What was that graphic 4 player fighting game for the PS1 with the S&M maid character? It was developed by one company that went under and bought by EA. The game was finished, but EA killed it fearing controversy. I know a lot of people still got their hands on the game and loved it. I'm blanking on the name, it might have been "Thrill Kill". Anyone????
To me, that's a rare game; like the original version of Seven Samuri CC or Little Shop of Horrors DVD, a true collectors-only item.

Does anybody else own John Madden Football Championship Edition for the Sega Genesis? I think its pretty rare. I don't know anyone around where I live who has it.

I guess my question now is...not that I really agree...If production run is all that determines rarity (and not poularity or demand vs. supply) then what is the magic number that determines rarity. Is it 5000? 10,000? 1000? Who decides that number??
People can bash Ebay all they want, and many people are uneducated before they buy, but when buyers and sellers meet in an auction setting you have a PURELY COMPETITIVE MARKET. Things sell for exactly what they are worth. These games are not Picasso paintings, thus not unique or extremely rare, and they sell EVERYDAY for roughly the same prices. They are valuable and demand consistenly (for years) has outstripped supply. Thus my "relative rarity" comes into play.
Panzer Dragoon Saga had 5000 US copies and surely it is rare. I don't think by a overally video game circulation standard that ANY SNES game released in America is rare. I would think it would have to vary across systems, or be a function of systems sold vs. that games production run. Meaning 5000 Panzer Dragoon's vs. 1 million Saturns (totally made up) means there is 1 PDS for every 200 Saturns. I still say rarity is only important for 2 reasons: 1) You are a collector that wants EVERY game and then cirulation is all that matters or 2) You are a regular person that wants to play the "classic" or "popular" or "valuable" games that are hard to find on a relative scale (demand vs. supply). What do you think?

Suikoden II on PS1 is VERY rare!

I searched about 20 game stores for it and ended up driving over 21 miles for a used copy.

do you mean CD-I?

if not, i have some searching to do

Did anyone ever play Batman the movie and Batman Returns for Sega Genesis? I thought those were pretty rare, as my friend was the only one I knew who had those games and I was looking everywhere for them at the time.

Since people claim Rez for PS2 is 'rare', would it be even rare for the Dreamcast? I've never played the PS2 version but have it for the DC.

And what about Thrill Kill for PSX?

to dvdkrayzie: yes I meant cd-i, when I was writing that post I was half asleep

I didn't know Clocktower was rare, when the was first released me and my buddy were at the local EB, buying at a 10am the day it came out. I love that game, but I no longer out it.

Is "Thrill Kill" any good? I see the Zelda games for the CD-I all the time. I also still see Rez at both the Best Buys in Wichita. Should I buy a copy?

Thrill Kill is the only good fighting game there is. Every other fighting game is so boring, just mashing buttons.

I saw on IGN that they are making Clocktower 3 for PS2.
Can Not Wait.


Clocktower 1 was awesome.
2 was a little... Eh... The story split and you wouldn't know, and you'd save over your game, then the ending would happen 1/2 way through the game and you'd be Fuk-ed because your save was after the story split, but you wouldn't know untill you played those 5 hours over again, still stuck in the 1/2 way ending, just to find out, Yes, you realy did save over the only valid save file before the story split. !#$%!%^!

Didn't the Wu-Tang fighting game have the same engine as Thrill Kill? How come so many people on this forum have the game even though they canned the finished product? Did the game get majorly bootlegged?

How about just combining the term rarity and valuable as the meaning of rare in this topic? We'll only consider low production run titles with high demand, thus is valuable and a must get for a collector. Rareness will be based on the context of the situtation.

Some of them may go for good money, but many I would just go bleh on them. Other words, some of them I don't feel they're rare or collectable to me.

Years ago I sold Panorama Cotton while I knew it was valuable I just didn't want it anymore. Went for $100.

I own one of the Elemental Gearbolt silver suitcases. The suitcase is very nice. The game rocks too.

