Which sealed games are expensive??? *Rant*

[suppafly]

I just dont know which sealed games to buy and resell...sometimes i see NES games (sealed) go for 10 US, and sometimes i see them go for 400 US on ebay. Recently i saw a mario 1 sealed go for 200...

How come mario bros 1, the most common game for NES; is so expensive if sealed, while i see other sealed semi-rare nes games go for much lower amounts?

Recently i bought 3 sealed mario ones with a friend, and now i could buy several sealed genesis games, but how do u know which are the expensive ones??? The sealed genesis games i could buy for 7 US at any moment are: ishido, flicky, zoom, shove it, onslaught, growl, marble madness, clue and mystic defender.

My 2 questions are: which of thos games, in your opinion, should i buy to resell on ebay? Is there a rule of thumb to choose which sealed games to buy??? Thanks!

btw if anyone is interested in a sealed mario bros 1, please PM me

[jerkov]

I don't know much about sealed game prices, but it seems as if the big franchise games are the ones getting all the cash on eBay. Games like Zelda, Mario, and Kid Icarus have gone for insane prices. I'd guess that stuff like the Castlevanias, Final Fantasy, and Metal Gear for NES would probably fetch a bit too. It seems like whatever franchises are still thriving today are the ones worth a fortune sealed. Personally, I think it's a passing phase, so dump those sealed Mario 1's ASAP. I'd like to hear other's insights on this.

[jerkov]

Oh, and to answer your question directly, I doubt any of those Genesis games are worth much sealed, probably about as much as a complete copy. I don't even know if sealed Genesis games in general bring in as much as sealed NES games.

[-hellvin-]

I would resell most of the black box launch NES games. Even though there are tons of super mario bros., it's probably kinda hard to come by a factory sealed one. So far as I've seen, they go for a lot just because they are black box Nintendo games.

[suppafly]

I don't know much about sealed game prices, but it seems as if the big franchise games are the ones getting all the cash on eBay..

Thats a very interesting thought...franchise games are the most expensive...

its just that it didnt make any sense to me why the sealed r1 games (like zelda and mario) end at insane amounts of money, while many uincommon sealed (r3, r4, r5) games end at MUCh lower amounts of money....its the FRANCHISE thing what matters ...

and yes, i might put those marios on ebay soon, the problem is that 2 have the Shrinkwrap a little bit cut...(like 1 inch) in the front, dont know how much that will affect price

thanks!

[jerkov]

Thats a very interesting thought...franchise games are the most expensive...

its just that it didnt make any sense to me why the sealed r1 games (like zelda and mario) end at insane amounts of money, while many uincommon sealed (r3, r4, r5) games end at MUCh lower amounts of money....its the FRANCHISE thing what matters ...

and yes, i might put those marios on ebay soon, the problem is that 2 have the Shrinkwrap a little bit cut...(like 1 inch) in the front, dont know how much that will affect price

thanks!

No problem.....and I agree with you 100%. Didn't someone on here simulataneously post a sealed Zelda 1 and a sealed Contra Force on eBay? Common sense would tell us that Contra Force should go for a much higher price because its much rarer, but I believe Zelda went for a couple hundred bucks more than Contra Force did. These insane bidders don't care about rarity, they're just paying for the name.

About those Marios, I'm guessing that prices will be effected somewhat by those cuts, but I bet they'll still go for a very decent sum.

[dethink]

there still tons of sealed genesis stuff on ebay...even stuff that's a big franchise like sonic doesn't go for much. there still sealed copies of sonic 2 all over ebay for $5.

US genesis stuff as a whole (with a few exceptions) really isn't worth a whole heck of a lot. Japanese MD stuff is generally cheap too, worth a bit more on average, but once again, a few titles are the ones that fetch all the dough.

about the most valuable US game i can think of is toejam & earl. If you had a factory sealed copy, you'd probably be looking at about $50-60.

shadowrun, earthworm jim, the mutant league games, gunstar hereoes, star control, the PS series, and general chaos are the ones i've seen that routinely go over $15. but then again, it all seems to fluctuate...

[suppafly]

Yes, its very sad and good at the same time to be a collector for geneis games.

Its sad because when you sell good games, they dont go for a hundred dollars unless youre selling a TRULY rare and sealed games. Its also good because we can all find rare games for 5 US complete.....

and i thought it`d be a good deal to buy all those genesis games for 7 us each... :embarrassed:

[Arqueologia_Digital]

Well, generally here in Argentina all the sealed games are expensive :angry:

Matías

[Ed Oscuro]

I remember seeing sealed copies of games from the Castlevania series going for $90 back during a period of high CV buying in 2002 or so. Super Metroid sold, sealed, for $110 or so at that time as well (memory serving me correctly).

