[SNES] PAL Rarity

[hydr0x]

as anagrama suggested i'll try to collect some experiences the crowd here had with SNES PAL rarity

what i need is this: your observations

1) if you've watched Ebay for PAL SNES games for a long while you can help, do NOT tell me about "i have seen this 2 times lately or whatever", for Ebay, i only need long-term observations, nothing else

2) what i really need is information on how often (if at all) you have seen these games in the wild, and also where and in which shape (complete??)

3) what i also need is people who remember the time these games were in stores, if you saw loads of a game on the list back then, tell me

i'll start with some more important examples and maybe later add some other games

note that i'm particularly interested in COMPLETE sightings, some are a lot more common lose

a) Whirlo (Namco)
b) Syvalion (JVC)
c) Aero the Acro-Bat 2 (Sunsoft)
d) Hungry Dinosaurs (Sunsoft)
e) Spawn (who is the publisher? tell me)
f) Fatal Fury Special (Takara)
g) Carmen Sandiego (Hi-Tech)
h) Beethoven (Hi-Tech)
i) Family Dog (Malibu)
k) Dino City (Irem)
l) Turbo Toons (Empire)
m) Super Widget (Atlus)
o) Best of the Best (Loriciel)
p) HyperZone (HAL)
r) Congo's Caper (Data East)
s) Spanky's Quest (Yeno)
t) Alien Vs. Predators (Activision)
u) Pink Goes to Hollywood (TecMagik)
w) Boxing Legends of the Ring (Electro Brain)
x) Super Troll Islands (ASC)
y) Test Drive 2 The Duel (Accolade)

thx for your help, it is much appreciated

[hydr0x]

oh yeah i forgot, if you got these games, who published them?

i) Soccer Shootout
ii) NBA Live '95

[anagrama]

NBA Live '95 = EA
Primal Rage = Time Warner

I haven't got either of those, but since every other version was published by them, it's a fairly safe bet that the SNES ones were too.


Can't help much with the rarities since I don't actively collect SNES games, but I know I've seen Aero 2 a couple of times.

Also, re-visiting what we were saying in the other thread, my advice would be not to rate anything R9 unless there is solid proof that it warrants it. Personally, I consider R8 to be the absolute highest for a game that had a 'proper' commercial release. Even then, they should be few and far between.

How many have you seen of each of them? And in what kind of timespan? It took a few months before I saw a single complete MD Death & Return of Superman, but even that 'only' got R7.

[hydr0x]

NBA Live '95 = EA
Primal Rage = Time Warner

I haven't got either of those, but since every other version was published by them, it's a fairly safe bet that the SNES ones were too.


i also think Primal is Time Warner but i'm not sure, i won an auction with it yesterday so i just forgot to remove it, i will know for sure soon

NBA LIve i wouldn't be so sure with, some EA games were publsihed by Black Pearl (that's why they are so uncommon, especially for sports games)



Can't help much with the rarities since I don't actively collect SNES games, but I know I've seen Aero 2 a couple of times.


really? in the UK???? are you sure you ain't mixing it up with part 1 or something else?



Also, re-visiting what we were saying in the other thread, my advice would be not to rate anything R9 unless there is solid proof that it warrants it. Personally, I consider R8 to be the absolute highest for a game that had a 'proper' commercial release. Even then, they should be few and far between.


imho you are wrong on this, R9 is the absolute highest for standard published games, at least in europe with it's small countries exclusives, i agree that it should be the rare exception that a standard release makes it to R9, but i wouldn't rule it out generally



How many have you seen of each of them? And in what kind of timespan? It took a few months before I saw a single complete MD Death & Return of Superman, but even that 'only' got R7.

imho that MD game should be an R8 then, here's the definition of R7 and R8

- 7: RARE. A true collectible! Sevens and up represent the “hardest” 25% of the games listed in this Guide.
- 8: We consider these the items you’ll never find by chance (except in those legendary lucky finds!). There are a few eights in this Guide that we haven’t gotten our grubby little hands on... yet.

and i think that your MD game is already far beyond top 25% rarity and clearly fits the R8 definition, also compare it to other R8s in the guide, especially from that era and it would better fit into R8 than R7

and yes, there are a bunch of games in that list that took month to show up at all, and some even longer for a complete one, there's even a game in there i've only seen once in almost a year (though that one was boxed!)

