It's times like this that I REALLY appreciate emulators. Getting your own copies of games is obviously better but when you have to jump through so many hoops just for the money to not actually go to the developers/publishers, downloading a rom off the internet is just easier.
I would also love to point out that emulation, or more specifically game modding has caused a increase in demand for games. NCS is right about the fact that you can get PS2 for around 10-20 bucks, but for some random reason, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, ONLY the PS2 version, goes Kaioken x10 on that rule, going on prices around the 100 dollar mark, because of how that game has gotten a significant relevance in the community.
@@casuallavaring but even on that part, nowadays we have more than emulation, since now you can get everdrives if you want something more authentic, or even emulators with online functionality to the point of having actual lobbies or Parsec for the sake of that trading, which isn't AS practical as trading through actual GameBoys
Many many many years i had a friend sell me his ps1 copy of ff7 for 30 bucks and then the next day he was like "uh hey could I possibly get another 50 bucks for the gsme" and i straight up told him nope
Playing the price gouging game is an impossible game. This is why digital backups shared online are completely valid. It's just a never-ending fire pit for your money, time, and stress levels focusing on hunting down a multitude of expensive second-hand games. FPGA consoles and flashcarts, for example, are a godsend for an ever aging yesterday as well. Also, regardless of whether you participate or not, emulation should always be supported for the eventual time no copy of these games will function in their original formats as well. I've done plenty of collecting all my years of gaming, but it's never been more of a "I'm out" feeling. It's been far more calm and enjoyable shifting my mentality on everything.
Another problem which is exclusive to the Pokemon series is that the games are in high supply and high demand, but the prices for the games increase over time. The lowest selling Pokemon games (Black and White) sold over 10 million units, yet the games' resell value has increased. This is why I rather just pirate the games I wanna play rather than waste my entire paycheck to Reseller Randy down the street.
I've been wanting to get into video game collecting for a while, mainly for the Wii, GameCube, and maybe DS/3DS. The main issue has definitely been just the pricing of everything. I remember back in 2015 when I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for a reasonable price off Amazon only to find out years later that it went up in price. My biggest regret was not buying Paper Mario: TTYD back then because the price back then wasn't too high either. The advice you gave in this video is pretty helpful and I'll definitely keep it in mind for games I'm remotely interested in. Almost made the same mistake with Samus Returns on 3DS but got lucky. I really wish game companies ported older titles from their library more often man, it would be nice to have easy access to these games.
The GameCube thing really hit me. I started my collection for it a year or two before it really hit its big nostalgia boom. It helped I had a good 20 ish games from my childhood that I kept (Including Pokemon Colo/XD, Double Dash, Sunshine, Luigis Mansion). I got to around 100 games out of the 450ish released in the UK before the boom hit and ive all but given up on collecting for it besides when something new comes into my workplace at a decent price or I have trade in credit to use with my staff discount...
Dude...PS2 third person survival horror!!! I have no clue what caused that niche of all niches to become by and large the MOST expensive genre of games on the PS2, especially in such a short time frame. Looking at you Haunting Ground, Silent Hill, Rule of Rose, Obscure, and bloody Kuon!
Im glad that i got Yo Kai watch 3 before the eShop closed that day. I swear game collecting has become a very expensive hobby. This is also why i appreciate emulation these prices for old niche games like Xenogears and Xenosaga have become ridiculous. Even Bandai Namco has fallen into this situation as well I already mentioned Xenosaga but other franchises like .hack and their old tales games from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 era have either not been localized or stuck on older hardware and are really expensive. Lastly it also sucks that the Pokemon Company is still not rereleasing their old games. I'm glad games like Star Ocean 2 is getting a HD-2D remake but the Tales series which has similar gameplay to Star Ocean and set the standard on the motion linear battle system barely gets remakes or even remasters.This was a good video
I get you man. Especially when the issue comes up on why game companies don't try to re-release games that people love or create additional stock of games that may get a sudden boom in popularity. It's not like the console vanishes forever when you stop making it. There are still people who like a certain console that should still be shown so love and attention or a sort of nostalgic reboot should be done for these consoles with fair prices. AND I DON'T MEAN MINI CONSOLES, but rather an updated version of that console with quality of life improvements and a fair price to boot.
I bought Skies of Arcadia for (An amount of money I'm too embarrassed to say) dollars but I freaking adore this game, and I want it to be re-released on modern platforms so more people can get it. It's a great game that's stuck on the dreamcast and gamecube.
Some of the more obscure tips i've picked up on over the years include some of the following. 1- Libraries. Libraries operate under donations, and many of them take games nowadays. If you find a rare game, there's a good chance you can just buy it outright from them, or eat late fees. Assuming you get the proper permissions. This is how I got my copy of pokemon heartgold for only 30 bucks. 2- Video Stores. They're less common now-a-days. But they tend to operate off of a family business's private collection. And there's almost always a way to just outright buy and own the title you're looking for. Up until and including letting late fees stack till they just die, tis the fate of all video stores. This is the story behind my copy's of pikmin 2 and thousand year door. 3- Swap Meets. I've gotten almost my entire Nintendo 64 collection, which I am very proud off, via this method. At a swap meet, you have a lot of people just trying to get rid of older stuff and they're not really concerned about the price. They just wanna pay for the lot, which is usually to the tune of 50 bucks for them, and then afterwards is profit. I must've found a good thirty now expensive titles this way. 4- Trading. This one only really works if you have friends. But I've traded games with friends a few times and traded into good stuff. This was how I got my copy of Final Fantasy 4 DS. Just be sure that your friend understands the value of their game, don't be a dick, essentially. 5- Buying when nostalgia is out of vouge. Nostalgia exits the cultural zeitgeist the second that it's properly serviced. Nintendo 64 prices went down, at least slightly, when Nintendo supplied N64 NSO. The end result for me was a more affordable copy of Diddy Kong Racing. This is how it is for example, the genesis is pretty easy to collect for. Everything notable gets re-released eventually. GameCube sucks right now, but if (not really, it's WHEN) we get a GameCube app on switch 2, it will stabilize. By then it'd be difficult to justify selling Path of Radiance for 300 bucks when you and 7 friends can play it for 80 bucks a year.
@@flippy7035 wtf are you even actually talking about? Do you hear yourself forming words? They've got an emulator for NGC developed already for Sunshine in 3D allstars. What? Do you think all that engineering time is going to just - p o o f - go to waste? No. Nintendo maximizes the potential of the content they produce. They will deploy this emulator. On the next platform. It's literally an inevitability. They have an online service. Said service needs subscribers to justify it's existence to Nintendo investors. There is money in the venture. Therefore it will happen.
What's fun though is how economies work. You can only go so high before your wings burn, and that will cause a massive shock in the market, because instead of being a somewhat expensive price, the market chose a very expensive price, and now it will go to a decent price because of that.
