Is there an "all-time rarest game ever"?

[NES_Rules]

Besides prototypes and stuff like that, is there an "all-time rarest game ever"?

[50s Brawler]

Psychic Warlock Assassin Taromaru for import SEGA SATURN had less than 8,000 copies ever pressed from Time Warner Interactive. That's the game that comes to mind first. At first ppl (myself included) thought it was another installment in the Kujaku Oh series [Mystic Defender, Spell Caster] but it wasn't from how I understand it. One of the greatest games ever made and it didn't even hit the 10,000 mark for pressed game and never saw an American release. It was games like that that should've been released for the domestic Saturn to show what it could do.

Galaxy Police Woman SAPPHIRE for PCE Arcade CD-ROM. A freckin' awesome shooter that really pushed the PC-Engine to it's technical limits and is one of the most sought after in the PCE game library. It too had a limited release (one pressing) and since then has been one of the most expensive games ever released and one of the almost-so-real-you-can-hardly-tell titles that bootleggers have tried to pass off as legit.

SNATCHER on SEGA CD. I'm not sure how many were pressed but in 2007 you're not going to just walk into a physical store nor look up a random web store and expect to see the game in stock. When you do find it on Ebay or whatever, expect to pay as much for it as you would a brand spanking new MVS or AES Neo:Geo cart... you know in the $200 + range.

Super Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi) for Genesis that had the Marvel characters of Spiderman and Batman + TOHO's Godzilla as boss characters still intact in the game. The 1st batch of this game had them in it, by the 2nd pressing (iirc) SEGA had to remove them and put similar generic characters in it. There's no physical way to tell from the cartridge or box which version it is to my knowledge, so it's hit or miss if you'd like to have that particular version of the game.

...and that's all that comes to mind right now.

[mrmark0673]

What is the price range on that original Shinobi pressing?

[98PaceCar]

For all time rarest games, the release numbers are going to be in the single digits or maybe double digits. Anything that had more than 25 or so copies may be rare, but nowhere near the top. Some of the rarest 2600 carts fit this criteria and were legitimately available, at least in some form (mail order or by contacting the developers). I would rate the Adventurevision games as much rarer than anything listed above (I believe there were only 1000 of each made, except for the pack in) and these are somewhat easy to get.

[fishsandwich]

These are 10's from the guide (such as it is)

System Section Title Manufacturer Scarcity Released Country
Arcadia 2001 Non-U.S. Game Releases Red Clash Tedelex 10
Arcadia 2001 Non-U.S. Game Releases Superbug MPT-03: generic 10
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Air Raid Men-a-Vision 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Atlantis II Imagic 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases BMX Airmaster Atari 10 1990 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Cubicolor Self-Published 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Eli's Ladder Simage 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Gauntlet Answer Software 10 USA
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases General Retreat / Westward Ho! Playaround 10 1982 Germany
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases MagiCard CommaVid 10 1981 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Malagai Answer Software 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Mangia Spectravision 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Pepsi Invaders Atari 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Space Chase (monogrammed) Apollo 10 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Video Life CommaVid 10 1981 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases X-Man Universal Gamex 10 USA
Genesis Non-U.S. Game Releases Tetris Sega 10 Japan
Intellivision U.S. Game Releases Conversational French Mattel 10 USA
Neo-Geo Non-U.S. Game Releases Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle SNK 10 11/08/96 Europe
Neo-Geo Non-U.S. Game Releases Super Sidekicks 4: The Ultimate 11 SNK 10 12/20/96 Europe
Nintendo NES U.S. Game Releases Nintendo World Championships 1990 Nintendo 10 USA
PlayStation U.S. Game Releases Elemental Gearbolt Assassin's Case Edition Working Designs 10 USA
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Arithmetic Drill Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II U.S. Game Releases Bingo RCA 10 USA
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Concentration Match Hanimex/Victory 10 Europe
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Gambler I: Blackjack Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Gambler II: Slot Machine & Electronic Die Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Inspiration: Fortunetelling & Biorhythm Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Pinball Game Sheen 10 Europe
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Space Command: Disk Shooting Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Spacewar Intercept Victory 10 Europe
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Sports Fan Toshiba 10 Japan
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Star Wars Hanimex 10 Europe
RCA Studio II Non-U.S. Game Releases Star Wars Games Sheen 10 Europe
Select-a-Game U.S. Game Releases Pac-Man 2 Entex 10 USA
TRS-80 U.S. Game Releases Katerpillar Attack Anteco Soft 10 USA
TRS-80 U.S. Game Releases Star Blaster Micro Works 10 1981 USA
Vectrex Non-U.S. Game Releases Air Combat Milton Bradley 10
Vectrex Non-U.S. Game Releases Citadel Milton Bradley 10
Vectrex U.S. Game Releases Mine Storm/Mine Storm II GCE 10 USA

