The Game 'Rarity' Guide - NES Edition
As most have noticed, I enjoy treasure hunting. This includes things like video games, board games, and cool toys for my son. However, I’ve been asked by multiple people how I know what is worthwhile and what is not at a glance. I’ve been learning this for about 10 years from personal experience and have decided to compile a guide on how to identify what are considered rare games.
First let’s clear up a misconception, Not all games that are pricey are ‘rare’ they are typically common titles that are just good and no one wants to get rid of them. An example of this point is the Playstation game Final Fantasy VII. It’s a fantastic game but people don’t want to get rid of it therefore lowering the supply of the already high demand. So make sure to keep that in mind while reading.
Who is this guide for? Well, if you love classic NES games, are a collector, or even if you're looking to turn around some games for a profit, keep reading! I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned over the past decade in my quest to collect every NES game.
The Unliscensed Games
There are some NES games out there that are hard to track down. Typically these are the unlicensed games by such companies like Tengen, AVE, Camerica, and Color Dreams (which was also known as Bunch Games and Wisdom Tree). They are usually identified very easily by the shape of their cartridge. The only thing that these games share are the the cartridge dimensions typically. On average, I would suspect that most of these titles will start around $10 on a regular market scale but can go upwards to $200 depending on condition.Titles to look for following this rule that are on the high end of value are following:
Tetris (Tengen)
Bible Buffet (Wisdom Tree)
Sunday Funday (Wisdom Tree)
Secret Scout (Color Dreams)
Operation Secret Storm (Color Dreams)
By Series
By series, I mean sequels. There are a few series that have become more valuable with their later game releases. Of course this is going to include Mega Man but there are also some other series that have valuable sequels. These can include series such as the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game, Lolo, and Adventure Island series.While prices are a bit erratic, for the following games expect on average to dole out about $30 minimum each.
Adventures of Lolo 3
Adventure Island 3
Mega Man 6
R.C. Pro-Am 2
Baseball Stars 2
By Quantity
These games are truly rare in the fact that not many of them were made. This is going to include the elusive Stadium Events but also there are a couple others that you can look out for. Below are the list of the tops games I’ve encountered because of actual rarity.
Action 52
Bubble Bobble Part 2 (NOT Rainbow Islands)
Stadium Events
The Flintstones: Surprise at dinosaur peak
By Genre
When it comes to older games the genre also can play a major role the price of a game and as you can imagine there are 2 types that are typically pricey on the NES. These genres include the obvious RPG genre but also the War RTS style as well. This is a sample of the games that fit this mold.
North and South
Final Fantasy
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Nobunaga’s Ambition 1 and 2
Genghis Khan
Dragon Warrior 1 thru 4
The One-Offs
Finally, there are teh one offs. These are games that don’t necessarily fit into one of the previous categories you would find. These are typically pricey because they were good, and the supply is down, however, that isn’t always the case. Here are some of the games that fall under the one-offs:
Wacky Races
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
Little Samson
Snow Brothers
Wayne's World
I hope that this gets you started in learning about game rarity and how to identify NES games while you’re out and about.
First let’s clear up a misconception, Not all games that are pricey are ‘rare’ they are typically common titles that are just good and no one wants to get rid of them. An example of this point is the Playstation game Final Fantasy VII. It’s a fantastic game but people don’t want to get rid of it therefore lowering the supply of the already high demand. So make sure to keep that in mind while reading.
Who is this guide for? Well, if you love classic NES games, are a collector, or even if you're looking to turn around some games for a profit, keep reading! I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned over the past decade in my quest to collect every NES game.
The Unliscensed Games
There are some NES games out there that are hard to track down. Typically these are the unlicensed games by such companies like Tengen, AVE, Camerica, and Color Dreams (which was also known as Bunch Games and Wisdom Tree). They are usually identified very easily by the shape of their cartridge. The only thing that these games share are the the cartridge dimensions typically. On average, I would suspect that most of these titles will start around $10 on a regular market scale but can go upwards to $200 depending on condition.Titles to look for following this rule that are on the high end of value are following:
Tetris (Tengen)
Bible Buffet (Wisdom Tree)
Sunday Funday (Wisdom Tree)
Secret Scout (Color Dreams)
Operation Secret Storm (Color Dreams)
By Series
By series, I mean sequels. There are a few series that have become more valuable with their later game releases. Of course this is going to include Mega Man but there are also some other series that have valuable sequels. These can include series such as the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game, Lolo, and Adventure Island series.While prices are a bit erratic, for the following games expect on average to dole out about $30 minimum each.
Adventures of Lolo 3
Adventure Island 3
Mega Man 6
R.C. Pro-Am 2
Baseball Stars 2
By Quantity
These games are truly rare in the fact that not many of them were made. This is going to include the elusive Stadium Events but also there are a couple others that you can look out for. Below are the list of the tops games I’ve encountered because of actual rarity.
Action 52
Bubble Bobble Part 2 (NOT Rainbow Islands)
Stadium Events
The Flintstones: Surprise at dinosaur peak
By Genre
When it comes to older games the genre also can play a major role the price of a game and as you can imagine there are 2 types that are typically pricey on the NES. These genres include the obvious RPG genre but also the War RTS style as well. This is a sample of the games that fit this mold.
North and South
Final Fantasy
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Nobunaga’s Ambition 1 and 2
Genghis Khan
Dragon Warrior 1 thru 4
The One-Offs
Finally, there are teh one offs. These are games that don’t necessarily fit into one of the previous categories you would find. These are typically pricey because they were good, and the supply is down, however, that isn’t always the case. Here are some of the games that fall under the one-offs:
Wacky Races
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
Little Samson
Snow Brothers
Wayne's World
I hope that this gets you started in learning about game rarity and how to identify NES games while you’re out and about.
Labels: money, NES, rarity, video games, yard sale
posted by mirpkered at 10:21 AM
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