I like sealed games just because they let you bend/break normal rules of collecting. I'd rather have a completely mint copy of a game with shrink around it or the original seal saved, however.

[SkiDragon]

More importantly, what current games do you think will be woth a lot in the future factory sealed?

[Lemmy Kilmister]

I remember seeing sealed copies of games from the Castlevania series going for $90.

Really? Nice! I got a sealed copies of both castlevania and metal gear for the nes.

[suppafly]

i was thinking today.,...if big franchises are collectible, does that mean is should buy a zelda game for Gamecube, and in 20 years it will sell for 400 US??? that sounds like a good investment....

[Lemmy Kilmister]

i was thinking today.,...if big franchises are collectible, does that mean is should buy a zelda game for Gamecube, and in 20 years it will sell for 400 US??? that sounds like a good investment....

I thought about doing that a few times myself. Thing with that is it's such a crapshot and you'd never know.

[suppafly]

i think its a very calculated risk. just see the trend

Sealed Zelda for nes: 400 US
sealed zelda for snes: 200 US
sealed zelda for n64: 60-80 US
Sealed zelda for GCN: A LOT OF MONEY IN 10-20 YEARS

:)

[Ed Oscuro]

i think its a very calculated risk. just see the trend

Sealed Zelda for nes: 400 US
sealed zelda for snes: 200 US
sealed zelda for n64: 60-80 US
Sealed zelda for GCN: A LOT OF MONEY IN 10-20 YEARS

:)
Zelda for SNES is worth $200? Maybe if you had the right combination of insane fanpeople bidding on eBay...normally, it shouldn't be worth that.

On the other hand, a sealed Dracula X: Chi no Rondo shouldn't go for $360 BIN either :P

[NintendoMan]

i was thinking today.,...if big franchises are collectible, does that mean is should buy a zelda game for Gamecube, and in 20 years it will sell for 400 US??? that sounds like a good investment....

I have thought about that too, if I should buy like a zelda game, new, and put it away with the rest of my sealed games. I am one of those insane people that pay high prices for sealed games. Except I haven't and don't plan on paying like the 300-600+ for sealed games like Metroid, Castlevania, Kid Icarus, Rad Racer, Kung Fu. Those are the more rarer games.
I have though spent like $130 for a sealed nes game, but I have done that like 15 times. And spent anywhere from $50-90 a BUNCH of times. I know alot of people on here don't see the point in collecting sealed games, but I love it. I actually love it more than collecting opened games, pretty much because I have most of the games that I want so the ones I still do buy are just for my collection.
I figure it like this. I used to spend insane amounts on baseball cards when I was younger, and you can't do a damn thing with those. And since you can only look at sealed games, to me it's just the same.

[NintendoMan]

i think its a very calculated risk. just see the trend
Sealed Zelda for nes: 400 US
sealed zelda for snes: 200 US
sealed zelda for n64: 60-80 US
Sealed zelda for GCN: A LOT OF MONEY IN 10-20 YEARS
:)
Zelda for SNES is worth $200? Maybe if you had the right combination of insane fanpeople bidding on eBay...normally, it shouldn't be worth that.


Actually ED, that is what Zelda SNES goes for. I mean of course if you have the right calculation of bidders, an item can go for like twice to three times as much as you thought. But I ALWAYS see Zelda go for around $170-$200. I rarely ever see it go lower.

Since I am a sealed collector, nintendo games only by the way. I don't really collect gameboy sealed games but would if I had more money, I just have a couple. I wish about a couple of years ago spent more money of sealed nes games. I mean only two years ago you could of bought a sealed gold nes ZELDA for $100. Now, you are guaranteed to pay at least $400+. (I do have a gold ZELDA + LINK by the way).
And as someone else said, they saw a sealed castlevania go for $90. About 4 months ago saw one go for $500 something. I guess there's just more + more people on ebay that start collecting sealed games so you are going to pay a good price for them now, unlike the fair and decent prices of two years ago. But I am really not complaning, because I know I wil be getting good money for my sealed nes if I ever plan on selling them, but never plan of it.

[NintendoMan]

I just dont know which sealed games to buy and resell...sometimes i see NES games (sealed) go for 10 US, and sometimes i see them go for 400 US on ebay. Recently i saw a mario 1 sealed go for 200...
How come mario bros 1, the most common game for NES; is so expensive if sealed, while i see other sealed semi-rare nes games go for much lower amounts?


