"Rare" Wii games

[psychopat]

I think the Club Nintendo Exclusives will be quite rare... not the first ones but those that will release once everybody will have spent their points on the first games and crappy goodies...

[Bojay1997]

I think the Club Nintendo Exclusives will be quite rare... not the first ones but those that will release once everybody will have spent their points on the first games and crappy goodies...

This is a topic on the Wii. Are there Wii games released as part of Club Nintendo?

[NayusDante]

I want to say that Baroque will be somewhat rare in a little while, given the poor reviews and rather niche qualities it has. I had to drive a half hour to find a copy when it came out, since every Gamestop within 10 miles had none. Since, I've seen it used on occasion, but not so much in recent months.

[DOAsaturn]

I believe the Gamestop exclusives were three British games repackaged for a stateside release, they would be Rig Racer 2, London Taxi Rush Hour and Classic British Motor Racing. That's an educated guess by my research (as you can buy them used on Amazon, but not new through amazon) and ebay searches generally bring up UK releases. They can be found on Gamestop used for $10 apiece.

F1 2009 seems to be talked about as a rarity, it's a recent Gamestop exclusive in which stores only got a couple copies I guess. I picked up one as I collect sports/racing releases, and almost wish I got two and saved one unopened.

[DOAsaturn]

After doing a little more digging on F1 2009, I'm fairly convinced this could be our first true "rare" game for Wii. The title is selling for $10-20 more on ebay new ($50-60). It was in very limited supply as a Gamestop exclusive to begin with as you can't even order a new copy off of their website.

[Bojay1997]

After doing a little more digging on F1 2009, I'm fairly convinced this could be our first true "rare" game for Wii. The title is selling for $10-20 more on ebay new ($50-60). It was in very limited supply as a Gamestop exclusive to begin with as you can't even order a new copy off of their website.

I don't know how long that demand will last, however. A lot of F1 fans only bought it because it was PSP and Wii exclusive in the US and there were no other options to get your F1 fix otherwise. It looks like F1 2010 is coming out and is planned to be multiplatform.

[speedgtr]

one piece unlimited adventure is rare, good fun and as a good value

[DOAsaturn]

I don't know how long that demand will last, however. A lot of F1 fans only bought it because it was PSP and Wii exclusive in the US and there were no other options to get your F1 fix otherwise. It looks like F1 2010 is coming out and is planned to be multiplatform.

Good point on the demand. It will still be rare in quantity, but if F1 2010 gets a Wii release then fans may not care anyway.

I noticed that One Piece game just sold on ebay for $70 new. Amazon has two copies for $200 and some on ebay for similarly atrocious prices. Still the big deal with a vast majority of these games is that they have to be NEW. They just aren't rare/old enough to demand high dollar for an opened copy and there probably aren't as many collectors out there (maybe just the shrewd ones) looking for these games in an unopened state just yet to actually sell for those high prices. I've noticed on some of those oddball budget titles (like those British themed ones I mentioned), getting them new is practically impossible. But will anyone want them new?

[Icarus Moonsight]

You'll notice that even with well confirmed HTF titles like Kororinpa that sealed copies sell very high, opened copies do sell just for a lot less. Pricing for Wii stuff at this point is nearly all speculation driven at this point. I'd guess that most will be inflated before the dust settles, and some will be found to have been undervalued. Both will correct, in the end.

[TonyTheTiger]

Yeah, I agree. There's just too much of a gold rush happening right now to make any good predictions. With Kotaku reporting every single Ebay auction, CNN jumping on the bandwagon, and record prices being set, we've possibly walked into the perfect storm. This might be speculation at it's peak.

[Only16bits]

Wing Island maybe?

[DOAsaturn]

OK after quite a bit more research guys, and using vgchartz as a helper, I think I found just one truly rare game for Wii and four others that can probably qualify as scarce as well.

BTW, The least selling game is easily Arctic Tale, which released all the way back in Oct. 07 and has only sold 5,800 copies here. Yet, on ebay you can grab a copy for dirt cheap and there are plenty being offered. It's hardly rare, just unwanted.

A lot of games by ZOO are very low sellers, but that doesn't necessarily put them on this list either.

A couple low-sellers that stood out to me as possible scarcities in the future were: Ocean Commander, Rebel Raiders, Kawasaki Jet Ski, Glacier 2, Pacific Liberator and Speed Zone. Some of these may still be readily available new for MSRP or lower, but they are hardly selling.

Anyway. As mentioned before, the BOLD Games (Destineer) releases that include Rig Racer 2, Classic British Motor Racing, London Taxi: Rush Hour and Monster Trux Offroad are honestly quite a bit scarce. Classic British Motor Racing and Rig Racer 2 seem the rarest of the bunch - as even a used copy is a bit difficult to find, let alone a new one.

Anyway, the game that really stands out is a relatively recent release called Fritz Chess. The Wii (and DS) copies seemed to have either very little distribution or were pulled before they were widely circulated. Either way, an NTSC version of the game is out there and is extremely difficult to track down. This seems to fit the bill as a truly rare Wii game.