In the old days, I was mostly buying my games at second hand stores and pawn shops. It was a game of patience because often I would go back home empty handed. But I was able to find several of my favorite games that way. Got suikoden II for 30$ cad, skies of arcadia legends for 12$ cad, xenogears for 20$ cad and much more. But mind you that was between 2002 and 2010. The only deals I had recently was starfox assault for 4$ cad and Dino Crisis 2 for 5$ cad, both complete but that was in 2018.😢
I’m just hoping that Nintendo gets the idea to make the GameCube’s library more accessible on modern hardware thanks to the 3D All Stars version of Sunshine, the Pikmin Switch ports, and especially Metroid Prime Remastered. But we still have a ways to go. Where’s the WW HD and TP HD ports?
Again this is why I'm thankful for emulation, people can complain but here's my mentality. If the company has not done anything with the game and no way to play the game and it's been more than 10 years. I'm emulating it. Again I'm not paying $200 for Glover or PMTTYD.
This is the main reason why I went and bought the majority of first party Wii U games, because I grew up owning one, and then found out the sales were not great for this console, so in 10 years, these games are probably going to be horrifyingly expensive. (Specifically the games not on Switch)
9:45 Yeah. Couldn't agree more. Especially the early generation's upper-level versions are just abysmally priced in our current days. Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2 and White 2? Get ready to be wheelchaired for life if you are determined to get these without a break, coz these monsters will cost your entire arm and limbs. Edit: And oh, I forgot. HGSS are also on the topmost level, at least in my place. Especially if it's in a CIB bundled by a Pokewalker (o.O) And on the same note though, there are even equally non-pokemon titles such as those Etrian Odyssey games, Yokai-watch, Metroid, Dragon Quest and oh, Professor Layton.
4:21 i went into a second hand game store and saw paper mario: the thousand year door for £115, my jaw dropped. thanks for making this video, helped me understand more about old games cost your soul apart from being old
As someone who's been starting collecting older games since 2019, I can vouch that this shit sucks. Being someone who loves physical media over digital, I always ensure I get anything physical when I can because I always like to own it and see it on my shelf in my collecton. Been having alot of foresight like you and nabbing some games that may fall into the niche catagory now but then jumo soon. Geeat video and great tips to look out for.
I love physical media too, and I always try to get it when I can. I really wanted Haunting Ground, and it's one of rare PS2 games. I bit the bullet, and paid $210 for it CIB back in 2020 and it's in great condiction. When I buy PS2 games I try to buy them new or very good condition. I was cringing at the price, but now (according to Price Charting) it's $352.17 CIB. What's fucked up, the game is $263.00 loose! **dies of heart attack** Seriously, how is the loose more expensive than when I bought it CIB?!? I am trying to get Fatal Frame, and it's still thankfully feasible to get. For some stupid Lolipop Chainsaw on PS3 is going up in price too. Why? It's not rare, so there's no reason as to why the price is spiking. As for the other rare PS2 games, I just downloaded the ISOs of them because I will never be able to buy them physically. I have a jailbroken 60GB PS3, so I can just get ISOs of rare games now. When I bought Haunting Ground, I didn't have a jailbroken PS3 at the time. I'm really glad I have it in my collection now.
Aaaaand That's why i support emulation. We wouldn't need it if these games were preserved and available. I know that isn't helpful for collectors. But i felt that og silent hill sting.
I am so glad that most of my game collection focus is on Xbox, since there’s not a huge demand. For Nintendo or PlayStation games, if it’s too overpriced, at that point I’d just emulate them since PlayStation and Nintendo emulators are amazing in terms of features that they pretty much are exact or even better than the originals. For Xbox, emulation tends to be spotty or straight up unplayable so that’s not a really good substitute.
So my Copies of Sonic Rise Of Lyric and Starfox which i got for free might be worth big money i also have Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 I won't sell that it was a Christmas gift back in 2003 And thankfully we can emulate these rare games while keeping the originals safe and they go up in value
I have a solution that companies would never do or hear! They release games like retro shoes with specific editions each iteration to keep that “collector drive” going or give them modern cases designs and stamps on them.
At this point, it's realistically cheaper to just book a flight to Japan and get the games from the retro stores there. You can even get the refurbished consoles there as well for a steal
Very cool analysis of the market. I'm really hoping Onion Games can rerelease Rule of Rose & Chulip at some point. idk how mixed the legal jargon is for them to get it, but if Onion could get 'moon remix RPG' on the market in ENGLISH then I can be hopeful. So obviously you're focusing on NA market, but it is REALLY interesting how disproportionate JP Saturn prices are to the NA ones. Very common to see stuff in the 1/20th to 1/40th range for the system's JP version.
It sucks when you wanna relive your childhood to buy old games that you played back in the day, only to realize that you’d have to fork over hundreds of dollars to do so. Such was the case with me when I wanted to buy Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Heartgold again. Sure, emulation is an option, but as a collector it sucks that there’s no viable alternative to getting these games unless the company eventually decides to rerelease them. Which Nintendo has only ever done with the Gameboy Pokémon games, porting Pokken Tournament from WiiU to Switch, and literally nothing else. Thank Arceus I’ve at least managed to hold onto my copies of White, White 2 and Explorers of Sky over the years.
Just to give you an example of how fucked it is to get ANY somewhat desired game, there's this game on the 3ds called freakyforms that I played as a kid, but nearly no one else knows about or desires it. So, when I went to pick up a copy for old times sake, imagine my surprise when it was going for upwards of $75 FUCKING DOLLARS USD for no reason, for what I can only presume is because of it being a nintendo published game, even when it feels like the supply doesn't really meet the demand for it to be this much. Like seriously I hate this
the number one tip i could give is ebay auctions people dont have the patience to wait for the auction to be over so you can get games for much cheaper that way
I remember gamecube being so cheap it was laughable, once I needed a GC memory card to use it on wii, I got it for about 7 dollars, with a whole damn gamecube included
I never opened up my Nintendo Selects copy of Wind Waker HD and due to in now being $85 rn I think im gonna keep it sealed and try to sell it later when i need the money cause god damn
God, I remember getting Pikmin 2 for the Gamecube at TooManyGames back in 2019 for around 50 bucks, only to then drop my jaw to see it almost triple in value cause of covid. Thankfully it's finally starting to go back down. Most likely cause of the recent HD release. If only Nintendo could just do that with all their first-party GameCube games :') .Theres this local shop that takes unsold items from estate sales near me. I've found some great stuff there many times including a Wii U Gamepad in great condition for $20, an version 1 Intelevisson with around 15 games alongside the voice add-on thing for like $70, and a copy of B-17 BOMBER. Also found an Xbox and an Xbox 360 there too. Sadly the Xbox couldn't read disks for some reason, and the 360 suffered from the Red Ring of Death.
I recently hacked my Wii U into a GameCube. Mainly because GameCube games online are so damn pricey, and downloading the games on my Wii U saves me a ton of money.
