On average, a loose Earthbound cartridge with no box goes for close to $400. A copy of Super Mario World for the same console sells for about $17 on eBay.
Most of the SNES market comes down to that difference. If an old cartridge’s price made you wince recently, you saw it right. Retro games don’t always fetch what they’re worth, but the SNES library is a pricey exception.
An emulator such as Super ZSNES is one option. Many players skip it because they want a physical cartridge to hold and display on a shelf, and software can’t do that.
The supply of cartridges is fixed
Nintendo ended SNES cartridge production a long time ago, which means the number available in 2026 can’t grow. The console sold a little over 379 million software units in its lifetime. That looks like a big number until you put it next to the Wii, which passed 921 million.
The 379 million total has also been getting smaller since the ’90s. Cartridges broke, were lost or just disappeared. Collectors now compete for the ones that made it.
The hardware first came out in Japan in late 1990 under the name Super Famicom, then arrived in the United States in 1991. Worldwide sales came to just over 49 million units, and the original NES beat that by more than 10 million. People are still fond of the SNES decades on.
Other consoles have the same issue. GameCube games are known for high prices because only small numbers were made back then. On any platform, prices climb when supply is capped and demand keeps rising.
Rarity sets the price
This is why the whole library isn’t expensive. Nintendo produced Super Mario World in enormous quantities, so loose copies still sell for around $17. In the United States, Earthbound sold just about 140,000 copies. That scarcity, along with its cult-classic reputation, pushes a loose copy to almost $400 on average.
The average price for Super Metroid is a little over $90. That fits, since it’s one of the most featured games ever at Awesome Games Done Quick. The speedrunning event favors classic games over new ones, because older titles are better documented and tend to have more exploits.
SNES kids are now adults with money
Part of the answer is what buyers are willing to spend. Children who played the SNES at its peak are grown up with disposable income, and many will pay hundreds to get their favorite games back on a shelf.
Some buyers are after something they missed out on. In a 2025 study of the British public, 71 percent of respondents said they wished they’d owned a particular piece of retro tech as a child. Of those people, 45 percent were looking into buying it. Buyers have shown they’ll pay good money for Earthbound, and no sensible seller will try to talk them out of it.
A Link to the Past costs more than twice what it did in 2010
Prices were friendlier in the past. Zelda: A Link to the Past cost about $17 in 2010. Now its average price is around $45.
Retro gaming has drawn more interest since the 2010s, and prices have gone up steadily alongside it. Nostalgia is the clearest cause. As the SNES era gets further away and modern games get more technologically complex, more people want the older ones.
The buyers aren’t only people who played these games when they came out. YouTube let’s plays introduced SNES games to a new audience. That may be at least partly linked to the site’s 2012 algorithm change, which started ranking total watch time above clicks. Speedrunners have contributed as well.
Remakes haven’t lowered prices
Nintendo Switch Online keeps adding classic games, and a regular flow of remakes has introduced many new players to retro titles. Cartridge prices haven’t dropped because of either one.
Super Mario RPG was remade for Nintendo Switch in 2023, and the remake retails at $60. The original SNES version sells for around $65.
Players can choose remakes, emulators or Nintendo’s online rereleases, and some of them won’t accept any of those. They want the original copy, whatever it costs.