Any rare PC games?

[Diatribal Deity]

Absolutely. I see where you are coming from. I collect and play many adventure games so I am aware of all the valuable and more obscure titles. As a result of my research into these I also have become aware of various other genres and values. So how about a couple that fit your criteria better like:

- Loom (PC and MAC)
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (PC and MAC)
- Sam and Max Hit the Road (PC and MAC)
- Cival War Generals 2 (For PC by Sierra)
- Emperor: Battle for Dune (PC)


Also just for general info for those interested, I have been noticing an in increase over time in the value of Star Trek games. Here is a sampling of titles (the academy and command games tend to have the most value - the others maybe down the road):

STAR TREK JUDGEMENT RITES
STAR TREK ACADEMY
STAR TREK STARFLEET COMMAND
STAR TREK: SEEP SPACE NINE DOMINION WARS
STAR TREK STARFLEET COMMAND III
STAR TREK 25TH ANNIVERSARY
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION BIRTH OF THE FEDERATION
STAR TREK STARFLEET ACADEMY
STAR TREK STARFLEET COMMAND VOLUME II EMPIRES AT WAR
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION A FINAL UNITY
STAR TREK KLINGON ACADEMY

OK here is another one I always forget to mention...

- Return of Arcade Anniversary Edition (Microsoft)

And if you ever come across the Soundtrack to the FPS Outlaws by Lucasarts - it has some great value. It was offered as a promo when the game originally came out. Obviously the soundtrack is already accessible on the game cd's, but this was offered separately in its own jewel - so keep your eyes peeled for it. It is not plentiful but may get mixed with music cd's at a thrift, thrown into a boxed version of the game, etc...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

*edit* Yeah, I see it's been mentioned a few times before in the thread, but here's my reinforcement of this one being hard to find.



I recall back when Skullmonkeys launched on Playstation (still one of my favorite platformers of all time) I had a HELL of a time finding a CD-Rom copy of "The Neverhood" on PC (a point and click adventure/prequel to Skullmonkeys made by the same team who did Skullmonkeys featuring the Klaymen character)

There are copies on eBay going for OVER $200 OPENED ... so, I'd say that's a rare and sought-after PC game that continues to live up to the difficulty that I was having finding it over 10+ years ago.

[JLukas]

Knights of Xentar is supposedly really rare according to the Wikipedia article about it, but I have no idea how much it's worth. I've never seen a copy for sale on ebay and I've been checking for a few years already. Does anyone know how much copies are worth?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Xentar

There were a few listed earlier this year that went for around $25-40. The Amazon marketplace has some as well, but most are $50 for CD only.

[Push Upstairs]

Why is "One Unit Whole Blood" worth so much? Limited run or something?

[Ed Oscuro]

Edit: I would like to say that Diatribal Deity is indeed godlike, even if I felt I had to check the name spelling, and I found a lot of useful information in that post. Don't forget to mention the Star Trek 25th Anniversary PC game - one of the first PC games in this household, and probably still one of the ones that keeps its value best. Hardly played by anyone, too.

By the way, magnets don't affect disks.

The post ever.

I have gotten pretty lucky at my local thrift over the years, finding lots of good classic computer titles. The last one I found was either Microsoft Flight Simulator (new, 4.0 version, classic '90s minimalist art on the front which is lovely), or the Strategic Simulations Inc. game "Wake of the Ravager," which I'd like to try out soon. I also found Baldur's Gate (just opened but seems new) there, as well as System Shock 1, the much-beloved Enhanced CD-ROM, non-EA Classics version. Found Ultima III there (Apple or IBM PC, can't remember) as well as the box and manual (but sadly no original disc) for The Temple of Apshai which I'm guessing must be ultra rare. (Edit: What am I saying, the game is worthless. TRS-80 version. I don't think any version holds money though, unfortunately.) Unfortunately no original game disc, just somebody's ancient floppy copy.

Come to think of it that has to be one of my favorite finds, since I had great fun reading the entries in the game's manual online a year or so before I found it. Totally unexpected.

I'm sure there's been lots of great stuff that's gone through that thrift which somebody else found, too, which I find interesting (if not a bit frightening). You'd think that so many years after the systems these games were played on hit obsolescence that people would just toss 'em in the trash, instead of delivering perfect-condition copies to a local thrift for me to pick up (and I'd have expected more damage from rough handling at the thrifts too - thankfully I haven't found any games with packing tape wrapped around the boxes in a while).

Why is "One Unit Whole Blood" worth so much? Limited run or something?