[robotriot]

p) HyperZone (HAL)

I bought HyperZone at a flea last month, loose. I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw two copies of it. Hope this helps with anything ;)

[anagrama]

Can't help much with the rarities since I don't actively collect SNES games, but I know I've seen Aero 2 a couple of times.


really? in the UK???? are you sure you ain't mixing it up with part 1 or something else?



On eBay, not in the wild. Definitely Aero 2.





Also, re-visiting what we were saying in the other thread, my advice would be not to rate anything R9 unless there is solid proof that it warrants it. Personally, I consider R8 to be the absolute highest for a game that had a 'proper' commercial release. Even then, they should be few and far between.


imho you are wrong on this, R9 is the absolute highest for standard published games, at least in europe with it's small countries exclusives, i agree that it should be the rare exception that a standard release makes it to R9, but i wouldn't rule it out generally



By 'proper commercial release' I meant games that did not have an extremely limited release/distribution.
Yes, some titles will warrant an R9, but I very much doubt that any games mass-produced in their thousands will be amongst them.
One of the frequent criticisms of rarity guides in general is that they over-rate semi-rare games, and it's always better to err on the side of caution - ratings are not set in stone and can be changed upwards later if there is just reason to.




It took a few months before I saw a single complete MD Death & Return of Superman, but even that 'only' got R7.

imho that MD game should be an R8 then


Thanks for your judgement based on that one line of information, but I'll stick with my own judgement based on several years of Mega Drive collecting and about 18 months of closely monitoring all the rarer titles on eBay.

Yes, it took a few months before I saw the first, but there were other copiess after that - these things ebb and flow, and it's always better to give a game a lower rating while gathering further data than giving it a high rating from the go, only to have a bunch of copies come out the woodwork when people are suddenly told that a game thay've had sat in the cupboard for years is really a R9 ultra-rarity.

It is my carefully considered judgement that there are no European MD games that warrant higher than 7 on a 1-10 scale, and Death & Return of Superman is no exception.

It's also worth noting that many of the lesser-known rare titles appear on eBay less frequently than other rare titles precisely because they are less well-known - anyone with the slightest knowledge of VG collecting would know they can make good money from a copy of Wily Wars that they find in the wild, but how many would know to jump on the lesser-known rarities like Mutant League Hockey or Saturday Night Slam Masters?

Another point to bear in mind is that some of the countries you mention, like Spain and Italy, have a much less active eBay market than, say, the UK or Germany. Doesn't mean there are any less copies in existance, just that there are less people selling them on eBay.

[hydr0x]

On eBay, not in the wild. Definitely Aero 2.


mh still interesting, i haven't seen it on any ebay other than NL and FR and the only version i know about is indeed an French/Dutch version, so that's mainly why i asked, how often did you see it on ebay UK over the time? and any idea how many of those were from retailers? i've only seen the game once during the last 2-3 months (w/o watching ebay UK daily for it ;) ) and that 1 copy was from a retailer!