As a comic collector, by default of loving to read them, and loving games, thus collecting them, hoo boy this is hilarious. What you said was right, but I saw something you forgot to talk about. The price of the 'condition' of the boxes and sealed games. That started right before the pandemic and was a joke, now it's actually doing more to raise prices than the lingering effects of covid. Trust me if you hate all this you'll hate those companies more in the next few years. Also that's a huge reason why the Trails games are being priced out, along with a mismatch of interest to publisher expectation. I'm glad I game digitally. Most games go for a pittance. I'll still get a physical switch or PS5 games near to when they come out, but the idea of older games are woth that much? Nah, emulation.
I know this is about retro gaming but modern gaming is also too expensive as well. I live in Canada and its super difficult to buy switch games at launch since its nearly $100 for a single game and its even worse because Nintendo would go to war with another nation before giving a discount to a game from 2017. Seems that video games are also going to be going up to $70 USD ($90 CAD) so you know its only going to get worse.
Armored core was pretty crazy last year. I was kinda interested in the series but as soon as 6 was announced I knew I had mere days to buy any of them. I went straight to my local retro game store and asked if he had any and he had both 4 and 5. I bought 4 for $30 and now I’m kicking myself for not buying 5 as well for around $20. A few months later I went back to the same store and for some reason he had For Answer on the shelf for just 40 bucks while the going price was well over $100. Bought that in a heartbeat.
I started collecting games around 2017-2018 or so and a grand majority was games I grew up with, Gamecube, ds/3ds, Wii and PS2. I was also starting highschool so I was able to get so many great games I played / wanted to play for dirt cheap. My favorite was getting Dragon Quest Viii on 3ds at my local Walmart for $20 brand new. I feel bad for a lot of people who want to experience older games but don’t want / have the means to emulate
Yeah this video reminded me why I've been collecting the ps3 tales games cause who knows if bandai will ever port those games. And also cause the 7th generation is probably gonna be seeing prices increases further down the line so might as well collect for them now while demand isn't as high like with the previous generations before it.
I actually got games like Persona 4 and Clock Tower 3 for dirt cheap back when my local GS was having a sellout for all their PS2 games. For a couple of months they sold ALL their PS2 games where you could pick ANY 5 games for the equivalent of $10.
Last tax return i decided to buy as many everdrives and console mods i could so I can stop the temptation of buying games i would play for like an hour then never again
Mario Odyssey was 90$ at launch in my area, when I was fully satisfied with the game about 2 months in I discovered one of my friends was selling their pristine copy of smash bros melee for only 55$, I’ve never made a quicker trade in my life
I had no idea the Xenosaga and Shadow Hearts games would ever be worth so much. Not that I would ever get rid of them, but if I ever absolutely had to...
I have Rule of Rose, but not the English cover version (if it exists). I got the Italian cover version which does also have English in the game itself.
Getting into gaming now looks something like this: "Huh. Which console do I want to choose. I want to have a quality first impression, and PC's are too intimidating with their completely unconquerable library's and need for setup, so I'll go with a console." "Well the only modern consoles that hold up to serious standards are 300-500$. That hurts a little, but hey! At least the games are probably affordable to make that investment worth-" " *THE CONTROLLERS AND GAMES ARE $70 WITH POSSIBLE DLC/PREMIUM VERSIONS PUSHING THEM TO OVER $100 ON TOP OF HAVING TO PAY FOR ONLINE PLAY.* " "Well I could always play older systems!" **Checks Price** "They're actually decently priced! Now let's check the system conditions!" " _Oh._ Well, even quality (albeit used) system are still cheaper than current options... and hey! The game prices are..." " *They're worse than modern offerings.* That's honestly kind of impressive." "Guess I'll (not get anything, p*rate, or make an irrational, dangerous financial decision)" Also the algorithm says hi!
I can't believe the insane prices people are paying for GameCube games these days, I have a complete PAL region set 446 games complete with manuals and box's, it took me 4 years to complete from 2010 to 2014. Compared to back then prices have 3x 5x even 10x on some games it's nuts.
i started collecting ps2/ps3 games in 2020 and im shocked of how expensive they are now i do have games like deadly premonition diractors cut and lolipop chainsaw persona arena 4 ultimax , orochi z, godfather 1 the dons edition, gta san andreas, i also find duck dynasty lol all for the ps3 for the ps2 i got games like DBZ budokai tenkaichi 3, gta vice city stories scarface urban reign def jam ffny, swords of destiny
I’m actually glad I got into emulation for old school titles when I was in high school 1: I didn’t own most old school consoles despite having a lot of consoles as a kid 2: despite me having a MacBook at the time they had one REALLY good emulator for it 3: holy *_F U C K_* can these prices can be absolutely mind numbing Now as far as Path of Radiance goes, it, alongside Radiant Dawn, were some of the rarer FE titles in the series which is one of the reasons why it’s so damn expensive I considered myself insanely lucky to nab a copy from my friend who just happened to have one
Game collecting is fun but expensive, I honestly haven't even tried to collect for the GameCube and have mostly stick to what systems I own (PS2, 360, Switch, and PS5) My most interesting story regarding gane collecting is probably Persona 3 FES where after the remake was announced and was confirm that the FES content wasn't available. My instant reaction was to go and buy a copy of FES before the inevitable price hike Also I find it ironic were both playing Persona 5 rn, may I ask what you think of it so far?
Everything mentioned in the video is very true, but there is another factor that not many people talk about- that being overall inflation. The dollar is only worth about two thirds of what it was twenty five years ago. This only makes the situation even worse since we have less money to spend on games due to everything else being more expensive as well, and most of us aren't making enough extra to offset those increases.
Can't buy a gamecube without having to sell an arm and a leg for it. It's a old console, that thing doesn't need to be 200$, god damn. (Looking at you dk oldies.)
So glad I bought all my gaming stuff in the 2000's and 2010's. Everything was so cheap. I love to go to game conventions and buy sell trade events to laugh at prices. Sellers are too greedy. Good luck finding suckers to pay what you want 🤣
Honestly best I can say is for maybe Pokémon games if you’ve played them a lot and want more copies or wanna revisit something but a Japanese copy because I think they aren’t region locked
Watching this video I randomly just realised how chill Tetris is, if you wanna play Tetris you can play it on pretty much every single console ever made lmao. Be more like Tetris.
Tell us how you really feel. In all seriousness, collecting is something I only do for games I grew up with (Supercar Street Challenge for 5 bucks, woohoo!) and games I intend to play. But I've also gotten lucky finding good deals on games during the pandemic, like Xenoblade 2 for 48 bucks somehow or Emerald for 5 dollars (without the label but I'll take it). Anything thats unrealistic to obtain within my budget I'll just emulate since thats always an option. Makes me appreciate (good) modern rereleases even if they are 60 or so bucks.
