Classic game prices skyrocketing?

[VG_Maniac]

I kind of got out of the video game collecting hobby for a couple years when I hit some financial trouble and had to sell off some games to help get by. I recently started to get back into it a little bit (although still not as much as I was a couple of years ago), and I figured game prices probably had come down since I last checked due to the bad economy and all. Boy was I sure wrong. When I sold off some of my stuff (which was in late 2009 by the way), I had to part with some valuable games such as Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak, Little Samson, Rescue Rangers 2, Snow Brothers etc. I've recently got on Ebay to try and re-acquire a couple of these titles...and they have all nearly doubled in price since I sold them just 2 years ago. I sold Flintstones for $150 on Ebay...now they are going for $300. I sold Snow Brothers for around $50, and now I see them selling for around $100. Little Samson went for $75 when I sold it, and now it's going for $150. I believe I got $40 for Rescue Rangers 2 when I sold it, and now they are going for right around $80. I mean...DAMN!!

[Blitzwing256]

those games are particularly scares (as i'm sure you know) you have to consider many copies have been bought up by private collectors to permanetly put in thier collections never to be seen again, so the supply is smaller and smaller, thus the price will go way up.

[jonebone]

Yes, prices have shot up tremendously. I think SNES / N64 prices have jumped much higher over the past year than NES which has stablized somewhat.

Take a game like Stunt Racer CIB on N64. I got it for $30 back in Spring 2010. Now it's $125-$150 everytime it sells if not higher. Glad I finished off that set entirely.

On SNES I've seen the Mega Mans / RPGs almost double in a year also.

[VG_Maniac]

I've noticed "complete in box" game prices have also skyrocketed...even for common games. Here's a good example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NES-MegaMan-4-COMPLETE-CIB-Nintendo-game-mega-man-iv-/320749674945?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item4aae2ba1c1

It currently has more than 6 days left at the time I'm typing this, and already the bidding has reached near $70. I bet just 3 years ago this would have sold for $30 or $40 max.

[Baloo]

I've noticed "complete in box" game prices have also skyrocketed...even for common games. Here's a good example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NES-MegaMan-4-COMPLETE-CIB-Nintendo-game-mega-man-iv-/320749674945?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item4aae2ba1c1

It currently has more than 6 days left at the time I'm typing this, and already the bidding has reached near $70. I bet just 3 years ago this would have sold for $30 or $40 max.

Weird, the boxed Mega Man games for NES really seem to be fluctuating. Not a month back even a friend of mine and I checked completed listings for the MM games for NES and got in the $30 and $40 range for CIB copies when trying to price some copies that my friend had, we were astonished. Guess it was just a fluke? :|

Also, NES and SNES and N64 are definitely holding value well, but I think it's because the new craze that people want to now start reliving their childhood and are willing to pay a premium for that.

Atari and Genesis prices are still pretty much in the shitter though in comparison to the high prices of Nintendo games. I think the only thing that's even holding value for SEGA stuff is Saturn, Genesis is near worthless and dirt common, as are most Dreamcast games.

[jonebone]

I've noticed "complete in box" game prices have also skyrocketed...even for common games. Here's a good example:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NES-MegaMan-4-COMPLETE-CIB-Nintendo-game-mega-man-iv-/320749674945?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item4aae2ba1c1

It currently has more than 6 days left at the time I'm typing this, and already the bidding has reached near $70. I bet just 3 years ago this would have sold for $30 or $40 max.

Mega Mans, and Capcoms in general, have also appreciated quite well.

Mega Man 2 has gone from a $20-$25 CIB in 2009 to easily $40-$50, or $70+ if MINT. All of the Mega Mans, with the exception of 5, have moved similarly. MM6 was a $40-$50 title now goes for $75-$90. But oddly enough, MM5 was once $90-$100 and now is more like $70-$80.

[Bojay1997]

I kind of got out of the video game collecting hobby for a couple years when I hit some financial trouble and had to sell off some games to help get by. I recently started to get back into it a little bit (although still not as much as I was a couple of years ago), and I figured game prices probably had come down since I last checked due to the bad economy and all. Boy was I sure wrong. When I sold off some of my stuff (which was in late 2009 by the way), I had to part with some valuable games such as Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak, Little Samson, Rescue Rangers 2, Snow Brothers etc. I've recently got on Ebay to try and re-acquire a couple of these titles...and they have all nearly doubled in price since I sold them just 2 years ago. I sold Flintstones for $150 on Ebay...now they are going for $300. I sold Snow Brothers for around $50, and now I see them selling for around $100. Little Samson went for $75 when I sold it, and now it's going for $150. I believe I got $40 for Rescue Rangers 2 when I sold it, and now they are going for right around $80. I mean...DAMN!!