[Flashback2012]

I've seen two different versions of the Ultimate Duck Hunting game, the one from Detn8 Games and the Zoo Games release. I imagine since Zoo is the IP holder now, the Detn8 will be much harder to find, only used at this point and near impossible new.

I have to think that a small number of shovelware titles will be scarce in the future. I'm not too worried about it personally as I would only try for a complete set if I won the lottery and then had nothing else I wanted to buy first. ;)

I'm more interested in going after the "sought after" titles more so than the "rare" titles. My gut feeling is that games like Castle Shikigami III and Ultimate Shooting Collection will command a pretty penny in the future among others.

[Bojay1997]

OK after quite a bit more research guys, and using vgchartz as a helper, I think I found just one truly rare game for Wii and four others that can probably qualify as scarce as well.

BTW, The least selling game is easily Arctic Tale, which released all the way back in Oct. 07 and has only sold 5,800 copies here. Yet, on ebay you can grab a copy for dirt cheap and there are plenty being offered. It's hardly rare, just unwanted.

A lot of games by ZOO are very low sellers, but that doesn't necessarily put them on this list either.

A couple low-sellers that stood out to me as possible scarcities in the future were: Ocean Commander, Rebel Raiders, Kawasaki Jet Ski, Glacier 2, Pacific Liberator and Speed Zone. Some of these may still be readily available new for MSRP or lower, but they are hardly selling.

Anyway. As mentioned before, the BOLD Games (Destineer) releases that include Rig Racer 2, Classic British Motor Racing, London Taxi: Rush Hour and Monster Trux Offroad are honestly quite a bit scarce. Classic British Motor Racing and Rig Racer 2 seem the rarest of the bunch - as even a used copy is a bit difficult to find, let alone a new one.

Anyway, the game that really stands out is a relatively recent release called Fritz Chess. The Wii (and DS) copies seemed to have either very little distribution or were pulled before they were widely circulated. Either way, an NTSC version of the game is out there and is extremely difficult to track down. This seems to fit the bill as a truly rare Wii game.

Check your local Toys R Us. They had tons of copies of Fritz Chess for the Wii and the ones around here in Los Angeles still do. None of the games you have listed are "rare" i.e. both in demand and hard to find.

[crazyjackcsa]

Check your local Toys R Us. They had tons of copies of Fritz Chess for the Wii and the ones around here in Los Angeles still do. None of the games you have listed are "rare" i.e. both in demand and hard to find.


OK after quite a bit more research guys, and using vgchartz as a helper, I think I found just one truly rare game for Wii and four others that can probably qualify as scarce as well.

BTW, The least selling game is easily Arctic Tale, which released all the way back in Oct. 07 and has only sold 5,800 copies here. Yet, on ebay you can grab a copy for dirt cheap and there are plenty being offered. It's hardly rare, just unwanted.

A lot of games by ZOO are very low sellers, but that doesn't necessarily put them on this list either.

A couple low-sellers that stood out to me as possible scarcities in the future were: Ocean Commander, Rebel Raiders, Kawasaki Jet Ski, Glacier 2, Pacific Liberator and Speed Zone. Some of these may still be readily available new for MSRP or lower, but they are hardly selling.

Anyway. As mentioned before, the BOLD Games (Destineer) releases that include Rig Racer 2, Classic British Motor Racing, London Taxi: Rush Hour and Monster Trux Offroad are honestly quite a bit scarce. Classic British Motor Racing and Rig Racer 2 seem the rarest of the bunch - as even a used copy is a bit difficult to find, let alone a new one.

Anyway, the game that really stands out is a relatively recent release called Fritz Chess. The Wii (and DS) copies seemed to have either very little distribution or were pulled before they were widely circulated. Either way, an NTSC version of the game is out there and is extremely difficult to track down. This seems to fit the bill as a truly rare Wii game.

Most of those games you mentioned I see all the time in the WalMart Bargin Bin. As Walmart doesn't report sales, they aren't included in the vgchartz ranking. (Extrapolated perhaps, but not directly measured)

I've been thinking that perhaps A Boy and His Blob could become a rarity. It isn't right now, but fairly low sales coupled with good-to-great reviews and a little bit of a pedigree could make it a little bit of a rarity.

Another one may be Tornado Outbreak. Decent reviews, zero sales.

[Mayhem]

I'm more interested in going after the "sought after" titles more so than the "rare" titles. My gut feeling is that games like Castle Shikigami III and Ultimate Shooting Collection will command a pretty penny in the future among others.
I wasn't able to get a US copy of USC from any of my usual US mail order websites, I had to get it from Play Asia in the end! :p

[DOAsaturn]

Check your local Toys R Us. They had tons of copies of Fritz Chess for the Wii and the ones around here in Los Angeles still do. None of the games you have listed are "rare" i.e. both in demand and hard to find.