Yep gaming is too expensive and even I can agree even physical games aka the old ones can even be really expensive since they can get so rare and even can get Expensive to try to buy them.
I can relate to it because I've gotten my hands on a lot of different games over the years and to this day, I still have them. I hate the retro market with a bloody passion. Believe me. And I'm in possession of many retro games whether it be Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, etc. So yeah, I can relate with it. Problem is that money simply makes this a factor. But sometimes when I get lucky, I just get it and take an opportunity. Oh and fuck the pandemic honestly.
Id like to add a few systems to the mix due to experience with collecting for them (will be a bit long so hopefully you have time to read it) SNES wise its also much more harder to find authentic copies of, since a lot of them tend to be counterfeit copies. So it would be a gamble on top finding decent copies, and RPGs on the platform are pricey depends on how popular/well known are. Chrono Trigger in your example became expensive on the SNES because of how shitty the PC/Mobile ports were at first, the PS1 version being....that, and the DS version despite its extras, it got a scratchy audio quality. So you have this super popular RPG that was sold for 75.99 most likely on launch in 1995, didnt do well because RPGs werent that popular, and its re-releases arent that good? its a recipe for being an overly expensive game, and because finding out that the DS version is generally cheaper, people aimed for it, and when Square Enix stopped having the game on their site a few years ago? the whole scratchy audio quality didnt matter anyone if all you wanted was to JUST play the game. Another game on the platform Id like to add is Hagane on it, for a silly reason: This game suffered thru the literal "my uncle works at Nintendo" type of shit, like literally. Someone randomly came out with a "fact" that it was a block buster exclusive, barely anyone fact checked it, it was spread around, and now the game regardless of the region is at the high 3 digits to the low 4. The Sega CD is expensive in the sense of: "How do we keep the current reputation of this device the way it is?" because a LOT of FMVs on it are cheap, while the actual games range from $45 disc only to Popful Mail (but thats a Working Designs release, its going to be expensive by default, just like every release they got save for ONE GAME on the PS2) Gamecube ill add to it this: even the multiplat versions of the games on it are somehow MORE expensive despite the Xbox versions generally being the superior one in MOST (but not all cases) in graphics and at a decent number of times: extra content that doesnt exist in the other two releases. a Perfect example of this is Sands of Time on Xbox having more extras, despite the GC version being the "best" in graphics. Other times the GC version is easily the worst one due to missing features or literal PROGRESSIVE SCAN OPTIONS or it got bad frame rate in comparison to the other two (see EA games, Wrath of Cortex) An example of this is a Sega Sports game on the Gamecube costing 3 digits, while the exact same game elsewhere is under 15. (and because the Xbox is a system nobody gives a shit for AT THE MOMENT you can find plenty of brand new games for it that are comparable to low end GC releases that are used) If the Xbox ver doesnt exist for a particular game? yeah its the GC one that would be expensive PS2 is generally the cheapest because most versions on it are usually the worst versions of that specific game in the generation, and its a rarity when games on it are the best versions (see GTA San Andreas being to this day, the best release of it imo) One or two reasons for Pokemon being expensive despite being the MOST FUCKING PROFITABLE IP IN THE WORLD of this comment, besides the "why should we re-release this", the new people that came from Pokemon Go wants to try the older games since people talk about them. At the time I got a copy of Black, Black 2 and Platinum for $70 new (no manual since middle eastern re-release/world edition and a LOT dont like it) in 2015. Try doing the same thing now without breaking the bank. Add to it that generally speaking: post Gen 5 games are....not the best in terms of quality compared to the rest, so that is another reason for it. Any Saturn game past 1996 is going to be expensive by default, the system was effectively dead by 1997 and all games from that point became expensive, and ofc: Working Designs titles on it are extremely pricey
honestly my go to route for lots of niche games is buying the japanese versions.. systems like the saturn have such vast libraries of mostly arcade games that require little to no knowledge of the language. i got some of the more expensive games in the us market for less than $50 like sonic jam, resident evil, and nights into dreams. and some japanese versions include their english versions already. chrono trigger ds, the silent hills, and the original phoenix wright trilogy on ds come to mind. you're gonna have to have to either mod or buy japanese systems most of the time for this option but honestly its worth imo. i bought a japanese saturn and have a modded psone which rules.
It took me a while to realize how special the 3DS systems were. I can play more mainline Pokémon games compared to the Switch with its minimum of 4 gens. Even though the original Gen 3 games aren't available on it, at least we got the ORAS games. Unfortunately, the 3DS catalog is starting to rise in price (ORAS went up to 50 or beyond for some reason) and Pokémon Bank losing connectivity with Home in April. Welp, hopefully things get easy for gamers who want to experience the classics (emulation also works).
It's times like this that I REALLY appreciate emulators. Getting your own copies of games is obviously better but when you have to jump through so many hoops just for the money to not actually go to the developers/publishers, downloading a rom off the internet is just easier.
I think that’s the secret rule.
I would also love to point out that emulation, or more specifically game modding has caused a increase in demand for games. NCS is right about the fact that you can get PS2 for around 10-20 bucks, but for some random reason, Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3, ONLY the PS2 version, goes Kaioken x10 on that rule, going on prices around the 100 dollar mark, because of how that game has gotten a significant relevance in the community.
The issue with emulators is that they lock you out of multiplayer features. You’re missing all the trade-only Pokémon in any main Pokémon game
@@casuallavaring but even on that part, nowadays we have more than emulation, since now you can get everdrives if you want something more authentic, or even emulators with online functionality to the point of having actual lobbies or Parsec for the sake of that trading, which isn't AS practical as trading through actual GameBoys
@@casuallavaring You can open up multiplayer windows in mGBA, at least.
the retro gaming buyer struggle is real 😭
Many many many years i had a friend sell me his ps1 copy of ff7 for 30 bucks and then the next day he was like "uh hey could I possibly get another 50 bucks for the gsme" and i straight up told him nope
And shit like this is why emulation is everyones best friend
Playing the price gouging game is an impossible game. This is why digital backups shared online are completely valid. It's just a never-ending fire pit for your money, time, and stress levels focusing on hunting down a multitude of expensive second-hand games. FPGA consoles and flashcarts, for example, are a godsend for an ever aging yesterday as well. Also, regardless of whether you participate or not, emulation should always be supported for the eventual time no copy of these games will function in their original formats as well.
I've done plenty of collecting all my years of gaming, but it's never been more of a "I'm out" feeling. It's been far more calm and enjoyable shifting my mentality on everything.
Another problem which is exclusive to the Pokemon series is that the games are in high supply and high demand, but the prices for the games increase over time. The lowest selling Pokemon games (Black and White) sold over 10 million units, yet the games' resell value has increased. This is why I rather just pirate the games I wanna play rather than waste my entire paycheck to Reseller Randy down the street.
Correction: Pokemon Crystal is the lowest selling mainline Pokemon game at 6.7 million copies.
