You knew it was coming: Smash Bros. Brawl hits eBay

by Candace Savino { Feb 1st 2008 at 10:30PM }

Japan may not have had the Brawl room blitz riots we were expecting due to game shortages, but that doesn't mean demand for the Nintendo fighter isn't extremely high. Then there's also the rest of the world to think of. While most of us probably don't own Japanese Wiis or modded systems, those who do probably can't wait to get their grubby little hands on the most coveted game of this year.

If you live in Japan, selling your copy of Brawl on eBay seems like the smart thing to do (if you can part with it, that is). The high bid for this auction is currently $242.50, which means it's almost as expensive as a Wii, and the bidding doesn't even end for another two days. That's madness.

If the Wii wasn't region locked, how much would playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl early be worth to you?

[Thanks, TheFireStorm!]

Tags: auction, bid, brawl, ebay, smash-bros-brawl

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

iofthestorm @ Feb 1st 2008 10:39PM

Funny, I would think people with modded wiis would just pirate it anyway, but maybe I'm just weird.

Jhongerkong @ Feb 1st 2008 11:24PM

The thing is, they cant even pirate it. Theres currently no way to dump dual layer wii dvds. Plus, you cant even play a legit copy of brawl on some modded wiis.

Sensai @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:46PM

It's incredibly difficult to pirate, which is the problem (or, for Nintendo, not problem).

xeleion @ Feb 1st 2008 10:46PM

If the Wii was region free, I would have preordered mine as soon as the first delay was announced and Japan was getting it before we did. Not kidding.

Stupid Nintendo. How come the DS is region free and the Wiii isn't?

Tyler @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:31AM

I've never understood why the handhelds were always region free but not the major consoles.

Spottednigel @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:03PM

The DS is portable. It's supposed to go around the world. Your Wii is supposed to stay in your living room.

It doesnt seem too hard to figure out that logic.

ArmorForVictor @ Feb 4th 2008 9:39PM

ps3 is region free

Drahken @ Feb 1st 2008 10:54PM

Madness?

THIS!

IS!

SPARTAAAA!

Roto13 @ Feb 1st 2008 11:13PM

I'd never pay five times what a game is worth so I can play it a month early. Hell, if I knew Brawl would get an 80% price drop after it's American release date, I'd wait even longer.

SImpression @ Feb 1st 2008 11:33PM

It looks so pretty.... like it's taunting me.
I hate this delay, it is so hard to resist the Brawl Spoilers out there, i mean i already have spoiled myself quite majorlly with the Final Smashes and the complete Roster. *sigh*
I wish it would come out fast but i would defintiely not play that price to play it, i could wait if it meant getting it at a decent price. plus i think i would just be overly confused with the japanese text, lol.

Fiefdom @ Feb 1st 2008 11:36PM

I have a Japanese Wii but it would be daft to buy Smash Bros. Brawl for $250. That's more expensive than the Wii (which is cheaper in Japan than in the US, unless the horrifically low dollar has dropped in value too much). I am perfectly content playing Melee and Fire Emblem right now. I'll get the US version of Brawl (if NOA doesn't mess up Ike's sexy manly voice) for $50 because my sister would prefer it. If supply can't meet demand, I'll wait the week it will take for more copies to be printed.

Play-Asia raised the price from $65 to $70, ohmygosh. I wouldn't too much mind paying $75 ($70 + shipping) for the game because it is sure to get a hell of a lot of use, but my sister will be angry because she doesn't know Japanese. Waiting a month and paying only $50 for a game which might see a many hundreds if not a few thousand hours of use isn't the worst option.

Shadow31 @ Feb 1st 2008 11:44PM

Hmm... I would easily pay double to get Brawl at this point. Not 5x the price, but maybe a bit over $100. May seem crazy, but I'm desperate.

Now, if I could've gotten it December 3rd despite the delay, I would've paid $300, no joke. Once again, I seem insane, but seriously, Melee alone can be my only game and I'd be relatively happy, at least it has been until Brawl has gotten me hyped.

Covarr @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:49AM

For me the biggest thing is language. The NA release of Melee has both English and Japanese modes. I'm hoping for the same with Brawl; for this reason I'd rather wait for the American release.

vidGuy @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:22AM

I would pay $49.99 for Brawl. That's it. I love Smash but there's very little "extra" fun that I would get by having it a few weeks early. I could use that money to buy a whole lot of other stuff.

Justinjb @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:49AM

Eh. To me, the game is worth $0 in Japanese. Supposedly, this game is the most story-heavy of the SSB titles. I would wait another six months if Nintendo added, say, Midna as a brawler and lowered the price by $15. Why buy something in a foreign language? How could you enjoy it? Besides, the game now costs as much as an entire Wii console. I'd just screw SSBB and buy myself Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, No More Heroes, and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles to hold me over until March, or whenever the next delay is. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Brawl. It's the number one game I need to play in 2008. But there comes a point where I draw a line. This is that point.

tylerhill @ Feb 2nd 2008 1:57AM

Lets say for the sake of discussion that MoveOns 70/30 vote is representative of their members. (This should be close to true so long as those who voted weren't somehow self selected towards Hillary or Obama). That still leaves roughly 1 million Hillary supporters. How are they going to feel if their organization starts actively campaigning against their choosen candidate? It seems to me becoming too active in the primary could cost them membership.
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BDR @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:21AM

wait.......................what?