Most of those games you mentioned I see all the time in the WalMart Bargin Bin. As Walmart doesn't report sales, they aren't included in the vgchartz ranking. (Extrapolated perhaps, but not directly measured)

I've been thinking that perhaps A Boy and His Blob could become a rarity. It isn't right now, but fairly low sales coupled with good-to-great reviews and a little bit of a pedigree could make it a little bit of a rarity.

Another one may be Tornado Outbreak. Decent reviews, zero sales.

I agree on all points guys, that rarity and demand go hand in hand. I didn't know Wal-mart did not report sales and I imagine that may bloat some sales on those lesser sellers.

That said, I stand firm on the scarcity of Fritz Chess (and to a somewhat lesser extent, those BOLD games releases I mentioned)

The lipmus test for me on scarcity is to simply find the titles for purchase on the internet. Even out of production titles can be found en masse on ebay and through amazon sellers. If a title can be found through those circles, it likely isn't really rare. A sealed copy could probably be considered rare for a few mass distributed titles out of production now (One Piece: Unlimited Adventure I think can arguably fit that bill, for example).

The thing about Fritz Chess is how - to the average eye - it almost doesn't exist as a game anymore, and it was only released early last summer. Wal-mart doesn't stock it online (and uses the European box graphic). I can google old listings on Target, Buy.com and Toys 'r Us but they either say out of stock or the page comes up blank. Gamestop's old listing (also can only be googled) does bring up the used game listing and actually does work, and after testing a few zipcodes in L.A. and other major markets (NY, Chicago, DC) I was able to find two Gamestop's in LA with it and one in DC (though well outside of DC, in Annapolis). Even weirder to me is how hardly anyone on ebay or amazon lists the game. Almost any Wii game (and every Wii game I've seen outside of maybe Rig Racer 2) has a bevy of listings for the eager collector. Even budget games that seem obscure to some have multiple listings. One listing for Fritz Chess for $125 new. Amazon has seven total listings (very small for a recently released Wii game) and none cheaper than $36 used (and $90 new). Only YesAsia.com appears to have the game in stock new, but for $40. You could rent it and keep it at Gamefly, but then your just getting the disc, aren't you? (I've never tried to keep a game with them).

With Fritz Chess I wouldn't discount the possibility of a very limited distribution zone (not a full national release) and/or a very short production, with online retailers selling their initial run of copies and not receiving any more. I challenge anyone else to find such a limited set of online resources to purchase a particular Wii game right now. It just seems very odd to me.

[Bojay1997]

I agree on all points guys, that rarity and demand go hand in hand. I didn't know Wal-mart did not report sales and I imagine that may bloat some sales on those lesser sellers.

That said, I stand firm on the scarcity of Fritz Chess (and to a somewhat lesser extent, those BOLD games releases I mentioned)

The lipmus test for me on scarcity is to simply find the titles for purchase on the internet. Even out of production titles can be found en masse on ebay and through amazon sellers. If a title can be found through those circles, it likely isn't really rare. A sealed copy could probably be considered rare for a few mass distributed titles out of production now (One Piece: Unlimited Adventure I think can arguably fit that bill, for example).

The thing about Fritz Chess is how - to the average eye - it almost doesn't exist as a game anymore, and it was only released early last summer. Wal-mart doesn't stock it online (and uses the European box graphic). I can google old listings on Target, Buy.com and Toys 'r Us but they either say out of stock or the page comes up blank. Gamestop's old listing (also can only be googled) does bring up the used game listing and actually does work, and after testing a few zipcodes in L.A. and other major markets (NY, Chicago, DC) I was able to find two Gamestop's in LA with it and one in DC (though well outside of DC, in Annapolis). Even weirder to me is how hardly anyone on ebay or amazon lists the game. Almost any Wii game (and every Wii game I've seen outside of maybe Rig Racer 2) has a bevy of listings for the eager collector. Even budget games that seem obscure to some have multiple listings. One listing for Fritz Chess for $125 new. Amazon has seven total listings (very small for a recently released Wii game) and none cheaper than $36 used (and $90 new). Only YesAsia.com appears to have the game in stock new, but for $40. You could rent it and keep it at Gamefly, but then your just getting the disc, aren't you? (I've never tried to keep a game with them).

With Fritz Chess I wouldn't discount the possibility of a very limited distribution zone (not a full national release) and/or a very short production, with online retailers selling their initial run of copies and not receiving any more. I challenge anyone else to find such a limited set of online resources to purchase a particular Wii game right now. It just seems very odd to me.

You can't just limit your search to online, however, especially if you're a collector. Most consumers and particularly ones buying shovelware games are buying games in store. Toys R Us is one of the biggest chains in the US and I was there last night and still saw Fritz Chess Wii in the under $20 display. I have never known Toys R Us to sell particular games in only one region of the country. I have also seen Fritz Chess at several independent game retailers in the LA area. People will always try to get ridiculous prices for things on Ebay and Amazon and may actually sucker an unsophisticated collector into paying the price. That doesn't make the game worth that amount, it just means that some poor sucker might pay that much for it and will never be able to recoup their investment.