[fishsandwich]

And these are 9's.

32X Non-U.S. Game Releases Darxide Sega 9 1996 UK
32X Non-U.S. Game Releases Primal Rage Sega / Time War 9 1996 UK
Astrocade U.S. Game Releases I.C.B.M. Attack Spectre Systems 9 USA
Astrocade U.S. Game Releases Machine Language Manager Bit Fiddlers 9 USA
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases Assault / Z-Tack Bomb/Onbase 9 1983
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Cakewalk CommaVid 9 1983 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Color Bar Generator Videosoft 9 USA
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases Great Escape / Wall Defender Bomb/Onbase 9 1983
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Karate Ultravision 9 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Lochjaw Apollo 9 USA
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases Mangia Spectravision 9
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Music Machine Sparrow 9 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Out of Control Avalon Hill 9 USA
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases Pengo Atari 9 1984
Atari 2600 Non-U.S. Game Releases PictureMate Spectravision 9 Australia
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Quadrun Atari 9 1983 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases River Patrol Tigervision 9 USA
Atari 2600 U.S. Game Releases Stronghold CommaVid 9 1983 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Bristles First Star 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Carnival Massacre Thorn EMI 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Flip and Flop First Star 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Fortune Hunter Romox 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Powerstar Pandora 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Sea Chase Romox 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Star Maze Roklan 9 USA
Atari XE U.S. Game Releases Survival of the Fittest IDSI 9 USA
CD32 U.S. Game Releases Super Street Fighter II Turbo GameTek 9 USA
CDTV U.S. Game Releases Bridge Competition: Practice Will Bridge 9 1991 USA
CDTV U.S. Game Releases North Polar Expedition Virgin 9 1992 USA
Channel F U.S. Game Releases Casino Poker Zircon 9 USA
ColecoVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Cosmic Crisis BIT Corp 9 Europe
ColecoVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Meteoric Shower BIT Corp 9 Europe
ColecoVision U.S. Game Releases Motocross Racer/Tomarc the Barbarian Xonox 9 USA
ColecoVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot Xonox 9 Canada
ColecoVision U.S. Game Releases Super Sketch Personal Periph 9 USA
ColecoVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Tank Wars BIT Corp 9 Europe
ColorVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Beasts Planet Romtec 9 1984 France
ColorVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Horror House Romtec 9 1984 France
ColorVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Jungle Boy Romtec 9 1984 France
ColorVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Monster Chase Romtec 9 1984 France
ColorVision Non-U.S. Game Releases Submarine Romtec 9 1984 France
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases After the War Dinamic 9 Spain
Commodore 64 U.S. Game Releases Amazing Maze OEM/Mr. Comput 9 USA
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases AMC (Astro Marine Corps) Dinamic 9 Spain
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Aspar GP Master Dinamic 9 Spain
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Guldkorn Expressen Silverrock 9 Denmark
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Harold Hardtand Silverrock 9 Denmark
Commodore 64 U.S. Game Releases Motor Mania Romox 9 USA
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Narco Police Dinamic 9 Spain
Commodore 64 U.S. Game Releases Princess and the Frog Romox 9 USA
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Satan Dinamic 9 Spain
Commodore 64 Non-U.S. Game Releases Skaermtrolden Hugo Silverrock 9 Denmark
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Air/Sea Battle VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Astro Pinball VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Auto Chase VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Car Action VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Crazy Chewy VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Crazy Pac VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Invaders VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Out Chase VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Pinball VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Planet Defender VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Police Jump VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Ski VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Sonic Invader VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Sonic Invader VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Stone Age VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Submarine Battle VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Tank Battle VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Tank Battle VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Tennis VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases Tennis VTL 9
Creativision Non-U.S. Game Releases [unknown title] VTL 9
Game & Watch Non-U.S. Game Releases Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros Nintendo 9 Japan
Genesis U.S. Game Releases Blockbuster World Video Game Championship II Acclaim 9 USA
Halcyon U.S. Game Releases NFL Football: LA Raiders vs. SD Chargers RDI Video Ind 9 1985 USA
Halcyon U.S. Game Releases Thayer's Quest RDI Video Ind 9 1985 USA
Intellivision U.S. Game Releases Spiker! Super Pro Volleyball INTV 9 1990 USA
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases 3D Virtual Australia Pioneer 9 Japan
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases J.B. Harold Blue Chicago Blues Riverhill Soft 9 Japan
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases Pretty Illusion Planet 9 Japan
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases Steel Driver Unknown 9 Japan
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases Time Gal Unknown 9 Japan
Laseractive Non-U.S. Game Releases Vajra 2 Data West 9 Japan
Mattel Aquarius Non-U.S. Game Releases Chess Radofin 9 Europe
Mattel Aquarius Non-U.S. Game Releases Melody Chase Radofin 9 Europe
Neo Geo Pocket Non-U.S. Game Releases Koi Koi Mahjong Visco 9 2000 Japan
Neo Geo Pocket Non-U.S. Game Releases Pocket Reversi Success 9 2000 Europe
Neo-Geo Non-U.S. Game Releases Chibi Marukochan Deluxe Quiz SNK 9 01/26/96 Japan
Neo-Geo Non-U.S. Game Releases Double Dragon SNK 9 03/31/95 Europe
Neo-Geo U.S. Game Releases Metal Slug SNK 9 05/24/96 USA
Neo-Geo U.S. Game Releases Metal Slug 2 SNK 9 04/02/98 USA
Neo-Geo U.S. Game Releases Neo Turf Masters SNK 9 03/01/96 USA
Nintendo NES U.S. Game Releases 6-in-1 (Myriad) Myriad 9 USA
Nintendo NES U.S. Game Releases Cheetahmen II Active Ent 9 USA
Nintendo NES Non-U.S. Game Releases Pipemania HES 9 Australia
Nintendo NES U.S. Game Releases Stadium Events Bandai 9 09/87 USA
Odyssey U.S. Game Releases Blue Double Card Magnavox 9 USA
Odyssey U.S. Game Releases Shooting Gallery Magnavox 9 USA
Odyssey2 Non-U.S. Game Releases Clay Pigeon! Philips 9 Brazil
Odyssey2 Non-U.S. Game Releases Commando Noturno! Philips 9 Brazil