"All-in-one" series compilations generally go for quite a bit given the perceived collectability, for starters, but also because of the assumed efficiency and ease of use of such packages. I recall that for a long while I was looking for the Marathon Trilogy (still don't have it), and I picked up the "Science Fiction" compilation with Blade Runner and two other games (Wing Commander Armada is one of the others) on it for a reasonable price (I want to say $55 for some reason; that could be way off, but probably at the high end). One game compilation pack that I would not recommend, after having played it in DosBox emulation, is the all-in-one Redneck Rampage compilation - good games but the "cuss pack" and missing music tracks don't help the value.

"Yep, Xatrix Entertainment." Just had to write that.

The Half-Life pack containing OpFor and Team Fortress Classic probably ain't worth that much, but only because the games have been in constant distribution.

And the Unreal Collection came in two editions: One is just a standard PC-DVD type box (i.e. a thick DVD movie black case), and the other is (apparently) that box inside a bigger box. The latter is what I have (happy for that too) - possibly the last PC game I got at the local GameStop (I keep wanting to believe but their prices are terrible every time I go in there).

There's also various packs for the Myst games, i.e. the Myst 10th Anniversary DVD Edition box, which is hampered by compatibility problems (though Riven without disc swapping is nice). There was also a Complete Chronicles edition of Uru (one of my favorites), but I preferred to get all the games separately and I don't think the Complete Chronicles is worth a premium (although I haven't checked prices since buying the two parts separately).

Finally, some "slim box" games have seemed to provide good value. The Fallout slim package (of Fallout 1 and 2) has kept its value for a while because of the unfortunate lack of distribution of the first two games for some time. On the other hand, I'm not sure what my compilation CD of the Avalon RPGs is worth (and I'm not even sure it's worth cracking open for playing), or even the slim package for Sanitarium (which I have the strange suspicion isn't worth anything).

[Griking]

I've redone the list (page 3). I'm kinda having fun with this thread, if you can't tell. Anyway, I've decided to more strictly adhere to the 'must have sold on eBay recently' rule. I think that focuses in on games we actually have a good shot of finding in the wild. I will make exceptions if given some firsthand accounts that it does show up with at least some regularity. If you don't see something you've recommended, that may be why. Another possibility is that it seems a lot of things have dropped in value, and stuff worth less than about 15 bucks I don't think should be on the list (unless it is a game I just love to death ).

Here's some that I had to take off (or didn't put on) since they seem to be too scarce:
Afterlife
Akalabeth: World of Doom
Alter Ego
Commander Keen (any? Boxed full versions)
Jazz Jackrabbit (CIB, not '2')
Knights of Xentar (?)
Lula the Empire Cums Back
Man Enough
Mystery House
One Unit Whole Blood
SimHealth (?)
Spellcasting series
Ultima IX Ascension: Dragon Edition
Zork (original CIB)

I really don't think that the Spellcasting games or the original Zork are so rare that they shouldn't be listed. In fact, I don't thibk they're that rare period.

[NayusDante]

I've got Star Trek 25th Anniversary on floppy (absolutely complete), and the CD-ROM edition with box, catalog, and reg card (no manual). Are those actually worth something? I got the CD edition for like $10 about a year ago on Amazon. Darn seller shipped it in a manilla envelope and the inner box got crunched.

I saw a copy of Sim City 2000 Special Edition recently for $4, not sure if it's got ALL the manuals. What's it worth? My copy is pretty complete, but my box is in bad shape.

[Jorpho]

I've got Star Trek 25th Anniversary on floppy (absolutely complete), and the CD-ROM edition with box, catalog, and reg card (no manual). Are those actually worth something? I got the CD edition for like $10 about a year ago on Amazon. Darn seller shipped it in a manilla envelope and the inner box got crunched.

I saw a copy of Sim City 2000 Special Edition recently for $4, not sure if it's got ALL the manuals. What's it worth? My copy is pretty complete, but my box is in bad shape.

It's probably worth what someone on eBay will pay for it. I might have thought that the CD-ROM version of 25th Anniversary was worth more than that, but it you got it for $10, then I guess not.

SC2K SE would definitely not be as apparently rare as the standalone Urban Renewal Kit or Scenarios pack.

[Iron Draggon]

well aside from all the games already mentioned, Car Tycoon usually fetches a pretty penny on ebay, but I haven't seen it hit triple digits yet... NASCAR 2003 hits triple digits fairly often though, prolly due to it being the last of the Papyrus NASCAR games... most other Papyrus games tend to fetch a pretty penny too, especially their NASCAR games... this is prolly more because of all the NASCAR collectors out there than it is because of PC game collectors though... if it weren't for all the Bubbas collecting anything and everything NASCAR, those games would prolly be as cheap as most other old PC games

as for other PC rarities, I suspect that most of my PC game collection will become rare someday, mainly because I've specialized in collecting budget titles and European imports which are mostly budget titles as well... so I have a ton of really obscure games that even most PC game collectors have never heard of... which prolly explains my comment on the list below also...