Werd

DVD Lamer: Because I don't think it's fair to combine the two terms when you see some games that are valuable thanks to EBay but really aren't rare. Some games go for way more than they're worth on EBay.

I think that if someone still wants to pay a large sum of money for a particular product then it is "rare" to that person for obviously that they couldn't find it at a lower price. It is what is the value to the consumer like everything. For e.g., the Amazing Spider-Man in mint is considered to be very valuable and rare but my comic I made has only one issue in print but no one can give a slight damn for my comic so if no one knows about it, then it is rare but to no one. I don't know where I am going with this so I will stop now.

People never pay more than something is worth on Ebay. People pay one increment more than the next highest bidder. Two people (at least) want the item, and high bidder wins. Pure competitive market, and if games sell OVER and OVER and OVER at a certain price then that is what they are worth. Anyone, however is free to contend that they "wouldn't pay that themselves" and are fully entitled to that opinion. In an auction marketplace things sell for exactly what they are worth.

Your right, things do sell for what they're worth on eBay. The problem is this thread doesn't have a clear definition of rare that we can use to further discuss the original topic. Rare can have multiple meanings that some may be subjective in meaning. We need a universally agreed definition so we can talk about "rare" games. I proposed the combing of the two usage of "rare" so we can get the ball rolling.

john: When you see things sell for more than they can be bought in a store, then yes, things do go for more than they are worth. I've seen it plenty of times. Just because some items can fetch a high price doesn't make them that valuable. I know that some games go for a pretty good price tag. I also understand that some prices aren't worth it to some people. What I'm saying is some games are sold for a lot more when they are easily obtainable at a cheaper rate. This happens quite often on EBay. It's the ignorance of the buyer. Hey don't appreciate that sometimes you can get a better value by auctioning it off at Ebay because I certainly have. But I'm well aware that you're selling to often a lot of ignorant people who just don't know better.

Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1369979133

or this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1370665232

Heck I remember when GTA3 was selling for as high as $90 because people was saying it was uncensored. I like EBay, but let's face it, you're selling to a lot of people who just don't know any better. Some people even buy system boxes when it clearly says box only, no system. EBay is a great place to sell things and get the most value out of an object, and it's a great place to find hard to find items, but it is not a place to judge what is rare and what the true value of the game is.

ok...I remember reading a long time ago about a game for the
atari 2600...It was a "good version" of pacman. As I remember,
someone who didn't have official permission to make the game
programed a pacman game that looked and played exactly like
the arcade game. I seem to remember that they somehow made
50 or 200 cartriges and sold them through a mailing list back
before the internet...

Any info on this? Where did I see this?

What about Mad Maestro? Not many U.S. people own the game, but alot of people in Japan do. I own it. Anywayz, I've NEVER seen Mad Maestro! in a retail store. only online. it's for PS2 if you're wondering.

of the top of my head:
Genesis: Herzog Zwei

Saturn: Radiant Silvergun

these 2 titles are on my 'need to find list'
edit: yes i know they are on ebay, but i wanna see if i can pick em up for a little cheaper. especially for herzog zwei since i used to own it.

I consider something to be rare as in they didn't produce a lot of AND its in demand. if they make 1 copy of a crappy game but nobody wants it. I don't thats rare. Rare goes with the demand and the quanity
my 2.2 cents

I got my Mad Maestro at CC for $20. I am thinking for both of those bids aren't the most retarded because of these 2 reasons: 1. the first auction included a WHITE controller.
2. the second auction could be bought from some guy who doesn't get out of his house but plays videogames a lot and does not have a credit card so he couldn't pre-order the game.
OK, so the 2nd sounds better than the 1st one, oh well. But anyways I did here about that Pac-Man thing. I beleive I read it at ClassicGaming.com but not too sure.

Value depends on the individual. Whatever they pay for it, that is the value to the person.

I would consider this a rare game since it was not sold in retail stores. It was a game sold to just rental stores.

How about Civilization on SNES?