The Original Nintendo Was More Expensive Than the Upcoming PS4 Will Be*
*Sorta.
When announcements were made about the next-gen gaming consoles, there were the usual groans about prices: Sony's Playstation 4 will go for $399, while Microsoft's Xbox One retails at $499. But by adjusting for inflation, a recent IGN piece proved that the upcoming consoles actually aren't unreasonably expensive. The original NES retailed for $199 back in 1985, but there's been an inflation rate of 117% in the 28 years since. That $199 back then equates to roughly $434 nowadays. Compare that to the Sega Saturn, which cost $399 in 1995. That becomes $615 today.
The IGN piece provides pre- and post-inflation prices for all the so-called "mainstream consoles" (IGN defined "mainstream" as having sold at least 10 million units), which includes all the Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft systems. If we were to look at non-mainstream consoles though, the most expensive unit of all time would be the Neo Geo -- best known for their fighting games such as Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, etc -- which retailed for $649 in 1990. Adjusted for inflation, that's $1,113. A rip-off then; a rip-off now.
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