Yup. America used to be a land where most people were financially stable

Eh, a bit of an exaggeration. I think they were just old inventory and undesired at the time, hence the price and lack of security measures

Yeah, at least where I lived, everything was in constant supply and nobody had issues with sold out stock/scalpers until the Wii came out.

The US had a homeless problem since way before the gamecube came out.

And then all those Europeans came

I was a little miffed when I finally convinced my parents to get me a used GameCube for $100, only for the retail price to drop to $100 a couple months later.

I'm pretty sure that when I bought my Wii it was just on the shelf as well, granted this was less than a year after it came out (so ancient history at this point) and my memory could be incorrect.

Yes and, it didn’t used to exist on this scale

I actually remember around 07 there being a big display of PS3s at BestBuy you could just grab the box.

That said they may have been empty displays but my memory tells me they had some weight to them.

I used to spend a lot of time at Bestbuy playing Guitar Hero with randos :)

I can't really remember because it was ages ago but I think we actually got a load of empty boxes from the warehouse specifically for display, they weren't just boxes that had the consoles removed they were display boxes. They didn't have a barcode on them.

This would have been for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

This is my memory as well.

The only time there were shortages of anything was during black friday (which people went feral for) or maybe for one or two days during the debut of a super famous highly anticipated product (like, the next iPhone, that level of famous).

The only things that were scalped for months on end like they are now were concert tickets.

thought this was going to be about the gamecube... nope, just another complaint about America

Well... Since America totally sucks, there is a lot to complain about.

I remember doing that with a couple of "big" things in the 2000s. Bring the box to the counter and they swap it for a real one. A console was probably one of them, I can't remember what the others might have been

I worked fpr Walmart 10 years ago, well after this image was taken, but, with the spider wrap we only really put it on items that were above a certain price point.

Security is ridiculous now though. I was at Walmart, don't care, in the clearance section and got some Better Home and Garden, Walmart only brand, cups. They were originally about $3, got them for $1. They had this security sticker on the inside. All i could think is your a multi-billion dollar company, if someone is straling a $3 cup just let them have it. They clearly need it more than you need $3.

Nobody wanted a gamecube... hence why they were so cheap.

blockbuster was selling dreamcasts for 19.99 after they were discontinued.....

It's both, learn to read

I worked at a big retail place in my country when I grew up, and we never had empty boxes for stuff. I did use… I dunno what you call it, but the metal wires with the crank that you need a magnet key to take off? Those were put on small, expensive things like a Raptor HDD. Consoles never got those though, because they’re big and not easy to conceal.

Never saw a GC for that low but I did get a Virtual Boy for $25 at a KB Toys maybe a year after they launched. And a dreamcast for like $20 or $30 at BestBuy.

This would have been Best Buy or Toys R Us, I was a just a kid so I don't remember if it was common or not.

But that did make me remember something from my time at a grocery store! Sometimes when there was a huge sale on coca cola, we'd build a giant display that was mostly fake. The center was a heavy duty plain box and we'd stack the fake ones on top where people couldn't reach. Just the front columns. Not really the same thing but kinda!

most things have those metal things hiding in packaging or under stickers now.

=/ I would have bought a few if I knew.

Nobody cared about the Dreamcast when it came out.

Yeah, this is a thing. After a game console had been out for a while and a new one was on the horizon, the "old" model was discounted because nobody bought them in anticipation for the new console.

Believe it or not, it still happens today. Maybe not with game consoles anymore, but you see it with cars all the time. Cars that nobody cared about 20 years ago (2nd gen Camaro, OBS Chevy/GMC trucks, certain 90s Japanese cars, etc...) are skyrocketing in price now because nostalgia and rose-colored glasses.

It's a well-established cycle. Just watch.

'Member when every game console wasn't priced like a Neo-Geo? I 'member!

Wait!!!! If memory serves didn't they use empty boxes and you had to ask for one?

Upvotes for both of you ❤️

Reminds me of Toys R Us, they had all their games hidden in a back area and you had to grab tickets from the display stand to exchange for the game.

Well also, 90s to about 2008 were the last good cars ever made. they were reliable as hell, easy to fix, had enough creature comforts for lazy people (I prefer 0 myself, no radio, roll down windows, ac is optional but nice). Theyre gonna shoot up massively in value very soon. Everything now (2016 ish to now) is a peice of shit rolling spyware that is unrepairable by the user. I'd even like an EV but they are in the same boat, unfixable rolling spyware. A 10 year old volt is about all I'd get, or a Prius.

No one in 20 years will ever want a 2020 Silverado with subscription heated seats, GPS and cameras that record your every move and also locked you out of the car because a mouse chewed the wiring and they can't watch your cameras to deem you "safe" to drive. Oh also the e brake is dealer computer locked and they discontinued the computer to unlock it so it can't be towed now (ive seen this in real life, on a vw).

I'll hold onto my 90s cars as long as theres metal to keep welding on over the rust 😁

Everything was truly better. That was the last good times in this world, probably ever. Only downhill since then.

Please drink verification can.

They are using RFID tags for inventory purposes now, it's not just about theft

That's not "society" that's capitalism and CEO choices.

If you have poor sales in a location you chose to open, fear of union organizing, etc... you can "declare" crime and then close the store for "worker safety".

Ehhh... Toys R Us used to have little sheets of paper that you had to bring to the register and they'd get you the game.

This was the 1990s.

Prob right after Wii came out. No need when Wii could play GC games

That's not how you get rich! I mean obscenely rich ofc.

Got mine for about 80 quid. Barely used it, but couldn't really say no at that price. Worth it just for Wind Waker.

Well also, 90s to about 2008 were the last good cars ever made

Yeah, so people said that about....well, nobody said that about malaise era cars, actually 🤔

Come to think of it, the big, boaty malaise-era cars are perfect EV swap candidates. Zero emissions, but with actual power.

I think by this time, the Wii had already been out for a bit, which for the record, could play GameCube games.

True !! I'd love to do some ev swaps

compared to 160million PS2. It was a total failure.

The wii sold 100 million.

I only bought a Gamecube went it went down to $100. had they not massively discounted it, it's lifetime sales would have been closer to 10-15million. It was the price of 2 PS2 games. Had it stayed at $200 like PS2 I would have never bought one.

The more desperate people get, the more they steal things.