NTSC-J Mega Drive price guide (?)

[dethink]

been doing some MD collecting as i'm sure many of you i've been trading stuff with/asking for stuff have seen...i'm so glad i stumbled across this community, as it's been quite a bit of help to someone who's never collected relatively 'old' (pre PS/PS2, DC) games from overseas. :)

anyways, i've seen there's a PAL mega drive section in the DP rarity guide, but no NTSC MD section. not sure how to grade rarity, but i've been doing lots of shopping around, and have some reasonable values for stuff, based on what japanese vendors are selling them for. i've gotten quite a few minty fresh games for under $5, it's just a matter of buying a bunch of them to keep the EMS fees reasonable.

here's what i've bought/seen so far in my travels. i'll include typical prices, condition, etc. all entries assume a complete (box, manual, cart) game, and in the more reasonable used japanese values, unless otherwise noted. A cart on US soil seems to command 35-50% more typically (i.e. gunstar heroes in similar condition in the US was ~$50).

After Burner II - $3.50-4.00 (VG-NM)
Burning Force - $6.00 (NM)
Moonwalker - $10-$25 (G-NM)
Gunstar Heroes - $35 (VG)
Street Fighter 2 (super) - $10 - (NM)
Street Fighter 2 (CE) - $10 - (NM)
Toe Jam & Earl - $5 (NM)
Bare Knuckle 1 - $8 (VG)
Bare Knuckle 2 - $40 (NM)
Bare Knuckle 3 - $15 (cart only) - $60 (G-NM, seems to bounce around a lot on BN 2 & 3)
Bonanza Bros. - $7-16 (G-NM)
Sonic 1 - $5-7 (VG-NM)
Sonic 2 - $7-9 (NM)
Virtua Racing - $3 (cart only) - $10 (NM)
Strider Hiryu - $5-10 (NM, fluctuates)
Space Harrier 2 - $5 (G-VG)
Forgotten Worlds - $25 (New)
OutRun - $9-15 (VG-NM)
DJ Boy - $13 (Fair)
Galaxy Force 2 - $5-9 (G-NM)
Super Monaco GP - $2 (cart only, Fair)
Rockman Mega World - $80 (NM, in the US)
Alien Solider - ~$200+ (NM, fluctuates, last copy I saw was $230)

accurate? keep going as i find more? stop, i'm on crack?
:)

[anagrama]

I wrote the PAL section, and I've got a skeleton MD-J listing with games/publishers/developers/release dates etc. which I was going to submit once I've tidied it up a bit, but haven't any plans for researching rarity/pricing (I'll send you a copy of my file if you PM me your email address).

If you know your stuff, then I'm sure Joe (digitalpress) would be interested to hear from you :)

[dethink]

i'm not professing to be a huge authority on the subject, but i think i've got somewhat of a handle on what is and isn't a total rip. LOL

the big issue is japanese sellers vs. US sellers - there's a HUGE price difference except on the really rare stuff. panorama cotton, contra, etc. go for large sums no matter where you are in the world, but for instance, a $5-7 mint complete copy of sonic 1 ranges from $11-16 once it's on US soil. granted the difference more than makes up for what it would cost to have that EMS'ed over (or even regular airmail in some cases) from japan unless you're buying in bulk.

the other big issue, is the biggest marketplace for such games seems to be ebay, and you're pretty much subject to the whims of hungry buyers at that point. i'm just going by what i've seen in the few shops that carry such things, and buy-it-now prices from things like ebay japan. granted this is more of a "street price", and not true value, since we're dealing with shops that have to turn a profit.

anyways, as much as i'd like to help right now, i am relatively new to MD collecting and this community in general - though i'd like to think i have a pretty good handle on ebay & getting to the bottom of fair values of items, and i am an excellent anal retentive perfectionist cataloger of things, i don't want to be seen as some kind of "know it all n00b" spreading disinformation (whether it's intentional or not) to overvalue my collection. on the contrary, I'll probably NEVER part with my MD collection, even as modest as it is right now. i've just been having way too much fun on my easter egg hunt... :D

if you want to email me that list, i'll see what i can do with it, and post my findings for the community to shoot full of holes if i overstep my bounds. ;)

