Support NeoGAF

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

So with selling off my collection, I got to be wondering what the bloody is my Earthbound cart doing going for $200... Chrono Trigger / Ogre Battle $100 etc etc...

Decided to do the basic research: ebay indicators !

Overall Economic indicator Nasdaq !

Playstation

Super Nintendo

What's the rationale behind the slump in PlayStation and the rapid growth in Super Nintendo?

Trends are kinda confusing GBC / GBA massively down, but GB has same growth as SNES.

I have no insight, give me some please.

 

[Phediuk]

Less demand for PS1 games because

1. Lots of supply, most PS1 games were manufactured in higher numbers than SNES, because it's way cheaper to produce CDs en masse than PCBs.

2. Tons of games are on PSN, in contrast to the limited selection of SNES games on Virtual Console.

 

[DeuceGamer]

PS1 is just starting to trend up IMO. SNES already had its low point years before and is now on a steady growth. PS1 is just now in the early stages of that now.

Also Nintendo always seems more collectable. Just my opinions though.

 

[Syph Medwes]

Why did you look at NASDAQ?

 

[7DollarHagane]

While people might have nostalgia for PSOne games, nobody wants to go back and play them.

Unlike NES/SNES/Genesis, PS1 games are not fun to go back to, they relied on the newness of 3D and graphics technology in many cases to sell the game.

While there are exceptions, many are RPGs or 2D games that are actually still good to play and enjoy, but many of them were produced in larger numbers than generations previous.

Look at the most expensive PS1 games - they only barely break $200 for regular US retail releases with Suikoden 2 and Tron Bonne.

 

[MrCunningham]

Trends are kinda confusing GBC / GBA massively down, but GB has same growth as SNES.

Outside of rarities like Ninja Five-O. Metroid and IGAvania games seem to fetch for the most money on Ebay when it comes to GBA games, because of name recognition, I guess? But yeah, the majority of GBC and GBA games still go for relatively cheap.

PS1 hardware can still be found for cheap as is it so plentiful, but yeah there are a few notable titles that will sell for a lot more on Ebay.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

I think the PlayStation generation is probably lagging slightly behind the SNES generation in terms of coming into disposable income.

 

[Manmademan]

Less demand for PS1 games because

1. Lots of supply, most PS1 games were manufactured in higher numbers than SNES, because it's way cheaper to produce CDs en masse than PCBs.

2. Tons of games are on PSN, in contrast to the limited selection of SNES games on Virtual Console.

This is the correct answer. It's impossible to overstate just how much MORE supply there was on playstation than there was on SNES. In addition to discs being cheaper to manufacture, Sony started the "greatest hits" program that routinely put games into second or third printings at budget costs once they hit certain sales milestones.

You almost NEVER had games as rare as say, Ogre Battle SNES that only printed 25K copies and vanished from shelves.

 

[DeuceGamer]

I think the PlayStation generation is probably lagging slightly behind the SNES generation in terms of coming into disposable income.

Yea, and the PS1 trend up is just starting compared to SNES which has been going up for several years. I expect PS1 will continue to increase over the next few years

 

[Josh5890]

This is the correct answer. It's impossible to overstate just how much MORE supply there was on playstation than there was on SNES. In addition to discs being cheaper to manufacture, Sony started the "greatest hits" program that routinely put games into second or third printings at budget costs once they hit certain sales milestones.

You almost NEVER had games as rare as say, Ogre Battle SNES that only printed 25K copies and vanished from shelves.

Very true, outside of maybe some JRPG's down the road, just about any PS1 game will be attainable for quite some time.

 

[montopolis]

This is the correct answer. It's impossible to overstate just how much MORE supply there was on playstation than there was on SNES. In addition to discs being cheaper to manufacture, Sony started the "greatest hits" program that routinely put games into second or third printings at budget costs once they hit certain sales milestones.

You almost NEVER had games as rare as say, Ogre Battle SNES that only printed 25K copies and vanished from shelves.

