Online Price Madness: $80 for Elemental Gimmick Gear (Dreamcast)

[Nz17]

Really, people at large? $50 - $80 for a complete copy of EGG (Elemental Gimmick Gear) for Dreamcast? Why?! It's just a mediocre action-RPG. It's not bad per se, but it is not grand. There are good reasons why this was clearance priced at $20, $15, $10 back in the day. Yes, the egg-shaped mecha and the spinning mechanics are interesting, but the game just isn't worth $50 - $80 CIB or $35 for incomplete copies. And these aren't the "crazy sellers asking prices nobody will pay" prices, these are the "people are actually routinely paying these" prices.

[celerystalker]

That surprises me. I bought that for, like, $3 at EB years and years ago. It was everywhere... I guess the same could be said of games like Guardian Heroes as well, but EGG is hardly a cult classic. It was always just kind of there.

[Emperor Megas]

I don't even know if I own it or not, but if I do it's probably getting sold for the holidays if that price holds.

[Tanooki]

Wow that ugh game of all things as I remember it fairly well sucking and tanking sales wise when DC was alive. They almost had to give it away, and there were a LOT of copies, it's not like some rarity or even a faux rarity. Perhaps let's just leave it that the sellers are the shepherds and the buyers are the flock -- mindless sheep happy to graze in that field.

[Emperor Megas]

Damn it, I don't have it. I was looking for an easy flip on a crap game. Oh well; I wonder if that $300.00 M.U.S.H.A. madness is going to happen again this Christmas.

[mailman187666]

It may be worth going to your local classic game stores and see if they have copies of this game at its original reasonable prices. I checked E-bay and it seems MOST of the completed listings were closer to the $50 range. I'm pretty sure I have the game but can't remember if it is complete or not.

[Tanooki]

Well that just means people are attempting in mass without direct communication to intentionally raise the price of a game to a higher level to score more for it than the usual shoot for the typical value. If you're seeing people doing $80 bins to ask and few buys, but then you see the going (paid) rate from other bins but usually open auction pricing around $50, that's your real value. Still $50 for that one is kind of amazing, it just wasn't much good at all.

I can't speak for MUSHA on Genesis though, then again I don't think any game is worth $300 and offloaded the ones I mostly had too to get my pinball machine as weirdness like that, especially on non-true rares, can't last. I just got into Genesis, and really, if MUSHA is that good i'd like to know and try the ROM out if it's really worth the time, but then at that rate I'd be all about finding one lying around (super unlikely around here) or I've seen bootlegs of it go for like $50 or less online especially if the label is gone/jacked. $300 seems to be where it lies with a complete nice one. I guess if you take it into perspective with the SNES though and something like Aerofighters which is like twice that for the game and triple complete it's far easier to stomach. :)

[celerystalker]

MUSHA is really impressive. It uses colors really well, runs fast, has some nice graphical tricks, and has a very playable difficulty curve. I'm not saying it's worth paying $300, but it is outstanding, and it had a sequel of sorts on Sega CD, Robo Aleste. It is just super polished and solidly built.

[SparTonberry]

At the least, I think MUSHA is on Wii Virtual Console so it is possible to play it legitimately for a reasonable price.

[Emperor Megas]

I purchased my copy for about 20 bucks (complete) when I moved up North after losing all of my Genesis games in a house fire (it wasn't the fire that took them, but the looters that broke in the night after). I liked the game, but I NEVER would have thought that it would have shot up in price like it has. I've only held onto it because I have sort of an attachment to all of the early Genesis titles I played as a kid. I just like having it there on my shelf, but it's on a short list of titles that I'm ready to off if I ever fall on financial hardships.

[celerystalker]

I got a loose cart at a Game Crazy years ago for $2.99 using their special order program, and so did one of my friends. Good times.

[Tanooki]

Well he's right, it's one of those games that at least are quality but you'd never think would have gone nuts on value. At least the high end is $300 in immaculate complete shape, 1/2 that loose, less if you get lucky or it's battered or missing a sticker (and given the low quality of sega stickers probably easy to reproduce.) And yes it is on all 3 regions of the WII virtual console if you have the system (I do not.)

One game I ended up reading about being about top tier as it quality wise with some solid use of detail, color, and audio scoring is Elemental Master and luck be it I found a copy today, used some credit on some near valueless games if sold on ebay and got it for $18. I'll keep an eye out for MUSHA but I won't blindly pay $150 for a loose game, especially a shooter. Hell I know Aerofighters real well on SNES and i wouldn't drop nearly $200 on it years ago before it went nuts and doubled off that loose alone as I used to own it.

[sfchakan]

Bought EGG for ~$10 a good while back. Sold it this year for $60+.

You snooze you lose on sleepers.

[Niku-Sama]

I count on finding it in the "wild" cheap. I seem to be good at that except for a few random titles or items.

maybe dreamcast is quickly becoming the new gamecube. I cant understand why some gamecube titles hold their value so well when there are TONS of copies of some games made

[Mason P.]