I've been wanting to get into video game collecting for a while, mainly for the Wii, GameCube, and maybe DS/3DS. The main issue has definitely been just the pricing of everything. I remember back in 2015 when I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for a reasonable price off Amazon only to find out years later that it went up in price. My biggest regret was not buying Paper Mario: TTYD back then because the price back then wasn't too high either. The advice you gave in this video is pretty helpful and I'll definitely keep it in mind for games I'm remotely interested in. Almost made the same mistake with Samus Returns on 3DS but got lucky. I really wish game companies ported older titles from their library more often man, it would be nice to have easy access to these games.
15:32 - Its crazy that every game in this pile is a banger, you've got really solid taste my friend.
The GameCube thing really hit me. I started my collection for it a year or two before it really hit its big nostalgia boom. It helped I had a good 20 ish games from my childhood that I kept (Including Pokemon Colo/XD, Double Dash, Sunshine, Luigis Mansion).
I got to around 100 games out of the 450ish released in the UK before the boom hit and ive all but given up on collecting for it besides when something new comes into my workplace at a decent price or I have trade in credit to use with my staff discount...
Sell it and pay your outrageous electricity bill 😂
Dude...PS2 third person survival horror!!! I have no clue what caused that niche of all niches to become by and large the MOST expensive genre of games on the PS2, especially in such a short time frame. Looking at you Haunting Ground, Silent Hill, Rule of Rose, Obscure, and bloody Kuon!
everytime i look at any of the gamecube games i want i weep
Mod it that's what I done.
I used to feel a bit guilty about emulating and burning "backup" copies for like the Saturn and Dreamcast
I don't feel guilty anymore
Im glad that i got Yo Kai watch 3 before the eShop closed that day. I swear game collecting has become a very expensive hobby. This is also why i appreciate emulation these prices for old niche games like Xenogears and Xenosaga have become ridiculous. Even Bandai Namco has fallen into this situation as well I already mentioned Xenosaga but other franchises like .hack and their old tales games from the PS1, PS2, and PS3 era have either not been localized or stuck on older hardware and are really expensive. Lastly it also sucks that the Pokemon Company is still not rereleasing their old games. I'm glad games like Star Ocean 2 is getting a HD-2D remake but the Tales series which has similar gameplay to Star Ocean and set the standard on the motion linear battle system barely gets remakes or even remasters.This was a good video
I get you man. Especially when the issue comes up on why game companies don't try to re-release games that people love or create additional stock of games that may get a sudden boom in popularity. It's not like the console vanishes forever when you stop making it. There are still people who like a certain console that should still be shown so love and attention or a sort of nostalgic reboot should be done for these consoles with fair prices. AND I DON'T MEAN MINI CONSOLES, but rather an updated version of that console with quality of life improvements and a fair price to boot.
"I just want to play these games!" ... in a video on the INTERNET... where those games are available...
I bought Skies of Arcadia for (An amount of money I'm too embarrassed to say) dollars but I freaking adore this game, and I want it to be re-released on modern platforms so more people can get it. It's a great game that's stuck on the dreamcast and gamecube.
A trick I use to collect games like SoA and Pokémon is buy the disc or cartridge separately from the box and manual and try to buy those elsewhere.
Some of the more obscure tips i've picked up on over the years include some of the following.
1- Libraries. Libraries operate under donations, and many of them take games nowadays. If you find a rare game, there's a good chance you can just buy it outright from them, or eat late fees. Assuming you get the proper permissions. This is how I got my copy of pokemon heartgold for only 30 bucks.
2- Video Stores. They're less common now-a-days. But they tend to operate off of a family business's private collection. And there's almost always a way to just outright buy and own the title you're looking for. Up until and including letting late fees stack till they just die, tis the fate of all video stores. This is the story behind my copy's of pikmin 2 and thousand year door.
3- Swap Meets. I've gotten almost my entire Nintendo 64 collection, which I am very proud off, via this method. At a swap meet, you have a lot of people just trying to get rid of older stuff and they're not really concerned about the price. They just wanna pay for the lot, which is usually to the tune of 50 bucks for them, and then afterwards is profit. I must've found a good thirty now expensive titles this way.
4- Trading. This one only really works if you have friends. But I've traded games with friends a few times and traded into good stuff. This was how I got my copy of Final Fantasy 4 DS. Just be sure that your friend understands the value of their game, don't be a dick, essentially.
5- Buying when nostalgia is out of vouge. Nostalgia exits the cultural zeitgeist the second that it's properly serviced. Nintendo 64 prices went down, at least slightly, when Nintendo supplied N64 NSO. The end result for me was a more affordable copy of Diddy Kong Racing. This is how it is for example, the genesis is pretty easy to collect for. Everything notable gets re-released eventually. GameCube sucks right now, but if (not really, it's WHEN) we get a GameCube app on switch 2, it will stabilize. By then it'd be difficult to justify selling Path of Radiance for 300 bucks when you and 7 friends can play it for 80 bucks a year.
Implying Nintendo will inevitably add a way to play Gamecube games on a new platform isn’t just way past optimism, it’s beyond delusion.
@@flippy7035 wtf are you even actually talking about? Do you hear yourself forming words? They've got an emulator for NGC developed already for Sunshine in 3D allstars. What? Do you think all that engineering time is going to just - p o o f - go to waste? No. Nintendo maximizes the potential of the content they produce. They will deploy this emulator. On the next platform. It's literally an inevitability. They have an online service. Said service needs subscribers to justify it's existence to Nintendo investors. There is money in the venture. Therefore it will happen.
@flipperdoigt7035 Which is why them offering full on remasters of Game Cube games is better for all.
This is a brilliant video. Very well put together, with absolute facts regarding game collection. Great job.
Switch game prices are why i never use mine not paying 60 for a 7 year old game.
What's fun though is how economies work. You can only go so high before your wings burn, and that will cause a massive shock in the market, because instead of being a somewhat expensive price, the market chose a very expensive price, and now it will go to a decent price because of that.
In the old days, I was mostly buying my games at second hand stores and pawn shops. It was a game of patience because often I would go back home empty handed. But I was able to find several of my favorite games that way. Got suikoden II for 30$ cad, skies of arcadia legends for 12$ cad, xenogears for 20$ cad and much more. But mind you that was between 2002 and 2010. The only deals I had recently was starfox assault for 4$ cad and Dino Crisis 2 for 5$ cad, both complete but that was in 2018.😢
I’m just hoping that Nintendo gets the idea to make the GameCube’s library more accessible on modern hardware thanks to the 3D All Stars version of Sunshine, the Pikmin Switch ports, and especially Metroid Prime Remastered. But we still have a ways to go.
Where’s the WW HD and TP HD ports?
Again this is why I'm thankful for emulation, people can complain but here's my mentality. If the company has not done anything with the game and no way to play the game and it's been more than 10 years. I'm emulating it. Again I'm not paying $200 for Glover or PMTTYD.