It's the exact opposite when it comes to sealed games. The popular ones get big bucks. But the rare ones that didn't see that much release quantities get high dollars too. But you never know what a game will bring in. I mean there are a couple of games that are guaranteed to get big buck, but yet some of the popular games won't get more than $10. The only thing I can say to learn more about sealed games is just look at ebay all the time. I did, and pretty much exactly no I will never overpay for something because I do know pretty much exactly what a sealed game will get. That's pretty much only because I have been doing the sealed games thing on ebay sonce I started 3 years ago.

By the way, are those Mario 1's sealed US versions? If there not us version, there really not worth shit, I mean compared to the US versions.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

i was thinking today.,...if big franchises are collectible, does that mean is should buy a zelda game for Gamecube, and in 20 years it will sell for 400 US??? that sounds like a good investment....

I have thought about that too, if I should buy like a zelda game, new, and put it away with the rest of my sealed games. I am one of those insane people that pay high prices for sealed games. Except I haven't and don't plan on paying like the 300-600+ for sealed games like Metroid, Castlevania, Kid Icarus, Rad Racer, Kung Fu.

I found aton of sealed nes games at a locak ma and pop's video store that was going under. Me and one of my friends clear them all out of everything (the games were only 50 cents!). I still how all of mine sealed but like a true dubass he of course open all of his. Even though he could of just bought loose copies cheap.

[NintendoMan]

I don't know much about sealed game prices, but it seems as if the big franchise games are the ones getting all the cash on eBay. Games like Zelda, Mario, and Kid Icarus have gone for insane prices. I'd guess that stuff like the Castlevanias, Final Fantasy, and Metal Gear for NES would probably fetch a bit too. It seems like whatever franchises are still thriving today are the ones worth a fortune sealed. Personally, I think it's a passing phase, so dump those sealed Mario 1's ASAP. I'd like to hear other's insights on this.

Oh no. I personally don't think it's a passing phase and never will be. There will always be someone to pay the bucks for a sealed gold zelda copy. Either to collect or because they want to open a fresh copy to play (That would be crazy to open and play, but do now people that pay like $70-100 for games that want to open and play)
So there will always be people out there to buy your sealed games. I mean the sealed games have been selling since '96 when ebay started, the only thing that the games are doing is getting rarer and more expensive.
I guarantee that the only time when sealed games will be a passing phase, is when older games in generally start becoming passing phases. So as long as people are still playing the system, games for that system will still be selling.

That's just my personal insight that I think. :D

[suppafly]

by the way, another thing i`ve been wondering for a long time is...

why are sega games so undervalued?? Genesis sealed games are so cheap, even the most popular ones, like sonic 1,2,3 etc...

do YOU think we will ever see high prices for genesis games???

[NintendoMan]

by the way, another thing i`ve been wondering for a long time is...

why are sega games so undervalued?? Genesis sealed games are so cheap, even the most popular ones, like sonic 1,2,3 etc...

do YOU think we will ever see high prices for genesis games???

Don't think there will ever be high prices for sealed genesis games. Not until there is only like 1 copy of sealed sonic 3 on ebay only once every year or something. You know, when there just never on.

I also think, in my opinion, is that genesis games aren't worth as much is because the system is not as popular to as many people. You can't find a genesis game ocmpletely sealed with no rips or tears in the plastic, you know because of that damn hangtab in the top. (Sealed collector's want their games to have absolutely NO tears or rips in the plastic) And to me the biggest reason, because nintendo games are in boxes, true cardboard ones and they are just more collectable to me.

I love everything from SEGA, and have alot of it, but nintendo is 10 times better to me than any system out so that's why I spend the high cash on my nintendo items. Also, i had nintendo everything when I was younger so it holds closer values to me just because of that. (I did have a genesis though too) The NES was my first system, along with alot of people and since it was the first true BIG selling system, I think that's why other people want the games too.
But again, since it was my first system, I don't mind spending some big $$$ on sealed NES games. :)

[Dr. Morbis]

(That would be crazy to open and play, but do now people that pay like $70-100 for games that want to open and play)
I've opened and played every sealed NES game I've ever bought (around 20). Although I've never payed more than about $30 for one.

I think it's crazy to pay Huge $$$ for a videogame just to KEEP it sealed. Who's doing this? Speculators?!?! It's not like sealed Zelda's are going to be listed on the stock exchange in 5 years. What's the point?