Actually, prices on many items have declined. NES in particular has really heated up as have SNES and even some N64 titles. As others have pointed out, the titles you are looking for have really skyrocketed recently, likely because a number of people are trying to complete their licensed NES collections.

[tom]

Me recollecting VCS, and boy prices have shot up, especially for cib.

[Bojay1997]

Me recollecting VCS, and boy prices have shot up, especially for cib.

Depends on the game. I have actually gotten quite a few bargains this past year on minty VCS stuff. Rarer stuff has undoubtedly gone up in price recently.

[Kiddo]

I've been trying to re-build my NES, SNES and Sega Saturn collections (Lost a long time ago due to circumstances beyond my control), but the high collector's prizes are difficult even for when buying loose carts and disks.

[jammajup]

I really think it depends what it is for sale as i have seen some home retro computer and console stuff increase in price but arcade stuff drop in value.Its best just to keep checking ebay every so often and get a feel of what is happening.

[Atarileaf]

SNES and N64 are now in the collecting sweet spot - those who grew up with the system now have good jobs and disposable income and they're buying it up.

I've been looking for some specific titles on the N64 and they seem to have definitely shot up in price in the last year or two since I've last been looking for these.

I haven't seen any kind of price spike in 2600 games or systems. Of course I buy most of these on Atariage and ignore ebay whenever I can.

[Greg2600]

SNES and N64 are now in the collecting sweet spot - those who grew up with the system now have good jobs and disposable income and they're buying it up.
Oh I definitely think that is it mostly. Also, games in general on ebay, especially the rarer ones, have largely vanished. The only auctions are usually the same sellers who list them pretty much permanently at ridiculous prices no one in their right mind would ever buy at.

[skaar]

Fanatic collectors with deep pockets drove prices to absurd levels and have been driving up demand to increase the value of their collections.

Conspiracy theory? Sure.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I kind of got out of the video game collecting hobby for a couple years when I hit some financial trouble and had to sell off some games to help get by. I recently started to get back into it a little bit (although still not as much as I was a couple of years ago), and I figured game prices probably had come down since I last checked due to the bad economy and all. Boy was I sure wrong. When I sold off some of my stuff (which was in late 2009 by the way), I had to part with some valuable games such as Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak, Little Samson, Rescue Rangers 2, Snow Brothers etc. I've recently got on Ebay to try and re-acquire a couple of these titles...and they have all nearly doubled in price since I sold them just 2 years ago. I sold Flintstones for $150 on Ebay...now they are going for $300. I sold Snow Brothers for around $50, and now I see them selling for around $100. Little Samson went for $75 when I sold it, and now it's going for $150. I believe I got $40 for Rescue Rangers 2 when I sold it, and now they are going for right around $80. I mean...DAMN!!

I wouldn't judge the entire market by NES price trends. I've been following prices for a long time and have noticed a lot of prices for classic games coming down after peaking in the past two years. Prices for the top NES games however, continue to grow. Some of them have become status symbols.

[j_factor]

I think it's really mainly N64 and NES that have shot up. SNES has been expensive for a few years now. A few games have gone up more, but generally it's been fairly stable. Saturn is pretty stable too; the "boom" was like 3-4 years ago.

Turbografx stuff really shot up, but that was a while ago now.

[atari2atari]

SNES and N64 are now in the collecting sweet spot - those who grew up with the system now have good jobs and disposable income and they're buying it up.

I've been looking for some specific titles on the N64 and they seem to have definitely shot up in price in the last year or two since I've last been looking for these.

I haven't seen any kind of price spike in 2600 games or systems. Of course I buy most of these on Atariage and ignore ebay whenever I can.

Oh, heya, Atarileaf, fellow Atari-Ager!


I was surprised to read so many opinions that prices are high - - In my recent personal experience it feels like a buyers' market right now!

The recession does not seem to encourage people to do non-essential things, like collect games, and so they sell at low prices in order to get by.

Maybe that's just for large lots, commons, and craigslist, though - - some of the rarities and Holy Grails might just be getting higher and higher. I like the point someone made earlier that there are only so many of those uber-rarities out there.

But, anyways, in my case, I am stockpiling right now at very low cost to acquire, with the anticipation that sale prices will rise again once the recession really ends.

-a2a

[chrisballer]

I would like to build up my SNES collection, but there is no way I am buying any of them right now. There are too many great deals on Atari, Genesis, and Xbox for me right now.

