[QUOTE=fluiddruid]
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.
[/QUOTE]
You’re right, there are dozens of copies of Katamari Damacy on eBay for $15. That’s probably not what you meant though.
This topic is near to me because I just got back into videogames after mostly ignoring the scene for a few years. I finally got myself a PS2, and went back and bought all of the games (mostly RPGs) I had wanted to play for it. I also picked up a few games for my long-dormant GameCube that I missed the first time around. None of the older PS2 games were particularly hard to find new on eBay in the $30-$35 range, and some were significantly less. On the other hand, I paid $50+ for a sealed copy of Skies of Arcadia Legends for GameCube, and I saw other auctions that went higher. I probably could have found it for closer to $25 when it was still in print. Player’s Choice edition copies of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (original MSRP: $19.99) regularly go for up to $40.
I think the growing trend of re-releasing old games on newer consoles will dampen a lot of this, especially where RPGs are concerned. Two of the PlayStation games mentioned in this thread, Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea, have already been re-released on the PSP. The bulk of Square’s NES and SNES games have been re-released, in some cases more than once. Companies are starting to realize that, like fluiddruid said, people still want to play these games no matter how old they are.
[QUOTE=Justin_Bailey]
You’re right, there are dozens of copies of Katamari Damacy on eBay for $15. That’s probably not what you meant though.
[/QUOTE]
Used and new prices are not the same, but you’re right, I could have been clearer: I meant that during its run, the sticker price did increase, as did the consequent sequels.
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac]
I think the growing trend of re-releasing old games on newer consoles will dampen a lot of this, especially where RPGs are concerned. Two of the PlayStation games mentioned in this thread, Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea, have already been re-released on the PSP. The bulk of Square’s NES and SNES games have been re-released, in some cases more than once. Companies are starting to realize that, like fluiddruid said, people still want to play these games no matter how old they are.
[/QUOTE]
That’s one of the issues that affects value widely: re-release. It’s very common for games in a well known series - let’s say, Mario or Sonic games - to be released again on a handheld or available as an unlockable within another game. When that occurs, the original game loses a great deal of value, as the demand has changed significantly (though not the rarity).
Games just aren’t terribly consistent in value. I tend to think that prices have peaked for games of the Atari generation and possibly even of the NES generation, as people who want to revisit those games more or less have them by now and more and more games end up in the thrift stores and garage sales of the world.
While it’s not rare enough to be going for hundreds of dollars, Advance Wars: Dual Strike is out-of-print and still quite popular. I paid $40 for a sealed copy, which is more than a typical DS game costs new.
I’m hearing that the just-released Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP has an extremely small priting, so I could see that being highly sought-after (since it’s the first official release of the real Dracula X in the States).
I believe the PlayStation version of Castlevania (Symphony of the Night?) was very rare and valuable, or at least it was for a long time.
Until it’s very recent rerelease Talisman was selling for stupid money on ebay.
Can’t speak for the rest of my generation, of course, but here’s my experience:
Drummania: $50 + shipping
That’s the original Drummania, complete with jerky scrolling, ridiculously pathetic options, and screwy scoring. And not that many songs. I actually could’ve gotten this about $30 used a few years ago, but I was young and shortsighted (and lacking a steady job and not completely sold on Drummania just yet…) and passed it up. Hey, it could’ve been worse…my Toys 'n Joys wanted $73 for it (and it was a scratched-up-to-hell used copy).
We Love Katamari: approx $23
Yeah, I was pretty insistent on the sequel; it’s the one that had the “turn off infinite time” code (don’t ask). Whole bunch for sale for reasonable prices on Ebay, but there was competition (ooooh) for them, and I admittely reached for a higher-priced, lower-demand seller.
Pop 'n Music 4: $50 + shipping
This is the Playstation version we’re talking about now. I didn’t see the PSX PoMu games in any store, and they’re out of print now, so it’s not like I had much of a choice. I was able to get the first three games for less than $80, so I might’ve been just a bit unlucky here. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Soul Blade: $25
I’ve played this for about two months so far, and lemme tell ya, this is not a $25 fighting game by any stretch of the imagination. (In fact, the only reasons I paid that much were 1. stores all out and 2. cutthroat Ebay competition.) The controls are clunky, the timing for the Critical Edges is aggravating, and the less said about the graphics, the better. Didn’t even have an option for the original voices, for crying out loud.
