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

[jajaja]

It must be Kizuna Encounter EUR version, considering it was a retail game and only 4 copies are known and its a retail game, not a competition cart or something. Im sure there are more copies of it thats stored around in peoples attics and basements tho.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Some one fill me in on Battlesphere Trio.

Atari Birthday Mania had a production run and was advertised as well but only 1 or 2 are accounted for.

Marco owns the only known copy of NTSC Mangia.

there are only 1 or two known copies of Bingo for studio II

Mr. Boston has only like 2 copies known.

[lurpak]

There can never be a rarest game any commercial game released will have had multiple copies. Any prototype may only exist in one copy for that version, and you cant get rarer than one, and theres lots of ONES.
Then there is most valuable, NWC is very expensive, lord only knows why, but could never be classed as the rarest.
Speaking from my opwn area of expertise (limited as it is) Mission Impossible/Programmed trip for the Odyssey2, originaly released by Ectron in Brazil...so far only one known copy exists, obviously they made more than that, but I doubt this could be classed as the most valuable. some protos such as Tutankham and Adventures of sherlock holmes, there was no release at all !!, and only one original proto of each was found.. NWC infinately more valuable, but a lot more common by comparison.
I myself made a artist program for the commodore back in the 80s, I havent even got a copy of that anymore, I only made about 4, I doubt it exists anymore, so its rare but neither valuable or collectable.
one of the earlier lists of 9s on the databse here had brazilian Clay Pigeon and Commando Nocturno, truth is they are not that rare, you can pick one up on the brazilian ebay at least once a fortnight, they are just rare in the rest of the world.

[Captain Wrong]

And now we've entered the problem area. Everyone uses a different yardstick to measure a valid rare. When you get down to allegedly single digit production runs, you enter the realm of deciding if something was actually released, if it was a bootleg, should it be counted, etc., etc.

So no, I don't think we'll ever have the official rarest game ever.

[scooterb23]

Rarest game ever is my copy of Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt with "Timmy Z." written on it.

[Nicola]

Rarest game ever is my copy of Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt with "Timmy Z." written on it.

pm sent!

Let me know if my ofer is enough! I was looking for that one since the beginning of my life.

[jajaja]

pm sent!

Let me know if my ofer is enough! I was looking for that one since the beginning of my life.

Watch out, it could be a repro!

[Kevincal]

Some one fill me in on Battlesphere Trio.

Atari Birthday Mania had a production run and was advertised as well but only 1 or 2 are accounted for.

Marco owns the only known copy of NTSC Mangia.

there are only 1 or two known copies of Bingo for studio II

Mr. Boston has only like 2 copies known.

aHA!!! I found the BattleSphere Trio eBay page!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Atari-Jaguar...QQcmdZViewItem

[DreamTR]

I think many people can make "special" editions of games, but it should really be kept to store/retail releases.

jajaja: I'm not sure that Kizuna was EVER sold in stores. Adol found some at a distributor IIIRC, and what I am pretty sure happened is that it was going to be released if there was a market for it, but it did not happen. Many video game distributors out here get betas early of certain games (or used to) and even in final packaging early for some. I found a couple of unreleased Game Boy Color games from a distributor out here who got them from a publisher to see if it would be viable for release in the USA, gathering interest from buyers and such.

Besides, let's really be honest, anything sold in stores is hard to find, but not IMPOSSIBLE like these mail order/club/eBay only things.

[jajaja]

I think many people can make "special" editions of games, but it should really be kept to store/retail releases.

jajaja: I'm not sure that Kizuna was EVER sold in stores. Adol found some at a distributor IIIRC, and what I am pretty sure happened is that it was going to be released if there was a market for it, but it did not happen. Many video game distributors out here get betas early of certain games (or used to) and even in final packaging early for some. I found a couple of unreleased Game Boy Color games from a distributor out here who got them from a publisher to see if it would be viable for release in the USA, gathering interest from buyers and such.

Besides, let's really be honest, anything sold in stores is hard to find, but not IMPOSSIBLE like these mail order/club/eBay only things.