I agree with both of these posts. Ps1 games not on PSN are very expensive until released on PSN. For example Suikoden 2's used price lowered since its recent release on PSN (still pretty expensove though). Nintendo has very few of its SNES and GBA games available digitally. Unlike PS1 games which are plentiful and cheap on PSN. There is also the fact that SNES games are older games, like any collectible the older they are, the more rare and expensive they tend to become.

 

[Jigorath]

While people might have nostalgia for PSOne games, nobody wants to go back and play them.

Unlike NES/SNES/Genesis, PS1 games are not fun to go back to, they relied on the newness of 3D and graphics technology in many cases to sell the game.

While there are exceptions, many are RPGs or 2D games that are actually still good to play and enjoy, but many of them were produced in larger numbers than generations previous.

Look at the most expensive PS1 games - they only barely break $200 for regular US retail releases with Suikoden 2 and Tron Bonne.

WOW that is a terrible post.

Anyways, the Playstation outsold the SNES more than 2:1. More consoles sold = more games sold = more supply = less inflated ebay prices

 

[Ace 8095]

Chart of the NASDAQ. I've now seen it all.

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

Chart of the NASDAQ. I've now seen it all.

Isn't it fun how the SNES chart almost follows the NASDAQ precisely though?


Also I think people are missing the point of my post. It's not why are SNES prices more then PS. It's why have we seen a rise in SNES prices, yet a decline in PS prices.

 

[Zebetite]

PS1 games have a much broader range of item quality because of the relative fragility of jewel cases and discs.

Carts are nearly-indructable and the housing is easy to clean. Jewel cases crack just by looking at them, and CDs themselves scratch easily. Some maniacs also didn't keep their jewel cases and kept their discs inside binders which just served to wreck the discs.

Basically, there's a lot more variance between two instances of the same item, and the relative hassle to find a good-condition copy of a PS1 game probably serves as a deterrent for collectors (I know it does for me!)

 

[obeythed1734]

Disc rot. We need to start Rosetta stoning some of these gaming gems. Votes for first?

 

[Einhander]

Some niche (primarily JRPGs) PS2 games can go for $100 and up.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

i dunno, but it sure is nice being a PS1+2 collector. so many games (there are 8000 PS1 games worldwide), usually for less than they retailed at. also the experiments going on in a lot of low-to-mid budget games are just way more interesting than the 16-bit gen. I've been reading about playstation games for years and I still find new and weird stuff all the time.

 

[Manmademan]

PS1 games have a much broader range of item quality because of the relative fragility of jewel cases and discs.

Carts are nearly-indructable and the housing is easy to clean. Jewel cases crack just by looking at them, and CDs themselves scratch easily. Some maniacs also didn't keep their jewel cases and kept their discs inside binders which just served to wreck the discs.

Basically, there's a lot more variance between two instances of the same item, and the relative hassle to find a good-condition copy of a PS1 game probably serves as a deterrent for collectors (I know it does for me!)

you say this like you seem to have forgotten that SNES games originally came in cardboard boxes.

New (blank) jewel cases are actually easy to get- or at least they were. Good luck finding a new box for your SNES copy of Earthbound.

 

[potam]

So I should invest in a SNES-heavy portfolio?

 

[drtomoe123]

Yea, and the PS1 trend up is just starting compared to SNES which has been going up for several years. I expect PS1 will continue to increase over the next few years

Yep. These things happen in cycles. You've got a period where no one cares and prices are very cheap (SNES) and then spikes tend to happen as nostalgia-driven twentysomethings with new disposable income start buying back their childhood. It's starting again with the PS1 right now. Prices will just get higher from here.

That being said, I doubt that PS1 games as a whole will see the increase in average price that you've seen with SNES games. People who start hardcore collecting for the NES/SNES/N64 often go for full sets because they're relatively manageable (700ish for NES/SNES and 300 for N64), so even the less popular and more underwhelming games start rising in price because there's a limited number of copies of Super Bowling or International Superstar Soccer out there and more and more collectors trying to go for a full set. The PS1, on the other hand, has a huge library that suffers from a lot of shovelware bloat. PS1/PS2 full sets are possible but you're getting into thousands of games, so I doubt you'll see as many Sony full sets out there. Of course, that means that lots of rare shovelware will stay cheap because the demand just isn't there.

