Rare PS2 Games?

[gepeto]

I went by a gamestop and saw jurassic park for the ps2 selling used for 49.00. I was like wow that is high for that game.

[coreys429]

Grand theft auto 3

How is this rare?

[coreys429]

Nascar: Dirt to Daytona rare one to find, as well as MX 2002 with Rickey Carmichael. BMX XXX in my area was hard to find for the longest time.

[Oobgarm]

Uncommon PS2 games

- Way of the Samurai 2
- Virtual on Marz
- Growlanser: Heritage of War
- Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia
- Metropolismania
- King of Fighter 00/01
- King of Fighter 02/03
- Monster Hunter
- Steambot Chronicles
- Super Bust-A-Move 2

These may be borderline uncommon in the future, but easily locatable with a bit of looking-perhaps with Growlanser being the only exception if we're considering the deluxe version.

[xfrumx]

Yeah, it's an Atlus game. Even reprints go for ridiculous amounts on the aftermarket.

I saw a horribly beaten copy of Nocturn at a Gamestop a couple weeks ago; the used price tag said eighty bucks. Its a sad, sad world.

I saw a decent condition copy for $55 or $60, wish i bought it.

[Mangar]

It took me trips to five different Gamestops/EB Games before i found a copy of Theme Park Rollercoaster. One had it in the computer, and me and an employee looked for about 20 minutes before we gave up. The store i finally found it in, an employee checked his computer and told me they had none. I looked anyway, found a box - and WHAM.. Got me a copy for 9.99. Has a noticeable scratch on the DVD, but works fine.

Thats the rarest I've seen. I've seen one copy of G1 Hockey in the wild, but didn't pick it up. Also Heroes of Might and Magic I seen at only one of the stores i've been to. (Also picked that up with Culdcept)

[TonyTheTiger]

The DP store only had two FF7s in the store that I saw, and they were in a glass case (one original and one GH). Also inside the case were Silent Hill, Ehrgeiz, and a couple other games I wouldn't consider especially rare.

I've argued this point before about the DP guide and about the value of games in general, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm on the right side of it. Those of us who have lived in "DP World" for a long time now are accustomed to thinking in terms of rarity. It's still more or less that way with VCS games...RARITY=DESIRABILITY=VALUE. But I'm beginning to wonder if that model can be applied to NES or PSX games. And I'm not just talking about ebay. Toaster Nintendos have been a big seller in the DP store. Obviously there are millions of them out there.

You can argue (as I always have) that the FF7 thing is an exception to the rule, but it sure seems lately there are an awful lot of "exceptions".

I think the "rules of the game" so to speak have changed and I would attribute that to the growing prominence of the video game industry. Think about what it was like back in the 70s and early 80s. Video games were essentially electronic toys. I don't think anybody back then imagined things would progress to the point where the industry would eventually rival Hollywood in production values and profits. Fast forward a little bit and now you have a number of rare Atari games. So what? Some of them suck. But that doesn't matter because collectors care about the hunt. It's thrilling to score something others can't. The number of collectors outweigh the number of rare Atari cartridges so that drives the value up. But here's the thing: In general, it's only collectors who are fighting over these games.

Now consider how big video games have become. The initial assumption from a collector is that newer games are being printed in higher quantities so they won't be worth as much. Why? Because even though Dual Hearts may have had a printing of only 5,000 that's probably enough to keep collectors happy. They may be right. Dual Hearts may have a small print run but the prices may stay low. I bought a Dual Hearts recently but unless all of a sudden people start thinking "OMG amazing game!" I doubt it will become particularly valuable. But for $8 what do I have to lose?

Now look at FFVII. Millions of copies. But millions of people wanting those copies, perhaps? Not to burst anyone's bubble, but collectors matter very little now in determining prices. The gamer, however, numbers in the millions and collectively determine the value of something even if it may not be rare by the standards of a collector or the DP guide.