[Ed Oscuro]

I still don't buy the SNES Zelda going for $200 sealed. I see two auctions asking that much on BIN, but I hardly feel seeing two BIN auctions' supposed value of a game represents an actual price for a game.

There is some interesting stuff on eBay right now in the Zelda department; but I'll let everybody take a look at it for themselves.

[NintendoMan]

(That would be crazy to open and play, but do now people that pay like $70-100 for games that want to open and play)
I've opened and played every sealed NES game I've ever bought (around 20). Although I've never payed more than about $30 for one.

I think it's crazy to pay Huge $$$ for a videogame just to KEEP it sealed. Who's doing this? Speculators?!?! It's not like sealed Zelda's are going to be listed on the stock exchange in 5 years. What's the point?

It's not "crazy" to collect sealed games? I guess everything you collect is ok, and whatever you don't isn't ok? I mean do you say that do people that collect baseball cards, "What's the point". I mean everyone collects their own thing.
I mean my brother always rags on me for collecting sealed games. But everyone has thier own thing they collect. I mean I can't beleive what some people collect, but don't really care because whatever makes that person happy. I know a coupel collector's that have just about EVERY sealed NES + SNES game. And some that have close to every original GB game sealed. And yes, they did spend all kinds of money! But whatever. You really wouldn't know the feeling of collecting sealed games unless you collect them.

And no, the sealed games won't hit the stock market anytime soon. But the sealed gold zelda's I have (I have 3 of them) that I paid 19.99 for at a local K-Bee's closeout will be selling for at least $550+ whenever I want to get rid of them. That's not ANYTIME soon though! To me, sealed games are just something else to collect, in addition to my loose games. I mean I got nothing else to spend my money on! I didn't mean to drag this out, but you shouldn't dis on people for what they collect. :)

[NintendoMan]

I still don't buy the SNES Zelda going for $200 sealed. I see two auctions asking that much on BIN, but I hardly feel seeing two BIN auctions' supposed value of a game represents an actual price for a game.

There is some interesting stuff on eBay right now in the Zelda department; but I'll let everybody take a look at it for themselves.

Well, I have seen them a couple of times hit $220+. But maybe not all the time. I mean sometimes they might get only $150-170, but that's pretty close to $200.

And yes, the BIN price defiantely doesn't represent the price of a game. But it is usually in the ballpark of 200 or so.

[Dr. Morbis]

It's not "crazy" to collect sealed games? I guess everything you collect is ok, and whatever you don't isn't ok? I mean do you say that do people that collect baseball cards, "What's the point". I mean everyone collects their own thing.
You're comparing apples to oranges. I would regard collecting sealed nes games to be more comparable to collecting SEALED PACKAGES of Baseball cards (or even sealed boxes of sealed packages of cards). Either way, you can't even see the actual 'collectible' through the packaging, let alone use it. However, sealed video games do look much better on display and (usually) have interesting box art that can be viewed; I'll give you that.

Whatever floats your boat... :D

[NintendoMan]

It's not "crazy" to collect sealed games? I guess everything you collect is ok, and whatever you don't isn't ok? I mean do you say that do people that collect baseball cards, "What's the point". I mean everyone collects their own thing.
You're comparing apples to oranges. I would regard collecting sealed nes games to be more comparable to collecting SEALED PACKAGES of Baseball cards (or even sealed boxes of sealed packages of cards). Either way, you can't even see the actual 'collectible' through the packaging, let alone use it. However, sealed video games do look much better on display and (usually) have interesting box art that can be viewed; I'll give you that.

Whatever floats your boat... :D

Yeah, I guess I am coparing apples to oranges sort of. What I meant when I was talking about the baseball cards thing is that you don't actually do anything with baseball cards just look at them.

Yeah, the box art is awesome on most games. Not all but most. :D :D

[kainemaxwell]

I'd say for obvious reasons any the Tengen NES titles, with Tetris and Pac-Mania high on that list.

[Ed Oscuro]

It's not "crazy" to collect sealed games? I guess everything you collect is ok, and whatever you don't isn't ok? I mean do you say that do people that collect baseball cards, "What's the point". I mean everyone collects their own thing.
You're comparing apples to oranges. I would regard collecting sealed nes games to be more comparable to collecting SEALED PACKAGES of Baseball cards (or even sealed boxes of sealed packages of cards). Either way, you can't even see the actual 'collectible' through the packaging, let alone use it. However, sealed video games do look much better on display and (usually) have interesting box art that can be viewed; I'll give you that.
As you said - comparing apples to oranges. I've seen a number of sealed packages of baseball cards over the years (you can see the top and bottom card through the wax paper on some, like early 80s Fleer), but you don't know if you'll get a package full of mediocre players hovering around the "Mendoza Line" or you can get a famous player's rookie card (and, if you're like me, that card will have been the one that's had a piece of gum staining the back since 1981). A store display box with 36 packages may or may not have any famous rookie cards, but if it has one single such card you might make all the money you paid for the box back. With a sealed game you know exactly what you're getting.