Also, being on discs didn't mean that everything was printed in higher numbers. There are still some games on the PS1 that are rumored to have less than a thousand copies out there -- it just depends.

So I should invest in a SNES-heavy portfolio?

You're 7 years late.

 

[Manmademan]

Yep. These things happen in cycles. You've got a period where no one cares and prices are very cheap (SNES) and then spikes tend to happen as nostalgia-driven twentysomethings with new disposable income start buying back their childhood. It's starting again with the PS1 right now. Prices will just get higher from here.

That being said, I doubt that PS1 games as a whole will see the increase in average price that you've seen with SNES games. People who start hardcore collecting for the NES/SNES/N64 often go for full sets because they're relatively manageable (700ish for NES/SNES and 300 for N64), so even the less popular and more underwhelming games start rising in price because there's a limited number of copies of Super Bowling or International Superstar Soccer out there and more and more collectors trying to go for a full set. The PS1, on the other hand, has a huge library that suffers from a lot of shovelware bloat. PS1/PS2 full sets are possible but you're getting into thousands of games, so I doubt you'll see as many Sony full sets out there. Of course, that means that lots of rare shovelware will stay cheap because the demand just isn't there.

Also, being on discs didn't mean that everything was printed in higher numbers. There are still some games on the PS1 that are rumored to have less than a thousand copies out there -- it just depends.

I would be very interested to find out what these games were. at 1000 copies it's not even worth the effort to print them.

You're 7 years late.

yep. If you want to make a mint, start buying up rare PS3 games.

 

[drtomoe123]

I would be very interested to find out what these games were. at 1000 copies it's not even worth the effort to print them.

Easter Bunny's Big Day (rumored anyway) is one of them. It was a budget release at the very end of the PS1 lifecycle. There's just no demand for it.

 

[SiegfriedFM]

The GBA isn't quite there yet in terms of nostalgia. Also, it has a huge piracy problem. Even when it was the current format, it was very hard to find original copies. I bought a few games that ended up being Nintondo or something, which threw me off getting more.

 

[Nosgotham]

just wait for psx to trend up. but nintendo systems always have a higher value in the collecting world

 

[FINALFANTASYDOG]

The GBA isn't quite there yet in terms of nostalgia. Also, it has a huge piracy problem. Even when it was the current format, it was very hard to find original copies. I bought a few games that ended up being Nintondo or something, which threw me off getting more.

Actually this kinda amazes me about the current collecting of MTG / SNES games. You think when you are getting in the value of $200+ for carts or cards that identical pirate copies would just start overrunning the market..

 

[drtomoe123]

Actually this kinda amazes me about the current collecting of MTG / SNES games. You think when you are getting in the value of $200+ for carts or cards that identical pirate copies would just start overrunning the market..

It's works the opposite way. You see so many GBA fakes because they're relatively cheap $15-30 impulse purchases. Casual fans buying a game don't know they're fake or don't care because they spent $20 and it plays like a normal copy.

If I'm spending $500 on Aero Fighters, I'm opening up the cart and making sure the board is legit. Higher prices means people will be more careful.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

Actually this kinda amazes me about the current collecting of MTG / SNES games. You think when you are getting in the value of $200+ for carts or cards that identical pirate copies would just start overrunning the market..

There are probably lots of repros out there being sold as the real thing. There are a couple guys who make repros up front and label them as such...but probably a lot more who make fakes and subtly sell cart only copies.

 

[GamerJM]

Easter Bunny's Big Day (rumored anyway) is one of them. It was a budget release at the very end of the PS1 lifecycle. There's just no demand for it.

This intrigued me so I did a bit of looking around and with how cheap it is (even with no demand) and how many people on the internet seem to recall seeing this game somewhere I highly doubt that there were literally less than 1000 copies printed.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

This intrigued me so I did a bit of looking around and with how cheap it is (even with no demand) and how many people on the internet seem to recall seeing this game somewhere I highly doubt that there were literally less than 1000 copies printed.

