It's amazing how some games can become rare/scarce overnight

[duffmanth]

I've been trying to find a copy of SSX on Tour for PSP for months now and finally tracked down a new and sealed copy on ebay last week, which finally arrived today! : ) It's a game that not too long ago you could find just about anywhere for $10-15 used, and now you can hardly find it anywhere, at least in my area. Even online there are only a handful of copies at any given time. Has anyone else been after a game that was once very common, and very quickly became hard to come by?

[Steve W]

Oh hell yes, I used to find copies of Steel Battalion for the Xbox in used game stores constantly and usually around five bucks. When I finally got the controller for the game, I went on a search for the game itself and every store was sold out. I have yet to find a copy. And I'm not really sure what the deal is.

[heybtbm]

Tetris (DS) probably holds the record this generation.

[Slate]

Well, Its not a modern game but Power Blade 2 (NES) Is listed in the ORG as being worth $6. According to recent completed eBay listings a loose copy of the game sold for $40.

Austin

[PapaStu]

Well, Its not a modern game but Power Blade 2 (NES) Is listed in the ORG as being worth $6. According to recent completed eBay listings a loose copy of the game sold for $40.

Austin

Power Blade 2 wasn't everywhere and then gone overnight. It was no where in the first place.

Alot of the Nintendo DS Nintendo published titles have experienced this. Tetris is probably the most notable one, but Pokemon Dash, Pokemon Trozei, Planet Puzzle League and a few others were all over one day, and then completely gone the next.

[ScourDX]

Power Blade 2 wasn't everywhere and then gone overnight. It was no where in the first place.

Alot of the Nintendo DS Nintendo published titles have experienced this. Tetris is probably the most notable one, but Pokemon Dash, Pokemon Trozei, Planet Puzzle League and a few others were all over one day, and then completely gone the next.

Funny where I am from, I still see them in store. I'm not sure if it is region thing, but Nintendo release so many games consider rare in States and not here in northern neighbor. For instant "It's Mr. Pants" is consider harder to find in states and here I see them all the time at Wal-mart bargain bin.

[maxlords]

Yeah, this is totally a region by region thing. I can find Tetris DS pretty easy...still see em new from time to time...same for the other DS titles mentioned.

[Swamperon]

Same here, you can still buy Tetris DS brand new here in the UK in almost any store. But then I haven't seen Pokemon Dash in years, even second hand. I guess most chain stores have policy about how long they'll keep games on shelves past their release date, or transfer them all to one or two stores (seems that way with Gamestation)

[Oobgarm]

For instant "It's Mr. Pants" is consider harder to find in states and here I see them all the time at Wal-mart bargain bin.

That's due to the fact that it was ONLY released in Canada though. A bit different than a widely-distributed title.

[Bojay1997]

That's due to the fact that it was ONLY released in Canada though. A bit different than a widely-distributed title.

It was sold through Walmart in the US. Still, fairly limited distribution.

[Oobgarm]

It was sold through Walmart in the US. Still, fairly limited distribution.

Huh. That must have been something that happened later on, cause I remember the Canada-only distribution being a "big thing" at the time. FWIW, I've never seen it in a store, ever. Maybe it was something they brought down here after it didn't sell well there?

[rainking187]

Power Blade 2 wasn't everywhere and then gone overnight. It was no where in the first place.

Alot of the Nintendo DS Nintendo published titles have experienced this. Tetris is probably the most notable one, but Pokemon Dash, Pokemon Trozei, Planet Puzzle League and a few others were all over one day, and then completely gone the next.

Amazon still has Trozei in stock, still $35 though. The original version of Lumines is a pretty good example of this as well, everywhere had tons of copies of this and then someone found out you could use it to hack the firmware and it vanished. Also Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops. Even was a GH title briefly, then became super rare for some reason. Phoenix Wright did this too. The first one got reprinted a bunch until the point it was incredibly easy to find, it was even part of one of the GameStop Gamedays sales and my local store had at least 25 copies left that they marked as used afterwards. Then it became really rare again. I'm still glad I got Tetris DS, I had a bunch of DS games I was buying during one of TRUs buy 2 get one free sale and couldn't find anything else I really wanted so I just grabbed Tetris.

[slackur]

I picked up a It's Mr. Pants in a U.S. Gamestop, and pretty sure I saw it new. The first Nanostray for DS was originally only for TRU, then it hit a few other stores for a brief period. Timed exclusive? Or just staggered release? Who knows.

I guess the kind of obvious example of this for me would be Final Fantasy VII and Symphony of the Night. For like two or three years they were so obiquitous that I could have stocked up on them for well under $20 a piece, non GH. Suddenly out of nowhere people were paying $70+ for awhile. Thankfully they've both come down, but before then you couldn't tell me that would have happened.

The collecting aspect of this hobby takes strange turns at times...

[Flashback2012]

Huh. That must have been something that happened later on, cause I remember the Canada-only distribution being a "big thing" at the time. FWIW, I've never seen it in a store, ever. Maybe it was something they brought down here after it didn't sell well there?

Micro Center over in the Tri-County area had a couple of copies of that game for $5 along with some other GBA titles like Blackthorne. I picked it up since it had such a catchy/quirky name and was only $5.

As for games that I haven't seen hardly at all, I'd have to go with Magnetica on DS and the Ultimate Duck Hunting games on Wii. I imagine in the near future, Wii titles like Castle of Shikigami III and Ultimate Shooting Collection will be scarce. I actually think some shovelware titles will be rather hard to come by. It's sound ironic since they're shovelware but I'd hazard to guess all print runs are not created equal on those and some of the more niche ones will be a pain to find for the complete collection Wii collectors.

[duffmanth]

Now I'm trying to track down a copy of FFX and big surprise, you can't find it anywhere...

*Update* I found my FFX new and sealed for $25, and as a bonus I also found a mint used copy of Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams for $20. This was also a game that 2-3 years ago could be found anywhere, and now it's almost non-existent at retail any ways.