Ah ok, i havnt really researched it, but i read some place that at some Dixon (i think that was the name) store in England there were a stack on Kizuna Encounter copies in the back.

[Nimrodil]

If someone (interested in this issues) missed this thread I guess it can be interesting as well:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92405

[Wavelflack]

[j_factor]

I think that the key is to define what does and doesn't count. I would argue that stuff that wasn't actually released doesn't really count. Otherwise, the answer is a dozens-way tie between various unreleased projects that have just one copy in existence.

If you limit it simply to games that were sold at retail, the answer is probably some obscurity out of Hong Kong that no one's ever heard of.

Even if you limit it to US games, the answer is probably some old computer game no one's ever heard of.

If you limit it further to games for dedicated game systems, and licensed ones at that, then... I don't know what it is, but I'm sure we could find that out. The rarest such game I can think of is Daytona USA C.C.E. Netlink Edition for Saturn, which was only sold online (back in 1997), and only for a brief time. I've never seen a copy, so I think it's a lot rarer than DP indicates (they give it a 6, the same as Panzer Dragoon Saga... pfft).

[vintagegamecrazy]

Is that snail maze a hoax or legit? Never heard of that one though.

[slapdash]

Atari Birthday Mania had a production run and was advertised as well but only 1 or 2 are accounted for.

Well, "production run"... Since they put in the birthday person's name or something (right?), they were almost certainly EPROMs inside, not ROMs. Of course, ROMs get made in fairly large quantities; it's whether they get sold -- or survive -- that matters.

[rbudrick]

Bio Force Ape for the NES. Only 500 printed, only 182 known to exist, just one game mag appearance in Nintendo Power. You won't go into a game store and snatch up this baby.

It's so rare it is even hidden in the DP Online Rarity Guide.

Wait, really? Why have I never heard of this? Shit, I'm Rob Budrick, so I thought I knew everything. How the hell did someone manage to figure out the 182 number? Oh, and are you bullshitting me?

Snail Maze? WTF?

The rumor is that there were only two copies of "it" produced, but Disney ended up putting both copies in "The Vault" so we may never know . . .

I'm pretty sure I have It laying around somewhere. Nyah nyah.

-Rob

[Adol]

European in Neo-Geo terms is for a American release with the famous box style (look at any AES game after 1991, like Metal Slug European version). (don't ask why we call it European).

Neo-Geo AES was never release in Europe (I never saw a European Neo-Geo AES box with the word PAL on it, NEVER!).

But for that quote, I COULD BE WRONG!

You are,completely!
Neo-Geo was released in France,PAL ones,and sold by Guillemot International
All games came with french instructions in addition of english ones

[Adol]

I think many people can make "special" editions of games, but it should really be kept to store/retail releases.

jajaja: I'm not sure that Kizuna was EVER sold in stores. Adol found some at a distributor IIIRC, and what I am pretty sure happened is that it was going to be released if there was a market for it, but it did not happen. Many video game distributors out here get betas early of certain games (or used to) and even in final packaging early for some. I found a couple of unreleased Game Boy Color games from a distributor out here who got them from a publisher to see if it would be viable for release in the USA, gathering interest from buyers and such.

Completely wrong, the 3 Kizuna Encounter carts i had,all went from german/austrian buyers from MARO shop,in Stuttgart.
Game was sold in store (at least that one),and same goes for Ultimate 11 ( i got 3 different copies too: 1 from German buyer of Maro,1 from FRANCE, and 1 from Australia)

[anagrama]

i read some place that at some Dixon (i think that was the name) store in England there were a stack on Kizuna Encounter copies in the back.

That's bull-shit - I don't remember Dixon's ever selling NeoGeo games, just mainstream systems. Even if they did sell Neo stuff in the earlier days, they certainly weren't in 1996.

[jajaja]

That's bull-shit - I don't remember Dixon's ever selling NeoGeo games, just mainstream systems. Even if they did sell Neo stuff in the earlier days, they certainly weren't in 1996.

I dont remember if it was that store tho, but i think it was something like that.