Fritz Chess - Wii

[Midaha]

Does anyone know the deal with this game? I know it was released in the US but it also states that it was released in Europe (PAL regions). My question is has anyone been able to get old of a copy in the UK? I'm beginning to doubt it was actually widely distributed outside the US. I have been unable to pick it up in any of my local game stores not even second hand.

[Tyalmath]

There are a few new/used copies available on Amazon UK. It seems to be about as scarce as the US release... same goes for the DS versions.

[Rev. Link]

Funny, I had a customer the other day asking me for the PS3 version. We didn't have it, I had never even heard of the game at the time. This sounds like the kind of thing I should keep an eye out for, whatever system I find it on.

[Tyalmath]

The PS3 version only had a PAL release and is much more common than the Wii and DS versions.

The US Wii version of Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity (another Deep Silver-published title) was fetching around $60 - $70 not even a month or two ago... now ebay and amazon are a bit oversaturated with them.

[PapaStu]

The DS one is also quite hard to come across. I just don't think it had a wide release being a budget title and a fringe game for a console.

Also moved to Modern gaming.

[Midaha]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Rev. Link - let me know if you do come accross it! I'm definitely going to be keeping a look out for the wii version.

Talymath - I agree with that. I have seen a few PS3 copies in stores.

PapaStu - apologies for posting in the wrong place and cheers for moving it to the right forum. I've just spotted a ds copy on ebay starting at £50. I reckon that's a lot considering it was a budget title...!!

I would be interested in knowing the how many copies were actually distributed. It's a shame that info isn't readily available.

[DOAsaturn]

Hey, it's my "favorite" rare Wii game.

I personally think Fritz Chess will likely turn out to be the Wii's rarest game. The release is quite unique in many ways.

I'm more familiar with the North American release by Deep Silver. From my "research" it seemed that Fritz Chess was not only a limited release title, but it also was limited to certain metro regions of the U.S. and Canada. It's also (I believe) the only U.S. released title to be bilingual in French and English on the box art and ESRB ratings box.

There were many places in North America where you simply couldn't get this game. I believe Toys 'r Us did carry it in a few markets. Gamestop never did but took in used copies. From people who have the game, that is the two places I've been told that they bought it. I bought two copies. One when it was still relatively affordable on Amazon ($40 new I believe, for a $19.99 game) and a used copy on Gamefly for $20. There was a used copy that bid up to $41 on ebay earlier this month. That's kinda a "steal" I think. Nobody really knows about this game because no one really talks about "rare" games in the modern sense. And no one really cares about some fringe chess shovelware game. Thing is, this one is truly obscure in every sense and I'm guessing at some point in time more people will find out.

[PapaStu]

I stumbled into my DS copy of the game, somewhere around the time that I made my previous post in the thread. When i got it at GS, the price was pretty low (they are for the most part on top of their used prices, especially the rarer stuff). When i got the copy I did, it'd easily been a year + since I had seen an actual copy on the shelves.

I don't know if I'd call Fritz the rarest game for the Wii, it's really too early to tell, but without question it's one of the hardest ones to get.

[DOAsaturn]

I stumbled into my DS copy of the game, somewhere around the time that I made my previous post in the thread. When i got it at GS, the price was pretty low (they are for the most part on top of their used prices, especially the rarer stuff). When i got the copy I did, it'd easily been a year + since I had seen an actual copy on the shelves.

I don't know if I'd call Fritz the rarest game for the Wii, it's really too early to tell, but without question it's one of the hardest ones to get.

It doesn't surprise me you live in California. A couple people I know from the interwebs that found it in stores were in California as well. I have a feeling Deep Silver was hoping there niche European chess game would find a market to someone in major populated areas.

And that's precisely what I love about it. It's not just rare because it's a quirky Japanese RPG that the rabid fanbase ate up all the copies. The fact that it's rare even though likely very few people bought it says something too. Most unsold shovelware, budgetware, etc sits around in bins for months/years. If you can find copies of this title in a bin, go snatch some up and take a picture - I'd have to see it to believe it.

[Cmo]

My girlfriend and I had found two new copies of the Wii version at our local Toys R Us a few months back. We've also found a couple/few used copies at various GameStops. If I remember right we've only found one copy of the DS version in our searches.

[Bojay1997]

My girlfriend and I had found two new copies of the Wii version at our local Toys R Us a few months back. We've also found a couple/few used copies at various GameStops. If I remember right we've only found one copy of the DS version in our searches.

Yep, Toys R Us carried and in some cases still carries the game for the Wii. It's usually on their cheap game racks. I know I saw several copies as recently as a month ago at two different Toys R Us locations in the Los Angeles suburbs, but I have no idea if they are still there or not.

[DOAsaturn]

My girlfriend and I had found two new copies of the Wii version at our local Toys R Us a few months back. We've also found a couple/few used copies at various GameStops. If I remember right we've only found one copy of the DS version in our searches.

Yeah I'm starting to wonder if it was only released at Toys 'r Us, hence the very limited distribution. Funny thing is, the Toys 'r Us website doesn't even list the game. Maybe it was just dumped out of the gate with a Toys r' Us distributor along with a bunch of more common shovelware titles for purposes of liquidating. I tried a few major metro area zipcodes in the "find used copy" map on Gamestop's site and one Gamestop store in L.A. had a used copy, as did one store in the Miami area.