Retro game collection has only gotten more expensive over the years, as older games get rarer, and the economy gets messier. People aiming to collect the best and brightest games for classic consoles like the SNES, Genesis, and PlayStation have an ever-steeper mountain to climb. It’s enough to make one consider going more niche and collecting games for failed consoles.
If the supply isn’t high, the demand can be low enough to keep the prices down. Fans might even spot a few hidden gems if they keep a sharp eye out for a bargain. But a few of these games managed to rise in value. For big spenders, keen collectors, or anyone curious, these are the rarest, most expensive games for consoles that didn’t catch on with customers.
$799
$830
New
$1,660
Atari’s last hurrah saw them try to outdo the competition with the 64-bit behemoth, the Atari Jaguar. To achieve that power, the console had a setup that was so complicated that developers had trouble making quality games for it. Still, where there was a will, there was a way, as 4Play managed to make the almightyBattleSphere.
The title offers an online-capable, first-person space shooter that was ahead of its time. If only it came out before the console was discontinued in 1996. Instead, Jaguar owners had to wait until 2000 for it to hit store shelves. They had the last laugh though, as owners today could earn up to $800, and over double that if it was still sealed and new.
$201.25
$850
$1,054.52
Nokia ruled the mobile phone market in the early 2000s, and with mobile gaming on the rise, they figured they could make headway with a handheld console. Thus, they came up withthe Nokia N-Gage. Users played games with a phone-style keypad, answered calls by talking into its side, and had to unscrew the back and take out the battery just to swap cartridges.
In other words, it was the perfect device to playCivilizationon! The strategy sim ended up being the last game officially released for the machine. Its slower gameplay fit the N-Gage’s controls and portrait screen better than, say, the fast-paced likes ofSonic N(akaSonic Advance). The original PC version can be played for free in web browsers, but a complete copy of the N-Gage port costs $850.
$487.53
$1,137.97
$2,276
Nintendo skipped their deal with Sony to make a CD add-on to the SNES. Instead, they made a fresh deal with their European rivals Philips, which didn’t work out. All it did was make Sony join the console market with the PlayStation, and let Philips use Nintendo’s biggest properties for their new console.
While the animatedLegend of Zeldagames are more notorious, it’s the live-actionZelda’s Adventurethat’s as rare as chicken’s teeth. Its live-action FMVs, digitized graphics, and wonky take on the top-down gameplay couldn’t match the weird charm ofZelda: Wand of Gamelon’s cutscenes. Players would need a physical copy, as CD-I emulation is both hard and incomplete as of this writing.
$553.21
$1,217.06
$2,489.45
One of the reasons the PS2 caught on was because it was also a fairly cheap and effective DVD player. Some of its buyers just wanted something to play their movies and shows without breaking their bank accounts. Like the Nuon, which was more of a DVD player that could play a few games.
Still, it had some unique titles, likeThe Next Tetris.This port of the PS1 and Dreamcast title mixed up the block-stacking game with a new ‘Next Tetris’ mode that let certain blocks split up to fill gaps. It’s not the best version of the game in the world, but it is the priciest Nuon game at $1,217 complete.
$710
$1,450
$1,061.39
Atari became the byword for gaming at home thanks to the success of the Atari 2600. They tried to keep up the momentum with the Atari 5200, which offered better graphics and a new controller with analogue movement. Unfortunately, it also broke if people looked at it funny. That, among other issues (like a market crash), ended the console two years into its run.
Still, if players managed to get everything working, they could playBounty Bob Strike Back!The sequel to theDonkey Kong-esqueMiner 2049eroffered more platforming fun across 25 levels. But considering the price, most players would be better off checking out its other ports, like for the Atari 8-bit computers or the Commodore 64.
$460.86
$1,459.99
$2,920
When Sega included a Spider-Man lookalike inThe Revenge of Shinobi, Marvel was impressed enough to license the friendly neighborhood webhead to the company. Eventually the license ran out, and Sega wouldn’t work with the comics company for over 20 years.
Before it expired, Sega had the team behindVectormanproduceSpider-Man: Web of Fireas an exclusive for the Sega 32X. It was a standard sidescrolling adventure game where Spidey tried to save New York from the forces of Hydra, occasionally with the help of Daredevil. As humble as it was to play, its price is now anything but that.
$745.69
$1,999.96
$4,000
Despite the Switch 2’s prices and the disappointment of the Wii U, both are in better health today than the Virtual Boy. Its headache-inducing 3D effects and eye-searing graphics still mark it as Nintendo’s biggest hardware misstep. Yet it has its place in gaming history, particularly for fans ofa certain RPG franchise.
Fans ofShin Megami Tensei,Persona,and otherSMT-related titles will likely know the device hadJack Bros, the first game in the widerSMTcanon to be released outside Japan. Players picked one of the three Jack Bros (Frost, Lantern, or Skelton) and helped them return to the fairy world by searching mazes for keys.
$999.99
$2,527.66
$3,299.99
While the Sega CD was ultimately a failure, players can find a decent range of cult classic games in its library. None of these are the FMV games that made up most of its marketing. Instead, they tend to be 2D games with extra fripperies to make use of its tech, like animated cutscenes and CD-quality sound.
For example,Keio Flying Squadronwas basicallyParodiuswith more plot. Players help the bunny girl Rami blast aliens in an anachronistic 1860s version of Japan. It was accidentally given away for free viaSega Pro CD’s demo disc, when players found they could use level codes to play the rest of the game. But it’d be easier for buyers today to pay $1,000 for a loose official disc than to track down a CD from an old British magazine.
$474.96
$4,294.77
$8,590
It was a good thingJurassic Parklived up to the hype, otherwise Manley & Associates’DinoPark Tycoonmight not have worked out. Players used an in-game $5,000 loan to make their own dino-zoo in a bid to pay it off. If they succeed, they can sell it off, get an award, and be a better Dr. Hammond than the one in the films.
It was originally an MS-DOS and macOS game, but it also got a port to the inventive but flawed 3DO. Physical copies are exorbitant, but luckily, all three versions of the gameare considered abandonware todayand can be played for free on sites like MyAbandonware.com.
$2,045
$4,500
$9,000
On paper, the LaserActive was the ultimate device for 1990s tech bros. It played LaserDisc movies, audio CDs, LD-G karaoke discs, and video games. Users could buy dedicated modules to make it play Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 games too. That is, if they had anything left to spare after paying $970 ($2,146 today) for the console alone. If they didn’t, they were better off with a regular Genesis.
Though that’s less than half the price of its most expensive title,Don Quixote: A Dream in Seven Crystals. The dungeon-crawling RPG combined the classic novel withWizardry-style gameplay and anime cutscenes that looked nice for the time, even if the animation wasn’t exactly stellar.
