It's Worth WHAT?!

[DarkTone | 1,015]

Have you ever bought something game related to simply own it, only to find out afterwards that it was rare or worth a lot? I know some people here know the value and rarity of their collection, and do research. Maybe you had a game as a kid, then found out what it was worth much later. 

[Tyree_Cooper | 874]

someone gave me this game a while ago, i thought it was worthless junk, but in fact it's easily 80$+, and i had no idea. the game is so-so, but it's a super early ps1 beat them all and a japan exclusive, which might explain the price. there's a saturn port which is better, or worse? i'm not sure anymore.

[Sumez | 3,166]

I had this experience with a ton of games. A few that come to mind

Ninja Five-O (which I paid a bit for CIB, but absolutely nothing compared to what even cart only goes for now)
Skyblazer (which I accidentally bought two copies of when it was that overlooked snes classic that you could easily find really cheap)
Black Tiger (a PCB I bought by searching for JAMMA PCBs on eBay sorted by cheapest first - I hadn't even heard about the game before then, and thought it looked interesting)
Ghost Trick on DS (picked it up alongside a lot of other DS games for peanuts when stores stopped selling them. I paid very little for a lot of DS games around that time, but a bunch of them suddenly decided to turn extremely expensive almost overnight - this includes all the Dragon Quest titles)
Kuon (decided to pick up a cheap copy before prices were gonna go nuts due to Fromsoft popularity, but had no idea just how nuts they were gonna get)

[Makar | 2,062]

I have a couple CIB GBA games still from when I was a kid including Pokémon emerald and mega man battle network 6 gregar. Those are both way pricier than the $30-35 retail sticker when those games were released. 

then there are so many games I bought years ago that are now really expensive compared to what I bought them for. 

Pokémon box on GameCube - I got this complete minus the big box for $100

drone tactics DS - I bought this cart only from GameStop for $2

solatorobo DS sealed with the big box and cd - I got this on eBay for $60

go go hypergrind on GameCube CIB - I bought this for $50 from a game store. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,964]

Pretty much any DS game.

Hell, Theresia and Wizard of Oz were still in stock just a few years again and I remember consciously thinking I should just buy every single one.

[RH | 5,227]

4 minutes ago, Makar said:

I have a couple CIB GBA games still from when I was a kid including Pokémon emerald and mega man battle network 6 gregar. Those are both way pricier than the $30-35 retail sticker when those games were released. 

then there are so many games I bought years ago that are now really expensive compared to what I bought them for. 

Pokémon box on GameCube - I got this complete minus the big box for $100

drone tactics DS - I bought this cart only from GameStop for $2

solatorobo DS sealed with the big box and cd - I got this on eBay for $60

go go hypergrind on GameCube CIB - I bought this for $50 from a game store. 

I actually think Solatorobo is a bit cheap compared to what it could be and trends from other systems.  It seems to be the top-shelf "rare" title that floats to the top for DS collecting but PriceCharting has a tough time categorizing sales because so many copies have "Sealed Soundtrack" in the title. PC thinks the game is sealed when, really, only the CD is.  This means that CIB copies often go for close to sealed copies and vice versa. If DS collecting ever, really heats up, I see that one going up a good bit more because "serious" collectors like to gravitate towards the top-shelf, but I don't know. I could be wrong.

I know several years ago Square-Enix has a big close out sell on their website and they were selling all of their DS, and several 3DS titles for $10. I literally bought 5-8 copies of Dragon Quest 4, 5 and some other titles.  As you guys are probably well aware, those games skyrocketed. I sold most of them when they hit $100-120 each and made a nice little profit to go in future game purchases and vacationing with the fam. Anyway,  I can't believe that Dragon Quest V is now around $250, sealed and will probably continue to grow. Oh well, I learned a long time ago that with investing, you be happy with your profits and not worry about what could've been actualized. Making 10-12x what you paid for it is good and I have no complaints.

Last, there's Xenogears, specifically. I feel like Xenogears came out during peak PS1/Squaresoft goodness.  For RPG fans, I feel like it was well received and it even has a Greatest Hits version that isn't difficult to find, so that proves it sold well and copies do abound.  And yet, it's one of the more expensive Squaresoft games for the system.  I mean, I get it, RPGs for that system are hot but it's just one of those games that I would have never categorized as a "hidden gem", nor was it obscure for the genre at the time.  I could see it being worth, maybe, $100 but it's currently $150 and looks like it's price is still trending up, in spite of the current market cool off.

[DK | 278]

Back in 2015 or so I bought a Donkey Kong CIB off Ebay for $100. I wasn't paying attention to prints or anything like that, I was just happy it was in good condition and packed it away.

3 years later people start talking about first print black box games going for crazy amounts and I went to check and sure enough, no code sticker seal first print.

