Disparity between East and West game prices

[Rob]

Welcome to the forum.

I just notice it from you, though.

[Skykid]

Another idea I'd like to introduce to this discussion... We're in the midst of a video game bubble. And it will burst. A lot of games commanding high prices right now are not actually that rare. Truly rare items are not available from dozens of different sellers at any given time. Eventually the folks keeping prices high for 90's era games will lose interest with the hobby. The generation coming up behind them will be less interested, all the while, digital distribution will continue to make games (from all eras) even more accessible. A core will remain, but it won't be enough to maintain the artificially high prices.

My Father's generation grew up collecting baseball cards and comic books in the 50's and 60's. Around the 1980's when his generation was gaining some expendable income, prices for these items skyrocketed. By the mid 90's, both markets had crashed. Google it. The similarities to the game collecting market are shocking.

Yep, I agree. I'm familiar with comics and that market crashed, despite all the expectation brought on by the boom of Marvel characters in movies. This definitely seems bubble-ish - it's all just escalated far too quickly with no real reason. I wonder how much sealed game collector prices have influenced sellers of non VGA graded goods.

Welcome to the forum.

I just notice it from you, though.

I'll be sure to curb my seriously grade school level naming business asap. I wasn't even aware it was a trend.

[NTSC-J]

My Father's generation grew up collecting baseball cards and comic books in the 50's and 60's. Around the 1980's when his generation was gaining some expendable income, prices for these items skyrocketed. By the mid 90's, both markets had crashed. Google it. The similarities to the game collecting market are shocking.

Yep, I agree. I'm familiar with comics and that market crashed, despite all the expectation brought on by the boom of Marvel characters in movies. This definitely seems bubble-ish - it's all just escalated far too quickly with no real reason.

Are you guys talking about the speculator crash comics had in the 90s? The values for modern comics with all the variant covers, etc. were affected, but the old stuff is still valuable and continues to rise. My dad collected as a kid and when I was younger I would record their values into a database for him (this was in the early 90s). Back then, his X-Men #1 was worth about $10,000 but now it's listed as over $30,000.

While I doubt people will put up with $200 Earthbounds forever, this hobby is still so young, it's hard to say what will retain value.

[evil_ash_xero]

Hrmm...Pulseman went up? I was able to get mine off of Ebay a few years ago for around 80 dollars.

What's it worth now?(convert the yen please)

I wouldn't get rid of it anyway, since I like it so well, but I am curious.

It seems like DoReMi Fantasy has gone up a good bit also. I was able to get it for around 200, but now it seems to be around 300. Then again, I actually won it, and it wasn't a "buy it now", and you can get lucky with that stuff.

What's always blown my mind is the going price of the Japanese version of Ristar. It CAN'T be rare. It's like around 300 dollars. I have it, but I couldn't believe the price. All that for some different pixels.

[NTSC-J]

Hrmm...Pulseman went up? I was able to get mine off of Ebay a few years ago for around 80 dollars.

What's it worth now?(convert the yen please)

An easy way for converting money is just to type it into google. For example, type: "80 USD in yen" and you get "7800 yen".

It seems like DoReMi Fantasy has gone up a good bit also. I was able to get it for around 200, but now it seems to be around 300. Then again, I actually won it, and it wasn't a "buy it now", and you can get lucky with that stuff.

Good lord! I bought my cart only copy in 2006 for about 10 bucks and a complete one for 40.

What other imports that have gone up like that? And has anyone noticed any come down? Dracula X for PCE used to be $150 complete but now I see it for $80-100.

[drauch]

It seems like DoReMi Fantasy has gone up a good bit also. I was able to get it for around 200, but now it seems to be around 300. Then again, I actually won it, and it wasn't a "buy it now", and you can get lucky with that stuff.

Good lord! I bought my cart only copy in 2006 for about 10 bucks and a complete one for 40.

What other imports that have gone up like that? And has anyone noticed any come down? Dracula X for PCE used to be $150 complete but now I see it for $80-100.

Damn! Yeah, I remember not wanting to pay up to 40 bucks back in like 2008. Looks like I screw the pooch waiting on that one.

[Skykid]

Good lord! I bought my cart only copy in 2006 for about 10 bucks and a complete one for 40.

What other imports that have gone up like that?

Almost all of them, hence the topic!

Drac X is a long term exception and the only one I ever remember to cite. Was flying in 2003, dropped and never recovered after 2008 ish.

[NTSC-J]

Good lord! I bought my cart only copy in 2006 for about 10 bucks and a complete one for 40.

What other imports that have gone up like that?

Almost all of them, hence the topic!

But most haven't gone up 750%. Just looking at the games I used to pay attention to, Bangai-O, Animal Forest, and Sin and Punishment for the N64 are about the same (or a little less), Radiant Silvergun is the same, Psychic Killer Taromaru is about the same, etc.