This is the main reason why I went and bought the majority of first party Wii U games, because I grew up owning one, and then found out the sales were not great for this console, so in 10 years, these games are probably going to be horrifyingly expensive.
(Specifically the games not on Switch)
Yes, being dumb with your money is expensive.
Indeed.
I'm glad I grew up with gaming at the times of the SNES.
I got all the retro games I want because I bought them when they came out.
90s kid 🗿
Here before this video blows up, it's coming. I feel it in my bones.
9:45 Yeah. Couldn't agree more. Especially the early generation's upper-level versions are just abysmally priced in our current days. Crystal, Emerald, Platinum, Black 2 and White 2? Get ready to be wheelchaired for life if you are determined to get these without a break, coz these monsters will cost your entire arm and limbs.
Edit: And oh, I forgot. HGSS are also on the topmost level, at least in my place. Especially if it's in a CIB bundled by a Pokewalker (o.O)
And on the same note though, there are even equally non-pokemon titles such as those Etrian Odyssey games, Yokai-watch, Metroid, Dragon Quest and oh, Professor Layton.
4:21
i went into a second hand game store and saw paper mario: the thousand year door for £115, my jaw dropped.
thanks for making this video, helped me understand more about old games cost your soul apart from being old
As someone who's been starting collecting older games since 2019, I can vouch that this shit sucks. Being someone who loves physical media over digital, I always ensure I get anything physical when I can because I always like to own it and see it on my shelf in my collecton. Been having alot of foresight like you and nabbing some games that may fall into the niche catagory now but then jumo soon. Geeat video and great tips to look out for.
I love physical media too, and I always try to get it when I can. I really wanted Haunting Ground, and it's one of rare PS2 games. I bit the bullet, and paid $210 for it CIB back in 2020 and it's in great condiction. When I buy PS2 games I try to buy them new or very good condition. I was cringing at the price, but now (according to Price Charting) it's $352.17 CIB. What's fucked up, the game is $263.00 loose! **dies of heart attack**
Seriously, how is the loose more expensive than when I bought it CIB?!? I am trying to get Fatal Frame, and it's still thankfully feasible to get. For some stupid Lolipop Chainsaw on PS3 is going up in price too. Why? It's not rare, so there's no reason as to why the price is spiking. As for the other rare PS2 games, I just downloaded the ISOs of them because I will never be able to buy them physically. I have a jailbroken 60GB PS3, so I can just get ISOs of rare games now. When I bought Haunting Ground, I didn't have a jailbroken PS3 at the time. I'm really glad I have it in my collection now.
Aaaaand That's why i support emulation. We wouldn't need it if these games were preserved and available.
I know that isn't helpful for collectors. But i felt that og silent hill sting.
I like your videos. Informative, direct, honest, and listenable voice.
Apparently my childhood copy of Pokemon Box is worth upwards of four figures. Which is absolutely insane to think about.
14:59 hey, if you ask me, it’s also scummy to sell those games for exorbitant prices
It's interesting to see how much people will charge for old games in America. Meanwhile in Japan they're priced at a fraction of the cost.
I am so glad that most of my game collection focus is on Xbox, since there’s not a huge demand. For Nintendo or PlayStation games, if it’s too overpriced, at that point I’d just emulate them since PlayStation and Nintendo emulators are amazing in terms of features that they pretty much are exact or even better than the originals. For Xbox, emulation tends to be spotty or straight up unplayable so that’s not a really good substitute.
So my Copies of Sonic Rise Of Lyric and Starfox which i got for free might be worth big money i also have Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for the PS2 I won't sell that it was a Christmas gift back in 2003 And thankfully we can emulate these rare games while keeping the originals safe and they go up in value
at least you have marvel vs Capcom 2
I have a solution that companies would never do or hear! They release games like retro shoes with specific editions each iteration to keep that “collector drive” going or give them modern cases designs and stamps on them.
I once saw a retro game store sell Twilight Princess on Gamecube for $400 DOLLARS.
400????!!!
At this point, it's realistically cheaper to just book a flight to Japan and get the games from the retro stores there. You can even get the refurbished consoles there as well for a steal
Very cool analysis of the market. I'm really hoping Onion Games can rerelease Rule of Rose & Chulip at some point. idk how mixed the legal jargon is for them to get it, but if Onion could get 'moon remix RPG' on the market in ENGLISH then I can be hopeful.
So obviously you're focusing on NA market, but it is REALLY interesting how disproportionate JP Saturn prices are to the NA ones. Very common to see stuff in the 1/20th to 1/40th range for the system's JP version.
It sucks when you wanna relive your childhood to buy old games that you played back in the day, only to realize that you’d have to fork over hundreds of dollars to do so. Such was the case with me when I wanted to buy Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Heartgold again. Sure, emulation is an option, but as a collector it sucks that there’s no viable alternative to getting these games unless the company eventually decides to rerelease them. Which Nintendo has only ever done with the Gameboy Pokémon games, porting Pokken Tournament from WiiU to Switch, and literally nothing else.
Thank Arceus I’ve at least managed to hold onto my copies of White, White 2 and Explorers of Sky over the years.
Once bought Paper Mario: TYD in a charity shop for £1. This was around 2017. Was very lucky.
Noticed the Spark music and you have good taste.
All I want is to get every single main series pokemon game but NOOOOOOO I have to shell out a kidney for it 😂
Same with Fire Emblem
Just to give you an example of how fucked it is to get ANY somewhat desired game, there's this game on the 3ds called freakyforms that I played as a kid, but nearly no one else knows about or desires it. So, when I went to pick up a copy for old times sake, imagine my surprise when it was going for upwards of $75 FUCKING DOLLARS USD for no reason, for what I can only presume is because of it being a nintendo published game, even when it feels like the supply doesn't really meet the demand for it to be this much. Like seriously I hate this
Nintendo announcing that they're releasing an HD Switch port of Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door makes me so happy
For $70
For $70
For $70
I heard you the first time.
the number one tip i could give is ebay auctions people dont have the patience to wait for the auction to be over so you can get games for much cheaper that way
I remember gamecube being so cheap it was laughable, once I needed a GC memory card to use it on wii, I got it for about 7 dollars, with a whole damn gamecube included
I never opened up my Nintendo Selects copy of Wind Waker HD and due to in now being $85 rn I think im gonna keep it sealed and try to sell it later when i need the money cause god damn
Excellent video, deserves more views
God, I remember getting Pikmin 2 for the Gamecube at TooManyGames back in 2019 for around 50 bucks, only to then drop my jaw to see it almost triple in value cause of covid. Thankfully it's finally starting to go back down. Most likely cause of the recent HD release. If only Nintendo could just do that with all their first-party GameCube games :') .Theres this local shop that takes unsold items from estate sales near me. I've found some great stuff there many times including a Wii U Gamepad in great condition for $20, an version 1 Intelevisson with around 15 games alongside the voice add-on thing for like $70, and a copy of B-17 BOMBER. Also found an Xbox and an Xbox 360 there too. Sadly the Xbox couldn't read disks for some reason, and the 360 suffered from the Red Ring of Death.