By 'proper commercial release' I meant games that did not have an extremely limited release/distribution.
Yes, some titles will warrant an R9, but I very much doubt that any games mass-produced in their thousands will be amongst them.


i guess i just understood you wrong then and we actually agree on this :D not any mass-produced game has thousands of copies though, especially in Europe



One of the frequent criticisms of rarity guides in general is that they over-rate semi-rare games, and it's always better to err on the side of caution - ratings are not set in stone and can be changed upwards later if there is just reason to.


absolutely right, and that's one of the reasons i opened thsi thread and bothered to ask on a board with almost no PAL SNES collectors



Thanks for your judgement based on that one line of information, but I'll stick with my own judgement based on several years of Mega Drive collecting and about 18 months of closely monitoring all the rarer titles on eBay.


oh come on James, you know i didn't mean to say your rating is wrong, i just said that imho a game popping up only a few times a year could make an R8, and you made it sound like it only pops up that often, you didn't tell that it came up more often after that



It's also worth noting that many of the lesser-known rare titles appear on eBay less frequently than other rare titles precisely because they are less well-known - anyone with the slightest knowledge of VG collecting would know they can make good money from a copy of Wily Wars that they find in the wild, but how many would know to jump on the lesser-known rarities like Mutant League Hockey or Saturday Night Slam Masters?


well, while it is of course true that the hand-full of titles known to go for a lot of money on ebay do pop up MORE often because of this, imho it is absolutely NOT true that unknown titles pop up less because they are not known, people who own games put them on ebay without having any clue about rarity, worth, or whatever. So, imho, high rarity/worth does raise the number of copies put on ebay, but low rarity or unknown rarity does not stop anyone from putting something up on ebay, and as this "sell it because it's worth so much" only applies to a couple of game we know about it does not influence the overall rarity picture ebay gives us at all.



Another point to bear in mind is that some of the countries you mention, like Spain and Italy, have a much less active eBay market than, say, the UK or Germany. Doesn't mean there are any less copies in existance, just that there are less people selling them on eBay.

while this is of course true, you can still compare games on Ebay Italy, if a unimportant unworthy game by some generic publisher like UN Squadron pops up 20 times as often on Ebay Italy as one of the Italy-only games that still tells you that game is quite rare, even if you look at the Italian rarity only. You also got to add the fact that we research European rarity, if a game is only an R4 for someone who can go out to some Italian flea every weekend that doesn't mean it's an R4 for Europe... just like just because Chavez II is easier to find in Texas doesn't make it less rare for the US

[tinsair]

On eBay, not in the wild. Definitely Aero 2.


mh still interesting, i haven't seen it on any ebay other than NL and FR and the only version i know about is indeed an French/Dutch version, so that's mainly why i asked, how often did you see it on ebay UK over the time? and any idea how many of those were from retailers? i've only seen the game once during the last 2-3 months (w/o watching ebay UK daily for it ;) ) and that 1 copy was from a retailer!

Yeah I think I have only ever seen 1 copy on Ebay and that was in Holland.


absolutely right, and that's one of the reasons i opened thsi thread and bothered to ask on a board with almost no PAL SNES collectors

Hey, I'm a partial PAL SNES collector :D , actually I'm a partial everything collctor! LOL



It's also worth noting that many of the lesser-known rare titles appear on eBay less frequently than other rare titles precisely because they are less well-known - anyone with the slightest knowledge of VG collecting would know they can make good money from a copy of Wily Wars that they find in the wild, but how many would know to jump on the lesser-known rarities like Mutant League Hockey or Saturday Night Slam Masters?


Very true, in some cases the lesser know titles can make more than the more popular titles.

[anagrama]

On eBay, not in the wild. Definitely Aero 2.


mh still interesting, i haven't seen it on any ebay other than NL and FR and the only version i know about is indeed an French/Dutch version, so that's mainly why i asked, how often did you see it on ebay UK over the time? and any idea how many of those were from retailers? i've only seen the game once during the last 2-3 months (w/o watching ebay UK daily for it ;) ) and that 1 copy was from a retailer!


It probably wasn't eBay UK - I had a saved Aero 2 search for ages while gathering MD data, and saw at least a couple of SNES copies during that time. They may well have been the French/Dutch ones.