It's possible. Maybe they didn't intend for that low of a print run, then something happened.

oddly enough, some of the rarest of the rare video games go for nothing because nobody knows what the hell they are. I watched a stream the other week where some guy was showing off a bunch of stupid rare japanese pc games, stuff that goes up for sale once in several years. he got them for really cheap because nobody knew what they were or just didn't have the patience to wait for them.

Then there's stuff like Spike Out on the original xbox that supposedly had 3000 copies printed and was exclusive to a store, but you can still buy it new for $10-$20 because nobody wants it.

Rarity is part of the equation, but usually when people talk about rarity in gaming, they're actually talking about demand, a much bigger part of the equation.

 

[Zebetite]

you say this like you seem to have forgotten that SNES games originally came in cardboard boxes.

New (blank) jewel cases are actually easy to get- or at least they were. Good luck finding a new box for your SNES copy of Earthbound.

Yeah, but that's an accepted reality of the market. Loose CDs destroy themselves, loose carts are still hardy and durable. Meanwhile, cardboard boxes are even less durable than jewel cases, and that's saying something.

There are fewer risks with buying a loose SNES cart than buying a loose CD (who knows how long it's spent neglected on coffee tables!), and most people didn't bother keeping the boxes for SNES titles, thus making the boxes rarer. A good-condition jewel case is generally considered a must for any PS1 games you're going to bother spending money on, while a good-condition SNES box is an honest-to-god rarity that adds literally nothing to the purchase other than Collector Cred-- which, as it turns out, is worth a lot of money.

If you just want to buy old video games and play them, buying a PS1 game is a much more involved process compared to buying SNES carts and that means fewer people buying. If you want to own everything CiB, SNES prices are justifiably higher because fewer people kept the boxes.

Another element of risk-- you can verify within minutes if a SNES game is in perfect working condition (as long as it takes to be able to save/load if necessary). Someone can say their copy of FF7 is tested and works and they might seem to be correct until you get to the Northern Crater and the game locks up.

 

[Jamix012]

There really aren't a lot of collectable games for the PS1. There are exceptions but most of the desirable games either got re-releases on other systems or did well enough to not be scarce. With the Super Nintendo even certain games that got re-releases are considered inferior for various reasons because of loading times or soundtrack.

 

[Moor-Angol]

Isn't it fun how the SNES chart almost follows the NASDAQ precisely though?


Also I think people are missing the point of my post. It's not why are SNES prices more then PS. It's why have we seen a rise in SNES prices, yet a decline in PS prices.

don't know US prices but here in Japan one reason might be SNES games were sold in cardbox, something very delicate and easy to break
actually complete games have seen their prices skyrocketed cause you find them into shops less and less; I live here since 2013 but my first trip here was in 2003, I remember I bought Super Metroid for 2,500yen and now it's more than doubled, and Super Metroid is not so rare, nor a japanese exclusive

PS1 games are still easy to find (even if complete games (I mean with the spine-card) are just a small part, but except for first titles or double cd, cases are standard cd, so if you break it you can easily replace.
Of course this is not the only reason, cause Saturn and DC games also use standard cd case but a lot of titles saw their prices raided in the latest years, but in this case japanese exclusives is a main factor.
And in the next years something which we'll se a rising price is Gamecube, another platform with cardbox cases and another platform I'm starting to see complete games becoming more rare.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

Someone mentioned the availability of re-issues detracting from the rarity and thus relative value of a game.

Is the world of video game collecting similar to that of book or movie collecting where the first edition of someone is worth more than a re-issue? The first editions of Harry Potter books for instance are worth hundreds to thousands on eBay even though there are tons of reprints. I'm not talking about HD Remakes of course, I'm talking about straight up re-issues like what they did with Final Fantasy VII.

 

[jonno394]

And in the next years something which we'll se a rising price is Gamecube, another platform with cardbox cases and another platform I'm starting to see complete games becoming more rare.

