Hyundai Comboy (Korean NES) games

[LiWang | 9]

Does anyone have any information on these other than the couple of pages that pop up when you google it? Maybe something directly in Korean?

I snagged a set of 15 of them about 20 years ago. The ones I have include both of the Zelda games complete. These things pop up so rarely it's hard to put a value on them. Is there any price history at all of what these used to go for online?

The most recent information I can find is this auction where a complete Gun.Smoke supposedly went for $900:

Nintendo Hyundai Comboy Gun Smoke Retro Game Korean Version for NES FC | eBay

The seller has had most of them listed for some time and I believe this is the first one to sell for quite awhile.

[DK | 260]

I've been casually collecting Korean NES games for about 10 years now - casually in that I would get one if the price was not crazy.

There haven't been very many online sales to go on, so pricing them will be hard.

Some of them have only ever been seen in ads, so they could command a pretty high premium.

The Zeldas should easily be 1000+ each, others much less.

Are you looking to sell? Do you have a list of what you have?

[LiWang | 9]

I'm not exactly looking to sell right away, but possibly in the near future. I was really kind of hoping someone else would be the canary in the coal mine and show up with a bunch of these for sale somewhere, but so far nothing over the past few years from what I've seen. I think your guess of about $1000+ for the Zeldas at this point is probably correct. I'm guessing closer to $1000 than say, several thousand, though weirder stuff has happened with values in the past.

I have:

Blaster Master

Ghost 'N Goblins

Goonies 2 (the game that made me definitely want the set)

Gun.Smoke

Kid Icarus (unboxed)

Knight Rider

Metal Gear

Nintendo World Cup

Pro Wrestling

Tiger Heli

Track and Field 2

Trojan

Top Gun

Zelda

Zelda 2

 

A couple of images are attached but the forum doesn't want to let me upload them all since they're kind of big.

[DK | 260]

Nice! I might be interested in Ghosts and Goblins and Blaster Master if you ever sell.

Here is my collection - including the ugliest Cobra Triangle I've ever seen (also the only Cobra Triangle I've ever seen)

[LiWang | 9]

That's a nice collection. I've always wondered why everything else I have is complete but Icarus is missing the box, because it seems like it probably came from the same original owner.

Do you remember anything about what you paid and when? I have to admit that I got mine in an absolutely ridiculous deal. I paid about $150 for all of them from a Japanese collector that was looking to offload the set on Yahoo Japan in about 2002. Even at the time I knew it had to be a great deal. "Sweet, these Zelda games must be worth at least like $50 each!"

[fcgamer | 4,723]

I've always felt that although rare, the Korean games market is like the diamond market. 

[DK | 260]

Now that was a good deal!

I think I got my first one - Ice Hockey in 2012 for something like $20, the most expensive one was Kid Icarus which I got about 5 years ago for $170. I think Dr. Mario was 120, Cobra Triangle was 40 all bought around the same time.

Most recent addition was Mike Tyson, which I got on Ebay for $100 earlier this year.

[DK | 260]

5 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I've always felt that although rare, the Korean games market is like the diamond market. 

Run by Belgians and South Africans?

[fcgamer | 4,723]

37 minutes ago, DK said:

Run by Belgians and South Africans?

Nah, but it's very tightly controlled, and the rarity of these (and subsequently price / value) is highly overstated / inflated.

[DK | 260]

42 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Nah, but it's very tightly controlled, and the rarity of these (and subsequently price / value) is highly overstated / inflated.

How does a entire region's games get tightly controlled in the used/collectable market? I can understand a certain title, but ALL of them?

Are you implying that some sort of group bought up all the stock in the late 90s/early 2000s and is simply sitting on it and not selling?
 

[fcgamer | 4,723]

5 minutes ago, DK said:

How does a entire region's games get tightly controlled in the used/collectable market? I can understand a certain title, but ALL of them?

Are you implying that some sort of group bought up all the stock in the late 90s/early 2000s and is simply sitting on it and not selling?
 

Yes, it is pretty much cornered and stock / supply controlled by a few major players.

[phart010 | 1,707]

On 12/22/2022 at 1:06 PM, fcgamer said:

Yes, it is pretty much cornered and stock / supply controlled by a few major players.

My guess is that there’s a healthy amount of stock in Korea and the Koreans are oblivious to any demand that exists outside of Korea. So the games haven’t come up out of their hiding places 

[Tyree_Cooper | 755]

there's a big retro collecting scene in south korea. prices are very high even there, now that local collectors and foreigners have sucked the place dry. they are very aware that the rest of the world, especially ze french, pay big cash for their local versions.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

As I said before, it's all controlled. I've seen the same thing where I live, but on a lesser level.

[supergamboy | 61]

I lived in Korea from 2009 to 2012 and collected and sold a variety of Korean version games. Back then a local collector market was forming and by now the demand for these Korean versions may be higher in Korea than abroad, even France. The nuance I suppose is that among Korean collectors there is a greater feel of which titles are scarce and should be paid up for even if their foreign equivalents are dirt cheap. Little Mermaid for the Korean Sega Mega Drive was a title I only found CIB once. The Korean collectors I knew had never found it. That was a $500 title 5 years ago when I sold it, where as virtually no foreign collector would pay that price as it would be hard for them to have the confidence that the title was actually scarce (as the desirability is otherwise limited).