[VG_Maniac]

Oh I definitely think that is it mostly. Also, games in general on ebay, especially the rarer ones, have largely vanished. The only auctions are usually the same sellers who list them pretty much permanently at ridiculous prices no one in their right mind would ever buy at.

Speaking of auctions...anyone notice how much more scarce actual auctions are on Ebay these days? If you look up a particular video game and find 20 copies of it for sale, only 3 or 4 of those might be an auction while the rest are buy it now only. Ebay is becoming more and more like Amazon all the time.

Also, a lot of these "buy it now only" prices are outrageous. You'll see a CIB Virtual Boy system with a buy it now of $399.99, or even a CIB Atari 2600 system and only 1 game with a buy it now for $99.99.

[nebrazca78]

Atari and Genesis prices are still pretty much in the shitter though in comparison to the high prices of Nintendo games. I think the only thing that's even holding value for SEGA stuff is Saturn, Genesis is near worthless and dirt common, as are most Dreamcast games.

Sega CD prices have gone up dramatically. I used to be able to get deals on wholesale lots of Sega CD games on a weekly basis. Now I win about one Sega CD auction a month at best. Good thing I completed my Sega CD collection a few years ago. It used to be one of the easier Sega collections to complete but with the prices the way they are, no way. Also a lot of 32X games are commanding higher prices because people need the rare titles to have complete collections. While Genesis and Dreamcast prices have fallen slightly, even Master System prices are up.


Fanatic collectors with deep pockets drove prices to absurd levels and have been driving up demand to increase the value of their collections.

Conspiracy theory? Sure.

I think we're just seeing the standard progression of collecting. Take Atari 2600 for example. You can barely give away the common titles, but the rarer games that people need to complete their collections keep going up in value. There are only so many of the rare games to go around. However the most common titles will never be rare and as the people who are not collectors abandon those games their values will stay steady or probably drop.

.

[Boltorano]

I've only really just gotten into this semi-seriously this year. The SNES is far and away my favorite console but most of the better titles that I don't already have are $40+ cart only. I just don't have the money for that right now, perhaps not for a long long time.

Meanwhile I can get JP copies of many of those games for $20-25 including shipping, complete in box and generally in much better condition. I've wanted to be able to read Japanese for years now and may never get around to it but maybe I will who knows. In the meantime most of those games I love so much that I want to have the "original" version for my collection anyway.

The only retro games I can get for anything close to reasonable price locally are on the Genesis, which I can get boxed for $5 each. So until I can afford SNES games again, Genesis is what I'll be buying. I've never owned a Genesis before, so this is a whole new world of games for me to enjoy and/or loathe. I look forward to it.

[johno590]

It's been about 4 years since I was actively collecting, and I've noticed that prices have went pretty high as well, but that's to be expected like most people posted on here, the rare games will only get rarer. Just from searching eBay the last couple of weeks, there is a lot fewer lots listed, and especially ones that you can pick up on the cheap.

[heybtbm]

I've recently been selling about 20 games per month on eBay. Not a "Power Seller" by any means, but I move enough to pay for games for my collection. One of the big reasons games are going for big $$$ lately is the weak dollar. Easily half of my winning bidders are international. Most of those from Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, etc.). Booming economies and a great exchange rate. It never used to be this way years ago. Maybe you would get a winning bidder from Canada or somewhere in Europe. Now it's all Asian buyers.

[wingzrow]

People are just realizing how stupid auctions are. With stuff like auctionstealer, why bother having people auctionsnipe you? You make more by using BIN listings that renew each month at 0.03.

[Casati]

I kind of got out of the video game collecting hobby for a couple years when I hit some financial trouble and had to sell off some games to help get by. I recently started to get back into it a little bit (although still not as much as I was a couple of years ago), and I figured game prices probably had come down since I last checked due to the bad economy and all. Boy was I sure wrong.
I mean...DAMN!!

I'm in the same situation as you, but for board games and RPG stuff. I concentrated on those for a decade, then started buying classic video games a couple years ago, but nothing else because of finances. It was a good time to get them because I see their prices going up recently, but now I'm browsing prices for this other stuff and notice it's skyrocketed also. For instance, I never got around to buying Avalon Hill Dune arena and spice expansions because I thought they were too expensive at $30 each. Now they're selling around $60+.