You talking about the Japanese games that came with carboard slips? because 95% of Gaecube games were in plastic cases other than the oversized releases (Odama, Crystal chronicles etc)

 

[7DollarHagane]

Yep. These things happen in cycles. You've got a period where no one cares and prices are very cheap (SNES) and then spikes tend to happen as nostalgia-driven twentysomethings with new disposable income start buying back their childhood. It's starting again with the PS1 right now. Prices will just get higher from here.

That being said, I doubt that PS1 games as a whole will see the increase in average price that you've seen with SNES games. People who start hardcore collecting for the NES/SNES/N64 often go for full sets because they're relatively manageable (700ish for NES/SNES and 300 for N64), so even the less popular and more underwhelming games start rising in price because there's a limited number of copies of Super Bowling or International Superstar Soccer out there and more and more collectors trying to go for a full set. The PS1, on the other hand, has a huge library that suffers from a lot of shovelware bloat. PS1/PS2 full sets are possible but you're getting into thousands of games, so I doubt you'll see as many Sony full sets out there. Of course, that means that lots of rare shovelware will stay cheap because the demand just isn't there.

Also, being on discs didn't mean that everything was printed in higher numbers. There are still some games on the PS1 that are rumored to have less than a thousand copies out there -- it just depends.



You're 7 years late.

I think there's no chance of PS1 rising in price much above where it is now.

N64 came out later than the PS1 and has seen significant price increases and "hidden gems" that have risen in price and none of this has happened for PS1 or Saturn.

Look at the early longbox releases, which are probably some of the rarest to find complete in good condition, because the console took probably a year to really gain steam in the US, plus the fragility of those longbox releases is at least equal with boxes from SNES/NES games.

We have a retro game convention in town here and every seller I talk to says the same thing - nobody wants Playstation 1 games outside of the few rare RPGs and crash bandicoot games. Nobody wants it, they don't want to buy it. They can't sell what they have.

A lot of the genres being served by a large number of PS1 titles are still being served by modern games and being served significantly better. Fighting games, racing, third person shooting, FPS, 3D platformers, all of these genres are better served with PS2/PS3 to the point where there is almost no reason to go back.

Now don't get me wrong - i have a huge PS1 collection and I love the system.

But those same people who shell out $35 for Super Mario World because it's still fun to go back to and they want to play it are not paying $35 for Wipeout because it's a classic. Or Ridge Racer, or Crash Bandicoot. Nintendo systems are the only systems where incredibly common, pack in/system selling games go for $30.

 

[drtomoe123]

I think there's no chance of PS1 rising in price much above where it is now.

N64 came out later than the PS1 and has seen significant price increases and "hidden gems" that have risen in price and none of this has happened for PS1 or Saturn.

Look at the early longbox releases, which are probably some of the rarest to find complete in good condition, because the console took probably a year to really gain steam in the US, plus the fragility of those longbox releases is at least equal with boxes from SNES/NES games.

We have a retro game convention in town here and every seller I talk to says the same thing - nobody wants Playstation 1 games outside of the few rare RPGs and crash bandicoot games. Nobody wants it, they don't want to buy it. They can't sell what they have.

A lot of the genres being served by a large number of PS1 titles are still being served by modern games and being served significantly better. Fighting games, racing, third person shooting, FPS, 3D platformers, all of these genres are better served with PS2/PS3 to the point where there is almost no reason to go back.

Now don't get me wrong - i have a huge PS1 collection and I love the system.

But those same people who shell out $35 for Super Mario World because it's still fun to go back to and they want to play it are not paying $35 for Wipeout because it's a classic. Or Ridge Racer, or Crash Bandicoot. Nintendo systems are the only systems where incredibly common, pack in/system selling games go for $30.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't really buy it. Like I said, most of the big jumps you see on "hidden gems" on the Nintendo systems come from the fact that you've got so many people going for full sets. Would anyone care about Stadium Events if it wasn't required (using this term loosely here) for a complete NES set?