In any case, I'm mostly commenting as the Zelda titles are particularly exceptional to have CIB. Those were $1000+ titles a decade ago. I never had a chance to own them then but also wasn't willing to put out big money for a bounty or to chase them, but others did, even then. Now, I'd treat them as name your price kind of titles. $5,000 start, but your buyers aren't here on VGS, more likely in Korea or a few high-end French collectors, but it will take true effort to learn the buyers and collectors and get the lay of the land in this space (Korean collecting).

[Joshua Rogers | 77]

More reading for you:

https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageview6a76.html?catid=5&threadid=96726
http://www.autofish.net/hosted/famitek/
https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageview1fdf.html?catid=5&threadid=165237
https://archive.nes.science/nintendoage-forums/nintendoage.com/forum/messageview6a76.html?catid=5&threadid=96726

What ever happened to Werrock and Comboy and famitek from NA? Damn I miss NA

[fcgamer | 4,723]

On 1/1/2023 at 11:24 AM, supergamboy said:

I lived in Korea from 2009 to 2012 and collected and sold a variety of Korean version games. Back then a local collector market was forming and by now the demand for these Korean versions may be higher in Korea than abroad, even France. The nuance I suppose is that among Korean collectors there is a greater feel of which titles are scarce and should be paid up for even if their foreign equivalents are dirt cheap. Little Mermaid for the Korean Sega Mega Drive was a title I only found CIB once. The Korean collectors I knew had never found it. That was a $500 title 5 years ago when I sold it, where as virtually no foreign collector would pay that price as it would be hard for them to have the confidence that the title was actually scarce (as the desirability is otherwise limited).

In any case, I'm mostly commenting as the Zelda titles are particularly exceptional to have CIB. Those were $1000+ titles a decade ago. I never had a chance to own them then but also wasn't willing to put out big money for a bounty or to chase them, but others did, even then. Now, I'd treat them as name your price kind of titles. $5,000 start, but your buyers aren't here on VGS, more likely in Korea or a few high-end French collectors, but it will take true effort to learn the buyers and collectors and get the lay of the land in this space (Korean collecting).

So you feel Korean games are arguably rarer than the other regions? How so, what makes it so?

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

So you feel Korean games are arguably rarer than the other regions? How so, what makes it so?

Yeah, it seems unlikely to me that cartridges sold only within a certain region are just as rare inside that region as they are outside of that area.  With that logic, I guess people in PAL regions must only see a couple of NES games a year in the wild, since that's roughly what I see of PAL games in my local game shops.

[supergamboy | 61]

On 1/2/2023 at 8:53 AM, fcgamer said:

So you feel Korean games are arguably rarer than the other regions? How so, what makes it so?

The biggest generalized answer I can give you is the impact of "culture" on collecting. On one end of the spectrum, you've got Japan, where many items were collected intact with easily lost "obi" spine cards, secondhand games packed in "plastic bags" for resale to protect condition, that kind of thing, and probably (generalization) a culture that cherishes their past media (anime, games, etc).

I'd put Korea on the opposite end of that spectrum. Maybe because I lived in Seoul I have a slightly different perspective not applicable to all of Korea, but I was left with the impression that it was a society that didn't keep things. I'm sure you could say that for a lot of the world, but this area of Korean history is quite fascinating in that these Korean published games only existed because of Korean laws against products from Japanese companies -- so instead Hyundai distributed for Nintendo and Samsung distributed for Sega. Its hard to say how much "stuff" was kept from that era in general.

A separate generalization: Koreans do not buy things second hand. I'm sure it has changed a little bit now, but when I lived there and talked with Korean colleagues, there was little second hand market for cars in Korea. No one wanted used, only new, so at one point another guy that I met (a foreigner), his primary business in Korea was exported used Korean cars to Africa because low demand in Korea and a decent arbitrage opportunity.

In any case, lots of generalities and fcgamer could probably make similar points for the rarity of products he collects out of Taiwan. But I would certainly say that if someone wants to buy a PAL Zelda (acknowledging there are a variety of variants and some maybe specific to certain countries, some harder to find than others) you'll have a hell of a lot easier time than getting Korean copies.

To @darkchylde28's response, are they just as rare inside the country as without? Hmm, I mean I guess I'd say the in-country desirability is very high. So there are more copies of Zelda within the country than have made it out, but if the copies in-country are in collector hands it going to be as if they weren't available and I expect the price that other Koreans would pay would exceed what foreigners would pay. I think that desirability exists now because it didn't previously and there are so few surviving copies that its almost a thing of "national pride" to preserve the games now.