So in the monetary aspect the two are very different. I'd say that collecting expensive rookie cards is more like sealed NES games, seeing how the two can be roughly the same price.

[Buyatari]

1. There are 2 versions of the SNES Zelda. The first version is the one that gets the money.

2. I wouldn't use baseball cards for a comparision if I were you. That whole hobby took a big dump.

3. I don't think sealed Sega will ever be valuable compared with sealed NES. Easy to fake the seal , hard cases as opposed to cardboard and well.... no one cares.

[suppafly]

Poor genesis..its my favorite system, but games are so cheap...oh wait...thats a positive thing :P

[Dr. Morbis]

1. There are 2 versions of the SNES Zelda. The first version is the one that gets the money.
You meant NES, not SNES, I assume.

[suppafly]

I think he meant that the expensive one is the original SNES release of the game, and no the "greatest hits" version released much later in the Snes´s lifespan

[Ed Oscuro]

1. There are 2 versions of the SNES Zelda. The first version is the one that gets the money.
You meant NES, not SNES, I assume.
Somebody obviously doesn't care about box variants! It's the Player's Choice version, man.

Buyatari also brings up an interesting point...game collecting hasn't taken a dump recently; it COULD happen but I think games have too much appeal overall (prices plummet now and then, sure). It's also not at all like coin collecting, at least not yet, which has its own grading system. Heh, imagine comparing sealed copies of Super Metroid! The scary thing is that it'd be easy to do, plus you might only have a few copies that survive to the highest grades (scuffs on shrinkwrap and banged corners, I suppose...), and goodness knows about games still in shipping cases or on palettes...

Anyhow. I feel like I've been more of a gamer recently, buying stuff that I really want to play instead of what looks good or has good music (though I want to buy Front Mission just so I can listen to the *.SPC free of guilt).

[kevincure]

I don't think there's enough speculative buying in game collecting now to see a dump - very few people are buying games "to hold on to for 10 years when they'll be worth a ton."

If you want to see real speculation, though, look up "Tulipomania" in the Netherlands in the 17th century. The entire country essentially went bankrupt buying rare tulip seeds, no joke. People were selling their homes and everything.

[vincewy]

I'll report a little perspective of people (myself) collecting sealed games of newer systems.

In the past 4 years I had the chance to horde so many sealed Dreamcast games, through my local stores, TRUs in US/Canada, eBay, everywhere. To this point I'm only a few away from complete sealed. I'll tell everyone that it's an addiction, however it can be pain in the @$$ too, there were a few crappy games that I didn't get when stores still had them, it took more than 3 copies to get the ones I wanted.

My most critical part is crack on the jewel case, I don't mind a little tear on the wrap, certain games I don't even mind heat shrinkwrap as long as they were known to be official seals (many Acclaim titles use shrinkwrap with horizontal seal on the back). It also comes to common sense for me, I won't want every game to be absolutely perfect, unrealistic and waste of money. Since the games are so cheap now, I buy doubles to play, sometimes I'm so obsessed with premier sealed games (Capcom fighters/shooters, for example) in perfect condition that I refuse to open them even if I have more than one, I save them and ask for high prices on half.com and look for others with cracked cases to open and play.

Now, I'm starting to stock up sealed Gamecube games, most will be opened and played, I'm still hesitant of opening some sealed copies of non-PC versions and rare games, I know some will be rare in the future, save those for serious collectors, maybe.

One thing for sure, I won't be going for complete collection, too many junks on the system (depite being the best of the 3 for me) for me to fill up, some are even expensive and rare (NCAA Basketball 2003) and/or available on other systems. I'll build this to about 150 games and either 1: Keep a few rare and rare non-PC sealed for collectors to get in the future and open/play the rest and replace with PC copies - more sensible option 2: Keep all, open half of them to play, replace some with sealed copies if mine already opened.

Luckily I'm not in PSX, NES, SNES collecting areas (sealed or not), I'll go bankrupt by now.

[Buyatari]

I think he meant that the expensive one is the original SNES release of the game, and no the "greatest hits" version released much later in the Snes´s lifespan

Yep thats what i meant.