SNATCHER is a valuable, popular, and uncommon game but it's certainly not one of the rarest games out these.

[50s Brawler]

What is the price range on that original Shinobi pressing?

Well I've never heard of anyone selling the game as "The Marvel/Godzilla Edition" or anything, thus I'd imagine the version of Super Shinobi (Revenge) out there to be had with it, would be priced no differently than the later releases without it. It's not exactly something that's pimped a whole lot to be honest. It's only rare because like that Gryomite NES cart that had a Famicom-to-NES convertor inside it... this version of Super Shinobi is truely a hit or miss deal. Sometimes it's 50/50 in your chances, other times it's 70/30 at other times it's 8 out of every several hundred carts you come across. That's what makes it ridiculoulsly hard to find one with it in it, if you want the "Genesis" version anyhow. A lot more of the JPN Mega Drive "Super Shinobi" versions have it in them, and I'm not entirely sure if SEGA of Japan axed it from the MD or not like they did with Genesis. Community member MELF might have more information on this than me, he's by far the SEGA man IMO and I fully support that book idea of his in the future.

[Poofta!]

Snatcher is not that rare. nor does it hit 200. it barely (if ever) passed 100. its a 70-100 game. like suikoden II and many others.

[50s Brawler]

Snatcher is not that rare. nor does it hit 200. it barely (if ever) passed 100. its a 70-100 game. like suikoden II and many others.