I recently hacked my Wii U into a GameCube. Mainly because GameCube games online are so damn pricey, and downloading the games on my Wii U saves me a ton of money.
As a comic collector, by default of loving to read them, and loving games, thus collecting them, hoo boy this is hilarious. What you said was right, but I saw something you forgot to talk about.
The price of the 'condition' of the boxes and sealed games. That started right before the pandemic and was a joke, now it's actually doing more to raise prices than the lingering effects of covid.
Trust me if you hate all this you'll hate those companies more in the next few years. Also that's a huge reason why the Trails games are being priced out, along with a mismatch of interest to publisher expectation.
I'm glad I game digitally. Most games go for a pittance. I'll still get a physical switch or PS5 games near to when they come out, but the idea of older games are woth that much? Nah, emulation.
9:23 - Hey screw you, Star Fox Zero is actually the good one in that trio there!😤
I know this is about retro gaming but modern gaming is also too expensive as well. I live in Canada and its super difficult to buy switch games at launch since its nearly $100 for a single game and its even worse because Nintendo would go to war with another nation before giving a discount to a game from 2017. Seems that video games are also going to be going up to $70 USD ($90 CAD) so you know its only going to get worse.
Armored core was pretty crazy last year. I was kinda interested in the series but as soon as 6 was announced I knew I had mere days to buy any of them. I went straight to my local retro game store and asked if he had any and he had both 4 and 5. I bought 4 for $30 and now I’m kicking myself for not buying 5 as well for around $20. A few months later I went back to the same store and for some reason he had For Answer on the shelf for just 40 bucks while the going price was well over $100. Bought that in a heartbeat.
This is some good content NC. One I fully support.
Hello from Twitter I love the video and the tips you gave very very helpful.
I’m probably the only person in the US who preordered Rule of Rose. I also got Chulip and Kuon for a total of $40.
I bought paper mario the thousand year door, complete in Box, years ago for 40 bucks. I think this game will safe me when I'm old xD
W
I started collecting games around 2017-2018 or so and a grand majority was games I grew up with, Gamecube, ds/3ds, Wii and PS2. I was also starting highschool so I was able to get so many great games I played / wanted to play for dirt cheap. My favorite was getting Dragon Quest Viii on 3ds at my local Walmart for $20 brand new. I feel bad for a lot of people who want to experience older games but don’t want / have the means to emulate
Just emulate lol
I bought Armored Core 3 in early 2022 at a small retro store for $30 only to find out that it was worth more. 😅
I have recently bought pokemon sapphire for 30 euros while some sell only the cartridge for 100 euros which is a insane price for just a cartridge
Yeah this video reminded me why I've been collecting the ps3 tales games cause who knows if bandai will ever port those games. And also cause the 7th generation is probably gonna be seeing prices increases further down the line so might as well collect for them now while demand isn't as high like with the previous generations before it.
I actually got games like Persona 4 and Clock Tower 3 for dirt cheap back when my local GS was having a sellout for all their PS2 games. For a couple of months they sold ALL their PS2 games where you could pick ANY 5 games for the equivalent of $10.
GameCube is the worst offender
Last tax return i decided to buy as many everdrives and console mods i could so I can stop the temptation of buying games i would play for like an hour then never again
I have the fire emblem fates special edition I got day one. It’s worth $500+ now and it was 59.99 when it came
Mario Odyssey was 90$ at launch in my area, when I was fully satisfied with the game about 2 months in I discovered one of my friends was selling their pristine copy of smash bros melee for only 55$, I’ve never made a quicker trade in my life
why is turbo super stunt squad on wii u (and ONLY wii u) like over $200
I had no idea the Xenosaga and Shadow Hearts games would ever be worth so much. Not that I would ever get rid of them, but if I ever absolutely had to...
1 is still affordable, 2 isn't too bad, 3 is worth a kidney and a liver.
I have Rule of Rose, but not the English cover version (if it exists). I got the Italian cover version which does also have English in the game itself.
Getting into gaming now looks something like this:
"Huh. Which console do I want to choose. I want to have a quality first impression, and PC's are too intimidating with their completely unconquerable library's and need for setup, so I'll go with a console."
"Well the only modern consoles that hold up to serious standards are 300-500$. That hurts a little, but hey! At least the games are probably affordable to make that investment worth-"
" *THE CONTROLLERS AND GAMES ARE $70 WITH POSSIBLE DLC/PREMIUM VERSIONS PUSHING THEM TO OVER $100 ON TOP OF HAVING TO PAY FOR ONLINE PLAY.* "
"Well I could always play older systems!"
**Checks Price**
"They're actually decently priced! Now let's check the system conditions!"
" _Oh._ Well, even quality (albeit used) system are still cheaper than current options... and hey! The game prices are..."
" *They're worse than modern offerings.* That's honestly kind of impressive."
"Guess I'll (not get anything, p*rate, or make an irrational, dangerous financial decision)"
Also the algorithm says hi!
14:17 I mean... If you just want to play the game, use emulators and roms. Lol.
Found a good middle-ground between emulation and physical collecting. Running ISOs/ROMs on real hardware.
I can't believe the insane prices people are paying for GameCube games these days, I have a complete PAL region set 446 games complete with manuals and box's, it took me 4 years to complete from 2010 to 2014.
Compared to back then prices have 3x 5x even 10x on some games it's nuts.
i started collecting ps2/ps3 games in 2020 and im shocked of how expensive they are now i do have games like deadly premonition diractors cut and lolipop chainsaw persona arena 4 ultimax , orochi z, godfather 1 the dons edition, gta san andreas, i also find duck dynasty lol all for the ps3 for the ps2 i got games like DBZ budokai tenkaichi 3, gta vice city stories scarface urban reign def jam ffny, swords of destiny
REAL (real😔)
for real?
I’m actually glad I got into emulation for old school titles when I was in high school
1: I didn’t own most old school consoles despite having a lot of consoles as a kid
2: despite me having a MacBook at the time they had one REALLY good emulator for it
3: holy *_F U C K_* can these prices can be absolutely mind numbing
Now as far as Path of Radiance goes, it, alongside Radiant Dawn, were some of the rarer FE titles in the series which is one of the reasons why it’s so damn expensive
I considered myself insanely lucky to nab a copy from my friend who just happened to have one
Game collecting is fun but expensive, I honestly haven't even tried to collect for the GameCube and have mostly stick to what systems I own (PS2, 360, Switch, and PS5)
My most interesting story regarding gane collecting is probably Persona 3 FES where after the remake was announced and was confirm that the FES content wasn't available. My instant reaction was to go and buy a copy of FES before the inevitable price hike
Also I find it ironic were both playing Persona 5 rn, may I ask what you think of it so far?