This isn't complete, nor is it a list of 'OMG rare' games. Rather, it is a list of games worth picking up for all of us craphounds (thanks for that term K.S.). This is compiled from personal experience and games mentioned in this thread. A bunch of them listed in this thread are not listed because I couldn't verify, which probably means they are so rare you aren't likely to come across them anyway. Such a list of ultra rarities could be made, and would be cool, but it wouldn't be helpful a vast majority of the time.

If CIB or original is noted, it really needs to be in that condition to definitely be worthwhile, though it might still be if it is loose.

1 American McGee's Alice (CIB, esp the butcher knife version)
2 Civil War Generals 2
3 Day of the Tentacle
4 Diablo Hellfire expansion (CIB)
5 Duke Nukem: Nuclear Winter
6 Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
7 Elder Scrolls: Arena
8 Emperor: Battle for Dune
9 Fallout (original releases CIB)
10 Final Fantasy VII & VIII (any, CIB)
11 Grim Fandango
12 id Anthology
13 Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
14 Leisure Suit Larry Collections (CIB)
15 Leisure Suit Larry: Land of the Lounge Lizards (original CIB)
16 Loom
17 Magic the Gathering Duels of Planeswalkers (CIB ?)
18 Monkey Island Madness (compilation disc; may come sleeve w/ single sheet inst., but loose is fine)
19 Monkey Island, Secret of; LeChuck's; Curse of; Escape from (any, rest CIB, maybe any)
20 MVP 2005 Baseball
21 NASCAR 2003
22 Pacific General (CIB)
23 Planescape: Torment
24 Quarterstaff: the Tomb of Setmoth (Mac)
25 Quest for Glory Anthology
26 Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire Alpha Centauri Expansion (original CIB)
27 Star Saga Two (any) (any game in the series?)
28 Star Trek: Birth of the Federation
29 Star Trek: Starfleet Command III
30 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
31 System Shock 1 & 2 & 'Collection' (CIB, any, any, respectively)
32 The Neverhood
33 Ultima ??? (any original CIB?)
34 Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga
35 Wizardry VIII
36 X-Com Collector's Edition


p.s. I'm happy to add to and tweak this list based on input if people are interested.

I don't have a single game on that list, and I have over 500 PC games!

Not if you have VistAIDS...

it makes it basically impossible to play many older games.

which is why I finally gave up on it, sold my full version Home Premium disc, bought a full version XP Pro disc and went back to XP to stay with it forever! Vista broke far more of my XP games that I dearly loved than MS or anyone else ever released any Vista-only games that I cared about... all that hype about how Vista was gonna make our PC gaming experience so much better, and yet it was apparently engineered to needlessly break as many XP games as possible, just for the sake of breaking them to piss you off with it... oh yeah, most XP games will run on Vista, but very few will run correctly... this seems to be because of all the weirdness they pulled with the file system... the games are looking for files where they should be in XP, but they're not finding them... so you end up with menus that you can no longer navigate... RCT3 would be the most glaring example, but there are many others, and the straw that broke the camel's back for me was what it did to Disney's Ultimate Ride series... I made a ton of rides and a ton of mods for that series, and Vista made every single one of my rides unridable, due to the fact that the games were unable to find any of them, despite the fact that they were apparently located right where they were supposed to be in XP! and none of Disney's suggestions to make the games work with Vista actually worked... they didn't seem to understand that the games ran fine, the problem was you couldn't ride anything with them, because they couldn't find any of your rides!

now if only I could get some help with getting all my old DOS games to work in XP... I know DOSBOX is the answer, but I still don't understand exactly what I'm supposed to do with it... the explanations just confuse the hell out of me... why can't I just install DOSBOX as a second OS and be done with it?

[Kitsune Sniper]

I don't get it. A LOT of the games mentioned here... I've tried selling them and they rarely go for much money. So am I cursed or something? Jeez...

Edit:
Griking, the Zork and Spellcasting games aren't rare, but complete in box copies in good shape are what's worth a lot of money. People just don't take care of boxes, you know?

(Also hi from Tennessee!)

[Cornelius]

I really don't think that the Spellcasting games or the original Zork are so rare that they shouldn't be listed. In fact, I don't thibk they're that rare period.

I'm not at all familiar with the 'Spellcasting games'. Do they all have that in the title? Nothing shows up on eBay if you search for that in closed auctions.

I don't see anything Zork related that has sold for much, either. Maybe Grand Inquisitor. When did you see an original Zork sell last? How much does it go for?

