Game value and rarity!

[brunauss]

Don't know about actual market value, but bidding amounts seem to keep going up. Bidding for a Tengen Nintendo cartridge Tetris soared recently past $300 on GameGavel.

[ffxik]

I think it's too broad of a question. There are some games that will always be cheap, some that will fluctuate, and some that will always sell for obscene amounts. Original print run, platform, version differences, all this stuff can have an impact, even if a re-release is subjectively "better" than the original.

I think the only area where we'll see a more strict dividing line is with hardware breaking down over time, and limiting the number of reliable units around, but we're a long way off from that.

When you say hardware breaking down, are you referring to the actual retro consoles eventually not working and not being able to be replaced???

Pretty much, yes.

[blipcs76]

I'm seeing prices continue to soar, not stabilize.  Especially NES stuff, which is the focus of my collection and especially CIB/complete games.  I've seen CIB Gargoyle's Quest 2 sell for over $200, Metal Storm and Bucky O Hare for well over $100, Castlevania for over $75, etc.

The rarest games seem to seem to have doubled in the past two years.  Little Samson has jumped from about $120 two years ago to almost $500 now.  Others like Flinstones Dinosaur Peak have also tripled to over $500.

[sin2beta]

It's based on the age of the system. Right now, collect for gamecube and xbox. The previous generation is always treated like trash. The amount of XBox games you can find for $1 is amazing. The wii, 360, and PS3 are getting there as well. Give it a year or 2 into the next generation.

The N64 era is just starting to separate into rare uncommon and common games. But it still isn't clearly defined yet what is rare or common.

The SNES era knows what is common and such but is now figuring out the prices.

The NES era is really close to stabilized in my opinion. The gap between the expensive and cheap games will widen more though.

The Atari era is pretty much stabilized.

This is how I see it at least.

[darko]

It's based on the age of the system. Right now, collect for gamecube and xbox. The previous generation is always treated like trash. The amount of XBox games you can find for $1 is amazing. The wii, 360, and PS3 are getting there as well. Give it a year or 2 into the next generation.

The N64 era is just starting to separate into rare uncommon and common games. But it still isn't clearly defined yet what is rare or common.

The SNES era knows what is common and such but is now figuring out the prices.

The NES era is really close to stabilized in my opinion. The gap between the expensive and cheap games will widen more though.

The Atari era is pretty much stabilized.

This is how I see it at least.

I basically agree with this. There will always be expensive titles for each system (if based on nothing more than rarity). I don't see game collecting popping completely like comic books or devaluing to nothing like a LOT of sports cards. For that to happen I think gaming in general would have to lose it's presence as a legitimate form of entertainment. I don't think that's a threat as long as Gen-Y is around.

SNES prices are absolutely going through a pricing phase just like the NES did several years ago. Hagane is a really, really good example of what's going on in the SNES realm. 18 months ago you could pick it up cart only for ~ $80-100, now it's $200+ (and up to $700 complete). Will that pricing structure last? Not in my opinion. As more of the "serious" collectors get their hands on copies at these prices, demand will drop back down to reality. Will we ever see Hagane with a fair market value of $80 again? Probably not, but I could see the cart going for $125-150 in a year or so.

Just today I completed my Conker's Bad Fur Day (finally found a good manual). I think those of you out there looking to collect for the N64 need to jump on that sooner rather than later. This fall/winter (before Christmas) will likely prove the most expensive time to collect for the system in it's history - depending on what games you're looking for.

[turf]

I think those of you out there looking to collect for the N64 need to jump on that sooner rather than later. This fall/winter (before Christmas) will likely prove the most expensive time to collect for the system in it's history - depending on what games you're looking for.

I have a question about N64 collecting. Clay Fighter: Sculpter's Cut is closing in on being a $200 game.  It was a Blockbuster exclusive.  It is expensive as hell.  Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was exclusive to Blockbuster and LucasArts Store.  Yet, it is less than $20.  Neither is a good game.  Someone give me a reason for this. 

[insektmute]

Yeah, CD systems will reach a point where they just don't work anymore. Lasers burn out after so many hours of use. Even the CDs themselves will stop working. Really old laserdiscs (notoriously the discovision run) suffer from disc rot. CDs are a data encoded label put on a plastic disc. The adhesive on this either starts to go away or reacts with the data label. Either way they'll stop working. Honestly, though, this is a LONG time from now. We are starting to see laser rot on SOME discs from the late 70s. Since then the technology has gotten better as well.

