Back in time: Best Buy AD, 8/2/98

Love the last page.

48MB's of RAM, a 4GB Harddrive, and 64bit Accelerated Graphics. What a beast. All for only $1200.
 
[quote name='SEH']Love the last page.

48MB's of RAM, a 4GB Harddrive, and 64bit Accelerated Graphics. What a beast. All for only $1200.[/QUOTE]


no financing until 2000!!!! which somehow still seemed like the ultra-futuristic future, even though it was less than 2 years away
 
Man, I remember N64 games being that much and thinking 'what a ripoff'. . .

And lol at those PC game boxes before they became industry regulated.
 
how much did sega genesis games retail for? i played them as a kid but never knew the price because parents would only buy them
 
Oh shit yo!!!! Syarcraft has an instant 10 dollars off! That is a Fuggin deal right there. And its on cd!!! Thats like... the future and shit.......

P.S. Don't quote me on this, but a cousin of mine who know the Blizzard guys told me that if Starcraft does good they may make a sequel sometime....
 
I remember when going to discs meant prices dropped. Now we're paying $10 more than most cartridge games and at least $20 more than most CD-based games for our current-gen games. What a ripoff.
 
That N64 and PS1, what a great bargain! Lol. Awesome find! :)

[quote name='Spyder187']
P.S. Don't quote me on this, but a cousin of mine who know the Blizzard guys told me that if Starcraft does good they may make a sequel sometime....[/QUOTE]

Really?! Lol
 
Don't worry Saturn owners, I hear Sega's next system is going to be crackerjack
 
Windows 98 sure must have confused a lot of people to deserve so many how-to books. I had a few EBgames in-store holiday circulars floating around my parent's house, but I think I threw them away last month when I cleaned out most of the rooms I used to reside in.

It was great flipping through them and being able to point out which games are worth a shit to now. If only I could go back and buy seven hundred copies of Final Fantasy VII at $20 and keep them sealed...

Of course that would disrupt the time continuum because 700 people who were supposed to play the game never would... man, time traveling is heavy stuff.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']Windows 98 sure must have confused a lot of people to deserve so many how-to books. I had a few EBgames in-store holiday circulars floating around my parent's house, but I think I threw them away last month when I cleaned out most of the rooms I used to reside in.

It was great flipping through them and being able to point out which games are worth a shit to now. If only I could go back and buy seven hundred copies of Final Fantasy VII at $20 and keep them sealed...

Of course that would disrupt the time continuum because 700 people who were supposed to play the game never would... man, time traveling is heavy stuff.[/QUOTE]

heh.. yep. maybe the altered future's FF VII are worth shit. you ever thought of that? ^^"
 
[quote name='dustdust']why did they sell the jampack disc for $5? arent they just a bunch of demos?[/QUOTE]

You don't remember a time when they used to sell demos?
 
[quote name='Squarehard']You don't remember a time when they used to sell demos?[/QUOTE]

I remember those Jampacks fondly. Back then you either had to purchase the Jampacks or get demos via a magazine sub. Not like you could go online and download whatever demo you wanted.
 
[quote name='Squarehard']You don't remember a time when they used to sell demos?[/QUOTE]
No, but I remember when they sold magazines that included demos...not sure if they do that nowadays since you can just download them online
 
[quote name='SEH']I remember those Jampacks fondly. Back then you either had to purchase the Jampacks or get demos via a magazine sub. Not like you could go online and download whatever demo you wanted.[/QUOTE]

I remember *waiting* on new Jampack releases since you got to try so many games for the price of a rental...

I also remember replaying the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 demos... a LOT with friends.... those 2 minute runs man... those 2 minute runs.
 
Nice do you have another picture of the page with Pearl Jam on it? Here is a little history about that promo...

From: http://www.fivehorizons.com/feature/collecting/coll2.shtml

One of the more recent, and most infamous CD collectibles would have to be the aborted 1998 "Give Way" Best Buy promotion. This was to be an exclusive giveaway when you bought Single Video Theory at Best Buy stores; the CD itself was the 3/5/98 JJJ broadcast. This was pulled at the very last second, and was not given out with the video purchase. Allegedly, Sony served Best Buy with a cease-and-desist to prevent them from giving away the CD, as Best Buy allegedly negotiated directly with PJ for this promotion and did not get permission from Sony. This story was never confirmed or denied by the PJ camp, so to this day, no one knows what really happened. All the copies of this CD were supposed to be destroyed, but as you can imagine, a handful made it out onto the open market. This item goes for approximately $250 and up -- for a show that everyone has in good quality (due to the FM broadcast - and there's even a pre-FM feed of this show widely circulating amongst the trading community) and for very ugly artwork (which you can see here).
 