Brandon @ Feb 2nd 2008 8:17AM

If the Wii weren't region locked, I woud be willing to pay exactly $0 to play S2B2 a month early. I hope whichever stupid, American, non-Japanese reading, fatass otaku shells out a quarter thousand of his saved up birthday money from grandma to be the first retard in his parents basement to play the game will still feel totally awesome in four short weeks when his peers have paid a fifth as much to be able to read the menus and play against each other in region-locked, online, With Friends matches.

Sora267 @ Feb 2nd 2008 8:47AM

It's 5.5 weeks. Lern2count plox.

Shadow31 @ Feb 2nd 2008 8:51AM

I just found it on eBay for a Buy It Now price of $70, I'd play that if my Wii could handle Japanese.

And all you people complaining about the Japanese... since when has Smash Bros been very text heavy? Besides, it is not that hard to learn at least enough Japanese to follow along. I am self taught, Japanese is many times simpler than English with all our weird grammatical rules that are randomly broken.

TheOverlord#2 @ Feb 2nd 2008 9:35AM

I could afford the $70 copy but I wouldn't enjoy it being all Japanese...(the names, stickers, options,etc.)
and after that I wouldn't be able to pay for the English version

It seems like its worth it to wait 35 days to get the English one(and itd be $50)

Dan K. @ Feb 2nd 2008 9:44AM

A lot of Japanese games now adays use English text anyway. Just look at the Roster screen.

Gerwurztraminer @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:01PM

English text maybe, but I'm sure Jigglypuff won't stay Purin for the US release.

Tom @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:22AM

$50. No more, but I'll pay less. I still have to go through just about every game I own (I don't really finish games so I'm still going through whatever I buy on deals).

The month-long wait for Brawl will be occupied by No More Heroes and other releases of the past year.

Patrick @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:40AM

"The high bid for this auction is currently $242.50, which means it's almost as expensive as a Wii, and the bidding doesn't even end for another two days. That's madness."

Look at the high bidder. His name has three asterisks in the middle and his gamerscore, er, rating is "0." It's a fake ebay user ID used by some people to try to stop scalping. This happened (and might still be happening) to people trying to scalp Wii's. Most copies of Brawl will probably go for less than $100.

thethirdmoose @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:12PM

all bidders appear as x******x... you can only see the first and last letters

gevenstaines @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:57AM

i would pay $70 for either english or japanese version. hell, ddr and guitar heroes cost that much, and i wonder, which game is best? actually, i think i'd rather have the japanese version, for coolness factor. as long as i can still play wi fi with other americans with the japanese version. is any player currently smashing on wi fi outside japan on a japanese wii?

i wonder why nintendo does not increase the price of the game for the first week or two? it seems that would increase profits.

Tom @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:07AM

That would be biting the hand that feeds you. Nintendo respects (hopefully) the consumer and wouldn't try to finagle even more profits from a game that is guaranteed to be a great seller. Ripping off the people that keep you in business would cause people to lose some faith in Nintendo and its product.

gevenstaines @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:13AM

but the advance copy is worth $$$ to people. i, for instance, would graciously pay an extra 20 USD and thank nintendo for it. others could wait and pay standard price, if they choose. if something has value to consumers, then businesses must charge a cost for it to maximize profit. hell, we've waited this long already, what's another seven days?

gevenstaines @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:13AM

Tom @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:07AM

Drakhen stole my line...
Anyways, whoever pays that much for this game is a dumbass. It is my most wanted game, but I would never pay anything over 50 bucks for it. Plus, don't people have other things to do instead of play Brawl? I mean, I'm absorbing the info for it like a sponge (last nights FS video was AMAZING!!) but I have other hobbies to occupy my time. Other videogames to play, friends to hang out with, basketball, etc. So I'll wait to play the sweetest videogame ever.

TriptychR @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:21AM

I wish I was:

1) Rich
2) An impatient idiot

Then I'd have a copy of Brawl right now! :D

orion @ Feb 2nd 2008 11:49AM

id pay retail.

seriously, for a roughly 200 dollar difference, I can wait a month, easy. i never understood people who bought things like this on ebay at inflated prices. cause i know youd look back later when it's not rare anymore and be like "wow, that was stupid spending 250 dollars on that when its worth 29 now".

NvM @ Feb 2nd 2008 12:57PM

If I had a compatible Wii I would've imported for $75 easily.
But screw $250 with the NA Wii.

SoulBlade @ Feb 2nd 2008 2:33PM

I don't think I'd pay that much for it even if I had a Wii that could play it. I don't even know Japanese!

Has there been any shots of custom made stages? I wanna see some cool shit.

TheOverlord#2 @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:35PM

Look on AnimeEater2's youtube page, he has a video of some custom stages(there is even a Tetris one!!)

RupeeClock @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:27PM

I've already paid up £250.74 JUST for a copy of Brawl and a japanese Wii, that's like 500 of your american dollars.
AND IT'S WORTH EVERY LAST PENNY DAMMIT.

Nigeria @ Feb 2nd 2008 3:42PM

No.

Mr Khan @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:01PM

The Japanese Wii is an investment, however, for stuff that will never see the light of day outside of the land of the rising sun

Lots of that kind of thing is bound to show up on Wii, with all the niche Japanese studios on board with crazy projects.

RupeeClock @ Feb 2nd 2008 6:09PM

Of course, I plan to import other japanese games too.
But for the time being, I can see myself playing Brawl for a VERY long time.

Fiefdom @ Feb 2nd 2008 10:41PM

The Japanese VC is also better and DS demos are fun. ;) It is a good investment for those who would make use of it. If one can find one on with a good price or pick one up in Japan it's even better because it's approximately $200, subtract $60 for the next Wiimote and Nunchuk set that no longer needs to be purchased.