[Cornelius]

I don't get it. A LOT of the games mentioned here... I've tried selling them and they rarely go for much money. So am I cursed or something? Jeez...


(Also hi from Tennessee!)

A LOT from the list I put together, or just mentioned? Which ones? It seems to be pretty reliable to me, but not necessarily for big money. I was looking for not-to-rare stuff that will sell for more than about 15 bucks. List does need tweaking for CIB info, though. I have had to leave off a lot of mentioned titles because they just aren't worth much at the present time.

[Jorpho]

I'm not at all familiar with the 'Spellcasting games'. Do they all have that in the title?

Yep: http://www.mobygames.com/search/quic...asting&x=0&y=0 .

By the way, the big "Lost Adventures of Legend" anthology ought to be worth quite a bit - but again, you're not likely to encounter it. (My, but that's a recurring theme.)

[Kitsune Sniper]

A LOT from the list I put together, or just mentioned? Which ones? It seems to be pretty reliable to me, but not necessarily for big money. I was looking for not-to-rare stuff that will sell for more than about 15 bucks. List does need tweaking for CIB info, though. I have had to leave off a lot of mentioned titles because they just aren't worth much at the present time.

Lessee. The Sierra anthologies aren't worth much of anything since Vivendi released those crappy DOSBox compilations. Emperor Battle For Dune? I've never seen a CIB copy go for more than $10. Loom's only worth 2k moneys if it has the -proper- CD print (something about a misprint of the bonus CD, not sure what that was about?).

Several of these games were also been rereleased in LEGIT budget versions in Europe. FF7, Grim Fandango, Alien Crossfire, the Fallout series except for 3, X-Com...

Meh. Maybe I'm just cursed.

[Jorpho]

Loom's only worth 2k moneys if it has the -proper- CD print (something about a misprint of the bonus CD, not sure what that was about?).

The original version came with an audio drama on cassette, and the game itself was later released as a CD version. Not sure what you mean by a "bonus" CD. Either version is probably worth a bit if it's CIB.

Several of these games were also been rereleased in LEGIT budget versions in Europe. FF7, Grim Fandango, Alien Crossfire, the Fallout series except for 3, X-Com...

I was surprised to find that some of the new budget releases of Alpha Centauri did in fact include Alien Crossfire, but I'm pretty confident that Alien Crossfire never got a standalone budget release.

[kaedesdisciple]

Lessee. The Sierra anthologies aren't worth much of anything since Vivendi released those crappy DOSBox compilations...

The Quest For Glory Anthology begs to differ on that one...

[norkusa]

Old Time Baseball is pretty rare and sells for good monies. Came out in '95 during the strike when a lot of people were fed up with baseball, so I guess it didn't sell well. Very deep gameplay though and has a small cult following.

The only copy I've seen on Ebay in the past 6 months sold for $50 and that was just the disc in the jewel case. I just listed my CIB copy for $80 so we'll see if it sells:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Time-Basebal...mZ250466147163

[Atarileaf]

I don't know if its been mentioned but I remember a CIB copy of Ancient Art of War by Broderbund going for around $50 or more on ebay. This was a few years ago and I haven't checked since.

Excellent game BTW. One of, if not the, first RTS game.

[Cornelius]

Lessee. The Sierra anthologies aren't worth much of anything since Vivendi released those crappy DOSBox compilations. Emperor Battle For Dune? I've never seen a CIB copy go for more than $10. Loom's only worth 2k moneys if it has the -proper- CD print (something about a misprint of the bonus CD, not sure what that was about?).

Several of these games were also been rereleased in LEGIT budget versions in Europe. FF7, Grim Fandango, Alien Crossfire, the Fallout series except for 3, X-Com...

Meh. Maybe I'm just cursed.

Well, you can search completed listings now for Emperor and the cheapest was $17 and not CIB. I will make a note that it should be CIB in the list.

For those rereleases, yeah, that probably hurt values, but the original releases if CIB do seem to be holding on a bit. And Grim Fandango I sold w/ just the sleeve and discs not too long ago for 30 (net after shipping/fees).

So um, yeah, maybe you are just cursed. Or maybe we have different thresholds for 'worth much'.

[Jorpho]

Old Time Baseball is pretty rare and sells for good monies. Came out in '95 during the strike when a lot of people were fed up with baseball, so I guess it didn't sell well. Very deep gameplay though and has a small cult following.

The only copy I've seen on Ebay in the past 6 months sold for $50 and that was just the disc in the jewel case. I just listed my CIB copy for $80 so we'll see if it sells:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Time-Basebal...mZ250466147163

Hey, I was just wondering about that one - someone at the new HOTU forums was asking about it. (While downloadable copies exist, apparently all of them are corrupted!)