Finally, a 5 year search ends. My final SNES item acquired; one of the rarest around!

[M.Buster2184]

Congrats on getting your final item. I'd just like to find Mega Man X2, X3, and Final Fight 3 loose in the wild...

Congrats on finally getting the complete game, definitely needed patience. I have a hard time finding Mega Man 7.

[Balloon Fight]

I've been looking for this box and manual for 9 years now, literally. Unfortunately the max I'll pay is $150, so it's gonna take a while to get one i guess. Great grab Steven, I know your pain on this one! Congrats on the full set as well.

[Steven]

Complete US-only releases, right?

Nope... I was never intrigued by having a full set. I have no interest in Barbie Vacation. I simply wanted all the games that interested me enough to want to play (someday). As it turns out, it's a little over 400 US games.

I've been looking for this box and manual for 9 years now, literally. Unfortunately the max I'll pay is $150, so it's gonna take a while to get one i guess. Great grab Steven, I know your pain on this one! Congrats on the full set as well.

9 years wow. Yeah, it's hard to find, and when it does pop up, too many people are bidding in the $400+ range for it to end at anything close to 150. Good luck. Who knows, you might bump into it at a flea market.

[Parodius Duh!]

I find it interesting that certain boxes are rarer than most. Why did kids save certain boxes and not others? Im also assuming most CIB copies came from adult gamers collections at that time......and I also know Gamestop tossed most boxes that came in with games because they were thought to not retain any value, I remember selling them CIB stuff and complaining because its "worth the same" as cart only.

[StealthLurker]

Didn't realize this was a tough one either. Congrats! I know how it feels to finally catch your white whale. Got one more on my personal list myself (cib Yanchamaru pt.1)

During the tail end of my SFC collecting years ago, I started picking up quite a few CIB SNES games (mostly exclusives). I remember picking up 3 Ninjas and fortunately it wasn't too tough. Almost passed on it. Don't recall what I paid, but it didn't give me any notable sticker shock.


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[Griking]

I don't mean to sidetrack this conversation but just of of curiosity, are there other SNES game boxes and/or manuals that are equally insanely difficult to find?

[Gameguy]

Why is this game worth so much complete when other complete games like Ren and Stimpy Fire Dogs or Bebe's Kids are worth so little? 3 Ninjas isn't supposed to be that good of a game either, going by the description in the DP guide.

[Steven]

I don't mean to sidetrack this conversation but just of of curiosity, are there other SNES game boxes and/or manuals that are equally insanely difficult to find?

Not sidetracking at all. I don't mind extending the conversation to talk about other HTF SNES game boxes/manuals. Well, few are as HTF as 3 Ninjas. That one is just in a class all its own.

Aero Fighters, Mr. Nutz, Zero Kamikaze, Super Turrican 2, Wild Guns, Hagane, Pocky & Rocky 2, Oscar, Incantation and International Superstar Soccer Deluxe marks some of the harder to find boxes/manuals.

I sold a CIB Incantation (box was in ROUGH shape) for $200. Insane, right? I know. But like I said, 3 Ninjas is tougher to find than all those games I listed.

Why is this game worth so much complete when other complete games like Ren and Stimpy Fire Dogs or Bebe's Kids are worth so little? 3 Ninjas isn't supposed to be that good of a game either, going by the description in the DP guide.

No one is looking to get 3NKB for the game itself. It's all about the box and manual, which, as the months go on, more and more mystique is being built. I know a guy who bidded 1K on a CIB to assure he would win it. There are so few CIB copies popping up that whenever it does, you have a lot of collectors ready to drop a nice coin on it. People have seen the manual/box on eBay like maybe 5x in the last 8-9 years... it's just one of those things that people became more and more hungry to own as they see how rare it truly is.

[Steven]

Didn't realize this was a tough one either. Congrats! I know how it feels to finally catch your white whale. Got one more on my personal list myself (cib Yanchamaru pt.1)

During the tail end of my SFC collecting years ago, I started picking up quite a few CIB SNES games (mostly exclusives). I remember picking up 3 Ninjas and fortunately it wasn't too tough. Almost passed on it. Don't recall what I paid, but it didn't give me any notable sticker shock.

Nice! Did you get it online or in real life? Not through eBay, right?
If you ever decide to sell it, you can probably get around 1K for it!

And yes, white whale is a great way to put it. Good luck on your last one!

[StealthLurker]

Nice! Did you get it online or in real life? Not through eBay, right?
If you ever decide to sell it, you can probably get around 1K for it!

And yes, white whale is a great way to put it. Good luck on your last one!

I'm pretty sure I got it through Craigslist. Funny thing is that I was more interested in the CIB Legend, Power Rangers Fighting Edition and Pirates of Darkwater that came in the bundle (there were 5 or so other games but I don't recall what they were). Best part was the whole lot was only $40. The whole time I was scouring local sources for SNES games and sometimes Ebay I kept thinking... "wow domestic collecting is vastly cheaper than imports". I guess it really depends on your luck, but it definitely is possible to save a big chunk of dough with domestics. Sure there are expensive anomalies here and there, but you can amass a pretty respectable, quality collection on a shoe string budget. I know it all seems like common sense, but I've been exclusively in the import game so long I forgot what it's like to collect domestics.

Nevertheless, it sure is surprising at times whats rare and whats not. Right now I can't believe I'm having so much trouble finding a CIB Japanese Kid Niki part 1.

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