Ben-DutkaYou never know, maybe sitting among your pile of old and never-played games is an absolute gem. No, not quality-wise…value-wise.
GamesRadar has compiled a list of the rarest and most valuable titles of the generation, and although you probably don't have NBA Elite 11 in your closet, you might have one of the others.
Speaking of NBA Elite 11 , it's Mint value is placed $2,250 and and even used it's $995. That's just because the game was never officially launched; EA axed the project when they realized it was basically broken. However, a very tiny number of copies had made their way to retailers and were sold before the cancellation occurred, so that's why it's so ridiculously valuable. Other games on the list include One Piece: Unlimited Adventure for the Wii ($180 Mint, $75 Used), Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon for Xbox 360 ($120 Mint, $75 Used), and the Japanese import of Dead Rising for 360, valued at $620 Mint.
Oh, and Xenoblade Chronicles , arguably the most recognizable title of the bunch, is valued at $89 Mint and $77 Used. That's pretty much the only reason I would've ever played the Wii but at that price…
Why are so many of these rare games on the Wii?
In the case of Xenoblade, it's because the game was only sold at GameStop in the US/Canada. Nowhere else. You could not find it at any other retail store.
So naturally, once GameStop sold every copy from their inventory (and after word got out that Xenoblade was THE best JRPG of the current generation), people who missed out buying it were suddenly interested in getting it. And that's how it became so expensive.
A similar thing went down with the Metroid Trilogy collection. Nintendo printed a very limited quantity of them. Thinking they would not sell a lot (two games of the collection were ports).
Same goes for most of the Wii games that are going for some serious cash. They printed a very limited amount of them.
KD one of my favorite NBA players.
I can't root for him since OK City stole my Sonics.
I got Xenoblade a few weeks back for only £15 (Basically a third of the normal retail price.) It was pre-owned but in mint condition, even the Wii Points were active. I'v mainly been playing this recently, it's been the JRPG I've waited for most of the gen. The Last Story was brilliant, but Xenoblade is just so epic in scale and even so it manages to keep the story going at a steady pace. The Wii surprised me at the end of it's life span with 3 gems (Xenoblade, The Last Story & Pandora's Tower) If this is any sign of what is to come from Nintendo's Wii-U…. I'm sold. Though for now, much like the Vita I have yet to see a title which has convinced me to purchase the system.
You guys in Europe were lucky, though. In the US and Canada Xenoblade was only sold through GameStop stores. And they presently have no copies of the game for sale. And it's not likely that NOA will give them more. So Xenoblade will just continue getting pricier and pricier.
But I read that in some parts of Europe, the game was also out of print. And at least in Spain, NOE is going to print more copies of the game due to the demand.
I noticed Kingdoms of Amalur strangely sticking right around $40 after the dev went belly up, and the collectors editions are going for hundreds. I thought it would decline, but I think it will be a rare game some day.
Some of these prices will eventually go down once these people realize they can't sell them. Also, how do publishers manage to under print stuff? Look at all that money they are losing out on and here they go blaming it on used games.
I was checking prices for hard-to-get games a few years back and I found that at that time, that some of those obscure Japanese games over there were selling for 3-4 times than the $2,250 price of NBA Elite 11.
One I remember seeing back then was an Japanese Anime retro-consoled cartridge game that had a price tag which equaled out a bit over $8,700 & change in USD funds.
Sadly for myself, just when I could use a mint NBA Elite 11 right now to get all of my current financial mess at least to a current status, I don't have any of those Japanese ones, nor NBA Elite 11, or even any of those others that are also listed above either.
The closest any of the games in my collection ever came anywhere near something of a high price was a few years back with the PS1's FFVII & Tactics Ogre.
My PS1's(used but mint black label copy)FFVII was valued around $417 at it's lowest used price then, but today it's now going for a used low of $20, & up to $179.00 for a new & sealed.
My PS1's used(but mint black label copy) Tactic's Ogre has also dropped from an average of $200 used back then to $3.75 used & $280. new & sealed today.
(And as a avid games collector, I believe that announcement that was made that they'd coming to the PSN, quickly squashed their rarity & value, which in turn dropped their prices to what they are today).
BTW, 6 months ago Gamestop was still selling "ICO" used for $30 because of the rarity of nobody wanting to trade it in or sell such a great iconic game.
And oddly enough, SoTC was going for a much lesser $17 used though(my guess is that they had a lot more trades on SoTC).
And while I'm thinking about it, I was also looking for a PS2 game I couldn't find anywhere back around that same time too….called "Shifters".
Back then it had a going price then of $28 used, so I didn't get it.
But I just checked it's prices today & I see that it's starting as low as $3.75 used & up.(but now I'm in such a financial mess, that I can't even afford it at $2, and with free shipping included.
Last edited by BikerSaint on 1/17/2013 6:49:13 PM
I should buy one of those red Wiis only available in Canada for $99 and try to find Xenoblade Chronicles, as well as The Last Story and both Tales Of Graces F and Ni No Kumi for the PS3. Those 4 games certainly would feed my JRPG hunger for a very long time.
Buzz trivia is one that amazed at how much its was selling for online. Found a full set of controllers and game for 30 bucks at gamestop. Had some buddies try and buy a set after buzz quiz world came out later on and they could only find it online for 100 plus dollars for a set of controllers