[TonyTheTiger]

How few copies does there need to be for a game to qualify as "rare"? Because I can't imagine there being fewer than 20,000-30,000 copies of any Wii game sold at retail. It's just not worth it to print fewer copies than that. We might be able to talk about what games will be comparatively rarer when stacked up against the rest of the Wii's library but genuinely rare games are probably going to be pretty much nonexistent.

[Bojay1997]

How few copies does there need to be for a game to qualify as "rare"? Because I can't imagine there being fewer than 20,000-30,000 copies of any Wii game sold at retail. It's just not worth it to print fewer copies than that. We might be able to talk about what games will be comparatively rarer when stacked up against the rest of the Wii's library but genuinely rare games are probably going to be pretty much nonexistent.

I can't speak to what other publishers require, but I can speak to discussions I had with one well known Wii shovelware publisher about a budget European Wii title a client was looking to release over here and they wouldn't even consider it if they didn't think they could get 25K units into retail and they really wanted titles they thought could move 40K or more because that's when the real replication and printing breaks come in from the replication facilities.

[DOAsaturn]

You can't just limit your search to online, however, especially if you're a collector. Most consumers and particularly ones buying shovelware games are buying games in store. Toys R Us is one of the biggest chains in the US and I was there last night and still saw Fritz Chess Wii in the under $20 display. I have never known Toys R Us to sell particular games in only one region of the country. I have also seen Fritz Chess at several independent game retailers in the LA area. People will always try to get ridiculous prices for things on Ebay and Amazon and may actually sucker an unsophisticated collector into paying the price. That doesn't make the game worth that amount, it just means that some poor sucker might pay that much for it and will never be able to recoup their investment.

I absolutely agree with the ebay/amazon price inflation and what not. All I was really saying to that point is that almost any game can be found multiple times (including shovelware titles) on resources like ebay or amazon, regardless of price. Fritz Chess just seems relatively non-existant on those venues. It does seem odd that the game would distribute new for a very, very short period of time though. It's obviously not in high demand if their are bargain copies at your TRU. The question is where else can it be found. I'm personally curious if anyone has seen it outside of a metro area. I'm in Billings, MT (largest city in the state but only 100,000 people) and no one has ever seen or heard of the game. There is an indy game store in town as well.

As for print runs. Remember Tecmo Super Bowl II when Tecmo announced only a 10,000 (or was it 15,000, I can't remember) run of copies when the game was released. I tried to get it at Target that day and they had sold all five of their copies. No other store in town had received any. So I imagine you can go ahead and do a run in test markets if you wanted to and print 10,000 copies. Though in TSBII's case, the price hasn't inflated much as you can nab it for $50-60 and maybe cheaper. Let's just say Fritz Tennis had 10,000 printed and sent them to stores in large metro areas (like L.A.). It would look like any other shovelware title for most people and could easily end up not selling. Deep Silver then halts further production and the stock is quickly liquidated.

I could be way off, I'm not as experienced as some of you guys who have been collecting for years (I've been gaming for 20+ years, but never really collecting). I guess what's caught my eye with the Wii is all these funny budget titles that bring back memories of games for the NES. Anyone who is going for a complete collection may not have much rarity but they will still have to have quite a budget to get them all.

[Bojay1997]

I absolutely agree with the ebay/amazon price inflation and what not. All I was really saying to that point is that almost any game can be found multiple times (including shovelware titles) on resources like ebay or amazon, regardless of price. Fritz Chess just seems relatively non-existant on those venues. It does seem odd that the game would distribute new for a very, very short period of time though. It's obviously not in high demand if their are bargain copies at your TRU. The question is where else can it be found. I'm personally curious if anyone has seen it outside of a metro area. I'm in Billings, MT (largest city in the state but only 100,000 people) and no one has ever seen or heard of the game. There is an indy game store in town as well.

As for print runs. Remember Tecmo Super Bowl II when Tecmo announced only a 10,000 (or was it 15,000, I can't remember) run of copies when the game was released. I tried to get it at Target that day and they had sold all five of their copies. No other store in town had received any. So I imagine you can go ahead and do a run in test markets if you wanted to and print 10,000 copies. Though in TSBII's case, the price hasn't inflated much as you can nab it for $50-60 and maybe cheaper. Let's just say Fritz Tennis had 10,000 printed and sent them to stores in large metro areas (like L.A.). It would look like any other shovelware title for most people and could easily end up not selling. Deep Silver then halts further production and the stock is quickly liquidated.

I could be way off, I'm not as experienced as some of you guys who have been collecting for years (I've been gaming for 20+ years, but never really collecting). I guess what's caught my eye with the Wii is all these funny budget titles that bring back memories of games for the NES. Anyone who is going for a complete collection may not have much rarity but they will still have to have quite a budget to get them all.

