, Sharp X68000 and FM Towns Marty in there original boxes and completely unopened.
Let me put it this way, games were more expensive back then than what they are now even with inflation, ive spent thousands upon thousands on games and hardware through the 1980's and 1990s to present day, it was more fun back then also getting stuff on Grey import long before the internet existed for the mainstream public. You really felty like you had something special that no one else had and you had to do you homework to acquire it. a lot of the fun has gone out of it today. I was definitely more hardcore back then than i was now, somedays i would just game all day with no food or water and come away with a headache lol.
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Associate
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I never used to buy any games for my Amstrad, just used to get them at the library and copy them on my ghetto blaster 
I remember getting lots of games at about £1.99 a pop, but its been so long that i cannot be sure...
All i do remember are the joys of getting the volume just right on the tape deck, (yeah tape remember that) then watching a seizure inducing loading screen, just to watch it crash after 30mins,
Peeps with there SSD's, auto game updates & plug and play just don't know there born!!!
All i do remember are the joys of getting the volume just right on the tape deck, (yeah tape remember that) then watching a seizure inducing loading screen, just to watch it crash after 30mins,
Peeps with there SSD's, auto game updates & plug and play just don't know there born!!!
That what I thought I remembered paying for games for my Atari ST and Amiga...
I Can't believe games still cost around the same price about 25+ years later...
Wrong....Premium titles like Renegade, Starglider, Last Ninja or Famous arcade conversions were double that. The only game i can remember of the top of my head that was 4.99 was hardball and Starpaws. Not many came in at this price, it was either the £1.99, £2.99 or £8.95, £9.99.
That site dont do anything, only tells you how much retro hardware goes for nowadays.
I remember I liked the spectrum ULTIMATE games the best
Caporegime
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NOSTALGIA ALERT!
Oh the days sifting through the tapes at my local market with £2 in my pocket.
Run home, load up whilst gritting teeth, then crash
Felt like you had completed the game just getting it to load.
Oh the days sifting through the tapes at my local market with £2 in my pocket.
Run home, load up whilst gritting teeth, then crash
Felt like you had completed the game just getting it to load.
Budget C64 games that came in only the cassette holder cost me 2.99 originally then randomly increased to 3.99 one day.
Was tough to take as a child back in the day!
Full price boxed games cost about a tenner or a bit more though I think I only ever bought one at full price. I think it was some multipack containing 4 or 5 games - one of which was a terrible Double Dragon port...
Was tough to take as a child back in the day!
Full price boxed games cost about a tenner or a bit more though I think I only ever bought one at full price. I think it was some multipack containing 4 or 5 games - one of which was a terrible Double Dragon port...
Atari ST summer pack, youi can see the prices of the games, like i said before mostt were 19.99 or 24.99. Most Amiga games were £5 more than the ST also coming in at around 24.99.
I had this around 1988.
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-atari-summer-pack_24136.html
Games were quite poor with this pack overall, it was hit and miss.
Also Super pack, this was much better, a lot of killer games here! I also owned this aswell.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=a...m%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D13352;316;296
Taken from the now defunct and infamous Silica Systems who were the leading supplier of ST and Amiga products in the late 80s.
You can find these packs as long as you remember the names of them like the Amiga Batman pack, Screen gems etc etc.
Same with C64 and Spectrum although 8 bit machines didnt really come with game packs full of retail software as sellers didnt realise that if you throw a games bundle in with a computer it will sell loads which is why you didnt see any retail gamepacks for 8 bit machines unless it was End of life like the C64 Olympic pack.
The only packs you got with the speccy were the sinclair software packs which had games from sinclairs in-house division. Games like Disco dan, Treasure Island, Sinclar gold etc, they were pretty **** tbh.
Ive ony just turned 39, i started in this game very young around 4 or 5 and i have a wealth of knowledge as if it was all yesterday. Even my wife says to me im like an elephant as i dont forget anything
I had this around 1988.
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st-atari-summer-pack_24136.html
Games were quite poor with this pack overall, it was hit and miss.
Also Super pack, this was much better, a lot of killer games here! I also owned this aswell.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=a...m%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D3%26t%3D13352;316;296
Taken from the now defunct and infamous Silica Systems who were the leading supplier of ST and Amiga products in the late 80s.
You can find these packs as long as you remember the names of them like the Amiga Batman pack, Screen gems etc etc.
Same with C64 and Spectrum although 8 bit machines didnt really come with game packs full of retail software as sellers didnt realise that if you throw a games bundle in with a computer it will sell loads which is why you didnt see any retail gamepacks for 8 bit machines unless it was End of life like the C64 Olympic pack.
The only packs you got with the speccy were the sinclair software packs which had games from sinclairs in-house division. Games like Disco dan, Treasure Island, Sinclar gold etc, they were pretty **** tbh.
Ive ony just turned 39, i started in this game very young around 4 or 5 and i have a wealth of knowledge as if it was all yesterday. Even my wife says to me im like an elephant as i dont forget anything
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Soldato
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- Paisley
Budget games for C64 were £1.99-2.99 - with budget premium ones being £4.99
The old pricing off speccy/amstrad/c64 was at one point £7.99 speccy, £8.99 amstrad, £9.99 c64.
Guys like Mastertronic were usually £1.99-2.99 - firebird were usually £2.99/4.99.
You can check out all the old prices and read old mags of Zzap64 at www.zzap64.co.uk - ive got them all downloaded and have been reading through them this year, im up to issue 26, Ive got a mutual friend who is friends off Gary Liddon, I tagged him in a pic and all the old zzap guys started having a discussion on my picture - i ended up with about 60 likes
The old pricing off speccy/amstrad/c64 was at one point £7.99 speccy, £8.99 amstrad, £9.99 c64.
Guys like Mastertronic were usually £1.99-2.99 - firebird were usually £2.99/4.99.
You can check out all the old prices and read old mags of Zzap64 at www.zzap64.co.uk - ive got them all downloaded and have been reading through them this year, im up to issue 26, Ive got a mutual friend who is friends off Gary Liddon, I tagged him in a pic and all the old zzap guys started having a discussion on my picture - i ended up with about 60 likes
Soldato
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- Essex
Nothing if you had a tape to tape deck .
Budget C64 games that came in only the cassette holder cost me 2.99 originally then randomly increased to 3.99 one day.
Was tough to take as a child back in the day!
Full price boxed games cost about a tenner or a bit more though I think I only ever bought one at full price. I think it was some multipack containing 4 or 5 games - one of which was a terrible Double Dragon port...
Yeah Double Dragon was a poor port right across the board, all conversions were bad. Only the Coin-op was worth playing. However Rtype was good on all machines, it was always down to how was taking on the conversion like Ocean, Imagine, Data East etc. However sometimes the Coin-op (Arcade) was so advanced that even the ST and Amiga could not compete. If you wanted to play the best games you had to go to the Arcade, none of this sitting at home lark.
Hail to the Motorola 68000, the best cpu and most important cpu ever made, it really was the blue printed testing ground for what we have today. It is still being used today in modern hardware. If it wasnt for the 68000 cpu we wouldnt have what we have today, not a chance.
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