Ended up selling it for $3000 to help fund my first house.

[Makar | 2,062]

57 minutes ago, RH said:

I actually think Solatorobo is a bit cheap compared to what it could be and trends from other systems.  It seems to be the top-shelf "rare" title that floats to the top for DS collecting but PriceCharting has a tough time categorizing sales because so many copies have "Sealed Soundtrack" in the title. PC thinks the game is sealed when, really, only the CD is.  This means that CIB copies often go for close to sealed copies and vice versa. If DS collecting ever, really heats up, I see that one going up a good bit more because "serious" collectors like to gravitate towards the top-shelf, but I don't know. I could be wrong.

I know several years ago Square-Enix has a big close out sell on their website and they were selling all of their DS, and several 3DS titles for $10. I literally bought 5-8 copies of Dragon Quest 4, 5 and some other titles.  As you guys are probably well aware, those games skyrocketed. I sold most of them when they hit $100-120 each and made a nice little profit to go in future game purchases and vacationing with the fam. Anyway,  I can't believe that Dragon Quest V is now around $250, sealed and will probably continue to grow. Oh well, I learned a long time ago that with investing, you be happy with your profits and not worry about what could've been actualized. Making 10-12x what you paid for it is good and I have no complaints.

Last, there's Xenogears, specifically. I feel like Xenogears came out during peak PS1/Squaresoft goodness.  For RPG fans, I feel like it was well received and it even has a Greatest Hits version that isn't difficult to find, so that proves it sold well and copies do abound.  And yet, it's one of the more expensive Squaresoft games for the system.  I mean, I get it, RPGs for that system are hot but it's just one of those games that I would have never categorized as a "hidden gem", nor was it obscure for the genre at the time.  I could see it being worth, maybe, $100 but it's currently $150 and looks like it's price is still trending up, in spite of the current market cool off.

It’s funny you say that for solatorobo. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened because even when I bought it, the current going rate at the time for a sealed big box copy was like $200-250. 
 

and yea to echo what @Reed Rothchild said, DS prices are insane now. I’m glad I got what I wanted for my collection years ago. No way I’d be buying in now with so many $100+ titles. 

[RH | 5,227]

14 minutes ago, Makar said:

It’s funny you say that for solatorobo. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened because even when I bought it, the current going rate at the time for a sealed big box copy was like $200-250. 
 

and yea to echo what @Reed Rothchild said, DS prices are insane now. I’m glad I got what I wanted for my collection years ago. No way I’d be buying in now with so many $100+ titles. 

Yeah, there are only a couple of high-dollar ones I'm interested in. I wanted to get the Wizard of Oz when it came out so I could play it along side my wife, but I never did. I never thought that one would get to be expensive!  I sold my former copy of Chrono Trigger (with the poster!) and I'm wanting to get that one again. Other than those two, though, that's all of the $$$ games I want.

[Tanooki | 5,126]

I mean this was recent, but a friend let me get a MD game off them complete in the box for $10, despite the fact it's worth like 15-20x that on the far more greedy ebay market these days  (Sailor Moon.)  It's a great game, not the same as the SFC release either.

[Makar | 2,062]

3 hours ago, RH said:

Yeah, there are only a couple of high-dollar ones I'm interested in. I wanted to get the Wizard of Oz when it came out so I could play it along side my wife, but I never did. I never thought that one would get to be expensive!  I sold my former copy of Chrono Trigger (with the poster!) and I'm wanting to get that one again. Other than those two, though, that's all of the $$$ games I want.

I remember hunting down a sealed chrono trigger with the poster years ago not wanting to pay the current going rate or $30. Finally found a copy for $20. I am amazed what the CIB ones are going for now. Craziness. I don’t have wizard of oz and probably never will. It never tickled my fancy and now it’s pricey. RIP you selling your poster copy of chrono trigger. 

[Code Monkey | 2,148]

I was at someone's house picking up another game and while they were in the back getting the game, I looked down and on the floor was a bin of miscellaneous Atari 2600 games. I picked out a few to add to my purchase and she told me I could have them for $3 each. I picked out Berenstain Bears because I used to read those books as a kid and had no idea it was worth anything. When I got home I saw this:

 

[portabello | 104]

I didn't own many video games growing up, mostly played at friends' houses. The ones I did own are all commons, except for this PC box... now worth over $100.

 

[Link | 2,884]

In ~2012 I wrote a review of Little Samson for a retro fansite. I wasn't collecting anything at the time, just playing ROMs. Had no idea people were collecting much or that LS was uncommon or coveted until a few years later. When i learned it was pricy it was about $700. And now it's triple that.