I think your error is in thinking about rarity in terms of cartridge production and the fact that you live in a fairly small metropolitan area. If a publisher overproduced carts, they had big problems and expenses in disposing of those extras. As such, they really focused on tailoring the run to the retailer demand. In the era of mass disc replication and cheap digital printing, as well as all sorts of third parties getting into distribution (visit your local Big Lots which is now carrying some of the formerly Gamestop exclusive Bold games Wii shovelware) if a shovelware publisher overproduces 10K-20K in copies, they just can liquidate them at pennies on the dollar and still at least break even or maybe take a very small loss. The economics have changed and therefore, so is the rarity equation.

[DOAsaturn]

I think your error is in thinking about rarity in terms of cartridge production and the fact that you live in a fairly small metropolitan area. If a publisher overproduced carts, they had big problems and expenses in disposing of those extras. As such, they really focused on tailoring the run to the retailer demand. In the era of mass disc replication and cheap digital printing, as well as all sorts of third parties getting into distribution (visit your local Big Lots which is now carrying some of the formerly Gamestop exclusive Bold games Wii shovelware) if a shovelware publisher overproduces 10K-20K in copies, they just can liquidate them at pennies on the dollar and still at least break even or maybe take a very small loss. The economics have changed and therefore, so is the rarity equation.

Well you got me fairly convinced that most of the shovelware stuff is not truly rare and will likely not ever be something that people will grovel over. There are those oddball NES releases that keep sticking out in my head that really weren't great but still command high dollar for completists, but if the game isn't rare to begin with, it won't be rare 10-20 years from now either.

However, there are just too many weird variables with Fritz Chess to convince me that this one may be a unique case. Despite the existence of the game in Los Angeles, I am fairly confident this one was released in miniscule numbers. On top of that Deep Silver has been feeling the economic troubles as Deep Silver Vienna (developers of Cursed Mountain) was recently shut down. I'm not sure how or if that axed Fritz Chess as I can't find quite as much info on that. I'm hoping to get a good answer on it though, as I e-mailed the VP of sales for Deep Silver asking directly why the game is so difficult to find and what the release numbers were (I run a gaming site so it's not like I'm approaching them as a random gamer). Cross my fingers they will be forthright. I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

P.S. It's interesting how a Deep Silver press event last year showcased the Fritz Chess release for DS (still relatively widely available) and ignored the Wii release http://diehardgamefan.com/2009/08/14/deep-silver-nyc-press-event/ . According to another website, the event showcased the release for the PS3 and Wii as well, but the PS3 release seemed to get canned (at least in the states). Makes me wonder if the Wii production was halted early and liquidated. Anyway, enough speculation on my part, I'm anxious to see if I get an official answer.

[DOAsaturn]

Hey guys, this is straight from the horse's mouth at Deep Silver (i.e. John Schutts, Senior Producer)

Fritz Chess was released last summer on the Nintendo DS and Wii. It is difficult to find in retail now and if I had a copy in the office, I'd send you one (unfortunately I don't). I see Amazon lists it through other vendors, but they are asking $39.99. The game originally retailed for only $19.99.

Best regards,

Jon

He didn't respond directly to my inquiry about the title being limited distribution or what the exact numbers were. Not sure if he was dodging that for particular reasons or what not. One can speculate about poor initial sales numbers or just the general down economy that affected Deep Silver last fall. Who knows.

[Bojay1997]

Hey guys, this is straight from the horse's mouth at Deep Silver (i.e. John Schutts, Senior Producer)

Fritz Chess was released last summer on the Nintendo DS and Wii. It is difficult to find in retail now and if I had a copy in the office, I'd send you one (unfortunately I don't). I see Amazon lists it through other vendors, but they are asking $39.99. The game originally retailed for only $19.99.

Best regards,

Jon

He didn't respond directly to my inquiry about the title being limited distribution or what the exact numbers were. Not sure if he was dodging that for particular reasons or what not. One can speculate about poor initial sales numbers or just the general down economy that affected Deep Silver last fall. Who knows.

He probably doesn't know. Very rarely will anyone on the development side have any interaction with the publishing/distribution side of things.

[jonebone]

Is this a thread about "Rares" only or "Sleepers" that may gain value?

I don't think anything will be known about the true "Rares", but "Sleepers" could potentially be discussed. Anything that got high reviews (8.5+) with fairly unique gameplay and was underappreciated should fit that bill.

[Beefy Hits]

Target Terror.

I had to order from Amazon. I've never seen a copy in the wild.

[Bojay1997]

Target Terror.

I had to order from Amazon. I've never seen a copy in the wild.

Both Target and Toys R Us carried the game when it came out. It's a couple years old now which is why you couldn't find it.

[theclaw]

I don't see Spray much, but then again Gamestop liquidated their new copies by dropping them all the way down to $5.

[FoxNtd]

Target Terror.