I passed on this game a long time ago I guess. I thought I had it but I guess I don't. I love the Dreamcast and have been planning on going for the set for a fun goal. I believe the price is due to the influx of collectors that started with NES, then moved to SNES. When that got to expensive, Gamecube and Genesis were next. Now that they have shot up as well; they have moved onto the Dreamcast. I firmly believe the next few years the price of the Dreamcast will shoot up. Its been slowly happening already. People want to collect for a system with a low price per game average. When the cost gets too high because everybody else had the same idea, they move on to the next one. I am wondering when the first Xbox and PSP are going to be the big thing. Now is the time to get the set or at least buy up all the ones you like while the prices are low for those 2 systems. The main collector wave will hit them one day. Its just a matter of time....

Just my humble opinion.

[Aussie2B]

Huh, when did this happen? EGG was one of the first games I ever picked up for Dreamcast, back when the system was on its death bed and you could easily nab a new copy of EGG for 10 bucks or less. Still have never played it all the way through, but it doesn't seem half-bad. Never expected it to be anything but a cheap common, though.

[Wraith Storm]

80 bucks? I am surprised to see the game jump up that much, but i can totally understand it.

EGG seemed to be very hit or miss game. Most reviews at the time either loved or hated it, but those that loved it REALLY loved it. Over the years it has garnered somewhat of a cult following with more people discovering it.

It has absolutely gorgeous hand drawn graphics and plays out like a quirky steampunk Zelda adventure. Even if you don't like the game, its hard to deny that it has an incredible OST with songs like Selen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzLv4igd5R8&list=PL3233CD291816027A&index=5), Eastokion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3830QVwb9cE&index=6&list=PL3233CD291816027A) and Fog Edge. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6GlYv_Tq2M&list=PL3233CD291816027A&index=9)

[Daria]

I have it. Bought it when it was cheap, granted I bought my Dreamcast games when they were all cheap. Haven't played it yet. Not going to sell it though. So eh...

[The 1 2 P]

There are good reasons why this was clearance priced at $20, $15, $10 back in the day.

To be fair this usually happens to a good amount of common games. You couldn't give Dragon Ball GT away in the bargain bin for a few dollars but when the Dragon Ball Z cartoon hit the price of used copies went up to $100-$300. I'm not sure what's driving EGG's price but the practice isn't anything new.

[Tanooki]

To be fair this usually happens to a good amount of common games. You couldn't give Dragon Ball GT away in the bargain bin for a few dollars but when the Dragon Ball Z cartoon hit the price of used copies went up to $100-$300. I'm not sure what's driving EGG's price but the practice isn't anything new.

Perhaps some new medical journal report showed that EGGs have a cholesterol that won't kill you if you eat enough of them. :)

[sfchakan]

"zomg guiz this game is sorta kinda like zelda but on da dreamcast!"

"zomg -- buy, buy, buy!!"

"waitaminute -- no one is wearing a tunic here! To the shelf it goes!!"


Imagine all of the above text in all caps, before DP forum settings neutered the effect.

[Garry Silljo]

Am I the only one who actually liked this game. I don't think it's worth $80 but I think it is worth playing and legitimately fun. Pricewise the Dreamcast is just a nightmare to collect for. Anything you would actually want to play is too much $$$$.

[Tanooki]

I think the DC much like the Sega CD has fallen victim to the Ninten-collectards who have found they ran out of overpriced shit to buy or decided to 'beat the curve' and dove in on their mortal enemy of the 90s knowing both had a niche sized market and total titles of which some were excellent games so they snapped up the stuff, promoted them being great online, helped stir up interest and to see their collections gain value. At least with the small pool of SCD and DC games it makes more sense compared to the stupid prices on very mass produced Nintendo /SNES stuff but whatever. It's kind of like the wrecking ball just needs to swing and crash into something once some market gets violated so bad you have to look elsewhere to be early or foul up another in advance of it.

I hope my new interest in the Genesis doesn't see those things explode over the next year as that would really suck. I think the cart only stuff will remain pretty suppressed because those clamshells and stuff are durable and collector's want that. It may even just end up being like mostly ignored like Gameboy stuff too for similar reasons of cart only being common and complete isn't.

[FieryReign]

I'm waiting for ps3 and x360 games to hit the $100+ mark. Any day now...

[SparTonberry]

Probably not going to happen for at least one more generation. Not at least until GameStop stops taking them and they're suddenly "rare".

There might be a few obscure Japanese PSP games to hit $100+ not certain.
The only other stuff I imagine would hit that price is Gaijinworks' preorder-only physical games (Class of Heroes 2 as well as Summon Night 5 and CoH3 when those are actually released, though it sounds like for the latter two they needed a higher print run).

[PizzaKat]

I got this game on Kijiji for probably around $5 along with a bunch of other games. Game is pretty meh. I can't stand the controls.

[Nz17]

Am I the only one who actually liked this game. I don't think it's worth $80 but I think it is worth playing and legitimately fun.

Oh don't get me wrong. It's not that I hate the game nor that I think it is bad. It is more like I kind-of sort-of like some of it, but even so, it wasn't good enough for me to complete a play-through of it way back when. I probably played about 5 hours into the game from what I recall. It seemed like I was 40% - 70% of the way through.

[Retronick]

I bought this dirt cheap, like so many others, and was still disappointed somehow when I attempted to play it. Been meaning to revisit it. God knows my copy is near mint since it only ever saw my Dreamcast MAYBE twice. I actually just found this value when I was going through my collection for insurance purposes. Can't believe this fetches more than Street Fighter III Third Strike!