Well then I got ripped off back in '05 when I bought it in Mint condition for $200.00 (which sadly I had to sell less than 6 months later when I got in a financial jam). It was the only one listed up on Ebay for that month and I wanted it and I'd been keeping an active Recon on Ebay for months before that and most were scuzzy or just the disc. I guess for me there's a fine line between "Uncommon" and "Rare" where I see the two as one and the same then, meaning it's rare to me when I can't find it over the period of about a month and a half of active searching. In the Internet age, I figure if something isn't rare it should be listed or available somewhere if you forage enough over a short period of time. It's only when something is rated as ER that I guess I'd bang my head on the wall. I apologize if I might have confused the guy with that entry of SNATCHER then.

[Nicola]

Super Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi) for Genesis that had the Marvel characters of Spiderman and Batman + TOHO's Godzilla as boss characters still intact in the game.

added to daily search
will check for in-game pics (almost suicide)

[XYXZYZ]

I always figured the NWC gold carts were the rarest game.

That anybody's heard of, anyway.

[theshizzle3000]

I always figured the NWC gold carts were the rarest game.

That anybody's heard of, anyway.

From my understanding the NWC carts are more of a grail as compared to these other things that have been listed.

[Mayhem]

The rarest game in terms of known production run is Video Life, with under 20 units manufactured. I believe that's a confirmed fact from the guys who ran the company (before John and Joe bought the rights).

Once you get past production run, you're onto the games that have X number of known copies existing out there. Discounting Air Raid for the likely bootleg it is (sorry guys, that's my view on the matter), then it's single digit time. Gauntlet is a tricky one to call, complete carts I believe there's 2 or 3, but the actual production chips are out there as well by themselves, so it probably gets discounted.

Tetris for Megadrive? 4 copies I believe accounted for. Still doesn't match the 3 copies of Vic20 Frogman known to exist (not listed above), or many of the other OEM titles for the machine (and the C64) with one or two copies known. Likewise some of the 9s (soon to be 10s once I update the spreadsheet) for the C64 by Dinamic or Silverrock, accounting for 3 or less known instances.

[Snapple]

There's no way to say what THE rarest game is, unless we gather all of the ultra rare carts together and count them individually, which is impossible.

If I had to pick just one game, I'd guess Sega Tetris. I think there are supposed to be what, like 5 known copies in existence?

[fishsandwich]

What's the story with the UK version of Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle?

It's supposed to be super-rare but I've heard that it's just the Japanese version with a UK-insert and that game text is in either Japanese or English depending on the console it's played on. Anyone know for sure?

[Wookie]

There's no way to say what THE rarest game is, unless we gather all of the ultra rare carts together and count them individually, which is impossible.

I volunteer to take on this task. Please, everyone, send me your R9s and R10s and I'll start counting.

[GrandAmChandler]

The rarest game in terms of known production run is Video Life, with under 20 units manufactured. I believe that's a confirmed fact from the guys who ran the company (before John and Joe bought the rights).

Once you get past production run, you're onto the games that have X number of known copies existing out there. Discounting Air Raid for the likely bootleg it is (sorry guys, that's my view on the matter), then it's single digit time. Gauntlet is a tricky one to call, complete carts I believe there's 2 or 3, but the actual production chips are out there as well by themselves, so it probably gets discounted.

Tetris for Megadrive? 4 copies I believe accounted for. Still doesn't match the 3 copies of Vic20 Frogman known to exist (not listed above), or many of the other OEM titles for the machine (and the C64) with one or two copies known. Likewise some of the 9s (soon to be 10s once I update the spreadsheet) for the C64 by Dinamic or Silverrock, accounting for 3 or less known instances.

I think Atlantis II is rarer. Only 4-5 copies were ever produced IIRC.... Please refresh my memory Matt if I am wrong...

[Arcade Antics]

Polybius.

[rbudrick]

I always figured the NWC gold carts were the rarest game.

That anybody's heard of, anyway.

Nah, it's up there, though. It's certainly in the top 5 for value, but rarity, no. There's plenty of games where less than 26 exist. There's a special edition of Rockman 4 for Famicom where only 8 were made.

Now, we all know that there's a shitload of one-of-a-kind protos out there, but I think this thread is about games that were actually released, right?

-Rob

[98PaceCar]

Polybius.

I know where one is....