What will be this generation's ridiculously rare/overpriced games?

Cafe Society
1

If you’re a gamer, you know Valkyrie Profile (yep, that’s a sealed copy for $394, although if you “settle” for a used one, you can get it for only $90) - the PS1 game that was printed in a ridiculously small run, turned out to be a completely awesome game, and is now insanely valuable and hard to find.

What games from this recent/currently passing generation - PS2/Xbox/GBA/Gamecube - are already insanely valuable and hard to find, or do you think will be the next insanely valuable/hard to find games?

My vote goes for Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - it’s already around the $90 mark for used copies, and the whole MegaTen series/franchise is really picking up steam here in America, so those titles are going to be more in-demand.

I think a future contender is Grim Grimoire, a recent game that’s a) amazing and b) basically went out of print the day it came out. Literally within a week of its release, it was nearly impossible to find copies and Amazon didn’t have it available new anymore. It’s already going for $10 more than cover price, and it’s been out for about two months.

What are yours?

2

With emulation being what it is, only the really hardcore must-have-a-hard-copy collectors will care enough to pay any sort of high price for a game. Most people will be content to download the ROM to play it and save the hassle and expense.

3

[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF]
With emulation being what it is, only the really hardcore must-have-a-hard-copy collectors will care enough to pay any sort of high price for a game. Most people will be content to download the ROM to play it and save the hassle and expense.
[/QUOTE]

This is totally ignorant on my part; do ROMS of things like PS2 and PS1 games float around out there like they do for the old NES games, and are there emulators that run them?

4

[QUOTE=VCO3]
This is totally ignorant on my part; do ROMS of things like PS2 and PS1 games float around out there like they do for the old NES games, and are there emulators that run them?
[/QUOTE]

Technically they’re out there, but they’re more for modded consoles than emulators. And anyone who says they’re popular or widespread has never left the confines of his parent’s basement.

Modding a modern game console to play pirated games just does not happen on any kind of a large scale. The Slashdot crowd will tell you how important modding and “homebrew” games are to a console’s success, but it’s definitely a case of confirmation bias.

As for the OP, a few weeks ago I would have said Rez, but then Q Entertainment went and announed it was coming to the XBLA, so all the collectors just got boned and the gamers got happy.

5

[QUOTE=VCO3]
This is totally ignorant on my part; do ROMS of things like PS2 and PS1 games float around out there like they do for the old NES games, and are there emulators that run them?
[/QUOTE]

Not on emulators, but they can be burned on DVD-R discs and then played on modified hardware.

Lists like yours always make me remember how different the gaming scene is here in Japan. I picked up Valkyrie Profile for about $10 off the shelf here. It’s not rare at all here; same with other games like FF: Tactics that people kill each other for in the US. I wonder how much its due to absence of video game rentals in Japan. That has to increase the number of copies in circulation.

6

[QUOTE=Justin_Bailey]
Technically they’re out there, but they’re more for modded consoles than emulators. And anyone who says they’re popular or widespread has never left the confines of his parent’s basement.
[/QUOTE]

He was presumably referring to the future, which is what I was referring to. There’s quite an interest in emulating old arcade games, computers and consoles, and it will only get bigger as time goes on. It’s not like we’re talking about Dark Tower here, we’re talking about software. Who needs a hard copy when the game plays the same on an emulator?

EDIT: Here are some PS1 emulators.

7

[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF]
He was presumably referring to the future, which is what I was referring to. There’s quite an interest in emulating old arcade games, computers and consoles, and it will only get bigger as time goes on. It’s not like we’re talking about Dark Tower here, we’re talking about software. Who needs a hard copy when the game plays the same on an emulator?
[/QUOTE]

While you may have been talking about the future, I took VCO3 to be talking about the present. And making a perfect PS2 emulator will take a long time, so the original games are still important.

And with backwards compatibility and retro download services (hello Virtual Console!), the ROM downloading scene is as good as dead. It’ll never be like it was ever again.

8

[QUOTE=Justin_Bailey]
Modding a modern game console to play pirated games just does not happen on any kind of a large scale.
[/QUOTE]

Not in the US, no. But in other countries it certainly does.

9

Resident Evil 2, 3 and Code Veronica X for the Gamecube. They sell used for what they did new.

10

When my brother and I sold our old NES and SNES games on eBay last year, we made the most money for the RPGs: Dragon Warrior I-IV (big bucks for IV), Ultima: Exodus and Quest for the Avatar, Final Fantasy I for the NES and II and III for the SNES (the Japanese FF IV and VI), Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. Our original Tengen Pac-Man (the unlicensed NES version; a black cartridge) went for a good sum as well. We cleaned up on those games, more than enough to offset the ones that didn’t sell for as much. Of course, it helped that we had saved all the manuals, maps, and strategy guides too. Those sorts of games will always have an audience, I think.

11

[QUOTE=cckerberos]
Not in the US, no. But in other countries it certainly does.
[/QUOTE]

No kidding. I don’t think I ever saw a non-modded PSOne or PS2 in Venezuela.

12

[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
When my brother and I sold our old NES and SNES games on eBay last year, we made the most money for the RPGs: Dragon Warrior I-IV (big bucks for IV), Ultima: Exodus and Quest for the Avatar, Final Fantasy I for the NES and II and III for the SNES (the Japanese FF IV and VI), Chrono Trigger, and Super Mario RPG. Our original Tengen Pac-Man (the unlicensed NES version; a black cartridge) went for a good sum as well. We cleaned up on those games, more than enough to offset the ones that didn’t sell for as much. Of course, it helped that we had saved all the manuals, maps, and strategy guides too. Those sorts of games will always have an audience, I think.
[/QUOTE]
One of the strongest reasons for this is because RPGs aren’t typically about the graphics, they’re more about the story and the type of gameplay. There’s not a huge functional difference from one Final Fantasy game to the one on the next generation console - sure, FF1 is very different from FFXII but many of the major components of FF games were established early in the series. Likewise these are mostly members of known franchises - Final Fantasy and Ultimate, and to a lesser extent, Dragon Warrior (and of course Mario games). Plus, among the RPGs, these were the “good ones” – the ones that stand the test of time.