Certainly the language barrier and Korea being less interconnected to online marketplaces in contrast to say PAL territories contributes to the scarcity of the items as well.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

24 minutes ago, supergamboy said:

The biggest generalized answer I can give you is the impact of "culture" on collecting. On one end of the spectrum, you've got Japan, where many items were collected intact with easily lost "obi" spine cards, secondhand games packed in "plastic bags" for resale to protect condition, that kind of thing, and probably (generalization) a culture that cherishes their past media (anime, games, etc).

I'd put Korea on the opposite end of that spectrum. Maybe because I lived in Seoul I have a slightly different perspective not applicable to all of Korea, but I was left with the impression that it was a society that didn't keep things. I'm sure you could say that for a lot of the world, but this area of Korean history is quite fascinating in that these Korean published games only existed because of Korean laws against products from Japanese companies -- so instead Hyundai distributed for Nintendo and Samsung distributed for Sega. Its hard to say how much "stuff" was kept from that era in general.

A separate generalization: Koreans do not buy things second hand. I'm sure it has changed a little bit now, but when I lived there and talked with Korean colleagues, there was little second hand market for cars in Korea. No one wanted used, only new, so at one point another guy that I met (a foreigner), his primary business in Korea was exported used Korean cars to Africa because low demand in Korea and a decent arbitrage opportunity.

In any case, lots of generalities and fcgamer could probably make similar points for the rarity of products he collects out of Taiwan. But I would certainly say that if someone wants to buy a PAL Zelda (acknowledging there are a variety of variants and some maybe specific to certain countries, some harder to find than others) you'll have a hell of a lot easier time than getting Korean copies.

To @darkchylde28's response, are they just as rare inside the country as without? Hmm, I mean I guess I'd say the in-country desirability is very high. So there are more copies of Zelda within the country than have made it out, but if the copies in-country are in collector hands it going to be as if they weren't available and I expect the price that other Koreans would pay would exceed what foreigners would pay. I think that desirability exists now because it didn't previously and there are so few surviving copies that its almost a thing of "national pride" to preserve the games now.

Certainly the language barrier and Korea being less interconnected to online marketplaces in contrast to say PAL territories contributes to the scarcity of the items as well.

I can't comment with 100% certainty on the matter, but I just don't buy many of the above points at all, and have always felt it's a matter of the last (bolded) point paired with 72 pin carts and a healthy dose of speculation. 

Comparing Koreans and Korean attitudes to Taiwanese ones is like comparing apples and oranges; however, Taiwanese also have maintained a very similar mindset towards two of the points you made above, namely that of buying new and not secondhand, and secondly, the local carts being a sense of national pride. (the second point, paired with rising demand led to a changing viewpoint towards the first point, which was brought about by a comparatively late nostalgia boom).

From my time in Taiwan, if you went to any junk shops or flea markets, the only folks you'd find there would be the lowest of the low (i.e. Philippinos, Vietnamese, Indonesian, etc - factory workers and caretakers), as well as me sniffing around for games. Now, the landscape has changed and you see higher prices, picked over selection of goods, and mostly Taiwanese customers snooping around. Actually I resent them for it somewhat, which might sound entitled or odd, but these are corners of the country that were basically for people like me (foreigners), and now its being taken over by the locals, just to flip and earn a quick buck, while refusing to get proper jobs. That was a bit of a tangant.

My point still stands though; I know some foreign collectors who established ties with some collectors over in Korea and they were constantly turning up amazing, obscure items, even some stuff that had never been documented before (Famicom Korean version of Shockwave for example, licensed by AGCI to a Korean company). So this demonstrates to me something I had heard years ago, which is that the scene is mostly underground. Likely one needs an introduction to break into it, and the collectors are likely quite aware by now of the demand for these games abroad - therefore limit the supply, list for high prices on ebay or whatever, and wait for crazy $$$$. This seems much, much more likely than the games just being tossed and calling it a day.

[Monkeygift | 4]

On 12/24/2022 at 6:36 AM, phart010 said:

My guess is that there’s a healthy amount of stock in Korea and the Koreans are oblivious to any demand that exists outside of Korea. So the games haven’t come up out of their hiding places 

There isn't. I live in South Korea and those games can't be found in any shops anywhere. They are at best in private collections and extremely sought after by locals and therefore fetch very high prices here.

[Moondog | 19]

Though I am not a NES collector, the same thing goes for old Korean PC games. It is normal for them to sell for $500+. The price no doubt goes up when something rare makes its way onto the foreign market, just because of the exclusive nature of these things.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

A few years back during NA era there were a lot of Korean N64 DK Racing being sold, new dead stock, same with some of the NES games.

#KoreanGamesArentAsRareAsPeopleClaim

[nrslam | 476]

Are the consoles equally tough to find? I got a loose one at a flea market several years ago but never paid much attention to it. I seem to remember it came with some sort of Korean pirate multicart, too, but I'm not sure where that ended up.

[Tyree_Cooper | 755]

a game is only rare if i have a mint copy in my collection, and if i have a spare one for sale then it's super rare

yeah i clearly remember the half million copies of dkr64 on ebay (really). i wish i had bought a few im sure some of us around here did

Edited April 6, 2023 by Tyree_Cooper