I guess the Saturn and 64 are out and SFC and MD are in.

[Skykid]

▲ yeah that's exactly it. SFC has been rising into stupid prices steadily, while MD just did an overnight leap across the board. You're right about S&P, although its years as a really expensive game were strangely limited (Japan only and one of the 64's prizes). Taromaru has been stably stratospheric forever, but I actually think it's risen slightly.

But these are all old favourites. It's the other stuff, as evil_ash noted, like Ristar, that are suddenly crazy money. I can't think why. I'm sure Ristar isn't that desirable in Japan.

**as an aside, interesting what you said about comics. My dad's a comic collector and it's been sort of assumed here that all comics, new and old, have diminished in value in the last decade. I'm surprised xmen #1 is fetching $30k in the states, I'm sure it's less than that here even though comics were always more expensive in the uk (historically) because they're imports.

The Marvel film boom didn't have the expected impact, while eBay pretty much hurt the market overall. Interested to hear your comment though, it would be nice to tell the old man there's a turnaround on the cards.

[dcharlie]

there's always a weird dip where everything becomes dirt cheap then recovers.

The PSP is seeing the most amazing weird prices out there - i can get Grand Knight Story for 250 yen in some places, yet it's 1980 yen in others. The prices are all over the shop - but about a couple of years ago it seemed everything was on clearance. Now the PSP is "the machine that refused to die/Recession Gaming Buddy deluxe!" the prices have shot back up on most things.

[Jeneki]

Hmm ... Maybe wait for the next-gen consoles to come out? That will give games something new and current and trendy to spend money, instead of old stuff.

[BrianC]

One thing that bothers me is how EU SMS games that sell for dirt cheap from EU sellers (under 20 complete with shipping included) often sell for too much from US sellers. One US auction for Sonic 1 SMS that even said in the description that it's not the US version with the sticker sold for over 80 dollars on ebay (and it started low).

[GaijinPunch]

Amazon JP is generally not that great of a price guide. Plenty of things there are jacked up. Most of the stuff you've listed is common on YJ, but fetches decent yen. Just bookmark about 3-4 of them. Take the average assuming the conditions are similar... there's your market value. Expect to pay substantially more (about 20% at least) in any shops... definitely Akihabara.

Even for local Japanese buyers, they may be looking at another 800 yen for even a small game, in shipping and bank fees.

I've not kept up w/ the market for ages, but my proxy makes it easy if you wanted to keep up w/ shit. You should know that by now.

[Skykid]

Amazon JP is generally not that great of a price guide. Plenty of things there are jacked up. Most of the stuff you've listed is common on YJ, but fetches decent yen. Just bookmark about 3-4 of them. Take the average assuming the conditions are similar... there's your market value. Expect to pay substantially more (about 20% at least) in any shops... definitely Akihabara.

Aki seemed to me to be closer to 40% in some cases, although I was there when the Yen was criminally strong and the pound criminally weak. But versus YHJ, I was very surprised at the prices in Mandarake even, who I was lead to understand are more reasonable.

All of this could well - and probably is - a bubble. Prices inflating at breakneck speed are usually a good indicator. However, eBay is a law unto itself. Sellers who have enough capital to sit on are extremely stubborn with BIN's and rarely bother with auctions. The bursting of the bubble is entirely at the mercy of their patience.

[Ed Oscuro]

Sin & Punishment seems to be down substantially. Rendering Ranger seems down a little, maybe.

[dcharlie]

Jesus christ

The world has gone mad

Super potato :

Magical Pop'N - 44,800 yen !!!
Majyuuou - 37800 yen


Mandarake :

Undeadline : 8920

Story appears to be : rare stuff has shot up in value - most regular stuff is steady or cheaper.

[Stormwatch]

Do your part to fight speculation: just download the ROMs instead!

[dcharlie]

Hah - i went one better than that and have sold all my games at prices that are markedly less than pretty much anywhere.

... Doh!

I think i sold my Magical Pop'n to someone on here for around 5000 yen.

Not that thats a big deal - more interested in passing off games than making mega profits. Alas - my collection is now largely gone

[Jeneki]

Do your part to fight speculation: just download the ROMs instead!

|F|L|A|S|H| |C|A|R|T|S|
My Anti-Speculator.

[GaijinPunch]

I never go to Akiba, for this reason a lot. It's not even fun to dig and explore any more. It's almost more of a contest to see which store can jack up the price the most and make hipsters excited, when true market value is something else entirely.

Also, I've found that most things are more cyclical than trending. At least to some extent. That generally goes for all items under an umbrella. I've seen arcade stuff balloon and go down twice while collecting. Some flyers used to demand crazy bank... then, dick.

[greg]

true market value is something else entirely.