My solution. Buy a house with a doomsday bunker and fill it with sega saturn and dreamcast lasers.

Yeah, disc rot is a HUGE problem that's more widespread than the industry would like to let on, and it seems especially prevalent with CD-Rs manufactured in the late '90s/early '00s.

I actually ran into this with my physical copy of the Witcher 2, too. The discs never worked quite right to begin with (long story), but last time I tried to use them, there were very visible signs of disc rot going on, and they're effectively unusable now. CDP stepped up and offered everyone free copies of the game on GOG, which is great, but they really didn't acknowledge or take any accountability for the problem.

[brunauss]

I think those of you out there looking to collect for the N64 need to jump on that sooner rather than later. This fall/winter (before Christmas) will likely prove the most expensive time to collect for the system in it's history - depending on what games you're looking for.

I have a question about N64 collecting. Clay Fighter: Sculpter's Cut is closing in on being a $200 game.  It was a Blockbuster exclusive.  It is expensive as hell.  Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was exclusive to Blockbuster and LucasArts Store.  Yet, it is less than $20.  Neither is a good game.  Someone give me a reason for this.

Simple marketing. Clay Fighter hit that novelty sweet spot just right and Indiana Jones was an already established franchise.

[soera]

I think it has to do with the hype of the game. If Indiana Jones had that hype (I havent even heard of that game personally) it may be in the same boat as Scupltor's cut.

[torvez]

Yeah its dino peak thats expensive. Im not too sure its a BB rental only game as it was advertised in Nintendo power quite a bit ... but it was a weirdly timed release (really late in the systems life a full 3 years after the SNES was live in US (August of 94 for the game vs August of 91 for the SNES).

The price of games will forever fluctuate. The one thing that is consistent in game collecting is that the variables will continue to change whether it be people selling out, people getting in, people finding multiple copies of something, copies of other stuff getting into a permanent collection, etc.

It was blockbuster only. That much I am sure of.

Anyone see the game chasers episode where they find adventures at dinosaur peak at Game X Change for $5 (The Dino and Hoppy price)?

Yes! Actually, when it pops up on the bottom, it says it retails at $300. That was in 2011 (when the episode was uploaded), I don't know if they got that price on ebay or not, but now, in 2013 it goes for around $600+ on ebay. so there is some evidence that prices could definetely go up in the coming years.

[sin2beta]

Yeah, CD systems will reach a point where they just don't work anymore. Lasers burn out after so many hours of use. Even the CDs themselves will stop working. Really old laserdiscs (notoriously the discovision run) suffer from disc rot. CDs are a data encoded label put on a plastic disc. The adhesive on this either starts to go away or reacts with the data label. Either way they'll stop working. Honestly, though, this is a LONG time from now. We are starting to see laser rot on SOME discs from the late 70s. Since then the technology has gotten better as well.

My solution. Buy a house with a doomsday bunker and fill it with sega saturn and dreamcast lasers.

Yeah, disc rot is a HUGE problem that's more widespread than the industry would like to let on, and it seems especially prevalent with CD-Rs manufactured in the late '90s/early '00s.

I actually ran into this with my physical copy of the Witcher 2, too. The discs never worked quite right to begin with (long story), but last time I tried to use them, there were very visible signs of disc rot going on, and they're effectively unusable now. CDP stepped up and offered everyone free copies of the game on GOG, which is great, but they really didn't acknowledge or take any accountability for the problem.

Yeah, CDRs do not last long. From my understanding the material of the gold reflective CDs react less and thus will last longer. But the silver color is cheaper. The green and purple of CDRs are really cheap and bad.

[darko]

I think those of you out there looking to collect for the N64 need to jump on that sooner rather than later. This fall/winter (before Christmas) will likely prove the most expensive time to collect for the system in it's history - depending on what games you're looking for.

I have a question about N64 collecting. Clay Fighter: Sculpter's Cut is closing in on being a $200 game.  It was a Blockbuster exclusive.  It is expensive as hell.  Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine was exclusive to Blockbuster and LucasArts Store.  Yet, it is less than $20.  Neither is a good game.  Someone give me a reason for this.

Simple marketing. Clay Fighter hit that novelty sweet spot just right and Indiana Jones was an already established franchise.

Sculpter's Cut is the rarest out of the Blockbuster exclusives. There were only approximately 20,000.  made. It's also the second rarest N64 game in the US.