Classic Games That Are Hard To Find Physical Copies Of Now

[oldgamerz]

Earlier this year it was darn near IMPOSSIBLE to find a copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 for the original Xbox in physical form now I see it is back in stock on both Amazon and Walmart used.

As time goes on I've noticed certain games go rare then pop back into the for sale on the online marketplaces  again and again, but what happens when some of these games will no longer be available for months or even years at a given timeframe?

 that fact is why I don't want to obtain and collect video games anymore, and what makes me even more of a hoarder of games and even music.

 in fact my username Oldgamerz was a name I created for this site back in 2017 as a protest towards the modern digital only ways of the gaming industry, if we are excluding the Nintendo Switch. As was the main reason why in 2015 I jumped on the bandwagon and grabbed as much as I could before it was or would be gone for good.

I'd say most of the Nintendo 64 library is hard or near impossible to find now

a vast majority of the PS1 and PS2 library is hard or almost near impossible to find now

you can forget about the NES SNES SEGA SATURN AND DREAMCAST NOW.

You can probably forget about retro handhelds too all to most of them too.

What other systems and games for them are hard to almost impossible to find now?

[Cartagia]

It is not even close it impossible to finding games for most of those systems.  It might be hard to find specific games, but I know of at least 5 stores relatively local to me that I could walk in right now and see walls of games for NES, SNES, PS1, PS2.

And even then, most games aren't hard to find, they are just more expensive than they used to be.  That's what happens when a product hasn't been made in 2 decades or more and it has demand.

[telekill]

I have a retro store nearby that still has some selection. It's generally sports games or pack in games with an occasional gem, but the prices have skyrocketed.

That said, they charge scalper prices when they get a PS5 and XSeX in stock so they probably just take advantage.

Most games are available online via eBay or another site.

[tripredacus]

The store near me has kept prices of things, that are not in the display case, the same. But there has been some trend over the past few years that this store (and some others) have gotten out of dealing with video games and have moved into CCG and tabletop games instead.

[burningdoom]

It is not even close it impossible to finding games for most of those systems.  It might be hard to find specific games, but I know of at least 5 stores relatively local to me that I could walk in right now and see walls of games for NES, SNES, PS1, PS2.

And even then, most games aren't hard to find, they are just more expensive than they used to be.  That's what happens when a product hasn't been made in 2 decades or more and it has demand.

I would say the same of Dreamcast. May not be a wall full of them, but plenty of the Dreamcast's library is affordable.

[bikingjahuty]

From my personal experience I'd say TG16, Saturn, Sega CD, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo (all of it), Jaguar, and 3DO stuff is the hardest to find. I rarely come across it and when I do I generally take notice. I'd also throw imports for pretty much any console into the category as well.


As far as specific titles go, there are always rare or uncommon games that at least in person you'll struggle to find.


But as others have said, ebay and the internet have made it relatively easy to find any game, save maybe and NWC or something ultra rare along those lines. But in person it's a whole other ball game.

[trinkenwir]

Most consoles and games follow a rather predictable cycle. Prices drop ~2 years after the new consoles are released as adoption increases and continue to drop for about 1.25 console generations ~8-10 years after the console was replaced. At this point the people that got rid of the consoles are working their first "real" jobs in their mid 20's and get nostalgic for when "games were good" demand goes up and the stock of stuff that was dumped off because it was old and outdated and the newly active market is buying and selling. There are about 2 years where prices are stable and selection is good and it is a good time to fill out your collection. At this point the stores are mostly only replacing their stock from people that see value in the stuff and start to have to pay more to get people to trade it in.

PS3, X360 and Wii demand is going up now and stock is depleting. GC, XBOX and PS2 stocks are fairly depleted (less so for PS2 because there were so many games released) as these are 2.25 generations out but still rarely get "turned back" into the market. Anything older than that has already been sold off or dumped at goodwill etc. and only gets replenished by collectors outside of rare occasions and the price to get people to part with their stuff really starts to go up.

The next few years is the time to grab PS4, XONE and WII-U. I do not think 3ds is seeing the "purge" we typically see and to a lesser extent WII-U has already passed the cheap phase because there were so few made and we have already seen the stock depleted. Vita was not replaced and the price drop happened after it was discontinued and has already gone up. Much like the Wii-U there were so few produced the supply was depleted once modders cracked it.

[trinkenwir]

From my personal experience I'd say TG16, Saturn, Sega CD, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo (all of it), Jaguar, and 3DO stuff is the hardest to find. I rarely come across it and when I do I generally take notice. I'd also throw imports for pretty much any console into the category as well.


As far as specific titles go, there are always rare or uncommon games that at least in person you'll struggle to find.


But as others have said, ebay and the internet have made it relatively easy to find any game, save maybe and NWC or something ultra rare along those lines. But in person it's a whole other ball game.