Yes. Fixed price auctions and such usually sit around and nobody takes them. But since you see them around, everyone comes to expect that this is what they are worth. Super Potato and such probably just look at the going auction prices and base their prices on those. It's lazy. Still, don't knock Akihabara too much. It's still great fun to go there and buy other stuff. Unless you already own every single console game except for the rare and pricey games, it's fun to go and explore. The last time I went, I picked up two Neo Geo CD controllers for Specineff a while back for a great price. I got some Shubibinman games and some Megadrive games for fairly decent prices.

On YAJ this week, I nabbed Faussete Amour for 5250 yen. If the auctions don't start at ridiculous prices, then people will bid them up to what they are comfortable paying for. The same game goes for twice that amount usually in auctions, and only the impulse buyers who say, "Patience? I don't have time for patience!" are the ones who buy them at those prices.

I think something else that plays a part in the high prices are that people aren't willing to part with theirs because they are fantastic games (Wild Guns, etc), thus the somewhat scarcity.

[dcharlie]

the good news does seem to be though that "lesser titles" are seeing their prices going down - as i say, the temptation to go PSP crazy is strong. I'm pretty sure i could get anywhere from 30-70 or so amazing titles for 10,000 yen. Some stuff at 105 yen like the PStar games.... that's gold right thar!

DS is also seeing a bit of a price crash too on everything that's not Ketsui or Castlevania etc.

[drauch]

10,000 yen is a good price for PSP games? Is that a typo...?

[dcharlie]

I meant i could get a -total- of 30-70 games for a -total- of 10,000 yen and walk away with a stupidly great library of games

[BIL]

I think something else that plays a part in the high prices are that people aren't willing to part with theirs because they are fantastic games (Wild Guns, etc), thus the somewhat scarcity.

A heartening thought, with the prices Acclaim's trash goes for on JP MD. ^_~ Perhaps somewhere in the jaded heart of big money otaku hustlin', gaming love isn't dead after all. WTB my CIB NTSCJ Wild Guns with box corners so pointy you could put an eye out? Swivel. :3

However I'll happily flip the pricier PAL version if I ever stumble over one! Fuck 50hz in the a- I mean, to each his own!

[greg]

A heartening thought, with the prices Acclaim's trash goes for on JP MD. ^_~

Yeeeeaaaaah, I've seen those at Mandarake's Galaxy in Nakano, like Total Recall on the MD and whatnot. I think that those were just rare, so completist doofuses in Japan want to buy those shitty games just for collector's values.

I hear you about Wild Guns. I own the North American cart-only one, but I'd love to have the Japanese CIB version. I'm okay with the box being a little worn or the pages a little bent. I'd also like to get the second Kiki Kaikai (Pocky & Rocky) CIB. Last year I got Musha Aleste for the MD for only about 5,000 yen. The label was peeling off the cart (whole and intact, however) and the manual was a bit bent. I fixed the label back onto the cart with some hobby glue. So unless you must have it MIB, you can get the games CIB with some flaws and save some money.

[drauch]

I meant i could get a -total- of 30-70 games for a -total- of 10,000 yen and walk away with a stupidly great library of games

Ahhhhh, okay. I was gonna say!

[TransatlanticFoe]

One thing that bothers me is how EU SMS games that sell for dirt cheap from EU sellers (under 20 complete with shipping included) often sell for too much from US sellers. One US auction for Sonic 1 SMS that even said in the description that it's not the US version with the sticker sold for over 80 dollars on ebay (and it started low).

I think a factor is how infrequently EU sellers are willing to ship outside of their country (never mind the EU), couple that with the relative rarity of SMS stuff in the US and you have a recipe for domestic bidding wars. Tonnes of stuff that's not that rare can be found going for silly money in random auctions every so often, either be it idiots in a bidding war or n00bs up against a shill account.

The whole Sonic 1 UPC sticker situation is probably the most ridiculous thing I've seen in retro collecting, it might even beat the great VGA grading scam.

[BIL]

The whole Sonic 1 UPC sticker situation is probably the most ridiculous thing I've seen in retro collecting, it might even beat the great VGA grading scam.

Ahaha. That thing has to be the worst self-inflicted collector wound ever*. Or at least second only to "BIGTYMERGATE" aka Aero Fighters 3 AES.

*I know further horrors await - that's part of the fun!

[BrianC]

I think a factor is how infrequently EU sellers are willing to ship outside of their country (never mind the EU), couple that with the relative rarity of SMS stuff in the US and you have a recipe for domestic bidding wars. Tonnes of stuff that's not that rare can be found going for silly money in random auctions every so often, either be it idiots in a bidding war or n00bs up against a shill account.

There's still quite a few of the cheaper EU exclusives on ebay, as long as you remember to select worldwide. Most domestic stuff, aside from stuff like Phantasy Star, Power Strike, or Golden Axe Warrior, doesn't sell for that much, though. SMS is more common around here than TG-16 stuff.