Oh God... I heard about this thread and now I have found it. I actually remember setting that ad and I remember how every woman in the entire city came in looking for Titanic that week even though it was clearly advertised as a preorder. UGH...

Another reason I remember, the mini disc system advertised was available as a special bundle from the manufacturer just for Employees. For $400 we could have gotten the MD package and an audio component to transfer CD to MD... I was so close to jumping on that.

Thanks for finally making me feel good hindsight. :D

Find some ads with the Idea Box. I played him in our store for two Christmases! LOL
 
Vigilante 8 (PS1) wow I remember that crappy ass game. Major lulz at that computer on the last page. I wonder if it could run crysis?
 
Haha, thanks for posting this!

I remember waiting and waiting and waiting for 'Mission:Impossible' for the N64 to come out. It's one of those games that was just delayed over and over again, and I clearly remember the day TRU called me to come pick it up. I had heard rumors that it was finally the day, but my parents wouldn't go anywhere until I got the phone call. I called TRU when I woke up, they told me it should be in today, and then I waited next to the phone for 4 hours so I didn't miss the call.

See, now you're waiting for the part of the story where I tell you the game was terrible.

Keep waiting.

I fucking *loved* that game.
 
The Jampacks contained Demos, videos, occasional demos of Japanese games that weren't / wouldn't be available here, etc. They were typically worth the $5, as long as the game selection is decent.

Someone here posted a Best Buy ad circa maybe 1990 or so a few years ago, that was even more interesting.

It seems weird to think that there was once a time where you weren't able to buy new release movies the day they came out, a time when you had no choice but to go to Blockbuster or your local Mom and Pop store to rent it, and then wait 6 months to buy a used copy when they made them available.
 
[quote name='Spyder187']Oh shit yo!!!! Syarcraft has an instant 10 dollars off! That is a Fuggin deal right there. And its on cd!!! Thats like... the future and shit.......

P.S. Don't quote me on this, but a cousin of mine who know the Blizzard guys told me that if Starcraft does good they may make a sequel sometime....[/QUOTE]

Really?

so like if Modern Warfare 2 does good are they going to make a sequel!?

did I mention I know Bungie and Frank O'Connor personally?
 
[quote name='Jodou']Man, I remember N64 games being that much and thinking 'what a ripoff'. . .[/QUOTE]

So true. I had a PS1 originally, but picked up a used N64 from a friend, because I loved the WCW games from THQ. When Wrestlemania 2000 came out, I had my mother pick up my pre-order from TRU (which came in like two weeks late), and she was stunned by the price.

[quote name='juanawoman']Do you have any other old ads? It is a blast of nostalgia. :p[/QUOTE]

Definitely a lot of fun looking at them.
 
You just made my day with this thread. This brough back such good memories, I can't believe how much has changed in 12 years.
 
I remember when Sony dropped PS1 games MSRP to 39.99, was good times

I have a KB Toys Black Friday flyer from 1998 sealed up with all my stuff from my parents house, I worked there for 5 years and when I was moving out of my parents house I came across the sales flyer so I sealed it in one of the tubs of stuff I was putting in their crawl space.
 
Oh man, I have that Aiwa at the bottom in the first picture. It was a gift but probably bought around then. I still use it as my stereo / to run my record player into.
 
[quote name='Squarehard']You don't remember a time when they used to sell demos?[/QUOTE]

I remember seeing a store at the mall back then that sold computer shareware!

[quote name='eastshore4']Don't worry Saturn owners, I hear Sega's next system is going to be crackerjack[/QUOTE]

I was a 32X owner. Biggest rip-off ever. Games were like $70+!!!
 
I remember getting my 1st computer in 96 I think: 200 MHz, 32 MB of ram, 2 GB hard drive, 15" monitor and a 28.8k modem; all for the low low price of $3000
 
Thanks for the post OP. That took me back to the days before the internet and I rummaged though every Sunday trying to find deals.

[quote name='dustdust']why did they sell the jampack disc for $5? arent they just a bunch of demos?[/QUOTE]

[quote name='Squarehard']You don't remember a time when they used to sell demos?[/QUOTE]

Don't bother man.. kids these days don't know shit about how gaming came to be what it is.
 
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