Everything mentioned in the video is very true, but there is another factor that not many people talk about- that being overall inflation. The dollar is only worth about two thirds of what it was twenty five years ago. This only makes the situation even worse since we have less money to spend on games due to everything else being more expensive as well, and most of us aren't making enough extra to offset those increases.
Can't buy a gamecube without having to sell an arm and a leg for it. It's a old console, that thing doesn't need to be 200$, god damn.
(Looking at you dk oldies.)
So glad I bought all my gaming stuff in the 2000's and 2010's. Everything was so cheap. I love to go to game conventions and buy sell trade events to laugh at prices.
Sellers are too greedy. Good luck finding suckers to pay what you want 🤣
Honestly best I can say is for maybe Pokémon games if you’ve played them a lot and want more copies or wanna revisit something but a Japanese copy because I think they aren’t region locked
Watching this video I randomly just realised how chill Tetris is, if you wanna play Tetris you can play it on pretty much every single console ever made lmao. Be more like Tetris.
Tell us how you really feel.
In all seriousness, collecting is something I only do for games I grew up with (Supercar Street Challenge for 5 bucks, woohoo!) and games I intend to play. But I've also gotten lucky finding good deals on games during the pandemic, like Xenoblade 2 for 48 bucks somehow or Emerald for 5 dollars (without the label but I'll take it). Anything thats unrealistic to obtain within my budget I'll just emulate since thats always an option. Makes me appreciate (good) modern rereleases even if they are 60 or so bucks.
I think my Switch+ my library costs less than Rule of Rose wtf
Importing japanese games(and learning japanese hehe) was my trick but now import charges and customs have made that nigh-on useless too :/
Yep gaming is too expensive and even I can agree even physical games aka the old ones can even be really expensive since they can get so rare and even can get
Expensive to try to buy them.
I can relate to it because I've gotten my hands on a lot of different games over the years and to this day, I still have them.
I hate the retro market with a bloody passion. Believe me. And I'm in possession of many retro games whether it be Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest, etc.
So yeah, I can relate with it. Problem is that money simply makes this a factor. But sometimes when I get lucky, I just get it and take an opportunity. Oh and fuck the pandemic honestly.
Id like to add a few systems to the mix due to experience with collecting for them (will be a bit long so hopefully you have time to read it)
SNES wise its also much more harder to find authentic copies of, since a lot of them tend to be counterfeit copies. So it would be a gamble on top finding decent copies, and RPGs on the platform are pricey depends on how popular/well known are.
Chrono Trigger in your example became expensive on the SNES because of how shitty the PC/Mobile ports were at first, the PS1 version being....that, and the DS version despite its extras, it got a scratchy audio quality.
So you have this super popular RPG that was sold for 75.99 most likely on launch in 1995, didnt do well because RPGs werent that popular, and its re-releases arent that good? its a recipe for being an overly expensive game, and because finding out that the DS version is generally cheaper, people aimed for it, and when Square Enix stopped having the game on their site a few years ago? the whole scratchy audio quality didnt matter anyone if all you wanted was to JUST play the game.
Another game on the platform Id like to add is Hagane on it, for a silly reason: This game suffered thru the literal "my uncle works at Nintendo" type of shit, like literally.
Someone randomly came out with a "fact" that it was a block buster exclusive, barely anyone fact checked it, it was spread around, and now the game regardless of the region is at the high 3 digits to the low 4.
The Sega CD is expensive in the sense of: "How do we keep the current reputation of this device the way it is?" because a LOT of FMVs on it are cheap, while the actual games range from $45 disc only to Popful Mail (but thats a Working Designs release, its going to be expensive by default, just like every release they got save for ONE GAME on the PS2)
Gamecube ill add to it this: even the multiplat versions of the games on it are somehow MORE expensive despite the Xbox versions generally being the superior one in MOST (but not all cases) in graphics and at a decent number of times: extra content that doesnt exist in the other two releases. a Perfect example of this is Sands of Time on Xbox having more extras, despite the GC version being the "best" in graphics.
Other times the GC version is easily the worst one due to missing features or literal PROGRESSIVE SCAN OPTIONS or it got bad frame rate in comparison to the other two (see EA games, Wrath of Cortex)
An example of this is a Sega Sports game on the Gamecube costing 3 digits, while the exact same game elsewhere is under 15. (and because the Xbox is a system nobody gives a shit for AT THE MOMENT you can find plenty of brand new games for it that are comparable to low end GC releases that are used)
If the Xbox ver doesnt exist for a particular game? yeah its the GC one that would be expensive
PS2 is generally the cheapest because most versions on it are usually the worst versions of that specific game in the generation, and its a rarity when games on it are the best versions (see GTA San Andreas being to this day, the best release of it imo)
One or two reasons for Pokemon being expensive despite being the MOST FUCKING PROFITABLE IP IN THE WORLD of this comment, besides the "why should we re-release this", the new people that came from Pokemon Go wants to try the older games since people talk about them.
At the time I got a copy of Black, Black 2 and Platinum for $70 new (no manual since middle eastern re-release/world edition and a LOT dont like it) in 2015. Try doing the same thing now without breaking the bank.
Add to it that generally speaking: post Gen 5 games are....not the best in terms of quality compared to the rest, so that is another reason for it.
Any Saturn game past 1996 is going to be expensive by default, the system was effectively dead by 1997 and all games from that point became expensive, and ofc: Working Designs titles on it are extremely pricey
honestly my go to route for lots of niche games is buying the japanese versions.. systems like the saturn have such vast libraries of mostly arcade games that require little to no knowledge of the language. i got some of the more expensive games in the us market for less than $50 like sonic jam, resident evil, and nights into dreams. and some japanese versions include their english versions already. chrono trigger ds, the silent hills, and the original phoenix wright trilogy on ds come to mind. you're gonna have to have to either mod or buy japanese systems most of the time for this option but honestly its worth imo. i bought a japanese saturn and have a modded psone which rules.
It took me a while to realize how special the 3DS systems were. I can play more mainline Pokémon games compared to the Switch with its minimum of 4 gens. Even though the original Gen 3 games aren't available on it, at least we got the ORAS games. Unfortunately, the 3DS catalog is starting to rise in price (ORAS went up to 50 or beyond for some reason) and Pokémon Bank losing connectivity with Home in April. Welp, hopefully things get easy for gamers who want to experience the classics (emulation also works).
Thanks dolphin
YAR HAR YIBIDY DE
Just emulate
YOU ARE A PIRATE!
Eyyy CCAG! My brother and I go every year! Believeland represent!
Then there are Gust games that become this after a couple years post release...
good thing not only can you get suikoden cheap on digital but a remake too?
pshhh
NGL, I love collecting but those console hacks, cfw's, emulators, roms and high seas are looking kinda tempting in front of those prices...
Prepare to fast for the week 😂