An acquaintance has this game and I got to play it as well. He told me he bought it for himself and his wife from a local Gamestop store. Based on that I'd figure it can't be that difficult to find...

[Leo_A]

Target Terror was widely carried at the GameStop's around here when I bought my copy 12-18 months ago. It's no rarity in my opinion if it was so easily available here in the North Country in upstate NY.

[DOAsaturn]

I thought this was worth unearthing as the Wii winds down a bit with its release calendar.

One game that's currently starting to get a little notice as actually being rare is (drumroll) My Horse & Me: Riding for Gold. Yes, it's shovelware (but maybe not - people into this type of game seemed to praise it), but its worth noting that it's terribly difficult to locate online, in fact not many retailers even know this game exists. The first title in the series is extremely easy to find.

I did notice that when more and more people spread the news about Fritz Chess being rare (including myself), that more copies came out of the woodwork on ebay and Amazon. It's still "rare" in the sense that you won't find it for cheap and you won't have much luck finding it used anywhere (a Gamestop national used search came up with two copies according to someone on another board). I suppose I could see a similar thing happening with MH&M:RfG, the difference being that the few that were actively looking for this title when it was released (I traced a couple topics on the Atari message board for the game) were having an awful time finding a copy for themselves.

The crazy thing is, it has 14 Amazon.com reviews... so people were buying this it seems

[Bojay1997]

Looks like you definitely found a rarity. I found just one recent Ebay auction and it closed at $200.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/My-Horse-Me-Riding-Gold-Nintendo-Wii-Brand-New-Extremely-Hard-Find-/230740437561


I thought this was worth unearthing as the Wii winds down a bit with its release calendar.

One game that's currently starting to get a little notice as actually being rare is (drumroll) My Horse & Me: Riding for Gold. Yes, it's shovelware (but maybe not - people into this type of game seemed to praise it), but its worth noting that it's terribly difficult to locate online, in fact not many retailers even know this game exists. The first title in the series is extremely easy to find.

I did notice that when more and more people spread the news about Fritz Chess being rare (including myself), that more copies came out of the woodwork on ebay and Amazon. It's still "rare" in the sense that you won't find it for cheap and you won't have much luck finding it used anywhere (a Gamestop national used search came up with two copies according to someone on another board). I suppose I could see a similar thing happening with MH&M:RfG, the difference being that the few that were actively looking for this title when it was released (I traced a couple topics on the Atari message board for the game) were having an awful time finding a copy for themselves.

The crazy thing is, it has 14 Amazon.com reviews... so people were buying this it seems

[SEGA_Queen]

I've got one: One Piece Unlimited Adventure. I've only ever seen one copy in the wild, which is the copy I bought. It's currently going for an average of $60.00 online.

[DOAsaturn]

Looks like you definitely found a rarity. I found just one recent Ebay auction and it closed at $200.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/My-Horse-Me-Riding-Gold-Nintendo-Wii-Brand-New-Extremely-Hard-Find-/230740437561

I had another auction saved to my ebay searches and was able to get a used copy over the weekend for $34, granted your find is for a new copy. The only other used copy even near that price range is $45 on Amazon. Other than that you got a $170 used and a $300 new listed on ebay.

I kind of consider One Piece as the Wii's first rarity. It still fluctuates a bit but generally a used copy should get you at least as much as what a brand new copy cost when it came out, if not a little more. You can find them at Gamestops here and there for $40 used. I bought a sealed copy for $70 a couple years ago...

[The 1 2 P]

One game that's currently starting to get a little notice as actually being rare is (drumroll) My Horse & Me: Riding for Gold.

I've never seen this game but I will keep an eye out for it. I'm also awarding it for having one of the creepiest Wii titles of all time.

[Tupin]

The Wii is going to be a pain to collect for years down the line. Pretty much only first-party games were advertised, and many games only had one print run.

It's also going to be like the 2600, in that the rarest games for it are mediocre or downright terrible.

[M.Buster2184]

I'm surprised nobody has mention the Metroid Prime Trilogy. My friend and I looked all over and we've only found two places nearby that had it. My friend got it from a Gamestop and paid $60 used, another shop in Seattle has it for around $80 used, I believe.

[Carnby]

I'm surprised nobody has mention the Metroid Prime Trilogy. My friend and I looked all over and we've only found two places nearby that had it. My friend got it from a Gamestop and paid $60 used, another shop in Seattle has it for around $80 used, I believe.

I just purchased a sealed copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy for $125. It is in flawless condition. I will eventually send it to VGA for grading. Judge for yourself. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/120889270873?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_2952wt_1270)

[theclaw]

One Piece Unlimited Cruise Double Pack appears it'll become rare, as far as PAL goes. Supposedly an exclusive release to Germany IIRC.