It's funny that you mention Crash Bandicoot in comparison to SMW because complete black label copies of the game are going for $30 nowadays. As I'm sure you know, the distinction between disc only and CIB is very big in PS collecting. Even though a cart only SNES set would be desirable, you can't say the same thing about a disc only PS1 set. The discs themselves are practically worthless -- the premium comes in the packaging and that makes them different from cart games because they're practically a requirement instead of a luxury. This means that you can pick up a disc only copy of Crash just to play for $10 but you'll pay $20 more for the case. I think that this dynamic will keep PSX games from ever getting to the stratospheric levels of the big SNES CIB games (because CIB is the standard for PSX), but I also think that it'll ensure that prices will stay pretty hefty for the big hitters.

I see a lot of people in this thread talking about how Suikoden 2 and Tron Bonne are the only heavy hitters on the system but you have to consider how something like Starblade Alpha, probably the rarest longbox game, shows up CIB on eBay maybe once every two or three months with the last one selling for $170. There's a sealed copy of Tecmo World Golf, the second rarest longbox, that's at $220 with a few days to go up right now. These two games are legitimately rare compared to TB and S2 and we're getting to the point where prices are starting to reflect that. There are so many games on the system that even big PS collectors don't know about the more obscure stuff. It's just a matter of time. The past few years have been the perfect time to jump in, IMO.

Look at the Genesis right now. Prices are starting to really skyrocket for some of the harder to find games after years of being at rock bottom. Even though it was from the same timeframe as the NES/SNES, it took a little longer for those games to really get going. I think it'll work out the same with the PSX.

 

[GamerJM]

It's possible. Maybe they didn't intend for that low of a print run, then something happened.

oddly enough, some of the rarest of the rare video games go for nothing because nobody knows what the hell they are. I watched a stream the other week where some guy was showing off a bunch of stupid rare japanese pc games, stuff that goes up for sale once in several years. he got them for really cheap because nobody knew what they were or just didn't have the patience to wait for them.

Then there's stuff like Spike Out on the original xbox that supposedly had 3000 copies printed and was exclusive to a store, but you can still buy it new for $10-$20 because nobody wants it.

Rarity is part of the equation, but usually when people talk about rarity in gaming, they're actually talking about demand, a much bigger part of the equation.

I can believe this, but I mean when I googled it there were multiple people in some random thread on an obscure forum saying they've seen multiple stores selling multiple copies of the game. That to me is hard to believe when you consider the number of retailers in America vs. the number of rumored copies of the game in existence and the odds that two random drive-by posters in some small topic have experience seeing multiple copies of the game in multiple locations. That instance on that forum wasn't the only instance of people having experience with the game when I googled it either. Furthermore I didn't see anything that really showed any evidence for there only being ~1000 copies printed, though admittedly I didn't look that much.

 

[Jobbs]

Cartridges being cool and CDs being kind of cheap or unsubstantial feeling plays a role, IMO.

 

[Glowsquid]

N64 came out later than the PS1 and has seen significant price increases and "hidden gems" that have risen in price and none of this has happened for PS1 or Saturn.

Are we looking at the same market? : p

 

[DCharlie]

Old bump - but if you switch this over to the Japanese view a quick trip around Aki will give you all you need to know.

There's less and less rare stuff on the PS1, there are very few titles you can't find in stores in comparison to the SFC - and, crazy as it is, the cardboard box frailty of SFC games means good condition units tend to command silly money.

I haven't been actively tracking each day, but SFC prices have been sky rocketting. I mean - people used to balk at Rendering Ranger being 80k, it's now hitting 220k and thats not isolated.

Obviously also manufactured units & supply and demand - for whatever reason SFC are now getting scarcer and scarcer. I was shocked at how bare the shelves are at Friends and how Super Potato is starting to see the boxed section empty out. Yet PS1 - especailly in Super Potato - is booming.

 

[Morfeo]

PS1 was a good console with some great games, but I think this ultimately comes down to the uniqueness of the games on offer. While many of the best games on the PS1 have received sequels that do the same but better, the Snes is the the absolutely best consoles for 2D-games ever, a genre that is well liked, easy to play, and looks great. Also, Nintendo-games in general are just always great and holds up extremely well, making them way more collectable than most other games.