Street Fighter 3 Double Impact (Dreamcast): $20 + shipping
Ah yes, the old Street Fighter 3s. On a long-defunct system. And no instructions or box art.
Tekken 5/Gran Turismo 4: $35 each
First off, I want to say that I always thought both franchises were overrated. I find Tekken’s system no fun at all (cf. to Fatal Fury or Samurai Shodown; it’s not even close) and Gran Turismo needlessly complex (there’s a reason most racing game programmers don’t go for realism, y’know). Okay but definitely not great deals at $35, certainly not secondhand.
Vampire Night: $20
Blockbuster Video “bargain clearance” item. It’s a poor man’s House of the Dead, and the dialogue is only slightly less annoying. Worth at most $12 (especially since the excellent Time Crisis 2 goes for like $15 now).
Time Crisis: Project Titan/Ninja Assault: $50 each
The first one’s actually not impossible to justify, as this was an extremely obscure title that I searched up and down for years to no avail. (That it’d turn up at Toys 'n Joys out of the blue a few months later is something I could’ve never anticipated.) The latter, though was a real reach…c’mon, it’s a Namco game, for crying out loud, it’s was never in danger of completely vanishing. Sure enough, less than a year later, I’m finding it for $20 and $15 in the stores I go to all the time.
On the other hand, I’ve also found lots of real bargains: Beatmania IIDX 3rd and 4th for a combined $75 (expect to pay at least double that now), Dynasty Warriors 5 for $20, NBA on NBC and WWF Royal Rumble for $1 each, Pump It Up for an incredible $10 (the same as what I paid for that execrable Mad Maestro, for crying out loud), WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 for $10, Fighting Vipers 2 for about $16, and many more. Rare or not, getting a good price is still largely a matter of luck. (Or good connections. But mainly luck.)
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
I believe the PlayStation version of Castlevania (Symphony of the Night?) was very rare and valuable, or at least it was for a long time.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe the first release, but it was re-released as a greatest hit. It’s hard to find in the used bin at EB and Gamestop because most people keep their copies.
The Dreamcast version of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was highly in demand for a while. There weren’t many copies, and it was extremely popular. Didn’t the same thing happen with the PS2 version, eventually?
[QUOTE=shy guy]
The Dreamcast version of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was highly in demand for a while. There weren’t many copies, and it was extremely popular. Didn’t the same thing happen with the PS2 version, eventually?
[/QUOTE]
Yep, and the XBox version.
Speaking of board games like Talisman, there are quite a few games that were going for obscene amounts of money that are getting or have recent reprints. Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage just finally came back into print after a decade of building demand. A new edition of Titan (once king of the out of print, over priced games) is coming, and Fantasy Flight games has gotten the rights to the board game Dune though not the book license so they’re retheming that classic.
[QUOTE=Pithy Moniker]
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.
[/QUOTE]
Really? In Circuit City’s unexpected “fuck it, five bucks, come get it” firesale of about three or four years ago, I snagged a copy for $5, and there were a couple left over, too. Picked up Disgaea and Tales of Symphonia for $5 each, too.
As a general rule of thumb, pretty much anything released by Atlus goes for decent bucks on the resale market. Something to keep in mind the next time you go flea marketing.
Ridiculously rare-wise, the Monopoly/Boggle/Battleship/Yahtzee game for the Nintendo DS is next to impossible to find now and goes for big bucks on ebay. It’s publisher supposedly lost the liscense to the Hasbro games before a second printing could be made.
I read somewhere they’re removing the money from Monopoly so a version with money should be pretty…
…what?
Hope this thread isn’t too old for a quick revival. VCO3, I recently started playing Shadow Hearts Covenant on your recommendation. Fantastic game! I decided to pick up Shadow Hearts from the New World too; found it new for $19 with little effort. But the first game in the series, just plain Shadow Hearts, started at $150 on Amazon! The lowest I’ve seen one go for in an auction is around $65. Looks like I won’t be playing that chapter.