[kupomogli]

Good Wii games. Those are rare. Not rare as in hard to find, but rare as in there's barely any.

http://static.fjcdn.com/comments/badum-tish.com+_5e1f7bf07da81488652e6a362cefafad.jpg

[M.Buster2184]

Hmm....for the record I was disappointed with it, but is Mario All-Stars for Wii rare or uncommon? I got it for my gf but had trouble locating a copy.

[DOAsaturn]

Hmm....for the record I was disappointed with it, but is Mario All-Stars for Wii rare or uncommon? I got it for my gf but had trouble locating a copy.

I too bought a copy for my sister for Christmas, kinda wish I got one for myself as well. A re-release tempered values a bit but it's back up a little.

The Wii is going to be a pain to collect for - but I have a feeling that so many people grew up with one (just like the NES and Atari) that it'll come back as a collecting system later when all those kids grow older and get those same nostalgic desires as many of us do. For now, I'm just chasing down the rarest ones. I got a couple copies of Fritz Chess (one opened, one sealed), One Piece sealed, F1 2009 opened (which I actually bought the day it came out) and now My Horse & Me: Riding for Gold.

As for Metroid Prime Trilogy - that game is really sought after and will always be. Someone on another website claimed that there was a much rarer regular white box version but I cannot confirm that at all. I'll keep my eye open for it but it seems unlikely...

One new release to really look out for later this month is a Mexican produced NTSC release called "El Chavo". It has all the makings of a future rare (like Super Copa for SNES).

[Spidey80]

Data East Arcade Classics struck me as rare...when it originally came out I actually had to leave town to find it.

[Gamevet]

I was at a Half-Price Books today, and noticed that they had Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 priced at $75. I thought the title might be somewhat highly priced on the internet, but it isn't. Could this title start to become rare in the future?

[DOAsaturn]

I was at a Half-Price Books today, and noticed that they had Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 priced at $75. I thought the title might be somewhat highly priced on the internet, but it isn't. Could this title start to become rare in the future?

It's really not "rare" in terms of quantity as much as it's always in demand. You can't find a copy for cheap anywhere it seems, but you can generally find a copy if you want it.

[Gamevet]

It's really not "rare" in terms of quantity as much as it's always in demand. You can't find a copy for cheap anywhere it seems, but you can generally find a copy if you want it.

I looked up pricing on it, through Amazon and Ebay, it's still pretty reasonable. You could probably still get it for under $20, with a little effort. I just found it kind of odd that someone at HPB thought it would sell for $75.

[Ryudo]

I have one Piece Unlimited Adventure CIB. Got it free from a friend.

These are not rare per say but believe will become harder to find.
Mario 25th
Xenoblade PAL/US
The Last Story Limited Edition
Pandoras Tower Limited Edition

[drthielegood]

Xseed games has already indicated that they already have a fixed run in mind for The Last Story. I would imagine that Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower (if we get a US release) will be short runs.

As the Wii enters its final days/weeks/months I'll be looking for a few late-in-life titles that are well received but may not be fully embraced at this stage of the consoles life span. Games like Rhythm Fever or Fortune Street come to mind. These titles and the Operation Rainfall games are, I think, going to be worth a bit down the road.

[markusman64ds]

Xseed games has already indicated that they already have a fixed run in mind for The Last Story. I would imagine that Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower (if we get a US release) will be short runs.

This makes me wonder whether or not they will be re-released for the Wii U, with updated graphics and stuff. A short print run for these games doesn't exactly make sense. I mean, they had the whole Operation Rainfall thing, and apparently the games are good, so why have a short run if you aren't going to re-release the game for the next gen? There is definitely money to be made.

[Bojay1997]

Xseed almost always just does one run of their games and I am not aware of any that are rare or even sold out after months or even years of release. I agree that this one might be slightly different given that it's a pretty great game and has a lot of attention right now, but I suspect it will result in a larger run and higher sales than the typical Xseed release. I think the games that are really going to have value over MSRP are going to be the sleepers that others have mentioned that had very limited runs and nobody cared about at the time of release or which totally slipped under the radar. The three late release JRPGs are definitely not under the radar and I know several collectors that don't even own Wiis that are picking up copies of each.


Xseed games has already indicated that they already have a fixed run in mind for The Last Story. I would imagine that Xenoblade and Pandora's Tower (if we get a US release) will be short runs.

As the Wii enters its final days/weeks/months I'll be looking for a few late-in-life titles that are well received but may not be fully embraced at this stage of the consoles life span. Games like Rhythm Fever or Fortune Street come to mind. These titles and the Operation Rainfall games are, I think, going to be worth a bit down the road.

[DOAsaturn]

Xseed almost always just does one run of their games and I am not aware of any that are rare or even sold out after months or even years of release. I agree that this one might be slightly different given that it's a pretty great game and has a lot of attention right now, but I suspect it will result in a larger run and higher sales than the typical Xseed release. I think the games that are really going to have value over MSRP are going to be the sleepers that others have mentioned that had very limited runs and nobody cared about at the time of release or which totally slipped under the radar. The three late release JRPGs are definitely not under the radar and I know several collectors that don't even own Wiis that are picking up copies of each.

It's funny - this is similar to Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love on PS2 a couple years ago. Everyone and their mom was buying sealed copies (including me) to save for future profit since it was the last RPG on the console. You'd be pretty lucky to break even on that, since most are selling around the $20-30 range and, hell, you can still buy it for 19.99 new at Gamestop (most stores still have copies). Maybe that'll change 5-10 years or so from now, but doesn't look too promising.

Who knows though, it's hard to tell on these but usually if people are prepared for a rare release, it ends up not being rare, since so many people bought it to sell it and have taken themselves out of the demand quotient. Still, I couldn't pass up Xenoblade - but the jury will be out for awhile on it...

[Genjackson]

The Fatal Frame game for Wii is kinda up there. I don't know if I would call it rare or just in high demand though.

Also, games are only worth what you can get out of them. The last copy of Fritz Chess sold on ebay was sold for 14 bucks.

[theclaw]

The Fatal Frame game for Wii is kinda up there. I don't know if I would call it rare or just in high demand though.

Also, games are only worth what you can get out of them. The last copy of Fritz Chess sold on ebay was sold for 14 bucks.

That's how game obscurity works. The SERIOUS rare titles are woefully undervalued. Most people do not:
own them
search for them
know/care they exist
sell their copies in the unlikely event of ownership, because they won't get a worthy price

[Ryudo]

@Bojay
Ys Seven Premium Edition is hard to find under 60$. Same with Ys Chronicles PE.

I got mine just before the demand went high up.

[Bojay1997]

Both took a really long time to sell out though and frankly there are tons available for sale at any given time. Moreover, Ys7 Premium was $50 on launch, so it's not like it's really become valuable. Similarly, Ys Chronicles PE was $30 at launch and can still be readily found NIB for under $50. I also know lots of people that have sealed copies and don't even own PSPs anymore. I still stick by the position that rare games aren't things that people are buying assuming they will be rare, at least not on super popular systems like the Wii where there are plenty of people collecting the RPGs and other niche titles even if they don't own or use the system. The rare stuff is going to be low print run or availability that nobody thinks to collect at the time.


@Bojay
Ys Seven Premium Edition is hard to find under 60$. Same with Ys Chronicles PE.

I got mine just before the demand went high up.

[Kitsune Sniper]

I'm bumping this for you collector type folks.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2011/12/15/chavo-del-ocho-coming-to-wii-near/
http://videojuegos.univision.com/wii/noticias/article/2011-10-07/el-chavo-videojuego-wii (Spanish)
http://en.kaxangames.com/games/el-chavo/

Slang will release the Kaxan Games developed "El Chavo" game on April 27. Apparently this was announced late last year but it just popped up on the Latino news again, so I figured I'd mention it here. I suppose most of the copies of this game will go down to Latin America so it -may- be scarce in Americaland for now.

Fun fact: This same developer created a game called "Taco Master" for iDevices.

[TonyTheTiger]

I almost had a spit take at first glance:
http://gameplanet.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=EL%20CHAVO

[Kitsune Sniper]

I almost had a spit take at first glance:
http://gameplanet.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=EL%20CHAVO

That's in Mexican Pesos. It's roughly $55-$60 USD (tax is already included in the price.) That's a pretty decent price for a brand new game, brand new AAA games sell for $1000 ($82-$84)

[TonyTheTiger]

So is this a Mexican exclusive? Seems ridiculously niche to be anything but. I suppose Amazon would carry it at least for the rest of North America.

Also:
""El Chavo del Ocho" for Wii cost $3 million to develop and is the first video game to be made in Mexico."

I can't imagine that's true.

[Hidden_Darkness]

one piece: unlimited adventure is very hard to find. just finding a complete copy for less then $60 and up is a challenge, it's weird because around 2008 and 2009 I used to see it at places like best buy and wal mart for $40 then it just suddenly became hard to find.

[eskobar]

So is this a Mexican exclusive? Seems ridiculously niche to be anything but. I suppose Amazon would carry it at least for the rest of North America.

Also:
""El Chavo del Ocho" for Wii cost $3 million to develop and is the first video game to be made in Mexico."

I can't imagine that's true.

The advantage with "El chavo del ocho" is that is extremely popular not only in México ... its quite popular in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and even was dubbed in Russian and Japanese. Its quite strange that any IP of that magnitude is found in our country and even stranger that an IP that old is still a huge hit.


There is another Mexican or Latin american exclusive for the Wii : Atrévete a Soñar

http://motordejuegos.net/profiles/blogs/atrevete-a-sonar-para-wii-ya?xg_source=activity


I don't Know if this game has any value on your country, but it wasn't very popular here and there are quite a few on sale :)

[Slipdeath]

Have there been any other Latin exclusives for the Wii?

[Zama]

Xenoblade Chronicles (NA) has become quite scarce lately, and the price it's currently going for is amazing @_@