 

[Ivan Amiibo]

PS1 was a good console with some great games, but I think this ultimately comes down to the uniqueness of the games on offer. While many of the best games on the PS1 have received sequels that do the same but better, the Snes is the the absolutely best consoles for 2D-games ever, a genre that is well liked, easy to play, and looks great. Also, Nintendo-games in general are just always great and holds up extremely well, making them way more collectable than most other games.

Actually, besides a couple, i'd put some ps1 2d games over most of the snes library-- little ralph, panzer bandit, sotn, suikoden, valkyrie profile, gunners heaven, rayman and lots more. Just my opinion. The problem with 2d ps1 games is that they're mostly buried in japan.

 

[Morfeo]

Actually, besides a couple, i'd put some ps1 2d games over most of the snes library-- little ralph, panzer bandit, sotn, suikoden, valkyrie profile, gunners heaven, rayman and lots more. Just my opinion. The problem with 2d ps1 games is that they're mostly buried in japan.

I respect that opinion, but I heavily disagree, and I would guess most people do. Sotn is one of the best games ever - but not as good as Super Metroid. Suikoden is also great (and the sequel better) - but not as good as Final Fantasy VI. Valkyrie Profile is great and a very unique game. Gunners Heaven is good but way below something like Contra 3. And Rayman looks nice but plays terrible for most of the game before you get the dash-maneuver, so i think its way below the best of its kind on the Snes (and even something like Klonoa on the PS1). Have not played those first two, but need to check them out! Definitely agree that its a huge problem that 2D-games of the era didnt make it to the west thanks to Sonys stupid policies though. Anyways, have to check out Little Ralph and Panzer Bandit - always fun discovering new games thansk to a discussion like this

Edit: Holy shit at the price for Little Ralph. Was so ready to buy into both of those more or less based on your recommendation, but guess I wont be able to

 

[DCharlie]

Anyways, have to check out Little Ralph and Panzer Bandit - always fun discovering new games thansk to a discussion like this

Isn't little ralph on PSN? Or is that just in Japan? Same for Panzer bandit?

that also kills some of the jpn pricing.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Old bump - but if you switch this over to the Japanese view a quick trip around Aki will give you all you need to know.

There's less and less rare stuff on the PS1, there are very few titles you can't find in stores in comparison to the SFC - and, crazy as it is, the cardboard box frailty of SFC games means good condition units tend to command silly money.

I haven't been actively tracking each day, but SFC prices have been sky rocketting. I mean - people used to balk at Rendering Ranger being 80k, it's now hitting 220k and thats not isolated.

Obviously also manufactured units & supply and demand - for whatever reason SFC are now getting scarcer and scarcer. I was shocked at how bare the shelves are at Friends and how Super Potato is starting to see the boxed section empty out. Yet PS1 - especailly in Super Potato - is booming.

I've heard a lot of games are being imported to the west now which is really affecting availability domestically. Do you think that's true?

 

[Skulldead]

N64 came out later than the PS1 and has seen significant price increases and "hidden gems" that have risen in price and none of this has happened for PS1 or Saturn.

HAHHAA you are kidding right ? The Saturn is probably the biggest price inflation after the NES...

this is actually more true because Eu + Japan value are insane high.

 

[Noisepurge]

i've been following the prices of few titles now and i bought Castlevania Dracula XX complete for example, 40$ in 2007.
it's going now already for something like 150$.

SNES and NES games especially have sharp increases in price due to fragile boxes. Megadrive and CD based games are easier to find complete due to sturdy design.

Dogs and kids have eaten 90% of NES and SNES boxes

 

[dark10x]

I think there's no chance of PS1 rising in price much above where it is now.

N64 came out later than the PS1 and has seen significant price increases and "hidden gems" that have risen in price and none of this has happened for PS1 or Saturn.

Please tell me where you're finding your prices - I want to shop there.

Saturn prices are through the roof right now. I'm glad to have a 200+ game strong library (US + JP) as a lot of the games I own now are going for insane prices these days.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Discs are more fragile than cartridges.