Let's look at a handful of games that are notorious on Ebay. Radiant Silvergun, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Akumajo Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy VII. By all accounts, these are far from the rarest of the rare. Some like PDS may not be super easy to find but there are other games that are rarer and actually cheaper. What do all these games have in common, though? Answer: They all rule. They're all genuinely good (if not great) games. What this tells me is that while collectors think in terms of rarity, gamers think in terms of quality. People know Chrono Trigger rules. People therefore want Chrono Trigger. The number of gamers bidding is higher than the number of copies on Ebay at any given point so the prices stay up. Collectors don't factor in at all. While collectors may be scrambling for the R7s, R8s, and R9s that show up on occasion, they are far fewer in number than the millions who want Chrono Trigger.

Explain to me why not too long ago in the DP store I bought Raystorm (R7) for twenty bucks but at the same time there was a boxed copy of Chrono Trigger (R2) sitting in a case for one hundred and twenty bucks? RARITY = DESIRABILITY = VALUE may work in a collector's market but in a gamer's market QUALITY = DESIRABILITY = VALUE. Rarity becomes incidental. The rarer it is, the higher the prices will go but that depends a lot on how many gamers actually want the thing.

In fact, Dragonball GT: Final Bout is probably the best example even though it doesn't qualify as a good game. If I remember correctly, the original Final Bout printing numbered around 10,000. That's roughly where PDS falls I think. Both are R6. Not exactly common but not impossible to find either. Nobody cared about the game. I certainly didn't when I rented it (I was a Dragonball fan before it was cool to be one). But lo and behold, DBZ went to Cartoon Network and exploded. Now everybody wanted this mystical game just because it was Dragonball. These weren't collectors. They were crazy DBZ fanatics.

I have some friends who are highly dedicated to playing games. But I guarantee that if we were browsing old games in a pawn shop, each costing $5, they would flip right past Stadium Events, Tengen Tetris, Fun & Games, and a Cheetahmen II and pick up a Mike Tyson's Punch Out instead. In general they don't know what any of these games are. They would notice a DKC Comp cart or a Star Fox Super Weekend because those are special versions of high profile games. They'd notice a Panzer Dragoon Saga or a Rondo of Blood because of their notoriety. But for the most part, it's not gamers competing over Cheetahmen II cartridges. Collectors need to get the idea out of their head that their demand alone is what determines value. There are too many gamers out there now. Those are the people that determine value. The only time collectors have that much power over prices is when there are so few known copies of something that the game may as well not even exist.

Conclusion: The average gamer doesn't want an old crappy Atari game but he does want Chrono Trigger.

[roushimsx]

Anyone seen the price of Ace Combat Zero on ebay recently ($50+ used)? God damn, what happened there?

Futurama has also been on a hell of an upswing over the last few months.

[gepeto]

I am not sure about rare but 2 weeks ago I saw raw danger a budget game priced at 12.99 used. I went today and saw 8 used all with the same day sticker. The game looks different but I can't believe 7 people traded that game in the last week.

[Bojay1997]

Anyone seen the price of Ace Combat Zero on ebay recently ($50+ used)? God damn, what happened there?

Futurama has also been on a hell of an upswing over the last few months.

I have sort of a system now for determining when price bumps are going to happen on Ebay for PS2 games that I haven't bought yet. It seems to start when Amazon runs out of copies. Amazon is usually the last or one of the last on-line retailers to have most PS2 games in stock. At that point, I usually have a couple of weeks to try and find a copy at an indie game shop or Circuit City in a "bad neighborhood". Still, Ace Combat Zero isn't hard to find at Circuit City and I'm pretty sure TRU still has it in many stores. I think part of it is just that people are kind of lazy when it comes to looking at alternative sources for games and will just assume if copies on Ebay are being listed with BINs of $50, then that is what the game is worth.

[roushimsx]

Still, Ace Combat Zero isn't hard to find at Circuit City and I'm pretty sure TRU still has it in many stores.

It's still full price at pretty much every B&M store I've seen it at...I've been waiting for the price to drop forever. Figures.... I just picked it up at $30 yesterday and happened to chance across a copy for $20 today at a store that totally did not have a copy the last time I checked. Ended up picking it up and returning the $30 copy.

[Jehuty]

Speaking about Pal games , these are a few that seem quite difficult to find.

Valken
Atlantis 3
Shadow Hearts
Drakengard 2
Shadow of Memories
Silent Scope