"TG16, Saturn, Sega CD, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo (all of it), Jaguar, and 3DO"

I would add the Dreamcast to that list. These were all produced in such low quantities that it only takes a small amount of demand to push prices up especially for anything that is complete. I think it is funny to think the WII-U and PS Vita look like huge successes compared to these consoles. (PC Engine and Saturn did well in Japan and those releases are much easier to find).

[undertakerprime]

One popular game that I know was fairly common back then but expensive now is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. I don’t know if it’s expensive more because of demand or rarity, but from working in the game section at Toys R Us I know we had piles of them back then.

We also had a few copies of Misadventures of Tron Bonne on clearance, and still no one would buy them. I wanted to get one but never did, which naturally I’m kicking myself about now.

[bikingjahuty]

One popular game that I know was fairly common back then but expensive now is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. I don’t know if it’s expensive more because of demand or rarity, but from working in the game section at Toys R Us I know we had piles of them back then.

We also had a few copies of Misadventures of Tron Bonne on clearance, and still no one would buy them. I wanted to get one but never did, which naturally I’m kicking myself about now.

Other than its relation to the Mega Man franchise I will never understand why this game is worth so much. It's a very mediocre game that gets boring after just an hour of playing it. I found it for a really good price probably 10-years ago and thought it must be incredible since its so expensive. I've since learned that a huge portion of these types of trophy games are mediocre at best and pretty shitty at worst. Makes me wonder how they ended up getting the reputation they have as rare "hidden gems" in the first place.


Oh, and I sold my copy of Tron Bonne a few back for probably 4x what I paid for it.

[undertakerprime]

One popular game that I know was fairly common back then but expensive now is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. I don’t know if it’s expensive more because of demand or rarity, but from working in the game section at Toys R Us I know we had piles of them back then.

We also had a few copies of Misadventures of Tron Bonne on clearance, and still no one would buy them. I wanted to get one but never did, which naturally I’m kicking myself about now.

Other than its relation to the Mega Man franchise I will never understand why this game is worth so much. It's a very mediocre game that gets boring after just an hour of playing it. I found it for a really good price probably 10-years ago and thought it must be incredible since its so expensive. I've since learned that a huge portion of these types of trophy games are mediocre at best and pretty shitty at worst. Makes me wonder how they ended up getting the reputation they have as rare "hidden gems" in the first place.


Oh, and I sold my copy of Tron Bonne a few back for probably 4x what I paid for it.

I think you hit on why I never pulled the trigger on buying it back then. I recall the reviews were just average, calling it a collection of minigames. And I was never a huge fan of the Mega Man Legends games anyway (personally, I think they’re overrated). Sure, the first one was kinda fun, but not enough to motivate me to bother with its sequels.

But yeah, market value doesn’t necessarily equal play value. Just look at Clay Fighter Sculptor’s Cut…super-valuable due to rarity, but utter dogshit gameplay, just like the whole Clay Fighter series.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Sadly all of retro collecting has become pricey and it happened after I sold about 1000 dollars worth of games now worth 1800 dollars. The most shocking culprits are ps2 and gamecube. PS2 is the best selling console of all time. Flooded every pawn shop for 20 bucks. And now is suddenly worth more than a sega saturn system.

Thousand year door for gamecube - Absolutely egregious. It is not scarce and most of gamecubes library is hidden by a wall of fake rarity. These games were 5 dollars in game crazy bins in 2010. 12 years and they are grails worth 200 dollars. I don't grasp it.  One search shows HUNDREDS of listing. It's just people pay what resellers ask and it makes it so the price won't drop.

Stunt racer - My dad got me stunt racer for my 9th birthday. I can still smell the fresh pins. What I'd do to have her back. This ones rarity I get. It wasn't really high production. But it's impossible to find. A genuine rare game I love

Rule of rose - Big jump.


I hope the bottom drops. It doesn't look like it ever will but I niss actual passion for games not being saturated by fake get rich quick schemes from horrible scalpers that hoard NES classics and travis scott cereal.  I miss the love of it.  5 dollar super mario bros 3. Not 25.  I will always love gaming but the prices have stipened my will to collect.

[Warmsignal]

Technically, anything older than 7th gen is hard to find for sure. That is, if you're not counting resellers and game stores. You won't just walk up on a bunch on N64 games in a thrift store or yard sale. Most of what's available, is in the hands of those reselling, and online. Some don't count that as an actual find. By that standard, I haven't found anything in years. I just go where I know that I can buy it, and I end up paying decent money for it. It's either that, or nothing.

[cygnusjaklynn]

A while back, I lost my copy of Pokémon Soul Silver, I did manage to obtain a repro version from Etsy for a quarter of the price of the regular version.

[starwindamada]

My carts are all repros. Boxes too. I don't want someone's old 30-year-old copy of DKC that might not even work plus smells like cigarettes and costs $80.

Also, it sucks that MMPR Rita's Rewind is digital only. It would have looked great on my shelf with the SNES game.