And no worries about the rest - put it down to professional differences ;) I'm looking forward to seeing the SNES list :)

[hydr0x]

It probably wasn't eBay UK - I had a saved Aero 2 search for ages while gathering MD data, and saw at least a couple of SNES copies during that time. They may well have been the French/Dutch ones.

yeah i knew you had that search ;) do you remember how often it showed up compared to the MD one?

i was considering a R7 for this one, you gave the MD version a R6 so if the MD one showed up less than the SNES one i can't go with that R7 (although there's no way i will give it a R5!)

[anagrama]

I think the SNES one appeared slightly less regularly, but there wasn't a great deal of difference. R6/R7 sounds about right, I'll leave you to judge it ;)

[Ruudos]

Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge, published by Nintendo
Realm, published by Titus.
Space Invaders, published by Nintendo
TKO Super Championship Boxing, published by Scofel.

[hydr0x]

thx Ruudos, although i found out it's Sofel, not Scofel

[Jehuty]

Concerning Alien Vs. Predators (Activision), I have only seen the game sold new at a store called World 4 kids, which was a store similiar to Toys R Us. I don't know when it was released but two months after I bought it, it was gone from the store shelves.

Besides the copy that I have, I have only seen it once being sold second hand, as cart only at a independant videogame store 400m away from World 4 kids a month after I bought it.

It may be that this game was an exclusive to that store but it may not be.

[hydr0x]

Jehuty are you from Australia? that would be important info ;)

[Jehuty]

Jehuty are you from Australia? that would be important info ;)

Whoops LOL

Yes I am from Australia, all the info you have of that game came from me actually, so I kinda forgot to add that part in.

[hydr0x]

ah sorry couldn't remember that you gave me those infos, i really wonder how rare that game is, haven't seen it on ebay yet

[Ruudos]

thx Ruudos, although i found out it's Sofel, not Scofel

My mistake, you're right.

[Shrooin]

how is this going? its been a couple years since the last post so I'm guessing it didn't happen. if people are still interested how about trying to restart it? I know there are a lot of PAL SNES collectors and we shouldn't be deprived of a rarity list. I think the best way to do it would be start with the more rare games and trying to figure out the best rarity rating for them. well if anyones interested I'll try to get this thing going again.

Harvest Moon is definately not common. It was released in 1995 and was one of the last games to be released on the SNES. On average there is around 400 SNES games listed at any one time on Australian eBay. On average you would find one copy every 2 weeks according to my eBay observations from this year so far. It's good selling price and high sought-after-ness probably causes it show up a little more frequently than it normally would.

Rock 'N' Roll Racing is another rare one. I've only got three recorded sightings from ebay, one of them I sold after finding it in the wild. but they were within 1.5 weeks of each other and I don't think I searched since then. Im sure it definately is not common though i would say around the same rarity as HM. It can sell for more than HM sometimes, a loose cart just ended yesterday at $70AUD. So it seems to be sought after as well which would contribute to people putting this game on ebay more often.

From my observations I would say HM is an R4/R5 and RaRR is around an R5. Anyone else have any opinions and/or obervations of these games? Or other games?

[Mahoutskai]

I remember a copy of Best of the Best that got sold at a Swedish auction site about three years ago. It was sold complete and in very good condition for about 50 sek.

Also I have only seen one copy of Aero the Acro-Bat 2, which was sold complete at ebay.de for I don't remember how much, but it was more than 100 euro.

[-_-Nintendo-_-]

Long bump.

Any news on the PAL SNES rarity list? I got about 80-90 Complete PAL SNES games and extensive knowledge (or what I think :) ) on the subject of everything PAL/SNES related. This supposed list would make collecting much easier.
So I may be of assistance? Or should I start my own research?

[winona2k]

Ive seen Alien VS Predator available at tradera.se a a couple of times the last 2 years. Its pretty rare, but not crazy so. A R5-6 maybe? Unless its complete. Usually goes for 10-20$. A complete copy went for 30$ recently. German release.

The rest...Never seen em, or dont remember.