NES Taito game prices?

[spman]

What's the story with the last batch of games Taito released from 1992-1994 for NES? It seems like just about all of them are creeping up in price, and are amongst the most expensive games on the console. Obviously Bubble Bobble 2 being one of the last games released on the console, and Flintstones 2 being Blockbuster Exclusive is the explanation for those (although I sold several Flintstones 2's a decade ago when it was worth only $100 d'oh!", but what's the explanation for all the other games? A year ago Jetson's was only a $20 game, now it routinely sells for $80+. Even Flintstones 1 is starting to creep into the $20+ range. Little Samson is now the second or third most expensive game on the console, I sold mine maybe 2 years ago for about $100 on eBay, so that spiked fairly recently too. Same with Panic Restaurant.

It seems unlikely to me that there would really be that much demand for these obscure titles, even as rare as they are. I know I've heard a theory before that the very last batch of games they released (Panic Restaurant, Little Samson, and Bubble Bobble 2) were only available on the rental market, and I've never seen any evidence in the contrary. It doesn't seem to be limited supply, just about all these games show up on eBay quite regularly. So what's the deal?

[bb_hood]

I dont think Little Samson was a rental only. Its hard to find but there are quite a few nes games that are rarer than samson. Power Blade 2 is really rare also. Nobody really paid attention to the Jetsons game, it did shoot up in price quite a bit.
The late release Taito games can be really hard to find, I think not many people purchased them when they were released.

[The Adventurer]

Decent quality games + The inevitable creeping of time + increased scarcity = Raising prices.

This is not that hard to figure out.


That said, I remember thinking the Jetson's game looked really cool in Nintendo Power way back when, and when I got collecting last year was dismayed to find it to be a fairly pricey game.

[xelement5x]

I'd also add speculators to the list. If one saw several Taito games that are pricey already (Bubble Bobble 2, Flintstones), they might assume that late release Taito games in general are going to go up in value. If enough people believe this and keep buying the supply up to hoard and resell later, then the price will inevitable rise.

[spman]

Decent quality games + The inevitable creeping of time + increased scarcity = Raising prices.

This is not that hard to figure out.


That said, I remember thinking the Jetson's game looked really cool in Nintendo Power way back when, and when I got collecting last year was dismayed to find it to be a fairly pricey game.

Jetsons really isn't very good. The graphics are nice, but as a platformer it's incredibly difficult, unfairly so in many places, which take it way down.

[goob47]

I think that at this time Taito was kind of like Working Designs. A lot of their games they knew would be valuable in the future, so it paved a sort of legacy for themselves. Who knows, maybe people will start wanting full Taito collections soon instead of WD? @_@

[sparf]

I think there was a willingness to experiment and be bold with those games. THey didn't all come out the best, and some of them exemplify the term 'Nintendo Hard', like Panic Restaurant, IMO.

It makes it difficult for me because I do love so many of these games, and there are so many people out there collecting for completion rather than collecting what they love or what they find interesting or fun.

I'm a big fan of the first Powerblade game and would LOVE to own a copy of the second one but I can't justify the nearly 400 USD being asked on eBay. Someday, perhaps, but not currently. Just can't do it.

I wanted Panic Restaurant from the time I saw it in Nintendo Power all those years ago but never found a copy until, guess what, it was too late. I get that the market dictates the prices on these things. I can only hope that the natural rise and fall moves towards N64/PSX being on the rise and the NES drops to where Atari is now. I'm not in this hobby for the value. I can wait things out, and will.

Then there are things like a recent GameChasers where they came across Surprise at Dinosaur Peak for $5 and just blew my mind.

[Bloodreign]

I think that at this time Taito was kind of like Working Designs. A lot of their games they knew would be valuable in the future, so it paved a sort of legacy for themselves. Who knows, maybe people will start wanting full Taito collections soon instead of WD? @_@
I thought about going for all the Taito I could get, but some are just too expensive and I'm around 300 or so Taito titles (counting 174 Taito Legends and Taito Memories games on 6 compilations, maybe a few more from the PSP one as well). It's not just NES that Taito games are pricey for either, it also stretches to their PS1 and Saturn library. To be honest though the highest ones tend to be the Ving re-releases of Taito arcade games for these systems, and the Xing re-releases of Pulirula and Gun Frontier in the Arcade Gears collections.


Of course I cover Taito not just on NES, I also try for other systems they have games on.

[Rickstilwell1]

I have doubts that Renegade for NES will ever become rare or expensive like the later titles.

[BeaglePuss]

I'm a big fan of the first Powerblade game and would LOVE to own a copy of the second one but I can't justify the nearly 400 USD being asked on eBay. Someday, perhaps, but not currently. Just can't do it.

If it makes you feel any better, the original Power Blade is light years better than the sequel. I absolutely love the first Power Blade game, and was extremely disappointed when I played through the second installment. It was easily the biggest let down I've had since I began seriously collecting NES games.

[Bloodreign]

I have doubts that Renegade for NES will ever become rare or expensive like the later titles.
All things considered Taito just got the license to publish and release the game on NES and arcade here, it's actually a Technos game.

[wayultratech]

It seems like a combination of generally high-quality releases and the fact that Taito seems to be "one of those publishers" that instantly catch gamer's eyes based on brand loyalty, nostalgia and/or cool factor and the generally high release quality of the publisher, similar to Atlus, Working Designs and many more. Even bigger brands like Konami and Capcom force a retinal double take when searching for carts. For me personally at least, there's a handful of publishers that, on brand/logo recognition alone, make my eyes do a double take whenever i am bent over a box of carts at a flee market. It seems most gamers, as well as collectors, know to keep an eye out when they see Taito games, if for no other reason than they'd (and believe me, me too) love to be the next "found a surprise at dinosaur peak for $5" in-the-wild success story.

I will say that Kiwi Kraze (New Zealand Story) is a Taito game i personally love and which seems to have successfully stayed out of the spotlight, for the most part, at least for now. Rainbow Islands is a tad pricier, but for good reason as it's awesome as well and a much more economic way to extend the Bubble Bobble experience without trading your kidney's for a Bubble Bobble II cart.

[Immutable]

For less expensive fare, there are the Famicom titles like Flipull and Space Invaders. :)

[SparTonberry]

I will say that Kiwi Kraze (New Zealand Story) is a Taito game i personally love and which seems to have successfully stayed out of the spotlight, for the most part, at least for now. Rainbow Islands is a tad pricier, but for good reason as it's awesome as well and a much more economic way to extend the Bubble Bobble experience without trading your kidney's for a Bubble Bobble II cart.
Though the PAL versions seems to be a better port (you wouldn't often think an Ocean game better a Taito).
Don Doko Don (the first game) is also another similar game (Japanese-exclusive), though that seems to have risen a bit (but not much, got it for like $15 a few years ago with damaged case, which was roughly loose value). I suspect the second, a side-scroller, will rise too if it becomes more well-known, though it was widely pirated as a Mario game. A few years ago I bought it loose for like $30 from a seller who usually overprices stuff, so I guess we'll see how that changes. :P

[peeingas]

Most of these games it is just hype driving up the prices. Like a couple years ago, you couldn't give Conker's Bad Fur Day away, now it is like $80 on Ebay.

[PizzaKat]

These games look pretty cool but I would never pay those ridiculous prices.
I rather emulate them for free. I know its frowned upon but Im not going to support this reseller high mark up nonsense