Man-o-Vision Air Raid

[kevincure]

So even though I more or less collect only NES forward, I'm pretty familiar with the Stadium Events equivalents of the Atari era. I know Air Raid is more or less the Holy Grail for every collector of that era. I'm pretty sure someone must have it, because everyone always cites it as a released game. But if guys like rolenta and dp and hardie don't have one (as far as I know), then who actually owns this game? And what do you think it would go for, price wise, on the open market? Surely more than NWC Gold, right?

[moycon]

Someone did a survey a while back and this was the entry for AIR RAID

AIR RAID
xxx pitfall harry
. Ebay jimk@... ($531 10/15/99)
. rick weis [4] (bought from pitfall harry)

So I guess Rick owns one that he bought from Pitfall Harry

[Buyatari]

I think a loose copy would fetch around 2k.

The highest priced gold NWC sold for 6.5k I doubt anyone would pay close that for a loose Air Raid. But who knows.

Adam

[wberdan]

i know that an air raid sold in the past year for like 2 thousand.... that nwc cart that adam mentioned was ridiculous, - no one in their right mind would put up that cash for one.
there definetely are air raids out there, and i would guess that it is rarer than the NWC cart by far.....

willie

[digitalpress]

@Kevin: the company that produced Air Raid is "Men-a-Vision" :P

Also I don't know if you were around about a year ago, our own member Charlie owns the game as well.

[Sylentwulf]

Was that ever proven?

[Sega Hitman]

I seem to remember a thread in the battlezone where Charlie agreed to post pictures of Air Raid (maybe Stadium Events too). I never saw a thread with the pictures though. If the pictures were ever posted, I'd appreciate it if somebody could post the link. If they haven't been posted, than somebody start a battlezone topic, because this is a decent enough topic, it would be a shame if it got dragged over there. LOL

-Hitman-

[Buyatari]

that nwc cart that adam mentioned was ridiculous, - no one in their right mind would put up that cash for one.

Yes our own Captain Falcon attempted to sell it for 6,500.00 and was unable to do so.

HOWEVER the reason he was trying to get so much was because thats how much he paid. Yes, he bought it for $6,500.00. He wasn't able to resell it for that price but it did exchange hands for 6.5k. There have been other copies that sold between 4k-6.5K as well. One just sold on ebay for close to 4k I think that was the cheapest I've ever seen a gold nwc sell for and quite a few have exchanged hands.

Adam

[wberdan]

that nwc cart that adam mentioned was ridiculous, - no one in their right mind would put up that cash for one.

Yes our own Captain Falcon attempted to sell it for 6,500.00 and was unable to do so.

HOWEVER the reason he was trying to get so much was because thats how much he paid. Yes, he bought it for $6,500.00. He wasn't able to resell it for that price but it did exchange hands for 6.5k. There have been other copies that sold between 4k-6.5K as well. One just sold on ebay for close to 4k I think that was the cheapest I've ever seen a gold nwc sell for and quite a few have exchanged hands.

Adam

the friggin worst part is that im going to have to buy that some day.. man that pisses me off! damn it

willie

[orrimarrko]

I spoke with the guy (Pitfall Harry) who recently sold his copy of Air Raid to Rick Weis - here's the posts on the atariage forum:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22959&highlight=

Basically, there are only 4 or 5 known copies in existence. The guy who sold it said that he has only seen one other scan of the cart, and spoken with two others who he believes to own it.

He bought his at a thrift store in Southern California in 1998 for $.99!!

(The story is in the thread at the link above, about half-way down.)

As far as price goes, there are reports of $1,500 for the cart in the not so distant past, and although he wouldn't say, I believe that Rick may have paid $2,000 for it.

Basically, you may have a better chance at getting struck by lightning then to have an opportunity to own this cart (even if price wasn't a factor.)

Good luck!

Steve

[wberdan]

yeah, but doesnt this cart have a pretty sketchy background? i know that there are some out there, but i thought it was hazy if it was ntsc or pal... regardless, its really rare- but its a real freak that no boxes have turned up and is there any information at all known about men-a-vision?
it was probably like two guys in a garage who only made 10 copies to begin with
hah

willie

[ubersaurus]

1 box has been claimed to have turned up. I don't remember who owns it but they never scanned it.

Also the scanline issue was just shoddy programming-it uses the NTSC color set.

[orrimarrko]

yeah, but doesnt this cart have a pretty sketchy background? i know that there are some out there, but i thought it was hazy if it was ntsc or pal... regardless, its really rare- but its a real freak that no boxes have turned up and is there any information at all known about men-a-vision?
it was probably like two guys in a garage who only made 10 copies to begin with
hah

willie

Hey Willie,

Go to that link I posted above - Pitfall Harry goes into a lot of detail about the cart, and what he believes it's background is. Since he definitely had one, I'd like to believe him. He did a lot of research on the cart, and probably knows more about it than most.

Take care,
Steve

[portnoyd]

that nwc cart that adam mentioned was ridiculous, - no one in their right mind would put up that cash for one.

Yes our own Captain Falcon attempted to sell it for 6,500.00 and was unable to do so.

HOWEVER the reason he was trying to get so much was because thats how much he paid. Yes, he bought it for $6,500.00. He wasn't able to resell it for that price but it did exchange hands for 6.5k. There have been other copies that sold between 4k-6.5K as well. One just sold on ebay for close to 4k I think that was the cheapest I've ever seen a gold nwc sell for and quite a few have exchanged hands.

Adam

The cheapest one so far was about $1,400. From Jason Wilson (DreamTR) to Martin Nielsen (nespit), IIRC. There's one on eBay right now.

dave

[Buyatari]

The cheapest one so far was about $1,400. From Jason Wilson (DreamTR) to Martin Nielsen (nespit), IIRC. There's one on eBay right now.

dave

According to DreamTR the cheapest he has ever sold a gold NWC for was 4k. So either someone isn't telling the truth or it was for a grey NWC or trade was also factored in.



Adam

[portnoyd]

The cheapest one so far was about $1,400. From Jason Wilson (DreamTR) to Martin Nielsen (nespit), IIRC. There's one on eBay right now.

dave

According to DreamTR the cheapest he has ever sold a gold NWC for was 4k. So either someone isn't telling the truth or it was for a grey NWC or trade was also factored in.

Adam

It was definitely gold.

http://www.nespit.com

And definitely for $1200:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2598&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25

dave

[Buyatari]

Then someone isn't being completely honest.

Adam

[portnoyd]

Then someone isn't being completely honest.

Adam

No offense to him, but I'll give you one guess who. :/

dave

[orrimarrko]

Then someone isn't being completely honest.

Adam

No offense to him, but I'll give you one guess who. :/

dave

Ding, ding, ding...We have a winner! :D

[orrimarrko]

By the way, I'm just wondering why this thread turned into a NWC postfest.

Wasn't Kev's question about Air Raid?

Steve

[ianoid]

Much as we like to generate prices based on eBay and other experience, there are far from any guarantees. On might estimate that carts this special should sell for $2000, but then again, even the heaviest hitters may not be in the mood to pay that much at any give time. A number of sweet carts came up for sale recently, which all undersold previous numbers. The more that pass between hands, the lower the prices will go.

SO, for Air Raid, the first 3 that exchange hands might fetch $1500-$3000. The next 3 could fetch the same, if said hands wanted more than one, synthetically keeping prices high. But after the highest end of the market is saturated (Rick, Marco, Buyatari, etc.), then prices would drop to a reasonable high- like $1000-$2000. What a deal! Crappy poorly programmed very rare Atari game for $1200! What a bargain!

Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't fork over big bucks for such a cart, but I do know the high end market is finite. That's all I think I'm saying here.

[Buyatari]

Ian you got me all confused. You seem to start to agree with us, do a u-turn and sorta disagree then end up back where you started.

It almost sounds like you are attempting to convince some of the "heavy bidders" that the price on this will surely drop so don't buy it save it for Ian :)


Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't fork over big bucks for such a cart, but I do know the high end market is finite. That's all I think I'm saying here.


I think we can agree that unless things drasticly change. The finite number of heavy bidders will outnumber the finite number of copies available for ...well forever.

Adam

[orrimarrko]

For many high end carts, I have to agree with Ian.

For Air Raid though, I couldn't agree more with BuyAtari.

With 5 or less known Air Raid carts out there, I can't imagine the heavy bidders letting them go once they have them. Seeing how there's at least 5 or more guys with more cash than they know what to do with, once they're gone, they're gone.

And heaven forbid if one or two popped up later - they wouldn't change hands like Ian describes - the legend alone would be enough to keep that price nice and high.

I equate the Air Raid cart to the Euro Kizuna Encounter for Neo Geo. They are almost exactly the same. 5 or less known copies - considered as Holy Grails across all platforms.

I would list them in the 5 rarest produced games of all time. Protos excluded, of course.

[ianoid]

Neo geo analogy? I like it, but I don't understand.

Still, you never know with these things. Magicards seemed pretty darn near impossible, but several seem to have popped up lately. Sure, Magicards are different.

BUT, sometimes a rash of carts show up- one sells for a pathetic amount and the other owners get smart. I wouldn't say anything is impossible.

I DO agree with you Adam, but then again, I take all these rarity crazy prices with a large grain of eSalt. I've seen crazy prices paid on most of the exclusive items, and I've also seen less crazy prices paid on the same items.

I would venture to say, never expect to get back what you paid when you buy a classic game for more than $1000. You might, but assume that if you're paying a premium, you're paying for the right of ownership at some percentage, not just for the item.

I think that's what I'm talking about. If you buy Video Life for $2000, if you needed to sell it, you might not get that money back. You may have just paid a few hundred dollars just to join the Video Life club (at that point in time), and the next guys you are passing such items onto may not pay that premium.


BuyAdam said: I think we can agree that unless things drasticly change. The finite number of heavy bidders will outnumber the finite number of copies available for ...well forever.

Ian responds: Possibly, even probably- but you never know. A few more will be found, and a few more will exchange hands. How many folks are out there willing to pay 2k for a cart they need? I would guess... Maybe 5 at any given time. There aren't that many new collectors coming into it for keeps who will pay that much. And time has proven that one cart could grace 3 collectors hands before it even finds a permanent home. SO, my parting words are: it's hard to say.

[Buyatari]

Only difference is this.

Air Raid was made by some small teeny tiny company. A guy in his garage for all we know. Who is to say he doesn't have the ability to flood the market?
Could be old stock or worse what if he starts printing them to order once he hears the "good news"

"Look Marge every time we up another one o them old Atari games someone comes and snathes it up for the $500.00 BIN price. We darn stuck gold in ol' Uncle Freds garage."

"Well shoot Bill, Uncle Fred has all the parts right here. Lets hurry up and make us some more and when we run out its off to the print shop. I hear people won't know what the box looks like anyway."

Bernstain Bears was once considered THE rarestest released game by many until it was discovered in quantity. Barring this and only this Air Raid isn't going down in value or rarity anytime soon.

Adam

[Charlie]

I agree that Ebay can't be used to generate pricing standards. Ebay prices only reflect the absolute highest price that a single person out of a handful that actually viewed the auction is willing to pay. And in general, it doesn't reflect what the collecting socity at large would be willing to pay. I'll make an example.

A seller has a copy of Chase the Chuckwagon for sale. He shops it around to all the people he knows that collect classic games. All five of the people want it, but...

Gamer #1 is willing to pay $50 for a copy of Chase the Chuckwagon.
Gamer #2 is willing to pay $100 for a copy of it.
Gamer #3 is willing to pay $75 for it.
Gamer #4 is willing to pay $60 for it.
Gamer #5 isn't willing to pay more then $10 for one.

So what becomes the standard? Obviously the seller is going to sell it to Gamer #2. But then let's say that the seller finds another copy of it and decides to sell it. Gamer #2 has it already, and isn't willing to spend another $100 to buy it. The seller knows that the other four gamers aren't willing to spend $100 for it, so he sells it to Gamer #3 for $75. Does that become the new standard? Then the seller gets another copy, but he can't even get $75 for it anymore... he sells it to Gamer #4 for $60. Amazingly, he gets another copy, and sells it to gamers #1 for $50. And by a stroke of good luck, he gets another copy and sells it to Gamer #5 for $10.

What's the point to all of this? Although the seller often got more then $10, $10 becomes the standard. It's the least he could make on the game even though everyone wanted it.

That pretty much sums up my feelings on Ebay. Excluding BIN auctions, I usually say stuff like "A sealed copy of NCAA Basketball 2K3 for the Gamecube often went over $100, but one recently went for $61... that's what it's worth... on Ebay at least." You might get more for it, but you're pretty much guarnteed to get that much for it.