It's very rare for a Nintendo game to go on sale, so often times you won't get a better deal than the initial price. Kind of sucks for someone like me who likes to wait for the price to come down a bit. With Nintendo games, it's likely that waiting will only result in a severely low stock with a higher price tag on the game.

So what's your strategy with Nintendo games? Buy it right away or maybe wait for a possible sale around holiday times?

I have a 3DS. Part of the reason I still only have three games for it after over two years is that the games are simply too expensive and tend to stay that way. It's hard to justify spending $30-$40 or more on a single game when that amount of money could get me 5 to 10 full PC games on Steam.

The last 3DS game I bought was A Link Between Worlds and I don't anticipate buying anything else for it anytime soon.

I don't treat Nintendo games any different than any other game. If I want a game enough to buy it right away I will buy it (presuming funds are available). I guess I do have a harder time picking up older games later though. If I'm buying a game day 1 I expect to pay full price, but having to pay that much a year later means I'm much less likely to pick up something I was only moderately interested in.

I'm relatively new to the Wonderful World of...Wintendo, but I've been preordering on Amazon everything that looks promising. Since I only have a WiiU, that's somewhat feasible, and I'm not looking forward to the future of trying to catch up on 3DS games. At least you could download the vast majority of their games, but I'm really uncomfortable about them tying your purchases to hardware rather than accounts; I've been fortunate to only lose one PS3 out of all the systems in the digital age so far, and it would have been devastating if I'd lost my digital purchases along with it.

...That got rambly. I wish Nintendo games followed the same pricing trends as other games, because I don't believe they have any more intrinsic value than anything else. Shit, even Atlus eventually reprinted some stuff and put a lot of it up for reasonable prices digitally.

I don't mind it when it's for a game I know I'll love. For games I'm not so sure on though, it really sucks.

It does seem that lately their prices have gotten slightly better, even if it's only $10-$20 off its original price.

Nintendo is one of the few companies I actually buy Day 1 or so from, mostly because they tend to ship a "complete" game at launch, no extensive DLC plans or online passes or any need to wait for an Ultimate/GOTY/etc version at a reduced price down the road. Its not every single game, since some stuff will inevitably get cheaper, I wasn't going to spend full price on Punch-Out or Rhythm Heaven, but $10-$20 is a much sweeter spot. They also just sort of keep partnering with all the teams that I really like, like Platinum, Treasure, and Monolith Soft. As it stands, the only thing I'm Day 1 getting this year that isn't on a Nintendo system is probably Persona 5.

For the big games I for sure want to play I will. My tip would be to try preordering from Dell.com, usually each preorder comes with a $25 gift card, and helps fund those 3DS games.

Like many have said, if its a game I want, I'll pick it up on day one. The price never seems to drop in Australia either, so might as well start playing the game straight away, and ensure I can snag myself a copy in the process.

There's often no reason to hold off because of the way they stick around at roughly the same price. There are exceptions in the UK though. I know that games like Other M on the Wii dropped like a stone not that long after release, and games like Kid Icarus on the 3DS have dropped in price. I noticed Captain Toad had dropped a little in price also.

I either get them when I want them or just wait forever...

Someone really should tell Nintendo that people love discounts.

I tend to buy most games as soon as I want them.

There's a few I'll buy right away. For others, I'll wait and either it doesn't really matter as the price hasn't changed or it leads to a mountain of regret as I'm forced to pay $20+ more for the game than when it came out.

I usually only play 1 game at a time on 3DS and it takes me months to completed 3DS games so I only really buy a new game when I don't have anything else to play.

Aside from Mario galaxy 2, I believe I came across every nintendo made games long after its release, some of the time going back a generation. Games include: Mario games (including the rpgs/fighting/sports/party), zelda, mario kart, pokemon and even metroid. I always enjoyed them, its really weird that I am so consistent in that way.

Outside of new Zelda games, nope. I bought the Majora's Mask special edition, but I left it unopened as I am still deciding if I want to sell it and just buy the regular edition.

As with any game I buy what I really want to play right away at launch. It just so happens many Nintendo games I buy fall into that category. My backlog is so large it doesn't make sense to buy anything at full price if it won't be my top priority game to play.

Depending on the game, it's not necessarily that rare to find a deal on Wii U and 3DS games. They are giving away a few on Club Nintendo right now. The eShop has sales pretty often if you like to buy digitally.

I tend to buy first party Nintendo games that I want on launch. Two reasons, 1. They are guaranteed to be functional 2. Because they take forever to drop in price.

I hate to say it, but buying pre-owned copies is the best way to get a good deal on a Nintendo game.

Honestly I think 3DS games tend to be pretty inexpensive compared to $60 games on consoles and PC (during new release) so I tend to get Nintendo games right at release instead of wait. Plus I can return them when I get bored and save for the next one I buy.

I don't buy Nintendo games at all anymore because I moved to Korea and Nintendo insists on region locking their shit. And postponing WiiU release dates in Korea indefinitely. So honestly, even if I wanted to play say the new Xeno-whatever game, it would cost me about 1.5x as much to import a console and the game. Fuck Nintendo.

Pretty much never, I rarely have the money to spare when a game releases (I'm a 'poor' uni student).

While I do like Nintendo games I'm not really too fussed about missing out on them tbh, the only nintendo-published games I will pretty much always get within a few months of release are the main series Pokemon games. Any other games I like the look of I'll wait until they drop to a more 'reasonable' price (usually means I'll get them secondhand) or get them as gifts or just never end up getting them. It does help that my younger sister is a nintendo fan so if she gets a game I'll often just play hers at some point rather then getting my own copy.

I think part of my problem with the price is that I'm so used to buying console games new for like £20 or less and some of those have been my favourite games so I find it kinda hard to justify spending a lot more on a game I know I'll probably play/enjoy less.

It is rather strange. On PC I hesitate to spend more than $10 on a game, but I don't even think for a second about paying full price when it comes to Nintendo stuff. For example, I just impulse bought Majora's Mask for 3DS. I'm not sure why I'm like this. It could be something to do with the consistency of Nintendo games. I've almost never been disappointed by a Nintendo first-party game and they always work well. There's almost never technical issues with them and they usually feel quite solid. That's definitely the case for Majora's Mask. Also, Nintendo seems to realize that games still need to be fun. They're the opposite of a lot of modern games.

@meatball: weird i buy games when i don't want them.

If I have money to spare, I will jump on interesting games at almost any price. The fact that Nintendo games rarely drops in price is actually somewhat relieving because of that.

I do the exact opposite. Since the 64 I buy the Nintendo consoles usually way after release when the games that are worthwhile are all out and the console is cheaper. With no good third party games this just makes sense. I like some Nintendo games a ton but I'm not a big fanboy that plays too many of them or anything.

Close to finally doing the same with 3DS even though I don't use handhelds on the go at all. I just really want to play Fire Emblem mostly.

I normally buy them as soon as I have the cash if it's a main stream one like a brand new mario game or zelda game. Spin off games I may wait till they go on sale on amazon or something.

Does anyone know the install base for the Wii U in the UK? I ask because Amazon UK seems to run out of stock really quickly and don't seem to stock anything over 6 months old. Looking at my wishlist for Wii U games Amazon no longer stock Mario Bros U, Pikmin 3, or Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. They are easy to fins on other sites or Amazon 3rd party but it seems odd how quickly stock disappears.