[a3quit4s | 4,370]

1 hour ago, Link said:

In ~2012 I wrote a review of Little Samson for a retro fansite. I wasn't collecting anything at the time, just playing ROMs. Had no idea people were collecting much or that LS was uncommon or coveted until a few years later. When i learned it was pricy it was about $700. And now it's triple that.

I paid CrimsonCobra $1,132 for it on 6/6/2019! Just past my 5 year anniversary with it lol

[Link | 2,884]

1 minute ago, a3quit4s said:

I paid CrimsonCobra $1,132 for it on 6/6/2019! Just past my 5 year anniversary with it lol

Wildly tangentially, this kind of conversation is the nuanced collecting scene history minutiae that can't be captured in a price tracking site or wikipedia article, of which so much was sadly nuked at NA.

But we create more of it here now. 

[a3quit4s | 4,370]

2 minutes ago, Link said:

Wildly tangentially, this kind of conversation is the nuanced collecting scene history minutiae that can't be captured in a price tracking site or wikipedia article, of which so much was sadly nuked at NA.

But we create more of it here now. 

Funny story while I was looking for that email from NA Sqooner I found another email thread from Craigslist that I had in 2016 that someone accepted $20 for X-men Legends 1 + 2 and Go! Go! Hypergrind lmao

I forgot I got that game for practically nothing. I wasn’t even collecting GameCube at the time and had no idea it was even valuable then. I remember that pickup though, the persons child was like autistic or something and played games a lot so they would sell the old ones to buy new ones. 

[Tanooki | 5,126]

I've got a few like that one up there with Spear of Destiny CIB that is.

- Simpsons Arcade Game
- Wing Commander Deluxe with all the papers/books
- Indiana Jones (talkie) and the Fate of Atlantis
- Knights of Xentar
- PowerDolls (same publisher as above, still sealed)

A few others but those are some stand outs.  I've got STUNTS too minus the box but all the rest.

[Link | 2,884]

10 hours ago, Tanooki said:

STUNTS

That fits this thread more than anything for me. Just because I loved that game in its shareware time and I've never met anyone else who knows it before. But the price - from what I can see on vgpc - is on par with similar era games.

[phart010 | 1,790]

11 hours ago, Link said:

That fits this thread more than anything for me. Just because I loved that game in its shareware time and I've never met anyone else who knows it before. But the price - from what I can see on vgpc - is on par with similar era games.

Do you mean this stunts? 

I used to play this back in the 90s

[Ankos | 555]

Seems like most of the experiences here were with games that got more expensive over time. I've had some experiences with that with GBA titles, but I've never unintentionally got a game for super cheap while it was expensive

I've found stuff that was harder to find than first impression though. A while ago I found a cart for an obscure Taiwanese handheld system that I knew was kinda hard to find (well, I knew the system was hard to find, but I didn't know the cart was a thing until I found a listing with the cart and unit). I got it for a pretty low price though, so I parted ways with it pretty readily at the time, thinking I would just find another one soon enough. It took over a year before another listing was posted (thankfully a friend let me know it popped up)

[Friendsfa35 | 35]

i didn't start my main collection until late 2012,
so going in, i knew what i was getting.
so no, i didn't already have games or anything that
i would find out later would be worth more than i thought.
however i will say that from the games i had/played from
childhood, i did notice the French/Dutch release of
The Adventures of Lolo 2, is actually quite annoying to find
a good box for, let alone the darn manual.

also played "Arch Rivals" back then, and when i started collecting,
i actually found out it's quite an uncommon game here.

[Tanooki | 5,126]

STUNTS is just gold, the concept of Hard/Race Drivin done right in the best light possible while also adding a very robust at the time track designer which you could do some really crazy stuff with.  I put a lot of hours on this one back around 1995-? and it's just a real gem of a game.

It's on a short list of games I really need to get back into using again via DOSBox.  I just have not bothered to go through the hoops of it because a few of those I'd like to meddle with need CD setup too which is a pain in the ass.  D-fend Reloaded was a solid GUI I used on my last computer that got those going smooth.

[T-Pac | 7,974]

I'm pretty sure everyone who started collecting before 2019 has seen some significant appreciation in their games' values.

But what always strikes me the most isn't the high-end stuff that has continued to trend up ... but the popular common stuff that's pretty valuable all of a sudden. Games you wouldn't expect to be worth much, since they're staples that everybody seems to have already, and there were sooo many of them produced due to their popularity - and yet their prices keep inflating. Probably because their "staple status" makes them must-haves for all newcomers to the classic gaming scene.

[T-Pac]

[glazball | 176]

Many years ago I purchased a bundle of Saturn games from someone, one of which was Battlesport.  We couldn't find much data on pricing so agreed on $13.  After all, a game like freakin' Battlesport can't be rare or sought after.  It wasn't until years later after sites like VGPC came about that I realized it's a tough one to find and now sells for $$$.

Edited June 13 by glazball