[ClubNinja]

If we actually start doing a price/rarity MD-J section, then sign me up. I've been collecting them off and on for a while now and, while probably not be *the* authority, I think I have some insights for this one. I also have a Japanese seller who's occasionally tossing in freebies when I buy MD games from him. Can't beat that :-P

[dethink]

If we actually start doing a price/rarity MD-J section, then sign me up. I've been collecting them off and on for a while now and, while probably not be *the* authority, I think I have some insights for this one. I also have a Japanese seller who's occasionally tossing in freebies when I buy MD games from him. Can't beat that :-P

sounds good. :) all of the japanese sellers i've dealt with so far have been great! I got another EMS package yesterday with strider, virtua racing, sonic 2, and bonanza brothers, and they literally looked UNTOUCHED by human hands. i forgot how a nice shiny mint cart connector really looked until now. i paid $5.50 for strider (which i paid $80 for the US version back in '91, haha), and there was no way you could tell it was 14 years old. it looked like the shrink wrap had just been pull off 5 minutes prior. simply beautiful.

[hydr0x]

don't worry about the difference between us and jap price for jap games, jap price/rarity should count, otherwise any pal game would have to be a R6+ in the guide ;)

[dethink]

don't worry about the difference between us and jap price for jap games, jap price/rarity should count, otherwise any pal game would have to be a R6+ in the guide ;)

i agree with the rarity aspect of things, but outside japan i think you have to take into account that in comparison to any domestic title, it is less common & had to go through more pricey distribution channels, and therefore can [usually] command a higher price if it isn't being bought direct from japan. so something like an NTSC J copy of sonic is definitely not an R6, even though there probably aren't that many here - while it's not valuable like alien soldier, it's not gonna go for $0.50 here like a regular US copy unless you buy it from a clueless seller.

[ClubNinja]

so something like an NTSC J copy of sonic is definitely not an R6, even though there probably aren't that many here - while it's not valuable like alien soldier, it's not gonna go for $0.50 here like a regular US copy unless you buy it from a clueless seller.

Right. I don't think he's suggesting that a Jp Sonic should be listed at $0.50, but rather at a fair price regardless of location. Forgetting importing costs like overseas shipping, a complete Jp Sonic really shouldn't be worth more than $5 anyway. I paid $5 for mine in the US and I've seen Asian sellers with them from $3-$10, with $10 obviously being a little high-ball. I think fair prices can be determined that are void of any particular location bindings.

[hydr0x]

so something like an NTSC J copy of sonic is definitely not an R6, even though there probably aren't that many here - while it's not valuable like alien soldier, it's not gonna go for $0.50 here like a regular US copy unless you buy it from a clueless seller.

Right. I don't think he's suggesting that a Jp Sonic should be listed at $0.50, but rather at a fair price regardless of location. Forgetting importing costs like overseas shipping, a complete Jp Sonic really shouldn't be worth more than $5 anyway. I paid $5 for mine in the US and I've seen Asian sellers with them from $3-$10, with $10 obviously being a little high-ball. I think fair prices can be determined that are void of any particular location bindings.

exactly, i of course didn't mean that the worth of a jap sonic should be the same as the us version or something like that, but it should be what you have to pay in japan for it (or if you know a private person from japan), you could perhaps add shipping, not more than 3-4 USD per game though

[digitalpress]

I would love to see JP Mega Drive in the database (it's certainly too late for THIS edition of the book).

I know anagrama has a base list, perhaps with that plus the collecting sensibilities of MD collectors dethink, ClubNinja and myself we can get something in order soon.

If you guys are up for it, please e-mail me at digitalpress@email.com and I'll get a dialogue started. We'll go from there!

[anagrama]

Hi folks. I've been away for the last week, but I'll send what I've got to Joe within a couple of days, and we can hopefully sort something out from there... :)

[dethink]

hey all, got the email this weekend, and i'm really busy with other things right now employment-wise (also forcing me to sell a chunk of my recently acquired collection...BOO-URNS!), not sure how much i can help... :(