[Tron 2.0]

Genesis prices are still pretty much in the shitter though in comparison to the high prices of Nintendo games. I think the only thing that's even holding value for SEGA stuff is Saturn, Genesis is near worthless and dirt common, as are most Dreamcast games.
Realy i was checkng ebay recently and prices seem to very on genesis titles that are cib.Some,can be high or low depending on it's grade but if it's loose then the game is dirt cheap.I hope this won't cost me to much to get what i want again.Mostly becuase i'm in a deal to get a genesis again plus a sega-cd for it.For a while 'now i was debating on getting a genesis again since i miss having the console.Still i thought it would be the perfect time. Since device's such as the everdrive flash cart would save me money for buying every game i want again.

[Baloo]

Sega CD prices have gone up dramatically. I used to be able to get deals on wholesale lots of Sega CD games on a weekly basis. Now I win about one Sega CD auction a month at best. Good thing I completed my Sega CD collection a few years ago. It used to be one of the easier Sega collections to complete but with the prices the way they are, no way. Also a lot of 32X games are commanding higher prices because people need the rare titles to have complete collections. While Genesis and Dreamcast prices have fallen slightly, even Master System prices are up.



I think we're just seeing the standard progression of collecting. Take Atari 2600 for example. You can barely give away the common titles, but the rarer games that people need to complete their collections keep going up in value. There are only so many of the rare games to go around. However the most common titles will never be rare and as the people who are not collectors abandon those games their values will stay steady or probably drop.

.

While I wasn't referring to the Sega CD, you are absolutely right. The rarer Working Designs titles and Snatcher have gotten more and more expensive over the years for sure. 32x recently took a huge spike, last year you were able to get games like Knuckles Chaotix' for $25 boxed, now loose copies go for $25 and CIB copies $50, it's odd. Master System however I don't follow. Your explanation kind of explains things but it doesn't really make sense as to why Atari took a huge dip and the Genesis and Dreamcast are still very cheap. Perhaps it's more than a collector thing, and really a generational thing?

Perhaps the popularity of retro game collecting and awareness that these games exist through Classic Game Room, Angry Video Game Nerd, etc. is increasing and therefore due to the lack of stock the prices are higher?

[xelement5x]

I've noticed prices on stuff I want increasing as well to a point, but I've only been actively "collecting" for the last several years. SegaCD has definitely exploded for some reason, Saturn is kind of high but it's been there for awhile, but 32X is stupid overpriced for a lot of games. Don't get me started on TurboGrafx stuff, it's like the wild west out there.

I think eBay is becoming less and less collector friendly though. With the rise in fees, plus the ludicrous amounts of resellers out there, it seems like the best bet is to work through forums to buy and sell things.

[ubersaurus]

While I wasn't referring to the Sega CD, you are absolutely right. The rarer Working Designs titles and Snatcher have gotten more and more expensive over the years for sure. 32x recently took a huge spike, last year you were able to get games like Knuckles Chaotix' for $25 boxed, now loose copies go for $25 and CIB copies $50, it's odd. Master System however I don't follow. Your explanation kind of explains things but it doesn't really make sense as to why Atari took a huge dip and the Genesis and Dreamcast are still very cheap. Perhaps it's more than a collector thing, and really a generational thing?

Perhaps the popularity of retro game collecting and awareness that these games exist through Classic Game Room, Angry Video Game Nerd, etc. is increasing and therefore due to the lack of stock the prices are higher?

Well, nostalgia collectors are probably just now coming into the age where they are seeking out those 90s era systems and games, and thus the price goes up on the common stuff. Rare stuff keeps up and up because now there's more people looking for a comparatively hard to find item, and eventually, when the bulk of those people peel away from game collecting, the price on the cheap stuff drops hardcore, and to a lesser extent rarer items.

I've definitely seen games for Atari era systems that went up in price and have come down quite a bit in the past few years - games like Diner for Intellivision. Maybe not the games that everyone needs to get a fullset, but some of the harder to locate games.

[Aussie2B]

It really depends on what you're looking for. When I think of, say, Famicom and Super Famicom imports, prices are definitely, in general, lower than they were several years ago, I guess maybe because they're becoming more available in the West. (Although I would say the low point has already passed, now that the exchange rate is awful and most sellers have doubled their shipping rates.)

It's not just imports, though. The older (read: pre-crash) American stuff is falling out of flavor, so that stuff has stabilized. I think NES is losing its grip too, outside of the very rare stuff. It's all about 90s gaming now.

[Griking]

Atari and Genesis prices are still pretty much in the shitter though in comparison to the high prices of Nintendo games. I think the only thing that's even holding value for SEGA stuff is Saturn, Genesis is near worthless and dirt common, as are most Dreamcast games.

Which is a good thing for collectors. :bday: