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SNES Game Collecting (Tips, discussion, and info for like minded collectors)

-KRS-

Member
Man, this is rough. I'm glad I never sold any of my games, but I'm more sad that I never bought MMX2 and 3.

Yeah those are getting up there now... I'm glad I own just an MMX cart really. A few years ago I was really close to buying a Japanese CIB MMX3 in great condition for around €25. I didn't really care that it was in Japanese since it's just Mega Man and it was cheap in comparison to the western releases, so I bid on it, but at the last second some dude sniped me and put down €30 for it and won. I was furious. :(
 

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
Boxed Super Castlevania 4 for 70$, how does that sound?

eh not to bad seems all the core games prices are climbing i got it complete for $30 about 2 years ago and looking into it now people are trying to get $100+ for it complete so $70 depending on your money situation might not be that bad of a deal
 

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
if its got a black and white manual and says made in mexico on the back of the box then its a majesco re release of the game
 
Majesco re-release?

Yeah, SCV4 was re-released sometime in the mid-90's by Majesco. The box has the Majesco name in small print on the back, otherwise it exactly the same. Also, the manual is printed in black and white instead of color.

When looking to buy games for collectible purposes, many collectors prefer to have the 'original' release of every game. This makes the originals more valuable than re-releases.

Some re-releases are easy to spot, such as Nintendo's 'Million Seller' line. However, others are a bit more tricky, like in the case with SCV4.
 

-KRS-

Member
I think there was actually one Castlevania 1 a while ago that sold for over $10 000 on ebay. But that was VGA graded as well I believe.

Edit: Actually, it was $55 000! But who knows if that actually sold or not. That's the thing about ebay sometimes.
 
Check up Mega Man X2 (78$/100$) and X3 (155$/190$) on Ebay, for loose cartridges only! Prices for many games are going up lately, Square games included.

4 years ago, I got X2 for 30$ and X3 for 65$, both on Ebay as well.

Castlevania Dracula X, minimum on Ebay nowadays - 115$

4 years ago - Got it for 75$.

It'll get more and more expensive with time for the newcomers in collecting. :/

EDIT: Holy shit, Mega Man 7 is minimum 130$ today and I got it with the booklet for 45$ back then, wtf.

Wish I would have started sooner. Those Mega Man X2/X3 prices make me kinda sad :(.
 

vgamer1

Member
My old SNES has had the back shell cracked for a while now, and it's also extremely yellowed. I'm thinking it's best to just pick up another, but I'm not sure what model to choose. Any suggestions?

fake edit: I'm in NTSC
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
What really makes me sad is I sold Mega Man X 1/2/3 for probably 10 bucks each when I got a Dreamcast so I could afford Sonic Adventure.

Yes, 14 year olds are stupid....

My old SNES has had the back shell cracked for a while now, and it's also extremely yellowed. I'm thinking it's best to just pick up another, but I'm not sure what model to choose. Any suggestions?

fake edit: I'm in NTSC

I'm pretty sure the newer model doesn't support S-video, stick with the OG SNES.
 

-KRS-

Member
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...
 
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...

Probably the 120 I spent for a pristine copy of Chrono Trigger last year.

I had already owned a copy which was in all right condition, but I wasn't satisfied with it. Luckily I was able to flip it and get most of my money back so it was basically an even trade.

I have a feeling the copy of Demon's Crest that I inevitably buy will surpass that, though.
 
I have a few random SNES games (Super Metroid, SMW, Super Empire Strikes Back, Desert Strike, and Breath of Fire) and wanted to start building that collection but the prices are crazy.

Anyone think they'll continue to be that high or are we in a bubble?

By comparison, N64 games (even "rare" ones) are much cheaper. As kids who grew up with the 64 get older and start earning more money, I wonder if that market will take off like the SNES market did.

My mom hits flea markets and garage sales all the time. I tell her to call me if she ever sees games for sale but she said she never does. I think a lot of flea market folks have gotten wise to the SNES craze also...
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Yeah, it's unfortunate that now when I actually have money to spend on these things, prices have taken off. I guess our generation all got decent jobs at the same time :\
 
I have a few random SNES games (Super Metroid, SMW, Super Empire Strikes Back, Desert Strike, and Breath of Fire) and wanted to start building that collection but the prices are crazy.

Anyone think they'll continue to be that high or are we in a bubble?

By comparison, N64 games (even "rare" ones) are much cheaper. As kids who grew up with the 64 get older and start earning more money, I wonder if that market will take off like the SNES market did.

My mom hits flea markets and garage sales all the time. I tell her to call me if she ever sees games for sale but she said she never does. I think a lot of flea market folks have gotten wise to the SNES craze also...


I don't believe it's a bubble at all, honestly. The more people that get into collecting, the higher prices are going to be. Eventually there will simply be more demand than games to go around. The truly rare and classic games will become like old comic books or baseball cards are today.

I do think N64 collecting will have an increase in interest among collectors, but I don't believe it'll be the same extent as NES or SNES collecting. But the 'must-have' titles like Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, etc. will always be highly sought.
 

Krelian

Member
I was forced to sell MMX3 on eBay a year or so ago. It was great on one hand because I got a lot of money for it (around €350), but on the other hand I realized I'd never be able to afford it again when money wouldn't be so tight anymore. I was heartbroken :(
 

-KRS-

Member
I have a few random SNES games (Super Metroid, SMW, Super Empire Strikes Back, Desert Strike, and Breath of Fire) and wanted to start building that collection but the prices are crazy.

Anyone think they'll continue to be that high or are we in a bubble?

By comparison, N64 games (even "rare" ones) are much cheaper. As kids who grew up with the 64 get older and start earning more money, I wonder if that market will take off like the SNES market did.

My mom hits flea markets and garage sales all the time. I tell her to call me if she ever sees games for sale but she said she never does. I think a lot of flea market folks have gotten wise to the SNES craze also...

Yeah you can get most N64 carts for around 2-4 bucks these days. Even great games like Wave Race 64 and Tetrisphere and such. Banjo Tooie and Paper Mario are rather expensive though, as is Conker's Bad Fur Day. But yeah compared to NES or SNES it's not even close.

As for being in a bubble, it's hard to say. Surely people who grew up with N64 should have enough money to collect N64 games nowadays? And even so the prices are not outrageous. Same with the Game Boy and Game Boy color. Except for some games like the Zeldas and such, all GB games are dirt cheap still. I suppose there aren't many GB collectors out there or something. It really seem to have to do with how popular the system is, or how popular the games on that system is. And since the SNES is both popular and have tons of popular games, more people want to own them. Personally I don't think I've seen the prices of NES and SNES games ever drop since I started collecting. They've only gone up. Probably because more people start getting into it.
 

-KRS-

Member
Probably the 120 I spent for a pristine copy of Chrono Trigger last year.

I had already owned a copy which was in all right condition, but I wasn't satisfied with it. Luckily I was able to flip it and get most of my money back so it was basically an even trade.

I have a feeling the copy of Demon's Crest that I inevitably buy will surpass that, though.

Chrono Trigger seems to be one of the few SNES games that have had a relatively stable price over the years. Perhaps it's different with loose cartridges though. But complete copies have been around $100-120 since I started collecting basically. In the wake of retro game prices rising (I mean shit, look at Earthbound) that seems sort of weird.

ogre battle and kirbys dream land 3 i paid the most for each for $80

CIB? Wow that seems cheap for ogre battle at least. Not sure what KDL3 is worth but I know it's a saught after game so it's probably not that cheap today.
 

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
kirbys dream land 3 is cib but ogre battle is loose cart

edit: and yes kirby dream land 3 is expensive as all hell if you are looking for cib
 
Chrono Trigger seems to be one of the few SNES games that have had a relatively stable price over the years. Perhaps it's different with loose cartridges though. But complete copies have been around $100-120 since I started collecting basically. In the wake of retro game prices rising (I mean shit, look at Earthbound) that seems sort of weird.

Really? I've actually purchased Chrono complete three times over the years, and each time it's more expensive than the last. I think around 5 years ago a complete copy would net around 80, depending on condition.

The one thing about Chrono Trigger is that it's actually reallllllly common. You wouldn't think so because it's always been such an expensive title, even since it was first released. But because it had a really high print run, there's a lot of copies of that game floating around out there, it's just that everybody and their brother wants one, heh.

entrement said:
What do you guys think of the VC?

Love it. Everybody should be able to afford to play these games legally. There should be more games on the VC. Still waiting on Contra...
 

-KRS-

Member
Really? I've actually purchased Chrono complete three times over the years, and each time it's more expensive than the last. I think around 5 years ago a complete copy would net around 80, depending on condition.

The one thing about Chrono Trigger is that it's actually reallllllly common. You wouldn't think so because it's always been such an expensive title, even since it was first released. But because it had a really high print run, there's a lot of copies of that game floating around out there, it's just that everybody and their brother wants one, heh.

I was talking more about really good condition copies, but I have to admit that I haven't really followed the price on that game that closely. It was mostly based on what I've seen it go for an the Swedish auction site Tradera, and things are generally more expensive there. Especially games that were not released in Europe.

But in relation to other SNES games, Chrono Trigger seems to have been more stable than others at least. :) But I suppose that has to do with the game not really being that rare then.

Edit: I have a couple of Wii VC games, but in general I opt for the real deal. Most of the games I have there are games on platforms I don't collect for or own. And it's also nice that you can buy a relatively rare game for cheap on VC, though I have flashcarts for most of my systems (not the SNES though :( ) so in general I'll play on those.
 
I was talking more about really good condition copies, but I have to admit that I haven't really followed the price on that game that closely. It was mostly based on what I've seen it go for an the Swedish auction site Tradera, and things are generally more expensive there. Especially games that were not released in Europe.

But in relation to other SNES games, Chrono Trigger seems to have been more stable than others at least. :) But I suppose that has to do with the game not really being that rare then.

That's actually a really good point. I forgot it wasn't released in Europe, and that probably has a lot to do with the high prices as well.
 

Parallacs

Member
I don't believe it's a bubble at all, honestly. The more people that get into collecting, the higher prices are going to be. Eventually there will simply be more demand than games to go around. The truly rare and classic games will become like old comic books or baseball cards are today.

I do think N64 collecting will have an increase in interest among collectors, but I don't believe it'll be the same extent as NES or SNES collecting. But the 'must-have' titles like Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, etc. will always be highly sought.

Yeah I agree.

Also, the fact that Virtual Console brought emulation to all these games (with some very notable exceptions) didn't seem to slow down the price increases all that much.

Chrono Trigger has taken the biggest hit. It used to be way above Earthbound a decade ago but had both VC and DS versions and fell to $40. But it is rising again and will probably be above $100 in a year (loose cart).

Over time, I don't think it will be too farfetched to expect to pay between $500 and $1000 for the top ten rare games (loose cart) another decade from now.
 
Over time, I don't think it will be too farfetched to expect to pay between $500 and $1000 for the top ten rare games (loose cart) another decade from now.


Yep. Actually, on the NES front, several carts are already well on their way there. I bought a complete copy of Little Samson in 2003 for about 60 bucks. Today, it can go for well over a grand. The cart by itself is already close to 500. I bought the cart for Bonk's Adventure(NES) for fifty bucks a couple years ago, and today it fetches over $250(!!). Insanity.
 

-KRS-

Member
Yep. Actually, on the NES front, several carts are already well on their way there. I bought a complete copy of Little Samson in 2003 for about 60 bucks. Today, it can go for well over a grand. The cart by itself is already close to 500.

Whoa $500?! I assume that's the North American release? Because I see Little Samson carts on that Swedish auction site regularly for around €40 or so. Those are PAL copies though. I should really buy that game soon...

Edit: Also, if anyone is looking for Mr. Gimmick for the NES, the PAL release can be found pretty regularly on that auction site with better prices than ebay. Mr. Gimmick on ebay is REALLY expensive compared to that auction site. The price has gone up the last year though. I bought it for 1400 SEK (which was around $200 back then) but now it regularly goes for around 2000 SEK.

Here's a search for "Gimmick" on the site.
 

entremet

Member
Really? I've actually purchased Chrono complete three times over the years, and each time it's more expensive than the last. I think around 5 years ago a complete copy would net around 80, depending on condition.

The one thing about Chrono Trigger is that it's actually reallllllly common. You wouldn't think so because it's always been such an expensive title, even since it was first released. But because it had a really high print run, there's a lot of copies of that game floating around out there, it's just that everybody and their brother wants one, heh.



Love it. Everybody should be able to afford to play these games legally. There should be more games on the VC. Still waiting on Contra...

I think the issue is with the rights of games. So many older companies no longer exists, or their IPs have been sold to others, making a mess to get these things up legally.

And forget about licensed properties, which is sad since many of my favorite retro games were licensed--Chip and Dale, Duck Tales, etc.
 
Whoa $500?! I assume that's the North American release? Because I see Little Samson carts on that Swedish auction site regularly for around €40 or so. Those are PAL copies though. I should really buy that game soon...

yeah, the NA release. PAL copies are much more common, but still get up in the $150-250 range.
 
I think the issue is with the rights of games. So many older companies no longer exists, or their IPs have been sold to others, making a mess to get these things up legally.

And forget about licensed properties, which is sad since many of my favorite retro games were licensed--Chip and Dale, Duck Tales, etc.

Like Turtles in Time. I'm amazed they never managed to properly release that game, despite all the various TMNT rereleases over the years.

VC is wonderful, but it's sad that there's a lot of games that just can't ever be rereleased. Darkwing Duck is another fantastic DIsney game that gets overlooked a lot.
 
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...
I got my cart only earthbound for like $65 a few years ago. I figured that I am willing to spend $60 on a new game occasionally, so why not an old one, if it is a really good one?

I would love to own little Samson, but I will never pay over $100 for a game
 

Teknoman

Member
I got my cart only earthbound for like $65 a few years ago. I figured that I am willing to spend $60 on a new game occasionally, so why not an old one, if it is a really good one?

I would love to own little Samson, but I will never pay over $100 for a game

Yeah, 60 bucks is the high/stop point for me. No complaints if I could get Earthbound for that much.
 

GulAtiCa

Member
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...

Earthbound for $200. Prob the thing under it would be Super Mario RPG for $32. lol
 
Funnily enough, I have no problem shelling out large dollars for an old game, but am very cheap when it comes to brand new ones.

Probably because with new ones, the price will only go down, but with old ones the price will only go up. ;)
 
Just got back from my local place that has awesome prices. Someone wiped them the fuck out of SNES/NES stuff. I was just there three or four weeks ago when I scored Mega Man X for $6. I would say 75-80% of their SNES/NES shit was gone. Either a collector came through, or someone just looking to sell shit on ebay.

Did manage to get all this for $15, though:


NBYREnd.jpg



Haven't cleaned them yet, so a little messy. Not bad, though considering Mario All-Stars goes for that much alone on ebay. The good shit came in the mail today though:


3umzoMl.jpg



Pretty happy. Been looking for Super Metroid for below ebay prices for like a month now, person just happened to have Castlevania 4 also, so I got it too.

Anyone think they'll continue to be that high or are we in a bubble?

I don't think prices will keep climbing like they have the last year or two (at least for carts only, CIB could be another story). But, they're not coming back down either. Prices will continue to rise slowly, but nothing like the hyperinflation we've seen (I fucking hope).
 

Xtincthed

Neo Member
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...

I've paid 550 euro for my mint complete Mega Man X3 (PAL), worth every penny
I actually only paid 100 euro (say 150$) for my MINT Earthbound complete in box
If you wanna see how mint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl62d10V958
 
I bought an SNES last year with Super Mario World, still play it every now and then. In the following months I bought Super Metroid and Super Mario All-Stars, but I had to return them because they were glitchy/broken as hell.
 

ys45

Member
I think there was actually one Castlevania 1 a while ago that sold for over $10 000 on ebay. But that was VGA graded as well I believe.

Edit: Actually, it was $55 000! But who knows if that actually sold or not. That's the thing about ebay sometimes.

Holy sssshhhhh ... but seriously i don't know what's going on with retro gaming it seems eveyrone started collecting old games at the same time and prices went crazy .

I use to have like 40 + of those rare games and i sold them all ( like most of us here)

Well if PS2 games price goes up someday il be ready as i kept them all
 

GulAtiCa

Member
@Hero_of_the_Day: Nice find!

I'm starting to go to local thrift stores and look around for old games. My local Goodwill has already provided me with a Xbox and PSOne. Need to check other thrift stores too.
 

Teknoman

Member
Holy sssshhhhh ... but seriously i don't know what's going on with retro gaming it seems eveyrone started collecting old games at the same time and prices went crazy .

I use to have like 40 + of those rare games and i sold them all ( like most of us here)

Well if PS2 games price goes up someday il be ready as i kept them all

PS2 games tend to fluctuate because of reprints or people finding out the games werent all that (I think). Suikoden 3, Disgaea 1, Digital Devil Saga 1 / 2, and Nocturne used to go for a decent amount, but I think they've had recent reprints.

Current gen stuff like Xenoblade and Metroid Prime Trilogy are already up there.

EDIT: 10 thousand for Castlevania 1?! Thats just insane. Guess there are two different collectors, those that want to have something just for the sake of it, and those that'll actually play the game. Seriously cant see someone spending THAT much on Castlevania 1.


What purpose does VGA grading serve anyway, or rather when did it start?
 

inner-G

Banned
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...
I paid $70 for Earthbound a few years ago.

Back in the day, I think I spent $75 on Street Fighter II.
 

DjangoReinhardt

Thinks he should have been the one to kill Batman's parents.
Holy sssshhhhh ... but seriously i don't know what's going on with retro gaming it seems eveyrone started collecting old games at the same time and prices went crazy .

I use to have like 40 + of those rare games and i sold them all ( like most of us here)

Well if PS2 games price goes up someday il be ready as i kept them all

The 10-year-olds of 1992 are now 30 and starting to have some disposable income. Instead of collecting comic books or baseball cards like baby boomers, they're collecting videogames.
 

GulAtiCa

Member
The 10-year-olds of 1992 are now 30 and starting to have some disposable income. Instead of collecting comic books or baseball cards like baby boomers, they're collecting videogames.

Exactly. After saving up for a house for a years, I now have some decent money I can spend each month.
 

Seik

Banned
So what's the most you guys have spent on a SNES game? For me it would probably be FF3 which I paid around 800 SEK for CIB. Back then that was around €70 or so. I generally don't buy such expensive games but it seems that I have to start doing that soon with how all the prices seem to go up...

the one I paid the most for was Earthbound, last month, from a GAFer - It cost me 130$ and it was a good DEAL, especially nowadays.

The 10-year-olds of 1992 are now 30 and starting to have some disposable income. Instead of collecting comic books or baseball cards like baby boomers, they're collecting videogames.

That's me, but I have a theory that video games, retro ones included, became really more visible during the last 5 years, with reviewers like AVGN and all the youtube stars that have mega collections. People wanted the same thing. :p
 

ys45

Member
PS2 games tend to fluctuate because of reprints or people finding out the games werent all that (I think). Suikoden 3, Disgaea 1, Digital Devil Saga 1 / 2, and Nocturne used to go for a decent amount, but I think they've had recent reprints.

Current gen stuff like Xenoblade and Metroid Prime Trilogy are already up there.


I did knew about XenoBlade! Thats crazy, i actually have the game with art book (still shrink wraped because i imported PAL version)
 
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