However, the truly rare and expensive ones aren’t in your list. The really expensive ones tend to be horribly small releases, unlicensed games, that sort of thing – like “Action 52” on the NES (which is atrocious but rare and valuable). There are approximately half a zillion Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior cartridges, but demand is high enough that there’s a brisk trade. That doesn’t make them rare, though.

Sometimes games come out with a limited release and then are more popular than expected, usually because the gameplay is above average. Hence why Katamari Damacy no longer sells for $20, and why Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics (before re-release) sold over their original sticker price.

Rarity isn’t always associated with value, though. I was reading a rarity list for NES. I have a couple “A” rarity games but they wouldn’t be the highest selling, but I don’t have anything earthshattering (sealed boxes of rare games, really difficult to find unlicensed stuff, etc.).

The most rare and sought after vintage games are unreleased games and prototypes. Believe it or not, people have found cartridges of unreleased games in places like thrift stores. Having the only copy (or one of a small number) increases the value significantly. Even if the game itself really sucks.

13

[QUOTE=VCO3]
This is totally ignorant on my part; do ROMS of things like PS2 and PS1 games float around out there like they do for the old NES games, and are there emulators that run them?
[/QUOTE]

I have a PS1 emulator and a few ROMs. The ROMs themselves are about 500mb a disc, so maybe “floating” isn’t a very good descriptor.

14

I won’t offer a pick of any currently out there game. There’s inevitably a game released two years after everyone thinks of the system as dead that’s good but gets a very small release. Then four or five years later as the system starts to pass into collectible it’s nearly impossible to find it. The other type of game that tends to accrue value are unique games with special peripherals. They tend to be rarer than most and the peripherals often vanish or get damaged which drives up prices (don’t expect a lot of return on your Guitar Hero stuff; too many existing copies).

I’m not impressed with the quality of Playstation emulation at the moment. Still SNES emulation didn’t get to be really good until about 1999 so maybe we’re on the verge of someone making a breakthrough.

15

[QUOTE=Just Some Guy]
I’m not impressed with the quality of Playstation emulation at the moment. Still SNES emulation didn’t get to be really good until about 1999 so maybe we’re on the verge of someone making a breakthrough.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, I dunno. PS1 emulation has been pretty solid for the last couple of years. With the newest version of the right plugins on Epsxe, it’s about as good as it gets.

You just don’t hear about it much these days because, face it, ps1 games are old, fairly large downloads and they’ll run on 3 separate Sony consoles without emulation required.

16

[QUOTE=slortar]
Oh, I dunno. PS1 emulation has been pretty solid for the last couple of years. With the newest version of the right plugins on Epsxe, it’s about as good as it gets.

You just don’t hear about it much these days because, face it, ps1 games are old, fairly large downloads and they’ll run on 3 separate Sony consoles without emulation required.
[/QUOTE]

From my testing of it about six months ago I found the sound to be flaky (music went in and out; static bursts when some sounds initialized), the video codec emulation to be horrifically awful (usually running at about four times normal speed but the palette was sometimes wrong), fairly slow, and the whole thing to be glitchy as hell (controls were unresponsive, the 3D engine sometimes didn’t initialize). Now in fairness, I’ve tried exactly three games which I happened to have handy (Castlevania, FF VIII, and Metal Gear Solid), but those are big PS1 titles. They’re the kind of thing that people try to get working right first for the emulators before they start pinning down the glitches with the rarer titles.

I will agree that there isn’t as much effort put into PS1 emulation as their was put into older consoles and arcade games since the hardware to do it directly is common and those people really looking to pirate their games probably have them modded anyway. But the current state of PS1 emulation just isn’t that good.

17

[QUOTE=Just Some Guy]
From my testing of it about six months ago I found the sound to be flaky (music went in and out; static bursts when some sounds initialized), the video codec emulation to be horrifically awful (usually running at about four times normal speed but the palette was sometimes wrong), fairly slow, and the whole thing to be glitchy as hell (controls were unresponsive, the 3D engine sometimes didn’t initialize). Now in fairness, I’ve tried exactly three games which I happened to have handy (Castlevania, FF VIII, and Metal Gear Solid), but those are big PS1 titles. They’re the kind of thing that people try to get working right first for the emulators before they start pinning down the glitches with the rarer titles.

I will agree that there isn’t as much effort put into PS1 emulation as their was put into older consoles and arcade games since the hardware to do it directly is common and those people really looking to pirate their games probably have them modded anyway. But the current state of PS1 emulation just isn’t that good.
[/QUOTE]

And, like I said earlier, it depends on which video and sound plugins you use. Epsxe only emulates the core–the video/sound plugins have a huge impact on what your experience will be like. The latest Pete plugins will usually run perfectly with the default settings. I’ve played all 3 of those games with no sound or video issues, and that’s on aging hardware.

18

[QUOTE=Just Some Guy]
The other type of game that tends to accrue value are unique games with special peripherals. They tend to be rarer than most and the peripherals often vanish or get damaged which drives up prices (don’t expect a lot of return on your Guitar Hero stuff; too many existing copies).
[/QUOTE]

This is true from my experience as well. We also made a lot of money selling our NES version of Arkanoid, complete with the knob controller.

19

Ico was really hard to find. I eventually found a copy but I’m not sure if it’s rare or if I was just unlucky.

20

That’s odd, because I have a copy of Ico somewhere in this house that I have never played.